"I swim in the light of your eyes. I lean on your shoulder, eat with you, and press your hand which lies like a bird in my hand, who has no desire to fly away. Where would it fly to? From me … to you." - Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, writing to his lover Tamar Ben-Ami, who died this week.

I’m off for a week and oh wow, “History Lessons” by Zoe B. Wallbrook was *precisely* what I needed as a vacation read.

Trump would like the government he leads to pay him billions www.npr.org/2026/02/18/n...

Oh my heart.

Job offer!! I’m helping a PBS series look for a social media manager/content creator for an upcoming promotional campaign. The start date is ASAP, and a project timeline that currently goes to July. This is for a series on American Muslim history, so candidates with cultural familiarity preferred!

Adjusting to a smart rescue dog (chonky dobie mix) after a dumb one (greyhound, beloved dingdong, RIP sweetie) has been quite the challenge.

Wake me up when People magazine puts Manny Jacinto on the cover

When I used to sort Susan’s mail as a production assistant, I saw a postcard sent to her from someone in prison. It said, “dear susan, whoever I hear your voice, it’s feels like an arm around my shoulders.” I felt that way too.

"Comedy is the greatest way to attack anything like a totalitarian regime. They can't stand it." —Ray Bradbury on Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" ...apropos of everything @ulabeast.bsky.social for @npr.org

Tonight in DC, I walked past a restaurant blaring this on the outside speakers, and wasn’t sure if it was for Halloween or the government shutdown. youtu.be/RZ2oXzrnti4?...

Something about a dog that is a little extra makes it extra hard to say goodbye. Zoom was a racetrack survivor and a beloved pet. Rest in power.

Today is my birthday, and you know how old I am? I’m “you’re such a pretty girl, why are you wearing such terrible clothes” years old.

I constantly forget what “stochastic” means and I’ve had to look it up three times in the past four days.

Forty-five Maine prisoners are currently working remote jobs for outside companies. A few are working full-time, earning more than corrections officers. One is making well into the six figures. Here's why Maine's approach to education and work in prison is making waves in the world of corrections:

I heard a Palestinian doctor compare the aid sites in Gaza to Squid Game. Twice a day, I get new alerts about dozens of hungry people, many of them surely parents of starving children, wounded and killed by gunfire when they’re trying to get food.

70 years ago, on this date, Emmett Till was kidnapped and brutally murdered by white men. His family, including his cousin who was with him at the time, is repeating the train ride he took from Chicago to Mississippi in 1955 to mark the anniversary

I do not see appreciable differences between Labubu and Monchhichi

Weapons is so fucking crazy and good

Embarrassingly, the @nytimes.com flunked its own Vogue test- Wasserstein depicted Mount Holyoke women #sevensistersfail

As more journalists are driven out of their jobs, I keep hearing this drumbeat of "it's ok -- they can start their own newsletter or publication." Some can. But becoming your own business is a huge job, and will eliminate many talented reporters from the public sphere. Here's why. (1/5)

Citing "the concerns expressed by many of our brothers and sisters regarding fears of attending Mass due to potential immigration enforcement actions by civil authorities," the Bishop of San Bernardino issues a decree dispensing the faithful in his diocese from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass.

An incredible American tragedy.

An Afghan man who worked as a translator for the U.S. military during the war was detained by ICE after showing up for a hearing inside of a federal courthouse in San Diego, his attorney says. He fears that if he returns to Afghanistan, he would be tortured or even killed, @nbcsandiego.com reports.

In a public statement, interim U-M President Domenico Grasso stated the University will be terminating contracts for plainclothes security on campus.

It’s incredible but not surprising how much western media is blacking out one of the most recognizable and important activists in the world in Greta Thunberg going to Gaza on a single unarmed boat with food for starving children. It should be an hourly story with huge ratings and clicks.

Five favorite B&W movies: M Psycho Touch of Evil Shock Corridor Ikiru

pitching my comic idea to DC: aquaman's new archnemesis is called Man Ray. no, not a half human half manta ray monster. Man Ray, the surrealist painter and photographer. he just challenges aquaman's preconceptions about formalism

I was surprised to see the @nytimes.com didn’t give credit to @npr.org’s @bobbyallyn.bsky.social, who reported this first:

One of the many things I loved about Sinners was that MBJ was the only huge star. I get tired of the same actors over and over and the cast was a revelation.

The VA says it's about to shut down the only low-interest, affordable loan modification option for thousands of vets who are behind on their mortgages. We want to hear your story.

Seems bad. "Half the World’s People Depend on Rice. New Research Says Climate Change Will Make it Toxic" insideclimatenews.org/news/1604202...

Incredible. Disheartening.

My Saluki overlord

What are words or phrases in English and other languages expressing the impulse to pull away from the overstimulation and stress of contemporary life? I know about hikikomori in Japanese; are there others?

SCOOP: Emails Show Mahmoud Khalil Asked Columbia for Protection a Day Before He Was Detained "I haven’t been able to sleep, fearing that ICE or a dangerous individual might come to my home. I urge you to intervene..." Read @premthakker.bsky.social's full story: zeteo.com/p/scoop-emai...

congratulations to No Other Land, which may be the first film to win a major Oscar but not theatrical distribution.

Seeing Anthony Roth Constanzo as Rinaldo at the Detroit Opera tonight made everything all better for a while.

I want one of my friends, or a future friend, to buy this midcentury modern llama farm 10 min from my house here in Michigan: www.redfin.com/MI/Ypsilanti...

It's not doomscrolling, it's just artisanal nightmare farming

Many of the lefty people I know eyeballing properties in other countries seem blithely unconcerned about the effects of their gentrification on local communities. Already, Portuguese and Mexicans, among others, have been priced out of great swaths of their own cities.

Finally got to this, and guessing the jawdropping line “That’s Jim Crow, literally” would’ve been too much even for the Succession writing room. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/m...

There’s something so Hitchcockian about the notion that the birds may get us in the end.

not the first to say it, but thanks to @micahloewinger.bsky.social and the @onthemedia.bsky.social team for this smart look at what perils might await public media

Thankful to be sober. It’s liberating AF not to be drinking AT anyone or anything right now.

I just reupped my subscription to @wired.com

I paid to subscribe to several more independent publications today. We have to fund reporters who are willing and able to take a stand, put money behind good journalism, and ensure that there will be uncompromising reporting on culture, politics, and technology

It doesn’t look like a buyout to me. It just says you can keep working from home until Sept 30, when you have to leave your job . Am I missing something?

I'm looking to chat with people about the future of government funding for the arts. Please DM me. Signal: ulabeast.70

I’m aware this is not the biggest problem facing America but the FB group for people fostering DC animal rescue dogs is now filled with posts about having to return them to the shelter because they can’t work from home anymore.