Happy 85th birthday, madre querida! Still as beautiful and amazing as ever! You are our everything. ❤️🎂❤️ Hold your people close. Tell them often that you love them.

Does anyone have any good resources for talking to kids about ICE? My 10yo is panicking about our friends and neighbors, and I feel maybe 75% equipped for honest but age-appropriate conversations and 25% way over my head. (I don't want vague platitudes/reassurances or doomerism, pls and thanks)

Obama includes NORTH SUN as one of his favorite books of 2025! Huge honor for Ethan Rutherford, editor extraordinaire Jill Meyers, & for Deep Vellum, the only small publisher on this list, the only nonprofit publisher on this list!! @deepvellum.bsky.social

The Ruins! Congratulations to Ye Hui & his remarkable translator, Dong Li! We published this remarkable book in a beautiful bilingual edition. Chinese metaphysical poetry forever!! @deepvellum.bsky.social

*Filth Eaters* listed on *Publishers Weekly* Spring 2026 Fiction & Nonfiction Preview: Literary Fiction. Super happy. Thanks for preordering. If you’d like to: link in comments or wherever you buy your books! Gracias, @deepvellum.bsky.social @willevans.bsky.social

Adding an "e" to the end of a singular "tamal" is called (in linguistics) linguistic interference/L1 interference/negative transfer: applying grammar rules from your native language (L1) to a 2nd language (L2), often creating errors. So, 1 tamal 2 tamales.🎄Happy Holidays!

My constituent, Wilmer, was mauled by an ICE attack dog despite the fact that, as he has consistently explained, he was not resisting arrest or trying to flee—his wife and young children, all U.S. citizens, were forced to watch helplessly as Wilmer was violently attacked and dragged away.

releasing on Tuesday: a bunch of tiny stories that are like the nematodes on SpongeBob, just mindlessly gnawing at the edges of the world. and making their own sound effects.

Ray Santisteban's 2006 documentary film of my grandmother, Sofía González Villarreal, and the amazing nativity scene she created for over 60 years at her home in Laredo, Texas.🎄Remember those who came before you. ❤️ Hold your people close. @raysantis.bsky.social

Felicidades to my dear friend Ito Romo on his forthcoming novel FILTH EATERS—a decade in the making. A sweeping, haunting reimagining of the vampire lineage. So proud! PRE-ORDER: store.deepvellum.org/products/fil... @deepvellumbooks.bsky.social @willevans.bsky.social @itoromo.bsky.social

Just going to leave this right here. ❤️

Nothing like walking through your neighborhood to vote. ❤️👊🏼❤️ VOTE!

Nuestro padre Refugio con su única hermana Vita, Laredo, Texas, c. 1945. ❤️ Remember those who came before you. Tell often that you love them. Hold your people close.

“Ito Romo's vampires step across centuries with dignity, but with desperation, too—you don't want to get close to them, but you can't look away.” -Stephen Graham Jones, author of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter. As always, gracias, @sgj.bsky.social. Pre-order now wherever you buy your books. ❤️👊🏼❤️

First of the autumn blooms (hoya carnosa compacta). Hope you’re having a great week. ❤️ Remember to look at the beauty around you.

Lovely conversation with Simon Pruitt yesterday in Dallas. Thanks to Talking Animals Books and the amazing folks at Deep Vellum Publishing for the invite. Looking forward to coming back when *Filth Eaters* is out. ¡Gracias, Simon!

“The burdens of generations of poverty and powerlessness lie heavy in the fields of America.”—Cesar Chavez from Martin Luther King, Jr.: He Showed Us the Way, Maryknoll, 1978, 52-55.

Tommie Smith and John Carlos, Olympic Games, October 16, 1968, Mexico City. Remember those who struggled before you. ❤️👊🏼❤️ Here’s to the heroes. Protest peacefully.

Our aunt Vita Romo Greiner (3rd row, 4th), our dad Refugio's only sibling, entrance to the old 💙 St. Augustine High School 💛 downtown Laredo, 1950s. Hope you have a great week!

This Wednesday, I am joining my dear friend (and genius) Hayan Charara at a reading to celebrate his new novel, *Hush Little Children* 10/15, 5:30pm - 7:00pm, at the @thetwigbookshop.bsky.social at the Historic Pearl. Come visit with us.

Quick visit, but super happy to see him @poetrichardblanco.bsky.social Hold your people close. ❤️ Perfect cocktails and beautiful fried chicken livers at still our favorite restaurant Cured at Pearl.

A quick FYI: They have *just* relaunched the online NPR shop with bunches of new stuff, plus some throwbacks and, of course, the Tiny Desk hoodie. So if you are that kind of public media person, there’s some stuff to check out! shopnpr.org

Solidarity! ❤️👊🏼❤️

Our grandmother's twin sister Dalila & our grandmother Carlota (row2, 2&3), Central School, Laredo, TX, ca. 1910. In Laredo, public school education began in 1783 (by order of the Spanish Crown). Remember those who came before you, and remember to thank a teacher for all they do. ❤️👊🏼❤️ Happy Friday!

Happy birthday to my brother Ricky, (far right), a beautiful kid then and a beautiful human being now. Love you, manito! ❤️🎂❤️ Photo is a tiny self-developing snapshot (no date stamp) so must’ve been from one of the earlier Polaroid Land Cameras. Laredo, TX, c. ‘65-‘68. Btw—that’s me on the left.

❤️👊🏼❤️

Big doings in Austin this coming weekend! I’m excited to be leading the “Bursts of Firsts” picture book workshop for the @scbwiatx.bsky.social Mini MFA Conference. #atxscbwiconf25

Because we all need some beauty in our lives (away from the craziness that is our country), I can't begin to tell you how lovely it was to finally return to Bustamante, N.L., México. Looking forward to spending time there again! ❤️ Here's to a great week.

Canceled HULU. I’ll miss more than 1/2 of S5 OMITB. Oh well, I’ll resubscribe if they come to their senses—that and, well, uh, free speech. They tempt you before last cancel click: $2.99 for 6 mths—don’t fall for it—they’ll offer it again! (Oh, they’ll save your lists, so do not fret). Join me? ❤️👊🏼❤️

Power to the people!

On the brighter side: Hoy Ximena Romo cumple 10 años! Constant, loving companion. ¡Viva México! 🇲🇽 ¡Viva Ximena Romo! Dogs are perfect.

Because good news will do us all some good, Ximena, Lalo, and I are super happy to hold *Hush Little Children* Hayan Charara's brilliant debut novel. Get it now! ❤️👊🏼❤️

Catch THE EL for #FridayReads! Available everywhere. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738830...

Finally a full inflorescence of my Shooting Star Hoya (hoya multiflora)! ❤️ Different, beautiful—like all of us. Here’s to a lovely weekend.

Hold your people close. ❤ Demand responsible firearm ownership now!

I’ve had this ‘orchid cactus’ for almost 6 years now, and last night it bloomed for the very first time ❤️ Remember: "As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And all will be well in the garden," Chauncey Gardiner, *Being There* by Jerzy Kosiński

Amig@s, follow my other account: ‪Fun American Fact-I mean the continent‬

Lalo Romo turns 15 today. He'll get a big, juicy steak (and because he's the bestest boy ever, I'm sure he'll share with Ximena). Can't tell you how lucky I am to have him take care of me all these years, so fortunate. Dogs are perfect.

During the hard freeze of ‘21 I lost my night blooming cereus. Thankfully, I had shared a cutting with friend whose plant now thrived. He shared cuttings from the plant I’d shared with him, and last night, after several years, it bloomed. Here’s to new beginnings. ❤️ Hope you have a great week.

Here’s to the promise of a new day. Hoya carnosa (compacta). ❤️ Hope you’ve had a good week so far.

This is beyond stupid. Armored vehicles in Laredo, Texas. When will this nightmare e over?

Nuestra tía abuela Minerva González Fisher, nuestra abuela Sofía González Villarreal, y nuestras tías abuelas Conchita González Martínez, Estela González Orfila, y Alicia González Karg. Remember those who came before you. ❤️ Hold your people close.

Blooming today (morning to afternoon), Lucky-heart Hoya (hoya obovata var. kerrii). I try to focus on that which is beautiful. ❤️

Ramen lunch with Robert. Hope you have a great week, brah!!!!!! jajajaja ❤️

@sgriest.bsky.social telling stories from the bottom of her heart—lucky to have been there. Get her new book: *Art Above Everything* ❤️ @thetwigbookshop.bsky.social

All the Killer/Babysitter tire stops:

“The burdens of generations of poverty and powerlessness lie heavy in the fields of America.”—Cesar Chavez from Martin Luther King, Jr.: He Showed Us the Way, Maryknoll, 1978, 52-55.

❣️☮️❣️