So long for now, Santa Fe!

In Santa Fe to help my older kid pack up her dorm room after her freshman year at college and got some unexpected free time this evening so took a walk which ended up in a hike up Monte Sol which is the hike I used to do when I went to college here. Phew. Life is so beautiful and surprising.

Deep Springs was my first choice—but in 1995, they didn’t accept females. I wrote a letter pretty much begging them to change that policy and soon after they did, but not in time for me. I’m glad it’s still a great school, educating young adults creatively and comprehensively. (Gift link.)

Every day of Trump 2.0 I think “it can’t get more outrageous than this,” and I am wrong. This slush fund thing is so fucking rancid and unacceptable and I hate the feeling and reality that no politician is going to stop it, or call in Batman or something. This is not a country.

Clustering homes is not only essential for preserving wildlife corridors (as this HCN article explains), it is also essential for reestablishing a fire-resilient, Indigenous cultural landscape as Michael Connolly-Miskwish explains in chapter 6, “Aaw e’Hunn” of *Landkeeping* (see my pinned post).

They have no more interest in ancient texts than they do in the bible, in both cases it’s just about signalling their own superiority by association with things they had nothing to do with and have no greater claim on than the people they see as beneath them

Finished Tana French’s latest novel last night, the third in her Cal Hooper series. I have loved all of Tana French’s books so far, but her Cal Hooper books hit me deeply and give me much to keep thinking about as a transplant from an anonymous metro area to a small, complicated, rural community.

Sometimes driving an hour and a half for a soccer game isn’t half bad. Went from grey and rainy in Ukiah to blue skies in Mendocino. And my kid’s team won their playoff match!

“the Hemish model of fire management reinforces major features and aspirational goals of contemporary fire management, but it does so by respectfully acknowledging the ecological heritage of Indigenous people while demonstrating the multi-century sustainability of these cultural fire practices.” 1/2

Dog plus lily, lily plus paw. (#flowerreport Mariposa lily!)

This is devastating. Just devastating. "Many observers rightly warn that Callais threatens minority representation in Congress. But minority voters' power on school boards and city councils is no less consequential and may be at even greater risk."

What else is there to say? We are going to have to do hard things. YOLOSCOTUS keeps running up the tab. But hard is not impossible. Color me resolute.

Read this from @stevevladeck.bsky.social. Congress has the power to hold the court to account IF we use it. And we've focused way too much on expansion / term limits which are (at best) a far off solution rather than tools that meet the urgency of the moment. www.stevevladeck.com/p/bonus-223-...

We must understand that the Voting Rights Act was not merely about ensuring Black Americans rights, it was about democratizing America. This ruling is not just a decimation of Black rights and Black Americans’ ability to have representation, it is a fatal blow to multiracial democracy.

Hold on. We the taxpayers are going to pay companies $900 million, which is more than 6x what we spend on wind power R&D, to NOT build wind power at a time when electricity prices are spiking and we need more clean power?

“First, don’t watch it on a big screen. Read it online or better yet, in print. Read it once a day. Pick a time. It will only be incrementally different twenty-four hours later, trust me.” Reminder: there are ways to manage your intake of news consumption so you can maintain your sanity.

The land grab in Alaska was fast and furious. Only one tribe kept their reservation when all others were terminated via a land claims settlement. Now that tribe–Tsimshian Metlakatla village–is fighting to maintain its fishing culture and way of life. ictnews.org/news/the-sal...

So much false equivalence in media on gerrymandering in Texas vs California & Virginia. California and Virginia maps approved by the voters. That's a huge difference not enough people pointing out

Such a wonderful essay!! I hope it helps young and old alike. I feel so fulfilled at work, despite the very real heartache I continually encounter as a school counselor. I have a craft and every day I meet students’ (and teachers’) needs. May we all find meaningful work. (Gift link!)

Important story from the Times on the rise of AI influencers for Trump www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/b...

Schrodinger's strait, neither open nor not open.

A co-founder of the St. John’s College Search and Rescue Team and a veteran of the outdoor education program Outward Bound, Herbert Kincey Jr. trained hundreds in how to stay safe in the outdoors. He died March 10 at the age of 91. sfnm.co/4mCAmQW

This reads a bit like Nostradamus on public lands policy. A few things haven’t happened (yet), but give it time.

The price of beef is massively subsidized, not least by the fact that the cost to graze cattle on public land has not changed since the 1960s. $1.35 per cow-calf pair per month - 30 to 50 times less than market value. If you really want to stop corporate welfare, beef prices are gonna go up.

Rhetorical question: "Is the Pope Catholic?" JD: "Well actually,..."

No one says it better than @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social

This is genuinely worth watching. (With every caveat about brutality of regime, etc. Point is they are so far ahead of US admin in use of *English-language* social media.)

Cease fire? You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

#flowerreport from the western hills of Ukiah Valley: blue dicks and western starflowers!

Last week, Trump’s lawyer was asked if Native Americans have birthright citizenship and he waffled. “No, I think the clear understanding that everybody agrees… is that the children of tribal Indians are not birthright citizens.”

This is real It’s being done in our name Congressional Republicans are okay with this

Bears repeating that he is threatening Iran over something that wasn’t a problem until he bombed Iran. In this sense it’s very much like many other problems he’s promised to “fix” bsky.app/profile/pale...

#flowerreport from the eastern hills of Ukiah Valley. Warrior’s plume and paintbrushes now in bloom. (And my dog had so much fun running around that he needed to take a break and lean against my leg for a little while.)

Donald Trump and the GOP gave our nation's wealthiest a $5 TRILLION tax cut. That's more than enough to cover these costs. That's what he's prioritized over your health and child care. Here are some other things Trump has prioritized:

this is so much fun. Rocket launchers feel so different when it's "thing American public did together with their tax dollars and their government scientists" vs. "erratic billionaires with plans to replace us all with AI are lobbing more rich people or profit-making satellite into space"

A gorgeous day at the coast yesterday. So thankful for public lands.

Beautiful sunset last night with Point Cabrillo lighthouse shining brightly on the right.

And it’s that Congress has let him. The GOP could resolve this tomorrow.

One part of this maneuver is the subjective/objective switcheroo: going from recognizing your own inner life (I feel sad) to pretending to have a handle on everyone's life (we are doomed). From vulnerability to authority, on a journey that's also from insight to bullshit.

There is a lot of talk about how the SAVE act would disenfranchise voters of color. Here is what it could mean for Native voters:

The Supreme Court refuses to review an odious 5th Circuit decision granting qualified immunity to Texas officials who arrested a citizens-journalist in retaliation against her posing questions to public officials. Sotomayor has an appropriately furious dissent: www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...

#flowerreport from our Sunday walk in the western hills of Ukiah: Tolmei’s pussy ears now in bloom. (While I take photos of flowers, my husband identifies birdsong. And my dog tries to find things to eat.)

"A chief cause of Japan’s Fukushima accident, investigators found, was the cozy relationship between the country’s industry and oversight body, which opened the door for thin safety assessments and inaccurate projections overlooking the possible impact of a major tsunami." This is a bad bad road

In 1980s, while living in Japan, I interviewed a Japanese doctor who had worked in Hiroshima soon after US atomic bombing. Every second of that discussion was awkward, because we both knew the context. But the pig-ignorant crude racist cruelty of a US prez not realizing what he has just done...

And also from the NYT piece: “It makes you rethink in history all those heroes,” Ms. Lopez said. “The movement — that’s the hero.”

#flowerreport from inland Mendocino County. Fawn lilies, checker lilies, and Diogenes’ lanterns all in bloom now.

To be clear: the SAVE Act does not simply require the identification voting ALREADY requires. It demands proof of CITIZENSHIP— a birth certificate with a name that matches yours now (bye, bye, married women), or a passport— both of which are expensive and take a long time to obtain.

Trump has tremendous difficulty with principled people (even if as with the Iranian regime, the principles are bad). He assumes everyone is a transactional fraud like him. Works well with rich Americans and poorly with idealists of any stripe

1. Native wildflowers 2. Windy days 3. Commuting by bicycle