"Common decency stigmatizes people that do not participate in it—removes them from voluntary association. We indeed have to live with one another, but terms and conditions apply." me on why Ezra Klein should be ashamed / why shame is Good Actually www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...

For the first of four AI webinars, we're talking with the inimitable @hypervisible.blacksky.app and Christa Albrecht-Crane! Join @libraryfutures.bsky.social for "What we Talk about When We Talk about AI," an intro to AI and ML from ethicists and experts. nyu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

My first Atlantic Beach pie was a hit! Tasted great even though it didn't quite look as neat as I wanted it to. Saltine crust + an entire mountain of whipped cream was better than key lime. #blueskybakers #usuallyibakenodairybutitwasabirthday

In November I wrote about Trump’s obsession with the golden age of late night TV for @flaminghydra.com through the lens of his friendship with Joan Rivers. He hasn’t been invited back since 2016, but was once a regular; he appeared on Letterman more than 30 times. flaminghydra.com/the-trump-er...

shout out to all my basic bitches

If I were editing a college president’s guest essay about the importance of colleges hosting “difficult speakers,” I would ask her to clarify how her argument squares with her history of expelling students for protesting, and why speakers should be treated better than her own students.

Now is the time for Laura Rosenbury to step down as the President of Barnard College. This piece is embarrassing and so full of holes and faulty research that it wouldn't even withstand our required freshman seminar. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/o...

Really excellent article on the state of e-lending by Maria!

#FairUseFriday While we are still one year out from the midterms, campaigns are starting to gather and create content they can use to boost their messaging.

Reminded today of this 2017 piece by psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett about the effects of hateful speech on the nervous system. www.nytimes.com/2017/07/14/o...

This morning’s whitewashing of Kirk’s legacy by civility-obsessed liberals isn’t just offensive to anyone targeted by Kirk (ask anyone on the ‘professor watchlist’) but dangerous. 1/2

Subscribe to defector!

“Every single company that offers AI-generated material should have some sort of transparency standards put in place so that people know what they’re getting." Our ED @littlewow.online on AI slop in libraries and our efforts to fight it. /1 americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2025/09/02/b...

There is cozy fantasy, but what about cozy realism? It exists! I can't stop thinking about this essay by @littlewow.online on the comfort of gardens, the awkwardness of mulch acquisition, and finding family in the dirt. Plus, romance! Read it in Flaming Hydra! flaminghydra.com/issue-393/

I wrote about how an enormous pile of wood chips has helped me get into sync with my new neighborhood, as inspired by the incredible Ruth Stout. “Like Stout, I believe that backyard gardening provides a canvas where we can share in (real) abundance, built up through care, community, and compost.” ❤️

Small potatoes compared to everything else, but I ordered a custom made gift for my best friend’s wedding that was coming from France and it was canceled last week just before shipment because of the fucking tariffs. Now I have no gift for her and her wedding is in 2 weeks. ☹️

Why do I do this to myself every year @flaminghydra.com flaminghydra.com/jammin/

Let's do this and finally get Roadrunner as our state song.

Thank you to @cbcradiocanada.bsky.social for having me on to talk about why AI Slop has no place in our public libraries, and what you can do about it! www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

Our ED talks local news—and how to sustain it.

Excited to share my contribution, "Libraries are a locus for civic media change" in “It’s Time for Civic Media” — a new, joint, print magazine (!) exploring how to build equitable, sustainable local news and information over the next decade. Order your copy! objectivejournalism.org/civic-media-...

There *is* an inspiring, positive vision for the left, despite the claims of 'The Argument''s founders. It's a pro-democracy vision, though, and thus unlikely to attract support from right-friendly orgs from our @flaminghydra.com colleague, @ositanwanevu.com bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

Hey Durhamites! I'm teaching the basics of copyright at Night School, everyone's favorite speakeasy/popular education destination. Come and learn with me over two sessions in November! www.nightschoolbar.com/current-cour...

There's an excellent crank theory that insists we're playing a lot of old music at least twice as fast as was originally intended, and I wrote about it (and about the collapse of the Western order) for Defector's music week: defector.com/are-we-playi...

TODAY: @littlewow.online on the recently departed musician and satirist Tom Lehrer. “Now, as the American empire continues to crumble under the weight of a new brand of fascism, Tom Lehrer’s music continues to provide some insight.” flaminghydra.com/tom-lehrer-a...

My thing runs alongside a fine Tom Lehrer obit from @littlewow.online. flaminghydra.com/tom-lehrer-a...

I'm glad that a public figure is speaking out about Lyme Disease! 2 years ago, Lyme forever changed my life. I'm thankfully on the other side of the worst of it, but it continues to impact me. He's right: Lyme is relentless, debilitating, and too common. www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-n...

My high school librarian gave me this poster my senior year, but I had to throw it away after a bedbug incident in college. The power of the Internet found me a new one after almost 15 years of searching, so now I get to fully indulge this library eccentricity in my home office!

HUGE congratulations to all of the winners of this year's @wnyc.org Public Song Project (w/ judging from EC'ers @littlewow.online & @michaelweinberg.org) www.wnyc.org/story/2025-p...

I was so honored to help judge the 2025 Public Song Contest from @wnyc.org! Such joy! Such creativity! Such talent! This Saturday, join the winners on the steps of the @bklynlibrary.bsky.social to hear what they cooked up for this glorious contest! www.bklynlibrary.org/calendar/wny...

You can never bend the knee enough to appease an authoritarian bully. This is a devastating blow to academic freedom & freedom of speech at Columbia. Never in the history of this nation has there been an administration so intent on the utter destruction of higher education as we know it.

A very cool technology that allows students to interact with John Maynard Keynes’ ideas as he develops them is called a book

I am pro-author, pro-fair use, and anti-corporations supporting fair use only when it’s conveniently destroying jobs and creativity and not for its myriad uses in education and innovation. But this framing is wrong— authors aren’t competing with AI companies, that is not how creativity works.

There will not be a healthy US journalism industry without public funding. The PBS/NPR defunding shows we are heading in the opposite direction. Journalists must understand that our fight for existence is political, like it or not. Wrote about this for CJR today: www.cjr.org/analysis/jou...

In conclusion, may I please remind you that it does not say RSVP on the Statue of Liberty

On August 20, 2025 at 7 PM EST, @higheredlabor.bsky.social is bringing together higher ed library workers across the country to strategize against threats to their livelihoods and profession. See this message for more info.

My grandmother’s best friends were survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto, but their story was a mystery to me until they died. I wrote about uncovering a complex and disturbing web of secrets among my family friends @flaminghydra.com flaminghydra.com/issue-362/

Free @flaminghydra.com post today. News out of Gaza from Arwa Mahdawi, and @littlewow on facing old family secrets. If you like publications made entirely by human writers telling you the truth as best they can, support @flaminghydra.com. flaminghydra.com/issue-362/

I’m old enough to remember when John Barrasso consistently opposed defunding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting because CPB’s most important role is financially sustaining radio and TV broadcast infrastructure in places like WYOMING where private enterprise will not connect people to the world.

Congratulations Dr. Hayden! Touché. apnews.com/article/carl...

Some good news out of North Carolina: www.newsobserver.com/news/politic...

Exciting job Doing impactful work With a fantastic team What more could you want?

Do you care about institutional contracts and norm setting? Have you negotiated contracts on behalf of clients? Do you want to join a library organization that's taking a new approach to digital rights advocacy? (And having a lot of fun doing it?!) Apply! www.libraryfutures.net/apply-to-be-...

TODAY: oh my god oh my god oh my god @zachrabiroff.com interviews Billy Bragg!!! “Print the legend, mate, print the legend.” flaminghydra.com/r/5f5cd803?m...

Had I known I was going to be quoted in a magazine while giving extemporaneous public remarks, I probably wouldn’t have chosen “it’s a really cool project” as my quote about our next grant, but you know what? It’s a cool project.

In the house with @littlewow.online, Library Freedom Project and @librarypunk.bsky.social for a live recording at Iffy Books!

We @libraryfutures.bsky.social are at the American Library Association conference today in Philly! Come say hi!

Thank you to everyone who made this happen! So proud to continue doing this work with our community!

Riding high off Mamdani's win, the Durham, NC Reddit (an incredibly active community resource) is discussing how we can work together to invite dynamic new progressives to run against a few unpopular electeds to get more done for our city. NYC, I love you. <3

Huh ok