Dear AP, children cannot consent to this and Grok is inanimate so can’t come under fire. You’re looking for the words “deep fake child sexual abuse material generator.”

I was watching my son do his homework tonight and realized I had neglected to install ad blockers for him - the websites he was using were completely illegible/the most distracting set of pop ups I’ve ever seen. I installed all the blockers but we’ve really just done broke the internet.

So angry about this/relieved my kids were born when they were.

A few thoughts on why we should let people help us in 2026...and it's the last day for discounted admission to my spring writers' circles, which promise to be the best yet! Come write with me!

This is where I'll be on Sunday in case anyone wants to come hang out! ethical.nyc/events/sunda...

Per NY Times’s Michael Grynbaum on X, this is Sharyn Alfonsi’s email to her “60 Minutes” colleagues in full:

There’s a chabad on our corner (about 15 min from where that happened), and every day the kids and I count the new candle light on the menorah and they sing one of the Hanukkah songs they learned in school. Tonight a cop is sitting directly in front of it and it makes me so angry for our neighbors.

Authors, remember that you CAN insist on human translation for your foreign-language editions and have it written into your contracts. You can no longer just assume you're going to get a human to work on the book whose every word you wrote with intent.

In case you, like me, have a Republican rep and are facing a hike in your insurance premiums, I suggest calling. My rep's staffer sounded very shaken up that our premiums are tripling. "I want to keep my small business and also insure my kids" seemed like an effective message when talking to them.

“6. By the end of the year, many school districts will realize that they have to take a big step back from ubiquitous student laptop use. In addition, the districts that are going all-in on generative AI will realize they have made a massive mistake. A tech counterrevolution will begin.”

10/10

Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.

This is a battle worth fighting - we’ve made it one of our two big issues this year (the other being student-facing AI) and actually been able to get real books back into our kids’ classrooms.

AI Is Not Inevitable join AAUP for a conversation with educators, educator unions, and the Collaborative Research Center for Resilience zoom.us/webinar/regi...

I just wrote, "Hi Matt, It's great to hear from me!" If you're wondering how ready I am for a little vacation this week...

One of my favorite book posts every year!

Proud he’s about to be my mayor.

As we wrap up our AcWriMo mini-retreat, folks wrote 108 (!!) hours today, for a total of 422.5 co-writing hours so far this month - and it's not even half way over yet! So many new words in the world!

Maybe it’s just the Humanities professor in me, but let it be noted that events of today (ahem) have demonstrated the value of being able to assess a large volume of qualitative data and do careful textual analysis with deep attention to context.

New York Times killed Weinstein and Epstein stories but just asked Ms Rachel if she was funded by Hamas.

Was sending a text today and the phone gods decided to autocorrect "myopic vision" to "myopic bison." Fairly sure I need to write a novel about the band Myopic Bison.

"Vote Blue No Matter Who...."

My son, filibustering sleep last night: --how do EpiPens work, in detail? --how did Trump build a winning coalition in 2024 when he sucks so much? --can you explain Gaza to me, with a historical perspective? --do we have a plan in case there's a fire?

The original Dem demands were: 1) Permanent ACA subsidies 2) Medicaid funding restored 3) No more blank checks for the regime (rescission) They dropped Medicaid immediately. Went silent on rescission. Cut back to 1 year of subsidies on Friday. And surrendered today. The Senate Democrats!

Hey if these are your reps it’s a great time to call and say no deal on the government shutdown without an agreement on the ACA. You’d be helping my family!

Just left messages for Schumer and Gillibrand. My husband and I are both self-employed and this will drive our premiums through the roof.

After week one of AcWriMo, we've logged 222 hours of co-writing time, and who knows how many hours of solo writing time. Pretty awesome way to end the week!

What an incredible picture.

“He doesn’t have a mandate” are you fucking kidding? Dick Cheney died the day Zohran is elected he has the mandate of HEAVEN

My kid, up way too late: “sounds like Cuomo was out Mamdanied!”

Over a million votes for Mamdani and counting. In 2021, Adams got 753,000.

nice

Mamdani couldn’t pay for a better closing argument than Stephen Miller, Elon, and Trump all endorsing Cuomo.

My beleaguered husband to my children, just now: "I hate slime and kinetic sand as much as I hate AI. It's gross and gets everywhere and you can't get rid of it."

I love November because it starts with such optimism. We're going to write so many words together! If you want to write, and need some friends to write with, it's not too late to AcWriMo! Read more and sign up here: epilogueediting.substack.com/p/how-to-acw...

The old NYC voting and trick-or-treating combo.

I’m raising funds for the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank today. You Venmo me any amount, I’ll match it and send over the total to LARFB tomorrow! Any amount puts you in a drawing for a free ebook of The Book Proposal Book (giving away 5 copies so you’ve got a good shot) venmo.com/u/Laura-Port...

This is my dream right here.

This just solidified my voting plans. WILL be getting a Halloween Voter sticker. Very excited to vote against Cuomo and his Islamophobia and for Mamdani's vision of what a cosmopolitan city could be.

As if I could love Emma Thompson more.

Ever wondered why AcWriMo works? I break it down for you, right here—come write with us this November!

My kids call all of our high school/college/grad school friends "aunt" and "uncle..." this is so dumb.

Your regular reminder that using any kind of automatic find-and-replace is a bad idea.

Not usually an audiobook person, but somehow had a bunch of credits so I’m listening to Fiona Shaw read me Richard Osman’s new book. I want her narrating everything I listen to for the rest of my life.

Wrote about next steps for practical action after No Kings - with an NYC emphasis. Check it out and get looped in! gregpak.net/2025/10/20/n...

this rocks. when indiana edu killed the student newspaper, Purdue stepped up, printed the forbidden issue, drove it to Bloomington and stocked the boxes.

Three generations of us saying No Kings in Brooklyn. #nokings

I love this