“Real journalism aspires to be the opposite of bullshit. You can be a great journalist without being attractive, friendly, likeable, charismatic, as long as you possess a determination to root out and expose bullshit wherever it is found. Indeed, many… are unlikeable because [we] have this quality.”

My 86-year-old grandmother has always been the biggest cheerleader of my writing career, but I didn’t realize it was such a short fall from the tree. This week she dug out some high school newspapers she used to write for. Here’s her “senior prophecy” - big dreams from tiny Holly Hill, SC c.1956.

ICYMI yesterday -- good walk-through of the whole process to date: www.postandcourier.com/politics/sc-...

My boyfriend has done an experiment and if you want a bar full of bros eating out of your hand at karaoke: do Teenage Dirtbag

Big big news on #AI from my colleagues @pen-guild.bsky.social representing @eenews.bsky.social @politico.com

At the grocery store, innocently shopping, when “Sweetness” by Jimmy Eat World comes on over the speakers. I and the two other millennial strangers in my aisle, simultaneously activating like sleeper agents: “WHOA-OH-OH-OH-OHHH”

Short-lived victory for SC Dems. "While Senate lawmakers May 12 required a two-thirds majority to amend the sine die agreement, supporters would need just a simple majority to redraw legislative maps during a special session." www.postandcourier.com/politics/sc-...

Breaking: South Carolina Senate rebuffs Trump, declines to take up redistricting before midterms, preserving Jim Clyburn's majority-Black district South Carolina State Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey: "We are the most gerrymandered Republican state in the country already"

Breaking news: Indiana University plant microbiologist Roger Innes has been locked out of his laboratory by the school in response to a request by one of his federal funders. The move comes after Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs. https://scim.ag/4tsDqRr

Anyway I came back from a reporting trip with a cold as a souvenir, went out to buy ice cream to supplement my sad Friday night in, and am very cheered up by this Japanese ice cream peach I found at my local grocery store 😍🍑

Appreciate that many of these responses are reminders to prioritize ordinary people, not access to power. Get out on the streets. Talk to regular folks. Dive into neglected topics. Venerate local news. Punch up. Makes me want to weep that any of it even needs saying. www.notus.org/perspectives...

Words fail me; Alabama Senate is meeting as the building is being vacated.

I try to book quirky boutique hotels/bnbs as often as they fit my travel budgets, journo’s impulse to roll the dice on cute/weird/amusing experiences. On a work trip atm, check in at my hotel & clerk hits me with “OK your room is gonna be hard to find so please pay attention.” Success

Great to see Gabriela Lena Frank win the Pulitzer for music for "Picaflor: A Future Myth" (influenced by her own experiences with California wildfires - climate change & culture, y'all). My ensemble performed one of her choral works a few years ago & it was very cool www.youtube.com/watch?v=78sd...

Popped into a different coffee shop than my usual this afternoon. Barista seemed to get my aesthetic. 💀

The White House has cited a Supreme Court case to justify firing the National Science Board. The 2021 case (U.S. v. Arthrex) reviewed the authority of non-Senate confirmed patent judges, and WH says it raises questions about NSB's own authority. But... 🧵 subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...

Kinda wish I hadn’t read this right before bed, because the only thing that squicks me out more than thinking about death is thinking about the upper crust’s pursuit of immortality. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/24/m...

$7/hour as a library page in high school, 2008 (which was actually strangely higher than the minimum wage at the time). I eventually wised up, quit that job and started teaching piano instead for $10/half hour lesson, more efficient use of my hours and slightly more fun 😅

Ah so it’s time for my annual spring cleaning [a small recon party of ants appears in my apartment and I spend an entire evening cleaning/dousing every surface in vinegar while also paradoxically trying very hard not to squish any of them because I’m a comically absurd bleeding heart]

Can’t believe I’m gonna get up and casually go to work tomorrow after seeing Innocence at the Met tonight, need like 24 hours to ruminate. (Searing, devastating, brilliantly performed, incredibly staged, just wow, etc.)

Now, here's something special: The Provincetown Independent, a high-quality local news outlet, is hiring a managing editor. Pay is $80k-$100k, and it comes with housing, subsidized by its nonprofit arm, as well as a chance to earn equity. #journalism cdn.provincetownindependent.org/2026/04/Prov....

Forbes is gamifying news about the horrific mass shooting in Shreveport, LA this weekend, encouraging readers to bet on the likelihood of gun regulation with fake money via its "ForbesPredict" feature. Eight children were murdered in the shooting. futurism.com/future-socie...

I get to write about some pretty unusual medical case reports for @livescience.com, and this one was a doozy. A woman in the UK suddenly started hearing voices urging her to get medical attention for a brain tumor, despite having no symptoms or prior diagnosis. The "voices" turned out to be right 🧪

When I was a kid I decided my fav dinosaur was Allosaurus because 1) it had to be some kind of terrifying predator (extremely on brand for little me) and 2) couldn’t be T-Rex or Velociraptor because they were already too popular (also extremely on brand, unfortunately). I’ve let it stick as an adult

Hitting this stage today with another big project 😈 Have to add: I f'ing love this part of this process. I think there's genuinely smart uses of AI for research/organizing. But personally cannot imagine how I'd wrap my thoughts around a big investigation if I didn't outline/write through it myself.

Many in Jasper County, SC are "feeling crunched by the lack of affordable housing and the rising costs associated with the arrival of wealthier residents. Some have been priced out of Hardeeville and forced to move into mobile homes and campers." Hurt to read this www.nytimes.com/2026/04/12/u...

Glad to see this story in the P&C. Have a huge soft spot for alligators -- my grandparents lived on a reservoir and I grew up watching these guys sunning themselves in the backyard. www.postandcourier.com/news/special...

Great story by Adam Aton & Jeff Tomich - "Although states have preempted local laws for decades, experts say the newest wave is more intense. Broad preemptions driven by industry and ideological interests are now a normalized feature of the U.S. policy landscape." www.eenews.net/articles/cap...

We are very, very glad that the PG is surviving! We’re eager to turn over a new leaf with new owners who value journalism, and respect Pittsburgh. We’re also concerned by the new ownership's public statements regarding job cuts.

you shouldn’t learn about bands from shady TikTok manipulation, you should learn about bands by hanging out with a girl you like but are also extremely afraid of

God the 30s really are just one inexplicable physical injury after another, huh

Great summary of the cognitive dissonance of seeing the U.S. celebrate the Artemis mission while the current administration cuts science, by @chelseaeharvey.bsky.social in @eenews.bsky.social www.eenews.net/articles/art...

If you are not Southern, and you make snotty/uninformed cracks about the South, you should not be allowed to use the word y’all :)

Been studying Japanese for a few years now, and now I know a new phrase. 💡

Addressing a climate science deniers conference, EPA chief Lee Zeldin acknowledged his presence meant the "walls have collapsed" between federal government and a fringe group of contrarians that other administrations kept at arm's length. w/ @chemnick.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/2026/04...

Artemis is "an echo of what America could still be, but is not today, because of the attacks on science," Rep. Whitesides told me. The mission has captured imaginations worldwide—but also casts Trump's deep proposed cuts to federal research into sharp relief. My story: www.eenews.net/articles/art...

the realest part of The Metamorphosis is how on top of everything he is still expected to show up at the office somehow

Got a series of visualizations for y'all today illustrating the record-breaking first quarter the American West experienced in terms of heat, drought and snowpack declines -- and what that might portend for the months ahead: www.eenews.net/articles/hea...

People should actually be very alarmed that while AP's business model is shot to bits, Americans are still very much reliant on the news it delivers. The alternatives in some cases are inferior or non-existent. apnews.com/article/news...

Taking a break from Civil War history this Easter weekend to get started on the latest installment in my fav Sister Holiday series (about a queer punk rocker turned crime-solving nun, super fun, recommend)

Saw these guys perform tonight and it was SO fun (also I haven’t fallen down a genre rabbit hole in a while and I think I’m about to get really into cumbia/chicha) www.wnyc.org/story/new-yo...

BREAKING: In response to huge cuts in Trump's budget request, NSF is shuttering its SBE directorate. Staff will be transferred to other parts of the agency and "grants that align with Administration priorities" will be maintained. That & more w/ @maxkozlov.bsky.social & @edwrdchen.bsky.social

“among roughly 2 dozen workers and regulars interviewed this week at Rome’s three Waffle House locations, none said they were aware of anyone traveling to the 24-hour restaurants by paranormal means” It is just a bonkers experience to be a reporter these days, y’all www.nytimes.com/2026/04/03/u...

In case you missed it - a great story on the difficulty of property tax reform in NYC. “It’s one of those things where, when you push one button, two other buttons light up." www.politico.com/news/2026/03...

Actually a pretty fun exercise X is the new... very, very poisonous poison dart frog ...extremely fast-acting quicksand pit ...exposed high-voltage power line

You know that psychological phenomenon where you start paying attention to a specific word or phrase and then you hear it everywhere? I see "third rail" in like every other article I read lately and now (putting on the writer's hat) I'm struggling to think of another equally effective metaphor 🤔

Interesting story by @saraschonhardt.bsky.social: "Pakistan’s experience could be difficult to replicate... Regulatory barriers, the presence of alternative fuels like coal, and the length of the crisis will determine how quickly [other countries] can scale up solar" www.eenews.net/articles/war...

OK for fun: top funniest tweet ever? I am torn between "moon's haunted" and "Denise I was at your wedding."

👇 www.npr.org/2026/03/31/n...