This week, I withdrew from a speaking engagement at a public university because they sent me a list of prohibited “words & concepts.” I will not humor this censorship. It does a disservice to the stories I’m discussing & the audience, who deserve unfettered access to information & conversation.

#gunsareforcowards #repealthesecondamendment

That kitten will rip your eyes out and walk away with your wallet.

Black folks, Brown folks, other People of Color, Muslims, queers (particularly trans folks) etc, etc, are who these white dudes are always warning you against but for fuck's sake all the Epstein child rapists are rich cishet white men. You want a monster so bad, look in the mirror, Carl.

I have heard the voices. And obeyed.

Department of extremely weird statistics: The 7th and 20th wards of Chicago are the only wards without a Catholic church.

I really shouldn’t bid on this wax Jimmy Carter, but I have to admit that it’s really tempting and three grand seems like a bargain to have the greatest president of my lifetime immortalized in wax in my own home.

My latest cartoon for @theguardian.com books pages.

Hot dogs, martians?

Just sent out an advance reading packet with a knockout array of poems about food. Want a look? My seminar, "An Appetite for the Page," is this Sunday (11/16), 1-4 PM ET online with the wonderful @poetcamp.bsky.social. Sliding scale registration & a couple of seats left! poetcamp.com/an-appetite-...

Laughter is the best medicine, except for medicine.

I’m sorry I just found out that in 1379, as in, 650 years ago, a baby girl was born in Yorkshire and named Diot Coke history is a fucking joke lmao

I did not see this twist coming. But it is starting to fill in some missing pieces.

Change a letter, make a singer less appealing: Bozo. #pbd

Change a letter. Make a singer less appealing Manonna

My cats are in the bathtub hiding from the robot vacuum cleaner

Repost with an iconic fictional band:

More people should be ashamed of more things

Hi writers! I’m looking to assign a couple of features for Slate before the end of the year. If you have anything in mind that you think would be a fit please send me a pitch! Jenée.Desmond- [email protected] or dm me. RTs are appreciated so this can reach more people. Thanks!

My daughter is now officially hooked on What We Do in the Shadows and correctly pegged Colin Robinson as the best character on the show by the second episode.

The whole concept of The Thundermans makes no sense. If you’re trying to be incognito, why would you use your superhero name as your last name? It’s like if Clark Kent went by Clark Superman instead.

This is the best possible explanation of fedora man.

“You’ll never make it work,” they said. “It’s hubris to even try it,” they said.

Saw Steve Hackett perform live last night—fantastic show—but looking around the theatre, I realized that the median age of the audience had to be over 65 (it would have been easy to count the audience members who did NOT hav grey hair)

We really gotta stop letting the stupidest people in the country dictate the terms of political discourse, enough is enough

So I’m thinking I’d like to participate in the broadview anti ice protests Saturday morning. Do I just show up with my sign? Anything I should know beforehand?

This really hasn’t gotten enough attention this week. @wired.com #ICE www.wired.com/story/fbi-wa...

average bluesky poster

Recruit a Democrat. Every seat. Every state. Waves need someone to ride them. Call your state party, sign up to run, or volunteer. Make the GOP fight for every inch. Let’s go! No seat left empty!

New awareness campaign

Yes! Tits up, tyranny down!

So the election results at this time show all the key elections on NPR’s key elections page going exactly the way I would like them to. The country has gotten a little better today.

I love the smell of onions and mustard in the morning Smells like victory

Your life is worse off because too many white people hate Black people.

In today’s email, page proofs for a publication I forgot was forthcoming.

@bigschnozyorca.bsky.social is opening for poetry submissions later tonight. Always great to be in print and even better to get paid for it.

Frankenstein, or, I Don't Mean to Be Pedantic, But He's the Doctor Not the Monster h/t NPR’s news quiz

If you see this, quote tweet with a vampire that's not Dracula.

Dropped off nine rolls of toilet paper 🧻 at my kids’ school for their Halloween party. They’re either doing mummies or having bran muffins.

Remember back in the day you wrote your own emails, took your own photos, and thought your own thoughts. The only difference nowadays is that big tech wants you to believe you never could and still can’t, so should have AI do it for you. I believe in you way more than I do big tech. You should too.

COUNT I Kat Abughazaleh did, while law enforcement was in heated pursuit, paint what appeared to be the entrance to a cave on a sheer rock wall, causing law enforcement to forcibly bonk into said wall. COUNT II The same thing on a different wall, but then a train came out and ran us over???

The boy spoke two words, the first a short guttural verb, the second “you.” (Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon)

POV you’re still not married and your grandparents just found the nicest boy with a good job they want you to meet