After the Civil War, Carney became the first Black mail carrier in New Bedford, working for the postal service for 32 years. When he died in 1908, Massachusetts ordered all flags lowered to half-mast the first time the state had given such an honor to an African American.

Last day of #BlackHistoryMonth & my nerdlove of all all things post officey goes to William Harvey Carney. Born to enslaved parents on February 29, 1840 , he was the first African American to receive a Medal of Honor and was also the first known black mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Department.

Available from today! 💌

Post a pic you took, no context, to bring some zen to the feed

New literary podcast launching ✨ #BookSky #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

Emily Dickinson’s Herbarium: A Beautiful Digital Edition of the Poet’s Pressed Plants & Flowers Is Now Online

You, an individual, cannot "fix" the whole world. You can act at the scale of your life. You should act at the scale of your life.

it’s very difficult for me to reread old pieces of mine, but I am sharing this for the Olympics, for nostalgia, for Asian American women of a certain age, for little Asian girls everywhere gift link:

I just dropped a new craft post over at @frazzledlit.bsky.social about the inner critic, and the telepathic writer! www.frazzledlit.com/p/destroying...

Roses are red Violets are blue Tá an dán seo I mBéarla Ach Gaeilge abú

Roses are red Violets are purple Violet means purple It's a synonym for purple

Roses are red Violets are blue Prepositions before nouns Create an urú.

OTD 1967, the Frederick Douglass stamp was issued as part of the Prominent Americans stamp series. Like many people born into enslavement, Douglass didn’t know his actual birthday, which was very difficult for him, and later in his life he chose February 14th to celebrate his birth. #DouglassDay

In incredible news, the European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly for "The Full Recognition Of Trans Women As Women." Even the center-right European People's Party voted for the declaration. It will form a foundation for their position at the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Our latest.

This seems like a good place to share that Ireland’s meteorological service is asking the public (from any country) to help with climate change research by “rescuing” millions of historic weather observations currently held in handwritten paper records (1864 to 1951) ☔️ www.met.ie/met-eireann-...

A lot of people really don’t realize that there is a vast amount of information out there that is not online and plausibly never will be, or can’t be.

Over on threads someone just use ai;dr and we all need to adopt that right quick

Sometimes think about freaking out my friends & family and asking them to start calling me by my Irish name. Hated it as a kid but perimenopausal Deborah might reinvent herself as Gobnait.

"this does not need a balm this needs an ending" --Dionne Brand, Nomenclature for the Time Being Audio: milkweed.org/between-the-...

Let the Poets Govern by Camonghne Felix is a meditation on language as both a political force and a moral compass. I went into this arc knowing Felix as a poet but I didn’t know the depth of her work as a political strategist. Its lived experience gives this book its charge and I’m loving it! Mar 3!

Appreciate all of the recommendations in this newsletter, and will definitely be preordering “Let the Poets Govern: A Declaration of Freedom” by Camonghne Felix

Me on the Bluesky map

A new edition of the 1 Million Experiments zine is here! It’s terrific as usual and includes a new zine which is a treasure. To jump-start neighborly relations, try one of the 50 (mostly untried) ways to meet your neighbors. Get into some Porchside Abolition. open.substack.com/pub/millione...

Sojourners for Justice Press's February Newsletter is here: tinyurl.com/5n6eby6c - Of course we are focused on Black History Month and publications by Black people.

(Public) Note to Self: Spend more time in the Quiet Posters feed

On the issue of fighting for equal rights for everybody (rather than group by group, each having to wait their turn), Truth said: “I am for keeping the thing going while things are stirring; because if we wait till it is still, it will take a great while to get it going again."

February 4th 1986, USPS issued a commemorative stamp honoring Sojourner Truth. The Sojourner Truth Project carefully explains and documents the 2 very different versions of Sojourner’s famous speech, Ar'n't I A Woman? - Ain’t I a Woman? sojournertruthmemorial.org/sojourner-tr...

other than some already mentioned here @propublica.org and @hellgatenyc.com (NYC news), @lawdorknews.bsky.social (legal news), @lawfaremedia.org (more legal news), @labornotes.bsky.social (labor news/organizing), @nwlaborpress.org (pacific NW labor news/organizing)

February 4th is the 113th anniversary of the birth of Rosa Parks @zinnedproject.bsky.social has excellent resources on the sanitizing mythology around Parks & how understanding her real history is key to understanding the demands of the present moment. www.zinnedproject.org/materials/ho...

Hammer and hope! hammerandhope.org

Who’s your go-to for well-written, independent journalism with integrity? Beyond @democracynow.org , lately I’ve been reading @truthout.org @theflytrapmedia.com & @boltsmag.org Who else do you recommend? In the U.S. and beyond!

Our submission window for WP 12 opened today - great to see the work coming in. (Window closes midnight 18th Feb) Do encourage interested parties to submit winterpapers.com/submissions

Just started reading this for the group and I can’t even tell you how badly I needed it. Whew I’m only a few chapters in and I can tell you — if you have anything at all to do with any type of organizing, this is 100% a must

Hello, looks like independent publishers should beef up our books coverage. If you're into the idea of joining the @flaminghydra.com collective and writing a book review each month (800-2000 word range), please send us your ideas and some clips to [email protected]

Dear @washingtonpost.com journalists. Solidarity on a terrible day. But also: it’s an opportunity. The @theguardian.com also fucked over its journalists last year. Months later, 5 of us launched @thenerve.news - with zero £ - & it’s working! Rebuild your own media from the ground up 👊👊👊

Most memorable is reading Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster (Jon Krakauer) while hiking to Base Camp in 2010. Don’t recommend.

Politically/consciousness raising: Women, Race & Class (Angela Davis) Gender Trouble (Judith Butler) Borderlands/La Frontera (Gloria E. Anzaldúa) One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This (Omar El Akkad) Being Property Once Myself: Blackness & the End of Man (Joshua Bennett)

What 5 Non-Fiction books have made the most lasting impression on you? Creatively… Madness, Rack & Honey (Mary Ruefle) Regarding the Pain of Others (Sontag) Black Boy (Richard Wright) The Woman Warrior (Maxine Hong Kingston) How to Write an Autobiographical Novel (Alexander Chee) #BookSky

On ya Whitechurch! Love to see it ✊🏼 (Grew up on the Green in the 80s/90s. Furry Bog 4vr 🙌🏻)

Something to raise at People Before Profit meeting this Saturday.

Today, I am matching donations to any org in this list, up to $1000. Reply here or DM me with receipt. www.standwithminnesota.com

Seen today in Venice, Italy @radicalgraffiti.bsky.social

In Barcelona, by TV Boy. It’s right by the Joanic Metro stop, for anybody else who lives here or is visiting.

This is one of the most important cases that galvanized Black people in the late 40s through the 1950s. Almost every major Black leader had a comment about it. It is also one of the most successful defense committees that was organized in the 20th century. Almost no one knows about it today.

Lots of good SF books (and books about speculative fiction & related topics) coming out this spring: check out our latest call for reviews & essays!