of all of Coates’ many, many valiant stands in this horrible political era, one that i am most grateful for and wish more writers of his stature would emulate: consistently centering the fight for trans justice.

Magnificent piece of writing, infused with the outlaw country music spirit

ICE has erected a gate to keep protesters out. They are blocking a public street, despite the Broadview Fire Department ordering ICE to tear it down. Join us at 1930 Beach Street. 7-9 AM. Tell Broadview to tear this fence down.

Menominee and Palestinian solidarity with all immigrants.

Hegseth has long praised murderers. Worth reading @gregjaffe.bsky.social Clint Lorance’s platoon. Lorance, “a man they blamed for ruining their lives, an officer the Army convicted of second-degree murder” was championed by Hegseth before Trump pardoned him. www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/202...

“They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.” Jonah 2:8

The only thing that I know about the male loneliness epidemic for sure is the people who are selling men cures for it are almost universally making it worse. You can't get strong as fuck and defeat loneliness or whatever, you have to consider other options that aren't part of your current toolkit.

Say hello to our little friends 🙂 Forced germination has made our acorn chums think they have been through winter, & they have extended their taproots to search for moisture Time to find them homes

The taproot is an acorn’s lifeline It searches for depth to source moisture & anchor the seed. The straighter & deeper the taproot goes, the greater the root system & as a consequence, the tree itself If the taproot is damaged, the seedling dies.

453 years ago, on the 24th of September 1572, the last Sapa Inca, Túpac Amaru, was convicted for the murder of priests in Vilcabamba and beheaded by Spanish conquistadors. Amaru became Sapa Inca in 1571, after the death of his brother. He was 27 years old when he died. #otd #history #inca 🗃️

“The emergence of a world civilization…will go on exacting, a tremendous human cost in the death or near death of cultures. And this will be made worse because those who dominate modern civilization have trouble grasping what the costs involve.” On Jonathan Lear (RIP) www.nybooks.com/articles/200...

I always share this quote, which I *hope* speaks to them at least a little.

“why some people be mad at me sometimes” they ask me to remember but they want me to remember their memories and i keep remembering mine - Lucille Clifton [writing the most Black woman poem of all time]

Extremely fast sketch of a noble face from thousands of years ago, preserved by mummification.

I refused to placate the bully. Then I refused to placate the institutions who placated the bully. Then I refused to placate the shills who placate the institutions who placate the bully. I'm still standing; the rest are down. Never placate the bully.

If you are involved in the arts in any way, you should know about Fall of Freedom. Let’s do something about this, together www.falloffreedom.com

Many media outlets hid the full truth of Trump -- his background in organized crime, his Epstein ties -- out of fear, only to be obliterated by him in the end. Had they not self-censored then, they might not be state-censored now. When you hide the truth, you face the consequences.

Hell of a photo by my former Chicago Tribune colleague Stacey Wescott from a protest today at an ICE facility in the Chicago suburbs. Read the sign at the bottom. @staceywescott.bsky.social

The Trump administration has finally released Ayman Soliman, a beloved former children’s hospital chaplain in the Cincinnati area

Portishead reunited (in a live pre-taped format) for Palestine, and this moving rendition of Roads gave me shivers. #musicsky #freepalestine

This is today’s calamity—the collective shadow, the general unconsciousness. There are people who believe that the few who are conscious can hold the world against annihilation, but I am afraid of the terrific power of general unconsciousness. ~ CG Jung

Nothing you say today will teach you anything. You must learn by listening and watching

There's a lovely review of my haiku collection Belfast Twilight at this link.

I wrote a thing. As someone who survived the 1970s and kept the receipts.

I keep thinking things can't get stupider and yet they just keep getting stupider.

"We must not be frightened nor cajoled into accepting evil as deliverance from evil. We must go on struggling to be human, though monsters of abstraction police and threaten us." —Robert Hayden

No to violence. No to winking at violence.

In the same way I'm opposed to the death penalty, even for people who definitely did commit heinous crimes, I'm opposed to political violence even against people who definitely do advocate for heinous positions. A functioning society cannot tolerate vigilantism.

Political violence is bad. It usually begets more political violence. Celebrating political violence is bad. It usually encourages more political violence, against various targets. Campus shootings are bad. They make everyone on campus less safe. It's bad that what I wrote here is controversial.

If I have any credibility with you from 20 years of reporting on rightwing & fascist movements, please listen when I beg you not to celebrate Charlie Kirk getting shot. Leave aside morality: this isn’t a match in dry grass, it’s a torch. We do not want what this could ignite & we would not win.

We’re quite deep within the Singularity right now, though it’s turned out be the Singularity of Stupid (SoS), which effectively prevents the original concept of the Singularity from happening.

I’d rather exercise my demons than exorcise them because they’d look cute in leg warmers and I’m conflict averse anyways

I think this may be what they're worried about ... Is This The Hidden Part of the Trump-Epstein Drama? talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/is-th...

A little treat for Empire Strikes Back fans: extensive description of Leigh Brackett's contributions to the screenplay, which were substantial, especially in terms of subplots and locations. www.denofgeek.com/movies/star-...

Writing is not an arcane art. It is translating thoughts from your head to another's and trying to get them to feel the way you feel. Most everyone has the power to do this. The *ART* of writing comes from the alchemy of everything that makes you YOU- your fears, failures, hopes, voice & background.

Some hopeful reading for my climate class at Harvard. (from "Not Too Late" by @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social)

Wonderful haibun by Clare McCotter.

That's because it's the least troubling thing about him. Plenty of us overcome addictions, including addictions to hard drugs. He's a charlatan, a fraud, and his ideas and edicts are killing people. People focus on that stuff because it's what matters.

And in the end, I think he came up with a take on grace a lot more genuine than any number of paintings of Extremely White Jesus in freshly laundered robes on cloud background. Thus endeth the screed.

The places where you actually NEED grace are filthy and bloody and despairing. Grace is the last cigarette shared in the gutter, the hand of the dying being held by the stranger, the kindness done by the broken.

Seamus Heaney's last words noli timere (don't be afraid) texted to his wife, Marie, minutes before he died (August 30, 2013).

This is an extraordinary, beautiful novel. I teach it as part of a graduate fiction seminar at NYU and I am still unpicking its mysteries.

Let’s defeat fascism but, like, in a super respectable way that doesn’t offend anyone, lmao.

Yet again, this Michael Rosen poem hits the bullseye.

making my way through the ken burns JAZZ documentary and this portion of his interview with dave brubeck — who passed in 2012 — is a reminder of how *recent* american history really is. start at :55 or so. youtu.be/stadqAHRroA?...

- Our medical system is expensive and incredibly hard to understand and get help from. Our mental health system even more so. And the people most in need of help are often the people least equipped to navigate it. Rick drove a delivery truck. He didn’t have much money or insurance or time.

Here are some reasons Rick died: - Our society treats mental illness as a character flaw, it blames the sick person in a way we never do with cancer or other diseases - Depression throws a blurry curtain over the world, then tells you that’s how the world really looks

Okay, there’s something I need to do every August 24th. I need to tell you to not give up on your mental health, yourself, this world, or hope. My brother Rick should be turning 63 today but he died at age 44 due to depression and other mental health problems. He shouldn’t have. (🧵)

The Republican Party and the Trump Administration have defined themselves for all time with this frenzied cover-up of their leader's role in the Epstein case. About child rape, trafficking, etc. The truth lies in what they covered up, not what a convicted criminal was bribed to say.