SPRINGSTEEN'S GHOST OF TOM JOAD--It was released 30 years ago today. Some stories like this one are shouting out that #springsteen drew from Journey to Nowhere, the book I did with Michael S. Williamson. HARD.TO.BELIEVE that this much time has passed. Sigh. www.noise11.com/news/bruce-s...

Powerful essay from a hospital bed from Samuel Braslow, who was in my final class last spring at Columbia. "I can’t diet, detox or exercise my way out of cancer." www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/o... 3m

“Five life-changing things that shaped Bruce Springsteen”--Journey to Nowhere, the book I did with Michael S. Williamson, is included in the 5th thing in this BBC Radio podcast. www.bbc.co.uk/.../five-lif....

fuck nimbys www.latimes.com/california/s...

BUZZARD SWARM--Today a cloud of turkey vultures suddenly swirled overhead. There are 41 birds in the frame of this picture. Another 30 or so are out of frame. Never seen anything like this. One could interpret this as a sign of something, but I’m not sure I want to think too much about that.

Sweet! Choke #paulweiss and other #lawfirms such as Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom #caving to #Trump. Hope you suffer millions/billions in losses. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

Fuck my #AI copilot. Die pilot. Leave me alone. Analog baby.

TOTALLY OFFGRID-Power profile for June. ZERO grid electric because of the batteries at night. Exported power every day. Total of 355KW. C02 reduction: 1,400 pounds. we live in a bleak era, who knows what the fools who are now running things will do. Here at this casa, we will never be without power.

ST. LOUIS, 1983--We hopped on a freight train that March with Don, who we documented as he headed west seeking work. I took the pic of Michael S. Williamson either moments before or after he made the image of Don, which appears in our 1985 book Journey To Nowhere.

#FLORIDAMAN! www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

GRADUATION DAY Columbia Journalism--The final graduation ceremony after 34 years of teaching. Next to me is Sam Freedman. It's fitting we "retire" at the same time. We both started at Columbia in 1991. Dean Jelani Cobb gave us a shout out at the end of the ceremony. @columbiajournalism.bsky.social

NEW YORK CITY--May 16, 2025. #trump #fascism

THE LAST DAY--Waiting for students on Thursday at the Columbia Journalism School. My final class after 34 years.

NEW YORK CITY, May 6, 2025--Amsterdam Avenue in the low 100s. This sheaf of plastic was in the gutter, these words written upon it. I asked myself this: WWMSWD? (What would Michael S. Williamson do?) And that is how I shot it.

CLOSE TO THE END-The final reading packet for my @columbiajournalism.bsky.social class, the last in my 34 years of teaching. We're going to talk about demons, how to avoid them and have a good career. Being aware as you go along is critical.

This is our future--even more stupid. A.I. Is Getting More Powerful, but Its Hallucinations Are Getting Worse www.nytimes.com/2025/05/05/t...

MAY 4, 1970--Fifty-five years ago today, the National Guard executed students at Kent State University. They were killing us then. And I fear that kind of thing is not over, not in this current climate. I will always remember Kent State Day. #kentstate

‪ I sound like Joyce Carol Oats in this #writerland post by my @columbiajournalism.bsky.social colleague Michael Shapiro. I wish I were as productive. ‪ thedelacortereview.substack.com/p/chapter-18...

Congrats to my former @columbiajournalism.bsky.social student (1992)@robinmcdowell.bsky.social and to a writer I've long admired, @jonathanblitzer.bsky.social, for winning Hillman prizes! This award honors journalism about the struggles of real people. www.hillmanfoundation.org/hillman-priz...

Two wars, riding the rails, six collaborated books, several hundred stories, and a doc film with Ron Wyman coming-we had a lot to catch up on. Michael S. Williamson was in town for The Association of International Photography Art Dealers. On display: two of Michael’s photos of Sally Mann.

Unlike @columbiauniversity.bsky.social @harvard.edu has a spine. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

@cuimcstandsup.bsky.social I'm a J-school prof coming to the rally Monday. I'd like to talk with someone from CUIMC. If you could DM me on BSky directly that would be most appreciated! Or Signal: WillSpecter1.75 Thanks!

Glad we're not one of those theocracies in the Middle East. www.politico.com/news/2025/04...

FEELING BLUE--like everyone else I know. But getting out of the city a few days ago, I experienced a different kind of blue. Nature. Regeneration. A reminder that one must remain strong, stay healthy. Otherwise, they will win. Being strong means one can continue the work to affect change.

The American people have risen up and they are PISSED AS HELL. #HandsOff

Yay to my former @thenation.com editor @msifry.bsky.social! Great story. A Different Kind of Anti-Trump Resistance Is Brewing www.nytimes.com/2025/04/05/o...

FASCISM-Wikipedia cites me predicting Donald Trump & fascism, via Prof. John Russo. In 1996. Again in 2012, in Someplace Like America, my @ucpress.bsky.social with @mswontheroad.bsky.social. Again: 2021, @unnamedpress.bsky.social Fucked at Birth. Some thought this extreme. I wish I was wrong.

GREAT LEAD @heatherknightsf.bsky.social "Plastic straws are banned in San Francisco, at least if you want to drink a soda or lemonade. Those smoking fentanyl, however, have been able to get them for free, at taxpayers’ expense." www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/u...

LAST MAN STANDING-RIP Joe Lanciotti, who was in #WWII with my father. He was 99. Joe was in my book Bringing Mulligan Home. Joe was part of an 18-year quest to find my father’s friend, whose body was missing. Too much to fit here-check my FB page for more. www.facebook.com/share/p/15yj...

I was under a lot of deadline pressure to make this photo in Selma, Alabama, but I managed to get it in on time.

The trustees of @columbiauniversity.bsky.social, where I work, could learn a lesson from this op-ed. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/30/o...

Different way to look at this: Difficult times prove who is brave. You know who your friends are when the shit hits the fan.

Umm…. Other journalists are finding things too….

NEW — Overlooked in the whole Signal military attack chat scandal is this: Top Trump national security were cheering on the destruction of an entire residential building to kill one suspected terrorist. How many innocent civilians were killed? www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/b... In the 1990s, Klein had me write for @motherjones.com. He said: “I want you to challenge our readers.” In other words, piss off the “good liberals” and make them think. To be intellectually open, not march in lockstep orthodoxy. Great dude, great editor. RIP.

I don't obey.

COLUMBIA PROFESSORS PROTEST -- I joined at least 200 other Columbia professors today to express our disgust with the university's board of trustees caving in to the Trump administrations demands.

My reply to the trustees of @columbiauniversity.bsky.social A note to the trustees: This email is disgusting. I'm ashamed of this university. A profile in cowardice. You have failed your mission and tossed values to the curb. When the history of this era is written, Columbia will not fare well.

We are now Trump's prison bitch. I am ashamed of the university I work for. @columbiauniversity.bsky.social. Lee Bolinger never would have let this happen. We should be leading the fight. Not kissing the ass of power. @columbiajournalism.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/n...

Wish I was with you!

I guess it is illegal to speak ill of the king. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Chuck Schumer Helps Pull Democrats Back From Brink Of Courage

"Billionaire-run economy" From today's Guardian. Yay to Tim Walz

"Let them eat shit." New spin on Marie Antoinette.

I was in Boston this weekend and had a mini-reunion with two fellows from my 1987-1988 #Nieman class, the year-long residency for journalists at #Harvard. Lindsay Miller on my left, Michelle McDonald on my right. My year in intellectual Disneyland. And with great journos/people like them!

The Swastikar. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

The AP sues three Trump officials, alleging they violated the First and Fifth Amendments by banning AP reporters in retaliation for the use of "Gulf of Mexico" (Katie Robertson/New York Times) Main Link | Mediagazer Permalink

Burn baby, burn. Hope worse is to come. Economy an inferno is the only hope to crush #maga. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/b...