As a translator of poetry, I agree. AI can NEVER capture the nuance of sentiment & meaning contained in poetry. As Heaney famously said, poets channel feeling into words. And as another poet I admire has said, poets summon meaning from elsewhere. It’s a transfer of ineffable energy no AI could grasp

ICE is not winding down in Minnesota. They are, in fact, winding up. www.mprnews.org/live-updates And our politicians are doing nothing. @governorwalz.mn.gov @ltgovflanagan.mn.gov @amyklobuchar.com @smith.senate.gov @mccollum.house.gov @angiecraigmn.bsky.social

Ed Krassenstein Minnesota police announce the arrest of ICE and Homeland Security Backgrounder Rashad Johnson of Maple Grove on charges related to underage sex trafficking. The Trump administration allowed him to have a high security clearance. The sickness runs deep!

Cartoon by Dave Granlund

The absolute fuck

Favorite #LOTR line: "You *will* suffer me." What's yours?

Unpopular opinion: higher ed studio arts programs could absolutely grow enrollment if they offered their 4-hour classes outside of the 8a-5p window.

Struck by the mad desire to buy a Bob Ross DVD and hit Michael's up for oils, brushes, and canvas just to try to make something beautiful, while also knowing deep down I have the artistic skills of a 14-week old forgotten potato.

The movie they make about Tulsi Gabbard's infiltration of US intelligence is going to simultaneously be a haunting look at the most damaging intelligence failure in US history and a hilarious romp about the stupidest fucking people alive

"LIS students who don’t come from a solidly upper- or upper-middle-class background will either need to take out expensive private loans or will just not be able to attend grad school." Thank you for this, @violetbfox.bsky.social acrlog.org/2025/07/24/o...

The Epstein files convince me that unlimited wealth, or constant access to it, has a similar effect to vampiric immortality--it erodes your humanity until only a monster is left.

I joked earlier this week that I only want to learn to play guitar if I can play like Slash and Knopfler within a month. SomeGuyOnTheInternet(tm) told me I need to learn to buckle down & put in the effort to learn something. Sir. I hold 6 masters degrees & 2 different doctorates. Take all the seats.

Red Ogre (@ogre.red) gets rights to your work upon *submission*. And those rights are ridiculous. They can change your work, not credit you, use your work for advertising, or put it in an anthology. Don't submit to this one, folks.

You are telling me my Gmail throws ads at me for things I whisper in my sleep, but these billionaires were literally openly talking about pedophilia 24-7 via unencrypted accounts and no one noticed and no online ad shouted it out while their phone speaker was on?

Gaiman ends that statement by thanking “so many of you” for “your belief in my innocence and your support for my work.” Notice how he links belief in his innocence with support for his work. Stop. Supporting. His. Work.

My toxic trait is that I really want to learn to play guitar, but only if I can play like both Slash and Knopfler within a few weeks.

Please share news of this online workshop by the Friends of the British Columbia Archives and Archives Association of British Columbia. Behind the Scenes: Archival Donations and Appraisal Lisa Glandt and Lara Wilson Sunday, February 22 2026 | 2:00pm Register Here: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

It's hard. "Can you separate the art from the artist"--I got asked that 1 million times in the last decade. It took a long time but I came up with my answer to that Kobayashi Maru dilemma. Talked about it with @colehaddon.bsky.social in 5am Storytalk in 2024: colehaddon.substack.com/p/q-and-a-jo...

all those people complaining about a protest in church are going to rise up over this too right?

I am at the embarrassing stage of soliciting blurbs for my newest poetry collection and am cheekily reaching out to my favorite poets and it makes me want to DIE, please send pet pics so save me...

10/10 ICE protest sign

I adore @phillychapbook.bsky.social-proud to have 5 #poems there, all improved through Aiden & team's kind editorial work. You can read "Si No Sana Hoy, Sanará Mañana," "Inflammation As Girl," "Spivey’s II," "Mothers," & "Brentwood’s Daughter" now! #booksky #criplit @blueskypoetry.bsky.social 💙📚 📖 📝

Really proud to have my #poem "Trickster Gods Play Games With a Fourteen-Year Old Girl" in @dodgingtherain.bsky.social ! #booksky 💙📚 @blueskypoetry.bsky.social 📝 📖 ☁️📚 #poetry

Governor of TX just notified us our uni, along with other state agencies, cannot file any new petitions to sponsor a nonimmigrant worker under the H1-B program. A whole bunch of folks are about to get very surprised about how many critical industries depend on foreign workers for their expertise.

1/27/2026 - Minneapolis ICE just attempted an illegal entry into the ECUADORIAN CONSULATE to abduct someone They did not have a warrant

Those men using Grok to take clothes off of pictures of children are just Epstein but poor.

This isn’t just “owning the libs” — this is the highest office in the nation using technology to lie to the entire world. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

Uh. So ICE just technically tried to invade Ecuador. Cool new international incident dropping.

I am. But there are three things at play here regarding ICE collecting private data. Quick rundown on the issue, why you should be paying attention, and what I'm doing about it:

I don’t need a romantic relationship, I just need someone to brush my hair back, tell me I’m pretty, and buy me nail polish

In case anyone forgot, this administration had already prohibited public funding of mRNA vaccine research. Moderna was one of the single biggest private funders of mRNA vaccine research. This will set us back decades.

Exploring PhD programs. 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀

I need an interview with this person immediately what is it like to be the one and only Londoner to go see the Melania movie? and why?

Taxes filed. Someone please clap for me accomplishing some small semblance of adulting.

Remember: getting rid of Bovino is not enough (and he's not gone, just demoted to continue to torture people). Homan is no better and the same fascists still make up the ICE workforce. Remind @schumer.senate.gov who seems to think ICE can be reformed.

The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents border patrol officers at the National Border Patrol Council, calls on Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller to resign or be fired

The biggest risk in this moment is something sociologists call “symbolic compliance.” That’s when an institution that is violating civil rights gives the public just enough symbolic victories that accountability efforts lose steam before there has been any meaningful change.

Bovino doesn't just go home. Kristi Noem doesn't get to ride off into the sunset with Corey Lewandowski on her horse. Stephen Miller doesn't get to order federal agencies to break the law and then move over to Fox News. Investigate, prosecute, punish. No one is above the law.

I still wear a mask, A plea to lapsed maskers, Covid collapsing public health, causing neurological complications & a dementia timebomb, and more open.substack.com/pub/johndupu...

I spent my morning putting this guide together from sources all over the place. Happy to hear from anyone with suggested inclusions, deletions, or edits. [email protected], or you can hit my DMs here. Please share!

Again this feels like he wrote it. Obama’s feels like it might have passed through some hands, but notably neither statement tells people to stand down.

I know it's punishment of a blue state, but did the GOP think Minnesota would be a good place to start with aggressive ICE deployment because we think of it as so heavily white, and expected white folks not to complain so much?

A mythologist's thoughts & prayers: May all Christofascists meet the Jesus they say they believe in, & may brownskinned Jesus have an oak table ready for them, & strength in his hand to wield it. & after his ungentle ministerings, may they find the Erinyes, Nemesis, & Kali waiting for nexts. 1/2

I think about Elijah McClain a lot. How he was a sweet, lovely young soul who used to play the violin for stray cats. How brutally his young life ended and how the State sent riot police to interrupt the violin vigil in his name. The cruelty was always the point.

Kash Patel today: "You cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want." Kash Patel in 2021: "This is what Fight with Kash is for. We will help Kyle Rittenhouse."

I spent the most formative years of my political life reading headlines like this seemingly every week.

Seen in Los Angeles (Credit: Zurita Carpio)

CBP chief Bovino has confirmed that the officers who executed Alex Pretti in the street yesterday are not only *not on administrative leave,* they have all been reassigned to other jurisdictions and are all on the street today. This is totally unheard of for any officer-involved shooting