www.nature.com/articles/d41... Vaccines save lives

Zoya got chill protocol meds to go to the vet this afternoon and well, she’s knocked out. Almost couldn’t jump on the bed

Dr. McMahon AND his wife (an instructor of village CHA/Ps) are incredibly kind, smart, dedicated, caring, people. I cannot say well enough how enormous their contributions are to public health in rural AK. I hope that Alaska, at least, continues to respect their vaccine recommendations.

I really can't emphasize enough that if you care about local politics, all you gotta do is show up. Just a regular schmegular person showing up. Literally just show up consistently in person and within a remarkably short amount of time, you will have a shocking amount of influence.

I guess it’s almost time for my annual “drive to Anchorage in an ice storm hellscape” trip, and this time I’ll be signing books at Title Wave on Saturday with my @porphyrypress.bsky.social pressmate John Messick. Come see us if you can? Send road reports? 😬

Pinks around 9pm

This Thanksgiving, I'm reminded that too many Alaskan families still struggle to put food on the table while programs like SNAP are politicized. Let's uphold our values and ensure no one goes hungry. If you're able, please support your local food bank or the Food Bank of Alaska: fba.givecloud.co

As Native American Heritage Month ends, I’m reflecting on what I heard in Southeast: too many barriers and outside rules, and too little respect for local knowledge. Food sovereignty, safety, and self-determination are basic rights. It should be easier for communities to take care of their own.

My official position is that I’d vote for a ham sandwich for Alaska Governor if that ham sandwich could beat Bernadette Wilson

OPINION: "Young people of all genders need to learn how to be healthy friends, healthy bystanders, and healthy romantic and sexual partners—and indeed are capable of learning this when given the right tools and support," Laura Norton-Cruz writes.

Wow maybe Karoline Leavitt will get it now

Back when I was an anxious baby writer I remember reading @kameronhurley.com ‘s blog where she talked unashamedly about her day job and it was incredibly encouraging to hear that yes you could do it and no it wasn’t perfect and sometimes it sucked but there was a path forward

I always appreciate everything @shanders.bsky.social has to say about the writing life. As a writer with a day job who used to be extremely worried about the money/ writing time equation, this is an important one

Hopefully at some point over this weekend I will get to work on the novel to find out if divorced 50 year old Katniss is going to hook up with her ex during the peace talks or not. Remains to be seen

Having the Wednesday before thanksgiving scaries knowing I have a metric f***ton of things to get done at day job work before Monday that are going to go into the weekend. Sigh

Happy shortest workweek of the year to all who celebrate

Woman at the checkout: “we were wondering when someone was going to buy that squash” Lo and behold it has a home now, with me

I will be so happy when all of my FDA submissions are over and I can take comp time because good god drug submissions are time sucks

Democratic Congressional Candidate Reverend Matt Schultz speaks to a “small crowd” at the IBEW hall in Fairbanks, Alaska on November 21, 2025. Photo by Mai Linh McNicholas

I’ve hit whatever level of running my own thanksgivings (7 years and counting) that this year I outsourced the turkey to my friends husband who loves to cook meat. Buckle up, Heather and Chad do Thanksgiving incoming

The average Dem voter has no idea at all who George Soros is while the average MAGA voter views him as all-powerful leader of Dem voters

Time for some research reading

A friend of mine is alpha reading my book as I’m editing it and apparently my main character is funny which I was not expecting I’m glad- my work can be a little overly serious at times and I tried hard to keep everything a little lighter for this book prose wise

A lot of people didn’t like the Washington Post journalist who was tortured and dismembered with a bone saw for writing critically about the man sitting next to me

Day after tomorrow in Fairbanks!

This is alarmingly true. I anticipated being like “yes, it’s a book, reading it is what people will do with it” but I too have yet to be normal abt it. I even got emotional when a family friend told me her giant puppy ate part of her copy. I’m like “omg first dog eaten copy can I share this??” So:

If you miss literary Twitter please take a moment to participate lithub.com/what-was-lit...

I'm often surprised at the number of people who think elected office/serving the people is a competitive sport. There should never be winners AND losers. Only winners. If you pass good policy, we all win. If I do, we all win. This is literally the largest group project ever.

Time to bring back this Patricia Lockwood banger.

My hot take is that the only group that came out of theranos looking good is Big Pharma because they didn’t fall for that shit For the record I read the NYer article about her as a college chemistry major and thought the science made no sense. Same with most scientists and MDs I know

‘Death remains my intimate shadow partner. It has been with me since birth, always hovering close by. I understand one day we will finally waltz together into the ether. I hope when that time comes, I die with the satisfaction of a life well-lived, unapologetic, joyful, & full of love.’ —Alice Wong

I was about to give up on booktok and then I found out that @elnorterecuerda.bsky.social is on it. This is legitimately the most exciting thing I have ever heard about booktok

The adventures of divorced Katniss at 50 continue!

2 weeks ago it was 40 degrees and raining and now it’s -13 at my house. Fairbanks never disappoints

Whelp the book went in a direction I was not expecting tonight. Go developmental editing for strengthening the connective tissue between things and making it clear why things aren’t working and new ideas

“I was curious about what would happen if that dehumanizing gaze was refracted towards whiteness. As the project took shape, the work led away from a straightforward reversal in gaze into a questioning of who has agency over how they’re perceived.” - @akwenstrup.bsky.social

What: Food Drive for Bread Line Who: Interior Democrats Where: drop off at FEA Union Hall, 2118 South Cushman When: Monday-Friday 9-5, through December 10th Bread Line is in constant need of non-perishable snack items, socks, and many other things. Please visit breadlineak.org/donate/ for ideas

if you aren’t pivoting to pumping Medicare for All from here you’ve lost the script. the republicans are correct that it is insane to pay these corrupt corporations billions to then deny our claims, stop giving them our issues to lie about

Thimerosal has formula C9H9HgNaO2S. It is not mercury. The systematic name for thimerosal is Ethyl(2-mercaptobenzoato-(2-)-O,S) mercurate(1-) sodium. Chemicals aren’t the sum of their parts. Chemical bonds change everything about behavior. 1/

This post is seconded by Zoya who was once a German shepherd puppy who ended up at animal control at 10 months

Fairbanks: There are ten German Shepherd puppies at animal control!! Me: If you are adopting a German Shepherd puppy at animal control please take it to obedience classes and socialize it because otherwise it’s going to end up right to back at animal control in 6 months Just a PSA

Cannot wait for the day that Sung Ju’s book is out in the world

The transition to the dark part of winter (November- February) really caught me off guard this year and snuck up on me. But so far looks like it’s going to be a very productive writing season, hopefully punctuated with time to get outside with the dogs/ the husband and staying healthy

Old one but a good one from the queen of essays herself - Jo Ann Beard - always worth a re-read www.newyorker.com/magazine/199...

Edited an interesting chapter last night with a character who only appears in that one chapter, around the midpoint (she’ll come back later because this is supposed to be a trilogy and you need some characters like that). But she’s working behind the scenes

We only rate dogs. This is spaghetti con salsiccia. Obviously has the noodles and the sausage, but is notably missing sauce. Please only send dogs. Thank you… 13/10 (IG: futrinka_tacsko)

2 weeks from today we'll gather at Gather Fairbanks (ha.) with author Erica Watson @rickirobin.bsky.social and guest Julianne Warren @coyotetrail.bsky.social for the GHOSTS OF DISTANT TREES launch party! See you? Nov. 19, '25, doors at 5:30, 721 2nd Ave. · FB event: www.facebook.com/events/13252...

Got like ten manuscript pages of a tricky chapter rewritten today If I do that two nights a week with one weekend day that’s a draft by around Christmas, not half bad

Anyone know Mackenzie Scott? Dear Mackenzie Scott, I run a very small nonprofit that provides residencies to women writers, especially those from communities historically excluded from these opportunities. Our budget is too small to qualify for most of the "big" grants, and we're in Alaska, 1/2

Join us in Fairbanks, Alaska for the book launch of Ghosts of Distant Trees. Author @rickirobin.bsky.social will be in conversation with @coyotetrail.bsky.social, hosted by publisher @pataky.bsky.social and Solstice Books. November 19, 2025! porphyry.press/events/ghost...