Do you guys think this is a place of honor? Kinda think some important deed may be commemorated here

I'm in Puerto Rico tonight before I board a stupid cruise with my family. Rarely have I felt whiter or goofier

Also saw a fun new entry in the "sexy St Sebastian" canon (and I do mean new, this is a contemporary painting)

You know I go crazy for an ancient saint skeleton covered in plaster like a weird mannequin

Cab driver saw that we're white people and immediately switched to a station that was playing a marimba cover of Coldplay??

Weird whiplash to go from "you dumb hippies think we're going to war for oil? It's about spreading democracy abroad!" To "let's call this one Operation Get That Oil" in the space of two decades

I'm glad that Congress isn't alive to see this

I feel like I haven’t even been properly lied to about the purposes of this war

He is so small 😭

Approached by a student from my mother's high school teaching days at a restaurant in San Juan. Wherever you go, Iowans will be there

My first impression is that Puerto Rico fucking rocks and it would be nice if the federal government gave a shit about the people living here

That’s right, we are both insufferable and correct

Quickly learning that "just sign up with the first tour company that offers a a good rate" is a poor strategy for birding. No one else here wants to stop every 5 minutes and be quiet because I might have seen something moving in a tree

I've already had a cigarette in the new year, so I guess my resolution is to uhhh. Eat more beans

We've decided to celebrate New Year's on eastern time here in Chicago on account of the fact that Steve's parents are agéd

How come all my elderly relatives go nuts for an Italian restaurant that charges $30 per plate for cafeteria food

Outlook for the new year ...

Catching up on the MN fraud story (the actual one not the Youtuber one) and it seems families were pretending to be child care providers in order to be compensated for the cost of the child care they already provide to one another so idk seems like there's only one solution

DC Statehood needs to be a Day 1 priority, the one place the Guard aren't being withdrawn is where there is no federalism to protect citizens from presidential overreach. This can never happen again.

I believe that's the art of Hiroshi Nagai, a Japanese painter who developed this style after traveling to the United States in 1973

Almost through with the in-laws' house portion of the trip (already several days too long). Tomorrow begins the cruise with my parents portion (can already tell it will feel like an eternity)

The treasury is getting rid of the penny to stop us from making lemon pigs. They fear the psychic power of crafting a little guy

One thing I do enjoy about Des Moines is that we will claim any god damned person who ever stepped foot here. Come on over! Maybe you'll be the person to make us a real city!

Open up this picture fully. Then look at the surface of Mars. Then look up to the top right. Spot Mars' moon Phobos high in the sky. Then notice the bright spot beside Phobos. That's Earth.

May need to sue my landlord lmao

I split off from the group and went into the coal mine exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry by myself, unaware that it's basically the Pirates of the Caribbean ride but for OSHA enthusiasts

I know an improbable number of people who work in and around the theater scene in DC and I've never given one thought to the Kennedy Center until all this

The thing about the "where would I live" map is that I'm certain there's at least one city or town in every state that's absolutely lovely, but also I would rather live in a cardboard box by the highway than experience a Maine winter

Reading up on interior design because I want to have an apartment that’s worth spying on through a telescope

instructing my estate to respect my wishes to be a bog body

It's either this or taking the bus

Sitting in the hot tub drinking Hamm's as the bomb cyclone rolls in. Can't recommend this enough

On balance, Steve's family is infinitely more normal than my own, but they do engage in the biggest freak behavior of any of us: they eat a salad with every meal but serve it after we're done with everything else as if it were dessert

Luckily my in-laws have a hot tub and a large selection of wine so I actually feel pretty good

Accidentally ate meat because it was one of those menus that just lists a bunch of ingredients with no explanation and I didn't know what guanciale was. Call that one "pulling a David Brooks column"

Anna’s Hummingbird showing off his tongue on my feeder yesterday! Wowwww! @thebirdsnest.bsky.social 🪶

School districts in meatpacking towns in Iowa were running ICE drills back in like 2005 because there were raids that left hundreds of kids stranded after school with no parents. It's always been horrific

The cryptid has been spotted

Birdsky, does anyone know if snowy owls are still hanging around Chicago? My MIL isn't sure 🪶

Would

Today is Septidi the 7th of Nivôse in the year 234. Nivôse is the month of snow. Today we celebrate topsoil.#JacobinDay More information on topsoil

The cat sitter is texting us pics of Dewey every day but hasn't seen Frances yet. Not actually that unusual but my latent panic disorder has me convinced she's trapped in a cabinet slowly starving

Love to be back in the midwest wearing my bog coat while everyone on the street is walking around in shorts

Guy who's only seen Lord of the Rings (me): getting a lot of Lord of the Rings vibes from Baahubali

At a Chicago bar filled with Albanians(?) listening to some bizarre hip-hop

Watching 'One Battle After Another.' This may in fact be a Christmas movie

Everyone got a pile of scratch-off cards for Christmas and I had four winners to everyone else's 0. If anyone needs any good luck you can come touch the hem of my garment

kill the sierra club member in your head who thinks “trees = good environment”

Merychippus to all who celebrate!

I'm so glad to have grown up a little before the panic about Chicago crime rates, because when my best friend moved to the south side in middle school my Iowa mom was like "you want to stay with her for half the summer? Let's get you to an Amtrak station"