"Parenthood" a typewriter poem by @awolfson.bsky.social from Secret World Books! poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7943022...

Meowmoir: subgenre of memoirs featuring cats, or subgenre of memoirs *by* cats?

My cormorant should be permitted to fly about the supermarket without interference while I am shopping—for the bird is particularly adept at finding the best deals offered on fresh seafood, as well as having a keen eye for the kinds of prepared foods & packaged snacks I tend to favor.

"The narrator is in a process of renaming herself, or allowing that there is no name for what she is experiencing, an unmarked territory that needs no staked flag." Ben Taylor's review of "Archipelago" by Natalie Bakopoulos (@tinhouse.bsky.social) is out now. chireviewofbooks.com/2025/08/25/a...

My favorite haiku from Movies in the Park. H/T to Lizzie Bourne for letting me shamelessly steal her rhyme scheme.

Hi @mdbell79.bsky.social, I still think often about your craft talk on sentences from StoryBoard 2024, when you used Matt Berninger's "I better get my shit together/better gather my shit" to demonstrate restatement (one of my fave devices—and lyricists).

JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH! This gave me old Google back! It killed the AI results dead!

"It’s kind of weird, right? Why would my mind make me recall that the Russian Revolution was largely ignited by a devastating economic crisis, social inequality, and the ruling class being aggressively out of touch with the suffering masses?"

We --my sister @kathleenmrooney.bsky.social & I have co-written our first children’s book, Leaf Town Forever. Illustrated by the brilliant Betsy Bowen, it's coming out with the marvelous @uminnpress.bsky.social & is available for pre-order now. Add to cart! www.upress.umn.edu/978151791737...

Same idea, different writer: “The question is not who influences you, but which people give you courage.” —Hilary Mantel

"You can't cure being human" www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/o...

Janelle Monáe — "Float"

Janelle Monáe — "Float"

James Baldwin was born August 2, 1924 in Harlem.

90s Sadness Spotify Playlist up y'all

Bill Clinton finally being removed from public life as collateral damage for destroying Trump is like when they overthrow Jabba the Hutt in Return of the Jedi and Boba Fett gets knocked into the Sarlacc pit by accident

This is gonna be stellar.

Oh boy, it's on.

Ozzy on pizza:

In which I get around the "5 books" thing by unironically recommending a 3-volume historical fiction series in which each volume is actually a trilogy. (And yes, I did just use "in which" twice in one sentence, no irony there either.)

My semi-regular reminder of a really important reality about cities, density, services and taxes. Any questions? Graphic recently cleaned up by @kathrynmathias.bsky.social. #CityMakingMath

De La Soul said 3 is the magic number, which makes 33... double magic.

This absolute must-read by @meghanor.bsky.social is probably the best possible articulation of why building a writing skill is so important for *living*, even for a student who doesn't want to become "a writer." It's about being a human. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/o...

make art! if it's the end of the world, you might as well make art! if it's not the end of the world, then the future will be better because people made art right now!

In which I get around the "5 books" thing by unironically recommending a 3-volume historical fiction series in which each volume is actually a trilogy. (And yes, I did just use "in which" twice in one sentence, no irony there either.)

I'm putting together a book list for resisting Big Tech. Any recommendations? Practical safety measures, plugging in to organizing, broad context/deep insight about how things got this way, etc. I'm thinking of Tim Wu, Jenny Odell, Cory Doctorow, Caroline Criado Perez—who else? Fiction very OK!

I've really been loving The Onion in general, and especially the print edition. Something made by humans, that values human creativity over artificial efficiency is such a delight. Capitalism tells us to always produce more, but The Onion is saying, 'what if we produced something better?'

It’s bleak out there, but it’s heartening to know millions of people from all walks of life took the time to ruin one specific persons birthday, America’s hater spirit remains strong

A delightful interview. Must-read if you love Chicago history and architecture!

Writing a custom poem for a kid is truly the most fun and freeing creative activity.

Tomorrow night at the @storystudiochicago.bsky.social Story Ball! Come get a hot, fresh haiku while you wait from Ola Faleti, Rachel Robbins, Eric Plattner & yours truly! www.storystudiochicago.org/storyball/

Wrote this review of @heatherchristle.bsky.social's exquisite new memoir, IN THE RHODODENDRONS. Simultaneously harrowing and hilarious. For Fans Of: Virginia Woolf, flaneuses, and attempting to carry on satisfying relationships with other human beings.

Done! Everyone post yours pls.

I'll write a check and I'll go out and knock doors even though I hate knocking doors. I hate Dick Durbin more now.

one of the heart breaking things about anti trans propaganda is how wildly effective it has been. Study after study pre 2017 showed the majority of people in the U.S. were generally positive on trans issues and happy to learn more. Jordan Peterson, JKR, Matt Walsh, all those freaks will burn in hell

it’s only cloture if it comes from the Clôture region, otherwise it’s just sparkling capitulation

We are thrilled to announce the wedding of the season! Our signature weeklong writing intensive, StoryBoard, is getting hitched to our signature annual event, Writers Festival! StoryBoard applications open Tuesday, March 18, and we'll have much more information then! #writingcommunity

You ever think about how Republican voters never need to urgently call their representatives out of fear that they're gonna collectively support the Democratic party agenda for no explicable reason? Must be nice!

New Yorkers: Call Sen. Gillibrand’s office to vote NO on cloture and NO on the Republican Spending Bill. They vote in the morning. ☎️: (202) 224-4451

People who say that being a parent is the best job in the world have probably never heard of restaurant critics

i'll add to this on a serious note: a lot of people are anxious about abandoning substack, and i get it, but i think the risks are overblown. other platforms have smaller built-in communities, but users just don't really care what platform you're using, and most take a smaller cut than substack

Happening now: protesters are outside the Fine Arts Building on Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago this evening. People are in line to see House of Reps Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for an event tonight promoting his recently released book. Crowd chanting at them, "we don't need a book tour!"

Semicolon Bookstore is a Chicago institution and Danielle Moore & her team have done incredible work supporting readers throughout the city. We need their passion here in Chicago ❤️ Find the link to their Kickstarter in the article below!

wrote about how making more use of my chicago public library card has made my life immeasurably better. i also recommend a few new indie rock LPs. now i'm on vacation till tuesday 🫡 www.noexpectations.fyi/p/in-defense...

"Our lawsuit saying you can't say we are an evil company has a lot of people asking questions answered by the lawsuit...." fortune.com/2025/02/10/u...

The ASL version of “Not Like Us” is magnificent.

Reminds me of the end of Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia. Which, if you haven’t read it, is about his time fighting the fascists in Spain.

An American flag built on the backs of Black people... Black music protesting white political terror in registers they never hear; reminiscent of ancestral spirituals embedded with instructions for runaways All this in New Orleans... What a moment

Drake rn:

if you're LGB and you're willing to sacrifice the TQIA+, then I'm not interested in your books, your shows, your movies, your art. it doesn't matter if I previously liked your work. as soon as I see you throw trans people under the bus, I'm done with you