Here is a wonderful thing. I just discovered via @sachajudd.com you can listen to Dial-a-Poem on a website: dial-a-poem.org. It does what it says on the tin. (You can also go oldschool and call 641 793 8122 for the original set started in 1969 or TIL about 917 994 8949 for an updated one)

7am. Daughter: “why am I being subject to this cruel and unusual punishment [school]?” Me: “name the amendment that forbids it and I’ll let you skip.”

Here’s all the ways you can take action against Disney, ABC, Sinclair, and Nexstar for silencing Jimmy Kimmel and attacking free speech. Share WIDELY. #BOYCOTTDISNEYABC

WGA Statement on ABC’s Decision to Pull Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Canceling the fucking hell out of Disney+

Love this question, and @courtneymilan.com’s explanation thread is f’ing fascinating.

Look, it is very, very important to hear Erika out because important topic and she is smart and phenomenally clarifying. In case that is not enough to tempt you, then come to find out why she says "Sorry bats and warthogs." [transcript in her second post if you prefer to read]

My teenager discovered that Lucy Dacus has a Goodreads list and has now proposed relocating about 400 of my books to her room. Negotiations underway.

“You cannot keep your soul intact while building the Torment Nexus. The Torment Nexus is, by definition, a machine that brings torment onto others. It destroys souls. And a soul cannot take a soul and remain whole.” [buttondown.com]

buttondown.com/monteiro/arc... from @monteiro.bsky.social

This weeks’ newsletter is in praise of zines: “…we’ve got all the world’s info right there at our fingertips, but everything at our fingertips is increasingly suspicious. Between conspiracy theories and slop-generated content it’s all beginning to leave everyone a little empty.”

“A piece of music can express defiance and joy; in dance, the body conveys what words cannot. Even the smallest aesthetic gesture can have outsize resonance in the context of protest.” I write about culture as a weapon of protest. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

This from the brilliant @sachajudd.com (my favorite expert on fan culture) is also a great way to think about organizing. "Your onramp doesn't matter."

Do you identify more with Gilly or Billy?

Shout this!

Hero

More in the series of bonkers snake related dioramas

I found the best diorama in the American Museum of Natural History. “How to get a snake bite” (3 part series)

Occasional reminder that there’s no, “it’s too late, its over” for anthropogenic climate change. Every molecule of CO2 that doesn’t go into the atmosphere makes a difference. Preventing 0.1 degree of warming makes a difference. Every bit of climate resilience we build together makes a difference.

writers, describe your WIP in the worst way possible: A bunch of horny actors, overthinking things.

Abortion is one of the most intimate and fundamental liberties: the freedom to chart the course of one’s own life, unburdened by the coercion of law, custom, or other people’s opinions.This Independence Day, join me in donating to abortion funds. Find a fund here: abortionfunds.org/find-a-fund/

Always good advice and good stories. Take the compliment, Mike!

Agree 100%!

Since Black American Sign Language (BASL) will be featured in release of Sinners, reposting this. Yep, slavery and segregation, so they developed in parallel. Black ASL preserves more characteristics of early signing (two hands, no mouthing, etc) and has many unique charactistics, like repetition.

Good morning friends in NY 17, time to call on Lawler to vote no. It takes a lot of wading through menus. Press 1 if you are a constituent then 3 to express your opinion.

A brief detour into my weird brain. www.fuckedupfolktales.com/tales/as-a-c...

Hey, friends. @righttobe.bsky.social is continuing to offer free bystander intervention training - the next up is July 2 at 4 pm ET - Bystander Intervention to Stop Antisemitic, Xenophobic, and Islamophobic Harassment. These are great online trainings and I hope you'll consider signing up!

The responses to this are a freakin delight, mythology nerds bringing it.

I have a field medicine bag at home, I think this is probably more likely to be useful than all the esoteric emergency room shit that’s in it. open.spotify.com/playlist/7oJ...

1/ The first #ACIP meeting with RFK Jr.’s handpicked members wrapped up yesterday. Over 4,000 tuned in—a level of attention we haven’t seen since the pandemic. And for good reason: these meetings shape vaccine policy, coverage, timing, access and availability. Here's what happened 👇

Good mail day from @queenesther.bsky.social

There’s just so much: the victory of a new political talent, the loss of an old tyrant, the possibilities of alliance & positive strategizing, the hope for a more just future, the cracking of the last generation’s stranglehold on power. Also the joy and force of Tish James! Listen to her voice!

New York, you are my hero.

News organizations shouldn't be using the term "regime change" except to quote an official using the term. It's euphemism for "conquer." The debate isn't about whether the U.S. will "pursue regime change in Iran"; it's whether the U.S. will attempt to conquer Iran. 1/

Happy birthday to the prophetess Octavia Butler. We live in the times she foretold. From her notebooks.

Good mail day! Zine by @monteiro.bsky.social

F train 12:29 pm within sight: 12 on phones, 12 staring into space, two on phones and talking, one sleeping, three talking.

Especially if you're on the fence about it, protest today. Fascism is isolating and lonely. Its very goal is to make you feel like you're the only person unwilling to accept a cult of personality. On days like today you fully realize there are more of us than there are them. You will feel better.

That's almost 1.5% of the population ON THE STREETS today. *Generally* speaking, 3.5% getting actively engaged is a tipping point for regime change. Keep building. www.bbc.com/future/artic... (1/2)

Downtown F train 5:21 pm. Within sight: 14 looking at phones, 13 staring into space, 1 sleeping, one reading paper book.

You know who are awesome people who come to the aid of others, help protect everyone’s rights, are part of why we feel connected to the places we live, who help create comfort & safety? Total strangers. They’re intrinsic to the concepts of civil society & the public good. Also they have cute dogs.

8:33am uptown A train: 10 looking at phones, 11 staring into space, 3 sleepers, one reading a tablet.

My @erikahall.bsky.social chicken, Bellamy, has taken up residence.

11:48 downtown # 4. Semi-crowded. Within sight 8 looking at phones, 10 staring into space, two talking, one reading paper book.

Wow crazy you guys must be giving her a big raise, right?

9:24am # 4 train to manhattan: 8 staring into space, 9 looking at phones, 4 sleeping, 2 reading paper books.

Bacteria pain you; Fungi love damp; Norovirus drains you; Salmonella gives cramp. Prions ream skulls; Roundworms outlive; E. coli’s not cool; You might as well regulate the goddamn food system.

Happy May Day, from the city that brought it to you.

May Day is about power—how people working together, fighting for justice, fairness, human rights, can win those things for all. It means working together with people you don’t know, caring about the lives of people you will never meet. We always need that. Right now it’s an existential necessity.