Happy Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov Saves the World Day, everybody. 42 years ago today, Lt. Col. Petrov prevented an accidental nuclear war. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanisl...

I read this course description, & the fact that it's only $20 is astoundingly accessible. If this sounds at all interesting to you, it's going to be well worth your time. You can also pay more, hire a course/workshop for your group or org or classroom... I think this will be really fortifying.

Had a great time talking to @parkermolloy.com about my work on the AI bubble www.readtpa.com/p/the-man-ca...

Excellent reporting from Heated and Atmos. It looks like some of the biggest investors in the anti-trans movement are fossil fuel billionaires who are trying to use trans issues to ensure that Republicans pass policies favorable to their industry. heated.world/p/fossil-fue...

My way of coping with all of the madness is focusing on what I can do to make my community a little bit stronger. So excuse me for all of the earnestness, but I wrote about ways we can all pitch in to support a thriving literary culture. lithub.com/how-to-be-a-...

For both creative writers looking to engage more deeply with political/social issues, AND organizers looking to explore creative writing as a tool in their toolbox: An asynchronous course - and there's no application, no requirements, no taking out a loan to pay for it: guante.info/meetingthemoment

TaneshaNicole (they/them) is a Black, queer, non-binary poet, publishing professional, and event organizer living in the Twin Cities, MN by way of Salt Lake City, UT. They served five years as Button Poetry’s Publishing Operations Director & they are a co-founder of BuckSlam MN…. (1/6)

I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA 10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)

She basically invented astrophysics. She proved the laws of chemistry, quantum mechanics, and statistical mechanics, not just gravity, applied universally. She determined the composition of the sun and primacy of hydrogen in the universe. She advised the PhDs of Frank Drake and Frank Kameny.

The Sonoglyph Collective will welcome @tishjonespoet.bsky.social and @heideerdrich.bsky.social at our Friday, September 26th gig at the Lafond Arts Center in Saint Paul. 7:00 PM. 15.00 suggested donation at the door, but everyone is welcome. Not wheel-friendly. :( sonoglyphcollective.com/events/

I preordered my copy via @moonpalacebooks.bsky.social - cannot wait to get it in hand.

Actually the rapture happened. Turns out only 3 people qualified - a pair of twins in Ghana and an incredibly sweet elder in western Mongolia. Sucks for the rest of the world I guess, but what do you do? 🤷🏼‍♀️

This is the solution to the Paradox of Tolerance: It's a contract, not a rule. If you break the terms of the contract, it no longer applies to you. If you won't be tolerant, you don't get to be tolerated.

every time i think i can close the project file for pghrt.diy, invariably i get a message from someone asking a clarifying question based on what seems to be their doctor inventing an entirely new hrt myth whole cloth, prompting much bafflement as i decide where address it. up to 18.1k words now!

Nick Metcalf (they/them) is Sicangu Oyate – Burnt Thigh People – Rosebud Sioux Tribe.  Nick has lived in the Twin Cities for 30 years where they’ve made a life filled with lots of friends, family, and community.  Nick is a proud Parent and Grandparent…. (1/6)

Will share more later, but for now, an announcement: "Meeting the Moment: Political Poetry and the Anthemic Impulse" is open for registration now. An *asynchronous* class sharing questions, tactics, examples, etc. that have been useful to me. More info: guante.info/meetingthemoment

Ted Chiang: "The task that generative A.I. has been most successful at is lowering our expectations, both of the things we read and of ourselves when we write [...]. It is a fundamentally dehumanizing technology because it treats us as less than what we are: creators and apprehenders of meaning."

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia: doi.org/10.5281/zeno... We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity. 1/n

I've heard people wondering about ranked choice voting, so I'm reposting my explainer from 2021. The TLDR version is just rank your three favorite (or least unfavorite) candidates in order. But you can read this if you want a deep dive. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Love when I can achieve this with poetry, too 😅 (Graphic with alt text added.)

Now seems like a good time to remind Seattle friends that @scarecrowvideo.bsky.social exists, is a non-profit, and it’s the best (and largest) video rental store in the US!

Jack Kirby actually got death threats over his art of Captain America punching Hitler. From American Nazis, both from the American Nazi Party (LOOK IT UP) and, let's say, freelancers. They once phoned his office and told him to come down for an ass-kicking. He went down. The cowards weren't there.

In 2021, I attended a free virtual "Bring the Loft to You: Writing about 2020" workshop with @mkdordiggsy.bsky.social, after which I learned of the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop, since when I have attended their annual readings, so please support their vital work: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Since many of us are cancelling streaming services, now might also be a good time to support writers and artists. Times are extremely tough for creatives, so why not buy a book, commission an art piece, sign up for a Patreon, tip your favorite creators. Everything helps.

Just a reminder that a staggering number of Black women have also lost their jobs due to capitulation to this administration. That deserves more outrage.

“Once you use ChatGPT, you don’t want to think for yourself anymore” that, in a nutshell, is why I avoid these things because no matter how convinced you are that it isn’t happening to you, it is happening to you these machines will suck your creativity dry and you’ll thank them for it

Again Bouie from the top rope

"...exercise of freedom is a de facto defense of that same freedom. Freely making art, and freely talking about the art you made, is valuable in and of itself when free expression is being eroded." —Rebecca Makkai, from 2018. Still (if not more so) true. electricliterature.com/the-worlds-o...

Coley Gates (he/him) was born and raised in Minneapolis, MN. After 25 years (of a 999-year sentence) on false charges, his sentence was commuted. He has many years of volunteer service as a Restorative Justice facilitator and mentor, and currently works at Sharing & Caring Hands Drop-In… (1/6)

“I should write a poem about my boobs. I mean, other people should also write poems about my boobs, but I definitely should write a poem about my boobs”

For any MPLS friends who haven’t been following the mayoral race, this matches how I’m voting/ranking the candidates. Early voting just opened up: vote.minneapolismn.gov/voters/vote-...

A list of ways to donate to Sanctuary Supply Depot: linktr.ee/sanctuarysup...

Nana J (she/her) has been performing since childhood and started pursuing her own career in 2019. Writing and singing have not only been ways to process her own emotions but ways to find connection with like-minded individuals. She has performed within many different spaces in the Cities… (1/6)

...related, especially on the "what we do about it" note: this is a couple years old now, but I still recommend this resource from @interruptcrim.bsky.social, especially for media folks, politicians, nonprofit leaders, etc. trying to do the right thing in this moment:

Coates makes a number of highly salient points about Kirk's legacy, and the essay should be read by everyone - but for me it's so meaningful and symbolic that he doesn't make trans people an aside or downplay the fact that his anti-trans hatred was central to what made Kirk such a monster.

New video poetry just dropped 😄 #poetry #poems #videopoems #videopoetry news.davigray.com/p/film-colla...

Chaun Webster (he/him) is a poet and graphic designer whose work contends with the spatial, temporal, and interpretive limitations of writing to represent blackness outside of regimes of death and dying. Webster's work has appeared in numerous journals including Obsidian, … (1/6)

They're putting the confederate monument back up at arlington cemetery and taking down the signs about john brown & slavery at harpers ferry. A completely confederate-occupied government unashamedly trying to rehabilitate slavery

Just in case any of y'all thought they'd actually filibuster the appropriations bills coming with all the anti-trans provisions and shut the government down. Call your senators, demand no anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ provisions in appropriations bills.

...I'm using the term "hook" here NOT as a synonym for chorus, but as a more fundamental writing idea: the organizing principle, the concept, the approach. What makes your love poem (or political ad, event promo, etc) stick out from all the others? A great challenge for poets... but not just poets.

Please join us on Tuesday, October 7th, at 7:00pm, at Moon Palace Books, for our next 5×5 Reading, featuring five fantastic artists: Chaun Webster, Nana J, Coley Gates, Nick Metcalf, and TaneshaNicole. Each featured artist will take five minutes to share work…. (1/5)

apologies to all the cisgender roommates I've had in the past. you probably thought you were just renting a cheap, rundown 2BR with a person of awkward gender, but actually that was the seeds of the woke mind virus being planted that are now erupting in a "28 days later with pronouns" situation

It should be needless to say, but it is perhaps at this moment worth saying, that transgender individuals have the same right as anyone else to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Hit dogs will holler.

WSJ has now appended this lengthy editor's note to its original report. It notably contains zero contrition for the initial decision to spread such incendiary misinformation. www.wsj.com/livecoverage...

Not so many charts and statistics now, eh?

The level of disdain for users and, not incidentally, ableism, in micro f**king scrollbars that require navigating mouse cursors very, very precisely to make them tiny bits slightly wider and barely usable for a few ms is mind-boggling. I have two monitors FFS. Give my scrollbars real estate! #badUX

It's 2025, and there are still people that haven't accepted the fact that there is no path out of this mess that doesn't involve: 1) People that aren't Black... 2) Advocating for, and fighting for... 3) People that are Black. None.

In my experience, courage is usually the product of love and/or solidarity. When we are deeply invested in each other, we are more likely to take risks that we wouldn't take out of mere principle, or for the sake of people we feel disconnected from. Our alienation mass produces cowardice.

This fucking sentence. You’d better not say “as a Christian” unless what you mean is “as someone who sees, in every face, the face of God.”