My #SundaySentence comes from Zohran Mamdami, whose remarks in Puerto Rico this week were inspired by Malcolm X’s words of inequality and social justice: “If you are not at the table, you may find yourself on the menu.”

So happy to see these fall blueberries 💙 #FlowerReport #California

This year’s special elections are NOT over. Tennessee’s special general election runs November 12-26, and Dems could make Aftyn Behn the 219th blue vote in Congress. donate if you’re able or share to help Tennessee Dems flip this seat! www.aftynforcongress.com

“Red grit in her slippers, yellow-gray evening in her hair, shrieking birds, darkening tombs, Sonia fell into her own depression and thought that this, here, was the end of love, surely.” Kiran Desai #SundaySentence

A Halloween #flowerreport from Barcelona—the eerie but beautiful metalwork holly on the columns outside Sagrada Familia.

SF Bay Area, the ICE scourge arrives 10/23. We need to protect our communities and keep our neighbors safe.

nbd, just skulking around the breakfast bar at our hotel in Lisbon ✨

An unconventional #flowerreport from Portugal—this blossom-and-vine-entwined chandelier from the Palacio Nationale da Pena in Sintra ✨

“Whenever he walked up the creaking mast of stairs to their seagull’s nest apartment, he was surprised anew by Ulla’s elfin beauty, by the pine floors, by the white Ikea couch, by the Western lightness and comfort that was, apparently, his. —Kiran Desai #SundaySentence

West of Barcelona near Les Borges Blanques. Spain and California are twin landscapes—except for the castles.

Pay attention to the language that will be used by much of the media. The Global Sumud Flotilla never entered Israeli waters. They are in international waters attempting to reach Palestinian waters. Israel is once again breaking international law

The IDF belongs in The Hague.

Exhibit A at The Hague just dropped

Infuriating

“It was essential to remain close to those who had caused you harm so that the ghost of guilt might breathe through their dreams, that their guilt might slowly mature to its fullest potential.” Kiran Desai, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, #SundaySentence

New crop of autumn raspberries. These canes produce in early summer and again in fall ✨. #flowerreport #california

The year I painted this watercolor portrait of place, the internet was an obscure DOS platform, artists still documented their work in 35 mm slides, and Altadena (at center), was a sleepy hamlet untouched by fire.

This is a damning anecdote from Rep Jim McGovern. He tells me that during debate over Trump's big budget bill, House Rs privately admitted to him that it would screw over their own constituents, yet they had to vote for it anyway. Read all of it. He wrecks them: newrepublic.com/article/1999...

Can’t express in words how big this rally in Chicago is. The president’s fascist goon squad is not welcome here.

Know your rights, Illinois. Stay safe and stay informed.

JB Pritzker: “Don’t come to Chicago. Don’t bring military troops to the streets of an American city. We will go to court to stop you and the people of Chicago won’t stand for it. The people of America won’t stand for it.”

From a series of still life drawings where objects morphed into figures lol

If you're 60, 69.1% of all job growth since your birth occurred under Democratic administrations. If you're 45, that number is 74.7%. If you're under 28, the number is 100%. Happy Labor Day.

FEDERAL AGENTS TAKE NOTE… It’s not just Chicago standing strong. Other blue cities and governors are ready to unite against Trump’s federal invasion. I’m not an attorney, but this point seems huge: if federal agents break state or city laws, they can prosecuted. And Trump cannot pardon them.

My grandmother’s house burned in the Eaton fire but I have this drawing of the view of the garden from the living room.

“With his inky fingers and his bitten nails, his manner cynical and nervous, anybody could tell he didn’t belong—belong to the early summer sun, the cool Whitsun wind off the sea, the holiday crowd.” Graham Greene #SundaySentence

Why do you appreciate unions? I’ll start: Weekends off Paid vacations Work breaks Sick leave Paid holidays No child labor Safer working conditions Health care and retirement benefits

Incredible scenes in Genoa, Italy as 50,000 people join a procession to bid farewell to the boats joining the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza. Over 50 boats from 44 countries, loaded with 100s of tons of food aid, have set sail to Gaza to attempt to break the Israeli siege. (📸 Hidden Palestine)

As the wildlife urban interface expands and fires become more toxic, Californians have become, perhaps, the canaries in the coal mine, in a world where environmental devastation provoked by climate change is now a commonplace. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/o...

Today’s geography lesson.

Japan Post just announced they will no longer deliver mail to the United States, joining Germany, Austria, Denmark, Italy, France, and Sweden.

Illinois Gov. Pritzker vows to pursue Trump officials who participate in an illegal National Guard deployment to Chicago: "If you hurt my people, nothing will stop me - not time or political circumstance - from making sure that you face justice under our constitutional rule of law."

I’ve been cataloging decades of paintings and drawings hoping to find new homes for them. If you’re interested in seeing what’s available, free for cost of shipping, I’ll be posting a link to the catalog in my next newsletter. Sign up for details at eepurl.com/jfllpo

“Throughout her childhood, Constance called the gorse that grew on the hillside above her house ‘honey-bottle,’ and gathered fistfuls of a despite the spines, so that her hands would smell of it, a smell that seemed to combine oatmeal and hot metal and sun.” Jim Shepard #SundaySentence

One must repost this fabulousness every now and then: Arab woman in Muscat, Oman, 1919 by Frederick Simpich Sr.

“I came into the world with a skin that wasn’t quite white, but as I grew up, it thickened; in a Depression-era Jewish neighborhood that bordered the Irish and Italian, it had to.” —Joshua Cohen, The Netanyahus #SundaySentence

Fuji apples on the espalliered tree (each branch has a different variety) #flowerreport #california

And Israel killed every one of them

wallpaper that’s strangely calming

Wild thistle, Davenport Beach, Santa Cruz. The interior of the stem is edible and tastes like sweet celery. #FlowerReport #california

🚨🚨 Texas GOP is moving FAST to rig the district maps to retain their power. Redistricting bill HB 4 is now **out of House committee** 🔥📞🔥 TEXAS RESIDENTS --> Head to 5calls.org/state/texas NOW to call your state legislators and demand they OPPOSE this bill and break quorum if they're a Democrat

"Bondi and Bove are grotesque figures. But grotesques don’t gain power in healthy democracies. They flourish when institutions falter—when guardrails are removed, norms are shredded, and complicity becomes widespread." open.substack.com/pub/harrylit...

“And since you’ll no doubt be reading about this trip in the New York Post, Inshallah on the front page” lol!

Gardenias in an East Bay garden #flowerreport #california

This is such an incredibly moving, important piece of work. It is something else to read an essay and know, as the words move from your brain to a deeper place within you, that it will be recognized with awards. That is not why Hanif Abdurraqib wrote this, but it is undoubtedly true.

gas station richfield, goleta, california, 1977

"One evening, many years ago, but not so many years ago, a Japanese man, out for a walk in the American desert, saw a 'rare and unusual flower' on the far side of a barbed wire fence, and, leaning closer to look at the flower, was shot in the heart." Brandon Shimoda #sundaysentance