We have always been at war with Eastasia. "No new wars."

Orwell + Kubrick + Machiavelli = Yesterday. Just eleven months to midterm elections, compatriots of mine. Let's get busy!

Stay tuned in 2026/27 for the hemispheric scramble for empire with the United States, Russia, and China at the forefront doing the carving. Don’t expect Trump or his state or elite military to liberate anyone or anything for democracy, or international norms and rules. Long gone.

Thank you @ncronline.bsky.social for publishing my review of @rbratten.bsky.social's "The Books That Made Us," a deconstruction of classic Christian literary texts from the English-speaking world, recently out from @orbisbooks.bsky.social . Read here: www.ncronline.org/culture/rebe...

At this time of year when we honor the dead, make space for all the losses you are others are grieving - big ones and small ones. Though isolating, grief can also bring us together. uscatholic.org/articles/202...

I reviewed Dana Delibovi's beautiful new translation of the poetry of Teresa of Avila (Monkfish 2024). bsky.app/profile/chri...

I was interviewed by @christiancentury.bsky.social about the experience of seeing Pope Leo's installation Mass in Rome back in May - truly the experience of a lifetime. Institutions are flawed but they still matter. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWhT...

How nice. The BBC has launched a paywall for US users. It's as if they're saying, "We've been offering you free access to high-quality news for years, and you've proven yourself completely undeserving." Indeed it seems we have...

Acclaimed science fiction writer Octavia Butler (1947-2006) predicted so much of what is happening today in her Earthseed novels. I believe she provides clues toward a way forward, and I see a link between her and two other visionaries: Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin: uscatholic.org/articles/202...

we are currently watching an entire political party run cover for the most notorious sex trafficking ring in modern human history

I've written about seeing the new pope in Rome and nearly getting arrested by Vatican police! Thankfully I didn't go the way of Giordano Bruno! Thank you @jessicamesman.bsky.social for her support and editorial work! www.christiancentury.org/features/pop... @christiancentury.bsky.social

With my first published academic article in six years I want to bring some degree of hope in hard times. It's on Mexican poet Balam Rodrigo's "Central American Book of the Dead," translated by Dan Bellm and published by Flowersong Press in 2023. www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/14...

The principles listed in the Declaration of Independence have indeed fallen out of favor: www.christiancentury.org/features/uni...

lilypoetryreview.blog/poetry/immig... - amazing poem by Lauren K Alleyne

a few brief thoughts on the installation Mass of #PopeLeoXIV, which I was privileged to see in person at the #Vatican this past Sunday: catholicworker.substack.com/p/pope-leo-x...

woke up at 3 a.m. to see #popeleoxiv installed in a special Mass at the Vatican yesterday. Like his predecessor, he is showing the world that Christianity remains relevant in the 21st century. In these times of fear and discord, Jesus' message of love for all people is one of few that might help us.

Among so many tyrants and aspiring tyrants, the world lost one of its most humane leaders. www.bbc.com/news/article...

I am unmarried with no children. I have never wanted to be a parent. But I do want a better world for everyone else's children! riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-th...

We are the leaders we've been waiting for.

A new review of "The Mistaken Place of Things" by Gabriela Aguirre, translated by Laura Cesarco Eglin (Eulalia Books 2024): latinamericanliteraturetoday.org/book_review/...

Poetry Crosses Borders. Saturday, May 9th, 7:00-10:00, doors open at 6:30. #poetry #reading #featuring @janinalapapita.bsky.social and me.

"suns as yellow as ours gleaming suns from lives like matches..." “The Cosmology Lesson,” a poem by Daniel Veloso, translated from the Spanish (Uruguay) by Jeannine Marie Pitas. With art by Patty Paine. anotherchicagomagazine.net/2025/03/04/t...

Poetry crosses borders. I'm delighted to share my translation of "The Cosmology Lesson" by Uruguayan writer Daniel Veloso (his first poem in English!) published in Another Chicago Magazine: anotherchicagomagazine.net/2025/03/04/t...

I think we have a winner #maps

Triple book launch on March 9 at 3p.m. - in person and online! @eulaliabooks.bsky.social, a press dedicated to publishing Latin American poetry in translation, is collaborating with @cityofasylum.bsky.social to launch 3 books from Mexico, Chile and Puerto Rico. cityofasylum.org/program/eula...

Google has just removed Pride Month and Black History Month from the calendar app. This comes as they obeyed Trump by changing the Gulf of Mexico’s name to “Gulf of America.” L

Don't forget: February 28 is #nospendFriday. We all need to do this to make an impact. Honestly, I don't like buying stuff anyway - I haven't had an Amazon account since 2009. I'll buy food and gas on Thursday, and the only money I'll spend is a cash donation to my contra dance group! :) #Iamin

How I dream of the day when a woman who has had 12 children by 3 different fathers is not only un-stigmatized, but invited to run the most powerful country in the world. Just sayin'...

Big oil and gas don't have a mandate. My Congresswoman Summer Lee here in western PA hasn't given up on the Earth - neither should any of us.

When a national government has been taken over by 1980's cartoon villains, we need, at the local level, millions of 1980's cartoon heroes. Go to your city or town council meetings! Find out what's happening! I went to mine last night (in Swissvale, Pennsylvania) and am so happy I did!

To my dear Canadian friends: "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum." - Margaret Atwood #buycanadian

Looking for a good read this #BlackHistoryMonth? I recommend "The Book of Negroes" by Canadian author Lawrence Hill (US title: "Someone Knows My Name"). Historical fiction based on the Black Loyalists who fought for Britain in American Revolution and founding of Sierra Leone. My students love it!

The Doomsday Clock, which warns humanity about how close it is to destroying the world, ticked one second closer to midnight at 89 seconds, the closest it’s been since its inception.

Thank you, Buffalo Bills, for a great season. As of today, I go back to my default state of total indifference to sports. #billsmafia #shout #maybenextyear

Dozens of world leaders joined a dwindling group of Nazi death camp survivors on Monday in Poland to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, where more than 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were murdered. nyti.ms/42wHSom

Asking people to care about animal rights when we don't even care about human rights seems a big ask. But I'm asking anyway. Also, I really hope "Wicked" takes home as many Oscars as possible. :) #wickedmovie #animalrights uscatholic.org/articles/202...

not giving up! #womensmarch2025 #peoplesmarch www.patheos.com/blogs/voxnov...

Never never never give up.

I love the "Wicked" movie but have a question: why has it not sparked a global animal rights movement? Sure, the discrimination against animals is an allegory for discrimination against humans. But we should be focusing on the animal rights issue too. www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Happy New Year! May 2025 bring you all good health, much happiness, and renewed vigor for the work that needs to be done. May we resist the apathy that threatens to take hold. May we live in love, joy, and hope. <3

Too funny not to share. Sorry I don’t have a credit for this.

a poem remembering the blizzard that hit my hometown of Buffalo, NY two years ago. Climate change affects us all.

Honored to have three poems published in the latest issue of Cable Street. Thank you @danadelibovi.bsky.social for the opportunity. Check out the whole issue here! cablestreet.org/issue-7-tabl...

Happy Buy Nothing Day to all! Alas, I do need to go to the grocery store to buy lasagna ingredients for my father's birthday dinner, but other than that, I am joyfully reflecting on many gifts received.

Donald Trump will not deport millions of people. He won't build a wall. He won't infringe on LGBTQ rights. He will enlist others to do it. If you feel small and powerless in the wake of this election, remember we're all small. But there is *always* something we can do. uscatholic.org/articles/202...

Laurie Anderson has a beautiful message for us all: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI15...

Hi All. I know some are migrating here from Twitter. Not me. I left Twitter long before it turned Musky - it just wasn't for me. If I were still there, I'd be staying. Echo chambers and tribalism are what have gotten us into this mess. We need dialogue across difference more than ever.