"Epically, ecstatically, and sublimely Black: A reflection on Amy Sherald’s mid-career retrospective at the Baltimore Museum of Art" baltimorebeat.com/epically-ecs... @baltimorebeat.bsky.social

Every now and then I'll check in on Twitter (X) and almost every single time I find these types of new "followers" ... It's a true pathetic shame how that platform has devolved...

LFG ...

How new AI library "tools" serve "the political project to devalue" or erase the work of librarians, teachers, and scientists: www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...

I Hear Freedom: The Great Migration, Free Jazz, and Black Power 📕 Cisco Bradley March 2026 • Columbia University Press cup.columbia.edu/book/i-hear-...

Watching my first Knicks game this year ... "After school, I take a dip in the pool, which is really on the wall. I got a color TV, so I can see the Knicks playing basketball."

Mira Nair: "I feel like Zohran brings us to a new dawn and a new day. I’m amazed by his bravery and articulation, but what I really respond to is that he embodies the multiplicity of the worlds in him without apology, and actually with great celebration" www.vogue.in/content/mira...

"The University of California, Irvine is hosting “Translating Ngũgĩ | Celebration of the Life and Work of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o,” a conference honoring the legacy of one of Africa’s most influential writers and intellectuals" @brittlepaper.bsky.social brittlepaper.com/2025/11/tran...

@zohrankmamdani.bsky.social Congratulations. Please go above and beyond for all NYC libraries. Thanks and best wishes.

Here's to Northern Virginia... #Voted ...

"Zoë Wicomb, Acclaimed South African Author, Dies at 76---In novels and short stories, she delivered sharp observations of the constraints and contradictions of apartheid and its aftermath" www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/b...

it's Election Day! this is my roadmap for the day and night, below! (be sure to follow me and @boltsmag.org if you want updates and results during election day & election night, and/or bookmark the form below as we'll update it with results.)

"The new line will follow Metro-North’s existing Hudson Line route from Grand Central through Poughkeepsie, then continue north through Rhinecliff and Hudson before arriving in Albany" www.timeout.com/newyork/news...

"The Rhythms of 'Rock Creek Park'---The Blackbyrds’ ode to DC inspired a new generation of artists" @orionmagazine.bsky.social orionmagazine.org/article/the-...

Job alert: the University of Illinois Library is hiring a Humanities Librarian to serve as liaison to African-American Studies and English Literatures. I’m sure someone here would be a great fit for this job—& we’ve got a pretty phenomenal community here Please share!

I am looking forward to volunteering this Saturday for the Maryland Film Festival in Baltimore. www.volgistics.com/appform/1909... | snfparkway.org/mdff/

"Spelman College announced Monday that it had received a $38 million unrestricted gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott" www.wsbtv.com/news/local/a...

"Howard University announced Monday that Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has donated $80 million, making one of the largest single contributions in the university's history" www.wusa9.com/article/news...

#Noirvember "If anyone could update the cinematic language of film noir for today’s audiences, I thought, it would be Guillermo del Toro." @sarahweinman.com @criterion.bsky.social

Back in June, I gave the keynote address at the American Library Association's Carnegie Awards, and I'm very pleased that @literaryhub.bsky.social has republished the full text of my speech:

I wasn't really into "Breaking Bad" but loved "Better Call Saul." It will be good to have another Gilligan ABQ, NM based show. The city is such a wonderful locale | “Pluribus” was shot mostly in & around Albuquerque, Vince Gilligan’s artistic home since “Breaking Bad” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/a...

Setti Warren, who served two terms as mayor of Newton, Mass., has died. Warren, a Navy veteran who was the first African-American to be popularly elected to a mayoral seat in the state, also ran for governor and the US Senate. He was 55. https://bit.ly/3JyIzqb

The Free Jazz Blog has posted a roundtable discussion of the Anthony Braxton QUARTET (ENGLAND) 1985 set that you really should read. I'm so honored to have helped put this music out into the world and really hope it shows up on people's year-end lists. www.freejazzblog.org/2025/10/anth...

Remembering Rudy Van Gelder, born November 2, 1924, in Jersey City, NJ (d. August 25, 2016), the pioneering recording engineer who became one of the most influential figures in jazz history, responsible for defining the sound of an era. He engineered quite a few of my favorite albums. More: alt text

New piece of fiction by @legroff.bsky.social in @newyorker.com ... "Mother of Men" www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

"Humanitarian of the Year Lonnie G. Bunch III 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian---Recognized for his stewardship in persevering history and his lifelong commitment to education, culture, and humanitarian service" www.ebony.com/power-100-20...

Maybe I will move to Toronto...

"Art Rats in New York City Finding my own words" By Patti Smith @newyorker.com www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

#Mood ...

"Grokipedia seeks to be a right wing, anti-woke Wikipedia competitor. But to even call it a Wikipedia competitor is to give the half-assed project too much credit" @404media.co www.404media.co/grokipedia-i...

"5 Questions with New Vice President for Advancement, Hillary Strong" #BarnardCollege barnard.edu/magazine/5-q...

Numerous scenes of violence have emerged from the besieged Sudanese city of El Fasher since it was captured by paramilitaries last weekend. The evidence of atrocities stoked fears that Darfur is plunging, once again, into a cycle of genocidal violence.

Jazz, 1947 https://botfrens.com/collections/48/contents/1147578

"CLIR Awards $3.9 Million Through Digitizing Hidden Collections: Amplifying Unheard Voices" www.clir.org/2025/10/clir...

"When an #archive is destroyed, “we’re losing that individual community identity, that voice from this group of people at this point in time,” says Ana Krahmer, an archivist at the University of North Texas" #History www.cjr.org/analysis/dig...

re: Baker & Taylor

"Construction was delayed by the pandemic. The project took seven years. A scandal involving its brand-name lead architect, David Adjaye, caused him to absent himself, leaving the museum and the rest of its design team scrambling." Studio Museum in Harlem www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/a...

Nice to see Toronto get to Snell early... Maybe I can get to bed early tonight...

The administration’s fixation on DEI programs has been exhaustively covered. Its abandonment of civil rights law enforcement — which has effectively transported parents and students back in time, to the era before the 1964 Civil Rights Act — has not been. My piece: www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

"American philanthropy can and must play a bigger role in strengthening the financial infrastructure of the literary organizations and nonprofits that serve these literary artists." —Elizabeth Alexander, poet and President of the Mellon Foundation lithub.com/good-news-a-...

Happy to help share the news of the Literary Arts Fund launch today and to serve as its executive director. More here: literaryartsfund.org

🎧 New on our podcast: Joyce Cheng and Jonathan Eburne launch the Surrealisms series, talking surrealism's formative Paris years and its ethnographic dimension. share.transistor.fm/s/383eeead

I wish I could like the Los Angeles Dodgers but I never have and probably never will. I hope Toronto is able to bounce back after last night's epic extra innings loss.

Grateful for the music.... www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/a...

So, yes, Signal runs on AWS. It also runs on your phone, which runs on iOS (Apple) or Android (Google). And on Dekstop, via Windows (Microsoft). Each of these presents similar dependencies on large entrenched tech companies, and concomitant barriers and risks. 10/

Jack DeJohnette Drummer, Keyboardist, Composer 2012 NEA Jazz Master Chicago, Illinois Date of birth: Aug 09, 1942 www.arts.gov/honors/jazz/...

"This panel brings together Beth Patin (moderator), Leo Lo, David Lankes, Sanda Erdelez, and Jeff Saltz to explore how libraries can navigate AI implementation while staying true to core values of access, privacy, and service to all communities" events.syracuse.edu/event/the-ai...

Forthcoming in November: "Design for Privacy: Keeping Personal Information Private" ...

Jack DeJohnette, the renowned jazz drummer who played in Miles Davis’ electric period band and one of Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Drummers of All Time, has died at age 83. Access the free article here: www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

"The Secrets to Hermès’s Reign as One of the World’s Most Valuable Companies" www.wsj.com/style/fashio...