More from my #NativePlant garden yesterday. (These specific coneflowers are not native to NC, but they are native to the U.S. They were an accident by my landscaper and the bees liked them so much I didn't want to dig them up.) Details in alt text.

Y'all. I frickin' love being in my #NativePlants garden. Happy sigh.

#Quaker Lucy Duncan: "Prisons, like policing, are born of the seed of chattel slavery, and no amount of striving to make these institutions more mild and gentle will achieve more justice or...create a system that moves from harm to healing." #prisonabolition www.friendsjournal.org/a-quaker-cal...

"I...call for stronger First Amendment protections for incarcerated writers and journalists—ones that treat them not as security risks, but as indispensable witnesses to state power." - Ivan Kilgore

This was an incredibly powerful read and an important call to action.

I am so excited! We put out a new nesting box a few days ago and already have a tree swallow pair building a nest. I am delighted to welcome mosquito-eaters to the neighborhood. May you eat all the blood suckers your hearts desire, my little friends!

Some recent lovelies at and around my home. (Details in Alt text.)

The plants are so happy after the rain! Stokes Aster, Blue False Indigo & Coreopsis hybrida 'Super Star’

This will, I hope, make you mad. "Forbidden Knowledge," by @kwanetaharris.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/kwanetah...

This is the second story about a Paxil tragedy I've read in the past few weeks. @kwanetaharris.bsky.social also brought us a story about this recently. Read more from @phillipvancesmith2.bsky.social on his Substack. #NorthCarolina #ncpol prisonlifeunlocked.substack.com/p/did-drugs-...

"While incarcerated people's labor is relied on throughout the country in both the public and private sectors, it is most prevalent in the South....(and) Incarcerated labor can function to suppress pay and working conditions for everyone." #NorthCarolina #ncpol scalawagmagazine.org/2026/05/race...

"The solution to reducing the recidivism rate is not to be 'tougher' on crime and keep more people in prison....The solution is to create a justice system that’s rehabilitative, not just punitive." #NorthCarolina #ncpol @ncgovernor.bsky.social @jeffjacksonnc.bsky.social

In NY: "Since implementing the free phone call policy last August, we have seen a significant increase in call activity...These strengthened connections provide critical support and contribute to REDUCED CONFLICT inside facilities.” filtermag.org/free-prison-... @southey4senate.bsky.social

Let's do this #NorthCarolina penncapital-star.com/2026/05/13/r...

Y'all! Watch! Historian @deffnotant.bsky.social "breaks down the hidden economics of incarceration, the rise of aging prison populations, prison labor, prison gerrymandering, and how the prison system still shapes political and economic power in America." www.youtube.com/shorts/V5KwF...

No child is “irredeemable” or “incorrigible.” #NorthCarolina should ban life sentences for children, and @ncgovernor.bsky.social should grant clemency for all of our children incarcerated for life. #ncpol @jeffjacksonnc.bsky.social

"Accepting these funds from prison telecom companies 'lacks integrity, but it also lacks analysis,' Tylek said. 'I think often people do not really appreciate how much harm these companies are causing and haven’t even bothered to look into it.'"

A wonderful story about #NorthCarolina journalist & writer @phillipvancesmith2.bsky.social is on the front page of the @newsobserver.com today 🎉 www.newsobserver.com/news/local/a...

"The (prison) system does not announce that it is severing families. It simply makes connection expensive enough, inconvenient enough, and surveilled enough that severing happens quietly while the state keeps its hands clean." @kwanetaharris.bsky.social www.themarshallproject.org/2026/05/08/k...

At age 15, Courtney Dunkin was tried as an adult for killing her mother. It was later found that Paxil, the drug she was given to treat her depression, caused suicidal and violent ideation in teens. The drug is no longer prescribed to minors, but 31 years later, Courtney is still behind bars.

Let's do this, #NorthCarolina. #ncpol www.thenation.com/article/soci...

#NorthCarolina DAC says our prison understaffing crisis is "dire." www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2026/02/05/n... But in this fantastic thread, @prisonpolicy.org breaks down why "understaffing" is a natural consequence of mass incarceration. The answer?... @ncgovernor.bsky.social #ncpol

#NorthCarolina needs to join with other states make prison communication free so that we can keep families connected. Let's keep NC money in NC rather than lining the pockets of the companies exploiting us. #ncpol benevolencefarm.org/connecting-f...

There are SO MANY reasons #NorthCarolina needs free prison communication. Improved connection, mental health, rehab, operational stability & safety (for all). poweroffree.connectfamiliesnow.com/assets/resou... #ncpol @ncgovernor.bsky.social @jeffjacksonnc.bsky.social @southey4senate.bsky.social

I just wrote a letter to Aramark leadership - Aramark: Change the Tray & Improve Prison Food. Write one here: carceralnutrition.org/aramark-emai... #ChangeTheTray #PrivateFoodPublicHarm #AramarkAccountability

"Nursing is not a job that lives only in the license...It lives in the profound conviction, drilled into every clinical rotation, that the patient in front of you is a complete human being whose suffering deserves your full and honest attention."

The Deliverance of Hope: A Book About Writing the People We’re Told to Forget open.substack.com/pub/executio...

Look what's blooming! Butterfly Milkweed! 🤸‍♂️🎉🪩🧡🦋 #NativePlants #Gardening

"By controlling the media we have access to, the state can manage how the oppressed understand their oppression." 🔥

💯💯💯 #NorthCarolina read both of these! Scanning mail causes great harm and does nothing to stop the flow of drugs in prisons. #ncpol tanag.substack.com/p/prisons-ex... @ncgovernor.bsky.social @jeffjacksonnc.bsky.social @southey4senate.bsky.social

Blue false indigo plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/bapti... #nativeplants #gardening

If I want to message my incarcerated friend in #NorthCarolina I pay. If I want my friend to be able to READ those messages or respond, I also have to deposit money on HIS acct. For him to get $10, I pay more than 50% fee. This hurts NC. #ncpol @ncgovernor.bsky.social @jeffjacksonnc.bsky.social

The Franklin Standard (Bunn, #NorthCarolina ) earned the 2025 Stillwater Award for Best New Prison Publication. In the first issue, there's an article about proposed & much needed NC HB 589 Sentence reduction legislation. @southey4senate.bsky.social #ncpol drive.google.com/file/d/1oGTk...

Read the full thread. Then read the op-ed. Keeping incarcerated people from receiving mail is cruel IMO & it does not stop drugs in prisons. Incarcerated folks need treatment AND hands-on connections with family: drawings from their kids & letters from home. tanag.substack.com/p/prisons-ex...

#NorthCarolina journalist @phillipvancesmith2.bsky.social won the prestigious 2025 Stillwater Awards Prison Journalist of the Year at last night's ceremony! The award is very well deserved. I could not be more excited for this amazing writer and incredible human being. www.spj.org/stillwater-a...

Remember Brandon Webster. "The patrol’s internal affairs investigator...conceded under oath that (the trooper's) actions had violated the law and multiple department policies." @ncgovernor.bsky.social as AG "declined to file criminal charges." #ncpol www.themarshallproject.org/2026/04/22/n...

"From where I’m sitting, the drug problem is far worse now than before they prohibited paper mail" Don't let prisons fool you: Mail scanning is inhumane and ineffective at stopping drug use behind bars. More from @phillipvancesmith2.bsky.social👇

I loved this book. And I loved what @phillipvancesmith2.bsky.social had to say about it. You should read them both. substack.com/home/post/p-...

"The choice between paying bills or helping your incarcerated family member can be devastating." And #NorthCarolina prison communication expenses are even higher than Alabama's. ALL of it is explotative. prisonjournalismproject.org/2026/04/14/p...

Read this whole thread. This is incredibly exciting and inspiring. Let's do this, #NorthCarolina!

"Feed her outside where the earth makes sense, "where following orders matters less than following birds."

And OMG, this tiny bee on the dime-sized phlox flowers! 🐝 We planted the phlox 3 years ago, and this is the first time it has bloomed. Already it's supporting our itty, bitty pollinators. 😍

Creeping phlox & blue eyed grass lookin' perty

Hundreds of girls in the US are confined by the juvenile justice system for “status offenses,” like running away or truancy. Confinement for these offenses is particularly troubling because those behaviors tend to be responses to abuse. More care, less confinement.

1 in 3 families w/an incarcerated loved one goes into debt to stay connected...& many families who don't have credit to lose can't connect at all. @southey4senate.bsky.social would you support NC legislation to make communication free for imprisoned folks? benevolencefarm.org/connecting-f...

This post is clearly an indictment of Democrats. But it also deeply resonates with me as a spiritual call to action. MAGA Christians are ministering - in their way - to those in prisons. Where are the rest of us? @fcnl.bsky.social #Quakers #QuakerTruth #Quakerism #FaithInAction

Dems in #NorthCarolina & the US: READ THIS! LET! IT! SINK! IN! "The Left Behind: How the Democratic Party Abandoned Its Most Captive Audience," by @kwanetaharris.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/kwanetah... @ncgovernor.bsky.social @jeffjacksonnc.bsky.social @southey4senate.bsky.social #ncpol

@southey4senate.bsky.social I would like to know whether you would support the Prison Resources Repurposing Act if elected. scholarship.law.unc.edu/nclr/vol100/...

I called. 5calls.org/issue/stop-i...

I got the MMR vaccine as a kid. And again in college. And again twice as an adult. Now I will be getting it again on Friday b/c I can no longer rely on herd immunity. Are you sure you are immune? Your doctor can test you with a Measles/Mumps/Rubella Immunity titer. #NorthCarolina