I don’t know how to process the horrific fire hose of tragedy that has been omnipresent but has spiked this weekend, and I suspect I’m not alone. We aren’t meant to carry this much suffering and be able to function at “normal” capacity. Be gentle with yourself and others, if you can.

A Federal Right to Read Act has been reintroduced by Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) and U.S. Rep Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ). We’re thankful for this legislation. Our freedom to read and learn should not be a state’s rights issue! www.everylibrary.org/applaud_rein...

1977, Newport Beach, CA, Star Wars. We traveled about a half hour to see it in a theater with one of the largest screens in the U.S. and Dolby surround sound. The line to get into the theater wrapped around the building. I was only 5, but the movie experience was like no other, and I was mesmerized.

Things are moving along with my one-act play, Don't Cry for the Wolves, which will premiere at the HART Theatre in Hillsboro, Oregon, as part of Portland's Fertile Ground Festival. Save the date: April 11, 2026.

I've made it. I've been quoted in a History .com article. And it's an excellent one on the FBI's investigatory interest in It's a Wonderful Life (1946)!

So here's the update. California folks, get in your state legislators' ears. You have a law in place. This board needs to follow the law. Maryland uses their teeth in their laws. Why don't you? www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/2025/12/09/r...

This is not your dead grandmother. This is a scam that preys on grieving people.

Book bans take a financial and emotional toll on authors and illustrators, but creators are often left out of the conversation when it comes to who to protect in freedom to read bills. We need more legislation that includes protection for creators whose lives and livelihood are disrupted.

A library's entire board of trustees was fired and replaced because they refused to ban one of my books. It's so terrible. www.randolphhub.com/article/news...

One of the reasons why I'm part of the freedom to read movement is because I was a teen during the ultra-conservative, misogynistic, homophobic 1980s, and I often struggled to find life bearable because of it. It kills me to see kids and librarians dealing with this same bullshit in the 2020s.

This is TODAY! Are you in NYC? Please come to Union Square at 3:30 to stand with us to get the governor to sign the Freedom to Read Act! Also, there will be FREE BOOKS there, including the new George M. Johnson and Leah Johnson book There's Always Next Year!

Happy Friday! Let's celebrate with a merch drop! (I don't know if anyone really "celebrates" with a merch drop, but I'm excited)

If you'd like to join me in standing up against dangerous book bans, check out this toolkit from @uabookbans.bsky.social—it's full of tips, talking points, organizing tools, social media assets, and lots more helpful stuff: uniteagainstbookbans.org/toolkit/ #UniteAgainstBookBans

Hey New York! Let's get one more win in 2025! If you can't make the meeting contact Gov. Hochul, bug your friends to do the same, write a letter in your local paper. We can do this!!!

I'm so, so, SO glad she did this. SO glad. ...I also want to know what led to her deciding to do this because she was director at York County in SC, where she *did not* speak up this way. What makes one go from inaction to action? We need more of that to get more directors to do this.

Portland’s Black history spans 450+ years, shaped by pioneers in art, music, and community despite discrimination. Knowing our #history helps prevent it repeating. Explore more on the interactive history map: oregonblackpioneers.org/history-maps... at the Black Cultural Library: bit.ly/4pdVahV

Yes! More people need to know about the wealth of free entertainment found at libraries in this expensive era of endless paid subscriptions. We still have our old DVD player, and my family and I frequently borrow hard-to-find movies on DVD through the library system's vast collection. CDs, too!

If you need another incentive to never shop at target, here is a particularly infuriating one

I really like this word cloud of my most-used words on Bluesky and think it beautifully reflects what's important to me. Also, I cuss so much less on here than I do in person. 😂

Yep, this seems accurate. I was clearly a huge supporter of Oregon's Freedom to Read bill that passed this year. My most-used words on Bluesky in 2025 were: 1. "oregon" (51×) 2. "book" (49×) 3. "bill" (39×) 4. "freedom" (35×) 5. "books" (33×)

Will YOU be in NYC next Monday? WE NEED YOU! Come to Union Square at 3:30 for your rally to get the governor to sign the NY Freedom to Read Act. This is a joint effort with several organizations (including @authorsabb.bsky.social) and we need it to be BIG and LOUD! Please share!

Franklin the Turtle was created by Canadians Paulette Bourgeois (writer) and Brenda Clark (illustrator) in the 1980s. The books were written to teach children about self-respect, friendship, courage, honesty, empathy and overcoming fears.

Thank you, Kids Can Press, for speaking up.

If you want people to spend more, pay them more.

If you're shopping for a child who loves art, movie magic, imaginative problem solving, inventions, and/or biographies about people with a strong sense of perseverance, may I suggest the picture book I wrote, Cut!, illustrated by the brilliant @mattschu.bsky.social. bookshop.org/p/books/cut-...

Many of my novels are now hard to find, but you can order The Uninvited with free shipping from @bookshop.org today! “The Uninvited is an eerily haunting, beautifully tragic, dream-like page-turner fueled by passion, fear, and anger.” -- San Francisco Book Review bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

My poem "Jagged Pink Carvings" appears in this issue of @doorisajarmag.bsky.social, out today! Thanks to Door Is a Jar and Editor-in-Chief @maxwellbauman.bsky.social for publishing more of my work! The magazine is available in print and digital formats. www.doorisajarmagazine.net/issues/winte...

Happy official release day for Issue 37 Winter 2025 of Door Is A Jar Literary Magazine! www.doorisajarmagazine.net/issues/winte... Our new issue features the creative works of 45 contributors from all around the world! #poetry #fiction #nonfiction #art #drama #bookreviews #writingcommmunity

Short notice, but if anyone is served by the Irving County Library board in Texas they have a Library board meeting tomorrow Dec 1 that might discuss LGBTQ+ materials, new bylaws, & collection development policy. Time & location: irvingtx.gov/index.php?se...

The solution to the stress of holiday travel is to ensure you're dressed up nicely for the airplane, folks. Wear your best pantyhose. Put the kids in stiff, starchy fabrics. Spend at least an hour ironing the night before. Don your finest shoes that make your heels bleed. And smile, smile, smile!

Are you an author? Come slay dragons with us.

Please remember to type -AI in your Google searches every single time to avoid slop showing up at the top of your search results. Do not take slop as fact. Get that crap out of your search results.

“[Book banners] do not want safe children -- they want obedient children, and they think they can accomplish that by deciding what books are allowed to be on the shelf.”

An Oregon pilot program giving cash to homeless youths sees a staggering reduction in homelessness. The program gave participants $1,000 cash payments each month for two years, and at the end of the project's first phase, 91% of participants reported being in stable housing.

Today, one of the teachers at the school where I do ICE patrol told me that with the walking bus (teachers pick up kids from immigrant families living at a nearby shelter & walk them to school), attendance for those kids is back up to 100% after dropping to ~50%. Pay teachers one million dollars.

Love, support, and protect the trans people in your life. This should be a given, but unfortunately I know it's not. Sending love to the trans people in my own life and remembering those we've lost.

The Sunrise on the Reaping trailer shows a dystopian world bright with vivid color, which is honestly more realistic and eerier. As we all know, fascism still occurs under gorgeous blue skies and amid blooming spring flowers, not just in the shadows. www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPjx...

My poem "Jagged Pink Carvings" will appear in this issue of Door Is a Jar Literary Magazine! Pre-order here: www.doorisajarmagazine.net/issues/winte...

What would excite me is DEI and fair wages.

@indivhillsboro.bsky.social I want to promote this event. For some reason it doesn't show up on the main Mobilize map and search. Just wanted you to know. www.mobilize.us/indivisibleh...

I appreciate @andrewkarre.bsky.social for discussing this aspect of book bans so well. Teenagers think about sex and sometimes even have sex, and to pretend otherwise is both harmful and ridiculous.

My older daughter ran her first marathon today, and I am so dang proud.

I'm gonna be real-real here: Bookstore Romance Day may not happen in 2026. By this time of year, I've usually secured at least a handful of sponsors & their backing helps pay for things like newsletter services & Canva & Zoom & internet, all of which are needed for planning & off-season events.

Oregon looked especially beautiful today.

Please put the Working Families Party in your mouth. They did wonders with Mamdani’s campaign. We saw how quickly his rise to collective awareness was in less than six months. We can do that too, people. Everywhere. We hold the power. Screw Establishment Dems. Their time is over. It’s our turn now.

Even if you have a job that offers healthcare in the U.S, you still might have to pay expensive monthly premiums to have that healthcare. Nowadays, employers typically only cover a portion of the cost. I don't think we talk enough about employer healthcare often being unaffordable for employees.

Call now. You can use the @5calls.org app, they have a script for this. Unless you're repped by @padilla.senate.gov, whose turned off his voicemail bc he doesn't care about his constituents.

BREAKING: The Supreme Court denied an attempt to challenge Obergefell v. Hodges, the case affirming marriage equality nationwide. Our freedom to marry remains the law of the land.

"The fedora, angled just so, is his homage to French Resistance hero Jean Moulin." 🥹

Can't wait to moderate the conversation with authors Derrick Barnes & Jose Pimienta this Sat, Nov 8 at the Portland Book Festival. Gabbie (pictured with me) says unfortunately she won't see you there. She loves books but humans not so much 😹 @literary-arts.org #diversekidlit #mglit #pdxbookfest