Heather's rant about T-Mobile's "can of whoop-up" ad was exactly what I needed this morning. If you're not reading Drinks with Broads from the @fuggirls.bsky.social, you're missing out. open.substack.com/pub/drinkswi...

As one of the "viewers like you" supporting Nine PBS, I couldn't agree more than it's important to have public media supported by all of us via both donations and tax dollars, not by a handful of wealthy donors.

you know who else came from chicago and was on "a mission from god"

I moved back to Illinois, and four months later we have an Illinoisan pope!!

Some of us just like to use our big dumb brains to write

Gruden got fired for saying some truly vile things, didn’t he? Why are the STL sports teams suddenly treating him to VIP tours?

Everything is awful, but not entirely, because the two geese living next to the pond in our backyard have six adorable, fuzzy little babies now 😭

Rory!!!

This is exciting: Bookshop.org is running a Golden Bookmark Giveaway, with one lucky person winning free books for life! Enter here: woobox.com/r2f4rn/r750a5

President Trump’s simpering fealty to Vladimir Putin and Russia is embarrassing and dangerous. Illinois stands with Ukraine, and so should the White House.

Mortifying. Just mortifying. NATO surely shows us the door at some point soon.

There's just so much here, clearly, but on top of everything more serious and ominous ... that's a diadem for a queen or a princess that they've AI generated on him here.

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde’s latest book is all about courage—an important thing to think about these days.

Another reason to root for Caitlin Clark. The WNBA star loves to read, and she and Scholastic are teaming up to make sure all kids have access to books www.usatoday.com/story/sports...

Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde to Trump: "I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender people in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives ... and the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals"

Love thee, Notre Dame ☘️

This is some absolutely fascinating timing on Facebook’s part

Self-portrait of the artist in the guise of a mocker, by Joseph Ducreux, 1790s

Nothing, absolutely nothing is permanent so it really is critical to reach for your dreams and make the art you always intended to make.

Whoever could have imagined that a guy who suddenly started styling himself like this would be easily swayed by other people?

Thundersnow just now in STL 😱

Saint Nicholas (!) Providing Dowries, by Bicci di Lorenzo, 1433–35, 📸 by Joe Sargent

Okay, I’m ready to get my heart broken by ND football again. Let’s go

I suppose this is why so many authors are incensed about AI “writing” — it’s clearly just something tech dullards created to compensate for their own weaknesses and now they’re projecting that on all of us. Look, I’m sorry you suck at writing. But don’t make the rest of us suffer your failures.

Lawrence, KS #LFK

Conclave tonight, the Hallmark Chiefs movie tomorrow night

Set my DVR three days ago 🥳

BTW, it seems to me that every time someone claims to be disrupting publishing, the main thing that gets disrupted is a writer's career.

A solid 51, thanks to Yo Gabba Gabba

Okay, I'll bite.

What gif pops up when you type in your name?

Today’s article for subscribers on my Substack, Hidden Gems, tells the story of the engagement of the King and Queen of the Belgians 25 years ago—and the secrets that were revealed by the bright spotlight that followed

Nah. One of my goals this time around is to try my best not to become a cog in the outrage machine, so I’ll just be blocking and going on my merry way.

My emotional management online shopping packages from last week are starting to arrive

Twitter archives officially downloaded from both accounts, nuking in progress via the Redact app. Sigh. Fifteen years! Feels a little like moving on from a relationship you should have ended a long time ago.

The graves of my great-grandmother's sisters, Lillie and Minnie, who died of whooping cough. The stones are marked "baby" and "our darling." A century later, the TDAP vaccine meant that I didn't have to face burying my own baby just weeks after her birth.

You know what I'm really enjoying about Bluesky so far? There's no nagging little pop-up or link or prompt encouraging me to let AI write or edit my words. I am so *sick* of all of that!

Pritzker announces $72 million in medical debt relief for nearly 53K Illinois residents (Read it all)

Things I did not envision before parenting: having my toddler demand that I sing her the theme from Ghostbusters before bed at night instead of our usual lullabies.

Along with my work over at The Court Jeweller, this year I also started a Substack called Hidden Gems. It’s given me a chance to do some fascinating work on historical jewelry. Here are a few pieces I really enjoyed writing 🧵

Untitled, by Georges Mathieu, 1979, 📸 by @SamShazam_

If you see this, I invite you to post an image from your device with no explanation

Tonight’s escapism television: STARTING 5 on Netflix. LeBron is wearing elaborate Beetlejuice makeup. Jimmy Butler has declared himself the world’s best dominos player. 10/10, no notes

Almost done with my latest needlepoint project—just a few more rows and then the sparkly stars ✨

Not Ben!! www.nytimes.com/athletic/590...

Exactly one thing has made me laugh today, and it’s watching the “John Barlow parallel parks” scene from last week’s RHOSLC

Today's life-changing event: I got a mechanical keyboard. OMG. It's a whole new world.