Registration is open for both sections of my 9-Month Novel Intensive with @literary-arts.org! All levels and all genres of novel-length fiction are welcome. Join us via Zoom on Wednesday or Thursday evenings, beginning next month. literary-arts.org/event/nine-m... literary-arts.org/event/nine-m...

Nine Month Novel Intensive: Wednesdays

This course for dedicated writers is designed to guide you through the writing and/or revising of your novel. It runs from September through May. Some weeks you’ll have craft assignments to complete o...

literary-arts.org

ProPublica spoke to about 150 people who had lived in homeless encampments when cities cleared them out in “sweeps.” We distributed notecards so people could tell us about the toll in their own words. This is what they wrote. (Published Dec. 2024)

“I Have Lost Everything”: The Toll of Cities’ Homeless Sweeps

Cities often take belongings — including important documents and irreplaceable mementos — when they conduct sweeps of homeless encampments. ProPublica gave notecards to people across the country so th...

projects.propublica.org

I wasn't paying attention & forgot Mobility's birthday on 8/1. This book is 3 years old! It concludes with wildfire smoke in Portland &, would u believe, today there is wildfire smoke in Portland. Please buy it/read it so I can keep writing novels about people & feelings bookshop.org/p/books/mobi...

Mobility: A Novel

National Bestseller Longlisted for the 2024 Joyce Carol Oates PrizeA Powell’s Best Book of 2023A TIME Best Book of 2023A Vulture Best Book of 2023“A masterpiece of misdirection.” ―Geraldine Brooks“Mob...

bookshop.org

the testimony about how we need public money to go into private hands so then the private sector can give to philanthropic organizations / non-profits was actually the clearest explanation of the rot of neoliberalism I've ever heard. The government should just fund public services & employ people.

Registration is open for both sections of my 9-Month Novel Intensive with @literary-arts.org! All levels and all genres of novel-length fiction are welcome. Join us via Zoom on Wednesday or Thursday evenings, beginning next month. literary-arts.org/event/nine-m... literary-arts.org/event/nine-m...

Nine Month Novel Intensive: Wednesdays

This course for dedicated writers is designed to guide you through the writing and/or revising of your novel. It runs from September through May. Some weeks you’ll have craft assignments to complete o...

literary-arts.org

anyone who is like "oh hey yes, legitimate concerns have been raised but we just have to vote public dollars forward" is untrustworthy imo

Councilor Candace Avalos@counciloravalos.bsky.social · 9h ago

MultCo Chair JVP talked to make the case that despite legitimate concerns and a frustrating negotiating process with the Blazers, this is a deal we have to get done.

A follow-up to the Spokane thread: a little closer to (my) home, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs are getting close to their fundraising goal, but they're not there yet! The reservation has been affected by two of Oregon's (historically terrible) fires this season:

The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon (CTWS) Wildfire Recovery Fund

***OFFICIAL CTWS DONATION ACCOUNT***NOTE: Processing Fee is optional. You can deselect this option upon making a donation. The Confederated Tribes of the Warm…

zeffy.com

This is truly disgusting. We don't participate in higher education for job training. It is crucial for a vital society that we have people throughout our communities who are educated in music, religious studies, history, gender studies, and philosophy amongst many.

The New Republic@newrepublic.com · 3d ago

President Trump is banning students majoring in degrees that don’t make enough money from taking out college loans. Degrees for social work, art, religious studies, teaching aides, and music will be hit the hardest. trib.al/aaAEu6v

🎉WIN: Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger restored voting rights for over 66k people with past felony convictions. “These Virginians deserve the right to use their vote, make their voices heard, and be recognized as contributing citizens to our Commonwealth and country," she said.

Virginia Gov. Spanberger has restored voting rights for 66,000 people with past felony convictions

The volume presents a dramatic reversal of prior Gov. Glenn Youngkin's tenure, when he restored less than 10,000 voter's rights during his entire four-year term.

democracydocket.com

Meatball insists that I take a break from work.

My heart hurts too much to even say something ironic about this. What if we just fucking start fighting for every single precious human life before they’re under attack. What if we treat now like it matters as much as it does.

Asawin Suebsaeng@swin24.bsky.social · 4d ago

an immigration lawyer working on some of these Haitian cases today says an ICE officer told them, re: the ankle monitors: “We’re following our orders.” Direct quote Hm

Less than two hours of being sociable at my husband’s departmental picnic this afternoon and now I’m good for nothing but the couch and a book.

I cannot keep up and what is more I refuse to try.

A great beginning of a story, yes, but also WHY IS THIS SO TRUE?!?!

jenni@msjennimiller.bsky.social · 4d ago

"everyone is a death doula these days" is definitely the best thing anyone has said to me lately that could also be the beginning of a short story.

We thought our 2012 minivan was done for and we’d finally have to bite the bullet and get a new car, but it turned out to need a FIVE DOLLAR part. May this ridiculous luck find you as well today.

They’re making it politically impossible for City Council to help them, people are enraged by the smugness while demanding tax payer dollars in District 3

Fischer 🛠️🚇@fischer.bsky.social · 6d ago

if this is going to be the line then fuck these guys

👀 Fascinated by the "withdrawn by its agents" detail. So the AI use was so blatant that the agents due a huge payday preemptively withdrew the contract?

No professional accomplishment has ever made me happier than this. theonion.com/translator-o...

Translator Of Original ‘Minions’ Epic Poem Slams ‘Sexless, Bloodless’ Film Adaptation

PHILADELPHIA—In a 4,500-word essay published in Harper’s Magazine, Emily Wilson, known for her popular translation of the Minions epic poem, blasted the latest film Thursday as a “sexless, bloodless” ...

theonion.com

I felt like I had a cat hair caught in my left eye’s lashes off and on for weeks. Entirely plausible given our cat hair situation in this house. It turned out, though, that there was a 2-inch long, fine white hair growing just above my eyelid. Middle age is one fucking indignity after another.

‘Anthropic described the project as “our effort to disruptively scan all the world’s books” in an internal memo, which noted “we do not want it to be known that we are pursuing this project”.’

Eli Valley@elivalley.bsky.social · last wk.

Dystopia www.news.com.au/technology/o...

Thanks to @carynrose.bsky.social for sharing this absolute gem in her newsletter about Glen Hansard today:

Glen Hansard - Beneath the Southern Cross - Carnegie Hall NYC 3/26/2025

YouTube video by jrovalino

youtube.com

on Glen Hansard & that time he covered "Beneath the Southern Cross" jukeboxgraduate.com/glen-hansard...

Glen Hansard, 1970-2026

...who walked through the callow mist.

jukeboxgraduate.com

jump on this, y’all

Kat Howard@katwithsword.bsky.social · 2w ago

Due to schedule changes, I have some immediate space open in my editing calendar, and I'd love to fill it. Want to work with an actual human editor with over a decade of experience? More info here: www.kathowardbooks.com/editing

Our fig tree and Meatball are so pleased to announce that it is officially figs, honey, and goat cheese on sourdough toast season. Meatball doesn’t even eat figs. He just wants you to be happy.

So traumatized by the last few days of ridiculous heat that my rain- and moss-loving ass just actually thought “ooh! It’s *only* going up to 82 today!”

“If students are using it to compose, which is the biggest tragedy of all, they’ll never learn to write. And their voice is stolen from them.”

Dave Eggers told OpenAI staff that ChatGPT was ‘silencing an entire generation’

He called AI writing “pastiche nonsense.”

theverge.com

Any elected representative who votes for this should be recalled, immediately, for dereliction of duty.

Portland City Council won’t have all answers before voting on Moda Center funding package

As a deadline to commit public dollars to Moda Center renovations rapidly approaches, it appears that Portland city councilors will be asked to approve spending $120 million on arena renovations next ...

opb.org

This morning in Biddeford, Maine, a 26-year-old man said goodbye to his wife and daughter and left for work. Moments later he was dead, shot in the head by ICE agents, the second man ICE has killed in six days. ICE is killing our neighbors. ICE cannot be reformed. Abolish ICE.

Susan Collins could have insisted on guardrails or measures to rein in abuses. She didn’t and now her state is being terrorized by ICE.

This was my first event back out in the world after my injury and I am SO glad I made the effort. It was so much fun, and Jeff did a fantastic job as moderator.

Jeff VanderMeer@jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · last mo.

Just to follow up: I had a blast talking to Cari Luna and Kimberly King Parsons about Aira's new book laat night. So much fun and lots of interesting discussion of writer inspiration and process. If you ever get a chance to go to an event featuring Luna or Parsons, I highly recommend it!