I refer to growing up in the acid rain/ quicksand/impending nuclear conflict era as being "classically trained" in generalized anxiety

If you like what you've seen from Sen. Cory Booker and other Democratic lawmakers this week, call and email their offices and let them know that. Evidence of public support gives lawmakers more clout with their colleagues to keep doing what they're doing. Constituent encouragement becomes influence.

Happy Annual "OMG I Don't Think I Watched Any New Movies This Year" Day!... to all who celebrate.

Remember Reverend Shaw from Footloose? Remember the book burning scene, when all the parishioners are burning Vonnegut and such, and John Lithgow's Rev. Shaw runs out and tells everyone to stop burning books and go home? Who knew, 40 yrs later, that Rev. Shaw would be left of red America.

Trump's review of Jesus Christ after meeting: "Radical leftist. Nasty in tone. Hangs out with twelve losers. Smells like fish."

The tween in my house is unabashedly listening to a muzak version of "Dance Monkey" and that's the brightest element in this shitstorm of a day. What's yours?

I watched a bit of the Eagles game. The best part was when the players made snow angels.

When I see a sweatshirt that reads "ALL GOOD," I think, "Nope. It is decidedly not all good." But I'd love to buy a sweatshirt that reads SOME THINGS GOOD. That's a message I can get behind.

A year ago this week, my kid had a hole in her heart repaired w/ a polymer and titanium device that looked like a paper flower. Hooray for medical art!

With all her heart

Writer Heather Lanier reflects on a tough parenting moment: ceding control and trusting that everything will be OK

hub.jhu.edu

Artists, writers, thinkers, makers: Let's encourage ourselves to question the constant pressure to be "relevant." Let's give ourselves permission to be "irrelevant." Moments are fleeting. The Earth is 4.5 billion years old. You're on the Earth. Ergo, just by breathing, you're relevant.

1/ This morning, I typed up a very rough draft of a poem I’d handwritten in my journal, and none of it was particularly good. “Jeez,” I thought, “is this a bad poem?” The lines read like broken-up prose. And then I realized, “Wait. Maybe this isn’t a poem at all. Maybe this is an essay.”

I'm impressed by the person who picks a Word of the Year. I can barely pick a Word of the Week.

XPN's John Vettese calls "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes, our number 1 song in the #XPNCountdown, "a song of scorned determination that is an unbreakable part of the 21st century’s pop cultural DNA." Read about it here: xpn.org/2024/12/12/8...

Song No. 1: "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes

The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" is a song of scorned determination and an unbreakable part of the 21st century's pop cultural DNA.

xpn.org

Aww, Nikki Giovanni! One of my first favorite poets. www.npr.org/2024/12/09/n...

Renowned poet and Black arts movement icon Nikki Giovanni dies at 81

The poet and activist was a leading figure of the Black Arts Movement. Giovanni was working on her upcoming book of poetry, set to publish in the fall.

npr.org

PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law Monday to prohibit public and school libraries from banning books in the state and to enshrine protections against civil and criminal charges for librarians who comply with the law.

Lately, when I scroll through Facebook and Instagram, I get off as soon as I see an ad. So far, I only make it through 1 or 2 real posts. How many posts do you see before an ad?

I picked out a date and time to see WICKED with the fam, chose the seats, went to pay, saw the price, and slowly backed away from the computer, cackling like a green-faced witch. “There’s no place like cheap theaters of the 90s…” #end-of-month-budget

Too many dashes. This hope metaphor is beak-less and, thus, unbelievable.

Todd Dillard@toddedillard.bsky.social · 2y ago

Workshop a famous piece badly: “Grass is already plural, why do you need to call it ‘Leaves of Grass.’ Also ‘leaves’ makes me think of trees’.”

I highly recommend Brooke Champagne's essay collection, NOLA FACE! Every essay is a gem. ugapress.org/book/9780820...

Nola Face

Early in Brooke Champagne’s childhood, her Ecuadorian grandmother Lala (half bruja, half santa) strictly circumscribed the girl’s present and future: bec...

ugapress.org

I was today years old when I realized “Vader” means “father” and that plotline was not very suspenseful for the Dutch.

My 4-year-old autistic neighbor got kicked out of school and sent to "baby jail," as his educator-mom called it. I wrote about that injustice, and scarcity mindset, and tomato-growing, and the slant of the Earth, and our need to care for one another, for @electriclit.bsky.social .

We Need To Rewrite Ourselves an Ethics of Care in the Classroom and Beyond - Electric Literature

The school district used a rhetoric of scarcity to determine which kids it would support, and which kids it would eventually remove

electricliterature.com

Thanks, Ohio GOP. Because of your passage of SB29 that requires our already overworked school counselors to notify parents every time a student types certain words, my kids constantly think they’re in trouble & are backing away from reading & writing about topics that matter to them. Great job.

Sometimes it helps to name the absurdity. You can find the rest of this poem in my book, PSALMS OF UNKNOWING, from Monkfish Publishing.

Who's a policy expert I could interview on the ways the next administration will impact elders, and what they can do about it—now, and after the inauguration?

What's your post-election soundtrack? In 2016, it was 90s/00s REM. For months. So far, in 2024, it's been Jon Batiste. But Bruce Springsteen's "Secret Garden" just had me burst into tears at a red light.

Dear Algorithm: Please put me in contact w/ the Arc of the Moral Universe, so I can ask it What the hell, and also How long?

For all y'all going on the job market this year. "I have experience teaching students named Olivia, Tiana, Jester, and Dave. I have experience teaching the student who writes better than I do. I have experience teaching the student who fixes his gaze on my boobs." www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/cov...

Cover Letter to the Search Committee from My Shadow Self

Dear Search Committee: Please consider my application for the position of Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Far-Fetched ...

mcsweeneys.net

I mean maybe my entire Bluesky existence will be retweeting @mcsweeneys.bsky.social ?

McSweeney's@mcsweeneys.net · 2y ago

“I’M NOT LYING!” screamed the shepherd boy. “We believe you!” cheered the majority. “I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!!” screamed the criminally convicted shepherd boy. “He’s just joking,” laughed the majority. www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the...

I'm running faster since Tuesday. This isn't a fitness boast. It's a realization that clarity on what to fight for brings a certain power.