Susan Kiyo Ito
@thesusanito.bsky.social
Writer, adoptee, author of memoir I Would Meet You Anywhere, National Book Critics Circle finalist. 🥚 website: http://www.thesusanito.com member of the Writers Grotto
The AC is out at ICE's detention facility in Newark, where it currently feels like 107 degrees. Detainees say not even the ventilation is working, and that the water is dirty. Health inspectors recently tried to inspect the facility. They were turned away. www.nj.com/politics/202...
Delaney Hall’s air conditioning goes out during N.J.’s worst heat wave in 15 years
Air conditioning failed at Delaney Hall during a major heat wave, prompting concerns for detainees as advocates cite ongoing complaints and inspection disputes.
nj.com
In January, Zohran Mamdani took action against bankrupt landlord Pinnacle, which was responsible for over 5,000 housing violations. Thanks to his intervention, Pinnacle's new owners have forgiven millions in tenants' back rent. This is what governing for the people looks like.
Happy Pubday to faculty member @mononoke97 Vanessa Hua for COYOTELAND! Head to our Bookshop and pick up a copy! bookshop.org/shop/warrenw...
The NRA buys off Congress. No action on guns. The oil industry buys off Congress. No action on climate. Insurance companies buy off Congress. No action on health care. The list goes on and on. Money in politics is the root of our dysfunction.
May Day Marches across the US yesterday! Such a beautiful day to celebrate and to fight against the oligarchy and the patriarchy.
The world’s ten richest people — all Americans — saw their collective net worth increase by $260 billion in April. These ten people are now worth a combined $2.7 trillion. The bottom 50% of U.S. households, 66 million in total, is worth $4.3 trillion. Wondering if inequality is out of control?
By gutting the Voting Rights Act, the Supreme Court is killing the Second Reconstruction. The first Reconstruction shows how Congress should respond. Me and Daphna Renan in the NYT on the tools we have to save democracy from a hostile Court.
Opinion | Ruling by Ruling, the Supreme Court Is Undoing the Civil Rights Movement
nytimes.com
Effective 2025 federal tax rates paid by these corporations: Alphabet: 8.01% AT&T: 4.6% Meta: 3.57% General Motors: 3.09% Amazon: 1.37% Exxon Mobil: 1.31% Disney: -1.57% CVS Health: -3.88% Income tax rate paid by the typical American: 14.5% This is what a rigged system looks like.
“'I’ve never experienced anything like this in my entire life,' the congresswoman said, fighting back tears. "She described the way people were laying down inside as “like sardines.” “'It is frightening in there,' she said. 'It is disgusting'..." azmirror.com/2026/04/10/i...
@thesusanito.bsky.social ‘s beautifully told story of being a server at a Japanese restaurant when she was a teenager, as a biracial adopted child of a Japanese American couple, taught me so much about the problems of identity and authenticity adopted kids face.
I think it's time we call them by their rightful name: Concentration camps. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Record deaths in US immigration custody expose systemic failures
Families, advocates and lawmakers say poor care, opaque investigations and bureaucracy leave deaths unexplained
theguardian.com
Come hear about the joys, challenges, and freedom of being an mature writer: we promise we will be honest, truthful, and fun. Saturday. Noon. @awpwriter.org #AWP2026 @thesusanito.bsky.social @deniselow9.bsky.social
Listen to this week's episode of the LIVE! From City Lights podcast on Spotify, Soundcloud, and Apple Podcasts. We feature a conversation between @jasminiolani.bsky.social and @thesusanito.bsky.social about Hakes' novel, THE PŌHAKU. soundcloud.com/livefromcity... open.spotify.com/episode/54pb...
Nurul Amin Shah Alam's violent arrest, by police who saw his walking stick as a weapon—and who, like the Border Patrol officers who dumped him, apparently made no attempt to reckon with his disability or his mental state—set off events that ended in his death. www.motherjones.com/mojo-wire/20...
Nurul Amin Shah Alam, Blind Rohingya refugee dumped by CBP, dies in cold
"They just left him."
motherjones.com
Yeah, this is the year I get back to analog everything.
Citizen.Coping@propcazhpm.bsky.social · last yr.A Japanese study found paper-calendar users lit up memory-related brain regions and recalled details 25% faster than phone-calendar users. "notebook aided acquisition of rich encoding and/or spatial information, [was used] as retrieval clues, led to higher activations in specific brain regions."
Please contribute if you can…every dollar matters! Even though we have raised a lot of money, we have used almost all of it to pay family’s rent the past two months. March rent is coming due, as are utilities bills, and we are down to just $10K.
Yes, there have been all sorts of studies, including in linked article. But course everyone, and every brain, is different and even changes over time. Study below is about paper vs and electronic calendar. I use both, same with notebooks.
Citizen.Coping@propcazhpm.bsky.social · last yr.A Japanese study found paper-calendar users lit up memory-related brain regions and recalled details 25% faster than phone-calendar users. "notebook aided acquisition of rich encoding and/or spatial information, [was used] as retrieval clues, led to higher activations in specific brain regions."
WaPo laid off: -- A journalist covering protest movements and extremism -- A Pulitzer-winning local enterprise reporter -- the race and ethnicity beat reporter -- ... the Amazon beat reporter In addition to so many others
Today, as Gaza continues to be stuck in a bloody limbo, we are turning our website over to Gaza and its people in an initiative we are calling “A Day for Gaza.” There will be no pieces published on our website today that do not come directly from Gaza.
A Day for Gaza
Today, The Nation is turning over its website exclusively to stories from Gaza and its people. This is why.
thenation.com
Reminder that, in recent days, children have rallied and protested for their freedom inside an ICE detention center where water has been described as "putrid" and meals reportedly contain “bugs,” dirt, and debris. This is where the kidnapped 5-year-old Liam Ramos is being held.
Protest breaks out at Dilley immigration detention facility holding 5-year-old Liam Ramos
A protest broke out Saturday at the ICE-run South Texas family detention complex in Dilley, where five-year-old Liam Ramos is being detained.
tpr.org
December Writing Prompt from our blog editors:
"Mama And . . . Gift Wrapping" December 2025 Prompt
Photo by J. Francis I spoke with my sister earlier this week and she told me she had spent four hours wrapping presents. Needless to say, she was exhausted. This got me thinking about when I ...
literarymama.com
It looks like it's been scrubbed from every official 60 Minutes page now. It's only a 30-second promo but here it is if you didn't get a chance to see it.
Jason Thibeault 🇨🇦@lousycanuck.bsky.social · 8mo agoActively, in real time, trying to scrub this from the internet. The Youtube video here is set to private now. 60minutestonight.com/inside-cecot...
As lawyers, John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett were involved in bringing this travesty of a case to SCOTUS, and they have now all joined Clarence Thomas—who voted with the majority here—as justices of the court.
Scott Horton@robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 8mo ago25 years ago today, SCOTUS elected George W Bush president of the United States by blocking completion of a voting canvass in Florida. A subsequent canvass by the Associated Press showed that Bush's rival, Al Gore, had won the race in Florida—and thus the contest for the presidency—by 700 votes.
It’s been two weeks since ICE took Yuanxin Zheng from his father. He is six years old. He’s still not home. This has to end.