Kelly Caldwell
@kkc212.bsky.social
Writer; dean of faculty @GothamWriters. she/her I live in NYC but still say gapers' block.
Writing teachers love to say that mundane, everyday life isn't a story. But Lee Martin makes a case that we can make it one. Another beautiful craft essay. leemartinauthor.com/2026/08/02/h... #WritingCommunity #writing
History Creates Narrative - Lee Martin
Cathy’s health had a hiccup this past week. She had some nausea and abdominal pain. We thought it was the chemo catching up with her, but it turned out to be a case of diverticulitis. She spent four d...
leemartinauthor.com
The Gotham office is having LOTS of fun discussing this list of the century's best thrillers.
The New York Times@nytimes.com · 3h agoWhat are the best thrillers published since 2000? We sent ballots to hundreds of writers of every kind of crime fiction, as well as librarians, editors, critics and more to decide. Explore the full list. nyti.ms/3TBby1f
No surprise that this story by Clémence Michallon about Martha Graham is meticulously reported and compulsively readable. The headline does not really do this must-read piece justice! www.thepersistent.com/who-was-mart... #dance #writing
Martha Graham: The Dancer Who Turned Down an Invitation from Hitler.
The founder of America's oldest dance company claimed to be apolitical - but her actions proved otherwise.
thepersistent.com
I won't allow this administration to jeopardize resources for our police, firefighters, and first responders as a way to meddle in elections and threaten our immigrant communities. We're suing to protect critical FEMA funds our communities rely on.
Blue states sue over new FEMA grant conditions
Roughly two dozen Democratic-led states sued the Trump administration Thursday over its latest set of conditions for receiving Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant funds. The stat…
thehill.com
This excerpt from Kody Keplinger's latest novel had me holding my breath by the fourth graf. Can't wait to get my hands on the book. #books #amreading www.writingclasses.com/faculty/exce...
We’re also funding death squads but what’s really offensive is that somewhere out there a poor person might be able to eat
USA TODAY Opinion@usatodayopinion.usatoday.com · 2d agoOpinion: Mamdani's idea may sound appealing, but it's NYC taxpayers who will take the hit, subsidizing discounts they may never even use.
Fund the Humanities just because. Fund the Humanities for more vicarious intellectual intercourse on Main. Whichever.
"We may think companies are immoral, but that’s because we assume they are coldly dedicated to their bottom line, not making billion dollar decisions based on something someone sent them on Facebook." This week's Must-Read, y'all! dannykatch.substack.com/p/we-used-to... #shampoojail #shoplifting
We used to be able to buy things in this country
Locking up toothpaste was a warning sign that our executive class was crazy
open.substack.com
NEW: Madison Square Garden's sprawling surveillance system can monitor guests down to the second. Its owners recently made a major exception -- for Taylor Swift. Scoop from @noahshachtman.bsky.social. Free for everyone to read, because James Dolan doesn't want you to:
For Taylor Swift, Madison Square Garden’s Controversial Cameras Briefly Went Dark
MSG’s sprawling surveillance system can monitor guests down to the second. Its owners made an exception for the pop star’s rehearsal dinner.
wired.com
This is next week, if you maybe needed a few days away to write: persistenceforwriters.substack.com/p/listen-to-...
The Trump administration is again trying to leverage billions of dollars in FEMA funding as a political weapon. This money helps states stop terrorist attacks, prevent natural disasters, and keep communities safe. We stopped these threats before, and we're suing to do it again.
The full report is even more infuriating than the headlines indicate. If you can believe that.
Office of NYC Comptroller Mark Levine@nyccomptroller.bsky.social · 2w ago💰️ AUDIT FINDINGS: - $273.4M in unclaimed reimbursements for occupational, physical, and speech therapy - Up to $132.8M tied to mandated services with missing documentation - $25.4M in other eligible but unclaimed services Full audit and recommendations: buff.ly/rc6vudH
One time I filed a story that quoted—in the 2nd graf—an official saying he wanted to quarantine HIV+ people. My lede was that he wanted to kill a busy HIV/AIDS hotline. It triggered a long, loud newsroom debate over which was more newsworthy. (I kept my lede.) How did we get from there to here?
Matt Negrin still host of Hardball on MSNBC@mattnegrin.bsky.social · 2w agoNot a single network aired this on their nightly news broadcasts yesterday. They described Trump overseeing a "somber ceremony" and called it a "moving moment." The only way to know what trump actually said about the soldiers he killed is to follow aaron rupar which no offense to aaron is insane
Not a single network aired this on their nightly news broadcasts yesterday. They described Trump overseeing a "somber ceremony" and called it a "moving moment." The only way to know what trump actually said about the soldiers he killed is to follow aaron rupar which no offense to aaron is insane
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w agoTrump on fallen US troops: "All of them said very strongly, 'We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.'"
Hear me out: this is even wilder than it looks. Out in the ag world, Taylor Farms was THE instigator for a lot of the big food safety moves for lettuce over the last 20 years. That's a legacy that just should NOT have ended up like this.
public health guy@publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 2w agoit does actually sound like taylor farms and the white house teamed up to try and blame taco bell for the outbreak. unprecedented corruption
The discovery phase of the next 2-3 years of lawsuits are gonna be WILD What an incredible day to be Bill Marler
Gotta go with Taco Bell for dinner at some point this week. Next week, too. Whistleblowing on a corrupt bribefest between Donald Trump and the corporate shitworms at Taylor Farms inspires a certain amount of loyalty.
And it looks like it could be a federal crime (h/t @nicholassmith.bsky.social) …which won’t, obviously, be prosecuted, but it could potentially be a state crime, too. Attn: @williamtongct.bsky.social www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/...
47 U.S. Code § 509 - Prohibited practices in contests of knowledge, skill, or chance
law.cornell.edu
Time and place detail to reveal character!
Anca L. Szilágyi@ancaszilagyi.bsky.social · 2w ago"It was Al Capone days. The gangsters were alive and well. So, the way the parlor was designed, [her grandfather] put up mirrors all everywhere. He could stand anywhere in the store and by looking in a mirror, he knew exactly who was coming in.”
anyways, the big tech companies pivoting to AI want us dead 🤪 so sign up for our newsletter! donate to our newsroom! but most of all: be aware of these changes that are happening in every corner of the internet and changing in very real ways what comes across your screen
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thecityreporter.nyc
See the thing is, I hadn't even HEARD of f---ing "Taylor Farms" and now that I know the owner is a "Calls up his buddy Trump to make an FDA flag go away' guy I'm inclined to just not touch anything it's involved with whether there's a parasite possibility or not.
Forbes@forbes.com · 2w agoYou may want to remain cautious about any food that may have been affected by the outbreak.
This story is indeed insane. They literally *discounted his correct answers* (on questions about the Constitution) so that a Trump supporting girl who wants to go to Hillsdale College could win $25K and be televised meeting Trump. So. Gross.
Charlotte Clymer@charlotteclymer.bsky.social · 2w agoThis story is crazy. It would appear Trump admin officials rigged their nationally televised high school civics contest to keep a young man from a Sikh family out of the finalists. www.notus.org/national/ame...
Oh, hey, look! The humidity in NYC is down to 57%. What better time to talk about mushy middles? And how to dig out of them, w/tips from Dinty Moore, debut MG author Christine Hartman Derr, & memoirist Emily Rapp Black. blogs.gothamwriters.com/2026/07/12/m... #WritingCommunity
The Ghost Bike Project deserves far more attention. I wrote about it way back in 2014, after a cyclist was killed while riding a road I was familiar with. gregfallis.com/2014/08/28/g...
ghost bikes
You know how you scan the news headlines and something catches your eye? Back in June, this caught mine: Bicyclist dies in Calhoun County crash It caught my attention because I’m a bicyclist,…
gregfallis.com
Peter Cheung@bostonaruban.bsky.social · 3w agoToday we painted Louisa’s Ghost Bike. It used to be Jessica Mink’s bike. Since 2015, I’ve created about 30 ghost bikes, but this one was the hardest to make so far. I couldn’t have done it without my best friend and brother Galen Mook. We Need Each Other. #NoMoreGhostBikes
Everybody read these stories! Not only are they excellent journalism, but also, you'll understand why, at the Knicks NBA championship celebration, the crowd of ebullient New Yorkers greeted Dolan's speech with stony, icy silence.
WIRED@wired.com · 3w agoYesterday, WIRED learned that Madison Square Garden was suing us for our accurate reporting. We stand by our work. That’s why we’re removing the paywall from two of the MSG stories they don’t want you to read, making them free for everyone.
Mahmoud Khalil's lawsuit also points the finger directly at groups like Betar and Canary Mission for working with the government to target pro-Palestine organizers. hellgatenyc.com/mahmoud-khal...
Mahmoud Khalil Sues the Trump Administration, Alleging a 'Conspiracy' Against Him at the Highest Levels
The lawsuit also points the finger directly at groups like Betar and Canary Mission for working with the government to target pro-Palestine organizers.
hellgatenyc.com
