This Friday is my birthday! And my publisher just gave me some *audiobook codes* for The Dragon Has Some Complaints, so I'm celebrating with a giveaway. All you have to do to enter is 1) follow me on here 2) reskeet this post 3) reply naming one of your favorite monsters!

John Wiswell@wiswell.bsky.social · last yr.

Unveiling the cover for THE DRAGON HAS SOME COMPLAINTS! Garrodigh is a curmudgeonly three-headed dragon who pretends to be tame so he can eat for free at the local dragon-riding academy. Unfortunately, the rider he's assigned to is... a lot. Coming Summer 2026 from DAW (US) and Arcadia (UK)!

Live report from the Minnesota State Fair, located in the heart of American democracy, where there’s an ICE Out adaptation of Picasso’s Guernica made entirely from crops

HCR writes about how the current Republican Party has embraced a “survival of the fittest” approach to government. Supporting members of our society that are struggling goes against the “laws of nature”. This explains their cuts to social & health care programs. Details below 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR)@hcrichardson.bsky.social · last mo.

August 20, 2026

😞

ABC News Australia@news.abc.net.au · last mo.

Giant cuttlefish numbers declined by almost 100pc this year, PIRSA says

Unreposted so I can repost it again. It stuck with me and I remind myself of it when I'm in the autistic sensory-emotional blast furnace

Leiracal@leiracal.bsky.social · last yr.

This concept was introduced to me as "run the dishwasher twice" and was an important part of my executive functioning recovery as well as my path to self-acceptance.

This opening of the 1619 Project has long been the most ringing sentence for me about this country, its founding, and its founding document. Its truth could apply to everyone who sought to broaden and deepen equality and rights.

The occupation continues

Nick Benson@ottergoose.net · 3mo ago

Yesterday, 33 shackled ICE detainees were flown away from their homes in Minnesota, bringing the week's total to 70, the most since the end of Metro Surge. Stats: ottergoose.net/ice-flights-msp/data

substack is not a neutral actor

Michael Luciano 🇨🇦@michaelluciano.bsky.social · 3mo ago

This paragraph is cursed. www.status.news/p/olivia-nuz...

Again, please share. In every aspect of American history you will run smack dab into the critical contributions of Black people. It’s not Black history. It’s American history. Trying to erase it is a fool’s errand. We live it every day. time.com/5836444/blac...

The Forgotten Black History of How Memorial Day Started

Historians like the Pulitzer Prize winner David Blight have tried to raise awareness of freed slaves who decorated soldiers' graves in 1865

time.com

Love it: the night after he was kicked off of CBS for good, Stephen Colbert hosted a public access show in southeast Michigan.

Only In Monroe --- May 22, 2026

YouTube video by Stephen Colbert

youtube.com

I am looking forward to this launch!

Into a Darker Wilderness@intoadarkerwilderness.com · 5mo ago

You are invited! Erin Sharkey and Michael Kleber-Diggs have been working on a podcast about Black nature writing called "Into a Darker Wilderness." The first season of the podcast will feature conversations with writers around the complicated relationships and history of Black people and nature… 1/

Minneapolis celebrates spring with a parade of giant handmade socialist puppets and a festival where people row the sun across the lake. This year's Mayday festival was today, and I'm going to try to share some photos and videos (many taken by others) to try to explain it for my non-local friends.

My poem’s in a mixed tape. I’m so cool. www.major7mag.com/post/smoke-o...

"Smoke on the Water" • Deep Purple (by Kathryn Kysar)

Girls trying to be women in all the wrong ways.

major7mag.com

Today is day 140 of the ICE occupation of MN. Cases like these are why it feels like every Minnesotan is raising mutual aid rent relief. (You can help at StandWithMinnesota.com)

Daniel Suitor@danielsuitor.com · 6mo ago

The City of Minneapolis, evicting 48 of the poorest families in its care, for a total of $30,144.

“Competence porn.”

Corey Atad@coreyatad.com · 6mo ago

this is fucking unreal stuff from Noah Wyle on the magic of The Pitt. www.gq.com/story/noah-w...

Eliminating libraries in prisons is a disaster, completely shortsighted. Libraries are a lifeline for incarcerated people who want to learn and grow, and have few other options.

Mary Grace@emgeekay.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Correctional Services Canada will be eliminating all prison librarians at federal prisons. This will save between $1.5 million and $2.5 million annually.

We are all at fault. We wait and hope for a hero to free us from this reign of terror. The Congress, the Supreme Court, the Military, the people of Minnesota, the Youth. What we really need is for every. single. one. of us to step up and be that hero.

@mcsweeneys.net can always be counted on for a timely laugh. Happy Easter! www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the...

The Elementary School Disciplinary Record of Jesus Christ

“Fermented all the juice boxes during snack time. I can’t prove it. But I know he did it.” 4/5/26

mcsweeneys.net

We need your help. The Trump administration is dismantling the U.S. Forest Service. 193 million acres of public land (bigger than Texas) is being handed over to political operatives and industry insiders.

Well, we crashed the website. Let’s try another route. It’s not as easy and doesn’t go out to as many people, but it will get the message directly to the BLM.

Michael Dennis Browne (1940-2026) (composer Stephen Paulus, poet Michael Dennis Brown) "Tell me, where is the road I can call my own, That I left, that I lost, So long ago? All these years I have wandered, Oh, when will I know There's a way, there's a road That will lead me home?"

The Road Home – Stephen Paulus

YouTube video by Stephen Paulus Music

youtube.com

I spent many hours and days driving through rural Minnesota in my orchestra musician days, and "the flat-as-a-fucking-pancake part with seven farmers who all hated each other for being the wrong kind of Lutheran" is just a spot-on description of a very specific chunk of the state.

RandBall’s Stu@randballsstu.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Coming in at number 85 on our exhaustive rankings of Minnesota counties: Traverse. Thanks to both my dad and @jonmarthaler.com for their input!

This was the best off-off-off site reading last year. Crushed to make neither AWP nor NAWP this year, but hope the lovely BlueSky poetry folks who cannot go to AWP make connections here.

Jared Beloff@readinstead.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Hey! Don't miss out on the FOMO and poems. Sign up to read here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... Registered to attend (readers & nonreaders) here: www.eventbrite.com/e/nawp-open-...

WE ALREADY HAVE OUR THIRD PARTY. WE ARE IT: “They’re never going to run for office, and those grass-roots leaders brought this administration to their knees this week to do something about it. So there’s other ways to serve, and I’ll find them,” Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic VP nominee.

When we finally have Victory Over Ice Day, Minnesota will be like

a group of stuffed animals are standing around a tree in the woods .

ALT: a group of stuffed animals are standing around a tree in the woods .

media.tenor.com

Wait—“theater” as in make-believe crisis invented for cinematic effect or “theater” as in war against a US population???

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 8mo ago

Q: Can you be specific about how many ICE and CBP agents are currently operating in the state? HOMAN: 3,000. There's been some rotations. They've been in theater a long time. Day after day, can't eat in restaurants, people spin on you, blowing whistles at you. But my main focus now is draw down