Please plan on attending if you are in the Pittsburgh area.

Living Grief - Pittsburgh Quarterly How am I supposed to do this? Your rough hands cup my shouldersyou hold me a step away then kiss me.I know every assaultworking steel made to your body.Pockmarks on the top of your hands from scalds o...

Thrilled to have a poem up @The Pittsburgh Quarterly
pittsburghquarterly.com/articles/liv...

Joseph Bathanti: Cletis Pratt First man I ever saw in irons, wearing nothing but a pair of scurvy white long john britches, was Cletis Pratt

Joseph Bathanti: Cletis Pratt voxpopulisphere.com/2025/08/28/j...

On the Latest Threat to Literary Culture’s Fragile Ecosystem: Donald Trump There’s an ongoing crisis in book publishing. I mean, there are many, but corporate consolidation is a threat to anyone who cares about books. When there are fewer publishers, both large and small,…

@wdaofpa.bsky.social

lithub.com/on-the-lates...

Colleges Must Eliminate DEI Programs to Receive Research Funding, NIH Says The agency did not define what it meant by DEI efforts, leaving institutions to try to interpret whether their programs are implicated.

Colleges Must Eliminate DEI Programs to Receive Research Funding, NIH Says www.chronicle.com/article/coll...

PGHwrites: Free Association Reading Series - City of Asylum The Free Association Reading series showcases local writers every month in an intimate reading at City of Asylum.

cityofasylum.org/program/pghw...

Stand for Science. Schenley Plaza, Pittsburgh

Donold is blaming a plane crash that killed 67 people on “DEI” with zero evidence.

He is attempting to use racism to deflect from the fact it is HIS fault. He had just removed 100 FAA senior officials.

It’s been 11 days and there are 67 bodies in the Potomac in Washington DC because of him.

🤔

This is good news. But I think that we know not to rely too much on judges.

Please keep calling, urging Congress to use their power proactively to oppose Trump, not to sit hoping that another judge won’t overturn this.

Modified call script below. Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121

Black and white photo with captain America - Steve Rogers - on the left and Mr Fred Rogers on the right Caption reads: The 2 Rogers rule of humanity - if Steve or Fred wouldn't do it, neither should I.

Always follow the 2 Rogers Rule.

PGHwrites: Free Association Reading Series - City of Asylum The Free Association Reading series showcases local writers every month in an intimate reading at City of Asylum.

Hope you’ll join is in March!
cityofasylum.org/program/pghw...

Health executives scrubbed from Highmark, UPMC websites after UnitedHealthcare CEO killing “We believe that keeping the best interests of our patients and members at the center of every decision we make is the best strategy for engendering the good will of those we serve.”

Really good reporting by my friend Brian on health insurers scrubbing information from their sites.

www.pghindependent.com/post/health-...

Are you Christmas shopping for the writer in your life? How about buying them the gift of attending the Amesville Writers' Workshop this June. Our instructors Lori Jakiela and John Vercher are incredible.

My major novel recommendation for this holiday season is THE EVOLUTION OF THE GOSPELETTES. It is a lyrical, funny, profound, and moving page-turner filled with a vivid sense of place and characters you will not forget. Read more about it here. appalachianreview.net/2024/11/15/t...

RELEASE DAY!

Madville is pleased to announce the release of WILD WIND edited by Sandra and Ron Cooper today!

This anthology of poems and short stories is an homage to Texas singer/song-writer Robert Earl Keen.
Purchase WILD WIND here: madvillepublishing.com/product/wild...

Ave Maria Mothers of America

poets.org/poem/ave-maria

This is still my advice: Become a writer anyway. Fuck it, do it, it won't save you, but it's still a beautiful dream to write novels and short stories and poems and mingle with other dreamers and make art and laugh in the face of death. And writing is constant death. Live más.

!!!!!!

Pittsburgh in 50 Maps By Stentor DanielsonMarch 18, 2025 Pittsburgh in 50 Maps offers unique new views of a city at a crossroads—culturally, economically, and demographically. There are countless ways to map a city. Roads,...

Since Pittsburgh is showing up here, gonna drop that Belt has this killer book by @chefstentor.bsky.social coming in March

My husband, Steve, and I were talking about how our fathers would react in the aftermath of this election. Both were family men, decent and kind, and strong union men. Talking about them gave me solace—they lived through wars and times of chaos. They took care of others. We can do this.

New Wind & Root today from columnist Sandra Barnidge and Managing Editor Charlotte Hamrick, asks this question that I've been struggling with, too:
“How do we stop talking about value, when what we’re really searching for is meaning?”
Read it here: reckonreview.com/wind-and-roo...