Thanks. That does look interesting. I just added it to my library wishlist.

She is such a powerful writer. I am not on FB either, alas, and the evidence I have is that I am not very good at generating engagement on BS or any other social media platform. lol. But I am sure sharing this post with folks in the old-fashioned person to person way. It's so important.

I loved this book. And I loved what @phillipvancesmith2.bsky.social had to say about it. You should read them both. substack.com/home/post/p-...

‘Sometimes I Feel Like I’m in Prison More Than He Is’ Families of the incarcerated feel the financial crunch of costly prison phone calls and messages.

"The choice between paying bills or helping your incarcerated family member can be devastating." And #NorthCarolina prison communication expenses are even higher than Alabama's. ALL of it is explotative. prisonjournalismproject.org/2026/04/14/p...

That would be awesome. Thank you. I may be on the phone at that point, but I will be able to answer the door at wave at you if nothing else. Feel free to bring them on a later day if you want to stay and take a walk or something.

Great idea! When we first started sprinkling, we used a container around the garden to make sure we got enough water everywhere. But I love the idea of leaving the can in the mulch for continuous monitoring. If you happen to have extra you'd otherwise recycle, would you save some for me?

Yea, D has been sprinkling in the early mornings several times each week, and I hand water the new plants some. Just got back inside from watering the sunflowers (hurrah!) & other new plants, and filling the various bird & insect watering stations.

😩 Yea, it's rough out there. I am glad we both share water with our fellow living beings who can't just turn on a tap. I am sure your water garden is a favorite spot for flying insects, with all those lily pads to stand on so they don't drown.

And what irony that the markup all goes into what DAC calls the "Inmate Welfare Fund." And yet no one seems to know what that fund actually pays for...in spite of many requests by many people (including y'all, of course). Grrrrr

Will your book be released on audiobook, by chance? 🤞

NC’s Mental Health Problem: How Iryna's Law Wouldn't Have Stopped Her Murder On August 22, 2025, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee named Iryna Zarutska was stabbed to death in a random act of violence while riding a public transit train in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Iryna's Law is horrible for NC, so I hope you will work to repeal it. It further criminalizes mental illness and makes it easier for the state to murder humans on death row. And had it been in place, it would not have stopped Iryna's tragic murder: prisonlifeunlocked.substack.com/p/ncs-mental...

Eager Audiobook on Libro.fm In Eager, environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb reveals that our modern idea of what a healthy landscape looks like and how it functions is wrong, distorted by the fur trade that once trapped out mill...

Do you know this book? It is soooooooo good.
libro.fm/audiobooks/9...

I know Clarence!

Read this whole thread. This is incredibly exciting and inspiring. Let's do this, #NorthCarolina!

Prison Life Unlocked | Phillip Vance Smith II | Substack Life in an American cage. New work published here monthly. Account managed by volunteers. Click to read Prison Life Unlocked, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.

I very highly recommend prisonlifeunlocked.substack.com and kwanetaharris.substack.com If you want to see where Christianity and our supposedly "Christian" society is failing us, prison journalists and writers like Smith and Harris offer a close-up view.

"Feed her outside where the earth makes sense,
"where following orders matters less than following birds."

And OMG, this tiny bee on the dime-sized phlox flowers! 🐝 We planted the phlox 3 years ago, and this is the first time it has bloomed. Already it's supporting our itty, bitty pollinators. 😍

tiny pink flowers of Phlox stolonifera (Creeping phlox) against the plant leaves and mulch

lavender flowers with yellow centers of Blue Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium campestre)

Creeping phlox & blue eyed grass lookin' perty

Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter

💯 💯💯 If you have not done so already, read this book. bookshop.org/p/books/eage...

Pie chart slicing showing that almost 7,000 girls are confined by various legal systems, often for non-serious and even non-criminal offenses

Hundreds of girls in the US are confined by the juvenile justice system for “status offenses,” like running away or truancy.

Confinement for these offenses is particularly troubling because those behaviors tend to be responses to abuse.

More care, less confinement.

That's a Muppet.

Oooh, yes. Thank you!

I'm right there with you, lil owl!

If you would like more information, I would be very happy to connect with you. Just let me know. This is an issue dear to my heart because I care deeply about people who are incarcerated in NC. I see first hand the harm that their poverty does to their mental health and relationships.

California, Connecticut, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota as well as Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, San Diego, San Francisco, and others have all passed laws to make prison & jail communication free. NY State made communication free administratively. #NorthCarolina should join them.

1 in 3 families w/an incarcerated loved one goes into debt to stay connected...& many families who don't have credit to lose can't connect at all. @southey4senate.bsky.social would you support NC legislation to make communication free for imprisoned folks? benevolencefarm.org/connecting-f...

This post is clearly an indictment of Democrats. But it also deeply resonates with me as a spiritual call to action. MAGA Christians are ministering - in their way - to those in prisons. Where are the rest of us? @fcnl.bsky.social #Quakers #QuakerTruth #Quakerism #FaithInAction

The Left Behind: How the Democratic Party Abandoned Its Most Captive Audience I am writing this from inside a Texas prison, and I want you to understand something before you read another word: I am watching.

@hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social
and @schumer.senate.gov You need to know that when Democrats abandon incarcerated folks, you abandon their families and loved ones, too. We are watching. kwanetaharris.substack.com/p/the-left-b...

The Left Behind: How the Democratic Party Abandoned Its Most Captive Audience I am writing this from inside a Texas prison, and I want you to understand something before you read another word: I am watching.

Dems in #NorthCarolina & the US: READ THIS! LET! IT! SINK! IN! "The Left Behind: How the Democratic Party Abandoned Its Most Captive Audience," by @kwanetaharris.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/kwanetah... @ncgovernor.bsky.social @jeffjacksonnc.bsky.social @southey4senate.bsky.social #ncpol

Prison Life Unlocked | Phillip Vance Smith II | Substack Life in an American cage. New work published here monthly. Account managed by volunteers. Click to read Prison Life Unlocked, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.

That's great to know. Thank you! One of the authors of that legislation, Phillip Vance Smith II, is a very talented incarcerated writer & journalist. You might like to subscribe his excellent Substack. His perspective on incarceration in NC is unparalleled, IMO. prisonlifeunlocked.substack.com