I've had a similar experience with Dear Stranger, a letter-exchange I started at Oregon Humanities twelve years ago: oregonhumanities.org/programs/dea...

Gonna spend the next two years spamming every elected Dem about the concept of "damnatio memoriae." Chisel his name off every inscription. Build over the various Trump Towers like they're Nero's Golden House. Remove him from physical memory, not to forget but as a sign of disrespect to the man.

Star Trek The Original Series scene. We're in a CORRIDOR! A room door is open, and we see two crewmen spilling out into the hallway in red and blue uniforms. They are otherwise indecipherable tho because they are entirely enveloped in a big cloud of smoke. It's pouring out all around them and into the hallway area, like there's a Phish concert in there. Closed caption reads, "[COUGHING]"

We used one of his shots for the cover of our magazine a couple years ago. A really gorgeous series.

Any Oregon journalists on here interested in democratic reforms and good government policy? I'm looking to commission a feature for the August issue of Oregon Humanities.

My god. Essential, horrifying reporting here.

I suspect the Pope sounds "woke" to many Christian conservatives because the US is steeped in prosperity theology, where the point of worship is to deliver health and wealth to believers. Thus, "feed the hungry" and "show mercy for the poor" sounds needlessly political and "woke."

As someone who started a journalism career in 2006: yeah, sounds about right.

The knobs are key. Jabbing at a touchscreen with wet hands is the worst.

"CEO Said A Thing!" Journalism "CEO said a thing!" journalism involves parroting the claims of a business leader or executive with absolutely no context, correction, or challenge whatsoever, no matter how elaborate the delusion.

"Consolidated U.S. media generally now functions as a direct appendage of our business interests, punching down against progressive reforms, hyper-mythologizing the rich, and operating as a glorified extension of product marketing." karlbode.com/ceo-said-a-t...

Pete Hegseth’s holy war: the militant Christian theology animating the US attack on Iran The bible-thumping US defense secretary is overseeing another strategic disaster in the Middle East. Is this a war or a crusade?

Pete Hegseth believes that Jesus guides Tomahawk missiles, even when they hit elementary schools.

I wrote about the roots of his militant faith - from the Crusades to the confederacy - and what they mean for the US and Iran today.

I love a good style guide shootout. My current tiny editorial team doesn't get punchy over minutia.

The infatuation with British spelling is my least favorite thing about theater culture. Mandatory standing ovations is #2. Pre-curtain speeches are up there as well. I'm realizing I accumulated a lot of gripes in my time as a performing arts editor.

U.S. Pushes Allies to Chase a New Terrorism Target: The Far Left

There's no clear definition of what "the far left" is, and of course Antifa is an orientation, not a group. But there's clear attempt to persecute dissent at home and abroad. Despite the lack of anything remotely resembling terrorism by said vague categories. Gift link.

This isn't uncommon and, imo, is a good indicator of weak political commitment to a ceasefire. If parties are committed and intend to comply, they want specifics written down to hold the other side accountable. If not, parties prefer vagueness that leaves violations open to interpretation.

Stories that Change Us with Colum McCann and Nelson High School Students In this episode we hear from Colum McCann, a National Book Award–winning novelist and cofounder of Narrative 4, a nonprofit organization that uses personal storytelling to build empathy between young ...

"If the theme is repair, the process to achieve repair is through storytelling, but even more than storytelling—story listening."

Our latest podcast episode explores the meaning of other people's stories with author Colum McCann and local high school students.
oregonhumanities.org/rll/podcast/...

Sam Altman Says It'll Take Another Year Before ChatGPT Can Start a Timer An $852 billion company, ladies and gentlemen.

Putting aside Sam Altman just continuing to emit huge lies constantly, this is an amazing example of what I mean when I talk about how GenAI is replacing *extremely low energy* digital tasks with *WAY WAY HIGHER ENERGY* replacements that *do not even work*

Why TF is anyone using ChatGPT as a timer!

Sánchez to Trump: Spain won’t ‘applaud those who set the world on fire just because they then show up with a bucket’ Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has emerged as one of the European Union's leading critics of U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iran.

“The Government of Spain will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket.”

www.cnbc.com/2026/04/08/s...

You don’t need to think prior U.S. administrations have clean hands—obviously they don’t—to believe the current one is acting in uniquely dangerous and unprecedented ways.

Stocks soar on 2-week postponement of Armageddon.

Come on then, and remove him.

I don’t know how to express this more clearly

Every time you do a war I’m against it

I’m against it in all forms

I’m against from All sides

I’m against the careless loss of life

70. Teleportation 101 Here to explain what The New York Times cannot

When the New York Times wrote about Gregg Phillips teleporting to a Waffle House, it was very funny. But they missed that there's an entire community of religious people who believe they can teleport. Which is, weirdly, a thing I know a lot about.

My latest: leahsottile.substack.com/p/70-telepor...

But shall this crazed old man be tamely suffered to drag a whole ship’s company down to doom with him?

“We propose to put it into the power of every man, woman, and child, black or white, rich or poor, when his rights are invaded, to raise his hand toward the flag, and say, I am an American citizen. Why should it not be so, now that all are free?”

Affordable Housing Rising Above Methodist Church Recently, the members of Montavilla United Methodist Church voted to demolish all their buildings at 232 SE 80th Avenue to create three stories of affordable housing above a new ground-level worship space that will also share resources with support organization Rahab's Sisters. Reverend Heather Riggs explained that this site transformation will embrace the faith-based group's efforts to provide resources it sees needed in the community while reducing its operational burden of maintaining an aging building.

Affordable Housing Rising Above Methodist Church

Recently, the members of Montavilla United Methodist Church voted to demolish all their buildings at 232 SE 80th Avenue to create three stories of affordable housing above a new ground-level worship space that will also share resources with support…

But what if I'm under sixty?