I think this advice extends beyond poetry. Keep the editor out of your work until it's time for them to do their job.

It was a packed house! Big thanks to, @andyojones.bsky.social and John Natsoulas Gallery for hosting! 🙏 #poetrysky

An image of earth looking like a blue marble with wispy clouds covering parts of North America and South America.

"There will be no Homeland Security until we realize that the entire planet is our homeland. Every sentient being in the world must feel secure." John Perkins, economist and author

Colorful quilt of a nighttime scene with Harriet Tubman in an orange jacket and purple dress carrying a rifle. She is leading other figures who walk behind her.

Harriet Tubman #quilt by my Mom, Vera P. Hall, who makes quilts celebrating Black people who fought for their own freedom. This seems to be the crowd favorite of the “We Didn’t Wait for Freedom” series. Happy #Juneteenth #quilting

New review on Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome highlights emerging therapies: ✅ Cholic acid to boost cholesterol absorption ✅ Antioxidants to reduce toxic oxysterols ✅ Statins under study to lower 7-DHC. bit.ly/4kGVrYF

‘Magic Tree House’ Author, ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ among hundreds of Tennessee book bans - PEN America The removals in Tennessee are the result of a growing political movement to control information through book banning.

Tennessee if banning Magic Treehouse books, Clavin and Hobbes books, Shel Silverstein books, and, in an act of cosmically-ignorant irony, Fahrenheit 451, the dystopian novel about banning books. Read as much as you can while you still can! pen.org/magic-tree-h...

British sculptor Henry Moore reaches into space, towards the camera.

I lived at the same time as Henry Moore, but didn't discover his sculptures until after his death. How about you?

Grading papers, I just used a rare but favorite marginal comment (MC) acronym. From my MCs book:

ITAS? – Is this a secret?
Rather than referring to this topic obliquely, provide enough context so your reader can follow what you mean. Don’t keep accidental or unhelpful secrets in expository essays.

Elizabeth Gilbert: “Any motion whatsoever beats inertia, because inspiration will always be drawn to motion.”

Beautiful landscape with Arctic sea ice.

I think I know how Tom Cruise felt swimming underneath the arctic ice in the latest MI movie because last night I fell asleep _atop_ my covers and then eventually woke up so chilled that I had to pull the covers back onto me. No portable decompression chamber needed this time.

I've been reading about the treatment of African-Americans in Cleveland in the 20th century. Restrictive covenants limited where they could live, schools remained segregated for more than 20 years after the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, and Blacks were often excluded from labor unions.

Manvir Singh @ The Yolo County Library Davis' Local Independent Bookstore since 1987

avidreaderbooks.com/events/25325...

I plan to attend this event. Maybe I will see you there?

Any glance at today's newspaper headlines remind us what Mayor Andrew Young said: "Nothing is illegal if one hundred businessmen decide to do it."

My son and I just met a man who asked us if we had recently moved from North Davis to South Davis because he used to see us walking the greenbelt up there, but now that he lives in South Davis, he encounters us here. I confessed that we walk all over town. Many people think we are their neighbors.

Bill Gates pledges remaining fortune to Gates Foundation Bill Gates says he will donate 99% of his remaining tech fortune to the Gates Foundation

Never a Windows user, I'm still deeply impressed with Bill Gates' pledge to give away 99% of his huge fortune to help feed and keep healthy poor kids around the world.

abcnews.go.com/Business/wir...

"A word in a dictionary is very much like a car in a mammoth motorshow -- full of potential but temporarily inactive." Anthony Burgess [A Mouthful of Air]

“Amazon doesn’t want to shoulder the blame for the cost of President Donald Trump’s trade war,” Punchbowl News reports.

“So the e-commerce giant will soon show how much Trump’s tariffs are adding to the price of each product.”

Also, we could just buy less stuff.

We are devastated to say that our comrade, teacher and friend Joshua Clover passed away last night. He is irreplaceable; We will miss him forever.

“A lawyer representing MyPillow and its CEO Mike Lindell in a defamation case admitted using artificial intelligence in a brief that has nearly 30 defective citations, including misquotes and citations to fictional cases,” ArsTechnica reports.

If you are writing fiction or non-fiction, do the work.

A woman walking down Third Street in downtown Davis just proclaimed this into her phone: “I’m not going to be happy. This was the most free realization I’ve ever had.”

Good Day, and Happy Shakespeare's Birthday!

I have a free slot on my KDVS poetry radio show today, Wednesday, at 5 PM PST. Are you a poet with a (relatively) new book of poetry who would like to be interviewed, along with sharing a couple poems? If so, email aojones@gmail.com your poetry bio.

Kristi Noem’s Bag, With Security Badge and $3,000, Is Stolen The homeland security secretary was dining at a Washington, D.C., restaurant. She also lost her passport and keys.

Someone is walking around with Kristi Noem's stolen passport, keys, and security badge. Is it too easy to point our that the homeland security secretary is not so secure?

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/u...

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

Alan Watts

I was just told by the generative AI gremlin that lives in my phone that “your good manners model the kind of collaborative spirit that makes creative and intellectual projects thrive.”

I wonder if you think that’s true. Are good manners necessary for successful intellectual projects? #AI

April 19th is the 250th Anniversary of the battles at Lexington and Concord, when many patriots first proclaimed that we were done with kings.

Let's not return to oligarchy or despotism.

Good morning.

Today is the 80th day that the U.S. President is running a backdoor bribery scheme in which any CEO or foreign oligarch can send him money secretly through his crypto coin scam in exchange for favors.

It's the biggest scandal in the history of the Presidency.

#HandsOff in Sacramento, California! I'm feeling so moved and inspired by all the images and video being shared from massive protests all over the country, including my college kid's in Ithaca, NY. I didn't even know how much I needed today. So much 🥹🪧🥲💙 Keep
it up, America! 🇺🇸🗽

Tesla Estimates Cut Further on ‘Unprecedented Brand Damage’ (Bloomberg) -- One of Wall Street’s most bearish Tesla Inc. analysts further reduced estimates for the company’s earnings, citing the magnitude of car-buyer backlash against Elon Musk.Most Read from B...

Which adjective best describes the value of Tesla in the eyes of the world: Plummeting, nosediving, or cratering? No matter. Now Elon Musk can return to what he does best: devastating families by firing employees. I'm sure Tesla workers appreciate his leadership. finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-e...

The best books for readers who violently eschew skimming Joe Wenderoth shares the 5 best books on readers who violently eschew skimming. Have you read The Emigrants?

If you skim books, these won't suit you: shepherd.com/best-books/r...

"Dr. AOJ, your class makes me the most uncomfortable out of all the classes I’ve taken at UC Davis. I love it. .. I want to run away and ignore the essays and feedback in your class as much as I want to dive in head first and tackle them like former linebacker Ray Lewis from the Baltimore Ravens."