We’re so excited to share that “Muscle to Muscle, Toe to Toe” by @kimsamek.bsky.social, which originally appeared in ZYZZYVA No. 129, has won a 2026 O. Henry Prize for Short Fiction! Congratulations to Kim. What a joy to revisit this strange and singular story.

Smartphones, Dumbphones, and Delusions of Platform-Building “I don’t actually need my smartphone to write, but do I need it in order to be seen as a writer?”

Trying to figure out the difference between "attention" and "exposure" and why I want to throw my smartphone in the ocean but also feel like that would ruin my career but also it's the thing that keeps me from writing the most... @talkscratch.bsky.social www.talkscratch.com/smartphones-...

dooo ittt
(also doing it if I can figure out how 😭)

😭😭😭

Hoo boy, does this ever hit me where I live (she posts, postily).

“At some point my smartphone became a constant reminder of all I wasn’t.”
—@maggiemertens.bsky.social went ahead and said it. Smartphones, dumphones, delusions of virality…. and an extremely satisfying 2010s ASMR moment, if you click through to the essay!

Smartphones, Dumbphones, and Delusions of Platform-Building “I don’t actually need my smartphone to write, but do I need it in order to be seen as a writer?”

This week on Scratch, we have an essay by @maggiemertens.bsky.social about how her itch for a dumbphone is largely burnout from the need to constantly self-promote one's writing or risk professional oblivion.

‘It’s just madness’: Trump administration to close three-quarters of Forest Service research stations Between funding cuts, facility closures, and the inevitable resignations that will follow, there’s virtually no way for the Forest Service to continue to do research at its current level or quality, w...

My big takeaway from reporting this story is that it's not JUST about the Forest Service.

The closure of these stations threatens to upend a delicate system of mutually beneficial collaboration and resource sharing, and the impacts will ripple out far beyond the Forest Service itself.

Everyone with a culture newsletter that went out yesterday should get to reshare it today here.

At Scratch, we had a long chat about writers’ dwindling employment opportunities and whether we could even land retail gigs at this point. www.talkscratch.com/should-we-al...

We're hosting @robertmoor.com and @manjula.bsky.social at the Mill Valley Library one week from today to celebrate Rob's new book, In Trees: An Exploration. Join us! ptreyesbooks.com/event/2026-0...

Oops, it’s April 13! Monday!

I’m so looking forward to speaking with Robert Moor next week (April 14) at the (lovely, tree-bedecked) Mill Valley Public Library. Come out and talk trees with us, Bay Area! www.newsbreak.com/mill-valley-...

Congratulations, Rob! looking forward to next week .

Come out tonight to see/hear our senior editor @manjula.bsky.social with Suzanne Simard + @greenapplebooks.bsky.social

7pm, SF Botanical Garden, free to attend!

Angela Garbes on Money, Memoir, and Elastic-Waist Pants: The Scratch Interview “Anything that I spend my money on is better than cocaine.”

Remember when Buzz Bissinger revealed his wild af shopping addiction to designer leather goods in a Vanity Fair article?
Yeah, this @talkscratch.bsky.social interview with THE Angela Garbes is also about shopping, clothing, writing & addiction (but much better): www.talkscratch.com/angela-garbe...

thx Eva!

Also: Simard will be in conversation with @manjula.bsky.social in San Francisco this Thursday evening, April 2, talking about her new book "When the Forest Breathes: Renewal and Resilience in the Natural World." You can register for that here: greenapplebooks.com/event/2026-0...

come for the scandalous dek, stay for the warmhearted self-excavation and ESPRIT outlet shoutout! 👆

Screenshot from the Scratch interview with Angela Garbes, in which Angela and Manjula Martin discuss linen pants as an expression of midlife identity

A school photo is author Angela Garbes in 4th grade, rocking an abstract print ESPRIT sweatshirt

Angela Garbes on Money, Memoir, and Elastic-Waist Pants: The Scratch Interview “Anything that I spend my money on is better than cocaine.”

For this week’s Scratch, I interviewed icon Angela Garbes about her next book deal, retail therapy, addiction, and why midlife lady authors deserve expensive pants.
www.talkscratch.com/angela-garbe...

God this is brilliant

The Job I Want Doesn’t Exist Anymore What is lost when arts criticism dies?

Today’s Scratch newsletter is a personal essay on being a Black critic at the end of arts criticism by @latriagraham.bsky.social. Come for the killer lede, stay for the dream deferred.

“Direct-to-consumer enterprises marketed by critic-proof institutions mean there is no need for the context of aesthetics or the theory of beauty. Place and memory become victims of algorithmic flattening.”

Forget the Zombified Punk Festivals. The Future Is for the Dolls Doll Fest, a fundraiser and celebration of femmes in punk rock, hits Oakland and Albany March 27–29.

Who wants to see Dead Kennedys without Jello Biafra anyway? The future of punk rock is bright, diverse, and interesting as hell — head to the East Bay’s Doll Fest this weekend to see more than 20 bands leading the way. www.coyotemedia.org/doll-fest-oa...

The Job I Want Doesn’t Exist Anymore What is lost when arts criticism dies?

In this week’s Scratch, the great @latriagraham.bsky.social looks back at the arts writing career she couldn’t have. What is lost when criticism disappears? What else — whom else — might we all become, if the arts were valued differently? www.talkscratch.com/the-job-i-wa...

This is a very good, very subtle novel that manages to be about things that a lot of writers think is too mundane to touch (when was the last time you read literary fiction where the protagonist had a regular job?) and other things that are too huge to grasp, like the hyperobject of fossil capital.

Scratch got a nice little write-up in @sf.gazetteer.co today. (Thanks, @cydhayes.bsky.social!) sf.gazetteer.co/a-beloved-ma...

A beloved magazine about writers and money is reborn as a newsletter Manjula Martin, Rahawa Haile, and friends are resurrecting ‘Scratch’ as a place for writers to talk about money, art, and how they survive

When Manjula Martin first read the draft of an interview that appeared this week in her new newsletter 'Scratch,' she was moved to tears.

The topic? Freelancer taxes.
sf.gazetteer.co/a-beloved-ma...

Self-Employment, Taxes, and Shame: An Anonymous Author and Tax Preparer Answers Our Questions “There is no moral component to not knowing how much you owe.”

Are you a freelancer? Do you have questions about taxes??This isn't a how-to guide, but it might help you get over that emotional wall many of us hit when it's time to figure out what we owe to the government after scrounging for our gig work pay in this economy www.talkscratch.com/self-employm...

too soon it’s too soon, but i’ll take it: european prune plum quince magnolia (“Vulcan”), not too soon! while the trees continue to wake up, i’ll be talking with the...

buttondown.com/martinesque/...