Good for you. Caesar is supposed to have drunk "the stale of horses," or so it says in the play, but I think that was because there was no other liquid available. Urine is what the body elects to expel. Yoga says we should listen to our bodies, right?

Looking forward to it... ❤️

The Black Women's Leadership Collective announced the launch of One Million Black Voters Rising www.onemillionblackvotersrising.org a bold, multi-year effort to register one million new Black voters www.africanamericanreports.com/2026/04/the-...

I am okay, thanks. Tired, though. Hope you are well also, down to your ankles! Would be nice to see you and Miss D but unu so busy! One of these days...

Emma Lewis (@petchary) This is just appalling.

substack.com/@petchary/no...
Monstrous... obscene... criminal...

Oooo, new term in the ever growing list of US war crime cover up words just dropped—“escalatory ladder”

These incredible Buff Tip Moths blend in so well with branches that you might mistake them for sticks. Nature's masters of disguise are truly fascinating!

You seem to use 'people' loosely but that's so we can all qualify as needed, right? And sadly, all manner of 'people' (the qualification of 'people' being those having the power to offer or withhold protections of any kind in our own experience) continue to use and fail to use power as you describe.

Where AI is concerned, have we made something beyond our control? Is it that once more money and power rule, except that this time It's the brains that have the power the money must buy? We better all pray the brains are holy men and women, since they can use AI in infinite ways to destroy us. 6/

All creators, regardless of what they create, are in this position. AI can appropriate what they make to put them out of the creation 'business.' Isn't there some AI function so—is it volatile or just dangerous?—that only some folks get to use. Who decides on access? Who can be trusted to decide? 5/

I now attach, on my union's advice, conditions to licenses for use of my work. They forbid use in any manner for the purpose of training AI technologies, or without limitation, any other technologies capable of generating text in the same style or genre as my work. But how do I police compliance? 4/

What is most infuriating is it freely appropriates works not its own, without permission and often without the owner's knowledge, in order to train its algorithms — if that's the right term. I am now part of a class action suit against one of these AI 'firms' because my authors' union moved fast. 3/

(I assume AI did the review. That's how I understand the whole process works.) I've also seen the kind of fake news AI can generate and make seem perfectly plausible, accompanied by video supporting whatever is claimed. l've 'seen' Pope Leo announcing all manner of things he has by no means said. 2/

I'm terrified of AI. It isn't just that as an author it threatens my livelihood. (Though I don't think it's writing Patwa yet, I may be wrong.) But, for e.g., I had one of those 'invites' from a author-accelerator person and the review AI did of DE BOOK OF JOSEPH was great. (I assume AI did it.) 1/

Always loved him for being himself, and happily himself. I feel like there's a space left in the world, now he's gone. I feel sad that it won't be possible for me see him again, ever. Here on trhe planet, I mean. I know when I die, I'll see him, but not before then.

Ernie Smith (nicknamed Ernie after Ernie Ranglin) died 2 days ago. Met him as a yout—wasn't too much older miself! He was a honestly-himself person then and he stayed so even when he got famous. A fab singer-songwriter and great human being! Miss you Ernie. Condolences to your family and loved ones.

Griffin Prize Invites Feedback Can Canada's greatest poetry prize become Canadian again?

Please go here, quickly, Canadian lovers of literature and poetry, and let Scott Griffin knoiw your thoughts!
substack.com/home/post/p-...

I'm an old dame, so I wouldn't rush to the "nasty" judgment. Have you seen those ads for sprays that keep your stinky parts sweet-smelling? There's all kinds of connivance against teaching folks that being clean is a health issue, including dem tings. Clean all over is good fi yu an fi yu neighbour.

It’s official. After a two-year hiatus, the Manitoba Book Awards are returning to
our province!

Our mission is simple: we want to uplift, recognize and award noteworthy Manitoban writing and celebrate books written and published in our province.

My experience in TO, where I know emergency services well, has never evidenced this kind of stress on staff. Martin had to access 'emerge' services for 2 heart attacks. I did for one critical event, a pulmonary embolism. We've been other times too. I can't gainsay what's here, just deeply regret it.

So I finally managed to get my Substack off the ground! I am congratulating me furiously.

Thanks, Emma. Such a joy and privilege to work with the team @gooselane.bsky.social Really grateful!

Which is at the 'offing,' hence the idiom "in the offing..."

So glad you like it, Emma! Thanks...

Sometimes, but not often. There's a story in this book called "Jeremiah Jones" about a historical figure, an 'Africadian' from Nova Scotia who fought in WW1. He's worth looking up. My story—a duppy story—is mostly made up, but he was real and did an incredible thing! And you must write more stories!

So now The Big Cover Reveal! The red ball, still there, is symbolic; the bird's still there too. The palette, rich and resonant speaks to all the tales: haunting (as in duppy-story) and hilarious, soulful and sad, fanciful and frightening. TWO DAYS IN MAYARO out from @gooselane.bsky.social in fall.

Yep. He's emigrated, and gotten old, and is in a long term care facility remembering a weekend the family spent in Mayaro ,when they lived in Trinidad and he worked at UWI, St Augustine.

I like this last cover, with the sea and the red ball, but the team decides it is too specific to the title story, and doesn't relate to the stories overall... So we return to the drawing board again and come up with... ta-dah...

So back to the drawing board again, this time for a cover with an image that relates to the cover story, "Two Days in Mayaro," which tells in part about a red ball that floats in to the protagonist's family as they play on the beach there...