I refer to growing up in the acid rain/ quicksand/impending nuclear conflict era as being "classically trained" in generalized anxiety

If you like what you've seen from Sen. Cory Booker and other Democratic lawmakers this week, call and email their offices and let them know that. Evidence of public support gives lawmakers more clout with their colleagues to keep doing what they're doing. Constituent encouragement becomes influence.

it was lovely to meet you and your pants were the best!

Happy Annual "OMG I Don't Think I Watched Any New Movies This Year" Day!... to all who celebrate.

Remember Reverend Shaw from Footloose? Remember the book burning scene, when all the parishioners are burning Vonnegut and such, and John Lithgow's Rev. Shaw runs out and tells everyone to stop burning books and go home? Who knew, 40 yrs later, that Rev. Shaw would be left of red America.

Trump's review of Jesus Christ after meeting: "Radical leftist. Nasty in tone. Hangs out with twelve losers. Smells like fish."

The tween in my house is unabashedly listening to a muzak version of "Dance Monkey" and that's the brightest element in this shitstorm of a day. What's yours?

I watched a bit of the Eagles game. The best part was when the players made snow angels.

When I see a sweatshirt that reads "ALL GOOD," I think, "Nope. It is decidedly not all good." But I'd love to buy a sweatshirt that reads SOME THINGS GOOD. That's a message I can get behind.

With all her heart Writer Heather Lanier reflects on a tough parenting moment: ceding control and trusting that everything will be OK

A year ago this week, my kid had a hole in her heart repaired w/ a polymer and titanium device that looked like a paper flower. Hooray for medical art!

Artists, writers, thinkers, makers: Let's encourage ourselves to question the constant pressure to be "relevant." Let's give ourselves permission to be "irrelevant." Moments are fleeting. The Earth is 4.5 billion years old. You're on the Earth. Ergo, just by breathing, you're relevant.

3/ Sometimes half of the creative process is just listening to the truth of the thing you’re making.

2/ Two hours later, I had a draft of a flash essay that felt alive and interesting to me. Sometimes the thing you’re trying to make isn’t bad. It’s just in the wrong container, or abiding by the wrong rules. It’s trying to squawk like a duck when it’s actually a blue whale.

1/ This morning, I typed up a very rough draft of a poem I’d handwritten in my journal, and none of it was particularly good. “Jeez,” I thought, “is this a bad poem?” The lines read like broken-up prose. And then I realized, “Wait. Maybe this isn’t a poem at all. Maybe this is an essay.”

I'm impressed by the person who picks a Word of the Year. I can barely pick a Word of the Week.

Song No. 1: "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" is a song of scorned determination and an unbreakable part of the 21st century's pop cultural DNA.

XPN's John Vettese calls "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes, our number 1 song in the #XPNCountdown, "a song of scorned determination that is an unbreakable part of the 21st century’s pop cultural DNA." Read about it here:

xpn.org/2024/12/12/8...

Renowned poet and Black arts movement icon Nikki Giovanni dies at 81 The poet and activist was a leading figure of the Black Arts Movement. Giovanni was working on her upcoming book of poetry, set to publish in the fall.

Aww, Nikki Giovanni! One of my first favorite poets. www.npr.org/2024/12/09/n...

PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law Monday to prohibit public and school libraries from banning books in the state and to enshrine protections against civil and criminal charges for librarians who comply with the law.

Lately, when I scroll through Facebook and Instagram, I get off as soon as I see an ad. So far, I only make it through 1 or 2 real posts. How many posts do you see before an ad?

I picked out a date and time to see WICKED with the fam, chose the seats, went to pay, saw the price, and slowly backed away from the computer, cackling like a green-faced witch. “There’s no place like cheap theaters of the 90s…”
#end-of-month-budget

Love this. Yes. Someone should review @jackiedwrites.bsky.social 's forthcoming NO OFFENSE.

"'Moby' just makes me think of early aughts techno. Should the white whale be reconciling more with his privilege?"

Too many dashes. This hope metaphor is beak-less and, thus, unbelievable.

Too many dashes. This hope metaphor is beak-less and, thus, unbelievable.

Nola Face Early in Brooke Champagne’s childhood, her Ecuadorian grandmother Lala (half bruja, half santa) strictly circumscribed the girl’s present and future: bec...

I highly recommend Brooke Champagne's essay collection, NOLA FACE! Every essay is a gem. ugapress.org/book/9780820...

I was today years old when I realized “Vader” means “father” and that plotline was not very suspenseful for the Dutch.

Awww, I love the braided essay. Tell me more about this. Are you reading *bad* ones in your submission stacks? Or are you just tired of the form?

We Need To Rewrite Ourselves an Ethics of Care in the Classroom and Beyond - Electric Literature The school district used a rhetoric of scarcity to determine which kids it would support, and which kids it would eventually remove

My 4-year-old autistic neighbor got kicked out of school and sent to "baby jail," as his educator-mom called it. I wrote about that injustice, and scarcity mindset, and tomato-growing, and the slant of the Earth, and our need to care for one another, for @electriclit.bsky.social .

Thanks, Ohio GOP. Because of your passage of SB29 that requires our already overworked school counselors to notify parents every time a student types certain words, my kids constantly think they’re in trouble & are backing away from reading & writing about topics that matter to them. Great job.