"Indigenous oral histories include tales of bizarre gifts of unwashed bedding or paper scraps that ended up seeding devastating epidemics."
Glen Retief visits the site of the most notorious germ warfare in America. #Pittsburgh
www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026...
@dailymaverick.co.za
Noah's Ark, Turkish Miniature from the early 20th century
Unsolicited writing advice, no. 2961:
Your voice is unique. It’s a combination of many factors: your upbringing and background; the books you’ve read; your personality. Some people may not like it, but it’s yours. Keep it authentic. Trying to sound like someone else is a betrayal of who you are.
PHOTO by Quang Vuong. A narrow aisle stretches deep into a monochrome labyrinth of tall bookshelves, packed tightly with aged spines and endless stories. Overhead signs mark categories—Poetry, U.S. History, Literary Bios—dangling above the quiet corridor. A lone step ladder waits mid-path, inviting the seeker upward. Fluorescent lights cast a sterile glow, yet the space feels timeless, suspended between thought and memory. The silence is thick, broken only by the imagined rustle of turning pages.
If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.
- Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood
🎙️ A new season of Quakers Today begins now! Diana Yañez joins longtime host Peterson Toscano as they reflect on money not just as personal math, but as a spiritual practice and communal responsibility.
Listen at our website or download the latest episode wherever you find your favorite podcasts! 🎧
A drastic cut in fertiliser in a time when these same fertilisers are over used. Maybe like our reliance on fossil fuels, this crisis can be an opportunity for alternatives and necessary changes.
Vibrant street art in Limerick, Ireland. A standard street bollard is painted as a bright blue octopus head, with its tentacles sprawled playfully across the pavement for a local scavenger hunt.
🐙 Painted Octopus — By Lumen Street Theatre in Limerick 🇮🇪 This Is Clever (14 Photos): streetartutopia.com/2026/04/17/c...
Young men in the USA have an increased interest in religion. But are they inspired by the Spirit, political power, or some weird combination that ultimately promotes oppression and fear? 😨
apnews.com/article/reli...
Recorded in front of a raucous Belfast audience, here is my latest Bubble&Squeak podcast. open.spotify.com/episode/6UAb... Recorded at the Accidental Theatre for the Imagine Belfast Festival
This
"Tsundoku"
The habit of collecting books and letting them pile up, unread, while still cherishing the possibility of reading them one day. #booksky
Ramin Haerizadeh, Men of Allah (05), 2008, C-Print, 100 x 150 cm
“These wars…” The sentence hung in the air as Massoud drew on the shisha, blowing a cloud of smoke in the air. He opened his mouth to finish his sentence, then changed his mind and grabbed Nizar’s hand, interlacing their fingers."
📕
Saleem Haddad's novel sounds amazing. Check out Fruit Journal!
Callie! What a delightful memory!!!
Also, delighted to share an issue w/a fun first-butt-stuff story by @petersontoscano.bsky.social, who I met once several genders & decades ago on a long car ride: the way he made a server's day by flirtily ordering vegan off the menu at Denny's taught me asking for things can be a gift
Today is the Trans Day of Visibility. On November 20, however, the lives of recently deceased trans people are recognized through the Trans Day of Remembrance. Staff writer Sharlee DiMenichi spoke with members of Lake Erie Yearly Meeting who convened an online vigil for this purpose last November.
Claude Cahun in checkered outfit
Claude Cahun wearing shirt reading "I am in training don't kiss me"
Claude Cahun with mannequin head
Claude Cahun carrying mask
For Trans Day of Visibility, here's Claude Cahun, nonbinary French Jewish artist and anti-fascist activist, sentenced to death for resisting the Nazis. "Masculine? Feminine? It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that always suits me."
Egon Schiele. Self-portrait with hands on chest. 1910
And I imagine you have a stack of to read books about as much as that chair can hold.
The Irish Times asked me a series of questions: favourite food? My mom's eggplant parmesan. Favourite author? Rabih Alameddine
And they asked me, "Does God exist?" How would you answer?
www.irishnews.com/entertainmen...
@rabihalameddine.bsky.social
🎧 In a special, extra-large episode of the Quakers Today podcast, @petersontoscano.bsky.social introduces listeners to LGBTQ+ individuals living their truth with integrity within their spiritual communities.
Join us at the Quakers Today website—or wherever you find your favorite podcasts!
Essays are powerful springboards, they can get us through slow times, they shake up our thinking, and they may get you to the heart of your book faster. rather than slowing you down. And essays are fun. All the cool kids are writing them. _
brevity.wordpress.com/2026/03/20/e...
A screengrab of Ski Santa Fe's website stating that it will be closing three to four weeks earlier than normal this year.
While our fav little ski place at the southern end of the Rockies has had its ups and downs, I've never, ever seen it close this early any time in the last 20 years. 😰
Then there's the massive early season dumps at Banff and late-season snow in the Northeast.
This truly is 'global weirding'
Off to @imaginebelfast.bsky.social Step 1: Train to NYC
@amtrak.com
#harrisburgpa
‘Flannery O’Connor said that her interest in such unedifying types was an antidote to “the hazy compassion demanded of the writer now”. If anything, she was inclined to exaggerate the unsavoury. ’
Edmund Gordon on O’Connor’s stories.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
That is terribly restrained for the Lebanese.
New Episode! 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️ Sexuality, Gender Identities, and Quakers.
I speak with Rev. Dr. Tina Beardsley, John Calvi, & Ryan La Sala about faith, trans identity, and healing.
Listen here:
🔗 QuakersToday.org
Sponsors Friends Fiduciary & AFSC 🕊️
#Quakers #LGBTQ #Podcast #QuakersToday #GenderIdentity
"The future is non-binary." 🏳️⚧️
Revd Dr. Tina Beardsley reflects on the gap between the vibrant non-binary youth in faith spaces & traditional leadership of the church.
Sexuality, Gender Identities, and Quakers
🔗 QuakersToday.org 🎧
Sponsored by Friends Fiduciary & AFSC.
@friendsjournal.org
Thank you!!!
