Beth Boyle Machlan

March Sadness 90s Edition A yearly March Madness-style tournament of essays about songs we love (and occasionally loathe)

First up in today's round for me: @kjmoulton.bsky.social with Hootie's Let Her Cry vs @htownjenny.bsky.social with Morphine's Cure for Pain. I'm torn on this one — I'd give it to the essay on one side and the song on the other, but I am an honest person so only 1 vote. marchxness.com#/1stround-ho...

Travel Advisory: Qatar March 3, 2026 - U.S. Embassy in Qatar

"You're on your own, babe" from the US government for citizens stuck in Qatar (and other places in the region):
"Americans who wish to depart should take advantage of commercial transportation options.
"Have a plan to depart in an emergency that does not depend on U.S. government help."

Who do I know here who's a professor and/or instructor at a college teaching anything in the realm of rhetoric, pop culture studies, gender studies, media studies, writing, and its ilk?

I'd love to send you an ARC of my forthcoming anthology Here For All The Reasons: Why We Watch The Bachelor!

Backhand Shots: Women, Hockey, Narrative Two years ago, give or take, I decided to become a hockey fan. When I say that I became a fan, I don’t mean that I jumped on the New York Rangers’ 2014 Stanley Cup bandwagon and sort of forgot to g…

Because people keep writing about it this year for some reason, here’s my take on what DeLillo’s disowned hockey novel, “Amazons,” can help us understand about women’s sports. avidly.org/2015/09/18/b...

The Shared Responsibility of Public Health Public health, by its nature, is a shared responsibility. It extends far beyond the realm of health care to include housing, education, employment, urban planning, and more. Creating better health …

Safe affordable housing, quality education, a livable income, stable employment, clean air and water, access to affordable fresh food, and a sense of belonging in a trusted community—these are cornerstone pieces, fitting together to create a complete picture of well-being.

How I arrived on Bluesky

If Target wants to start reclaiming the brand, step 1- offer to cover up to $1 million in rents for people impacted by ICE in Minneapolis.

It’s immediate, visible, and makes a huge, positive impact.

Definitely the high point

This is a graphic explaining that temperatures are good for making maple syrup

Really want a world where the news looks like this:

A screenshot from an Buck Mason email that says "Inspired by the early days of West Cost Swing, the Big Chino is back"

Guess we're just running back all of the war crimes

Wait so THREE MORE since yesterday?!?

Texas A&M helped me thrive as a transgender person. Now, it's complicated. A mostly good college experience is hard to square with the school that exists now.

back from my socials sabbatical because for the past few weeks i've been trying to put down words about how it feels to be trans and see what's been happening at my alma mater, texas a&m university.

on being trans, texan, and loving things that can't love you back: www.chron.com/culture/arti...

“Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Nigga, this is a not an apartment building and I am not the super. Why are you talking to us like this??????

I've had a theory for a while now that Trump thinks the Ayatollah is the same one as in 1979 and that's why he's been so impossible to dissuade from this plan. It's like how he's constantly living mentally in the 80s about everything culturally.

"The Islamists oppose women getting an education," I mutter, as I aim my missile at the girls school

This is one of the videos the NYT has verified and links to in their reporting.

NYT: "Video verified by [NYT] showed ... rescuers digging through the rubble with building cranes and shovels, and piles of bloodied, dusty backpacks."

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/w...

Emergency protests against war on Iran in cities across U.S. Act Now to Stop War & End Racism

There's an emergency "Stop the War in Iran" protest kicking off in NYC at 2 pm at Times Square. www.answercoalition.org/iran/ - I'm going to head out. I've also included the list of other protests across the country.

It would be cool to have a legislature that acted to defend its own constitutional prerogatives and, maybe as a treat, the interests of the people it represents too.

As an aside, Melania Trump will be presiding over Monday’s security council meeting, no doubt to offer us her learned legal perspective on Iranian civilian casualties. She couldn’t actually do worse than Mike Waltz, who made no effort to justify Maduro’s abduction under international law last month

This seems like a bad time to have all the FBI's anti-terrorism guys out helping ICE chase undocumented grandmas.

Welp,Barron is the perfect age to enlist.

He wants to send "American heroes" to die in a stupid war? Then his family should be first in line to serve in it.

Times like these I’m so glad Merrick Garland stuck to “norms” & refused to prosecute Trump for his many crimes. Because yes—while we are facing the very real threat of global nuclear war—at least we don’t have the shame of a former president sitting in prison. Boy would that’ve been embarrassing.

"If you piss people off, they will criticize you" is the kind of insight you only glean from writing for more than a decade

If you’re bored at work, may I suggest pouring a full glass of water into your hard drive?

To do this, anti-trans lawmakers in Kansas moved fast to change the law, overrode the governor’s veto, and pushed for the legal changes to go into effect nearly immediately. That kind of power—to void gender on official documents, to compel gender conformity—is terrifying and it will not stop here.

“I thought I knew what getting yelled at by random men on the internet was; what did I know?”

It is a good time to start showing up for women's sports and your local gender inclusive sporting events.

Show up, be kind, look out for one another, and actively contribute to the community that cares about you like you care about it. ❤️

Oh, I knew I was wading into a cesspool. I just forgot how predictable and entitled a cesspool it was. Somehow.

“THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!”