Alyson Foster

we need to talk about that Ring Super Bowl ad

A reckoning of white allyship, authority, and accountability — Washington Unbound Set against the zeitgeist of the Black Lives Matter movement and Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Eric F. Goldstein’s Taught serve s as a raw account of an education system in crisis. The book follows ...

Exciting new content on Washington Unbound today. Editorial assistant Samantha Segal interviews D.C. educator and novelist Eric Goldstein about his teaching experience, his very successful educational nonprofit, and how he came to write the novel TAUGHT.
www.washington-unbound.com/interviews/g...

The question is not who is the sexiest Muppet (Rowlf) but how is it that so many of the Muppets are sexy.

My son spent months in the bone marrow transplant unit at Children’s. He had a non-functioning immune system during that time. The stress was insane.

Now parents there have to worry about measles outbreaks on top of everything else.

There are no words to describe how angry this makes me.

Excerpts from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s The Long Fucking Winter Morning was bright and clear, but there was no school. There would be no more in-person classes until COVID-19 cases went down again. Carrie gazed ...

We first published this during the pandemic, but (unfortunately) it still kind of holds up. Plus, it's Laura Ingalls Wilder's birthday today. Enjoy?

Wind so insanely cold today that even the dog hates being outside

Tapetum lucidum My dark circles get so bad you used to think there was something wrong with me other than everything you already knew was wrong with me. Sleeplessness, smoking, salt, and bittergrief years — I made this mask honestly. Raccoon eyes can turn a yawning dark delicate enough to hold, glowing blue and silver, or red as warning: a mirror behind the retina gives fugitive light a second chance to be seen. Scientists called it bright tapestry, this iridescence hiding in animal gaze. For bitter years — we weren’t built nocturnal, but we were designed for adaptation. I see midnight unfurling and forage on.

Wrote a poem about the bags under my eyes.

Yiyun Li | To Remember in America When I was at nursery school in Beijing in the 1970s, there was a teacher who seemed to find tireless pleasure in...

‘If bad things happen, you are the problem; do not provoke; keep up the hope; things will be better – by the midterms, in four years, some day.’

Yiyun Li on enduring America, from the blog.

www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/fe...

For folks saying the drastic cuts at WaPo were “just business,” @postbaron.bsky.social reminded @timmiller.bsky.social & us that the paper was recently profitable for 6 years straight & Forbes 8th most innovative media co. The owner just needs to want it. Come to us for books @wirobooks.bsky.social

This was my hot take on the bloodbath Bezos & Co. executed at the @washingtonpost.com on Wednesday. We will never let you down on delivering the best in book coverage every day, no paywall. Make us your morning read! @wirobooks.bsky.social
www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/features/lit...

Victor de Budt. The Ferryman. 1929

so much clothing is marketed as "conversation starters" but as an introvert, i want "conversation enders." no more talking. let me go home.

Anyone got grant-sized money they’ve been looking to find a home for? This would be an amazing opportunity for everyone.

Maryland folk looking for good local news: @thebaltimorebanner.com has been doing great stuff lately. @bannermoco.bsky.social had the best coverage of the botched snow cleanup last week.

Support local news desks!

Yes. And today’s dismal news about the Post is all the more reason to support the great work of @wirobooks.bsky.social.

Painting of a golden sunrise or sunset over mountains in silhouette reflected in the sea by the shore

'Red on the Cuillins' by Pam Carter, painter who was known for her Scottish landscapes #WomensArt

Punxsutawney Phil predicted humanity would annihilate itself through tribalism and environmental indifference

Learn to ode.

Joining our science panel is a small, flexible commitment. What you might be asked to do: review a story or provide a quote, identify important papers or topics we should cover, answer a question sent to us by a reader, wrangle some data for a graphic we want to make, connect us with another expert What we can offer in return: an outlet for publicizing your work, graphics and data visualization for your own use, editorial support (copyediting, proofreading), data visualization training/consultation, a chance to do something concrete to protect science Climate.us: Carrying on the mission of Climate.gov, independent, nonprofit, and immune to politics

Looking for a way to support climate science in these uncertain times? Climate.us is building our science panel. Use our QR code to sign up! #ClimateForUs

The term martyr means “witness.” The man was murdered for bearing witness, literally bearing it, not arms but a camera. Murdered for seeing.

Here's my story on the Outwin Boocheever Portrait Competition winners for @smithsonianmag.bsky.social

Opening this weekend, just ahead of the snow storm.

#Artsky #art #fineart #museums #Smithsonian #Washingtondc

We interrupt the madness for a note from the rational world And an encouraging one, at that!

In case you for some reason need a bit of good news this week, India--largest country on earth--seems to be taking a decisive turn toward solar energy
open.substack.com/pub/billmcki...

Pilot Captures Amazing Aurora Photos During Flight This week, the Earth was hit with one of the strongest geomagnetic storms in recent years, which made for some gobsmacking displays of the northern lights, even as far south as California. Cruising in a 787 at 37,000

Pilot Captures Amazing Aurora Photos During Flight. “This was the most incredible display of aurora I’ve ever seen in my 20 years of flying!” [kottke.org]

“I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.”

YouTube video by Politics and Prose Book Talk: W. Ralph Eubanks — When It's Darkness on the Delta - with Vann R. Newkirk II

If you missed the discussion of “When It’s Darkness on the Delta” at Politics and Prose, here is the recording of the event on YouTube.
youtube.com/watch?v=R23U...

Very exciting to talk about Kristen Stewart's new-to-theaters directorial debut with @roxanegay.bsky.social and @alainmartin.bsky.social. We're talking THE CHRONOLOGY OF WATER, plus a discussion of memoir movies we love and ones we'd like to see get made. #filmsky

maximumfun.org/episodes/max...

Sure, you can purchase this lovely, bespoke ranch house in a scenic neighborhood, but can one actually own anything on this wretched planet we call Earth? Or is everything, like this affordable dream home with a finished basement, eventually reclaimed by the elements as it withers to dust and is lost in the ever-shifting sands of time? Reference #60341

Can Any House Truly Be Owned?

Inlaid flowers across the 17,000 square m. marble courtyard of the Sheikh Zayed Mosque, Abu Dhabi. Photograph by Dave Yoder

What's the first bird you saw this year? Take it as a sign.

From @tkdano.bsky.social: "People have been using birds to divine the future for centuries... The origin of the word auspicious [—auspicium—] means to 'look at birds.'"
orionmagazine.org/article/firs...