Beth Winegarner

The Smithsonian's queer erasure of an AIDS artwork should alarm us all By omitting the tragic story behind Felix González-Torres "Untitled" (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery is setting a perilous precedent, warns art scholar Ignacio Da...

"My worries began when the exhibition's introductory sign omitted Felix's connection to the AIDS crisis. My fears turned into outrage when I read the museum label ... which, instead of explaining the installation's title and meaning, refers to "175 pounds as ideal weight.""

Return to Earth: Human Composting Takes Root in Brooklyn Green-Wood Cemetery will start offering a service called Natural Organic Reduction, where a human body is decomposed naturally and turned into soil.

"Each decomposed body will result in about a cubic yard of fertile soil that will then be used to nurture plant life across the cemetery, officials said. The historic cemetery already allows for green burials, which forgoes embalming the body to let it decompose naturally."

Why I Don’t Regret the “Pornographic” Scene That Got My Book Banned Perhaps I should have borrowed a euphemism from a 1970s bodice-ripper and called it a “manroot.” Or resorted to child-friendly British slang and called it a “willy.” Euphemisms, after all, have lon…

'I’ve watched with dismay as the sexual violence I experienced as a child has been labeled pornography, dismissed as fiction, called part of a “pedophile agenda.” Strangers have sent me hate mail calling me a “nasty woman.”'

lithub.com/why-i-dont-r...

Leonardo da Vinci "was not above questionable methods, reportedly obtaining bodies through informal deals with hospitals and executioners. The identities of his subjects remain unknown."

The dark history of medical illustrations and the question of consent Historical anatomy textbooks are built on the bodies of prisoners, the poor and the powerless – and we’re still using them today.

"Most texts and imagery feature people who never gave permission to be dissected, let alone depicted for eternity. Should we keep using these images? Or does that make us complicit in a long history of medical exploitation?" h/t @courtneyminick.bsky.social

theconversation.com/the-dark-his...

We are not alone with Winston the Wonderdog, a lover, not a fighter, @drjudymelinek.bsky.social

If you're not watching "Shrinking" on Apple TV, you're missing one of the best (and funniest) performances of Harrison Ford's career.

www.facebook.com/watch/?v=607...

I love it when a child of immigrants wins a gold medal for the US.

This local Wolfdog joined an Olympic ski event and triggered the finish-line camera. This is Nazgul. He snuck into a cross-country skiing sprint this morning and raced the homestretch with some competitors before being escorted home. 14/10 someone get him a medal

YouTube video by New York Times Opinion Confessions of a Former Body Positivity Influencer

This is indistinguishable from right-wing anti-SJW agitprop

I have a new poem out today, published by Ability Maine’s Breath & Shadow journal, which focuses on the work of disabled writers:

www.abilitymaine.org/bs2026feb/%2...

No one wants to take health advice from a guy that looks like a meth wrapped slim jim that you cooked in the microwave for threeminutes straight.

A screenshot that reads about perimenopause, but the word perimenopause is underlined as if it's a misspelled or non-existent word

The apps don't think this is a real word.

A pigeon with a speckled white head and gray body painted in acrylic over a yellow background

Today's effort is a pigeon I saw at the park with my kids a couple of weeks ago

A painting of a rotting pumpkin on a desk with some very cheap acrylics

I painted this rotted Jack o lantern bc I believe in self portraiture

But I have genuinely forgotten how to be loose w my paint stroke, how to be. Like. Painterly. It's gone. I feel like a monkey trying to use a coloring book.

We're over $7800!!!!

Can we get to $8000 today? <3

late to this but I really, really loved this piece by @calamityfair.bsky.social. Gets at so much of what’s made me feel insane about the last 5 years of “downtown recovery”/SF travel association marketing parties dressed up like giving a shit about the arts www.roborantreview.com/reviews/a-ta...

EXACTLY

I'm begging everyone to find adjectives for moors besides "bleak" and "desolate." Sure, there aren't many people around, but they're teeming with life. You're never alone anywhere in nature, including on a moor.

Light rain shouldn’t keep you from the Magnolia at SF Botanical Garden

Harrisonburg Mennonites stage anti-ICE protest at Target store A group organized by Mennonite Action gathered for a hymn sing inside the Harrisonburg Target store on Saturday.

“As Christians, we have a clear call to stand up against injustice. ICE is not enforcing the law. This brutality is antithetical to our Christian faith, which calls us to love our neighbors and show hospitality to the stranger."

augustafreepress.com/news/harriso...

To be clear, I don't really support a carceral system either, but don't pretend for a second that the current judicial system is set up to protect survivors of sexual violence and/or trafficking. It's not. But this kind of harm is incredibly toxic and without consequences we can't limit that harm.

It's said that PTSD is caused, at least in part, by someone not having validation, help and support after they experience a traumatic event or extended situation. So for those of us with PTSD, watching the lack of consequences for perpetrators right now, it's re-traumatizing.

At S.F. senior home, 100-year-old students meet 1,000-year-old poems The Bethany Center, a Mission District senior housing complex, is an unexpected haven for Cantonese-speaking fans of Tang dynasty poetry.

“It’s good to see how ancient poets deal with this. Sometimes we are overly protective,” she said. If “you’re understanding the historical context of death and dying … you feel you’re not alone.”

missionlocal.org/2026/02/sf-c...

'Ethos of inclusivity' no more: S.F. looks to repeal law requiring stores to accept cash Seven years after San Francisco passed a law requiring brick and mortar stores to accept cash from customers, citing an “ethos of inclusivity,” city leaders are seeking to repeal it.

You know, if we eradicated poverty at a systemic level (which is the only way it can be done), we wouldn't need to fight over whether stores could go cashless.

missionlocal.org/2026/02/sf-c...

Don't miss out on celebrating the release of @laurencjohnson.bsky.social's upcoming novel, THE WEST FACADE, at @greenapplebooks.bsky.social on 3/11 at 7pm PST w/ @taracampbell.bsky.social & @bethwinegarner.bsky.social! buff.ly/2p7FH6g

Preorder THE WEST FACADE: buff.ly/q7vVqVu

taught my kid the macarena tonight

please give the teachers what they want soon

“I’m mad I can’t understand Bad Bunny’s lyrics because they’re not in English”

my brother millions of metalheads around the world have been happily listening to incomprehensible Finnish shrieks and Japanese death grunts since we were teens, you’re just boring and racist

Look, I'm glad Bad Bunny used his platform to push back against fascism but I wish we weren't still supporting an organization that mostly exists to give men of color traumatic brain injuries in the name of entertainment.

I love our local crows. One note: the bird in the photo captioned "A crow on an electric box" is a raven. You can tell by the ruffled feathers on its throat. ;)