Ashley Martin

Portrait-oriented photo featuring a wooden post with a rusted hanger hook jutting out of it, and standing atop the post, triumphant and at least slightly indignant, is a plump little bluebird. The bluebird is a male, and we see the electric blue of his head, but the predominant part facing us is the coppery-orange and pale white front. He is standing amidst little pink-and-red tree blossoms, but I like to imagine these are instead the extracted organs of his enemies. So let's just pretend this bluebird stands vengefully astride a scattering of viscera -- gobbets of gore taken as a prize from his unnatural and invasive foes. I'm sorry I've really made this a gross photo. It's actually quite nice. Kind of a dreamy vibe to it, what with the wall of yellow forsythia blurring in the background, and here I am adding drippy bits and internal organs. I'm sorry. I'll do better next time. Probably. Photo by me, Chuck Wendig

Everything is bad but birds are good so time to reinstitute BIRD PROTOCOL where a bird is deployed to offset endless evil vibes, please enjoy, birds are good, okay bye

(photo by me)

Unraveled If the sweater doesn’t fit, take apart the stitches and make something new.

I’m just a girl, standing in front of the religion she was raised in, saying, “Um, on second thought…no thanks.”

A collage of books, each alongside a crocheted granny square in the colors of the book’s cover. Water Moon by Samantha Soto Yambao, Entangled Life by Merlin Sandrake, Aisle Nine by Ian X. Cho, Woodworm by Layla Martinez, Gathered Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer, We Do Not Part by Han Kang.

A collage of books, each alongside a crocheted granny square in the colors of the book’s cover. Beta Vulgaris by Margie Sarsfield, The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean, Heartstopper Volume 2 by Alice Oseman, Homegrown Magic by Jamie Pacton and Becca Podos, They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran

March reads. 💙📚 And no, you cannot make me pick a favorite. 🧶

One of my favorite reads of 2024!

It's #LibraryLoversMonth and libraries rock ❤️ They:
➡️ Offer free materials
➡️ Host events
➡️ Build community and life-long learning
➡️ Are safe spaces & makerspaces
➡️ Provide life-saving resources & ESL support
➡️ Boost critical thinking
➡️ Aid in career development
➡️ Have LIBRARIANS!

Are the next 4 years really going to be logging on everyday to sentences like "a 19 year old doge intern called Big Balls has your social security number" because I'm already at capacity for this sort of thing

This. (Including the follow up in the thread.) I will make room for anyone who actually wants to educate themselves and contribute to change. But if you just want me to feel bad for you because he didn’t make your life better like he promised and you have regerts? Nah.

Drawing of a crow and a pigeon bathed in the pink glow of a storefront window filled with pastries.

Out on the town tonight....

YouTube video by EgalmothOfGondolin01 LOTR The Two Towers - The Tales That Really Mattered...

Happy Friday here’s a pep talk from gay icon Samwise Gamgee youtu.be/k6C8SX0mWP0?...

“You won’t let the idiots and the assholes get past the front gate of your heart. They can yell from the sidewalk, they can yell terrible things, because they are shut out and can’t stand to be let go, but you will not let them in now.” - Jenny Slate, Little Weirds

“I have many grievances! And no place to set them down. And I am cranky from having to shoulder this burden of reactions, like I am a fucking ox that should carry your unsellable wares.” - Jenny Slate, Little Weirds

The book Flirting with Disaster by Naina Kumar sits on a tile floor surrounded by a hammer, a folded white tarp, a flashlight, and a granny square made of blue, pink and yellow yarn. The book’s cover has an illustrated silhouette of a man and a woman in a yellow canoe floating on dark blue water, with a light blue background and raindrops and clouds in bright blue and pink.

The audio book of Little Weirds by Jenny Slate is shown on an iPad sitting on a gold wire shelf. To the right of the iPad is a houseplant with broad green leaves in a white pot that’s shaped like a face wearing glasses. In the left is a yellow glass candle jar shaped like a beehive and a crocheted granny square in white, pink, blue, green, brown, gray, and yellow yarn. The cover of the audiobook features a wreath of green leaves dotted with random objects, such as a hot dog, a brontosaurus, flowers, a seashell, a bra, a beer can, and a hamburger.

Final reads/squares of January. (One pro of it being such a never-ending month is I managed to read 9 books). Little Weirds felt like a very timely read in many ways (and I loved Slate’s style of writing). Two of my favorite quotes in a thread below... 💙📚 🧶

I appreciate this statement from Police Chief Day very much.

I’ve been asked this question a lot so I’m adding this in good faith for my constituents - if you see an officer collaborating with ICE, you can file an anonymous report through the Independent Police Review. Translation is available.

Costco is for rotisserie chickens and giant boxes of goldfish that will barely last a month in the hands of your teenager. Your local indie is for books (and sharing in communal joy and rage).

*gasps in sapphic* #booksky #sapphic #lgbtqia+

A serval cat walking up a flap ght of spiral stairs, twisting it's spine around to s e behind it. The text says "Ohoho what is that I hear behindat me, mayhaps I TWIMST around and take an peep for mineself".

The beast of the apocalypse/Antichrist in th Douce Apocalypse. Three of his heads are twisting around to look at the lamb of God.

Same energy.

Not gonna lie. I would buy these.

I would like to be a ghost I'll take my autonomy with me to the afterlife, thankyouverymuch.

Lest you think my entire personality is reading and crocheting, I also write words sometimes. #amwriting #writingcommunity #substack

Two words: women’s soccer. (MLS is fine too, but the ladies are better. 😉) We face The Horrors AND share in the collective joy at the same time. 📷: @rosecityriveters.org

Oh absolutely! The idea certainly isn’t original to me - I also saw someone on the internets share it and decided it sounded like fun!

I really cannot adequately express the amount of joy this book blanket project is bringing me right now. Not only do I look forward to reading the books, but I’m so excited to make my little squares afterward. It’s like treats on treats. 💙📚 🧶

I really love the relationship between @powells.bsky.social and the @thornsfc.com. Books + women’s soccer forever. 📚 ❤️ ⚽️

One of my greatest joys in life is being able to enter a bookshop and see my friends’ books. In this case, @jamiepacton.bsky.social! I can personally attest to how wonderful her (and Becca’s) books are…so go preorder! It’ll make you happy and look gorgeous on your bookshelf. 💙📚

One of the many reasons I love my city.

Weird that we have to say this, but the government doesn’t get to decide what gender a person is.

On a red background, over an illustration of an orange tree with white blossoms and oranges in its branches, Scrabble tiles spell out the words “Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum.”

Seems like a good day to reshare this image that I made back in 2020. Don’t forget to to make joy and rest part of your resistance. But if all you feel right now is grief, that’s okay. #art

Me! But mine is granny squares - one for each book I read this year, in the colors of the book’s cover. Here are some of January’s. I love how many different ways you could do this kind of project!