Patti White

I had a much-loved orange shirt when I moved to Tuscaloosa, but ended up donating it.

"Kathy, Ich am lost," Ich seyde, thogh methoughte she was sleepinge,
"Ich am hollowe and hurtinge and knowe not wherfor"
Countinge the cars on the Newe Jersey Turnpyke
Thei have all come to looke for America

This graf does so much work.

@nytimes.com #Comey
@jamescomey.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/u...

The forking path — the decision tree — is the essence of plotting — every choice opens up a new set of possibilities for the narrative. And if you are a poststructuralist, all those paths that have been abandoned still exist and continue to haunt the main-line narrative.

Can Tylenol sue to recover the damage that will be done to their sales?

When this administration started, I seriously suggested that anyone in possession of facts (research, raw data, archival documents, whatever) upload that information to a site in a neutral country. Like the seed bank.

That poor kid.

The Fall 2025 Black River Chapbook Competition is now open for unpublished chapbooks of poems or prose, 16-36 pages long! Open to writers at all stages—the winner receives publication, $500, and ten book copies.

For submission details and past winners, visit our site: buff.ly/SwRgCtH

die-hard | adjective | strongly or fanatically determined or devoted

Die Hard | noun | a Christmas movie

Love this book.

I wake up angry. I find myself clenching my teeth. I have to watch “detectorists” to avoid looking at news headlines. That’s how I’m doing.

OMG Days of Heaven is an all-time favorite for all the reasons.

This year and last year weren't particularly easy years for me for various reasons (mostly work). So last year I made a list on my phone of some of the really great days I had that year, and I've done the same this year.
It really improved my perspective on the whole year, I really recommend it!

Why? why are you asking? has something more weird than usual been happening?

Find Out Why Health Insurance Denied Your Claim You likely have the right to access records that explain why your insurer denied your claim or prior authorization request. Use ProPublica’s free tool to generate a letter requesting your claim file f...

I don't know who needs to know this, but Pro Publica has an online thing that will format a letter to your US health insurance company to demand the records behind a claim denial. (which the insurance is then legally required to provide in most cases)

projects.propublica.org/claimfile/

Goal of the protagonist in:
French novel: "to fall in love"
British novel: "to get married"
Russian novel: "to become a great man"
American novel: "to kill that fuckin' whale, man. I want that GOD DAMN whale to die. FUCK, I hate whales so much!!"

Post from Peter Sweden: BREAKING: The European Federation of Journalists representing 320.000 journalists have announced they will stop posting on X.

They will halt on January 20, 2025 when Trump takes office, noting the “threat to democracy and freedom of expression posed by the cooperation between the president of the most powerful country in the world, Donald J. Trump, and the richest man in the world, Elon Musk…”

The dark rainy day in NYC really makes the colors of the parade show up. Seems richer (if unpleasant) somehow.

I always thought “wringing your hands” was a metaphor until Trump came along.

I used to love that conference.

I am here. I am old.

It feels like a year.

Little girl at my neighborhood park came over to me, asked me what my name was, and when I told her she said “that’s not a good name”. Now I am left to consider how ill-named I am and to rue my very existence.

Ow. Just sitting here with an extremely prickly pocket and realizing I put a handful of push-pins in there during a decorating frenzy.

Raise your hand if you’re totally okay with sending Elon Musk to Mars. ✋

My holiday decor has been minimal for the last decade or so, but I am buying flameless candles and lighted garlands now — I need more light. The early darkness is heavier this year.

Optimist: The cup is half full.

Pessimist: The cup is half empty.

Literary critic: Difficulty and Opportunity: Liminality and the Cup in the Cultural Imaginary, 1789-1914

Green cover of the book 'Servants Abroad: Travel Journals by British Working People, 1765–1798'. The image shows an 18th-century caricature of a male servant carrying books and wine.

My edition of four travel journals by 18th-c servants is out now, including accounts of France, Italy, the Low Countries, Germany and the Ottoman Empire by three valets and a maid – the majority of people who went on the 'Grand Tour' #skystorians #18thc #c18th global.oup.com/academic/pro...

Definition of “kakistocracy” as a government by the least suitable or competent citizens of a state.

Word of the day. Or week. Or next four years.