I wrote about the world's first Scent Lending Library for The Art Newspaper. Read all about scent art, scent literacy, and what happened with the bottles I borrowed (it was not quite what I expected!) Sorry to say that peacock doesn't have a smell, tho. www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/03/05/a...
Living with a long term mystery illness has given me a lot to think about in terms of our culture's discomfort with uncertainty and it's ... interesting? ... to think about how that discomfort is getting baked into these systems. What catastrophes will that cause?
On a better note, went to a sneak peek of the Seattle Art Museum's Beyond Mysticism show yesterday and it's pretty glorious. Of course I got stuck in the Surrealism section, gaping at work by Leo Kenney, a Seattle Surrealist I'd never heard of. www.historylink.org/File/5350
Some good food for thought on AI in the military and beyond here; I particularly appreciated the note that these systems are not trained to *ever* say "I don't know" and the types of mistakes they make are not ones we are used to looking out for. www.kuow.org/stories/anth...
I've heard this happens a lot!
I'm attending a Washington State Immigrant Solidarity Know Your Rights training Feb 11, because I need a refresher on what to do when crap is going down here. And it is going down. This morning there was an ICE arrest a few blocks from where I grew up. I'm livid. Join me Feb 11? waisn.org/events/
quick, someone help, we've got a vegetable situation
Yes! Kids grow up so fast these days.
Young adult in babydoll dress and Docs around the corner from Easy Street records: "It's In Utero's 30th anniversary?!" Friend: "I don't know who the fuck that is." Babydoll: "It's not a person!" #thekidsarealright
I'll never forget trying to describe the bodega cats to a friend in Vancouver, BC when I moved from there to NYC. "They just have cats ... in the grocery store? Doesn't the health department have anything to say about that?"
Washington state investors: Seattle City Employees’ Retirement System, Washington State Investment Board
It's important to remember that we still have a free press -- unlike regimes that are full-on authoritarian or fascist. Pay attention to it. Support it with your money. Tell others.
Today's On Point (which should appear here eventually) was about how Minneapolis is resisting ICE--even people who don't consider themselves "political," even people who voted for Trump. The whole city is saying no. We should all be paying attention to how it's done. www.npr.org/podcasts/510...
Given current events, are we sure the success of Heated Rivalry isn't some kind of Psych Ops by the Canadians?
Somehow only just now stumbling on the Public Domain Review's collection of "decayed daguerreotypes," in case you need a distraction from the news for some weird reason publicdomainreview.org/collection/d...
But what I actually came here to say is that if you want a fast, legit way of staying on top of the false claims being spread by this admin (and how they're being supercharged by AI), I recommend NewsGuard's newsletter: www.newsguardrealitycheck.com?r=39ar2 (I am not affiliated)
Reminded me of my favorite bday party this year: Nothing like a room full of black-clad, heavily tattooed goths dancing funky to Snap!
Spent the first hour of my morning listening to early 90s r&b and hip-hop after PM Dawn's "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" played in an ad and I HIGHLY recommend this as a coping mechanism.
Seattle was gray and also gorgeous today. (This is a pocket park with waterfall on the site of where UPS was founded.)
This ... thing ... has been hanging out in my building's common area lounge for who knows how long. I'm very pleased it has been allowed to just be.
My mom (a rabbi) lives in one of the most diverse zip codes in the state, if not the country. There is really no need to pretend everyone celebrates Christmas here and yes I will die on this hill.
Went out to dinner for my mom's birthday and our server asked, "How was your Christmas?" "We don't celebrate Christmas," I said, trying not to snap. (I have no chill on this issue.) "Neither do I!" she said and looked SO happy. Then she gave my nephew a deal on cheeseburgers with unlimited fries. 😎
“What gets remembered is a function of who’s in the room doing the remembering." What a legend.
www.kqed.org/news/1206821...
Hearing murmurs that publishing houses are pushing editors to use AI in their work. How can writers help employees push back against this? If you work in publishing & don’t feel comfortable replying directly, I am opening up my DMs.
Reading this tonight and it's utterly delightful. Sly, perfect, inventive, very human and very strange all at once. I'll be excited for this in January! us.macmillan.com/books/978125...
Way to ruin Christmas
It's "Chappy Chanukkah" or go home.
Found out last night a friend died of cancer. Put a remembrance of her in my IG stories. No mention of "death." Still, Instagram banned it. I know joke's on me for using IG, but sometimes the dystopia is too much. What happens when our public spaces are usurped by tech and they ban mourning?
It's so sad that this needs clarifying, but there it is.
