Josh Cook

The covers of Revenge of the Scapegoat and Sea, Poison by Caren Beilin

I read Caren Beilin’s Sea, Poison on recommendation of Josh from @portersqbooks.bsky.social and it was so good I immediately read Revenge of the Scapegoat. Now @davidnaimon.bsky.social drops the latest conversation with Beilin, which means I get to listen to her talk about both books back to back.

If I organized a meet-up for radical trekkies to discuss radical Star Trek, why we love it, and how we want to engage with the struggles of our real-world moment, here, in Chicago, how many people would show up?

Josh's Newsletter

The random phenomena of existence has coalesced into what I think is my first poetry focused edition of my newsletter! Should be out in a couple of days so you can read it while ignoring your family at Thanksgiving

Brand-new activists are discovering political movements – and each other: ‘You feel the camaraderie’ Organizers are breaking down barriers and creating clever campaigns to welcome people new to protesting

More of this kind of reporting. Thank you.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Some of you have never had to keep your shit together while reading City Dog, Country Frog to your toddler and it shows

Hey, does anyone else remember how we eventually learned that Russian bots & operatives used Facebook to specifically target swing districts in 2016 & Trump's electoral college victory hinged almost entirely on thin margins in these absolutely vital districts?

A sign paperclipped to a Rough Draft tote bag (washable-brown-paper, looks kinda like leather but isn't, with festive tissue paper sticking out) The sign says HOLIDAY BOOK BAGS A personally curated bag of books from Drew and the books team! Perfect for the reader(s) in your life this holiday season! 3 hardcover books - $120 3 paperback books - $75 kids bag (3-5 books) - $75 ask the books desk for more details! in-person curation takes ~30mins and is subject to availability orders can be placed online with survey for in-store pick-up ONLY (but as I said, if you want something and you aren't local, reach out and we'll see what we can do)

Do you or does someone you love live in the mid-Hudson Valley and want books for the holidays? I'm doing a limited run of curated book bags for folks — 3 titles, either hc or pb, in a Rough Draft tote with a little swag on the side. roughdraftny.square.site/shop/holiday...

Why is startup culture always “I am inventing a coffeeproof phone you can put in your coffee cup to keep it warm with cell radiation” and never “I’m inventing a new library wholesaler to replace the single company that is shutting down and sending libraries into crisis”

Phew. I was just seeing pop up here while all the other madness happened today

Wait, was the Pope rave earlier TODAY?

Zohran flip your hair again we need healthcare get him to give us healthcare.

People say socialism is unrealistic. I say infinite growth on a finite planet is a fairy tale for adults.

Laughing at Donald Trump saying he'd definitely feel comfortable living in Zohran Mamdani's New York on the same day that half the consultant brain-poisoned Democratic party voted to condemn socialism

Oh! I forgot to tell you that I saw a fancified sprayed-edges edition of The Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire at Costco, and you know, I think thay's a bit much

Carabiner Collections, Inc. Carabiner Collections, Inc. is an LGBTQIA+ community-run library serving the Brazos Valley of Texas

We can mitigate the harm of book bans by bringing those books into impacted communities in ways & spaces beyond the control of the book banners. Carabiner Collections is doing that work in Brazos County, TX. Maybe you can set something like that up in your neck of the woods.

There's other great stuff too, but still trying to wrap my head around all three of these coming out within a few months of each other

I don't know what this will look like, but at some point we need to figure out something about all the people who complained about cancel culture a few years ago who have fallen completely silent so we don't fall for this again

Got a skill to share with the Camberville community?

Faltas: Letters to Everyone in My Town Who Isn't My Rapist In these hilarious and heartbreaking letters, Cecilia Gentili reinvents the trans memoir, putting the confession squarely between the writer and her enemies, paramours and friends. Writing to childhood figures such as her rapist's daughter, her father's mistress, her best friend, and her mother, Gentili probes deeply into the bitter cruelty, buried secrets, and delicious gossip of a small town. Is she here for revenge, or forgiveness? Both And more A story of sex, theft, murder, motherhood, and outrageous fashion choices, Faltas is a beautiful, messy meditation on what it takes to heal, or even grow.

On this Trans Day of Remembrance we're thinking of Faltas by Celilia Gentili. Faltas is a radical act of self-making and self-redemption. The book felt like the beginning of something special, but was not to be.

"The way Grambo sees it, it’s a numbers game. If he can draw the attention of officers to himself, perhaps fewer immigrants will get swept up, and that’s a win. “I know I can’t stop them,” he said, “but if I can suck up their time, then at least I can help some people.”"

This is the way.

I’m howling.

So many people, institutions, industries are so committed to the idea of being non-partisan that we end up decieving those we serve. It is objective fact that the biggest threat to my industry, indie bookselling, is the Republican Party. More of us nees to say that.

the Harvard Crimson called Epstein a “child sex offender” while the Chronicle of Higher Ed called him a “disgraced financier” and that pretty much sums up where we are with higher ed journalism

I am not alone in wishing Omar did not need to write this book but am incredibly grateful he is here to write it

Headline: Summers to step back from public commitments amid Epstein criticism.

Obscene levels of obfuscation. The problem is not "Epstein criticism", the problem is he was getting predation advice from a sex trafficking pedophile. This is extremely not complicated.

Acquired Tastes: A Call for Submissions For younger writers, ages 15-21

I'm editing an anthology about unlikable characters and seeking work from younger writers, 15-21. If you know of one such writer who might want to submit their work for consideration, please share this call for submissions: audacity.substack.com/p/acquired-t...

$975,000 to be allocated to food security programs amid growing community needs By The Times Staff A lot of people are going hungry, and that has city officials taking swift action to cope with the crisis. Following the government shutdown and food aid benefits lapse, the city is...

🤝“$975,000 from the Community Benefits Stabilization Fund to address rising food insecurity.”

Our goal has always been to ensure the benefits of development in Somerville flow to those in need, not just the well-off.

Here’s what this looks like in reality: $$ from big developers to feed people.

So Harvard is keeping this guy, but Claudine Gay had to step down over ginned up plagiarism accusations and bad-faith accusations of anti-Semitism.

Got it.

If you're a Globe Subscriber like me, let them know what you think about them giving a platform to overt white supremacist Richard Hananian

Incredible. So he was just gonna sit on that one?