Sign in

Cate McGowan

@catemcgowan.com
1.8K followers 2.6K following 83 posts

Author of four books: poetry collection—SACRIFICIAL STEEL, essay collection—WRITING IS REVISION, stories—TRUE PLACES NEVER ARE, & novel—THESE LOWLY OBJECTS. Prose & poems smattered everywhere. Em dashes rule! PhD, MFA, MA. linktr.ee/cate.mcgowan

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
at splice today got to write about the new/old Cramps album, and how they look a lot more like part of the original rockabilly movement now, from this vantage, rather than a retro exercise. www.splicetoday.com/music/origin...
splicetoday.com
Original Rockabilly Ravers, The Cramps
Gravest Gravy puts Lux and Ivy in context. || Noah Berlatsky
2186
Reposted by Cate McGowan
NerdParker @nerdparker.com · 28/09/2026
I remember walking into class the day we read Bartleby the Scrivener, and my prof said “this is why you’re paying 40 grand for a liberal arts degree. One day you’ll go to a party and someone will say ‘I would prefer not to’ and the people who chuckle are the ones you can probably talk to”.
37210
Reposted by Cate McGowan
evacide @evacide.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The most important thing I learned in my 20s is that being smart doesn't make you special. Eventually you need to learn to try hard and to enjoy learning to do things you're not immediately good at. It turns out that the people who didn't learn this lesson were reading Harry Potter fanfic.
13772105
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Museum of Twitter @museum-of-twitter.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
@AmySilverberg

One time a writer friend of mine got too drunk and sobbed bc she said there were too many books in the world she wouldn’t have time to read, and this guy down the bar said, ladies—he isn’t worth it and my friend yelled IM CRYING ABOUT BOOKS and that shut the guy up
131898300
Reposted by Cate McGowan
rob mclennan @robmclennan.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
sad to hear, via Ben Friedlander, that American poet Beverly Dahlen (b. 1934) has died, // @ampoetryreview.bsky.social @pw.org ;
0104
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Katie Hodges-Kluck, PhD @klhkhistorian.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
**Lights Out Alert Sunday & Monday Nights** Birdcast is estimating 300-400 million birds will be in flight.
From meteorologist Eric Snitil

**Lights Out Alert Sunday & Monday Nights**

"Heads up birders, I would not be surprised if the biggest bird migration night of the year happens over the next 2 nights. Birdcast is estimating 300-400 million birds will be in flight. That is a lot, but the pattern could not be better for migratory birds. A massive area of high pressure will turn the low level winds from the northeast to the southwest across most of the US. The last time we had anything similar to this in the fall was early October last year when a record 1.25 billion birds were in flight. I doubt we get to that level, but I suspect the number will top 500 million especially Monday night which looks to be the bigger of the two nights. You can help by turning off those outdoor lights on big migration nights, and the next 2 nights is about as big as it gets."
291672885
Reposted by Cate McGowan
rax ‘levon honkers’ king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
every unemployed music journalist wearily shouting IT'S CALLED BABA O'RILEY at the same time
1655228
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Andrej @tepid.meme · 08/09/2026
This is a big mood, as the kids used to say
042
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.eurosky.social · 07/09/2026
Far be it from me to perpetuate national stereotypes HOWEVER this is what a proper selection of potatoes looks like. Taken in a small Kerry supermarket with 2 checkouts. I counted 16 different types, sizes, and brands of spud. Which is about right.
Coloyr photograph of a display of bagged potatoes in a supermarket. In the front row are large paper bags of Keogh's Queens, Roosters, and Maris Pipers, as well as another brand. Behind them are various other brands with different sized bags, and also Golden Wonders, Roosters, and baby new potatoes.
1411618
Cate McGowan @catemcgowan.com · 03/09/2026
As I work on "FINAL FINAL ABSOLUTE BEST Draft 5"...
010
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Graham Parker @thegrahamparker.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
www.theguardian.com/music/2026/s... 😎
theguardian.com
From petrol pump attendant to Dylan-feted rocker and Judd Apatow muse: the delightfully unlikely life of Graham Parker
Fifty years ago Parker was hailed as rock’s next big thing, but he picked a different path: cult records, a Hollywood diversion, an aversion to stardom. Ahead of a UK tour, he looks back at his strang...
63714
Reposted by Cate McGowan
eileen chengyin chow @chowleen.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
She remembered it was August and they say August brings bad luck. But September would arrive one day like an exit. And September was for some reason a lighter and more transparent month. Clarice Lispector (trans. Katrina Dodson) #everynightapoem #september as ever, for my favorite month
red door with latticed peep hole and hand-shaped door knocker (our house in macanet)
27519
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Alexandra Petri @petridishes.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
the year is 2027. gas costs $83 and lettuce is at war with us. however every location on every map now says AMERICA
227147402818
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Rick Steves @ricksteves.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Make hay while the sun shines…and if you’re in a hurry, hire a helicopter. It costs a Swiss farmer about $3000 an hour to haul hay. Watching this, I was struck by how fast they worked…but at $50 a minute, it made sense. What surprised me was that hay would be worth it. Enjoy your cheese.
627517
Cate McGowan @catemcgowan.com · 27/08/2026
Where's Mitch McConnell?
021
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Dr. Sarah Parcak @indyfromspace.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
I see there are many Men™️ who are not archaeologists or specialists in the ancient Near East making prognostications about ancient financial systems and how we behaved in the past and how it applies today and I need them all to STFU and read one book.
140246
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Glossy Planet Lit Mag @glossyplanetmag.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
"Precise movements, perfected by repetition. He’d gone slight over the years, his joints storing the work. Sometimes he read the labels without meaning to. Addresses stuck with him, useless as facts." Read "Extra Minutes" by @catemcgowan.com: www.glossyplanetmag.com/extra-minutes/
glossyplanetmag.com
Extra Minutes - Cult of Productivity 1st Place Winner
Read "Extra Minutes" by Cate McGowan, the first-place winner from Glossy Planet's Cult of Productivity writing challenge.
042
Reposted by Cate McGowan
John Wiswell @wiswell.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
I am 90% sure my career wouldn't have happened if a couple people hadn't retweeted one of my stories the exact minute they did. You work your hardest, but it's not in your hands. It breaks a lot of people.
181311171
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Daniel Dockery @dandock.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
My wife said this to me just now and then said "You should post that"
727193
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Dr. Sarah Parcak @indyfromspace.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
The Machine Learning applications I have used for 26 years to process satellite data on my laptop/ desktop that require 0 stolen data or extra power or anything other than my attention+ expertise is NOT "AI" stop conflating the two
115223
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Elizabeth Lopatto @lopatto.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
sometimes I get to have fun at work www.theverge.com/entertainmen...
622336
Cate McGowan @catemcgowan.com · 20/08/2026
Me, right now, at 1:06 a.m.
050
Reposted by Cate McGowan
R.E.M. @remhq.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
“It’s Monday. It’s going to be over 100 degrees in Athens today, & I’m packing for a tour that will encompass nine time zones, three or four climates, and two seasons. I’m looking at my suitcase in horror wondering what to pack. The first Drink The Sea show is August 30th, stretching into November.
916211
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Ben Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Thankfully Turnitin's planned change in terms to use all student content for AI development has been forced back. But the big Q remaining is: How did getting a degree from universities worldwide become conditional on students agreeing to the end user licence agreement of an *edtech company*?
321783
Reposted by Cate McGowan
🇨🇦 Shani Komulainen 🍁 @shanikom.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Long lens love!
031
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Connor Ewing @cmewing.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think Mandela was talking about surfing.
2328
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Dr Sam Hirst @romgothsam.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Are you interested in Ann Radcliffe? Women in Gothic and Horror? Trans horror? Writing workshops with amazing people? You can get it all for one online event. Come to as much or as little as you like! 22nd and 23rd August www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1993974113...
eventbrite.co.uk
'More Terrors Than Her Reason Could Justify': An Online Gothic Conference
On 22nd and 23rd August we celebrate 200 years of Ann Radcliffe's posthumous publications and marginalised genders in the Gothic!
015387
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 15/08/2026
Week 32 of my stitch-the-news daily news diary included: A hard hat A banner A yoyo A catering truck A decoy A Propaganda Barbie A pair of binoculars
Embroidered icons representing 

A hard hat for a judge's order to stop construction on the White House renovations
A banner for Trump's new DOJ pick and his face on the building
A yoyo for wildly shifting stock and oil prices in the wake of the Iran War
A catering truck for revelations about Trump's secret ride on a plane
A decoy for the cabinet officials who got left behind unknowingly on what they thought was the president's plane, but which he abandoned because of attack threats 
A Propaganda Barbie for Karoline Leavitt's resignation in the wake of the plane debacle 
A pair of binoculars for new investigations revealing Trump's surveillance of independent organizations
2384
Reposted by Cate McGowan
post malone ergo propter malone @proptermalone.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
the thing about X and Threads and Bluesky is that every time I look at X I worry that someone is trying to annihilate my mind and every time I look at Threads I worry that they already have
2164362
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Ramin Nasibov @nasibov.me · 12/08/2026
If you missed the solar eclipse, this is what it looked like:
94142993814
Reposted by Cate McGowan
optimisticsoap.bsky.social @optimisticsoap.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Libraries make us a harder target for authoritarianism. Equal access to info, ideas, and space that doesn’t require a purchase to belong. Also: using the library means money stays in your community instead of streaming out to Amazon. 📚 What’s checked out on your card right now?
32497973126
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
My latest essay, which is a bit of a love letter to books but is also about cattle, an underrated 30-year-old film and the things I dislike about the internet. You can read the full thing here with a very inexpensive paying subscription or a slightly less inexpensive one: www.tom-cox.com/summe/
My brilliant, inspiring pal Meg (she's in the essay too) holding up a quote by Richard Powers which says, "The best arguments in the world won't change a person's mind. the only thing that can do that is a good story."
07112
Reposted by Cate McGowan
laura olin @lauraolin.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
pretty good tattoo option too
07616
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Erik Gregersen @ctgriffes.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
As an adaptation of Homer’s epic, the Honda Odyssey is a complete disaster. With its roomy cabin and rear entertainment system for the kids, the minivan foregrounds concerns that only arose with the American nuclear family and say nothing about the brutality that underlay the Bronze Age.
261898385
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Heather Hill @rollin-academic.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
3) when I told a therapist that I was having negative feelings about my boss who was giving the primo shifts to my male coworker "would you say you don't like men?"
17103318
Reposted by Cate McGowan
bill doyle @billjondoyle.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
dear people— you really HAVE to be smarter than this to survive the next couple of decades seriously
really, really obvious AI image of the devil’s tower— i mean, come on, people: you’re making the magic donkey cry!
141
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 05/08/2026
Jane Austen used 'however' at the beginning of a sentence, and so can you.
872672511
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Yayger @yayger.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Cats are fucking weirdos, man! 😂😂😂
0177
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Christopher Hale @christopherjhale.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
The godmother of punk Patti Smith met Pope Leo XIV this morning.
782655390
Reposted by Cate McGowan
🍁🇨🇦Team Canada Forever🇨🇦🍁 @teamcanadaforever.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
France calls out the U.S. at a UN meeting: “The US used to be a beacon of human rights. Not anymore. Today, it stands alongside North Korea, Nicaragua, Mali and Russia. Isolated. And the world no longer listens to it.” U.S. representatives stormed out of the meeting. Well said France! 👏🏼🇫🇷👏🏼
1402303207943
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Philip Bump @pbump.com · 31/07/2026
pleased to announce the Winner of Bluesky
164138771327
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Sara K Ellis @skateellis.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
www.indiewire.com/features/com...
indiewire.com
One of Joan Crawford’s Best Movies Is Available for the First Time in 90 Years
The 1932 drama was pulled from circulation in 1936 and hasn't been seen in 90 years, but now is available in a 4K restoration from Warner Archive.
011
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Kathryn Tewson @kathryntewson.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
THE STRUGGLE IS REAL
310513
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Dannyboy wildlife @dannyboywildlife.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Pine marten
281090301
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Penni W. @penumbrawhirl.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
I just saw a post by a romance writer who expressed their negative thoughts about the novel, OLD MAN AND THE SEA. Honey, you might benefit from reading some Hemingway. Just saying. Bless your heart.
031
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Guerilla Girls poster: Do women need to be naked to get into the met museum? fewer than 5% of the artists in the modern art section are women, but 85% of the nudes are female.
322538
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Dannyboy wildlife @dannyboywildlife.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
923336
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Not all heroes wear capes. Some meant to but wind up in gorilla masks instead. Thank you to Joyce Kozloff and all the other Guerrilla Girls, whether or not you ever come forward. What you did was so, so important.
faroutmagazine.co.uk
Founding member of Guerrilla Girls reveals her identity
One of the founding members of feminist art collective Guerrilla Girls has revealed herself to be American painter and sculptor Joyce Kozloff.
61086288
Reposted by Cate McGowan
Tom Reagan’s Hat @rufustsuperfly.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Just saw someone getting upset about an Odyssey spoiler. Wait til they hear what happens to Jesus in The Bible.
719021