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Jen Howard

@jenhoward.bsky.social
4.5K followers 1.8K following 2.4K posts

Writer, editor, journalist. Book and nature lover. Author, CLUTTER: AN UNTIDY HISTORY. Words in WaPo, TLS, NYT, LARB, CHE, EdSurge, etc. She/her. Reading, writing, and gardening in DC. Newsletter: jenniferhoward.substack.com

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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I think I need to start paying the backyard squirrels for how much entertainment they provide on a daily basis. 🐿️
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Shocked (not) to learn that the Kennedy Center was doing all right before you know who took it over. wapo.st/4dg5MJj [gift link]
wapo.st
The Kennedy Center was solvent when Trump took over. Then its finances collapsed.
The Post examined 15 years of the institution’s financial records to see why it went south after the president took over.
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Words to live (and write) by.
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Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
They quoted me in this New Yorker piece about AI today. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
“Let’s say there’s a world or time line I exist in where A.I. has been subject to regulation. It is ethical. It has no footprint environmentally,” the novelist Jeff VanderMeer, a prominent critic of A.I., told me over the phone. “With those guardrails in place, would I read an A.I. book? All I can say is no. And the reason is, in part, because I want to read something coming from a particular mind.” Using A.I., he said, “feels like a betrayal of the whole point of why you’re a writer.”
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
FYI, if you've tried to order my book through Bookshop.org or your local indie lately and it's showed up as unavailable, my publisher has put in another order with the distributor, so it should be available again soon.
bookshop.org
Bookshop.org: Buy books online. Support local bookstores.
A better way to buy books online. Every purchase financially supports local independent bookstores.
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Hyperlocal skeet: Props to DC311 for truly excellent hold music (go-go this morning!) and generally kind and helpful customer service folks.
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Bolts @boltsmag.org · 25/09/2026
“I’ve been getting ready to vote,” says Djvan Carter, who is incarcerated in Maine, where prisoners never lose the right to vote. “But the facility itself, the administration, they don’t help us or guide us. It’s all on us.”
boltsmag.org
Maine Prisoners Organize to Protect Their Rare Right to Vote - Bolts
Maine is one of the only places in the country where prisoners keep their right to vote. But logistical barriers to voting still contribute to their larger exclusion from the political process.
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
John Buchan writing to his publishing partner about H.G. Wells in 1920: "quite the most disgusting person we have had to do with I have ever met, and, though I know him pretty well, I do not at all like him." www.the-tls.com/regular-feat...
the-tls.com
Mr Wells and Mr Buchan
How the novelist fell out with his publisher
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Journalists beware. What a shitty situation. Props to Bethany et al for calling attention to it.
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Bravo.
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dan sinker @dansinker.com · 21/09/2026
The best way to fight back against the Paramount/Warner Brothers merger is to support independent artists, journalists, writers, filmmakers, musicians and everyone else who has been walking a very hard path to putting things out into the world.
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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 20/09/2026
Fully electric aviation has some major challenges (mostly: batteries are heavy and don't get lighter as they get used up) but I love the idea of decreasing aircraft emissions through a hybrid approach, perhaps as a step toward new, clever solutions for fully electric air transport in the future.
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
👏👏👏
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
"When the ambition to destroy culture is bottomless, the anger must be even deeper. When there is new governance in Washington, the Kennedy Center must be among the things investigated, because it was always the bellwether." wapo.st/46uOtAC [gift link] #KennedyCenter
wapo.st
Column | The Kennedy Center is empty and in peril. Its community is in anguish.
The fiasco of this week’s closure reveals the truth of President Trump’s motivations — and what the arts community stands to lose.
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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 17/09/2026
Could new bus shelter roofs help New Yorkers stay cool in extreme heat? We're testing a few in Brownsville to find out: a green roof covered with native plants, and reflective roofs covered with low-cost, heat-resilient film.
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The Associated Press @apnews.com · 17/09/2026
A federal judge ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30 days' notice before major physical changes to the building, including demolition.
bit.ly
Judge orders Kennedy Center to provide 30 days’ notice before making any major physical changes
A federal judge has ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30 days’ notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it as President Donald Trump has threatened.
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Oh boy.
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Artologica aka Michele Banks @artologica.net · 17/09/2026
Tomorrow at 6:30 pm
washingtonblade.com
Hands Off the Arts to form ‘human chain’ around Kennedy Center
Drag performer Tara Hoot among event organizers
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Jesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 17/09/2026
Today's nice antedating for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: "earthfall", for landing on Earth (after nautical "landfall"), from 1952 to 1943. A very recent example would be great: hard to search because of the videogame and the O.S. Card novel. sfdictionary.com/view/2297/ea...
sfdictionary.com
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: earthfall
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
No shit, Sherlock. wapo.st/4xoodCL [gift link]
wapo.st
Americans are tired. Women and young adults, most of all.
A new CDC report shows that nearly 3 out of 4 adults reported feeling fatigued on at least some days in 2024.
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kelly jensen @heykellyjensen.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
39 library workers are to be cut from San Antonio Public Library (TX) in the latest budget proposal. Folks aren't happy: www.expressnews.com/politics/art...
expressnews.com
City takes heat for cutting 39 library workers in next year's budget
Unionized library workers are lobbying City Council and residents are signing a petition to stop the proposed cuts.
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Root vegetables, meet synesthesia: @deborahkalb.bsky.social did a Q&A with Susan Keselenko Coll about her new novel, WORD SALAD. deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/2026/09/q-wi...
deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com
Q&A with Susan Coll
Susan Coll is the author of the new novel Word Salad . Her other novels include Bookish People . She is an event consul...
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
A reminder from WaPo: "Center leaders have blamed previous management for the institution’s financial problems and said Trump’s name has attracted new donors. But the confidential financial records show that ticket sales and fundraising plunged after trustees added Trump’s name to the building..."
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Neil Kleid @neilkleid.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
“So pour one out for this era of Marvel. And pour one out for comic book publishing in New York City. 90+ years is not a bad run.” Ooooof.
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Sad about but not surprised by this: Trump-aligned Kennedy Center board votes to close building www.axios.com/2026/09/15/t...
axios.com
Trump-aligned Kennedy Center board votes to close building
A draft resolution proposed sending marquee events off-site during restoration.
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"Judge bars Kennedy Center from adding Trump's name to building again": wapo.st/4iwAT6T [gift link]
wapo.st
Judge bars Kennedy Center from adding Trump’s name to building again
The center’s Board of Trustees is also set to consider a proposal to shut down the building for renovations.
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Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
If a generative AI CEO is telling you something, take it with a grain of salt the size of an iceberg. So if they want regulation now, it is more likely something to do with finances than an immediate existential threat. These dipshits do not care about existential threats other than going bankrupt.
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Dr. SkySkull @drskyskull.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This is just a spectacular unintentional self-own
Dude on Threads: If you hate on ai, you better be pretty damn good at whatever you're doing
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This is both absurd and revealing. I feel bad for the trees. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/05/s... [gift link] #conservation #richpeoplebehavingbadly
nytimes.com
The Latest Wealth Flex: Big Trees (Gift Article)
More than ever, rich property owners are spending huge sums on full-grown oaks, palms and baobabs. They don’t have the time or patience to watch them grow.
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Brennan Center @brennancenter.org · 12/09/2026
We spoke to 35 sitting and retired federal judges about the threats, intimidation, and harassment they experience for doing their jobs. Improving judicial security is essential for protecting the public and the rule of law. bit.ly/460Z0mQ
brennancenter.org
Threats Against Federal Judges Endanger Democracy and Individual Rights
A new Brennan Center report examines the surge in threats faced by judges and how improving judicial security is essential for protecting the public.
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Annalisa Nicholson @apuddleofmuddle.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
It's just weird isn't it when the British Museum is running a sold-out exhibition, when The Odyssey reports $1billion at the box office, when the V&A has just opened the most innovative and accessible museum model in Europe....and this is what our minister for research comes out with.
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Bristol University Press @brisunipress.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
"Far more than repositories of books, libraries are spaces of living memory where knowledge, culture, and the present are continuously activated." 'Libraries, Archives and Collective Grief' is reviewed in The Order of Good Death: ow.ly/U3qp50ZLVCc
ow.ly
Archives of the Dead: Libraries as Unlikely Monuments | The Order of the Good Death
How libraries and archives become unlikely sites of grief, memory, and legacy.
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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Researchers across the country are turning to side hustles to fund their work. Behind the cuts sits a bigger shift: whether American science can still sustain durable research capacity. @lindseydcameron.bsky.social and I examine the stakes in a new piece @science.org: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
The wrong platform for science
Daniel Blumstein recently sat in a Colorado meadow waiting for yellow-bellied marmots to appear, as the ecologist and evolutionary biologist had done many times before, the New York Times reported. Bu...
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Really not a good time to lay off journalists, McClatchy. (Not that there's ever a good time.)
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Meg Reid 🦦 @megireid.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I maintain that the national commentators who will be the most surprised by the november numbers are going to be the ones who are underestimating (or maybe unaware of) how absolutely righteously angry memaws in the south are about data centers and flock cameras and how it's changing rural politics.
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
The new Washington Sun (formerly NOTUS) has added some great local talent to their team, including Martin Austermuhle, Dana Milbank, Thomas Boswell, Tom Sietsema and the metereologists FKA the Capital Weather Gang.
washingtonsun.com
Welcome to The Washington Sun
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Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
This is seismic news for fisheries scientists. Northern cod is *the* iconic symbol of total fisheries collapse due to overfishing (and other factors) *and* the iconic symbol of a complete failure to recover for decades afterwards. This is like announcing the complete recovery of bison on land.
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
DC is filled with the sound of axes grinding. (It's the sound of woodchipper crews cleaning up after the crazy storm of last week, but it feels all too apt.)
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Damn. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/08/a...
nytimes.com
Smithsonian’s Secretary to Resign as Trump Tries to Rule the Institution
In the face of escalating White House attacks about how museums present American history, Lonnie G. Bunch III has announced his decision to depart.
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Still gives me hope.
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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
There's a zombie myth that feminists hate men. Large, cross-cultural, repeated studies show: Nope! Feminists like women more than non-feminists do. And feminists also like *men* more than non-feminists do. We see people as people. celestemdavis.substack.com/p/gloria-ste...
celestemdavis.substack.com
Gloria Steinem: Hater of Men
Because if you are for the women, you must be against the men.
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Saw "Coyote vs. Acme" last night at the Senator Theatre in Baltimore. Very fun movie, fabulous movie palace. 10/10 moviegoing experience. thesenatortheatre.com
thesenatortheatre.com
Senator Theatre
Find Movie Times and Tickets in Baltimore, MD
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Please read Philip Kennicott's latest column for the WaPo: "Bel was desperate, and his death is a kind of murder, but what the U.S. is doing to itself is simply suicide." wapo.st/3VdIVYA [gift link]
wapo.st
Column | The shame in a photo of an asylum seeker before his death belongs to us all
Pierre Damas Bel stepped into highway traffic after losing his immigration status. Before that, he posed for a picture of his ankle bracelet.
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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Please repost! Drexel announced that it will close the Academy of Natural Sciences public museum- the oldest nat history museum in the US. There are 2 petitions to support the academy. Please sign both & come to our rally Tues. actionnetwork.org/petitions/pe... www.change.org/p/the-academ...
A poster featuring the T-Rex at the cognitive natural sciences, which says save the Academy natural sciences, museum rally in front of the academy 1900 Ben Franklin Parkway, Tuesday, September 8 10 AM. The T-Rex is saying tell Drexel keep the museum open. There’s an RSVP QR code and then the logos of Philly Science Action Skype scientist In Philly on the bottom.
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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 04/09/2026
Apparently some agents are trying to claim percentages on the Anthropic settlement, and I do not REMOTELY think they should do this, what the fuck, stop that shit!
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Gwen Pearson @bug-gwen.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I'm just so exhausted of this 'pass the trash' approach from academia. I can't tell you how many profs I have seen get caught doing unethical things... and then just move onto another faculty position 🤬 captimes.com/news/educati...
captimes.com
UW-Madison students, records detail investigation of professor
Dietram Scheufele resigned after investigators determined he had sexual relationships with two students and engaged in unwelcome sexual conduct with one.
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Sabrina Imbler @sabs.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I wrote about what's happening to the Academy of Natural Sciences Museum in Philadelphia defector.com/how-the-u-s-...
defector.com
How The U.S.'s Oldest Natural History Museum Might Meet Its End | Defector
In 1858, William Parker Foulke, a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences—a group of naturalists committed to public education and outreach—was on vacation in the quiet Quaker community of Haddonfie...
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Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 03/09/2026
Not only were reporters from major national outlets inexplicably denied access to the G20 summit, so were local news outlets from the host city of Asheville, NC, a venue supposedly selected to showcase the region's recovery from Tropical Storm Helene.
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Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
😢
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