Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 30/09/2026I think I need to start paying the backyard squirrels for how much entertainment they provide on a daily basis. 🐿️ 000
Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Shocked (not) to learn that the Kennedy Center was doing all right before you know who took it over. wapo.st/4dg5MJj [gift link]wapo.stThe 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. 031
Reposted by Jen HowardJeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026They quoted me in this New Yorker piece about AI today. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-... 114107612651
Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 30/09/2026FYI, 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.orgBookshop.org: Buy books online. Support local bookstores.A better way to buy books online. Every purchase financially supports local independent bookstores. 101
Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Hyperlocal skeet: Props to DC311 for truly excellent hold music (go-go this morning!) and generally kind and helpful customer service folks. 020
Reposted by Jen HowardBolts @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.orgMaine Prisoners Organize to Protect Their Rare Right to Vote - BoltsMaine 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. 213560
Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 24/09/2026John 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.comMr Wells and Mr BuchanHow the novelist fell out with his publisher 220
Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Journalists beware. What a shitty situation. Props to Bethany et al for calling attention to it. 010
Reposted by Jen Howarddan sinker @dansinker.com · 21/09/2026The 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. 111203382
Reposted by Jen HowardKatie Mack @astrokatie.com · 20/09/2026Fully 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. 741900320
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] #KennedyCenterwapo.stColumn | 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. 053
Reposted by Jen HowardMayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 17/09/2026Could 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. 441123671736
Reposted by Jen HowardThe Associated Press @apnews.com · 17/09/2026A federal judge ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30 days' notice before major physical changes to the building, including demolition.bit.lyJudge orders Kennedy Center to provide 30 days’ notice before making any major physical changesA 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. 1923572
Reposted by Jen HowardArtologica aka Michele Banks @artologica.net · 17/09/2026Tomorrow at 6:30 pmwashingtonblade.comHands Off the Arts to form ‘human chain’ around Kennedy CenterDrag performer Tara Hoot among event organizers 6305107
Reposted by Jen HowardJesse Sheidlower @jessesword.com · 17/09/2026Today'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.comHistorical Dictionary of Science Fiction: earthfallHistorical Dictionary of Science Fiction 073
Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 16/09/2026No shit, Sherlock. wapo.st/4xoodCL [gift link]wapo.stAmericans 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. 131
Reposted by Jen Howardkelly jensen @heykellyjensen.bsky.social · 16/09/202639 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.comCity takes heat for cutting 39 library workers in next year's budgetUnionized library workers are lobbying City Council and residents are signing a petition to stop the proposed cuts. 155
Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Root 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.comQ&A with Susan CollSusan Coll is the author of the new novel Word Salad . Her other novels include Bookish People . She is an event consul... 131
Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026A 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..." 120
Reposted by Jen HowardNeil 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. 015266
Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Sad about but not surprised by this: Trump-aligned Kennedy Center board votes to close building www.axios.com/2026/09/15/t...axios.comTrump-aligned Kennedy Center board votes to close buildingA draft resolution proposed sending marquee events off-site during restoration. 100
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.stJudge bars Kennedy Center from adding Trump’s name to building againThe center’s Board of Trustees is also set to consider a proposal to shut down the building for renovations. 111
Reposted by Jen HowardJeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 14/09/2026If 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. 371776431
Reposted by Jen HowardDr. SkySkull @drskyskull.bsky.social · 14/09/2026This is just a spectacular unintentional self-own 10065511392
Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 14/09/2026This is both absurd and revealing. I feel bad for the trees. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/05/s... [gift link] #conservation #richpeoplebehavingbadlynytimes.comThe 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. 000
Reposted by Jen HowardBrennan Center @brennancenter.org · 12/09/2026We 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.orgThreats Against Federal Judges Endanger Democracy and Individual RightsA new Brennan Center report examines the surge in threats faced by judges and how improving judicial security is essential for protecting the public. 23419
Reposted by Jen HowardAnnalisa Nicholson @apuddleofmuddle.bsky.social · 11/09/2026It'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. 361219456
Reposted by Jen HowardBristol 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/U3qp50ZLVCcow.lyArchives of the Dead: Libraries as Unlikely Monuments | The Order of the Good DeathHow libraries and archives become unlikely sites of grief, memory, and legacy. 011
Reposted by Jen HowardAlondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Researchers 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.orgThe wrong platform for scienceDaniel 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... 5496264
Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Really not a good time to lay off journalists, McClatchy. (Not that there's ever a good time.) 060
Reposted by Jen HowardMeg Reid 🦦 @megireid.bsky.social · 02/09/2026I 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. 3102
Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 09/09/2026The 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.comWelcome to The Washington Sun 020
Reposted by Jen HowardTrevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 09/09/2026This 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. 8576752174
Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 08/09/2026DC 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.) 010
Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Damn. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/08/a...nytimes.comSmithsonian’s Secretary to Resign as Trump Tries to Rule the InstitutionIn the face of escalating White House attacks about how museums present American history, Lonnie G. Bunch III has announced his decision to depart. 030
Reposted by Jen HowardLaura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 06/09/2026There'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.comGloria Steinem: Hater of MenBecause if you are for the women, you must be against the men. 1017328
Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Saw "Coyote vs. Acme" last night at the Senator Theatre in Baltimore. Very fun movie, fabulous movie palace. 10/10 moviegoing experience. thesenatortheatre.comthesenatortheatre.comSenator TheatreFind Movie Times and Tickets in Baltimore, MD 070
Jen Howard @jenhoward.bsky.social · 05/09/2026Please 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.stColumn | The shame in a photo of an asylum seeker before his death belongs to us allPierre Damas Bel stepped into highway traffic after losing his immigration status. Before that, he posed for a picture of his ankle bracelet. 165
Reposted by Jen HowardSarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026Please 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... 9908860
Reposted by Jen HowardCourtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 04/09/2026Apparently 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! 232758
Reposted by Jen HowardGwen Pearson @bug-gwen.bsky.social · 04/09/2026I'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.comUW-Madison students, records detail investigation of professorDietram Scheufele resigned after investigators determined he had sexual relationships with two students and engaged in unwelcome sexual conduct with one. 3237
Reposted by Jen HowardSabrina Imbler @sabs.bsky.social · 04/09/2026I wrote about what's happening to the Academy of Natural Sciences Museum in Philadelphia defector.com/how-the-u-s-...defector.comHow The U.S.'s Oldest Natural History Museum Might Meet Its End | DefectorIn 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... 27333
Reposted by Jen HowardFreedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 03/09/2026Not 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. 23528