iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

I first learned to revere Dorie Miller 46 years ago from “Negro Hero,” a poem by Gwendolyn Brooks. I will not cite the cruel and obscene plans for the new aircraft carrier. I will speak only of his success, for he was a gem.

010

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

“But let us speak only of my success and the pictures in the Caucasian dailies As well as the Negro weeklies. For I am a gem.”

youtu.be

Major Jackson reads Gwendolyn Brooks' poem "Negro Hero"

YouTube video by Poetry Society of America

000

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Her trenchant “final thought” — on Wladyslaw Bartoszewski: “It was not idealism that drove him, or big ideas, he said. It was this: Warto być przyzwoitym—‘Just try to be decent.’ Whether you were decent—that’s what will be remembered.”

040

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

I challenge you to read this entire thread today without getting a lump in your throat.

041

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

A beautiful essay. “ A story you have on some level believed – that the world is fraught with danger – can be countered by a different story. Yes, the world is fraught with danger, but not everywhere, and not always, not here in this place and not now in this moment. You are safe.”

000

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Reported power out in Fry’s Spring 15 minutes ago but the only outage showing on the outage map is north downtown, which shows 2,867 out. outagemap.dominionenergy.com/external/def...

outagemap.dominionenergy.com

Outage Map

200

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

1. The meeting Wednesday night at the Jefferson School filled my heart with hope and, as an amateur local historian with a long-held deep love for Fifeville and its residents, past and present, I was moved to do some digging into the history of the property in question.

291

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

I have an awful sense of time and have always joked that time is not my friend. Marvin Wade and Evan Bode have given me a whole new perspective. As I watched their beautiful 7-minute video, I felt my breath slowing and my spirit calming. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/27/o...

nytimes.com

Opinion | Befriending Time Changed My Life

231

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

The words absurd and surreal have been frequent visitors in my head since November 2024. This week the word ugly has moved in, and this morning the Virginia Supreme Court has blown ugly up into all caps broadcasting throughout my nervous system: U G L Y

030

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

L. Louise Lucas, President pro tempore of the Virginia Senate, joined a very distinguished group today: James Comey Letitia James Jerome Powell Lisa Cook Adam Schiff Jack Smith Sen. Mark Kelly Sen. Elissa Slotkin Rep. Maggie Goodlander Rep. Jason Crow Rep. Chrissy Houlahan Rep. Chris DeLuzio

abcnews.com

Here's a list of the individuals, including James Comey, targeted by the Trump administration

The DOJ's second attempt to indict ex-FBI Director James Comey is the latest salvo in what critics call a campaign of retribution on the part of the Trump administration.

030

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Chris Hayes: I first want to get your take away of the decision about how bad it is on a scale of 1 to 10 . . . Sherrilyn Ifill: this is feeling about like a 12 . . .

121

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

“First of all, any military commander given orders to start destroying civilian infrastructure in Iran should disobey that order, should say it, should not even quietly resign. . . . It’s a violation of everything that America stands for.” paulkrugman.substack.com/p/our-darkes...

paulkrugman.substack.com

Our Darkest Hour

The civilization we destroy may be our own

041

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Being the very model of a modern Major-General means refusing to follow orders when an unhinged Commander-in-Chief threatens that “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” youtube.com/shorts/Fk9Gh...

youtube.com

We want to speak directly to members of the Military and the Intelligence Community...

YouTube video by Sen. Elissa Slotkin

000

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

“His luminous tone filled the Brick, a recently converted gallery space with fine acoustics. Heightening the atmosphere was the presence of Kara Walker’s sculpture ‘Unmanned Drone,’ a creative deconstruction of a statue of Stonewall Jackson that once stood in Charlottesville.”

newyorker.com

Morton Feldman’s Music of Stillness

In his centenary year, the increasingly revered composer offers an uneasy refuge from the algorithmic din.

010

Reposted by Jane Smith

Ben Phillips @benphillips76.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

I don’t know who needs to hear Jesse Jackson leading the kids on Sesame Street in this beautiful call-and-response reminding them that every child is somebody, but here it is

303216737672

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

Jesse Jackson spoke at my college when I was a sophomore, exactly 56 years ago today. Everybody’s talking about the black man’s problem, he said. He flashed that beautiful, charismatic smile and said no, it’s the white man’s problem. He opened my eyes and changed my life.

Clippings from the Leader-Telegram (Eau Claire, Wisconsin), February 17, 1970, including three quotes from his speech and a photo of Rev. Jesse Jackson surrounded by female students.

040

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

I was just completely undone by her beautiful passion when she sang “I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you.”

youtube.com

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? | Lady Gaga Original

YouTube video by Rocket

010

Reposted by Jane Smith

Indivisible ❌👑 @indivisible.org · 24/01/2026

TONIGHT: Organizers in Minnesota are asking you to shine a light for their state.

SHINE A LIGHT FOR MINNESOTA
TONIGHT AT 7:00PM
STEP OUTSIDE AND LIGHT A CANDLE ON OUR STREET CORNERS.
WITH OUR NEIGHBORS.
FOR OUR COMMUNITIES AND ALEX.
ICE OUT NOW
SAT. JAN 24, 7:00 PM

681524701

Reposted by Jane Smith

Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray” @ryanjreilly.com · 22/01/2026

A newly released photo of Renee and Becca Good.

371149185

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

Feeling torn between hope and fear as I watched this inauguration, and knowing something of Hampton’s vital role in the history of our state, I was moved to tears by this glorious performance.

030

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

“Members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe are United States citizens,” Star Comes Out said. “We are the first Americans. We are not undocumented immigrants, and we are not subject to unlawful immigration enforcement actions by ICE or Homeland Security.” wapo.st/49Wv1Pt

wapo.st

Native Americans are being swept up by ICE in Minneapolis, tribes say

Tribal leaders say Indigenous people have been stopped, questioned, harassed and, in some cases, detained solely on the basis of their skin color or names.

062

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

Joni: And I dreamed I saw the bombers Riding shotgun in the sky And they were turning into butterflies Above our nation Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Make it so. Prospero: We are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep. Ella:

youtu.be

Dream A Little Dream Of Me

YouTube video by Ella Fitzgerald - Topic

120

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

Rest in peace, Renee Nicole Good. You will not be forgotten. “now i can’t believe— that the bible and qur’an and bhagavad gita are sliding long hairs behind my ear like mom used to & exhaling from their mouths ‘make room for wonder’—” poets.org/2020-on-lear...

poets.org

2020 Academy of American Poets Prize

On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs by Renée Nicole Macklin

040

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

2025 has been a nightmare. May the new year wake us up.

A picture of a party hat and streamers, with this poem:

The Music Crept By Us

I would like to remind
the management
that the drinks are watered
and the hat-check girl
has syphilis
and the band is composed
of former SS monsters
However since it is
New Year’s Eve
and I have lip cancer
I will place my
paper hat on my
concussion and dance

—Leonard Cohen

1205

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

A warning from Senator Murphy that illuminates the cruel absurdity of this moment: “Anybody who has a voice or a soapbox in this country needs to draw a line in the sand and say that it is not acceptable for the President of the United States to call on the murder of his political opposition.”

131

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

“In collaboration with the Virginia Museum of History & Culture, Firehouse Theatre is staging a new original play centered on the story of John Mitchell Jr., a pioneering Black newspaper editor, politician, banker, and civil rights activist known as ‘the fighting editor.’”

virginiahumanities.org

The Story of John Mitchell Jr. Plays at Firehouse Theatre - Virginia Humanities

The John Mitchell Jr. Project seeks to bring one of Virginia’s most fearless voices for racial justice to the stage - literally.

041

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

I read the 12 pages. If Adam Serwer is right that “the cruelty is the point,” their obscene attack on Jim Ryan makes perfect sense. He was the golden retriever of college presidents. youtube.com/shorts/4jGXa...

youtube.com

UVA Runs with Jim

YouTube video by VPM

020

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

If your spirits could use a lift, watch the rousing speech Representative Adelita S. Grijalva just gave at her long overdue 4pm swearing-in ceremony. www.c-span.org/event/public...

Photo of Representative Adelita S. Grijalva speaking at her long overdue 4pm swearing-in ceremony.

092

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Every single day, a new horrific story. “We deserve to have 1-year-olds not be pepper-sprayed when they are trying to go shopping. What the president of this country is doing is terrorism. We have to call it what it is.” — Illinois State Senator Celina Villanueva

097

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

(Asking for a friend—actually, 42 million friends.)

000

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

Can We the People sue the executive branch for breach of contract in a class action lawsuit where the class is all American citizens who pay taxes? We paid for a system funded by laws passed by our Congress and we are not getting what we paid for. (gift article) www.nytimes.com/live/2025/11...

nytimes.com

Trump Administration Live Updates: Officials Demand States ‘Undo’ Work to Send Full Food Stamps

195

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Wow—incisive, thought provoking statement! Pondering which specific norms that sustain democracy are being disregarded now. I had to look up “undemocratic institutions.” This helped: youtu.be/XOuZO2sGxzw?...

youtu.be

Some U.S. institutions are undemocratic, political scientists argue in new book

YouTube video by CBS News

030

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

I got a little choked up when I came on Bluesky this morning and saw photos of #NoKings protests (with a few frogs!) in Berlin, Bremen, Seville, Tokyo, London, Amsterdam, Florence, Paris, Stockholm . . . 🌎

0193

Jane Smith @mustelina.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

@danielbachman.bsky.social I think you might really like the first two minutes of this video. “You can listen to the life of trees just as you can listen to your own life.” youtu.be/HeYHtMkLl30?...

youtu.be

Why I Left Harvard

YouTube video by Adam Walker - Close Reading Poetry

120