iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

David S. Bernstein @dbernstein.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Reposted by Natalie Wallington

It is now seven months since more than 100 girls were killed in the Minab school bombing, and the U.S. government has still not acknowledged that we were responsible, or explained how it happened.

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Reposted by Natalie Wallington

huck mason @tylerhuckabee.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

rip annie dillard

One of the things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.

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Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Mold. Electrical issues. Water coming through the ceiling. Many Memphis homeowners, especially seniors, are living in unsafe conditions due to repair needs they can't afford. I looked into how local home repair assistance programs are struggling to meet the need: mlk50.com/2026/09/25/m...

Many Memphis homeowners need repairs they can't afford, and assistance programs are struggling to keep up

Ms. Carolyn sits for a portrait in the living room of her home. Photo by Kevin Wurm / MLK50 / CatchLight Local / Report For America Ms. Carolyn has had a

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Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Reading Giovanni's Room in the park. Middle aged white dad walks by with his family, and in a thick Southern accent goes "James Baldwin. Right on."

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Reposted by Natalie Wallington

Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 22/09/2026

ICYMI: Missouri has been ordered by a federal appeals court to reinstate a gerrymandered map that eliminates a Democratic district in Kansas City. The shock decision likely means the Supreme Court will be asked to make a final ruling on Missouri’s redistricting battle: demdock.com/4y2RRi4

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Reposted by Natalie Wallington

shortlittlekidd @shortlittlekidd.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Hello, Bluesky friends. My colleague started a GoFundMe to support our coworkers who were laid off last week. If you’re able to donate, any amount helps. If you can’t, that’s OK, times are tough. Please consider sharing the fundraiser to help spread the word. Thank you! #journalism

gofundme.com

Donate to Support laid off Kansas City Star journalists, organized by Eleanor Nash

On Sept. 10, The Kansas City Star's parent company McClatchy laid off six o… Eleanor Nash needs your support for Support laid off Kansas City Star journalists

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Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Every photojournalist I've worked alongside has been an absolute visionary, doing art-museum-caliber work, winning national awards constantly, and then I have to go to them like "hey I'm writing about buses so can you like. go take a picture of a bus for me 🥺"

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Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Idk how many more 96 degree September days I've got in me yall

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Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Another devastating round of layoffs today at McClatchy newspapers across the country. For-profit news is in a death spiral. Corporate bosses squeeze readers for money with one hand and fire brilliant journalists with the other. Your community's news ecosystem is suffering because of their greed.

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Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Heads up Memphis: If you're a SNAP recipient who lost power for more than 12 hours due to last weekend's storm, you can apply for extra grocery money to replace the food that spoiled in your fridge or freezer. Apply here: www.tn.gov/content/dam/...

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Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Me: ahh lunchtime, gonna turn my brain off for a bit My brain: How is the tainted U.S. lettuce supply impacting our nation's pet tortoises????

Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

-Nearly 90% of Wisconsin's child marriages are between a minor and an adult 🤢 -Statutory rape becomes legal if the two parties are married 🤬 -State law doesn't allow minors to file for divorce 😓 And Wisconsin Republicans still won't act to end child marriage. Even if they personally oppose it.

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Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Two things I see all the time in Memphis: seniors with home repair needs, and skilled-but-undocumented contractors afraid to work. How about a program that brings these folks together: spend 150 (paid) hours fixing up aging homes, and you get citizenship. Materials provided. It could be so easy.

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Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

How to fix the news industry: 1. Cancel your subscription to any outlet that shills for the ruling class 2. Email them to politely explain why 3. Find a nonprofit news outlet doing good work in your community 4. Use that subscription money you just saved to set up a monthly donation to them instead

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Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Freak thunderstorm blew through Memphis earlier this evening and knocked out power to huge swaths of the city.... 120,000 people are still without power (including me) Here's what our utility company's outage map looks like rn 🙃

Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Do any of my creative writing pals know when the Best Small Fictions 2026 selections are being announced? Asking for no reason at all 👀

Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Reposted by Natalie Wallington

The fundraising texts you delete are working on someone. It’s infuriating and heartbreaking. An 85yo in Ohio gave more than double the value of his home. A 91yo in an Indianapolis senior facility gave 25K times. The DCCC/DSCC don’t just tolerate the spammers who exploit seniors. They take part.

data4democracy.substack.com

Hook and Squeeze

How Democratic consultants, committees, and party leaders built a fundraising spam pipeline that funnels money from a captive pool of elderly donors into their own operations.

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Reposted by Natalie Wallington

Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

I also want to add that every single time ICE has physically hurt me, they have grabbed me by my chest. Most of my femme friends have said the same. I will not be surprised if / when we find out about twisted sexual assaults conducted by ICE agents with these gloves.

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Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

1 in 5 Memphis households experienced at least one utility cutoff last year. Read that again. MLGW, Memphis' utility provider, disconnected over 75,000 households in 2025-- and this number is on the rise. Read part 1 of my utility cutoffs series here: mlk50.com/2026/08/12/1...

1 in 5 Memphis households had its utilities cut off in 2025 — and disconnections are on the rise

Photo illustration by Andrea Morales / MLK50 This is the first piece in MLK50's ongoing series on how utility cutoffs impact working-class Memphians.

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Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

PSA: The National Guard deployments last year didn't just quietly end one day. They're still here. Memphis still has National Guard members walking around the city in groups of 4. DC has had them for a year now. They're still here, and people are getting used to it, which I'm positive is the point

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Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Not wading into the "why don't men read litfic" discourse, but I will say I appreciate when a man names a woman as his favorite author, journalist, thinker, cultural critic, etc. "When I want to understand [X topic], I turn to [Y non-male writer]" = huge green flag, men do this more please!

Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

My colleague Kevin Wurm has been working for over a year on this series of intimate portraits. Residents of Memphis' Boxtown neighborhood are resisting industrial pollution from xAI data centers, a Valero oil refinery, TVA power plants and more. Take a look: mlk50.com/2026/08/04/t...

Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

The Weight of Air

Visit the post for more.

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A huge, gorgeous, devastating investigation from my colleague Rebecca Cadenhead is out today on @mlk50.com. It tells the story of how a little-known Tennessee law sentences Black children to life in prison for murders they did not commit. A long read, but worth every word: mlk50.com/2026/07/27/p...

Power and Prejudice: How a little-known Tennessee law convicts Black children for murders they didn't commit

Visit the post for more.

Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

May we all be as resilient as this volunteer cherry tomato plant growing out of a literal crack in the pavement 3 feet above sidewalk level

A cherry tomato plant grows sideways out of a crack in the pavement next to a metal door beside a short set of stairs leading down to the sidewalk. The plant has at least 10 ripe cherry tomatoes on it and many more flowers.

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Reposted by Natalie Wallington

Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 21/07/2026

The writer-editor relationship is so important cc @jduffyrice.bsky.social

a google docs screenshot from Josie Duffy Rice that reads "take this image out before I kill you"

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Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Since H.R. 1, nearly 100,000 Tennesseeans have lost their SNAP benefits. That's over 14% of recipients. I've witnessed folks waiting in their cars at Memphis' free community fridges to grab whatever gets dropped off. People are hungry and out of options. Map/data: www.cbpp.org/research/foo...

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Reposted by Natalie Wallington

Taco Bell Quarterly @tacobellquarterly.org · 12/06/2026

Emotional longing counts as writing

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Reposted by Natalie Wallington

Dr ShinyGoth @ghostingdani.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

I think writing sentences from scratch IS the thinking!

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Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Just 100 apartment complexes in Memphis filed for nearly 10,000 evictions against their tenants in 2025. And almost 1/3 of these properties receive tax breaks from the city through a program meant to incentivize low-income housing. Here are Memphis' Top 100 Evictors: mlk50.com/2026/06/02/t...

These 100 Memphis apartment complexes filed for nearly 10,000 evictions in 2025. Is your home among them?

Pieces of a broken globe sit on a sidewalk at Greenbrook at Shelby Farms. Photo by Kevin Wurm / MLK50 / CatchLight Local / Report for America The

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Reposted by Natalie Wallington

Giovanni Colantonio @marioprime.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

look. is everything more expensive now? yes. but you have to look on the bright side too. now every time you open a computer, it doesn't work

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Reposted by Natalie Wallington

Jess Piper @piperformissouri.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

No, I don’t want to see your AI picture. No, I don’t want to see your AI slide deck. No, I don’t want to read your AI writing. It all looks and feels the same. And it’s also creepy.

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Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

I've talked with a handful of politically-involved people in Memphis in the past 24 hours and I can only describe the prevailing sentiment as "incandescent rage"

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Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Hey national media friends! Now that Tennessee's districts have been redrawn to specifically disenfranchise Black people in Memphis, y'all are going to be quoting a lot of Black people from Memphis, right? Not white dudes from Nashville, or scholars who've never set foot in Memphis, right?? 😅

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Reposted by Natalie Wallington

Skye @simplyskye.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Rep. Justin Jones burning a Confederate flag during the special session on Tennessee redistricting Jones: “It’s a form of Jim Crow terror — this is about race. This is about power. This is about silencing communities that have historically been excluded”

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Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Tennessee is plagued by a whole host of issues that the state government struggles to solve. But when it's time to take political representation away from Black people, somehow it gets done in 2 days flat 🤔

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Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

The woman on the right in this photo is Memphis activist Amber Sherman, @mlk50.com's Creator in Residence. She's currently in Nashville protesting the Tennessee redistricting that strips Black voters of representation. Maybe invite her on the show next? To hear from someone directly impacted?

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Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Went out to polling places in the rain Tuesday morning to talk with Black seniors about the dismantling of Memphis' Congressional district that's currently underway in Nashville. Thank you to our friends at @capitalb.bsky.social for republishing this piece! capitalbnews.org/black-elders...

capitalbnews.org

‘It Hurts My Heart’: Black Elders Reflect on Tennessee Plan To Strip Memphis of Power

Voters recall the creation of District 9, the majority-Black congressional seat representing Memphis, now it's being taken away.

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Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

At least two people were shot today at OUTMemphis, my city's main LGBTQ+ nonprofit and resource center. The center, currently behind a police barricade, is 2 blocks from my apartment. I helped build the raised garden beds in its back yard. How can news be anything but personal? Visceral?

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Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Trying again with a new photo... I was on the scene at xAI's Colossus 1 plant on Friday, where activists staged a protest to call attention to the air pollution and other impacts of the facility on southwest Memphis. I heard from them directly about why this fight matters: mlk50.com/2026/05/05/t...

Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

The lead image for this piece is getting incorrectly flagged as graphic-- it just depicts protestors lying on the ground. Here's another beautiful photo from the protest taken by my colleague Andrea Morales:

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Natalie Wallington @narwhallington.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Seven activists in respirator masks laid on the pavement beneath an eerie white sky. As police gathered, they sang. I was on the scene at xAI's Colossus 1 facility for the May Day die-in, and heard from participants about why this fight matters. My latest for @mlk50.com: mlk50.com/2026/05/05/t...