Maleea Acker

I wish it were in person, not online, but yes, having fun writing the forum questions each week.

I’m finding, and reporting, several cases of AI plagiarism in my intro English course every month at this point. They are all coming back as substantiated by the Academic Integrity committee. Is there any point to English Literature study in this new world? #definitionofdispirited

Bardella said it: “Get in the game or don’t ever talk again. If you don’t have anything to say now, while this is going before our very eyes, I don’t want to hear from you ever again.”

What is it going to take for direct action, for former presidents to unmute, for general strikes, for actual resistance? Trans women dying in jail? Ukraine levelled? Where is the fucking huztpah of Americans?

?

The (benign) Dictator, the small planet in my last book of poems, just called to instruct me to sing a little song each morning: “Que bonita estoy, que bonita estoy, yo me quieeeerro…” then hung up. I’m still laughing.

Not just snakes on the plane now! It’s snakes and tarantulas! And maybe rabid bats! All on the plane!

My doctoral supervisor @reubenroseredwood.bsky.social, from back in the day, at his best on CBC news, comparing 47 to a bloated, poisonous, blimp fish that gets tossed onto beaches after storms to annoy barefoot walkers and titillate stray dogs. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Víkingur Ólafsson - Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin In-depth interviews that may blow your mind. With Rick Rubin

Need respite from the horror? Listen to this gorgeous conversation with Rick Rubin and Vikingur Ólafsson. What he says about Bach and music is some of the most inspiring thinking I’ve listened to in years; it could also easily be applied to poetry and art. pca.st/episode/4714...

I used to call these the Canada Council grant results flowers, as they were always in bloom when that fat or thin letter arrived. (Actual name, red-flowering currant)

ChatGPT - AlienGPT I am AlienGPT, a curious and insightful alien new to Earth. With no assumptions about human systems or cultures, I break down complex ideas and offer fresh, playful perspectives to help people questio...

So there's a Dream Journal GPT, a Rupert Sheldrake GPT and an Alien GPT, in case you need an interpretation, a conversation about consciousness, or a new perspective. You're welcome. chatgpt.com/g/g-Es0S2343...

Other than bourbon, I can’t really think of a comestible that US red states produce that I’ll miss. And even that, well…

Canada and Denmark share a 1.2 km long land border on Hans Island since we ended the Whisky War in 2022.
So technically we could join the European Union.

Totally.

Much more excited about this, though.

Really not inclined to be generous on this one.

For reality A few thoughts on the last day of the old world

Don't let go of reality, no matter what the Trumpers say
billmckibben.substack.com/p/for-reality

I’m devastated by New Star’s closure. So many great books. My book, “Gardens Aflame,” about Garry oak meadow ecosystems, has sold well there for years thanks to Rolf.

if you want artists to make weirder art, you have to create stable living conditions that allow them to. homogeneity isn't a matter of artists lacking culture-- there are many soulful artists out there-- it's a matter of unregulated corporate dominance combined with artists who cant afford to create

Enjoy this last weekend. May we make it one of hope, beauty, and art. May we keep focus on our loved ones and our community. May we fill our hearts to last for the dark years ahead.

Also very interested in this. Female friendships—complicated beasts.

Good advice.

UL FSRI Home Furnishings Comparison (Natural vs. Synthetic) YouTube video by Fire Safety Research Institute

How flammable is the modern home?
Watch this short video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=87hA...
#lafires #LAFirestorm2025 @theguardian.com

Colm Tóibín · In LA A new fire started in Hollywood. It might have looked as though we were now surrounded on three sides by fires, but it...

'The air, as dusk came, grew yellow, like the fog in Prufrock that licks its tongue into the corners of the evening.'

Colm Tóibín writes from Los Angeles, online early from the next issue: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Ah, can’t wait for more of your beautiful prose. Hope you’re well, my friend.

Poem for Passengers By Matthew Zapruder Like all strangers who temporarily find themselves moving in the same direction we look out the window without really seeing or down at our phones trying to catch the dying signal then the famous lonesome whistle so many singers have sung about blows and our bodies shudder soon we pick up speed and pass the abandoned factories there has lately been so much conversation about through broken windows they stare asking us to decide but we fall asleep next to each other riding into the tunnel sharing without knowing the same dream in it we are carrying something an empty casket somehow so heavy only together can we carry it over a bridge in the snow emerging suddenly into the light we wake and open our laptops or a book about murder or a glossy magazine though we are mostly awake part of us still goes on solving problems so great they cannot be named even once we have reached our destination and disembark into whatever weather for a long time there is a compartment within us filled with analog silence inside us the dream goes on and on

"but we fall asleep next to each other
riding into the tunnel
sharing without knowing the same dream
in it we are carrying something
an empty casket somehow so heavy
only together can we carry it
over a bridge in the snow..."

— Matthew Zapruder, 'Poem for Passengers'.

#poetrycommunity

This looks (sounds) like a great thing.

Me too. I attempted Mastodon, but it was too advanced for me…