PETITION: Don't Let the Federal Government Regulate Your Reading
Not one country's freedom and liberty has ever been increased by banning books.
As a teacher, I am most worried about removing books from classroom, school & public libraries. How do we encourage reading without books to read, including books that reflect children's lives & those that open a window to others' lives? action.everylibrary.org/hr_7661 via @everylibrary.bsky.social
04.03.2026 17:22
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This week, the Senate votes to fund government departments including the Department of Homeland Security. It is immoral & unconstitutional to support the actions of agencies that break into homes & shoot to kill US citizens exercising their First Amendment rights. Ask your Senators to vote "NO!"
25.01.2026 15:46
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Vigil for Renee Nicole Good (and all the others) in Chicago yesterday, signs along my walking route today, and a red-tailed hawk. Not great photos--all I have is an iPhone and very little skill.
12.01.2026 21:21
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World Literature Todayβs 75 Notable Translations of 2025, by Michelle Johnson
The field of translated literature was again robust in 2025.
Wow! If Souad Labbize hadn't tagged me, I wouldn't have known that my translation of her poetry, Unfasten the silk of your silence, was on the @worldlittoday.bsky.social list of 75 notable translations for 2025. Such an honor! worldliteraturetoday.org/blog/lit-lis...
15.12.2025 22:01
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Catherine Anderson is a wonderful poet, and this is her launch reading for her new collection, Afloat. I will definitely be zooming in. Join me!
03.12.2025 18:49
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I'm so pleased that Christine Guinard's poems are receiving this honor! Many thanks to The Ilanot Review for the Pushcart nomination.
16.11.2025 12:57
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I'm not even a competent photographer--I asked a total stranger at Montrose Point how to take this mediocre picture of the northern lights. But I loved being there with so many fellow Chicagoans, out to see something beautiful together after months of living under siege from our own government.
13.11.2025 16:02
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Bluesky only allows four photos--here are the last two.
09.11.2025 17:28
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Couldn't we use a breath of fresh air from abroad? If you're in Tucson on Thurs., 11/6, come to a reading of translated literature! I'll be reading poems by Souad Labbize, an Algerian-French writer and translator whose poems focus on themes of exile and love. Friends & colleagues reading as well!
04.11.2025 02:54
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The treat I got on Halloween--the new issue of @agnimagazine.bsky.social with my translations of Christine Guinard's poems. She's a French poet whose family fled to France during La Retirada, when half a million Spaniards escaped Franco's army. Her family's stories echo through her voice.
01.11.2025 21:20
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Thank you!
01.11.2025 00:52
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Grateful to find two of my poems in the new issue of I-70 Review, along with poems from so many writers I've known and admired over the years. And, since it's Halloween, the jack-o'-lantern I carved yesterday!
31.10.2025 13:27
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Thanks to @swwim.bsky.social for publishing this poem, written when we first moved into our apartment in Uzès! Today we have already left that home, will return to our Chicago home in a couple of days. In a between place, happy to be reminded of that beginning.
27.10.2025 14:58
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Happy to read Christine Guinard's poems with friends & colleagues in Tucson! Thanks to Third Coast Translators Collective & @sarabandebooks.bsky.social for organizing this event. Christine's poems, that grew out of her family's history of fleeing Franco's army in 1939, are painfully relevant today.
25.10.2025 07:03
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In Tucson on 11/6? Come to a reading of translated literature! I'm reading poems by Souad Labbize, an Algerian-French writer & translator whose poems focus on exile & love. Excited to read with so many talented translators, so many friends! (Apologies for the earlier, incorrect announcement....)
22.10.2025 16:15
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I am in France but will be with you in spirit, Chicago!
14.10.2025 14:47
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It looks like they changed their minds, unfortunately. But at least we shook them some!
22.09.2025 13:55
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Illinois and the Midwest: let's go!
19.09.2025 01:10
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Update: the provision was withdrawn when people raised a fuss. But I would be unsurprised to see it slipped back in at the very last moment.
19.09.2025 01:05
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I am really worried about this provision slipped into the State Dept reauthorization bill, the kind of thing that no one usually notices. I have to renew my passport this fall....I've already called my wonderful Congresswoman, Delia Ramirez, and posted about the move. But I have a tiny audience....
16.09.2025 15:14
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