So much happening is awful. The opportunity to pay young people in Appalachia to write, report, & tell stories is good. If you know a young person in the region, tell them to pitch! We've worked with student journalists and freelancers and people who have never published before.

Op-ed by Nahshon Blount, a housekeeper at Duke: "Duke exists in every corner of our city and has profited from our labor for the past hundred years. This moment is challenging and uncertain, but it is also an opportunity to repair a broken system." indyweek.com/news/opinions/…

Columbia University Acting President Claire Shipman welcomed to Columbia College's graduation ceremony with sustained jeers and boos. Minutes later, students break out in loud chants of "Free Mahmoud":

“I love this poem because it is beautiful. But it’s also personal: I like reading about women thinking.” Sara Nicholson on Alice Notley. buff.ly/yEcrYMU

26 tomato plants into the season 🤘

I don't know what to do with this quote

from this piece: the 100 y.o. home of the late Marian Cheek Jackson (1,718-square-foot, three-bed, two-bath) was assessed to have a tax value higher than a 2024 new build (3,750-square-foot, six-bed, six-and-a-half-bath) in the same neighborhood indyweek.com/news/orange/or…

I loved this (truly!) captivating new UNC Press release and learned so much about moths and fireflies and all the rare and beautiful things we stand to lose. (For INDY Week) indyweek.com/culture/george…

"The Coal Glen accident, which left behind 38 widows raising 79 children, was cited by the state labor commissioner as impetus for passing the North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Act in 1929." (via The Assembly) theassemblync.com/place/history/…

Least Christ-like nation in human history

ok the Washington Post has finally gone and done something good, which is pub a rave review of my friend Lucas Schaefer's unhinged new Austin epic. come out to Letters Bookshop on June 17; I'll be asking Lucas Q's about boxing and writing and more. washingtonpost.com/books/2025/05/…

why does the Carolina always gotta be playing "Paris, Texas" in the middle of the workday

Under no circumstances should you tell a reporter for the paper of record that opening a bar tab gives you anxiety

It appears that Ava Kofman has cooked

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surfing little free libraries in rich neighborhoods is wild - it'll be like four books by David Brooks and a weight loss book from the 80s and then a hardback copy of "Creation Lake" (what I scored today)

We’ve simply decided for a worse and stupider world. There’s no reason for it, but we’re doing it anyway.

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Georgann Eubanks is all lit up and talking about fireflies. “There are 75 species in the eastern part of the country, and we’re still discovering more,” the writer says. “But we’re discovering them even as we’re destroying them.” indyweek.com/culture/george…