in my experience, you’re unlikely to develop a strong mentoring relationship by saying to a person you don’t know well, “will you mentor me?” Instead, I’d advocate getting to know them over time, starting w/a simple, substantive question about something you really need to know. Sometimes people cold ask “will you mentor me?” and although I know they mean well and I understand their position, I don’t know what to say. If I don’t know you, anything about your goals or personality or needs, about the ways I can be helpful, no, I can’t really mentor you.

Imagine a bunch of people are in a tent. It’s an awful tent. Call it the Awful Tent. why is it awful? I dunno. Uhhhh there are bears outside and maybe a bunch of mosquitoes inside. It just sucks. It’s an awful, sucky tent for everybody. Periodically people in the Awful Tent have discussions about their circumstances. “How are we gonna get out of the Awful Tent?” “I’m sick of being bitten by mosquitoes.” “Omg the constant growling of the scary bears outside gives me anxiety.” Everyone commiserates.

since I talked to some of the P&W folks at Brooklyn Book Fest today, and saw this issue of the magazine being given away, this cover is on my heart today. I’d like to share that I and the other poets pictured here received horrible, offensive harassment in response to the cover. I haven’t talked about it bc I don’t want to affirm the person who did it by providing them w/ what they want (attention) but it’s important to talk about an issue Mikki brought up recently: institutions wanting to diversify but not being prepared to protect us, “diverse” people.

not to be biased but it’s a scientific fact that we had the best honeymoon ever in the world in the history of time

because we spent it doing exactly what we like to do: watch movies, eat, chill, walk around the city, and hang out together we were gonna spend a lot of money to fly to a far away place and lay on the beach. And I love doing that sometimes. but I can only do a day or two of beach laying before it’s like........ y’all got museums or...?

In case you’re wondering why all the Chicagoans on your TL are rejoicing at the news that our truly terrible mayor will not be running for re-election, allow me to present a curated selection of Rahm’s Greatest Hits. In no particular order.

[puts on goggles, dives into archives] the hypocrisy of his “sanctuary city” claims. #RahmsGreatestHits

https://twitter.com/eveewing/status/895001496768716800?s=21

okay I just found out about another member of this black family from the 1920s that I’m kind of obsessed with because they have this incredibly cinematic story.

So, I read about this guy “Binga Dismond,” and I think.... BINGA? He’s gotta be... it can’t be a coincidence... Sure enough, his full name is HENRY BINGA DISMOND. He was a quite the athlete, a poet & a physician trained at Provident Hospital. he invented a medical respiratory treatment device. He went to UChicago med school. Paid for by who? HIS COUSIN JESSE BINGA. blackpast.org/aah/dismond-he…

all writing is creative writing. academics (or any people) who are engaging in the practice of putting words on paper, but don't recognize that as a creative act, are maintaining the fiction that their writing can possibly be neutral, that their own authorial voice doesn't matter. writing doesn't just happen.

man on bus: you know what the problem is? OUR PEOPLE DON’T READ. there’s a sign on the front and a sign on the side saying where the bus is going.

bus driver: well you know sometimes there are route changes so people just ask to be sure

man: okay the man immediately fell asleep. with his phone balanced precariously on his stomach.

woman: you bout to DROP YOUR PHONE!

man: 😴

I’ve had a tweet in the drafts for the longest that’s just a survey of the most neglected kids in cable drama even though I know the answer has to be Bobby Draper.

I haven’t tweeted it because I never watched the final season of Mad Men and I don’t know what befell Bobby

https://twitter.com/proseb4bros/status/1031719329384095744

I will say that I *did* at least notice when they switched out the original recipe Bobby

wow, a true ally is one who lobs you the ball for the informational thread you had planned to write.

For those of you new to comics, here is a brief explainer of how comics sales work.

The tl;dr version is that if you want to support a title, the best way is to pre-order it.

https://twitter.com/chrisbuttimer/status/1031557319023321089

For those of you who prefer videos, here's an 8-minute video explaining how comics sales works and why pre-ordering matters so much. If videos aren't your jam, read on!

okay. hi. wow, i'm actually shaky as i write this.

This November, Marvel will launch a solo title featuring Riri Williams, also known as Ironheart.

okay now I'm crying

okay

I am writing the series

chicagotribune.com/entertainment/… this is the cover for Ironheart #1

as you can see, it has my name on it?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!??!

I'm blessed to partner with the talented Kevin Libranda and the cover art here is by Amy Reeder

Wouldn't you feel better about your week if you knew you were helping to ensure kids in Chicago have school supplies? Of course you would!!! Support the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization's 11th annual back to school jam. I did and it made me smile :)

givegab.com/campaigns/11th… They only need $1500. I honestly feel like we can handle that by tomorrow.

do other people feel physically ill if they sit in front of a computer for more than 3-4 hours? at about the 4 hour mark in front of the computer I often feel like an all-encompassing general sickness. I feel like queasiness and a sense of sudden intense malaise and sometimes a bad headache

once I read an article about procrastination & it said "people who say they work better under pressure only say that to rationalize their behavior & have no basis for comparison bc they've never felt how it is to work with plenty of time before a deadline"

changed my whole game I used to do everything at the very last minute. I [mostly] stopped bc of the huge gap between A. the feeling of doing what I can honestly say is my best, vs B. the horrible gutwrenching stress & anxiety of coming up against a deadline and knowing i could do better with more time

I know what it feels like to have someone you trusted & admired be accused of abuse or sexual assault.

I get the impulse to begin your response by saying “I’m shocked, they were good and important to me.”

And I think it’s really important, publicly, to suppress that impulse. Feeling confused and hurt (variations on “how could someone who was such a good friend/mentor to me have been so harmful? I’m devastated”) is normal. But for the sake of the people harmed, it’s best imho to share those feelings privately w/friends rather than on social or blogs.

What continues to be clear to me is that most people in America don’t think about poor black & brown folks in Chicago as actual humans. There’s a spectacular failure of empathy that causes people to suspend the rules of cause and effect they would apply in their own lives. We stand out here and we tell you over and over what should be obvious:

Our people are not monsters. They’re hungry.

Our people are not monsters. They’re hurting.

And rather than ever wanting to help the people, folks just want to lock up the monsters.

i wanna make a pie tomorrow morning for a family event. preferably with a graham crust because I'm not in the mood to make a crust. i want it summery, i want it interesting, i want it delicious. what y'all got? i was gonna make this pie but it's gonna be over 90 degrees and we'll be outdoors :-/ bonappetit.com/recipe/coconut…

Something I really find exhausting about the education field is how dogmatic it is. The real tea is that when you’re talking about children and an infinite variety of contexts across the nation, nothing is black and white. I started working in schools 14 years ago. I’ve been a public school teacher, a teaching assistant, a community instructor, a “gifted” teacher, a professor. The one thing I’m sure of is that if anyone ever tries to sell you on a “simple” solution in ed, they’re a fool or you are.

My new wave for the foreseeable future is not hate-reading anything. I barely have time to read and write all the good and important things I need to read and write. I don’t have time to read something just so I can be the ten thousandth person to tell you that Obviously Bad Thing is Obviously Bad.

At the grocery store a boy of about 12 came up to us and asked us if he could help us carry our bags in exchange for some money. We didn’t need help but we bought him the food he wanted. He chose some cooked chicken, a family bag of chips, cereal, milk. For him & four siblings. At the checkout line he looked around and started to say something. I thought he was gonna ask for one special item, like a candy bar or some gum or something. Instead he asked for reusable grocery bags.

i understand why people are excited about LeBron's school not being a charter. There are some ways in which that distinction matters, and some ways in which it does not, given that the school is receiving millions of dollars & resources from private funders other than LeBron. LeBron's foundation is giving millions of dollars, and there's a multiyear grant commitment from a local private foundation, plus other resources (e.g. JP Morgan Chase is providing tutors and companies have donated school supplies and transportation services).