D. A. Denison
@daveadenison.bsky.social
Senior editor and writer at The Baffler mag. Based in Massachusetts. Once a young reporter at The Texas Observer. New work on Texas #populism here:
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/who-lost-texas-denison
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/who-lost-texas-denison
Worst polls of T.'s second term now coming in. Even GOP-friendly Rasmussen has him underwater by 7 pts.
November 6, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Worst polls of T.'s second term now coming in. Even GOP-friendly Rasmussen has him underwater by 7 pts.
Jeezus. Cass Sunstein should have read up a little about the history of that guy he enjoyed socializing with. It's all right here!
thebaffler.com/civilificati...
thebaffler.com/civilificati...
Dinner with a War Criminal | Dave Denison
In the Trump era, we are often asked ”how bad can it get?” Look no further than Henry Kissinger.
thebaffler.com
September 24, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Jeezus. Cass Sunstein should have read up a little about the history of that guy he enjoyed socializing with. It's all right here!
thebaffler.com/civilificati...
thebaffler.com/civilificati...
Reposted by D. A. Denison
I profiled the great poet & eco-advocate Jane Hirshfield in a feature for @thenation.com, now included in my book Learning to Live in the Dark.
Tomorrow, 9/16, at 5pm ET, Jane joins me in conversation about "faith, humanism, and radical solidarity in a time of catastrophe." RSVP below...
Tomorrow, 9/16, at 5pm ET, Jane joins me in conversation about "faith, humanism, and radical solidarity in a time of catastrophe." RSVP below...
Learning to Live in the Dark
Join @learning2live.bsky.social of @thenation.com
and Jane Hirshfield for a conversation on faith, humanism, and radical solidarity in the face of fascism and climate catastrophe.
Tuesday, September 16th at 5 PM ET
RSVP to attend:
www.tickettailor.com/events/hayma...
Join @learning2live.bsky.social of @thenation.com
and Jane Hirshfield for a conversation on faith, humanism, and radical solidarity in the face of fascism and climate catastrophe.
Tuesday, September 16th at 5 PM ET
RSVP to attend:
www.tickettailor.com/events/hayma...
September 15, 2025 at 6:53 PM
I profiled the great poet & eco-advocate Jane Hirshfield in a feature for @thenation.com, now included in my book Learning to Live in the Dark.
Tomorrow, 9/16, at 5pm ET, Jane joins me in conversation about "faith, humanism, and radical solidarity in a time of catastrophe." RSVP below...
Tomorrow, 9/16, at 5pm ET, Jane joins me in conversation about "faith, humanism, and radical solidarity in a time of catastrophe." RSVP below...
My old friend Jim Harrington has dedicated his life to advancing justice in Texas. That takes a strong spirit.
In books: Law is a tool, not an end in itself. Justice is the goal of all human rights undertakings—everything in “right relationship.” Right relationship is not status quo and does not appear on the scene without arduous struggle and fundamental social readjustment.
Book Excerpt: 'The Arc Doesn’t Bend Itself'
A new memoir traces the evolution of a trailblazing civil rights group in Texas.
www.texasobserver.org
September 11, 2025 at 7:59 PM
My old friend Jim Harrington has dedicated his life to advancing justice in Texas. That takes a strong spirit.
Ten years ago, we celebrated George Scialabba Day in Cambridge, Mass.
Tobi Haslett noted the occasion in the New Yorker:
Tobi Haslett noted the occasion in the New Yorker:
September 10, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Ten years ago, we celebrated George Scialabba Day in Cambridge, Mass.
Tobi Haslett noted the occasion in the New Yorker:
Tobi Haslett noted the occasion in the New Yorker:
Seeing that Ruth Paine has died at 92, reminds me of Thomas Mallon's book "Mrs. Paine's Garage."
"Why did Mrs. Ruth Paine of Irving, Texas, make the notation 'LHO purchase of rifle' on the March 1963 page of her Hallmark pocket calendar?"
prospect.org/features/liv...
"Why did Mrs. Ruth Paine of Irving, Texas, make the notation 'LHO purchase of rifle' on the March 1963 page of her Hallmark pocket calendar?"
prospect.org/features/liv...
Living with Oswald
prospect.org
September 7, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Seeing that Ruth Paine has died at 92, reminds me of Thomas Mallon's book "Mrs. Paine's Garage."
"Why did Mrs. Ruth Paine of Irving, Texas, make the notation 'LHO purchase of rifle' on the March 1963 page of her Hallmark pocket calendar?"
prospect.org/features/liv...
"Why did Mrs. Ruth Paine of Irving, Texas, make the notation 'LHO purchase of rifle' on the March 1963 page of her Hallmark pocket calendar?"
prospect.org/features/liv...
Congress has approved $40 million for stupid Trump's stupid "Garden of American Heroes." Another reason I've got TES.
open.substack.com/pub/davedeni...
open.substack.com/pub/davedeni...
I've got TES
And some thoughts about the HOF game
open.substack.com
September 1, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Congress has approved $40 million for stupid Trump's stupid "Garden of American Heroes." Another reason I've got TES.
open.substack.com/pub/davedeni...
open.substack.com/pub/davedeni...
Reposted by D. A. Denison
We are pleased to announce that management of @thebaffler.com voluntarily recognized our union on the very same day that we filed our petition! We look forward to working together on our first contract.
August 5, 2025 at 3:49 PM
We are pleased to announce that management of @thebaffler.com voluntarily recognized our union on the very same day that we filed our petition! We look forward to working together on our first contract.
Reposted by D. A. Denison
We, the staff of @thebaffler.com, are proud to announce that we have formed a union with @workersunitednynj.bsky.social. Read more about why we have formed a union here:
1/4
1/4
August 4, 2025 at 4:05 PM
We, the staff of @thebaffler.com, are proud to announce that we have formed a union with @workersunitednynj.bsky.social. Read more about why we have formed a union here:
1/4
1/4
I highly recommend this good advice about The Writing Life from the estimable @jacobsilverman.com.
open.substack.com/pub/jacobsil...
open.substack.com/pub/jacobsil...
Unsolicited Advice for Surviving a Journalism Industry In Terminal Decline
Past results are not a guarantee of future returns.
open.substack.com
July 25, 2025 at 10:02 PM
I highly recommend this good advice about The Writing Life from the estimable @jacobsilverman.com.
open.substack.com/pub/jacobsil...
open.substack.com/pub/jacobsil...
Reposted by D. A. Denison
A charming, if rather sad, story in @thebaffler.com by Dave Denison about the decline of bowling in America. The tale is familiar to those of us subjected to Robert Putnam, but here it's actually about bowling and the writing is filled with life.
thebaffler.com/salvos/chang...
thebaffler.com/salvos/chang...
June 21, 2025 at 6:00 AM
A charming, if rather sad, story in @thebaffler.com by Dave Denison about the decline of bowling in America. The tale is familiar to those of us subjected to Robert Putnam, but here it's actually about bowling and the writing is filled with life.
thebaffler.com/salvos/chang...
thebaffler.com/salvos/chang...
You read it here first! (I think.)
"Who Lost Texas," The Baffler No. 75.
thebaffler.com/salvos/who-l...
"Who Lost Texas," The Baffler No. 75.
thebaffler.com/salvos/who-l...
The rumors are true, I’m running for TX Agriculture Commissioner! With family farms disappearing, food prices skyrocketing, & robber baron monopolies taking over more of our society, will you help us build the grassroots movement we need to return Texas to the working folk?
www.claytontuckertx.com
www.claytontuckertx.com
June 26, 2025 at 3:01 PM
You read it here first! (I think.)
"Who Lost Texas," The Baffler No. 75.
thebaffler.com/salvos/who-l...
"Who Lost Texas," The Baffler No. 75.
thebaffler.com/salvos/who-l...
AMC on how Substack is moving "closer and closer to the chaos chum bucket that newsletters were supposed to stand out from."
newsletter.anamariecox.com/archive/subs...
newsletter.anamariecox.com/archive/subs...
Substack Did Not See That Coming
Let’s set Substack’s “Nazi problem” aside for a moment. What if the bigger issue is being stranded on a collapsing platform... with a bunch of Nazis?...
newsletter.anamariecox.com
June 24, 2025 at 2:57 PM
AMC on how Substack is moving "closer and closer to the chaos chum bucket that newsletters were supposed to stand out from."
newsletter.anamariecox.com/archive/subs...
newsletter.anamariecox.com/archive/subs...
Reposted by D. A. Denison
“Do proprietors want to run a center for serious bowlers? Or do they want a recreation center with rock-climbing walls and minigolf, blacklight bowling, and ‘family fun’?” @daveadenison.bsky.social on the state of bowling for @thebaffler.com: thebaffler.com/salvos/chang...
Changing Lanes | Dave Denison
How long can bowling endure the vulture capitalists buying up alleys around the country?
thebaffler.com
June 19, 2025 at 6:51 PM
“Do proprietors want to run a center for serious bowlers? Or do they want a recreation center with rock-climbing walls and minigolf, blacklight bowling, and ‘family fun’?” @daveadenison.bsky.social on the state of bowling for @thebaffler.com: thebaffler.com/salvos/chang...
Reposted by D. A. Denison
Amazing read as usual, Commissioner, with shoutouts to the late venerable L&G, and our very own A.A.B.L.!
An inside report on "the most popular declining sport in America." @longreads.com #longreads
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/changing-lanes-denison
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/changing-lanes-denison
amazing piece alert
June 16, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Amazing read as usual, Commissioner, with shoutouts to the late venerable L&G, and our very own A.A.B.L.!
An inside report on "the most popular declining sport in America." @longreads.com #longreads
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/changing-lanes-denison
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/changing-lanes-denison
amazing piece alert
Bowling industry leaders say that the sport needs to “evolve.” But as @daveadenison.bsky.social puts it in our new issue, “to be a bowler is to be at war with change.”
June 16, 2025 at 8:39 PM
An inside report on "the most popular declining sport in America." @longreads.com #longreads
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/changing-lanes-denison
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/changing-lanes-denison
Emily Bice captures a lot about bowling's past—and present—in this excellent story from Defector.
I really love this feature from Emily Bice, which is about going back to her family's old bowling alley in Windsor nearly 20 years after it was sold. defector.com/ten-frames-o...
Ten Frames Of Time Travel | Defector
METRO DETROIT — It’s early Sunday evening on the last weekend of April, and I’m perched beside a currently-out-of-use lane in a dimly lit section of Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Mich. On this part...
defector.com
June 10, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Emily Bice captures a lot about bowling's past—and present—in this excellent story from Defector.
I was very surprised to read in the Sunday NYT that Trump's White House flack now acknowledges that America is experiencing climate change.
June 9, 2025 at 5:01 PM
I was very surprised to read in the Sunday NYT that Trump's White House flack now acknowledges that America is experiencing climate change.
How bout a little #sports chat on here? Where are the BlueSky bowlers? #bowling #tenpins
thebaffler.com/salvos/chang...
thebaffler.com/salvos/chang...
Changing Lanes | Dave Denison
How long can bowling endure the vulture capitalists buying up alleys around the country?
thebaffler.com
June 6, 2025 at 1:53 PM
How bout a little #sports chat on here? Where are the BlueSky bowlers? #bowling #tenpins
thebaffler.com/salvos/chang...
thebaffler.com/salvos/chang...
Reposted by D. A. Denison
Ronnie Dugger, founding editor and longtime publisher of the Texas Observer and for many years the crusading conscience of the progressive movement in Texas and beyond, died of complications of dementia at a hospice center in Austin on May 27. He was 95.
Ronnie Dugger, 1930-2025
The Observer's crusading founding editor—a profilific author and agitator who helped animate the spirit of a true Texas liberalism—has died at 95.
www.texasobserver.org
May 27, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Ronnie Dugger, founding editor and longtime publisher of the Texas Observer and for many years the crusading conscience of the progressive movement in Texas and beyond, died of complications of dementia at a hospice center in Austin on May 27. He was 95.
We have thousands of pastors, rabbis, priests, and psychotherapists in this country and not a single one can have a conversation with Stephen Miller to ask him to reflect about the enjoyment he gets from the sadistic treatment of other human beings?
April 16, 2025 at 6:38 PM
We have thousands of pastors, rabbis, priests, and psychotherapists in this country and not a single one can have a conversation with Stephen Miller to ask him to reflect about the enjoyment he gets from the sadistic treatment of other human beings?
What if you eat too many Big Macs?
April 11, 2025 at 4:03 PM
What if you eat too many Big Macs?
Dow Jones index falls to 37,666. Wall Street's opposition to Trump tariffs reveal the mark of the beast.
April 8, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Dow Jones index falls to 37,666. Wall Street's opposition to Trump tariffs reveal the mark of the beast.
Boston Globe reports on persistent internet research that unearths a famous ad from the 1990s.
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/03/b...
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/03/b...
April 3, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Boston Globe reports on persistent internet research that unearths a famous ad from the 1990s.
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/03/b...
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/03/b...
On bowling alone, dining alone, and "social capital" in a place like Vermont. open.substack.com/pub/davedeni...
In Praise of Vermont
Blessed are the cheesemakers
open.substack.com
March 28, 2025 at 2:39 PM
On bowling alone, dining alone, and "social capital" in a place like Vermont. open.substack.com/pub/davedeni...