Jo Chopra McGowan
@indiajo.bsky.social
Books, disability, architecture, India
Reposted by Jo Chopra McGowan
I am so delighted with the weather today. Saying this because I think it is important to give the weather positive reinforcement when it behaves well rather than just complaining when it is bad. So, thank you, weather. Mild and sunny, a temperature at which I do not wish to peel off my own skin. VG
June 23, 2025 at 7:42 AM
I am so delighted with the weather today. Saying this because I think it is important to give the weather positive reinforcement when it behaves well rather than just complaining when it is bad. So, thank you, weather. Mild and sunny, a temperature at which I do not wish to peel off my own skin. VG
An unforgettably perfect vignette from The Corner That Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner of two women keeping watch at an old man's deathbed.
July 7, 2025 at 1:42 PM
An unforgettably perfect vignette from The Corner That Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner of two women keeping watch at an old man's deathbed.
And now we know for sure.
"The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality."
- James Baldwin
- James Baldwin
July 6, 2025 at 6:20 AM
And now we know for sure.
Reposted by Jo Chopra McGowan
Former CDC Officials. All those smart, committed people now crying out in the wilderness.
July 3, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Former CDC Officials. All those smart, committed people now crying out in the wilderness.
A brilliant essay. I would love to have heard @kshams.bsky.social deliver this lecture in person. Every word rings true.
lithub.com/politics-is-...
lithub.com/politics-is-...
“Politics is Everywhere.” A Close and Highly Critical Reading of English PEN’s Charter
First, an apology. I was asked by English PEN to respond to any line, phrase or word from the 4 articles that make up the PEN Charter—and I’m afraid I’ve taken up this offer in the manner of a gues…
lithub.com
June 20, 2025 at 3:23 PM
A brilliant essay. I would love to have heard @kshams.bsky.social deliver this lecture in person. Every word rings true.
lithub.com/politics-is-...
lithub.com/politics-is-...
After a fitful night filled with dreams of ICE kidnappings and Israeli bombs, I read this passage in The Corner That Held Them: "It will not happen," he said. "I assure you it will not happen. The things which one dreads never come to pass."
June 20, 2025 at 2:32 AM
After a fitful night filled with dreams of ICE kidnappings and Israeli bombs, I read this passage in The Corner That Held Them: "It will not happen," he said. "I assure you it will not happen. The things which one dreads never come to pass."
I don't know how everyone else is coping with imminent world war, but I am listening to the entire @backlisted.bsky.social archive. Just finished "The Dud Avocado" and now playing "Harpo Speaks!"
It's very effective medicine.
It's very effective medicine.
June 19, 2025 at 2:52 PM
I don't know how everyone else is coping with imminent world war, but I am listening to the entire @backlisted.bsky.social archive. Just finished "The Dud Avocado" and now playing "Harpo Speaks!"
It's very effective medicine.
It's very effective medicine.
Reposted by Jo Chopra McGowan
I'm sorry but the largest protest of my lifetime is not the 7th or 8th biggest news story in the country behind "what does Gen Z want from Instagram?" This shit is humiliating. Rearrange your layout to meet this moment. Omitting the thing happening in every American city is malpractice.
June 14, 2025 at 9:42 PM
I'm sorry but the largest protest of my lifetime is not the 7th or 8th biggest news story in the country behind "what does Gen Z want from Instagram?" This shit is humiliating. Rearrange your layout to meet this moment. Omitting the thing happening in every American city is malpractice.
Reposted by Jo Chopra McGowan
Your regular reminder that fraudsters read the news more closely than anyone - and use real hooks like the winter fuel payment u-turn to make their fraudulent scams more believable. Please warn your family members
June 10, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Your regular reminder that fraudsters read the news more closely than anyone - and use real hooks like the winter fuel payment u-turn to make their fraudulent scams more believable. Please warn your family members
Reposted by Jo Chopra McGowan
What we value in CIVILIZATION: Agriculture, Architecture, the Arts, Transportation, Communication, Health, Wealth, Security.
All pivot on enlightened investments in Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, & Mathematics. "STEAM".
Without them, we descend into the Dark Ages.
All pivot on enlightened investments in Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, & Mathematics. "STEAM".
Without them, we descend into the Dark Ages.
June 11, 2025 at 3:09 AM
What we value in CIVILIZATION: Agriculture, Architecture, the Arts, Transportation, Communication, Health, Wealth, Security.
All pivot on enlightened investments in Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, & Mathematics. "STEAM".
Without them, we descend into the Dark Ages.
All pivot on enlightened investments in Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, & Mathematics. "STEAM".
Without them, we descend into the Dark Ages.
Even just listening to this brilliant episode will make you feel smarter, funnier and suffused with the milk of human kindness.
It's a banger. @backlisted.bsky.social
www.backlisted.fm/episodes/241...
It's a banger. @backlisted.bsky.social
www.backlisted.fm/episodes/241...
241. Summer Reading Special — Backlisted
Books we think you might enjoy on a plane, by the pool or in the park. Andy, Nicky and our old friend Una McCormack discuss the following fantastic beach reads - Birch reads? - and a novel from Back...
www.backlisted.fm
June 10, 2025 at 7:48 AM
Even just listening to this brilliant episode will make you feel smarter, funnier and suffused with the milk of human kindness.
It's a banger. @backlisted.bsky.social
www.backlisted.fm/episodes/241...
It's a banger. @backlisted.bsky.social
www.backlisted.fm/episodes/241...
Reposted by Jo Chopra McGowan
Portland friends, I have two tickets to this concert tomorrow night (Wednesday) but can’t make it. Anyone want to go? Orchestra seats, last row, free to a good home.
www.orsymphony.org/productions/...
www.orsymphony.org/productions/...
The Music of Angelo Badalamenti & Twin Peaks
Join the Oregon Symphony for a hauntingly surreal evening celebrating the music from David Lynch’s mysterious town of Twin Peaks.
www.orsymphony.org
May 28, 2025 at 3:30 AM
Portland friends, I have two tickets to this concert tomorrow night (Wednesday) but can’t make it. Anyone want to go? Orchestra seats, last row, free to a good home.
www.orsymphony.org/productions/...
www.orsymphony.org/productions/...
A very funny and surprisingly moving episode.
The book is hilarious, no doubt, but the thoughts and emotions it stirs are poignant and full of strange longings.
I'm listening to the episode for the 2nd time, reading the book for the first. Both are so good and you do need both.
The book is hilarious, no doubt, but the thoughts and emotions it stirs are poignant and full of strange longings.
I'm listening to the episode for the 2nd time, reading the book for the first. Both are so good and you do need both.
New episode up now. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ by Sue Townsend, with guest Nina Stibbe @ninastibbe.bsky.social in conversation with @johnmitchinson.bsky.social @iammilliam.bsky.social and @birchos.bsky.social. Just my luck!
www.backlisted.fm/episodes/240...
www.backlisted.fm/episodes/240...
240. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 ¾ by Sue Townsend — Backlisted
The wonderful Nina Stibbe , award-winning novelist and diarist, joins us for a discussion of Sue Townsend's classic comic creation . When it was first published in 1982, the confidential journal of ...
www.backlisted.fm
May 27, 2025 at 10:34 AM
A very funny and surprisingly moving episode.
The book is hilarious, no doubt, but the thoughts and emotions it stirs are poignant and full of strange longings.
I'm listening to the episode for the 2nd time, reading the book for the first. Both are so good and you do need both.
The book is hilarious, no doubt, but the thoughts and emotions it stirs are poignant and full of strange longings.
I'm listening to the episode for the 2nd time, reading the book for the first. Both are so good and you do need both.
Gateway drug to @backlisted.bsky.social
May 9, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Gateway drug to @backlisted.bsky.social
Sound up for a terrific May Day pro-Democracy demonstration in #SanJose this afternoon.
Go away, Mr #Trump. Nobody wants you here.
@50501sanjose.bsky.social
Go away, Mr #Trump. Nobody wants you here.
@50501sanjose.bsky.social
May 2, 2025 at 3:19 AM
Sound up for a terrific May Day pro-Democracy demonstration in #SanJose this afternoon.
Go away, Mr #Trump. Nobody wants you here.
@50501sanjose.bsky.social
Go away, Mr #Trump. Nobody wants you here.
@50501sanjose.bsky.social
Good old Greyhound! This is great to hear. I'll write to thank them tomorrow.
May 2, 2025 at 3:08 AM
Good old Greyhound! This is great to hear. I'll write to thank them tomorrow.
She was the best. I read the Old Filth trilogy in my 30s, in my 50s and just now in my 60s. It ages deeply and profoundly with the reader and I know I will read it again and again.
I've read almost everything she wrote, but Old Filth is forever.
Godspeed, Jane
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...
I've read almost everything she wrote, but Old Filth is forever.
Godspeed, Jane
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...
Jane Gardam, author of Old Filth and The Hollow Land, dies aged 96
Described by Ian McEwan as ‘a treasure of English contemporary writing’, the Yorkshire-born novelist’s career spanned 50 years
www.theguardian.com
April 29, 2025 at 6:35 PM
She was the best. I read the Old Filth trilogy in my 30s, in my 50s and just now in my 60s. It ages deeply and profoundly with the reader and I know I will read it again and again.
I've read almost everything she wrote, but Old Filth is forever.
Godspeed, Jane
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...
I've read almost everything she wrote, but Old Filth is forever.
Godspeed, Jane
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...
Reposted by Jo Chopra McGowan
Reposted by Jo Chopra McGowan
A system that works for all, not just the few.
The worst form of addiction that this country now faces is the greed of the oligarchy.
April 25, 2025 at 2:38 AM
A system that works for all, not just the few.
Reposted by Jo Chopra McGowan
I went to the Tate Modern yesterday. In the Rothko room with all the Serious Art Connoisseurs there was a ~5 year old kid who walked up to each painting, pointed at it and shouted 'RECTANGLE' at each one in turn, then left the room.
April 20, 2025 at 10:12 AM
I went to the Tate Modern yesterday. In the Rothko room with all the Serious Art Connoisseurs there was a ~5 year old kid who walked up to each painting, pointed at it and shouted 'RECTANGLE' at each one in turn, then left the room.
Reposted by Jo Chopra McGowan
Sign of the day…
April 18, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Sign of the day…
How do I thank #ColmToibin for his beautiful writing? This year I have read Nora Webster, Brooklyn, Long Island and, just now, The Master. So grateful.
@backlisted.bsky.social @claramay.bsky.social
@backlisted.bsky.social @claramay.bsky.social
April 18, 2025 at 3:29 AM
How do I thank #ColmToibin for his beautiful writing? This year I have read Nora Webster, Brooklyn, Long Island and, just now, The Master. So grateful.
@backlisted.bsky.social @claramay.bsky.social
@backlisted.bsky.social @claramay.bsky.social
The coffee at 1 Oz is so good I don't add my usual spoon of sugar. And have thus discovered that the pretty milk design lasts for the whole experience. #1Oz
April 6, 2025 at 8:04 PM
The coffee at 1 Oz is so good I don't add my usual spoon of sugar. And have thus discovered that the pretty milk design lasts for the whole experience. #1Oz