Heather Chapman
@mothertongue.bsky.social
Ex-journo, Jeopardy! loser, Kentucky Colonel, writer of many things. Comms consultant. Rural policy nerd. Neurodivergent af, queer af, tired af. Chaotic good.
Pinned
Heather Chapman
@mothertongue.bsky.social
· May 31
Life is short, no laws or limits may contain you, go get you some cookies.
Y’all, today is my husband Dave’s birthday so I can finally tell you how some friends and I set out to buy him a banjo and ended up (probably) stumbling onto a a black market operation.
It has been killing me to sit on this story for a month, but I had to wait til we gave him the banjo. 🧵
It has been killing me to sit on this story for a month, but I had to wait til we gave him the banjo. 🧵
November 18, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Y’all, today is my husband Dave’s birthday so I can finally tell you how some friends and I set out to buy him a banjo and ended up (probably) stumbling onto a a black market operation.
It has been killing me to sit on this story for a month, but I had to wait til we gave him the banjo. 🧵
It has been killing me to sit on this story for a month, but I had to wait til we gave him the banjo. 🧵
Trump isn't 100% wrong here, bc it's really hard to get enough qualified healthcare workers and teachers to rural areas. But making cash-strapped rural schools and hospitals pay through the nose for foreign workers is stupid when we could just expand federal loan forgiveness for high-need areas.
NEW: Trump says America needs more foreign workers.
His company requested a record 184 of them for 2025.
me, for @Forbes
1/
His company requested a record 184 of them for 2025.
me, for @Forbes
1/
Trump Organization Sought Record Number Of Foreign Workers In 2025
Labor Department data show President Donald Trump’s businesses applied to hire at least 184 foreign workers for seasonal jobs at golf courses, a winery and Mar–a-Lago.
www.forbes.com
November 12, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Trump isn't 100% wrong here, bc it's really hard to get enough qualified healthcare workers and teachers to rural areas. But making cash-strapped rural schools and hospitals pay through the nose for foreign workers is stupid when we could just expand federal loan forgiveness for high-need areas.
I was rug shopping just now and found Roddy Ho's inspo pic.
November 12, 2025 at 9:09 PM
I was rug shopping just now and found Roddy Ho's inspo pic.
Reposted by Heather Chapman
In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
November 11, 2025 at 1:50 AM
In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
This is amazing! Rural areas need this capacity desperately, since they're disproportionately likely to have Medicaid but less likely to be able to meet work/school requirements and less likely to have the local tech know-how to keep their coverage.
Today on Can We Still Govern, I got to share new research on how my team at USDS drove around the country in a van to protect Medicaid coverage for millions of Americans after the pandemic - and share some lessons learned for the coming crisis.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/how-a-van-...
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/how-a-van-...
Lessons from Pandemic Era Medicaid Automation for Work Requirements
Small tech capacity investments offer big returns
donmoynihan.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:35 PM
This is amazing! Rural areas need this capacity desperately, since they're disproportionately likely to have Medicaid but less likely to be able to meet work/school requirements and less likely to have the local tech know-how to keep their coverage.
Yep, my brain went there too.
November 10, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Yep, my brain went there too.
@schumer.senate.gov Have you all lost your whole damn minds? Caving for a promise they won't fulfill and nothing even about restoring drastic Medicaid cuts that are going to tank rural America. Make them hold a vote FIRST, at the very least.
BREAKING: Deal to end government shutdown in reach
Deal to end government shutdown in reach
At least 10 Senate Democrats are expected to support a key procedural motion.
www.axios.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:51 PM
@schumer.senate.gov Have you all lost your whole damn minds? Caving for a promise they won't fulfill and nothing even about restoring drastic Medicaid cuts that are going to tank rural America. Make them hold a vote FIRST, at the very least.
Halloween was a week ago but the sentiment is evergreen: Don’t 👏 date 👏 fascists 👏
November 7, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Halloween was a week ago but the sentiment is evergreen: Don’t 👏 date 👏 fascists 👏
I'm getting way too grossed out by the creepy Klan-Koded Norman Rockwell propaganda the Labor Department keeps dropping. Well, two can play at that game.
October 25, 2025 at 4:09 AM
I'm getting way too grossed out by the creepy Klan-Koded Norman Rockwell propaganda the Labor Department keeps dropping. Well, two can play at that game.
Think I might have played myself using those ziploc compression bags to pack for my trip to London this week. Like, yes, I didn’t have to check a bag, but my carry-on has the density of a neutron star.
September 24, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Think I might have played myself using those ziploc compression bags to pack for my trip to London this week. Like, yes, I didn’t have to check a bag, but my carry-on has the density of a neutron star.
I want to think Trumpers might take a moment to contemplate why a show about anti-racist activism is too radioactive for TV right now, except that would be a vast triumph of hope over experience.
Apple has pulled The Savant, its series starring Jessica Chastain’s about hunting down white supremacist cells across America, from its immediate release schedule.
Apple Pulls The Savant From Its Release Schedule
Apple has pulled The Savant, its series starring Jessica Chastain’s about hunting down white supremacist cells across America, from its immediate release schedule.
www.vulture.com
September 24, 2025 at 12:52 AM
I want to think Trumpers might take a moment to contemplate why a show about anti-racist activism is too radioactive for TV right now, except that would be a vast triumph of hope over experience.
Reposted by Heather Chapman
They are sending soldiers into cities to prepare to intimidate people at the polls next year.
They gerrymander because they can’t win on policy. They intimidate because even gerrymandering won’t work at this point.
They gerrymander because they can’t win on policy. They intimidate because even gerrymandering won’t work at this point.
August 26, 2025 at 9:04 PM
They are sending soldiers into cities to prepare to intimidate people at the polls next year.
They gerrymander because they can’t win on policy. They intimidate because even gerrymandering won’t work at this point.
They gerrymander because they can’t win on policy. They intimidate because even gerrymandering won’t work at this point.
Well that aged like room-temp milk. I'd like to think that, at this point, he would agree with me that no gun deaths are acceptable—not even his.
"I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights" - Charlie Kirk, 2023
www.mediamatters.org/charlie-kirk...
www.mediamatters.org/charlie-kirk...
September 10, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Well that aged like room-temp milk. I'd like to think that, at this point, he would agree with me that no gun deaths are acceptable—not even his.
We have to unplug our fridge tomorrow to get ready for a repair, so I made casseroles out of everything I could (to put in my parents’ freezer), and everything else is going in a cooler with ice. BUT. I just realized I forgot about an entire carton of my favorite Haagen-Dazs.
I Dont Know Kylo Ren GIF
Alt: Kylo Ren GIF where he says “I know what I have to do but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it.” By which he obviously means eating an entire pint of Haagen-Dazs in one sitting.
media.tenor.com
August 31, 2025 at 2:48 AM
We have to unplug our fridge tomorrow to get ready for a repair, so I made casseroles out of everything I could (to put in my parents’ freezer), and everything else is going in a cooler with ice. BUT. I just realized I forgot about an entire carton of my favorite Haagen-Dazs.
@drewcurtis.bsky.social Yeah like I said last Friday, eff that noise. Camping is a scam.
August 31, 2025 at 2:36 AM
@drewcurtis.bsky.social Yeah like I said last Friday, eff that noise. Camping is a scam.
Reposted by Heather Chapman
great article featuring some of my faves: Matt Hildreth and Dom Holmes from @ruralorganizing.bsky.social and @lilyfordelegate.bsky.social, running in VA HD-41
Will Rural America give up on Trump? These small-town activists think so.
www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
Will Rural America give up on Trump? These small-town activists think so.
www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
Will Rural America give up on Trump? These small-town activists think so.
Rural organizers say Medicaid and SNAP cuts could help Democrats win rural votes in 2026. Republicans say: Don't count on it.
www.usatoday.com
August 4, 2025 at 1:58 PM
great article featuring some of my faves: Matt Hildreth and Dom Holmes from @ruralorganizing.bsky.social and @lilyfordelegate.bsky.social, running in VA HD-41
Will Rural America give up on Trump? These small-town activists think so.
www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
Will Rural America give up on Trump? These small-town activists think so.
www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
How’s my self-sufficiency kick going? TIL you can Door Dash chicken feed from Tractor Supply.
July 31, 2025 at 9:48 PM
How’s my self-sufficiency kick going? TIL you can Door Dash chicken feed from Tractor Supply.
I'll try this prompt again in a month and see if anything's changed.
July 24, 2025 at 2:39 AM
I'll try this prompt again in a month and see if anything's changed.
Reposted by Heather Chapman
Any American journalist who doesn’t *instantaneously* see what this is—Ghislaine Maxwell, desperately seeking a pardon from Trump, negotiating privately to say whatever he wants her to say in public to get a pardon (now or anytime during her twenty-year prison bid)—should quit their job immediately.
July 22, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Any American journalist who doesn’t *instantaneously* see what this is—Ghislaine Maxwell, desperately seeking a pardon from Trump, negotiating privately to say whatever he wants her to say in public to get a pardon (now or anytime during her twenty-year prison bid)—should quit their job immediately.
The audacity of a whites-only group calling themselves Return to the Land and establishing their home base on ancestral Quapaw land.
July 24, 2025 at 2:17 AM
The audacity of a whites-only group calling themselves Return to the Land and establishing their home base on ancestral Quapaw land.
When the lady handed me my breakfast at McDonald’s this morning and said “Have a good day!” I absently said, “Ok, love you, bye.” So now I need to move to a new country and start over under an assumed name. How’s your Monday?
July 14, 2025 at 1:50 PM
When the lady handed me my breakfast at McDonald’s this morning and said “Have a good day!” I absently said, “Ok, love you, bye.” So now I need to move to a new country and start over under an assumed name. How’s your Monday?
The best email I got today! Hell yeah, Aftyn! Tear 👏 it 👏 UP 👏 Sis!!! @aftynbehn.bsky.social
July 9, 2025 at 2:06 PM
The best email I got today! Hell yeah, Aftyn! Tear 👏 it 👏 UP 👏 Sis!!! @aftynbehn.bsky.social
Reposted by Heather Chapman
When the Japanese American National Museum is saying this take it seriously.
We know too well the devastating consequences of such action—families torn apart, livelihoods destroyed, and multigenerational trauma inflicted on a community for decades.
#AlligatorAlcatraz #NeverAgainIsNow
#AlligatorAlcatraz #NeverAgainIsNow
July 3, 2025 at 7:13 PM
When the Japanese American National Museum is saying this take it seriously.
This is why it matters whether the government takes climate change into account when building out infrastructure. That includes considering what materials mix would be best for roads in areas likely to get much hotter in coming years. www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...
🧵
🧵
Video shows car go airborne after road buckles in extreme Missouri heat
"The road exploded and rose over 18 inches, sending a car airborne," said Albert Blackwell, who captured the moment on video.
www.usatoday.com
June 24, 2025 at 4:02 PM
This is why it matters whether the government takes climate change into account when building out infrastructure. That includes considering what materials mix would be best for roads in areas likely to get much hotter in coming years. www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...
🧵
🧵
Reposted by Heather Chapman
Rewatched terminator 2 last night. Fun movie about AI leading to nuclear war and how the easiest way to kill someone is to dress up like a cop. Can't say its themes resonate today.
June 22, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Rewatched terminator 2 last night. Fun movie about AI leading to nuclear war and how the easiest way to kill someone is to dress up like a cop. Can't say its themes resonate today.