Melissa Holbrook Pierson
@perfectvehicle.bsky.social
Writer, motorcyclist, gadabout-in-training
Reposted by Melissa Holbrook Pierson
In memoriam Claudia Cardinale. Reprising my appreciation of "The Leopard," in which she was perfection itself, for @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social
lareviewofbooks.org/article/pass...
lareviewofbooks.org/article/pass...
September 24, 2025 at 12:28 AM
In memoriam Claudia Cardinale. Reprising my appreciation of "The Leopard," in which she was perfection itself, for @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social
lareviewofbooks.org/article/pass...
lareviewofbooks.org/article/pass...
Interesting. Every class I teach is on a subject I often struggle with myself. Come struggle with me?
September 10, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Interesting. Every class I teach is on a subject I often struggle with myself. Come struggle with me?
Can anyone answer for me: If an author's book is still in print or the rights have not reverted to the author, then does this mean the settlement monies go only to the publisher?
September 5, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Can anyone answer for me: If an author's book is still in print or the rights have not reverted to the author, then does this mean the settlement monies go only to the publisher?
Looking at Kate Zambreno looking at a subject (which is looking!) was a heady experience.
@transitbooks.bsky.social
brooklynrail.org/2025/09/book...
@transitbooks.bsky.social
brooklynrail.org/2025/09/book...
Kate Zambreno’s Animal Stories | The Brooklyn Rail
Rare among contemporary writers, Kate Zambreno does not produce books that are “about” one subject, or even three or four. They are about themselves. As well as about an infinitude.
brooklynrail.org
September 3, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Looking at Kate Zambreno looking at a subject (which is looking!) was a heady experience.
@transitbooks.bsky.social
brooklynrail.org/2025/09/book...
@transitbooks.bsky.social
brooklynrail.org/2025/09/book...
I was so happy to get the chance to write about @joannapocock.bsky.social 's profound examination of America's ailing heartland. One more in my list of proofs that it is publishers like Soft Skull putting out the most daring and accomplished writing today.
Review | ‘Greyhound’ sees America changing through the bus windows
Joanna Pocock’s memoir is about her travels from Detroit to California in 2023, retracing a trip she had taken 17 years earlier.
wapo.st
August 27, 2025 at 7:05 PM
I was so happy to get the chance to write about @joannapocock.bsky.social 's profound examination of America's ailing heartland. One more in my list of proofs that it is publishers like Soft Skull putting out the most daring and accomplished writing today.
This made me laugh out loud. There, that should take care of it! We'll live in the land of make-believe when he gets someone to fabricate better numbers. Hysterical.
August 1, 2025 at 6:57 PM
This made me laugh out loud. There, that should take care of it! We'll live in the land of make-believe when he gets someone to fabricate better numbers. Hysterical.
Whew, thank goodness we're being kept safe from chamber music.
www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/l...
www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/l...
'Humiliating and traumatizing': Czech musician set to perform in Kent detained, sent home
A Czech musician and former Kent State student was scheduled to perform several U.S. concerts. Instead, he was detained in Detroit and denied entry.
www.beaconjournal.com
July 7, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Whew, thank goodness we're being kept safe from chamber music.
www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/l...
www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/l...
"Data show the majority of Medicaid enrollees are working." Push back on these craven Republicans, journalists! Don't let them get away with this b.s.
www.kff.org/medicaid/iss...
www.kff.org/medicaid/iss...
Understanding the Intersection of Medicaid and Work: An Update | KFF
Amid renewed interest in Medicaid work requirements as part of a broader legislative package designed to significantly reduce federal Medicaid spending, KFF has updated its analysis of the work status...
www.kff.org
July 3, 2025 at 2:48 PM
"Data show the majority of Medicaid enrollees are working." Push back on these craven Republicans, journalists! Don't let them get away with this b.s.
www.kff.org/medicaid/iss...
www.kff.org/medicaid/iss...
. . . and the super rich. This is how you know someone's right: by the people he makes afraid.
mamdani's win has made the ny times, the washington post, fox news, trump, third way, and the democratic establishment very mad
excellent.
excellent.
June 26, 2025 at 7:12 PM
. . . and the super rich. This is how you know someone's right: by the people he makes afraid.
At least something good happened today. Book mail @autofocusbooks.bsky.social
June 17, 2025 at 2:26 AM
At least something good happened today. Book mail @autofocusbooks.bsky.social
Reposted by Melissa Holbrook Pierson
Sir, the people
Must have their voices; neither will they bate
One jot of ceremony.
Must have their voices; neither will they bate
One jot of ceremony.
June 14, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Sir, the people
Must have their voices; neither will they bate
One jot of ceremony.
Must have their voices; neither will they bate
One jot of ceremony.
An interesting case . . . My review of Harris Lahti's "Foreclosure Gothic"
brooklynrail.org/2025/06/book...
brooklynrail.org/2025/06/book...
Harris Lahti’s Foreclosure Gothic | The Brooklyn Rail
Harris Lahti’s debut, Foreclosure Gothic, is a goth song in novel form. It is full of murk, omens, melodrama, the lushness of carnality, and the fearsomeness of love’s darker impulses. It follows the ...
brooklynrail.org
June 3, 2025 at 7:01 PM
An interesting case . . . My review of Harris Lahti's "Foreclosure Gothic"
brooklynrail.org/2025/06/book...
brooklynrail.org/2025/06/book...
A plot summary of Project 2025, from a practicing book critic:
"The monster is in the basement! Don't go into the basement!!!"
The protagonist goes into the basement.
The end.
"The monster is in the basement! Don't go into the basement!!!"
The protagonist goes into the basement.
The end.
May 23, 2025 at 12:12 PM
A plot summary of Project 2025, from a practicing book critic:
"The monster is in the basement! Don't go into the basement!!!"
The protagonist goes into the basement.
The end.
"The monster is in the basement! Don't go into the basement!!!"
The protagonist goes into the basement.
The end.
Oh, goody! Our tax dollars going to bringing the U.S. more foreign-born racists, because we didn't have enough already! But we mustn't spend a dime to help people whose lives are actually threatened in their own countries. That would be bad.
wapo.st/4kb2HLw
wapo.st/4kb2HLw
Trump shut out refugees but is making White South Africans an exception
About 60 Afrikaners are set to be routed through Virginia next week, documents show, in a notable exception to President Donald Trump’s suspension of refugee admissions.
wapo.st
May 9, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Oh, goody! Our tax dollars going to bringing the U.S. more foreign-born racists, because we didn't have enough already! But we mustn't spend a dime to help people whose lives are actually threatened in their own countries. That would be bad.
wapo.st/4kb2HLw
wapo.st/4kb2HLw
Department of Subtle Understatement:
May 5, 2025 at 3:52 AM
Department of Subtle Understatement:
Add another one to the list: Reading Good Books Is Good for Us All.
Thanks, Brooklyn Rail, for the opportunity to consider Aidan Ryan's inventive "I Am Here You Are Not I Love You"
brooklynrail.org/2025/05/book...
Thanks, Brooklyn Rail, for the opportunity to consider Aidan Ryan's inventive "I Am Here You Are Not I Love You"
brooklynrail.org/2025/05/book...
Aidan Ryan’s I Am Here You Are Not I Love You | The Brooklyn Rail
In undertaking the dual biography of his aunt and uncle, the artists Cindy Suffoletto and Andrew Topolski, Aidan Ryan looked in two directions: backward at the arc of their too-short lives and forward...
brooklynrail.org
May 1, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Add another one to the list: Reading Good Books Is Good for Us All.
Thanks, Brooklyn Rail, for the opportunity to consider Aidan Ryan's inventive "I Am Here You Are Not I Love You"
brooklynrail.org/2025/05/book...
Thanks, Brooklyn Rail, for the opportunity to consider Aidan Ryan's inventive "I Am Here You Are Not I Love You"
brooklynrail.org/2025/05/book...
Read books about art. Read imperfect books. Read books about weirdos. Just read. It's what's going to save us, pretty much. hyperallergic.com/1006783/10-a...
10 Art Books to Bring to the Beach This Summer
The art of Marsha P. Johnson, Yoko Ono reappraised, Jack Whitten’s studio notebook, a fictional curator’s Greece trip goes awry, and more to read this season.
hyperallergic.com
May 1, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Read books about art. Read imperfect books. Read books about weirdos. Just read. It's what's going to save us, pretty much. hyperallergic.com/1006783/10-a...
Every. Accusation. Is. A. Confession.
"We cannot give everyone a trial," says the president of these United States.
April 21, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Every. Accusation. Is. A. Confession.
@hcrichardson.bsky.social
In tiny Shokan, NY, we were about 90 strong. Just a couple of us here (me on the right).
In tiny Shokan, NY, we were about 90 strong. Just a couple of us here (me on the right).
April 20, 2025 at 12:47 AM
@hcrichardson.bsky.social
In tiny Shokan, NY, we were about 90 strong. Just a couple of us here (me on the right).
In tiny Shokan, NY, we were about 90 strong. Just a couple of us here (me on the right).
And this movement isn't just promoting high birth rates for white people only--it's for *rich* white people only. (That's why social services for women & children are being cut simultaneously.) They want only white babies that will perpetuate the ruling class of the white nationalist plutocracy.
i do not think the mainstream press is equipped or capable of covering ideological white nationalists and eugenicists as such, or even capable of noting that this is what they are. it is related to the wide belief that racism is simply a matter of manners.
It would appear CNN was also at the eugenics conference? Why are all these mainstream news orgs at a 200-person event where all the speakers are eugenicists and racists? www.cnn.com/2025/04/11/u...
April 12, 2025 at 6:23 PM
And this movement isn't just promoting high birth rates for white people only--it's for *rich* white people only. (That's why social services for women & children are being cut simultaneously.) They want only white babies that will perpetuate the ruling class of the white nationalist plutocracy.
Remember when God used to smite evildoers? He was smiting all over the place! Everyone used to be scared of getting smited! What happened? He went into semi-retirement, or the job description got changed, what?
April 9, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Remember when God used to smite evildoers? He was smiting all over the place! Everyone used to be scared of getting smited! What happened? He went into semi-retirement, or the job description got changed, what?
George Soros may ask for his money back, but anyway here's my sign.
April 5, 2025 at 2:24 AM
George Soros may ask for his money back, but anyway here's my sign.
Reposted by Melissa Holbrook Pierson
I have tariffed
the penguins
that are on
Heard Island
and which
you were probably
assuming
did not export goods
forgive me
they were taking advantage of us
so cunning
and so cold
the penguins
that are on
Heard Island
and which
you were probably
assuming
did not export goods
forgive me
they were taking advantage of us
so cunning
and so cold
April 3, 2025 at 7:45 PM
I have tariffed
the penguins
that are on
Heard Island
and which
you were probably
assuming
did not export goods
forgive me
they were taking advantage of us
so cunning
and so cold
the penguins
that are on
Heard Island
and which
you were probably
assuming
did not export goods
forgive me
they were taking advantage of us
so cunning
and so cold