Alex Van Buren
alexvanburen.bsky.social
Alex Van Buren
@alexvanburen.bsky.social
Journalist (NYT; WAPO) turned copywriter/ strategist. Nonfiction writer; aspiring fiction writer; ice cream obsessive.

Here for music, food, politics, feminism, typography, #pvd, books, owls, otters, comedy & progressive community-building.

She/ her
Just out here speaking my truth, which is that school & camp “spirit days” break the spirits of parents.

Lookin at you, camp director who made “water play day” & “pajama day” THE SAME DAY.

Xo, Mom of a girl who wanted to wear full-length Liza Minnelli satin pajamas to farm camp in August.
August 12, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Reposted by Alex Van Buren
✨ A Sprinkle of JoyousJoyness ✨

It's kinda perfect.

Have a JoyousJoyfulJoyness day!

#happy #dance #dog #cute #joyousjoyness
July 23, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Pondering whether this account should devote itself to emo haiku.

***

Summertime ennui:
Turkey sandwich of despair.
Please no more. (But fries.)

***

Just haiku & feelings. Reminds me of that Selleck Waterfall Sandwich Tumblr, which featured a different one of each every time & was 💯.
July 5, 2025 at 1:55 AM
I’ll allow it. #rhodeisland #bristol
July 1, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Peanut butter; cucumbers; fish sauce; chili crunch; noodles; lime; soy; garlic; cilantro; mint; wings. My cravings are all Thai & Chinese right now. Made a riff on Eric Kim’s 5-minute peanut butter noodles today; it’s the perfect umami boom of a WFH workday lunch. #foodsky @nytimes.com
June 25, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Free idea: an airport chain called Guilty Bizness Moms that sells only cute tchotchkes with big eyes. #travelsky #bizness
June 20, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Public. Pressure. WORKS. Welcome home, Kilmar. 🩷

Via @nytimes.com
June 6, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Reposted by Alex Van Buren
1/ We need to talk about what the FDA Commissioner just said about #seedoils in baby formula. I've added the video below so you can hear for yourself, but this is not only wrong and potentially harmful for parents trying to make informed decisions.👇
June 4, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Reading ZEAL by @mjerkins.bsky.social & about 100 pages in. Such beautiful sentences; such great dialogue. Happy as a cat switching its tail in a pool of sunshine reading it.
May 31, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Even a little bit helps.

(I’m still so furious about this; you should be, too.)

gofund.me/722aecce
Donate to Help Bring Nich Home to His Family, organized by Sarath Suong
Our dear friend and beloved community member Nich, a hardworking Lao father of three, … Sarath Suong needs your support for Help Bring Nich Home to His Family
gofund.me
May 29, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Re-upping my annual request for someone who is not a scaredy-cat like me to help me turn this weird old New England “grill” functional again.

Could be fun. Free, high-quality food & tunes & drink involved! (And yes, I’ll cut back the overhang & I know I have a wisteria problem.) 🫠🌸🔥🥩
May 29, 2025 at 1:52 PM
One teenage spring, I took E. Annie Proulx’s THE SHIPPING NEWS down to the Boston docks to really *feel* the Newfoundland she wrote about. It remains a favorite memory of what fiction can do.

Friday in PVD, Walt McClements did something similar, playing an accordion & a trumpet *at once.* #musicsky
On a Painted Ocean, by Walt McClements
7 track album
waltmcclements.bandcamp.com
May 25, 2025 at 3:17 PM
So last night I had my first BUTTER CHICKEN PIZZA from a mini mart called Spice Valley Halal in #PVD & I am a changed person today. 🇮🇳🇮🇹
May 24, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Free Mahmoud.

This is the correct way to do this headline, @nytimes.com

I want my government to stop kidnapping people off our streets. Keep protesting, friends. #freemahmoud
May 22, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Reposted by Alex Van Buren
📣Take action: Contact your state Rep. and Senator by THURSDAY in SUPPORT of H5841 + S519.

➡️ This bill would change RI laws to prevent discrimination in school and workplaces on the basis of hair texture or protective styles.

Discrimination based on hair type/style is simply racial discrimination.
Hairstyle Discrimination (H 5841, S 519)
There have been many reported instances around the country where employees are told their hair is not "professional" enough for the workplace, or a student is sent home for having "distracting" hair,
www.riaclu.org
May 20, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Two deep thoughts for today:

1) The new #LittleSimz single Rules.
2) It remains incredible to me that a few months after I moved my kid to Rhody from New York she said, while eating a DUNKN sprinkle donut in the back seat,
“Man. You can’t touch Dunkin’ Donuts.”
She was THREE. #donutsky #musicsky
Little Simz - Young (Official Music Video)
YouTube video by Little Simz
youtu.be
May 21, 2025 at 3:33 PM
10/10 would watch this show.

@abovethelaw.com @nytimes.com cc @netflix.com
May 19, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Spring unsubtly making moves on fall trying to replace it as my favorite.
May 17, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Props to public educators. Only about a month to go, folks.

And props to my kid for this knockout Mother’s Day likeness of me! (I have gray eyes, but whatevs, kid! ❤️) #parenting #artsky
May 15, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Reposted by Alex Van Buren
New: In this week’s Innovators column, I wrote about the founder of Shellf Life, a Providence-based startup that turns seafood shells into sustainable building materials and furniture.

Here’s how it works:

@bostonglobe.com @globeri.bsky.social

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/05/12/m...
www.bostonglobe.com
May 12, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Thx to the lovely women of #loneglanefarm in #warrenri for the organic herb haul.

From top left: holy basil; thyme (from last year); basil; ‘black cherry’ heirloom tomatoes; sage; cilantro that I give about a week to live.

Messy, but all mine. #gardening #victorygarden
May 10, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Morning, @whitehouse.senate.gov @reed.senate.gov & @amo.house.gov. I’d like to know what you’re doing to get humanitarian relief into #gaza. I support @wck.org & see that aid is being blockaded by the Israeli government. Help Gazans feed their families!! Please RT, fellow #rhodeisland residents.
May 9, 2025 at 2:17 PM
I love #rhodeisland. I do. With two exceptions:
1) The “Rhode Island roll” at stop signs. (They’re not a suggestion, folks.)
2) My daughter is six & says “mirrah” for 🪞. Is there, like a Department for Correction of Pronunciation I can call? #rhody #newengland
May 7, 2025 at 1:53 PM
In my heart of hearts, I’m a very frugal cook. (Runs in the family.)

Lovely, simple @nytimes.com Bill Telepan recipe for confited beans: cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015...

Used awesome @ranchogordo.bsky.social “Marcella” heirloom beans, tho! #cooksky #foodsky #beans
May 6, 2025 at 4:59 PM
All hail fairy garden season. #parenting #gardening #fairies
May 4, 2025 at 9:39 PM