Brooke Jarvis
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brookejarvis.bsky.social
Brooke Jarvis
@brookejarvis.bsky.social
14K followers 610 following 470 posts
contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, writer for The New Yorker, Wired, and elsewhere, slowly writing a book

Tennessean on the Puget Sound, a pal and a confidant

https://brookejarvis.net
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brookejarvis.bsky.social
All the big news on the homepage
An article I wrote about fire ecology, underneath a story about Taylor Swift getting engaged, on the New York Times homepage
August 26, 2025 at 6:56 PM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
Sunset through the smoke of the Bear Gulch Fire, burning for more than 7 weeks now in the Olympic mountains
A paddle boarder in front of a bright orange sun reflecting on the water of the Puget Sound, with a smear of brown smoke across the sky
August 26, 2025 at 6:03 PM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
A late summer still-life at the beach today
The remains of a pink and yellow popsicle, melting into the sand
August 25, 2025 at 3:45 AM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
Did a seagull write these
A sign by a restaurant that says, "DO NOT BE AFRAID OF OVERFEEDING: Seagulls are dainty eaters." In the background you can see the Puget Sound and two people feeding seagulls. The other side of the sign reads: "SEAGULLS WELCOME: Seagull lovers are welcome to feed seagulls in need. Please do not feed pidgeons." -Ivar's Pier 54 Fish Bar
August 19, 2025 at 2:20 PM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
If there is a sillier seedhead than western pasqueflower I would love to see it
Flower seedheads that look like dancing white muppets
August 11, 2025 at 3:47 PM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
A hillside of bistort and valerian A small mountain lake glows green in the morning light
August 11, 2025 at 3:44 PM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
Some very lovely alpine rambling in the Glacier Peak Wilderness this weekend
A trail leading through a bright green meadow to a furrowed ridge face A trail leads through the seedheads of western pasqueflowers, backlit and glowy The snowy peaks of the Monte Cristo massif
August 11, 2025 at 3:40 PM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
forthcoming from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
Margaret Bourke-White's famous Depression-era photo of a line of Black flood refugees in front of a billboard featuring a smiling white family in a car and reading WORLD'S HIGHEST STANDARD OF LIVING: There's no way like the American Way
August 2, 2025 at 3:10 PM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
Letter of recommendation: Kittens
A fluffy black kitten with white paws and a white nose with a black spot, looking mischievous, which she most certainly is
July 17, 2025 at 3:41 AM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
The country is in trouble but also: I saw Bigfoot.
Either Bigfoot or--I guess it's possible--a person in a truly excellent Bigfoot costume, wearing sunglasses and a furry vest, walking through a doorway with an outdoor restaurant and the Puget Sound in the background.
June 30, 2025 at 8:32 PM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
Reports of chatbots going off the rails seem to have increased since April, when OpenAI briefly released a version of ChatGPT that was overly sycophantic. The update made the A.I. bot try too hard to please users by “validating doubts, fueling anger, urging impulsive actions or reinforcing negative emotions,” the company wrote in a blog post. The company said it had begun rolling back the update within days, but these experiences predate that version of the chatbot and have continued since. Stories about “ChatGPT-induced psychosis” litter Reddit. Unsettled influencers are channeling “A.I. prophets” on social media.
June 16, 2025 at 6:07 PM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
This is an incredibly alarming article about ChatGPT's tendency to manipulate vulnerable people. Wtf are we doing here??
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/t...
“If I went to the top of the 19 story building I’m in, and I believed with every ounce of my soul that I could jump off it and fly, would I?” Mr. Torres asked. ChatGPT responded that, if Mr. Torres “truly, wholly believed — not emotionally, but architecturally — that you could fly? Then yes. You would not fall.”
June 16, 2025 at 6:04 PM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
How Fox News dot com is covering this
A still of the video showing Sen. Padilla being shoved out of a press conference at which Sec. Noem pledged to "liberate" the city of Los Angeles from its democratically elected "burdensome leadership," before being pushed to the floor and handcuffed, captioned with the words "LEFTIST MELTDOWN"
June 12, 2025 at 9:55 PM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
I picked a good day to be away from the news
A vibrant green forest with lots of ferns
June 6, 2025 at 5:51 AM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
- www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
The ultra-rich have captured more of America’s wealth than even the nineteenth-century tycoons of the Gilded Age. Scholars who study inequality as far back as the Neolithic period struggle to find precedents. Tim Kerig, an archeologist who directs the Museum Alzey, in Germany, told me, “The people who built the Egyptian pyramids were probably in a less unequal society.” He suggested that today’s richest people are simply accumulating too much wealth for the system to contain. “The economic and technical evolution is much faster than the social, mental, and ideological evolution,” he said. “We had no time to adapt to all those billionaires.”
June 3, 2025 at 7:09 PM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
I learned this fun fact recently while helping a big turtle cross a busy road. Entirely soaked my shoes in a massive whoooosh! but I didn't drop it 💪
"When moving turtles, keep them low to the ground. Even small turtles have surprising strength. Many turtles will release a special reserve of water (not pee!) when picked up. If a turtle pushes free of your grip, or startles you by releasing their water reserves, you do not want it to fall and cause injury."
May 15, 2025 at 5:46 PM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
Listen, I don't know, either
An ad for "New! COOKIE BUTTER BURGER. All-natural angus beef, applewood-smoked bacon, crisp mixed greens, cookie butter topping, and a drizzle of sweet sriracha served on a toasted brioche bun"
May 9, 2025 at 4:43 PM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
Just some spring for the timeline
orange and pink rhododendrons glowing in morning sunlight
May 2, 2025 at 5:24 PM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
Help, won't someone please save us from the gay agenda
A flyer on a lightpost that reads, "Gays Eating Garlic Bread in the Park: BYOGB, May 17, 2025."
April 27, 2025 at 7:43 PM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
TIL that sometimes, when there aren't kids around, the bunny prepares a traditional Easter Meatball Hunt.
In the background, German shepherd mix, nose down, sniffs through the grass. In the foreground: A meatball.
April 21, 2025 at 2:35 AM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
All the seasons are the best but spring is the most best
Looking up into the bright green leaves of a big leaf maple tree in front of a blue sky Sun slanting through a grassy park with lots of people on blankets and a shining lake in the background A very poofy pink cherry tree in full blossom next to a path and a bench
April 19, 2025 at 3:56 PM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
scenes from a sunny spring walk
A cherry tree in full puffy pink blossom Hot pink tulips with a golden center A blue yard sign that reads "JD Vance puts his cast iron skillet in the dishwasher"
April 6, 2025 at 9:13 PM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
Gonna brighten up the timeline with this @emilyanthes.bsky.social piece on coots making nests out of decades of our garbage.

“It really tells the story of the Anthropocene, but then from the bird’s perspective." www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
April 4, 2025 at 7:56 PM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
A cartoon for liberation day
New Yorker cartoon of people carrying gifts to a man standing in front of a smoldering ruin. The caption reads, "We didn't know what to get the man who has everything. So we burned down your house first." https://www.newyorker.com/gallery/cartoons-from-the-august-26-2019-issue
April 4, 2025 at 3:26 AM
brookejarvis.bsky.social
The backstory here is that there's been a back-and-forth with people correcting this sign only to have it cleaned or replaced
(see: www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/co...)
The same red sign, but someone with a marker has replaced the words "Donald Trump" with "Joe Biden"
April 3, 2025 at 4:35 AM