Katrina Vandenberg
@katrinavanden.bsky.social
Writer with two books of poetry from Milkweed and essays in Orion and elsewhere. Former tenured prof turned full-time parent/writer; active member of the sandwich generation.
Reposted by Katrina Vandenberg
‘We don’t even know all of what we have.’ Howard University fights to preserve Black newspapers. www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/... Last year, during a move, workers found two whole boxes of Frederick Douglass’s’ The North Star’s first year of publication.
‘We don’t even know all of what we have.’ Howard fights to preserve Black newspapers.
Across the United States, scholars are working to preserve the history of the Black press before the brittle pages are lost forever. In a basement at Howard University, uncovered treasures have includ...
www.csmonitor.com
November 15, 2025 at 12:58 PM
‘We don’t even know all of what we have.’ Howard University fights to preserve Black newspapers. www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/... Last year, during a move, workers found two whole boxes of Frederick Douglass’s’ The North Star’s first year of publication.
Reposted by Katrina Vandenberg
repost this if an editor has ever saved you from yourself
An actual hot take: Too many authors are afraid of editors watering down their voice or whatever and not afraid enough of editors letting you put any old slop on the page.
October 8, 2025 at 10:44 PM
repost this if an editor has ever saved you from yourself
Reposted by Katrina Vandenberg
I love this devastating piece from Andrea Cohen.
March 2, 2025 at 4:10 PM
I love this devastating piece from Andrea Cohen.
In case you have said in the last month or so that it feels too selfish to spend any time writing right now:
Hey, artists, in case you were wondering if your work matters: I'm a scientist working on climate change and biodiversity, and I would not be who I am today without The Lorax, The Secret of NIMH, Watership Down, The Last Unicorn, and The X-Files. I know I'm not alone. Thank you for all you do.
February 26, 2025 at 8:05 PM
In case you have said in the last month or so that it feels too selfish to spend any time writing right now:
If you teach, you learned a couple of years ago that AI-generated prose has a distinct texture. Propaganda has a similar one, though it’s more oily. Bland, overly neat, and once you get a feel for it you can’t un-hear it.
February 19, 2025 at 8:14 PM
If you teach, you learned a couple of years ago that AI-generated prose has a distinct texture. Propaganda has a similar one, though it’s more oily. Bland, overly neat, and once you get a feel for it you can’t un-hear it.
Why are there so many bots on here, and what do they want with us? Why are they all pretending so hard to be Joe Normal? Genuinely curious.
February 14, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Why are there so many bots on here, and what do they want with us? Why are they all pretending so hard to be Joe Normal? Genuinely curious.
Reposted by Katrina Vandenberg
came across this tweet in the wild, everyone loves the wine-dark sea
January 26, 2025 at 6:51 PM
came across this tweet in the wild, everyone loves the wine-dark sea
A powerful piece of art transcends its time and its maker: Rhiannon Giddens with Paul Simon, singing “American Tune,” with two lines altered in the final verse, and the best thing I could think of to bring forward today. m.youtube.com/watch?v=oTLk...
Paul Simon and Rhiannon Giddens “American Tune” Newport Folk Festival, 07-23-2022
YouTube video by MysticFollower
m.youtube.com
January 20, 2025 at 2:24 PM
A powerful piece of art transcends its time and its maker: Rhiannon Giddens with Paul Simon, singing “American Tune,” with two lines altered in the final verse, and the best thing I could think of to bring forward today. m.youtube.com/watch?v=oTLk...
Reposted by Katrina Vandenberg
Sincerely delighted to discover, 45 minutes into this nearly-wordless three-hour documentary about French monks who take vows of silence, that among the reasons they *can* talk is "to make sure the monastery cats know when it's mealtime by making little kitty-calling noises at them."
January 11, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Sincerely delighted to discover, 45 minutes into this nearly-wordless three-hour documentary about French monks who take vows of silence, that among the reasons they *can* talk is "to make sure the monastery cats know when it's mealtime by making little kitty-calling noises at them."
Reposted by Katrina Vandenberg
Word of the Day is ‘uhtcearu’ [ucht-kay-aru, with the 'ch' as in the Scottish ‘loch']:
Old English for ‘the sorrow before dawn', when you lie awake in the darkness and worries crowd your mind.
Old English for ‘the sorrow before dawn', when you lie awake in the darkness and worries crowd your mind.
January 10, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Word of the Day is ‘uhtcearu’ [ucht-kay-aru, with the 'ch' as in the Scottish ‘loch']:
Old English for ‘the sorrow before dawn', when you lie awake in the darkness and worries crowd your mind.
Old English for ‘the sorrow before dawn', when you lie awake in the darkness and worries crowd your mind.
Reposted by Katrina Vandenberg
Two stages of writing:
1) This shouldn't take too long
2) Oh no
1) This shouldn't take too long
2) Oh no
December 4, 2024 at 7:36 PM
Two stages of writing:
1) This shouldn't take too long
2) Oh no
1) This shouldn't take too long
2) Oh no
For my first post in the new year, I offer something fascinating to read:
"Before we learned to make fire, before we rolled the first wheel, before we polished the first axe, we learned how to make knots." Kanya Kanchana invites us down the rabbit hole to enjoy six stories on our fascination with knots.
longreads.com/2025/01/07/k...
longreads.com/2025/01/07/k...
Knotty Business: A Delightfully Tangled Reading List on Knots - Longreads
Six stories on our fascination with knots.
longreads.com
January 7, 2025 at 3:28 PM
For my first post in the new year, I offer something fascinating to read:
Thread: (1 of 4)Tomorrow is Winter Solstice, and that's when I begin my usual self-imposed reading and screen fast until New Year's Day. You can do it too if you want but there's no hashtag for it.
December 20, 2024 at 2:36 PM
Thread: (1 of 4)Tomorrow is Winter Solstice, and that's when I begin my usual self-imposed reading and screen fast until New Year's Day. You can do it too if you want but there's no hashtag for it.
Tomorrow is Winter Solstice, and that's when I usually begin a self-imposed reading & screen fast until the New Year. It's just a personal thing, but you can do it too if you want. There's no hashtag for it.
December 20, 2024 at 2:27 PM
Tomorrow is Winter Solstice, and that's when I usually begin a self-imposed reading & screen fast until the New Year. It's just a personal thing, but you can do it too if you want. There's no hashtag for it.
@michaeldowns.bsky.social Wouldn't ten-year-old Michael be thrilled about this one?
December 19, 2024 at 8:08 PM
@michaeldowns.bsky.social Wouldn't ten-year-old Michael be thrilled about this one?
I've never read a Conan comic before, but if @michaeldowns.bsky.social wrote one of the stories? I totally would.
Today, Savage Sword of Conan #6 comes available for sale. So glad to be in the company of the talented writers and editors who've made this a unique magazine. If you read my debut with Dark Agnès, thank you. I hope you enjoy the tale as much as I enjoyed writing it.
December 19, 2024 at 5:42 PM
I've never read a Conan comic before, but if @michaeldowns.bsky.social wrote one of the stories? I totally would.
It was a nice gift out of nowhere to have a note from poet George Bilgere in my inbox, letting me know that my poem "Handwriting Analysis" appears in his free daily newsletter "Poetry Town" today. PS There's still little better than a manual pencil sharpener! georgebilgere.com/so/edPF0gdtk...
“Poets don’t draw. They unravel their handwriting and then tie it up again, but differently,” Jean Cocteau.
Welcome to poet George Bilgere’s online newsletter. Every day George selects a poem by a writer he’s crazy about and he says a few words about why he picked it.
georgebilgere.com
December 18, 2024 at 2:30 PM
It was a nice gift out of nowhere to have a note from poet George Bilgere in my inbox, letting me know that my poem "Handwriting Analysis" appears in his free daily newsletter "Poetry Town" today. PS There's still little better than a manual pencil sharpener! georgebilgere.com/so/edPF0gdtk...
Thread:
.@propublica.org, whom we respect, recently published an @anniewaldman.bsky.social article about ABA therapy being denied to autistic children and their families by insurance companies. It was then re-shared via @cnn.com Let's talk about how this article missed the mark, on several points. 1/
December 16, 2024 at 8:56 PM
Thread:
Reposted by Katrina Vandenberg
HPV vaccines have been linked to a steep drop in cervical cancer deaths in young women. “We observed a substantial reduction in mortality — a 62% drop in cervical cancer deaths over the last decade.” (via @hcrichardson.bsky.social) [cidrap.umn.edu]
December 16, 2024 at 6:52 PM
HPV vaccines have been linked to a steep drop in cervical cancer deaths in young women. “We observed a substantial reduction in mortality — a 62% drop in cervical cancer deaths over the last decade.” (via @hcrichardson.bsky.social) [cidrap.umn.edu]
In the slow-on-the-uptake dept, I just learned that my essay "Water Lilies," from the fall @orionmagazine.bsky.social , was selected as a 9.27.24 Editors' Pick by @longreads.com & won Audience Pick that week, too. Thanks to editors here, there, & everywhere -- longreads.com/2024/09/27/t...
The Water Lilies - Longreads
"Reflections on time, aging, and Monet's cataracts."
longreads.com
December 16, 2024 at 6:47 PM
In the slow-on-the-uptake dept, I just learned that my essay "Water Lilies," from the fall @orionmagazine.bsky.social , was selected as a 9.27.24 Editors' Pick by @longreads.com & won Audience Pick that week, too. Thanks to editors here, there, & everywhere -- longreads.com/2024/09/27/t...
@grousehollow.bsky.social You're the person who wrote that beautiful "Bloodroot" poem! My Monet essay is on the same page in Orion. I was so happy when I saw your piece -- "in spring my god is not the sun / but aperture." I would happily live in a world full of plant persona poems.
December 16, 2024 at 6:39 PM
@grousehollow.bsky.social You're the person who wrote that beautiful "Bloodroot" poem! My Monet essay is on the same page in Orion. I was so happy when I saw your piece -- "in spring my god is not the sun / but aperture." I would happily live in a world full of plant persona poems.
There are three thirteen-year-old girls giggling and decorating cookies at my dining room table. My job is to provide things as needed and otherwise stay out of the way as much as possible. I did show up to check on everyone once, when I heard a big CRASH.
December 14, 2024 at 7:55 PM
There are three thirteen-year-old girls giggling and decorating cookies at my dining room table. My job is to provide things as needed and otherwise stay out of the way as much as possible. I did show up to check on everyone once, when I heard a big CRASH.
I am more of a listener than speaker, and on social media there is .... so much to listen to. And it goes by quickly. There should be a little ear you can click on, next to the little heart: tell me more. (As for "I don't want to hear any more," I guess that's unfollow.)
December 13, 2024 at 7:43 PM
I am more of a listener than speaker, and on social media there is .... so much to listen to. And it goes by quickly. There should be a little ear you can click on, next to the little heart: tell me more. (As for "I don't want to hear any more," I guess that's unfollow.)
I'm following people! I'm writing replies! I feel expansive! I remember this social media feeling... I feel a little drunk. I sincerely hope I don't wake at 3 am and regret this.
December 11, 2024 at 10:34 PM
I'm following people! I'm writing replies! I feel expansive! I remember this social media feeling... I feel a little drunk. I sincerely hope I don't wake at 3 am and regret this.
@noctambulate.bsky.social As the story about the CEO continues to develop, twist, and twist some more, I have thought of you. We were so glad to see you & HR on Sunday!
December 11, 2024 at 10:13 PM
@noctambulate.bsky.social As the story about the CEO continues to develop, twist, and twist some more, I have thought of you. We were so glad to see you & HR on Sunday!