Maud Newton
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maudnewton.bsky.social
Maud Newton
@maudnewton.bsky.social
7.2K followers 2K following 1.8K posts
Wrote ANCESTOR TROUBLE. Most recently in Narrative, Baffler, Guardian, NYT. Dog person, cat person, native plant restoration person. Opinions my own. NYC. She/her.

https://linktr.ee/maudnewton
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maudnewton.bsky.social
I'm looking forward to talking with Lee Hawkins, author of I AM NOBODY'S SLAVE: HOW UNCOVERING MY FAMILY'S HISTORY SET ME FREE, for the @mcnallyjackson.bsky.social festival! Tuesday 6/3, 6:30 pm, South St Seaport. Would love to see you fellow family historians! www.mcnallyjackson.com/event/resear...
Image reads Researching Your Family History, McNally Jackson Festival, Lee Hawkins & Maud Newton, June 3, 6:30 PM, South Street Sea Port, Preservation of Record. Image also shows the authors Lee Hawkins and Maud Newton, a black man and white woman.
May 31, 2025 at 5:39 PM
maudnewton.bsky.social
Kew Gardens, Queens (NYC)
Image shows the back of a greige Nissan Sentra with a busted taillight and bumper stickers reading Department of Peace, Tibet, Kennedy for President, Kennedy for President (another, this one round and with a photo), United States Department of Peacebuilding, and Make America Healthy Again.
May 31, 2025 at 1:40 AM
maudnewton.bsky.social
My strategy was to plant vigorous natives in the hope that they'd outcompete any remaining ivy, honeysuckle, etc. I'd do some things differently, and the aesthetics might not impress the neighbors at present (if ever), but: triumph.
Image shows a chain-link fence and chain-link gate, a non-native climbing rose, some remaining ivy, a New England aster, butterfly milkweed, late purple aster, another butterfly milkweed, part of a carolina rose, a lot of yarrow, and in front if the rose and ivy a small black chokeberry, and a small northern bayberry. Image shows a chain-link fence, a non-native climbing rose, some remaining ivy, a New England aster, butterfly milkweed, late purple aster, part of a carolina rose, a lot of yarrow, showy goldenrod, slender mountain mint, native climbing honeysuckle. Image shows a chain-link fence, a non-native climbing rose and lilac, smooth blue aster, slender mountain mint, part of a virginia rose, a lot of yarrow, showy goldenrod, slender mountain mint, two common yarrow, false indigo, blavk-eyed susan sprouts, a crowded black chokeberry, fragaria virginiana, some heuchera cultivars, a creeping serviceberry, virginia clematis, some blueberries, a lot of creeping phlox.
May 26, 2025 at 5:55 PM
maudnewton.bsky.social
Last year I removed the rest of the English ivy and Japanese honeysuckle from this slope in front of my house to plant natives. The ivy roots were intense. The slope is kinda treacherous when wet.
Image shows a lot of English ivy on a slope, with a huge root in the center. Also shown: butterfly milkweed, late purple aster, common yarrow, heuchera, a non-native climbing rose. and a lilac. Image shows a lot of English ivy on a slope, with roots visible in the center. Also shown: butterfly milkweed, late purple aster, common yarrow, a rose and a lilac. Image shows a lot of English ivy on a slope. Also shown: butterfly milkweed, late purple aster, common yarrow, a rose and a lilac.
May 26, 2025 at 5:40 PM
maudnewton.bsky.social
Spring restoration efforts are picking up in the wild spaces of NYC parks, if you're looking for a way to feel grounded and connected, and to tend something meaningful.
www.nycgovparks.org/events/volun...
Image shows an American Hornbeam sapling in a pot and the handles of a shovel and other garden tools in front of a wooded area.
April 17, 2025 at 7:44 PM
maudnewton.bsky.social
This December 1929 cartoon from the Library of Congress archives dates to the period between the crash of 1929 and the tariffs of 1930 that Republicans forced through, dramatically worsening the Great Depression. Artist: Clifford Kennedy Berryman.
From the Library of Congress site: Cartoon shows an exhausted GOP elephant seated in the middle of the road bracing himself against a large stone labeled "Tariff Legislation." It appears that he is trying to push the stone up a hill to the White House, but he is opposed by the Democratic donkey and the goat with one horn (used by Berryman to represent insurgent members of either party). The elephant says, "Anyhow they can't prevent it having the right of way." Tariff legislation had been stalled in Congress for almost a year, but in December 1929, Congressional leaders announced that in the New Year, all other business would be suspended until the measure was passed. The Hawley-Smoot tariff, finally passed in June 1930 despite the opposition of the Democrats and the agricultural interests, raised tariffs to an all-time high.
April 4, 2025 at 9:20 PM
maudnewton.bsky.social
Research day.
Image shows two stone sculptures in the Lincoln Center Plaza, with the NYPL's Performing Arts Library in the background. Image shows a patron leaving the NYPL's performing arts library Image shows the film screening room at the NYPL's performing arts library
February 1, 2025 at 8:01 PM
maudnewton.bsky.social
Hello from snowy Queens. The dog run is quiet today, and the snowy hill alongside is packed with happy children.
A yellow lab stands on snow beneath a snowy eastern white pine tree. Image snows children and adults snowboarding.
January 20, 2025 at 9:03 PM
maudnewton.bsky.social
I loved the documentary "Benjamin Smoke" at its release back in 2000 and what a delight on so many levels to find Lucy Sante's review in my research clippings. This may be how I originally learned of the movie. Feels like a blessing.
Image shows Lucy Sante's NYT review of Benjamin Smoke
January 18, 2025 at 8:49 PM
maudnewton.bsky.social
Today is also for research.
Image shows the entrance to the New York Public Library's Library of Performing Arts (and the Cullman Center).
January 18, 2025 at 8:42 PM
maudnewton.bsky.social
I can always count on @mdermansky.bsky.social's novels to transfix me, so I saved her forthcoming HOT AIR (out 3/18) for the dread emergency that is this weekend.
Image shows the cover of Marcy Dermancy's HOT AIR.
January 18, 2025 at 7:53 PM
maudnewton.bsky.social
Many thanks to @deannakorte.bsky.social for a generous review of ANCESTOR TROUBLE in the latest issue of the National Genealogical Society's quarterly. www.ngsgenealogy.org/ngsq/
Image reads: Maud Newton, in a fascinating author debut, shows readers that "our obsession with ancestors opens up new ways of seeing ourselves." Newton's given name is Rebecca; she took the pen name Maud as tribute to an elusive great-great-aunt. She takes the reader on a journey of genealogical exploration, historical research, and introspection that will remind professional genealogists and hobbyists why this field is so captivating. Written in eight parts, the work dissects different aspects of genealogy,
January 16, 2025 at 7:29 PM
maudnewton.bsky.social
I recommend reading Brandeis's comments on the "race to the bottom" in corporate law, and his comparison of corporations to Frankenstein's monster in his 1933 dissent in the Liggett case. Image summary from Wikipedia. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_K...
Image reads: In his opinion, Justice Brandeis endorsed the theories that state corporate law, and lack of federal standards, enabled a race to the bottom in corporate law rules, or one of "laxity". He also expounded the evidence that the Great Depression was caused by disparities of income and wealth brought about by the corporation, which he likened to Frankenstein's monster.
January 10, 2025 at 7:46 PM
maudnewton.bsky.social
Part of my plan for 2025 is taking the time to begin creating the grimoire.
Image shows a black notebook, burgundy Lamy pen, small tin of Caran D'Ache pastels, and Blackwing pencil.
January 5, 2025 at 6:04 AM
maudnewton.bsky.social
My foster Hansel (who used to be my mom's dog) had never been to the beach before but enjoyed it.
Image shows a pensive leashed pomeranian, sitting.
January 2, 2025 at 12:52 AM
maudnewton.bsky.social
We took the dogs to the beach to start their year off right.
A man runs with a hound along a beach on a cloudy winter day. A yellow lab attempts to take charge of a leash held by a man along the shore at Rockaway Beach on a cloudy winter day.
January 2, 2025 at 12:49 AM
maudnewton.bsky.social
Ida was glad that we got her some New Year's fried chicken (and black-eyed peas, collards, and cornbread) from Rockaway Fish House.
A black cat sits in a chair at a table, eyeing a large bowl of fried chicken. A table with cornbread, collards, fried chicken, black-eyed peas, and butter ready for serving along a runner.
January 2, 2025 at 12:44 AM
maudnewton.bsky.social
Merry Christmas from some dogs on their very best behavior.
Image shows a table with a holiday runner, roast vegetables, and roast lamb, and beyond the table a yellow lab, a hound, and a Pomeranian, all sitting and hoping for more
December 26, 2024 at 1:54 AM
maudnewton.bsky.social
A friend posted this on Instagram and it makes me so happy.
Image shows two frogs calmly drinking tea in a mossy clearing surrounded by reeds. "I like your personality," one says, smiling. "Thanks, its a disorder," says the other.
December 25, 2024 at 3:27 AM
maudnewton.bsky.social
(Please pardon our we-took-four-animals-to-the-vet-at-once-this-morning attire.)
Image shows the heads of three leashed dogs in a vet waiting room alongside a raised examining table with a dour-looking cat on a scale.
December 24, 2024 at 10:03 PM
maudnewton.bsky.social
Merry Christmas Eve from Queens! 🎄🥪
Image shows a bespectacled white man and woman in an old-school diner with orange and green bench seats and hints of Christmas decor. Image shows a bespectacled white man in an old-school diner with orange bench seats and Christmas decor.
December 24, 2024 at 10:03 PM
maudnewton.bsky.social
This sequined stocking made by my granny, maybe 1960s, brings garish joy.
Image shows a fireplace mantle with a clock, some books, a candle, and three stockings, two red ones only partly in the frame and a cream colored one in the center with large green sequined leaves, red sequined berries, and a diamond quilted pattern at the top with more subtle sequins in various complementary colors placed at intervals.
December 21, 2024 at 10:29 PM
maudnewton.bsky.social
Happy winter solstice, friends. Wishing you peace, tender connection, and rest for underground growth to become manifest in spring.
Image shows northern woodlands on the winter solstice with snow on the ground and traces on the branches and leaves.
December 21, 2024 at 4:59 PM
maudnewton.bsky.social
THE MOOR'S ACCOUNT, by @lailalalami.bsky.social, is one of my all-time favorite novels. The opening pages of THE DREAM HOTEL—about a woman apprehended for a crime AI says she will soon commit—give off an equivalent electricity. Out 3/4.
Image shows the eerie purple and orange-red cover of Laila Lalami's novel THE DREAM HOTEL on a checked tablecloth next to a bowl of fruit
December 9, 2024 at 6:07 PM
maudnewton.bsky.social
I have a short story coming soon called "Rapture Basement," and it is most definitely fiction, and yet.
Image shows five microwaves, a storage cabinet, the top of a kerosene drum, three large Home Depot buckets, a duct, and a garage door mechanism, among other things.
December 6, 2024 at 8:48 PM