Megan Stielstra
@meganstielstra.bsky.social
writer, editor, teacher, axe-thrower 🪓
meganstielstra.com
meganstielstra.com
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
Journalism is not for everybody.
November 22, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Journalism is not for everybody.
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
Just an absolutely gutting essay by Tatiana Schlossberg, a writer, mother of two young children, and cousin of RFK Jr who is dying of leukemia.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
November 22, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Just an absolutely gutting essay by Tatiana Schlossberg, a writer, mother of two young children, and cousin of RFK Jr who is dying of leukemia.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
Congratulations to Omar El Akkad for winning the 2025 National Book Award in Nonfiction! ICYMI: Omar's appearance on the show was one of the great all-time conversations so far.
Audio: tinhouse.com/podcast/omar...
Audio: tinhouse.com/podcast/omar...
Omar El Akkad : One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This - Tin House
In late October 2023, weeks into Israel’s bombing of northern Gaza, the novelist Omar El Akkad retweeted a video taken by a Gazan man. This video showed a lifeless moonscape with endless empty streets...
tinhouse.com
November 20, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Congratulations to Omar El Akkad for winning the 2025 National Book Award in Nonfiction! ICYMI: Omar's appearance on the show was one of the great all-time conversations so far.
Audio: tinhouse.com/podcast/omar...
Audio: tinhouse.com/podcast/omar...
"Now might be a good time to try and detect your own pelvic floor. Sit on the corner of your chair, or more ideally the corner of a table, so that the area between your legs is in full contact with the surface. (If you’re in a public place or office, try to be … a little bit subtle about this.)"
I wrote this piece because I only learned about pelvic floors a few years ago, despite having had one all my life. And then it turned out to be where I store all my issues. And then that turned out to be true for a lot of people www.wired.com/story/the-pe...
The Pelvic Floor Is a Problem
Everyone’s suddenly obsessed with the pelvic floor—physical therapists, MAHA influencers, me. Could this deeply misunderstood body part really be the seat of so much modern dysfunction?
www.wired.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:53 PM
"Now might be a good time to try and detect your own pelvic floor. Sit on the corner of your chair, or more ideally the corner of a table, so that the area between your legs is in full contact with the surface. (If you’re in a public place or office, try to be … a little bit subtle about this.)"
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
Astonishing to stop and realize that, at any given moment, bands of masked men armed to the teeth are storming churches and daycares, terrorizing entire communities—and that most of the country's political establishment barely blinks.
November 19, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Astonishing to stop and realize that, at any given moment, bands of masked men armed to the teeth are storming churches and daycares, terrorizing entire communities—and that most of the country's political establishment barely blinks.
sam ❤️❤️❤️
@romej.thetriibe.com just wrote what I think is one of the best profiles we’ve ever produced. If you are an artist who has tried to make it in L.A.—or an artist period— read this. thetriibe.com/2025/11/chic...
Chicago raised her. Hollywood sharpened her. Director Sam Bailey returns home to create on her own terms • The TRiiBE
Fresh off directing for Marvel’s ‘Ironheart,’ Bailey returns to her hometown ready to get back to the collaborative Chicago artistry that first fueled her art.
thetriibe.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:17 AM
sam ❤️❤️❤️
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
Have you heard?! The force of nature that is @meganstielstra.bsky.social is teaching a four-session online class starting Jan 8. This class will give writers everything they need to know to write powerful personal essays that center the human experience.
buff.ly/kjE6IyR
#writers
buff.ly/kjE6IyR
#writers
Urgency and the Personal Essay: Four Lessons on What to Say, How to Say it, Revision, and Submitting with Megan Stielstra - StoryStudio Chicago
"I’ve written a hundred course descriptions in my career, but over the past few months these paragraphs feel new and charged and vital. What does it mean to write in this time? To write of this time?…
buff.ly
November 16, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Have you heard?! The force of nature that is @meganstielstra.bsky.social is teaching a four-session online class starting Jan 8. This class will give writers everything they need to know to write powerful personal essays that center the human experience.
buff.ly/kjE6IyR
#writers
buff.ly/kjE6IyR
#writers
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
One way I have found to mourn someone is to set up a monthly sustaining donation to a mutual aid effort they cared about. If you can join me in honoring Alice Wong, @sfdirewolf.bsky.social with a sustaining donation today, please do. Thank you Alice, and I will not let the bastards grind me down.
November 15, 2025 at 12:34 PM
One way I have found to mourn someone is to set up a monthly sustaining donation to a mutual aid effort they cared about. If you can join me in honoring Alice Wong, @sfdirewolf.bsky.social with a sustaining donation today, please do. Thank you Alice, and I will not let the bastards grind me down.
This spring I'm working with @offassignment.bsky.social on an online class about writing rage. Dan, Maggie, Ashley, and Carmen are going to help me. Their work has kept me from launching myself into the sun. Come join us.
Hey next Feb/March I'm helping the incredible @meganstielstra.bsky.social with a class she's teaching called "Writing Rage." The amazing @smashfizzle.bsky.social and @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social and Carmen Maria Machado are also helping. Will be wild. www.offassignment.com/writing-rage
Writing Rage — Off Assignment
www.offassignment.com
November 13, 2025 at 2:20 PM
This spring I'm working with @offassignment.bsky.social on an online class about writing rage. Dan, Maggie, Ashley, and Carmen are going to help me. Their work has kept me from launching myself into the sun. Come join us.
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
i’m ready for something different than whatever the fuck this is
November 10, 2025 at 12:51 AM
i’m ready for something different than whatever the fuck this is
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
I know quite a few comrades on the ACA exchange. I used to be on the exchange for years. A doubling or tripling of premium costs will be a death sentence for people who NEED HEALTH INSURANCE to survive. PERIOD.
We've heard Democrats say as much for WEEKS. So what the hell??????
We've heard Democrats say as much for WEEKS. So what the hell??????
November 9, 2025 at 11:05 PM
I know quite a few comrades on the ACA exchange. I used to be on the exchange for years. A doubling or tripling of premium costs will be a death sentence for people who NEED HEALTH INSURANCE to survive. PERIOD.
We've heard Democrats say as much for WEEKS. So what the hell??????
We've heard Democrats say as much for WEEKS. So what the hell??????
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
With appearances by @britticisms.bsky.social, @zoezolbrod.bsky.social, Gina Frangello, @meganstielstra.bsky.social, and the all-star band of @marydeereynolds.bsky.social, Amalea Tshilds, @beanatitagain.bsky.social, Angela James, L. Wyatt, Julie Pomerleau & Jeanine O'Toole.
CHICAGO! We are getting the band back together for ONE NIGHT ONLY to celebrate Sinéad with words, music, and cake. Dec 17 at the Hideout. Proceeds go to @icirr.bsky.social
Nothing Compares to Her: A Salute to Sinéad | Hideout Chicago
Nothing Compares to Her: A Salute to Sinéad The late Sinéad O’Connor was a singular talent whose soaring voice and fearless advocacy for children, the LGBTQ community, and anyone being crushed by th...
hideoutchicago.com
November 7, 2025 at 3:21 PM
With appearances by @britticisms.bsky.social, @zoezolbrod.bsky.social, Gina Frangello, @meganstielstra.bsky.social, and the all-star band of @marydeereynolds.bsky.social, Amalea Tshilds, @beanatitagain.bsky.social, Angela James, L. Wyatt, Julie Pomerleau & Jeanine O'Toole.
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 6, 2025 at 9:00 PM
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
❤️❤️❤️❤️
HUGE ANNOUCEMENT: We are beside ourselves with excitement to share with you that we've been awarded a $100,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
November 6, 2025 at 9:49 PM
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
Ellis says she sees a Chicago where neighbors "have shown up for each other .. standing watch to protect the most vulnerable among us."
November 6, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Ellis says she sees a Chicago where neighbors "have shown up for each other .. standing watch to protect the most vulnerable among us."
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
Ellis starting the day off by reading out Carl Sandburg's poem "Chicago" in its entirety.
November 6, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Ellis starting the day off by reading out Carl Sandburg's poem "Chicago" in its entirety.
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
When operation midway blitz started, the term “detained” was used to describe federal agents taking ppl. There has been a shift in the language being used among rapid responders and Chicagoans. Abduction/kidnapped feels more accurate bc there are no warrants, no badged agents, no due process.
November 4, 2025 at 6:56 PM
When operation midway blitz started, the term “detained” was used to describe federal agents taking ppl. There has been a shift in the language being used among rapid responders and Chicagoans. Abduction/kidnapped feels more accurate bc there are no warrants, no badged agents, no due process.
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
Another world is possible, if we fight for it
November 5, 2025 at 3:27 AM
Another world is possible, if we fight for it
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
The lesson here is have good principles and stand on them. Stand for something that isn't power!
Zohran at the rally for trans youth on february 8 ❣️ he was polling single digits.
November 5, 2025 at 2:59 AM
The lesson here is have good principles and stand on them. Stand for something that isn't power!
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
It's publication day for Read This When Things Fall Apart! So grateful to our contributors and to @akpress.org for making this book a reality. This is a strange time to be promoting a book, but I believe it's a text that has the potential to help us right now. Please get yourself a copy. ❤️
Read This When Things Fall Apart: Letters to Activists in Crisis
Letters to Activists in Crisis
bookshop.org
November 4, 2025 at 2:43 PM
It's publication day for Read This When Things Fall Apart! So grateful to our contributors and to @akpress.org for making this book a reality. This is a strange time to be promoting a book, but I believe it's a text that has the potential to help us right now. Please get yourself a copy. ❤️
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
Teen Vogue took young people seriously. It's impossible to overstate how important, how rare, and how profoundly needed that is.
November 3, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Teen Vogue took young people seriously. It's impossible to overstate how important, how rare, and how profoundly needed that is.
gonna do this
An autoreply that just says “I don’t have an assistant”
November 3, 2025 at 3:36 PM
gonna do this
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
"My Grandma would want me to fight them." I have loved Lynda Barry cartoons for 40 years. Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/o...
November 1, 2025 at 9:04 PM
"My Grandma would want me to fight them." I have loved Lynda Barry cartoons for 40 years. Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/o...
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
Nearly 2 million people in Illinois could lose SNAP benefits starting Saturday. Here's a list of food pantries in Chicago & the suburbs if you're looking to donate or you need extra food. tinyurl.com/2zxvrxx5
Where to find Chicago-area food pantries if SNAP goes away during the shutdown
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will be cut off Saturday unless Congress acts. Here’s a list of food pantries across Chicago and the suburbs.
tinyurl.com
October 30, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Nearly 2 million people in Illinois could lose SNAP benefits starting Saturday. Here's a list of food pantries in Chicago & the suburbs if you're looking to donate or you need extra food. tinyurl.com/2zxvrxx5