Polly Shulman
banner
pollys.bsky.social
Polly Shulman
@pollys.bsky.social
Author of Enthusiasm and The Grimm Legacy series
Frequent baker of popovers
Admirer of mourning stickpins, portrait miniatures, rococo tongs, meteors, meteorites, proboscideans, and novels with frontispieces
Reposted by Polly Shulman
next up from the newsletter: one of my favorite new york city wildlife stories, about a salamander species in an out-of-the-way manhattan park that has twice disappeared for decades. 🧪 ryanmandelbirder.substack.com/p/the-major-...
the major rediscovery in nyc's "most damaged" park
nevertheless the dusky salamanders persisted (i feel like i have used this subtitle before)
ryanmandelbirder.substack.com
June 16, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Reposted by Polly Shulman
Holy shit, New York!

Here’s the full view.

#NoKings #50501Movement
June 14, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Reposted by Polly Shulman
And now for Smokey Robinson in what I have identified as the high point of American culture: his U Really Got A Hold of Me on Sesame Street.
I cannot overstate: this is our finest 3 minutes.
Sesame Street: U Really Got A Hold On Me
YouTube video by Sesame Street
youtu.be
April 27, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Reposted by Polly Shulman
Donald Trump is waging an all-out assault on our democracy and rule of law. After openly defying a Supreme Court order, calling for judges to be impeached, and bullying and belittling judges when he doesn’t like their decisions, today the FBI took the extreme and dangerous step arresting a judge.
April 25, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Reposted by Polly Shulman
Just heard that my old friend Karen Durbin, a great feminist writer and film critic and the last editor of NYC's Village Voice before it became a free sheet, died at 80 on 15th April. Sadly, she had alzheimers for her final seven years. Once upon a time we had such fun both sides of the Ditch.
April 20, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Harlem Meer egret.
April 12, 2025 at 8:42 PM
I'm looking forward to the Murderbot TV series. But actor Kevin R. Free @kevinrfree.bsky.social did such an amazing job reading the audiobooks that I wonder whether I'll be able to believe in the character with someone else inhabiting it.
April 10, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Reposted by Polly Shulman
in case you're wondering, "what's the harm in claiming an extinct species has been brought back from the dead" when it most certainly has not, our interior secretary is already using it to justify taking animals off the endangered species list
April 8, 2025 at 7:59 PM
No, they did not bring back dire wolves from extinction. They used gene editing to insert a (very) few dire-wolf genes into a gray wolves, which are not even the closest living relatives of dire wolves. If you stick 15-20 human genes into an orangutan, you don't get a human.
April 8, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Central Park is pretty right now.
April 6, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Reposted by Polly Shulman
The police clearly have different friends on social media than I do or they would have known that everyone was going to be there.
I asked the one high ranking policeman I saw on 5th Ave why there were so few police. He said “We did not expect anything like this. Don’t tell anyone but I’ve only got 44 officers out here — and it’s a great crowd, great event, no incidents.”
I have never seen anything like this in NYC. 5th Ave covered from 42nd St well to the 20s. Nobody prepared for this volume. Volunteers are holding the traffic on all the side streets. No police in sight. #handsoff
April 6, 2025 at 3:07 AM
Reposted by Polly Shulman
"NY Attorney General Letitia James today co-led a coalition of 20 other attorneys general in suing the Trump administration to stop the dismantling of three federal agencies that provide services and funding supporting public libraries and museums, workers, and minority-owned businesses nationwide"
Attorney General James Sues Trump Administration to Protect Libraries and Museums
NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today co-led a coalition of 20 other attorneys general in suing the Trump administration to stop the
ag.ny.gov
April 5, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Reposted by Polly Shulman
Protests aren’t the only tool in the anti-authoritarian toolkit, but they’re incredibly important. Protests help us see each other; they make it feel safer to refuse to obey the dictator, and make it more possible for us to organize mass non-cooperation.

It’s an essential step in the process.
April 5, 2025 at 8:24 PM
The march in NYC went on and on and on and on and on.
April 5, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Reposted by Polly Shulman
I asked the one high ranking policeman I saw on 5th Ave why there were so few police. He said “We did not expect anything like this. Don’t tell anyone but I’ve only got 44 officers out here — and it’s a great crowd, great event, no incidents.”
I have never seen anything like this in NYC. 5th Ave covered from 42nd St well to the 20s. Nobody prepared for this volume. Volunteers are holding the traffic on all the side streets. No police in sight. #handsoff
April 5, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Reposted by Polly Shulman
Reposted by Polly Shulman
Good morning. Monday morning. In a rank choice voting system you need to rank five good apples for mayor in addition to NOT ranking Cuomo and NOT ranking Adams.

Please help spread the word! Share share share!!!! Copy and redo in your own words if you prefer!
March 31, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Accidental Matisse?
March 21, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Reposted by Polly Shulman
if you've had an NIH grant terminated, I want to hear about it. Signal: katherinejwu.12
March 7, 2025 at 2:17 PM
@kathyhochul.bsky.social Thanks for refusing to hand over the doctor. Now please fire the mayor.
February 18, 2025 at 3:38 AM
Happy Valentine's Day from a terracotta cupid on an Upper East Side apartment building.
February 14, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Reposted by Polly Shulman
gonna post this every day until the deadline: Feb. 14

if you want to vote in NYC's June primary ***YOU HAVE TO PICK A PARTY BY FEBRUARY 14***

New York has closed primaries. if you're unaffiliated, you can't vote in June. if you're WFP or Conservative you ***CANNOT VOTE IN DEM OR GOP PRIMARY**
To Vote in This Summer’s Primary, Pick Your Party Now
You can only vote in NYC primaries if you’re registered with a party — and the deadline is coming up fast.
www.thecity.nyc
January 30, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Hey everybody, make some art. They can't stop you, it will cheer you up, and the future will be glad you did.
February 9, 2025 at 11:43 PM
Reposted by Polly Shulman
Jacob Lawrence, The Library, 1960 americanart.si.edu/artwork/libr...
February 5, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Reposted by Polly Shulman
Hi all, I am in contact with a reporter at Science magazine who would like to talk with a trainee or mentor who successfully applied for an equity/DEI-related NIH training grant or a training supplement but have not received the Notice of Award and probably won't get the grant.
February 6, 2025 at 1:10 AM