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davidwrites1.bsky.social
Writer / fiction / Iowa Writers’ Workshop / MacDowell / Yaddo | Ethiopia / literary translation from Amharic | Previously a paleoanthropologist. www.davidwrites.net Translator of the Ethiopian novel Oromay by Baalu Girma. www.davidwrites.net/oromay
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Brave Basset Confronts Cowardly Lion

Annoyed to see this Marc Maron guy, whoever he is, getting big media attention for announcing he’s ending his podcast when the Book Fight guys @mikeingram.bsky.social & @tmcallister.bsky.social already made virtually the same announcement months ago. I mean, wtf? www.npr.org/2025/06/02/n...

Excited to dive in! @zyzzyvamag.bsky.social going strong at 40. Kudos @ovillalon.bsky.social & contributors @arlozoroff.bsky.social @cubistoctopus.bsky.social @poetkellycm.bsky.social @mpalaia.bsky.social @fetaplace.bsky.social @dapowell.bsky.social @kimsamek.bsky.social @gregoryspatz.bsky.social

Just came across a good malapropism: “an escape goat.”

Hot Take: Your Friends and Neighbors (Jon Hamm, Apple TV) is like a 1970s John Updike novel with an aftermarket crime subplot bolted onto it. Meant as a description, not a criticism. cc @emilynussbaum.bsky.social @inkookang.bsky.social

Me when I realize it’s Wednesday and I should really deal with the emails etc that I put off until “after the holiday weekend”:

My favorite example of this comes from over a century ago when the Self-Playing Piano industry argued that if they had to pay royalties on the hit songs they were programming their machines to play, they would go under. This really is a second verse same as the first situation.

If you think you might have some writing that’s a good fit for @barrelhouse.bsky.social, they will open for submissions June 1 (below). There’s enough on their website to give you a sense of their general vibe. Based on recent experience, I highly recommend them-they took very good care of my poem.

If you’re wondering where OpenAI got $6.5 billion to buy Jony Ive’s company, the answer is they didn’t. It’s an all-stock transaction. And since OpenAI hasn’t gone public, the value of its shares is effectively whatever the company and its owners say they are. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/t...

In addition to our weekly events calendar, we are starting to publish vibe reports on readings, screenings, protests, eatings, things of that nature, and other things: www.oaklandreviewofbooks.org