BTBaum
@btbaum.bsky.social
Author, freelance reporter, dog-lover, recovering editor; bylines in San Francisco Mag, LA Times, NYT, Cal Academy Science Today, Catamaran Literary Mag. Remember when generalists armed w/ curiosity made for good journalism?
Coming here to say—and I do have the type of thinking and speech that interrupts itself frequently—that I love the em dash, the en dash, the hyphen, and the Oxford comma. Once upon a time, I was as a typesetter and production artist. You never forget your first hot type letterpress.
September 18, 2026 at 3:35 AM
Coming here to say—and I do have the type of thinking and speech that interrupts itself frequently—that I love the em dash, the en dash, the hyphen, and the Oxford comma. Once upon a time, I was as a typesetter and production artist. You never forget your first hot type letterpress.
My favorites were from the earlier seasons where Captain Pioe came to terms with his future tragedy. I feel this season they’re just teasing us!
August 28, 2026 at 2:45 PM
My favorites were from the earlier seasons where Captain Pioe came to terms with his future tragedy. I feel this season they’re just teasing us!
It wasn’t even that good, but after the Puppet episode, it felt like Chekhov. Anton Chekhov, Ensign Chekhov…it was recognizable as science-fiction is what I mean.
August 28, 2026 at 5:20 AM
It wasn’t even that good, but after the Puppet episode, it felt like Chekhov. Anton Chekhov, Ensign Chekhov…it was recognizable as science-fiction is what I mean.
I remember interviewing author Susan Griffin (“Woman and Nature;” “Chorus of Stones”) reflecting on her friendship & discussions on radical feminism with poet Adrienne Rich. She said they said made a similar observation—that gender “was and remains the first way they divide us.”
July 30, 2026 at 7:24 PM
I remember interviewing author Susan Griffin (“Woman and Nature;” “Chorus of Stones”) reflecting on her friendship & discussions on radical feminism with poet Adrienne Rich. She said they said made a similar observation—that gender “was and remains the first way they divide us.”
I think you, like most women, are ageless and timeless.
July 28, 2026 at 2:41 AM
I think you, like most women, are ageless and timeless.
I’m just trying to be clever.
July 28, 2026 at 2:40 AM
I’m just trying to be clever.
Someone in the early 40s who looks like they’re in their early 30s?
July 27, 2026 at 2:26 PM
Someone in the early 40s who looks like they’re in their early 30s?
What a crazy juxtaposition that must have been!
July 24, 2026 at 2:41 PM
What a crazy juxtaposition that must have been!
Yes. And the meme of Rod Serling standing in from of Trump at the resolute desk in the Oval Office summed up the sense of dislocation. Remember how so many TV shows in 2017-18 were about landing in or coping with alternative universes? Russian Doll, Counterpart, Man in the High Castle and more.
July 24, 2026 at 2:39 PM
Yes. And the meme of Rod Serling standing in from of Trump at the resolute desk in the Oval Office summed up the sense of dislocation. Remember how so many TV shows in 2017-18 were about landing in or coping with alternative universes? Russian Doll, Counterpart, Man in the High Castle and more.
We were at a watch party that included consumables b/c legalized pot was on our ballot. As more GOP faces began appearing on TV, we decided to go home. I did not literally hide under the bed, but the turning off of tv, computer, and iPhones felt decisive. Like hanging black fabric over the mirrors.
July 24, 2026 at 2:36 PM
We were at a watch party that included consumables b/c legalized pot was on our ballot. As more GOP faces began appearing on TV, we decided to go home. I did not literally hide under the bed, but the turning off of tv, computer, and iPhones felt decisive. Like hanging black fabric over the mirrors.
It was as an awful day. And similar to experiencing an unexpected death. The polls had her winning even on that day. So many vignettes. Tears from learning voters were leaving their stickers on Susan B. Anthony’s gravesite. The festival parties that grew increasingly somber….
July 24, 2026 at 2:31 PM
It was as an awful day. And similar to experiencing an unexpected death. The polls had her winning even on that day. So many vignettes. Tears from learning voters were leaving their stickers on Susan B. Anthony’s gravesite. The festival parties that grew increasingly somber….
Also molecules of animals that couldn’t escape. Very much headache and tears.
July 17, 2026 at 7:50 PM
Also molecules of animals that couldn’t escape. Very much headache and tears.
As a NYRB article in 2017 put it, and following his Senate blockade of Obama’s last nomination to the Supreme Court, McConnell
is (or was) America’s “grave digger of democracy.”
is (or was) America’s “grave digger of democracy.”
July 8, 2026 at 2:47 AM
As a NYRB article in 2017 put it, and following his Senate blockade of Obama’s last nomination to the Supreme Court, McConnell
is (or was) America’s “grave digger of democracy.”
is (or was) America’s “grave digger of democracy.”
Reposted by BTBaum
Politics now is all cult-adjacent. Personalities and team identification. Real actual struggle for power and a better world requires mature and clear-eyed skepticism. MAGA isn’t the only political cult with built-in denial of reality. Every day we get new and disturbing examples of where this leads.
July 6, 2026 at 8:04 PM
Politics now is all cult-adjacent. Personalities and team identification. Real actual struggle for power and a better world requires mature and clear-eyed skepticism. MAGA isn’t the only political cult with built-in denial of reality. Every day we get new and disturbing examples of where this leads.
“Eggs belong in the dairy section!”
“No, they don’t!!
Personally, I don’t think the online world has ever (or could ever) adjudicate this one.
“No, they don’t!!
Personally, I don’t think the online world has ever (or could ever) adjudicate this one.
June 28, 2026 at 12:01 AM
“Eggs belong in the dairy section!”
“No, they don’t!!
Personally, I don’t think the online world has ever (or could ever) adjudicate this one.
“No, they don’t!!
Personally, I don’t think the online world has ever (or could ever) adjudicate this one.
Yes! And who’s afraid of…..
June 25, 2026 at 10:00 PM
Yes! And who’s afraid of…..
My marker for feeling ancient was when my nephew insisted he knew that “Liz & Dick” were the same people as “Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.” But when asked what they were famous for, why their names were bandied about, he tentatively said, “they were comedians?”
June 25, 2026 at 8:47 PM
My marker for feeling ancient was when my nephew insisted he knew that “Liz & Dick” were the same people as “Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.” But when asked what they were famous for, why their names were bandied about, he tentatively said, “they were comedians?”
@leahbrooks.bsky.social —you’ll like this!
May 30, 2026 at 6:36 AM
@leahbrooks.bsky.social —you’ll like this!
Not to mention The Parallex View directed by Alan J Paula in 1974. That, plus the two you mention are more incisive than the entire output of Oliver Stone.
May 19, 2026 at 5:08 AM
Not to mention The Parallex View directed by Alan J Paula in 1974. That, plus the two you mention are more incisive than the entire output of Oliver Stone.
What would cause this? Aside from the obvious (sulfur running thru their veins).
May 19, 2026 at 12:53 AM
What would cause this? Aside from the obvious (sulfur running thru their veins).
We lived through an Age of Material Abundance! (Unevenly distributed, but still real) How can we make lists of “the best” of any number? Museum curators say that ‘what is loved will be saved.’ Like the survivors in Fahrenheit 451, I hope everyone helps save even 1 treasure before it all blows away.
May 16, 2026 at 7:15 PM
We lived through an Age of Material Abundance! (Unevenly distributed, but still real) How can we make lists of “the best” of any number? Museum curators say that ‘what is loved will be saved.’ Like the survivors in Fahrenheit 451, I hope everyone helps save even 1 treasure before it all blows away.