Julia Fierro

I had a great time talking about @sackettstreet with other leaders of indie writing schools @BlakeKimzey @rebeccamakkai & G. E. Patterson for @awpwriter WRITERS CHRONICLE. You can read "The New MFA?" free here. @loftliterary @StoryStudio @WritingWorkshps #MFAalternatives

When I was teaching at a high school in Alaska, we read Dostoyevsky's "Notes from Underground" together. Paragraph by paragraph. We spent six weeks on that one story. Here's what paragraph-by-paragraph close reading actually looks like: I'd read a passage aloud. Then I'd ask, "What is the Underground Man really saying here?" Silence at first. Then someone would venture an interpretation. Someone else would push back. Within ten minutes, they'd be arguing about human nature, about pride and spite and self-deception. People hear this and assume I was working with exceptional kids. I wasn't. I was working with kids who had never been asked to grapple with genuinely profound ideas before. In my experience, when you treat young people as capable of serious intellectual work, and take the time to train them how to read difficult texts, they learn how to do so.

Jessica Winter has been raising her children to detest A.I. Then her daughter’s public middle school began receiving Google Chromebooks, which came pre-installed with an all-ages version of Gemini, a suite of A.I. tools. “When my daughter, who is in sixth grade, begins writing an essay, she gets a prompt: ‘Help me write,’ ” Winter writes. “If she is starting work on a slide-show presentation, the prompt is ‘Help me visualize.’ She shoos away these interruptions, but they persist: ‘Help me edit.’ ‘Beautify this slide.’ ” Proponents of generative A.I. in elementary and middle schools argue that such early exposure will foster digital-media literacy, and prepare them for a future in which most professions are steeped in A.I. But the technology also poses significant cognitive and social-emotional risks to young people. Read Winter’s report about A.I.’s infiltration into schools—and what it could mean for young minds: newyorkermag.visitlink.me/NSWuBG

Many of you are asking how you can help me. My only ask is this: Spread the word about the threats to democracy and how we can fight back. Tel everyone to subscribe to Democracy Docket for free and share its content with everyone you know. Thanks. bit.ly/4a7l1TR

imagine you’re 5 years old & your parents are addicted to their phones

The zoomies of this fawn while its mother rests.

This White House and this Supreme Court are brought to you courtesy of Mitch McConnell. I am running for U.S. Senate to replace him, clean up his mess, and finally prioritize working people.

Cloris Leachman's final scene in "The Last Picture Show" (1971) was filmed without any rehearsal. She wanted to rehearse the scene but Peter Bogdanovich was against the idea as he thought that it would ruin the scene. Bogdanovich was so happy with the first take, he said to her, "Cut, print, you just won the Oscar.’ Leachman replied, ‘I can do it better.’ Then Bogdanovich said, ‘No, you can’t.’ Bogdanovich felt that way since the scene was so fresh and she was shaking. He knew she couldn’t possibly do it better. She could hardly breathe after filming the scene. He was proved right when she won the Oscar for her performance. P.S: Remembering Cloris Leachman on her 100th birthday! ("Remembering Cloris Leachman, an Oscar- and Emmy-Winning Actor of Stunning Range", Stuart Emmrich, Vogue, 2021 & IMDb)

Every parent to a Gen Z kid thinks this every day. Devastating.

Last night I had dinner with a friend who teaches undergrads. He made a point I had not considered: for these kids, their whole formative experience has been dominated by Trump. Imagine growing up thinking this is the way leaders are supposed to behave. It’s appalling.

fun fact: all Minions are male bc the creator of minions stated he "couldnt imagine female characters being so stupid".

I’m so tired of people declaring perfectly normal literary techniques “bad writing”. 1st person pov isn’t bad. Dual pov isn’t bad. Prologues aren’t bad. Dream sequences aren’t bad. These are all tools. People need to stop confusing personal preferences with objective critique

On the one-year anniversary of her passing, we remember Virginia Giuffre—her courage helped countless survivors find their voice. We honor her memory by continuing the work for real accountability. Thinking of her family and survivors still seeking justice.

Companies replacing junior roles with AI and then wondering why they can't find senior talent in five years is going to be the most predictable crisis in hiring history.

Bryony Rose Jennings, artist who creates whimsical animal sculptures from textile scraps #WomensArt

U.S. billionaires increased their wealth by over $1.5 trillion so far over the last year. Our system is designed by the very rich to exploit and extract wealth from everyone else.

"Oh, do you think he was referring to you?" will go down in history as one of the most brilliant interview questions ever asked.

I feel like everyone should know about Goldcrests. They weigh just about 1/100th of a pound and look really grumpy all the time.

Today, we are honoring and remembering Virginia Roberts Giuffre on the one-year anniversary of her passing. It is her courage and commitment to truth and accountability that has allowed countless survivors to be seen, to be heard, and to be believed. Sending so much love to her family and loved ones on this difficult day—and to all the survivors out there still on this journey for justice. ❤️

Watching movie with ur mom is just her asking u questions only the director would know the answers to

If you're going to have a lawn, make it red creeping thyme. It barely needs water after the first year. It tops out around 2 to 3 inches and never needs mowing. It produces a carpet of magenta flowers in summer that bees and butterflies cover like a feeding station. It smells like thyme when you walk on it, because it is thyme. It's the same genus as the culinary kind, and edible. Deer won't eat it. Rabbits won't eat it. Grass is crowded out by it. It's hardy in most of the US (zones 4 through 9), tolerates poor soil, and handles moderate foot traffic. Honest caveat: creeping thyme isn't native to North America. But neither is your lawn. Kentucky bluegrass is European. Bermuda grass is African. Every square foot of creeping thyme replacing turfgrass is net positive for pollinators, soil, and water use. If you want a fully native ground cover, look into Pennsylvania sedge for shade, pussytoes or wild strawberry for sun, and moss phlox for rocky spots. But if you're going to have a lawn, make it one that does something.