Latest posts
This is an update to the recommendation I published last week regarding the New York State Senate election in District 13 , in which Jessica González-Rojas and Hiram Monserrate are challenging incumbent Jessica Ramos. Please read that first for context. As always, these are my personal thoughts and recommendations. I am a volunteer doing this on my own time. I am not representing any other group,…
Hi, neighbors! For your convenience, I've made this table of contents of all the Democratic primary elections I'm covering, and made an image and a PDF you can use to share this summary with others.
In this final post I'll cover the statewide Comptroller race and a few state Assembly and Senate races in central/western Queens. And, heck, I'll throw in a nearby Congressional race too.
In this post I'll cover the Democratic Party position elections for District Leader and State Committee in a few central/western Queens districts: Assembly Districts 34, 35, and 39 .
I'm beginning to publish my recommendations for New York City's Democratic primary election, 2026. (Early voting starts tomorrow: Saturday, June 13th. Tuesday June 23rd is the final day to vote.)In this post I'll cover the …
A quick note: I'm participating in WisCon this weekend. It's fully online (Discord + Zoom with some YouTube livestreams).As the chair of the board for the Otherwise Award, I do a fair amount of volunteering …
Please enjoy the following satirical piece I wrote, entitled "My Application For A Job As Mayor Zohran Mamdani's Associate Speechwriter", inspired by a job listing posted at cityjobs.nyc.gov April 17, 2026:Associate Speechwriter, Office of the …
Three bits and bobs that I've appreciated lately:Victoria Danclan's adaptation of Thomas Colthurst's sorting game. Caution that, if you really like recognizing patterns, putting things into categories, trivia, and similar stuff, this game is likely …
Hey New Yorkers: I'm once again researching local elections, emphasizing lesser-publicized races. This year, in New York State, the primary election will run June 13th - June 21st (early voting) with Election Day being Tuesday, …
One of those posts that serves as a marker for future me, noting the kinds of things that seem like furniture now and I may someday nostalgically long for.Saw Queen of Katwe last night, the …
I spent a chunk of last year learning and thinking a lot about Katherine Abughazaleh's campaign for the US legislature. I happened to learn about it in March 2025 as she launched, and contributed a …
I know, from personal experience, that it takes a significant amount of effort to research, write, revise, and submit a decently plausible funding proposal to the US government's National Science Foundation. A successful NSF proposal …
Early voting in New York City's 2025 general election started today. Yesterday I posted about the six ballot proposals; today I share some recommendations and links about the seven competitive judicial races (that is, races …
Early voting in New York City's 2025 general election starts this Saturday, Oct. 25th. I'm writing two blog posts sharing my thinking and recommendations, one about the six ballot proposals (this one), one about the …
Autumn consistently gets me into this mood, where I want to jot down a constellation of memories and feelings that gesture toward a theme without ever quite defining it.It's Deepavali, as I learned to say …
This past weekend in New York City, the weather's oscillated in and out of crispness, sun and breeze cordially nudging each other out of the way. Talking with a newer volunteer at the outreach table …
Recently, at the outreach table I run, I asked a guy what he's concerned about. He talked about an issue that's breaking his heart. I asked what actions he's taking on that issue, and he …
Up till now, I've mostly abstained from using generative AI. I'm now reassessing whether I should keep doing that. This post preserves a Fediverse thread I wrote yesterday, with better formatting, section headers, some additional …
The weekend after the Presidential election in November 2024, I was seized by the need to meet some neighbors, face-to-face, to be in solidarity with. On a crisp fall morning, I made a sign that …
Last-minute recommendations for New York City's Democratic primary election. (Early voting concluded Sunday; tomorrow, Tuesday the 24th, is the final day to vote.)I'm going to start with lesser-publicized races and move up the ballot.Western Queens …
Twenty-one years ago, Leonard Richardson created the now-popular open source tool Beautiful Soup. He's maintained it ever since. In 2024, the Python Software Foundation recognized his contributions with two service awards, naming him a PSF …
I used to co-run a group blog where we made fun of spam, and someday I do want to resurrect Spam As Folk Art as a static archive*. But in the meantime, I need to …
Annually, the last week of the year, singer-songwriter Dar Williams plays at a concert here in New York City. I really loved the one I attended in 2017, when I wrote, I tried going to …
Ever since I came across the sort of pop psychology metaphor "boundaries" several years ago, I've felt a little out of sync with it. And when I took some time to ask myself why, I …
I'm running a fundraiser for the Election Protection Hotline, 1-866-OUR-VOTE. No matter your position on the 2024 US election, I'm guessing you want the votes counted fairly. So I'm trying to raise USD $25,000 for …