This Week's Writing 8/22/25

featuring special guest cat

Like my mother-in-law’s cat Henry, I am peering into the future with some trepidation. But! Here’s what I published last week.

Politics

Newsom’s redistricting initiative is the rigth call. (Public Notice)

The left should consider Pritzker 28. (EIH)

Trump attacks religious freedom for federal workers. (Sojourner’s)

Cultural Criticism

Make Me Famous, about Ed Bezinski, shows how terribly we treat artists. (Observer.com)

An interview with Amran Gowani, author of the finance thriller Leverage. (EIH)

Toulouse-Lautrec, lonely man in crisis. (EIH)

Harryette Mullen bugs the New York School. (Splice Today)

Bring Her Back is a disappointment. (Splice Today)

Corporate espionage thriller Relay almost has something to say…and then not so much. (Chicago Reader)

James Baldwin, greatest movie critic ever. (EIH)

When Harry Met Sally, the worst romcom. (EIH)

Poetry

Evidence of reading too much Ogden Nash. (Five Fleas)

Trapped by cats on lap my thoughts must natter—
which of these two cats must be the cat-ter?

A poem about process.

To Do List

Write a poem.