Megan Stielstra
@meganstielstra.bsky.social
writer, editor, teacher, axe-thrower 🪓
meganstielstra.com
meganstielstra.com
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
I wrote an essay for @bostonreview.bsky.social about what I learned about close reading when I taught at West Virginia University
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
The Claims of Close Reading - Boston Review
Literary studies have been starved by austerity, but their core methodology remains radical.
www.bostonreview.net
November 26, 2025 at 3:14 PM
I wrote an essay for @bostonreview.bsky.social about what I learned about close reading when I taught at West Virginia University
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
Chiiiiiiiiicagoland!
November 24, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Chiiiiiiiiicagoland!
"The books that small-press publishers produce show us – more than any other – that writing itself is as much a process of thinking, one of creative-critical engagement with the world through which we reach new understandings; and that this thinking is collaborative as well as singular."
"As long as policymakers continue to flood money into AI, small press publishers will only grow in importance. The quality of the books they produce, driven by that creative, alternative thinking & integrative design focus is only set to become more in demand." www.thebookseller.com/comment/dont...
Don’t invest in AI, invest in the future of the book
Why the publishing industry must back small presses, rather than LLMs.
www.thebookseller.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:22 PM
"The books that small-press publishers produce show us – more than any other – that writing itself is as much a process of thinking, one of creative-critical engagement with the world through which we reach new understandings; and that this thinking is collaborative as well as singular."
Let's make essays.
I cannot overstate what an inspiring, brilliant & empowering teacher-essayist @meganstielstra.bsky.social is. So if you have stories inside you that you are terrified of writing and/or feel like they are clawing their way out of you, you should probably join me in January.
LET'S GO 🖊🔥
LET'S GO 🖊🔥
Have you heard?! The force of nature that is @meganstielstra.bsky.social is teaching a four-session online class starting Jan 8. This class will give writers everything they need to know to write powerful personal essays that center the human experience.
buff.ly/kjE6IyR
#writers
buff.ly/kjE6IyR
#writers
November 24, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Let's make essays.
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
Just an absolutely gutting essay by Tatiana Schlossberg, a writer, mother of two young children, and cousin of RFK Jr who is dying of leukemia.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
November 22, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Just an absolutely gutting essay by Tatiana Schlossberg, a writer, mother of two young children, and cousin of RFK Jr who is dying of leukemia.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
Congratulations to Omar El Akkad for winning the 2025 National Book Award in Nonfiction! ICYMI: Omar's appearance on the show was one of the great all-time conversations so far.
Audio: tinhouse.com/podcast/omar...
Audio: tinhouse.com/podcast/omar...
Omar El Akkad : One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This - Tin House
In late October 2023, weeks into Israel’s bombing of northern Gaza, the novelist Omar El Akkad retweeted a video taken by a Gazan man. This video showed a lifeless moonscape with endless empty streets...
tinhouse.com
November 20, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Congratulations to Omar El Akkad for winning the 2025 National Book Award in Nonfiction! ICYMI: Omar's appearance on the show was one of the great all-time conversations so far.
Audio: tinhouse.com/podcast/omar...
Audio: tinhouse.com/podcast/omar...
"Now might be a good time to try and detect your own pelvic floor. Sit on the corner of your chair, or more ideally the corner of a table, so that the area between your legs is in full contact with the surface. (If you’re in a public place or office, try to be … a little bit subtle about this.)"
I wrote this piece because I only learned about pelvic floors a few years ago, despite having had one all my life. And then it turned out to be where I store all my issues. And then that turned out to be true for a lot of people www.wired.com/story/the-pe...
The Pelvic Floor Is a Problem
Everyone’s suddenly obsessed with the pelvic floor—physical therapists, MAHA influencers, me. Could this deeply misunderstood body part really be the seat of so much modern dysfunction?
www.wired.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:53 PM
"Now might be a good time to try and detect your own pelvic floor. Sit on the corner of your chair, or more ideally the corner of a table, so that the area between your legs is in full contact with the surface. (If you’re in a public place or office, try to be … a little bit subtle about this.)"
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
Astonishing to stop and realize that, at any given moment, bands of masked men armed to the teeth are storming churches and daycares, terrorizing entire communities—and that most of the country's political establishment barely blinks.
November 19, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Astonishing to stop and realize that, at any given moment, bands of masked men armed to the teeth are storming churches and daycares, terrorizing entire communities—and that most of the country's political establishment barely blinks.
sam ❤️❤️❤️
@romej.thetriibe.com just wrote what I think is one of the best profiles we’ve ever produced. If you are an artist who has tried to make it in L.A.—or an artist period— read this. thetriibe.com/2025/11/chic...
Chicago raised her. Hollywood sharpened her. Director Sam Bailey returns home to create on her own terms • The TRiiBE
Fresh off directing for Marvel’s ‘Ironheart,’ Bailey returns to her hometown ready to get back to the collaborative Chicago artistry that first fueled her art.
thetriibe.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:17 AM
sam ❤️❤️❤️
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
One way I have found to mourn someone is to set up a monthly sustaining donation to a mutual aid effort they cared about. If you can join me in honoring Alice Wong, @sfdirewolf.bsky.social with a sustaining donation today, please do. Thank you Alice, and I will not let the bastards grind me down.
November 15, 2025 at 12:34 PM
One way I have found to mourn someone is to set up a monthly sustaining donation to a mutual aid effort they cared about. If you can join me in honoring Alice Wong, @sfdirewolf.bsky.social with a sustaining donation today, please do. Thank you Alice, and I will not let the bastards grind me down.
This spring I'm working with @offassignment.bsky.social on an online class about writing rage. Dan, Maggie, Ashley, and Carmen are going to help me. Their work has kept me from launching myself into the sun. Come join us.
Hey next Feb/March I'm helping the incredible @meganstielstra.bsky.social with a class she's teaching called "Writing Rage." The amazing @smashfizzle.bsky.social and @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social and Carmen Maria Machado are also helping. Will be wild. www.offassignment.com/writing-rage
Writing Rage — Off Assignment
www.offassignment.com
November 13, 2025 at 2:20 PM
This spring I'm working with @offassignment.bsky.social on an online class about writing rage. Dan, Maggie, Ashley, and Carmen are going to help me. Their work has kept me from launching myself into the sun. Come join us.
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
i’m ready for something different than whatever the fuck this is
November 10, 2025 at 12:51 AM
i’m ready for something different than whatever the fuck this is
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
I know quite a few comrades on the ACA exchange. I used to be on the exchange for years. A doubling or tripling of premium costs will be a death sentence for people who NEED HEALTH INSURANCE to survive. PERIOD.
We've heard Democrats say as much for WEEKS. So what the hell??????
We've heard Democrats say as much for WEEKS. So what the hell??????
November 9, 2025 at 11:05 PM
I know quite a few comrades on the ACA exchange. I used to be on the exchange for years. A doubling or tripling of premium costs will be a death sentence for people who NEED HEALTH INSURANCE to survive. PERIOD.
We've heard Democrats say as much for WEEKS. So what the hell??????
We've heard Democrats say as much for WEEKS. So what the hell??????
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
With appearances by @britticisms.bsky.social, @zoezolbrod.bsky.social, Gina Frangello, @meganstielstra.bsky.social, and the all-star band of @marydeereynolds.bsky.social, Amalea Tshilds, @beanatitagain.bsky.social, Angela James, L. Wyatt, Julie Pomerleau & Jeanine O'Toole.
CHICAGO! We are getting the band back together for ONE NIGHT ONLY to celebrate Sinéad with words, music, and cake. Dec 17 at the Hideout. Proceeds go to @icirr.bsky.social
Nothing Compares to Her: A Salute to Sinéad | Hideout Chicago
Nothing Compares to Her: A Salute to Sinéad The late Sinéad O’Connor was a singular talent whose soaring voice and fearless advocacy for children, the LGBTQ community, and anyone being crushed by th...
hideoutchicago.com
November 7, 2025 at 3:21 PM
With appearances by @britticisms.bsky.social, @zoezolbrod.bsky.social, Gina Frangello, @meganstielstra.bsky.social, and the all-star band of @marydeereynolds.bsky.social, Amalea Tshilds, @beanatitagain.bsky.social, Angela James, L. Wyatt, Julie Pomerleau & Jeanine O'Toole.
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 6, 2025 at 9:00 PM
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
❤️❤️❤️❤️
HUGE ANNOUCEMENT: We are beside ourselves with excitement to share with you that we've been awarded a $100,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
November 6, 2025 at 9:49 PM
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
Ellis says she sees a Chicago where neighbors "have shown up for each other .. standing watch to protect the most vulnerable among us."
November 6, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Ellis says she sees a Chicago where neighbors "have shown up for each other .. standing watch to protect the most vulnerable among us."
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
Ellis starting the day off by reading out Carl Sandburg's poem "Chicago" in its entirety.
November 6, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Ellis starting the day off by reading out Carl Sandburg's poem "Chicago" in its entirety.
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
When operation midway blitz started, the term “detained” was used to describe federal agents taking ppl. There has been a shift in the language being used among rapid responders and Chicagoans. Abduction/kidnapped feels more accurate bc there are no warrants, no badged agents, no due process.
November 4, 2025 at 6:56 PM
When operation midway blitz started, the term “detained” was used to describe federal agents taking ppl. There has been a shift in the language being used among rapid responders and Chicagoans. Abduction/kidnapped feels more accurate bc there are no warrants, no badged agents, no due process.
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
Another world is possible, if we fight for it
November 5, 2025 at 3:27 AM
Another world is possible, if we fight for it
Reposted by Megan Stielstra
The lesson here is have good principles and stand on them. Stand for something that isn't power!
Zohran at the rally for trans youth on february 8 ❣️ he was polling single digits.
November 5, 2025 at 2:59 AM
The lesson here is have good principles and stand on them. Stand for something that isn't power!