Michelle
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thegreenstudy.com
Michelle
@thegreenstudy.com
Writer, Minnesotan, Army Veteran, Bird Nerd, Parent, Spouse, Atheist, GenX. I've named the squirrels in my yard & I swear a lot.
Writing at thegreenstudy.com. She/her.
2025-26 Loft Literary Mentor Fellow in Fiction.
Ruining workplaces since 1985.
Pinned
"My heart is moved by all I cannot save: so much has been destroyed I have to cast my lot with those who age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world."
Adrienne Rich
Reposted by Michelle
Seventy years have passed since Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery bus, and her legacy is often shrunk into that single moment.

Detroit, the city where she chose to continue her life, insists on remembering her differently.
Rosa Parks’ story didn’t end in Montgomery. These students are proof of that.
The Rosa Parks Scholarship Foundation aims to tell the story of Parks' life beyond the bus while helping Michigan students devoted to service and social change.
19thnews.org
December 1, 2025 at 1:37 PM
MN faves - U of MN, Graywolf, and Milkweed on the list. Great source for reading recs in the upcoming year.

lithub.com/100-notable-...
100 Notable Small Press Books of 2025
The idea of 100 Notable Small Press Books was born November 2024, after The New York Times’s annual 100 Notable Books list featured eighty-two books from the Big Five publishing houses (Pengu…
lithub.com
December 1, 2025 at 1:24 PM
I am showing up well as a writer on social media. Without an edit function, I'm going to consider all my typos stylistic choices. I'm stylish as hell.
December 1, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Perusing a Chinese book based on Confucianism called Three Character Classic, which was a school literacy tool used by primarily male students. I ran across these unexpected lines:
"Are boys not equal to girls? Certainly not! Therefore you boys should constantly remind yourselves to improve."
November 30, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Reading Jamaica Kincaid's Lucy. Wow. The narrator's voice is established immediately and I am hooked and invested. This is going to be a one-day read, I can tell!

www.panmacmillan.com/authors/jama...
Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid
Find out more about Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid
www.panmacmillan.com
November 30, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Preparing for a holiday season of: "How's your book going?" As a Minnesotan I can answer "It's going" and have that be the end of the conversation.
November 26, 2025 at 4:31 PM
I like shoveling snow, I cannot lie. It's beautiful, quiet except for the scrape of my shovel, and there's usually nobody around when I'm walking swathes of snow across the driveway. In five months I'll be cussing up a storm, but for now, the first shovel of the season made me happy.
November 26, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Eating chocolate chip cookies to have something in my stomach so it doesn't get upset when I take my vitamins. Peak holiday healthcare.
November 26, 2025 at 2:24 PM
I never fail at reverting to a sullen, snarky teenager at events with unchosen family. Thank goodness for the power to find and choose our own families as adults. May you find yours.
“If you think you’re enlightened, go spend a week with your family.” ~ Ram Dass.
November 26, 2025 at 1:26 PM
One of the prompts in a writing seminar last week was:
What gives you freedom? What holds you back?

Reading gives me freedom & joy. I think self-doubt holds me back, but it's a blessing & a curse. It makes me think before I do/say most things.

Great questions to clarify where to spend our time.
November 26, 2025 at 12:48 PM
We make imperfect choices everyday. It's a function of capitalist monopolies. Not shopping won't change the world, but it can change you - help you claim power as a consumer, teach you to participate in collective action, and surprise you when you find out what you can do without. It's worth a try.
November 25, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Reposted by Michelle
We are monitoring the situation in St. Paul and working to understand what unfolded. We received no heads up from federal authorities on this operation.

While we are always willing to work together on public safety, that is clearly not what this chaotic situation was about.
November 25, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Got rid of cable 20 yrs ago, put adblocking on our routers & individual devices. I use PrivacyBadger, Ghostery, DuckDuckGo. The work not to be tracked or see advertising continues apace. On top of defensive driving, we have to do defensive consuming. Now AI bullshit. This is exhausting.
November 25, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Reposted by Michelle
Today, PEN America introduces the Incarcerated Writers Bureau, a digital resource for professionals seeking to work with writers and journalists in US prisons. The website features a database of best practices, a submission hub, and writer profiles. Read more here: pen.org/press-releas...
New Digital Resource to Help Publishers, Journalists and Literary Agents Work Directly with Incarcerated Writers
The Prison and Justice Writing Program at PEN America launches Incarcerated Writers Bureau, a digital resource that will help make professional and creative opportunities more accessible to writers in...
pen.org
November 25, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Most bigotries seem irrational. Beyond forever misogyny, antisemitism has a long and storied history. As ever, bigotry is about retaining power through scapegoating. This explainer by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social is extremely useful.
www.lifeisasacredtext.com/the-antisemi...
The Antisemitism Post (tm)
Gotta get the history to know where the tropes live in the discourse today.
www.lifeisasacredtext.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:45 PM
There is NOTHING controversial about telling soldiers not to follow illegal orders. There is something controversial when idjits suggest all the president's orders are legal, as if power emanates from the person and cannot be curtailed. The seditious behavior is coming from inside the House.
November 25, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Who is out there eating pie for their health? Just let us enjoy ourselves for two whole damned seconds without turning it into a thing.

apnews.com/article/than...
Sweet potato or pumpkin? The Thanksgiving pie debate
They’re both round, orange and probably bad for your health, but which is the better Thanksgiving dessert: pumpkin or sweet potato pie?
apnews.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:11 PM
I'm not fond of holidays in general, but learning how to feed Keto, vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan people at the table is a fun time to explore recipes, even if they might be disasters. As long as we have mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, veggies, a slab of meat, pie, and an UNO deck, we're good.
November 25, 2025 at 1:04 PM
If it takes someone from the world's least mannered, drug-addled, trashiest, most incompetent administration to get you to behave like a decent human while traveling, well, we know you aren't going to and never were. There's no place like home for your space hoarding, stinky feet, & binge drinking.
November 25, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Stopped following someone referencing NYT articles. I'm not subscribing to that shitshow. Do the gift link if you want us to know what you're posting about. If it seems unfair to these mainstream pubs...Oh won't someone think of the propaganda-spreading billionaires?
Indie reporters rule.
November 23, 2025 at 2:03 PM
As AI tech capitalists seek to make the world more bland, exploitative, colorless & so,so boring, anyone who does original, painstaking, & thoughtful creative work will help us retain our humanity. Find your creative community and art harder.
November 23, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Abortion is healthcare. The hatred of women in these policies is palpable. And we beg for half-measures, "exceptions" so that our mothers and daughters do not die. It's unforgivable.

www.propublica.org/article/texa...
“Ticking Time Bomb”: A Pregnant Mother Kept Getting Sicker. She Died After She Couldn’t Get an Abortion in Texas.
Walker is one of several women ProPublica found with underlying health conditions who died when they couldn’t access abortions.
www.propublica.org
November 19, 2025 at 12:47 PM
I had to read up on agentic AI. It's the stuff of nightmares. I hate AI from a creative standpoint, but also from a human perspective. We're just outsourcing our brains on purpose until we're completely under the thumb of misogynistic, bigoted tech jagoffs.
November 18, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Grifters are always grifters no matter how much you agree with what they're saying in the moment. If they want to finally do the right thing, they can do their penance without an audience. They're not entitled to our attention. Nor our votes. MTG & her ilk will reap what they have sown.
November 18, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Reposted by Michelle
"They each offer inclusive, emotionally rich narratives that invite readers to confront and honor the past while forging their own paths forward." Check out Bay Area Reporter's fabulous joint review of "When the Harvest Comes" and "Both/And" 💛 🩵 🩷
Denne Michele Norris's ‘When the Harvest Comes’ & ‘Both/And: Essays by Trans and Gender Non-Conforming Writers of Color’
In a literary landscape hungry for authentic voices, Denne Michele Norris emerges this year with two groundbreaking works: her debut novel, “When the Harvest Comes,” and a trans anthology she has…
buff.ly
November 17, 2025 at 11:00 PM