Naomi J. Williams

Hello from AWP Baltimore!

Today’s Silly Pangram: JORACULAR, adj., of something that is both funny & prophetic.

“In a move worthy of joracular theater, the self-proclaimed monarch’s crown fell off his head & clattered noisily on the ground.”

#NYTSpellingBee

I grew up mostly in NJ so this shouldn’t be a surprise to me, but I’ve spent most of my adult life in California & I’m looking out the window of this Lyft taking me to AWP & going, Dang, it is still fully winter here ❄️ 😮

Boarding flight for Baltimore now & keep looking around gate wondering who around me is also a writer headed to AWP & it feels like everyone else is doing that too lol

Theft, feedback loops and ecological red flags: Capital Region writers face a new reality with AI • Sacramento News & Review Timely reports from Sacramento News & Review writers on breaking news and big issues.

I might've been quoted a few times in this piece by Odin Rasco for Sacramento News & Review about AI & its effects on writers.

?

(There was supposed to be a question mark at the end of that. 😃)

It actually appears to be a depiction of the Dumont d’Urville expedition, which followed Peter Dillon’s trip to Vanikoro & corroborated much of what Dillon learned about the final fate of the La Pérouse expedition. Interesting! Where does this image come from

A Cruise Ship for the Disappeared - Electric Literature "Awaiting the Declassification of Documents at Some Point in the Near or Distant Future," flash fiction by Corey Farrenkopf

You know I love a shipwreck story. Really enjoyed this one from @coreyfarrenkopf.bsky.social

100%

Today’s Silly Pangram: NONFLICTION, n., 1. something that is not an affliction; 2. nonfiction that has been adapted to film or seems amenable to film adaptation; 3. confusingly, fiction deemed *not* conducive to film adaptation.

Hopefully you mean while Spelling Bee-ing, not while, say, hiking.

That should absolutely be accepted! I was also annoyed they didn’t take “monocot” or “amanita”

🐈 Today’s Silly Pangram: OMNICAT, a cat who seems to possess the preternatural ability to be in multiple places simultaneously. 🐈

#NYTSpellingBee

Today’s Silly Pangram needs no explanation: BALDGUY. As my own adorable baldguy spouse likes to say when he hears people complaining about going gray: “Gray hair is *hair*.”

#NYTSpellingBee

Labor Secretary’s Husband Barred From the Department After Sexual Assault Reports

It’s just creeps & crooks all the way down. I feel like I need an eyewash station to scrub my eyeballs every time I glance at the news

Today’s Silly Pangram: AVOCADRON, a hybrid fruit (avocado + citron) with thin yellow rind and pale green flesh. Prized for its citrusy aroma but an acquired taste for many due to its unusual consistency, described as “simultaneously creamy yet pulpy.”

#NYTSpellingBee

The Trial of Gisèle Pelicot’s Rapists United France and Fractured Her Family After fifty-one men were convicted of the crime, Pelicot became a feminist hero. But additional accusations left her children struggling to accept her new role.

This was a difficult, grim read, but rang very true, the way it describes how sexual violence in a family can pit its victims against each other.

Today’s Silly Pangram: WINGLOOP, a wrist or finger ring or loop at the ends of winged parts of some costumes. (Look it up! You’ll find pictures of kids having fun dressed up as butterflies & the like.)

#NYTSpellingBee

Today’s Silly Pangram: HATGRIP, the elastic or adjustable bands on some hats that help keep it on wearer’s head. “The doctor told her that her chronic headaches were likely caused by overly tight hatgrips on her baseball caps.”

I sometimes wonder if he is two people. The same man who made “Perfect Days,” that gorgeous ode to Tokyo & to an ordinary man’s capacity for wonder, also, in the same year, made “Anselm,” as bloated & pandering (& boring) a film about art as any I’ve ever seen (well, until I saw “The Brutalist”)

Been there!

Is it a man who binges or a man one binges on?

Today’s Silly Pangram: GAMEBIN. A bin filled with… games, usually discounted, at a game shop.

Also, today’s actual pangram a little triggering for this disappointed Kings fan lol

I think physics had something to say about that today. Although I’m sad for him; wanted him to have an epic skate

Damn. Shocker in Men’s figure-skating final

This bit took the cake, though, for sheer preening, entitled pettiness. Noem had to switch planes, her blankie is left behind, she fires the Coast Guard pilot, then has to hire the pilot back because no one else could fly her out. Ludicrous

Grimly comical piece that details one outrageous incident after another, followed by “The DHS spokeswoman denied this.” Just over & over. Would actually be funny if they weren’t responsible for ruining so many people’s lives.

Today’s Silly Pangram, the demoralizing UNVELOED, past participle of UNVELO, to lose or have one’s bicycle taken away, as in “Multiple households on their block were UNVELOED after thieves broke into their garages.” (Has been happening in my neighborhood, though, not yet 🤞 to us.)

#NYTSpellingBee

I don’t remember this!

Person close to Kuminga reportedly took problematic amount of food from Warriors How much food did this person take?

Funniest headline I've seen in a while: "Person close to Kuminga reportedly took problematic amount of food from Warriors." That "problematic amount of food" just kills me. How much is "problematic"? Apparently "bags & bags of catered food." LMAO

The American way! Go USA 🇺🇸 😞