Jenny Shank

How Awe-Inspiring Olympic Snowboarding Eased my Grumpiness about Accelerating Change Plus new books and movies about technology, robots, and headaches.

Watching Olympic snowboarding, I thought back to my summer internship with a concert promoter in the ‘90s, when I had to come up with a glossary of skateboarding terms to promote the first Warped Tour, and I marvel at the evolution of pretty much everything since then! bit.ly/4bZ9nf1

NPR - Breaking News, Analysis, Music, Arts & Podcasts Top stories in the U.S. and world news, politics, health, science, business, music, arts and culture. Nonprofit journalism with a mission. This is NPR.

I'm so proud of my friend Rachel Weaver, whose memoir DIZZY is published this week, and received this glowing review on @npr.org Fresh Air by Maureen Corrigan, who is one of my very favorite book critics! If you suffer from vertigo or migraine or just want a great read, check out DIZZY!

Hey la, hey la, my Jokic’s back! @nuggets.bsky.social

Famed Colorado radio broadcaster, civil rights activist James ‘Dr. Daddio’ Walker dies Colorado civil rights activist and pioneering Denver radio broadcaster James “Dr. Daddio” Walker has died, his family confirmed Tuesday.

Here's to a real one, Dr. Daddio, who brought Black radio to Denver. In 1968 he bought KDKO and shifted the format from country to R&B. Hiphop came late to Denver's airwaves, because Dr. Daddio didn't like it, but in the '80s, KDKO's late night DJs snuck some on.

www.denverpost.com/2026/01/30/j...

4-Week: Seeing the Big Picture—Techniques for Revising Fiction and Nonfiction Books Ann Patchett has described the process of writing a book as "somewhat akin to a very long police interrogation in which the detective leans over the table littered with the butt ends of cigarettes and...

I'm teaching a 4-week class at Lighthouse Writers Workshop starting Feb. 9, and it's all about revision!

Why did nobody say yay? Friend, you need to revise.

Join me on Zoom on Mondays from 6:30-8:30 p.m. mountain time, and I'll share my best tips and ideas for revising your book.
bit.ly/4q2CLnR

Bravo, @adamserwer.bsky.social. I love the idea of "neighborism." Read this article, neighbors: bit.ly/4r93IqU

Oh no. This one is going to be a good doctor though, I just know it!

How have I never seen the live auction of the junior champion steer at the National Western Stock Show on TV before? It’s cinema. The cow’s owner is 13 and she wants to be a doctor. The steer is gorgeous: fluffy, glossy. And with a winning bid of $320,000, it’s going to pay for med school.

I hate how this Nuggets game is ending, but the ref’s “more than marginal contact to the groin area” proclamation is a phrase that will linger in my consciousness.

I can't wait to read all these great finalists! Happy reading to me.

I got a few details wrong in my drawing--those blue eyes, his actual head being more of a Bert and less of an Ernie.

It took until 2000 for all 50 states to adopt MLK day. I've always thought of his dream as a verb. It's something we do, and must keep doing for as long as we want it to stay alive.

Jenny's first grade drawing of Dr. Martin Luther King.

In 1983, my first grade drawing of Dr. King was chosen to represent my school at a Denver art show to raise support for Colorado's adoption of the MLK holiday in 1984. Dr. King was one of the first famous Americans I ever learned about in school, along with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Curioser and Curioser: How Curiosity Makes Life Better Casa Bonita reigns supreme, Jamal Murray gets a mole-themed tribute, and literary events galore.

In this month's Tumbleweed, I share new research about how to enhance curiosity and recommend some books and upcoming literary events by poets Andrea Rexilius and Violet Mitchell, and the new season of Reading Den with @vitcavage.bsky.social, C. William Langsfeld and more!
bit.ly/4jNNMZ0

I wish I had any kind of power or money or job hiring capacity to help you. All I can say is you deserve better and more, and I hope you get it, soon.

bowling alley pingpong scene in Marty Supreme.

One of the best parts of Marty Supreme was all the real faces--people with unaltered noses, fat, wrinkles, scars, expressions. Actual, distinctive human beings whose faces told stories. It adds depth to the experience.

Nikola Jokic out 4 weeks with left knee hyperextension but avoids ACL injury Jokic is leading the league in rebounds and assists while averaging a career-high 29.6 points per game on the most efficient shooting splits of his life.

Thank heavens! @nuggets.bsky.social www.denverpost.com/2025/12/30/n...

Nuggets season is flashing before my eyes. I’m glad I watched Joker play as much as I could these past few years.

Always in Good Company: A Conversation with Fiction Writer, Humorist, and Book Critic Jenny Shank Her award-winning story collection is MIXED COMPANY

Thanks to Christine Sneed for interviewing me for her illustrious Substack, Bookish!

Always in Good Company: A Conversation with Fiction Writer, Humorist, and Book Critic Jenny Shank
open.substack.com/pub/christin...

I loved Fonseca!

Russ Vought (piss man) tweet about doing piss man shit: The National Science Foundation will be breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. This facility is one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country. A comprehensive review is underway & any vital activities such as weather research will be moved to another entity or location.

NSF is about to dismantle NCAR at Russell Vought's direction to protect the fossil fuel industry. It's hard to communicate just how much NCAR does, so let's take a look: I've never worked at NCAR, and I've worked with NCAR researchers once ever. What scientific discoveries has NCAR made possible? 👇

Sunrise in Boulder, Colorado this morning.

The Fourth Annual Jenfolk Book Awards Four years into this, and no Jen has stopped me yet.

Other readers make year-end best book lists, but I bestow book awards on behalf of all Jenkind. In this month's Tumbleweed, it's the 4th Annual Jenfolk Book Awards! @loriostlund.bsky.social @jfkane.bsky.social @erikakrouse.bsky.social jennyshank.substack.com/p/the-fourth...

The Mad Fanatic cultivated a following rapping about the Broncos, and built Bronco Gang along the way Spitting bars about the Broncos brought Andrew Young back from the edge of insanity — and tacked on a worldwide football family in the process.

This should be a movie: Andrew Young, twice hospitalized for weed-induced psychosis, claws his way back to sanity by writing raps about the Denver Broncos. These raps catch on and spark the creation of the Bronco Gang fan club. Also Andrew quit smoking weed. www.denverpost.com/2025/12/11/b...

It feels like the U.S. is going through some version of King Lear, Act 1 right now. So that means everything is just going to get more batshit.

One of the many reasons AI can't produce good writing is it can't hate its own writing. It can't think to itself "Maybe I'm illiterate" during the writing process. And that's essential

A Desert Between Two Seas by A. Muia The University of Georgia Press Short Story Collection. This Flannery O’Connor Award-winning collection opens in 1820 Baja California, where a mission priest bedecks a Virgin Mary statue with pearls his adopted Cohchimí son has plucked from the sea. The fate of the priest, the boy, and the last, resplendent pearl kicks off a century’s worth of interconnected stories that illuminate this fascinating setting and elemental human themes: love, jealousy, penitence, warfare, greed, fidelity, and faith. We meet a mescalera, a fierce, beautiful earless woman, and a miraculous donkey born from a mule. Muia writes incantatory prose that taps into folklore and history to deliver its surprises, joys, and wisdom. (Jenny Shank)

And don't sleep on A DESERT BETWEEN TWO SEAS by A. Muia (@ugapress.bsky.social)! #booksky

Hellions: Stories by Julia Elliot Tin House Short Story Collection. Hellions poses burning questions about humanity’s place in nature and connection to ancient rituals amid the environmental degradation and tech distractions of the modern world. But it’s way more fun than that makes it sound. In these funny, feminist tales, laced with magic, rule breakers raid hoards, soar to uncanny trampoline heights, visit prehistory through magic dating apps, and follow primal urges. Elliott writes sensory, sensual prose turned up to 11, with descriptions that practically explode. These rich and surprising stories, grounded in archetypal imagery, linger after reading the way a spent firework shimmers in the night sky before fading. (Jenny Shank)

Be sure to read HELLIONS by @juliaelliott.bsky.social (@tinhouse.bsky.social) #booksky

Creative Nonfiction. This vivid, melancholy memoir begins when Stanton, a recent college graduate, falls for Steve, a 27-year-old, separated father of three. Steve’s terminal cancer diagnosis shortly after they meet intensifies their intimacy. Stanton throws herself into caring for him, confronting the end of life at an age when most people are still reckoning with how to begin to live. Stanton writes with authenticity and candor, sharing insights she and Steve should have had a lifetime to learn: “‘Water is taught by thirst,’ Emily Dickinson wrote. Compassion is taught by grief, I learned. Our hearts are made tender by pain.” (Jenny Shank)

Check out THE MURMUR OF EVERYTHING MOVING by @maureenstanton.bsky.social (Columbus State University Press) #booksky

100 Notable Small Press Books of the Year, Lit Hub.

I had a great time reading small press books this year to winnow my choices to three excellent books to recommend on the @literaryhub.bsky.social 100 Notable Small Press Books of the year! bit.ly/3KzB82n

I’ve texted with more family members about Aaron Gordon’s hamstring injury last night than we ever text about most global events. If Mr. Nugget could heal off of well wishes alone he’d be up and running today. That man might be the most beloved person in Colorado.