Lisa Clarke

I am officially in my "I cut my own hair" era. Been giving myself little trims since January. Took 4 months off, flirting with letting it grow. Changed my mind and cut it short again last night. I'm not necessarily talented at this, but my wavy/curly hair is pretty good at hiding mistakes 🤭

My top artists for August were definitely influenced by who I saw live. I mean, @guster.bsky.social is a top five mainstay, but Iron & Wine and @carbonleaf.bsky.social have been getting a lot more play time than usual. Coincidentally wearing my Carbon Leaf t-shirt today 😁

Good morning, documentarians! It's that time of year again: the #WriteTheDocs salary survey is out: salary-survey.writethedocs.org #documentation

Back at work today after a great weekend at our first #ontheocean. Aside from the fantastic immersion into everything #guster 🤩, another high point for me was seeing #ironandwine -- loved his mostly female band! Thanks @guster.bsky.social @brianrosenworcel.bsky.social for an awesome experience!

Today's randomly generated Morning Coffee playlist is somehow full of "seize the day" vibes, which is kind of welcome on a Monday morning. open.spotify.com/playlist/5lS...

Feeling wanderlusty this morning. Grabbed my laptop and went looking for a coffee shop to work in. Found one that's new to me. Got a decaf americano & orange-cranberry scone. The stream of 80's music, tho? So hard to concentrate on boring work when every song transports to your high school days.

This year's summer playlist is mostly mellow: open.spotify.com/playlist/41E... (Would love to find a platform-agnostic way to share playlists. Anyone have any thoughts on that?)

Saw #toadthewetsprocket last night for the first time since 1997, and they were fantastic! So glad I started prioritizing live music with my favorite bands these last few years. It is such a joyful experience to be in a room full of people singing and dancing along to music you all love 🤗

I just wrote a @usmailnotforsale.bsky.social message to my senators: Stop the corporate raid on the Postal Service. Join me: actionnetwork.org/letters/stop...

Horrifying.

A proposed rule fueled by Trump’s conspiracy theories would require the USPS to keep a list of voters it believes should be allowed to vote by mail—and give them the power to hold those ballots hostage. Urge them to say NO and help protect voting by mail: act.standupamerica.com/letters/cte-...

I've just lowered the prices on everything in my Discogs shop. There's weird stuff from my childhood, classic albums I bought in a Goodwill lot, new titles I purchased recently but found they weren't to my taste... check it out: www.discogs.com/seller/polka...

From @kim.senate.gov"Because of your voice on Delaney Hall, the Trump admin just released 18 yr old high school senior whose story I told.They released the pregnant women held inside.These releases show ICE isn’t targeting the violent criminals. ICE is feeling the pressure. Keep raising your voice."

There's still time to help choose the Democratic candidate to flip #NJ07! Have a mail ballot but didn't send it yet? Do it today! Or take it to a drop box. Want to vote early-in-person? Locations open today & tomorrow. Or vote at the polls TUESDAY 6/2! All the info you need at onenj7.org/nj7race

Planning on voting by mail? Don’t forget to return your ballot! Learn more in our 2026 Primary Election Guide: https://www.aclu-nj.org/campaigns-initiatives/your-new-jersey-election-guide/

Instead of protecting Americans, Trump’s cruelty and chaos is allowing corporations to profit off of people’s pain. We must close Delaney Hall.

I want you to hear straight from me about what happened at Delaney Hall on Monday and what I saw inside the facility. ICE out of control. GEO Group profiting off of human misery. People living in inhumane conditions. Let me walk you through it.

Introducing 250 to 250: A series of one-minute stories of the many people, places, and events that have built our country and remind us of the power of each person to make history. #WeAreAmerica250

Excellent post from Kate Davies on "AI" and knitting. The surreal AI-generated photos make her point, I think. katedaviesdesigns.com/2026/04/29/k...

"Having a kind heart in a cruel world is not a weakness, it is a superpower."

Learn how QUIC.​cloud can protect your website's copyrighted stories, photos, and other artwork from AI site scraper bots like ChatGPT: www.quic.cloud/blocking-cha... #quiccloud #ai

New in the shop: I've made a bunch of pretty pens! Here's a tour 😁: www.lisaclarke.net/2026/04/20/f... #fountainpens #polkadotcottage 🧶

I've been making fancy pens lately. They're not in the shop yet, but here's a sneak peek: www.lisaclarke.net/2026/04/09/f... 🧶 #fountainpens #crosspens #polkadotcottage

I'm in a blogging mood. I'm in a blow off everything else on my to do list and go blogging mood. I've got things I HAVE to do, so I'm trying to resist, but this one squeaked out of me yesterday 😁 www.lisaclarke.net/2026/04/07/w...

As if the general weight of the world these days isn't enough, I find I am behind on starting my taxes, and there is an event on my calendar tomorrow that requires my very introverted self to get up in front of people and lead them in an activity. I feel a meltdown coming on 😭

I'm on the train back to DC – I call on all my colleagues to come back, too. Congress must vote to end this war IMMEDIATELY.

We need more American leaders to speak with this moral clarity, not violent and dangerous threats.

Thank you for making No Kings 3 the biggest day of mass protest that America has ever seen. #NoKings

Reminder that ICE agents standing around at airports are getting paid extremely well. TSA agents who are trained and actually busting their asses to work through an extreme situation are not receiving paychecks.

69 MILLION married women can’t use their birth certificate alone under the SAVE Act because their name changed. This isn’t accidental. This is engineered. Call your senators! 202-224-3121. #SaveActTaxesVoting

It's shower time. I hate taking showers. I love being clean, but that fifteen minutes it takes to disrobe, wash up, dry off, get dressed, and dry my hair? Fifteen minutes too many!

I haven't been blogging lately (I'm full of ideas, but no follow-through!). But I HAVE managed to send out a newsletter every month this year so far (yay me!). Here's March, which went out today, if you are interested: www.lisaclarke.net?mailpoet_rou... 🧶

One thing keeping me from feeling helpless during this exhausting administration is @jesscraven101.bsky.social's newsletter. Every day there is at least one small action I can take, even if it's just writing to my congresspeople. Small actions add up! Check it out: open.substack.com/pub/chopwood...

I started the switch from subscription Adobe Lightroom, to ON1 Photo Raw, which I paid $50 for once, and could choose to never upgrade if I want to. In theory, great move! In practice? Keyword migration is a nightmare. Hundreds of hierarchical keywords imported as a flat list. So much manual work 😭

This is why you need to be reading books and writing your own emails, by the way. When you outsource your thinking abilities, you risk turning your brain into soup. Heavy dependence on AI has already been linked with severe cognitive decline. What you don’t use, you will lose.

hey let's do that over here now

What does going to war with Iran get you? Does it make you safer? Does it make it easier to pay your bills? Does it make you more optimistic about your future?

Trump is bringing our country to the brink of war with no reason, no plan, and no regard for you.

#CD7 Your task today: #Roxbury is in Kean's district. Call and ask what he is doing (specifically) to keep the ICE facility, which the infrastructure can't handle, out of his district. Kean (202) 225-5361 908-547-3307

I kind of want to make these for dinner tonight. Not dessert. Dinner. Maybe with a dollop of peanut butter as the filling. "For protein." 😁

I find it bleak how many people seem to have given up on having any kind of intellectual life. Depression is rampant because we’ve abandoned books & hobbies in favor of joyless amusements. The single most attractive thing a person can do is read often & delight in learning.

So gross.

we need to talk about that Ring Super Bowl ad

MSNOW We do care about Nancy Guthrie but your coverage is way too much. Meanwhile, Minnesotans are at the Anne Frank level - warning us that NOTHING has changed since Tom Homan showed up last week. Neighbors as sheltering their immigrant neighbors. This is not the time to drop the coverage!

Need a bit of encouragement? This essay by @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social might help 💙 www.meditationsinanemergency.com/auspicious-o...

The Passaic