Sam Jack

Sam Jack

@samtjack.bsky.social

Librarian, classical singer, journalist and poet in Wichita, KS!

97 followers112 following48 posts

Sam Jack reposted

Kansas Leadership Center
@theklc.bsky.social

Great shows don’t tell the whole story. Century II’s limitations drive up costs, restrict programming and require constant workarounds—often invisible to audiences, which can make the problems feel less urgent than they are. ✍️ Sam Jack 📸 Selena Favela

klcjournal.comPerformers in Wichita need more than Century II. Is a new center still possible?Supporters of a new center, deflated after the failed sales tax vote, say that public-private dollars are crucial in achieving that dream.
Sam Jack
@samtjack.bsky.social

@joshtpm.bsky.social Why aren’t Democrats pointing out that if Republicans don’t want to negotiate on the budget, they can eliminate the filibuster? That would seem to add clarity to the situation — and the filibuster will need to go anyway when it’s time for a bare majority of Dems to codify Roe.

Sam Jack
@samtjack.bsky.social

The phrasing “not only ___, it’s ___” is a favorite of ChatGPT. I’m seeing this formula crop up in online text and articles with astonishing frequency. Each time I see it now I’m annoyed by the suspicion that I’m reading cruft no one took the time to actually write.

Sam Jack
@samtjack.bsky.social

Every time I hear the phrase “Liberation Day,” I think of the George Saunders short story where people are glued to a wall in a wealthy man’s home and forced to sing.

Sam Jack
@samtjack.bsky.social

I started watching “Prime Target,” the new spy show on Apple, with my parents. It’s silly fun. Dad fished out these prime number discovery patents that he wrote and had issued for a Wichita inventor.

Sam Jack
@samtjack.bsky.social

“Many of those interviewed broke down in tears as they described the rapid destruction of decades of work.” As a (formerly full time) reporter let me say: There’s a depth behind a dispassionate sentence like that. These reporters have had a close encounter with something truly outrageous and tragic.

nytimes.comHealth Programs Shutter Around the World After Trump Pauses Foreign Aid (Gift Article)Lifesaving treatment and prevention programs for tuberculosis, malaria, H.I.V. and other diseases cannot access funds to continue work.
Sam Jack
@samtjack.bsky.social

Today the president stood up in front of the country and blamed the AA 5342 disaster on minorities and the disabled. Those who live in Wichita, I urge you to phone Rep. Ron Estes’s office today and demand that Estes denounce those comments. estes.house.gov/contact/

estes.house.govContact | U.S. Representative Ron EstesI value all feedback from residents of my district. The best way to reach out is through online messages below or via phone: (202) 225-6216 for my Washington, D.C. office and (316) 262-8992 for my Wic...
Sam Jack
@samtjack.bsky.social

My latest for shoutwichita.com. Thank you Emily!

Emily Christensen@schmemily.bsky.social

Terrific preview of the Opera Kansas production of "Proving Up" by @samtjack.bsky.social, who is on the verge of turning me into an opera fan. The supernatural thriller about Nebraska settlers in the 1860s will be presented at Wichita's frontier-themed living history museum. Tix are $35 + fees.

shoutwichita.com'Proving Up' puts Opera Kansas on new music’s frontierMissy Mazzoli’s haunting chamber opera arrives at Old Cowtown Museum this Friday.
Sam Jack
@samtjack.bsky.social

For years there's been a wooden sign at an intersection near a trailer park outside Goddard, KS. And for years, the only thing on that sign had been a smallish painting of a weird-looking animal -- maybe it was an opossum?

Sam Jack
@samtjack.bsky.social

Today, I saw that someone covered up the opossum with white paint. So now, it's a blank sign with an irregularly-shaped splash of white paint in the middle. I think it's funny to imagine the little scene that must have played out when someone finally decided to eliminate this piece of "public art."

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