ravan

In marking the end of Ramadan, Twin Cities Muslims find relief from talk of ICE enforcement
The winter’s scars remain, but during Eid al-Fitr, the community’s conversation turned to celebration and family time.
by Shadi Bushra
https://www.minnpost.com/metro/2026/03/in-marking-the-end-of-ramadan-twin-cities-muslims-find-relief-from-talk-of-ice-enforcement-eid-al-fitr/

Minnesota stands out as an exceptionally generous and prosperous state, thanks to the contributions of immigrants
Under constant siege even before the federal ICE invasion, immigrants have been providing almost all our population increase and much of our economic growth.
by Dane Smith
https://www.minnpost.com/community-voices/2026/03/minnesota-stands-out-as-an-exceptionally-generous-and-prosperous-state-thanks-to-the-contributions-of-immigrants/ ( Read more... )

Posted by Joey Esposito

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/allen-smithee-hollywood-pseudonym/

Though primarily associated with "bad" movies, its original use was for the critically acclaimed 1969 film "Death of a Gunfighter."

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/allen-smithee-hollywood-pseudonym/

13 books new to me, and save for one mystery, all fantasy. Man, fantasy is just eating SF's lunch. Not that that will be reflected in what I actually review.

Books Received, March 14 — March 20

Poll #34393 Books Received, March 14 — March 20

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 11

View Respondents

Which of these look interesting?

View Answers

The Siren by Tomi Adeyemi (October 2026)
3 (27.3%)

Twined Fates: Tangled Hearts, Book Three by K. Bromberg (October 2026)
0 (0.0%)

Light of the Song by Joyce Ch’Ng (September 2025)
5 (45.5%)

The First Flame by Lily Berlin Dodd (November 2026)
1 (9.1%)

A Destiny So Cruel by Amanda Foody & C. L. Herman (November 2026)
1 (9.1%)

Find Me Where It Ends by Cassandra Khaw (October 2026)
6 (54.5%)

Bad Company by Sara Paretsky (November 2026)
3 (27.3%)

The Kings’ List by Jade Presley (May 2026)
1 (9.1%)

My Unfamiliar by Mara Rutherford (December 2026)
1 (9.1%)

Ghosted by Talia Tucker (November 2026)
1 (9.1%)

The Mystic and the Missing Girl by Vikki Vansickle (September 2026)
2 (18.2%)

The Scarlet Ball by Nghi Vo (October 2026)
3 (27.3%)

Chosen Son by Adrienne Young (November 2026)
0 (0.0%)

Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)

Cats!
10 (90.9%)

Tags:

books received

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: bouncy

This time a week ago I was on the ice with fellow Cambridge alumni for "Alumni game 1", kicking off Varsity. Photos (from one of my Warbirds teammates!) that actually make me look good are over at my hockey insta but here's my personal favourite, capturing a moment in motion:

After about an hour on the ice (2 periods running clock, 4 lines), I had a quick shower, and then spent the next ten or so hours mostly on my feet, doing music and announcements for my Huskies teammates, and scoresheet and in-game announcements for Women's Blues and Men's Blues. Final scores were:

Alumni game 1: 1-1
Alumni game 2: not sure, but we won
Huskies: 3-8
Women's Blues: 0-1
Men's Blues: 5-1

The alumni games were a great vibe: we cared, but it wasn't that intense. A whole load of the women I played with in 2022-23 came back, and for me that was really joyful, plus I got to make some new friends. A couple of the older guys in game 1 had played with my old work colleague Brian Omotani back in the day. Although he didn't play, he was there to watch, and he made time to come and find me for a brief catchup later in the day.

The rest of the day though was a different gear. The Huskies game was especially tough to watch, and I felt every goal against my teammates. The Women's Blues game was incredible, the team worked so hard and it was probably the best I've seen them play. And the Men's Blues winning so decisively was delightful, especially as the first goal came from one of the two ex-Huskies (and they both got an assist each later). The whole day was incredibly intense. And then I took my kit home to hang it up, changed, met up with everyone at Mash, danced until the club closed, went to Maccies (and realised just how much my feet hurt) until that closed, and sat on a bench gossiping with two of my favourite people in the club while one of them finished his burger. Eventually we all cycled home. I didn't want the day to end, but I had things to do on Sunday.

That is, very nearly, the end of the season with just the Nationals weekends in Sheffield to go. We've finished the league games, we've had Varsity, we're shifting to "summer ice" open practices, and even had the very last "S&C" gym session on Thursday this week. Some people will graduate and leave soon, and I will miss them so much, but I am so grateful for this university season and the time I've had with these wonderful people.

Tags:

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260320.html

The news broke locally a few days ago, and has now percolated out to the general media: charges have been made that Cesar Chavez, the revered farm labor activist, was a sexual molester. Dolores Huerta, his long-time colleague, has said that he both raped and seduced her, and was the father of some of her children. Huerta revealed this in support of two other women who report that Chavez molested them when they were in their teens and he was in his forties. And more have come out.

I didn't write about this earlier because I needed time to process this disturbing news. Chavez has been considered a secular saint at least since his death in 1993. His name is all over buildings and plazas and sidewalks and such like around California and probably elsewhere. Parades are held in his name. His home is a national monument, also with his name on it. There's a near-hagiographical bio-pic starring Michael Peña. His birthday - which is also mine, so I feel a kind of granfalloonish personal connection to him - is a state holiday in California.

Are we to erase all of that? It would be like taking Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson out of the South, wouldn't it? (Something which has not been very comprehensively done.)

Huerta has been sitting on this charge for some 60 years. She says she never said anything about it earlier because it would have harmed the farmworkers movement. Or maybe nobody would have believed her, though perhaps that block has been removed since the Harvey Weinstein case. But that was less than ten years ago, and Chavez had already been elevated to secular sainthood long before that.

The thing is, though, that it's long been known that Chavez was "no angel," as cops like to say of the people they murder on the streets. Chavez was a cruel authoritarian boss, he enforced stereotyped gender roles, he indulged in anti-semitism, he neglected his family, he was pals with Ferdinand Marcos, he was already a known adulterer. We named things for him while overlooking or ignoring these facts. Some of this - notably some shocking misogyny and the neglect of his family - even pop up in that hagiographical bio-pic. As with others of this kind, he was considered a good man - or maybe a great man, which is not the same as "good" - despite his flaws.

But now it turns out ... such a shame, such a horror. Wtf, Cesar Chavez?

RAYE - "Click Clack Symphony"

Watch on YouTube

I didn't think I could love her new album as much as My 21st-Century Blues, but... this is looking like I might.

Tags:

fandom: music

Wow…this one is hitting harder than most. I keep thinking of Xander’s line in “The Zeppo”: “I like the quiet.”

Rest in peace, man.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/mar/20/nicholas-brendon-buffy-the-vampire-slayer-actor-dies

🕯

Tags:

death

I just got on the scale. I'm 276.0 lbs. I am blown away! That's 64 lbs I've lost. Ozempic and Jardiance are working. My A1c is in the six range instead of over eight, which is why I'm taking them in the first place. Having fewer tissues to be resistant to insulin probaby doesn't hurt.

I am in less pain than I have been in years. There aren't any more hot (or cold) flashes. Menopause has touched me so lightly that I didn't notice the transition.

It is hot. Record-setting hot. We wouldn't afford the cooling if it weren't for the solar panels. Adding the insulation when we did the house keeps things even as well.

Dad can stand and pivot solo now. He gets in his wheelchair and slowly moves around the house, usually to the kitchen when his blood sugar tanks. The cats visit for attention, and he loves it.

Bear got on my walker instead of Monroe for the first time. Funny girl.

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Location: In the recliner
Current Music: news

Tags:

Her aunts tended to blow in like the first puffs of springtime pollen: a sign of the season, ultimately good, slightly annoying all the same. They always brought souvenirs from their travels the rest of the year, inevitably cursed or stolen or otherwise bound up in adventures that would promptly embroil her in some drama just as finals needed to be graded. Sometimes they had newly adopted pets or sons or husbands, likewise cursed or stolen or adventure-bound, and she had learned to accept these sudden expansions of the family along with everything else.

---

LL#1372

Tags:

Our new challenge is:

RIVER

As always, you can interpret the prompt literally or figuratively, in whatever way works for you.

Each work created for this challenge should be posted as a new entry to the comm. Posting starts now and continues up until the challenge ends at 4pm Pacific Time on Wednesday, April 1st. No sign-up required.

Mods will tag your work for fandom. When you've posted entries to three consecutive challenges, you will earn a name tag, and we'll go back and tag all your previous entries with your name, as well.

All kinds of fanworks in all fandoms are welcome. Please have a look at our guidelines before you play. If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to contact a mod. And if you have any suggestions for future challenges, you can leave them in the comments of this post.

You can view stats for

fan_flashworks entries and search and filter them via the Community Report and Creator Report. See our FAQ post for more details.

Also, keep an eye out for the next

ffw_social post, which will go up in the next couple of days. If you haven't joined the

ffw_social comm, it's never too late to come and check it out. (Posts are locked, which means you have to join to see them.)

Tags:

admin

The Plant challenge is now closed. Here are the entries:

Original: Collage: House + Garden, by

smallhobbit
Culture Club: Fanfic: Twice Over, by

midnight_heavenly_bodies
Harry Potter: Fanart: Mandrake Potting, by

infinitum_noctem
S.W.A.T.: Fan Fiction: Plant of First Beginnings, by

darkjediqueen
Torchwood: Fanfic: Spring Planting, by

badly_knitted
Original: Collage: Aberglasney Gardens - Magnolias & Camellias, by

smallhobbit
Water the Roses - Flavor Foley: Fanart: stuck within my head, by

x95
Original: Photos: Umbrella Plant, by

smallhobbit
Torchwood: Fanfic: False trail, by

m_findlow
NCT Wish: Fanfic: the garden, as I grew, by

bluedreaming
The Professionals: Fanfiction: Wondering Why?, by

lucy_roman
Viola come il mare: Fanfic: Undercover, by

veronyxk84
War of the Worlds (2005): haiku: cycle, by

teaotter
White Collar : fic : Gardening, by

highlander_ii
Sentenced to Be a Hero: Fic: Foraging, by

jordannamorgan

\o/ \o/ \o/

Thank you to everyone who participated! You're now free to post your entries to your journal or wherever else you'd like. If you're archiving on AO3, you can add your work to our fan_flashworks collection there.

The Community Report and Creator Report will be updated shortly with the entries from this round. See our FAQ for more details.

New challenge coming right up!

Tags:

admin

Posted by Jordan Liles

https://www.snopes.com/collections/chuck-norris-rumors/

The martial arts master's life featured movie roles, "Walker, Texas Ranger," political activism, and decades of jokes about his legacy of toughness.

https://www.snopes.com/collections/chuck-norris-rumors/

Posted by Jack Izzo

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/goldman-trump-sexual-assault-claim/

Goldman posted video of his speech on the floor of the House of Representatives to his social media accounts.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/goldman-trump-sexual-assault-claim/

I've got a friend, a MUSH person,

badfaun here, who lives over in Seattle, and who I have known for uh, 20 years now?, who's in the late stages of metastatic breast cancer, that spread to her brain, and is now in the cerebro spinal fluid, which is impressive in its inventiveness and staying power if nothing else.

(This is ileah/Francisco/Heart, for any GarouMUSH people around.)

She's pretty stubborn and pretty great, but the spread to the CSF is Just Not A Good Thing, and she's now going to be going to hospice.

Love to her, and her husband

aerynvale, who's been a rock in all this.

Posted by Ask a Manager

https://www.askamanager.org/2026/03/weekend-open-thread-march-21-22-2026.html

https://www.askamanager.org/?p=36460

Wallace and Grendel

This comment section is open for any non-work-related discussion you’d like to have with other readers, by popular demand.

Here are the rules for the weekend posts.

Book recommendation of the week: This Is Not About Us, by Allegra Goodman. An estrangement between two sisters over apple cake affects three generations of a family over decades. Each chapter explores a different family member, but all the stories are interconnected. I loved it. (Amazon, Bookshop)

* I earn a commission if you use those links.

The post weekend open thread – March 21-22, 2026 appeared first on Ask a Manager.

https://www.askamanager.org/2026/03/weekend-open-thread-march-21-22-2026.html

https://www.askamanager.org/?p=36460

I woke up this morning with a really puffy arm, from elbow down to hand, and it felt like I had exercised a lot, but I Had Not, so Calluna and I bundled ourselves off to Urgent Care, and Urgent Care looked at it, said, "Hm, likely not, but Just In Case..." and bundled us off to Emerson Hospital to get an ultrasound, which made me almost fall asleep, which was nice.

And I don't have a blood clot, but I do have sucky blood pressure. Which I knew. So I don't *think* it's an allergic reaction, but I do think it's vein related somehow, so, mystery.

For most of the morning it was gorgeous and sunny and in the 50s, and very springlike, which fits since it's the equinox and the first day of spring, so, happy spring!

Then we got lunch and coffee and started down Route 2 to Arlington to retrieve my wallet, WHICH the Arlington Police in fact found a day or so ago, after I had ordered new everything, (But I can at least get my driver's license for ID purposes. And the wallet, which I like.) *But then*, sitting at a traffic light, we got slammed into on what I thought was my rear end but was actually my passenger side. Passenger side airbag deployed, lots of broken glass also deployed, some of it onto Calluna and a little tiny bit on me. All told, about 6-7 cars were involved, plus Route 2 was closed for like an hour.

I'm very much lacking information about who hit whom and how, but it *seems* as if the person who set the chain reaction going is the one who ended up in front, and rolled over. No one would let me stick around or figure out other people's information, which makes sense because there was like, gas leaking and stuff. Not-very-informative news article.

This time I let them impound it because Calluna needed to get checked a the hospital (same one we just came from!), and I went along for the ride/also to get checked out. (I'm fine; she may have a slight concussion and her neck's hurting.) 'm pretty convinced it's totaled, but unlike when I got run into in Coventry, RI, Concord's only 45 mins or so from me, so I can go retrieve all my Stuff from it Sunday when I also go get my durn wallet.

Happily, my s-i-l loaned me their ancient and venerable Prius so I have wheelz currently.

Posted by Joey Esposito

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/congress-tsa-special-treatment-bill/

The bill appeared to be an effort to encourage an end to the ongoing lapse of funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/congress-tsa-special-treatment-bill/

2026.03.21

Why Hollywood directors used Allen Smithee pseudonym to distance themselves from their films

Books Received, March 14 — March 20

Catch you on the flip side

Varsity!

(no subject)

wtf, Cesar Chavez?

Music Friday

RIP, Nicholas Brendon

RIP Nicholas Brendon

OMC! Wow!

Lake Lewisia #1372

Challenge 510: River

RIVER

Admin: challenge closed

7 rumors about Chuck Norris we've gone toe-to-toe with over the years

Rep. Dan Goldman spoke in Congress about allegation that Trump sexually assaulted teen girl

Also, fuck cancer

weekend open thread – March 21-22, 2026

I don't have a blood clot! However, my car is likely dead.

Senate passed bill banning special TSA treatment for lawmakers. Here's what it says

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