James M. Fraleigh
@jamesmfraleigh.bsky.social
Deadlines are my lifeline! Solo copyeditor (academic, scholarly, textbooks, trade/narrative nonfiction) and proofreader (any genre!). 🍩 appreciator. Enthusiastic New Jerseyan 🤌🏻 user. Trivial Democratic apparatchik. He/him.
Reposted by James M. Fraleigh
I simply hope to live my life in such a way that Isaac Chotiner will never have a reason to ask me a single question
Amazing to learn that Isaac Chotiner can apparently just come for you in your replies. Like suddenly realizing you're swimming in open ocean
November 25, 2025 at 4:24 PM
I simply hope to live my life in such a way that Isaac Chotiner will never have a reason to ask me a single question
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My @vanityfair.com oral history of PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES, released on this day in 1987:
'Planes, Trains and Automobiles' at 35: An Oral History of One of the Most Beloved Road Movies Ever Made
Starring Steve Martin and John Candy, the John Hughes road trip comedy had a nearly four-hour runtime at one point. Hear from cast, crew, and Hughes' family about the classic.
www.vanityfair.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
My @vanityfair.com oral history of PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES, released on this day in 1987:
Reposted by James M. Fraleigh
Murder, She Boat. It's the same as Murder, She Wrote but Jessica Fletcher is an anthropomorphic boat!
October 28, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Murder, She Boat. It's the same as Murder, She Wrote but Jessica Fletcher is an anthropomorphic boat!
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Cancel your WaPo subscription and send your money to an outlet that *doesn't* actively hate its readers.
ProPublica, Liberal Currents, Flaming Hydra, your local paper or alt weekly, whatever. Anything but this.
ProPublica, Liberal Currents, Flaming Hydra, your local paper or alt weekly, whatever. Anything but this.
At this point, the Washpost edit page is just trolling its readers.
This is today's actual house editorial.
This is today's actual house editorial.
November 25, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Cancel your WaPo subscription and send your money to an outlet that *doesn't* actively hate its readers.
ProPublica, Liberal Currents, Flaming Hydra, your local paper or alt weekly, whatever. Anything but this.
ProPublica, Liberal Currents, Flaming Hydra, your local paper or alt weekly, whatever. Anything but this.
Reposted by James M. Fraleigh
For Elle, I wrote about intimacy coordinators—a really fascinating and varied group of people—and asked them how they feel about the rapid rise and recent backlash to their profession. They surprised me. www.elle.com/culture/movi...
Why Some Stars Are Skipping Intimacy Coordinators—and What It Means for Hollywood Sets
The rise of intimacy coordinators on film sets was seen as one of the most tangible wins of the MeToo movement. So why has the tide started to turn?
www.elle.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:01 PM
For Elle, I wrote about intimacy coordinators—a really fascinating and varied group of people—and asked them how they feel about the rapid rise and recent backlash to their profession. They surprised me. www.elle.com/culture/movi...
Reposted by James M. Fraleigh
95% of authors are not making a living through book publishing. The public needs to understand this.
November 25, 2025 at 2:24 AM
95% of authors are not making a living through book publishing. The public needs to understand this.
Reposted by James M. Fraleigh
Hello network. This is real shit. I’m looking for transgender, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming front and back end web designers for a project to help trans people get housing in NJ. This is a paid opportunity.
Please share this if you see it, and my DMs are open for more information. Tysm 🩵🩷🤍🩷🩵
Please share this if you see it, and my DMs are open for more information. Tysm 🩵🩷🤍🩷🩵
November 25, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Hello network. This is real shit. I’m looking for transgender, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming front and back end web designers for a project to help trans people get housing in NJ. This is a paid opportunity.
Please share this if you see it, and my DMs are open for more information. Tysm 🩵🩷🤍🩷🩵
Please share this if you see it, and my DMs are open for more information. Tysm 🩵🩷🤍🩷🩵
Reposted by James M. Fraleigh
Where were we? Oh, sales! Snap up any five Belt books for 50% off! www.arcadiapublishing.com/collections/...
Belt Publishing
Founded in 2013, Belt promotes voices from the Rust Belt, smart narrative and serious nonfiction on any topic, as well as commercial fiction with a regional foothold.
www.arcadiapublishing.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Where were we? Oh, sales! Snap up any five Belt books for 50% off! www.arcadiapublishing.com/collections/...
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To be fair, she had the day she deserved
Pam Bondi’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...
Pam Bondi’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
No Dignity Left Behind Pam Bondi long ago gave up her dignity,...
talkingpointsmemo.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:48 PM
To be fair, she had the day she deserved
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omg tiny orca car tiny orca car
November 25, 2025 at 3:49 PM
omg tiny orca car tiny orca car
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Amazing to learn that Isaac Chotiner can apparently just come for you in your replies. Like suddenly realizing you're swimming in open ocean
November 25, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Amazing to learn that Isaac Chotiner can apparently just come for you in your replies. Like suddenly realizing you're swimming in open ocean
Reposted by James M. Fraleigh
As the year comes to an end, I'm reposting some of the comics I made this year, including this ridiculous thing.
November 25, 2025 at 3:19 PM
As the year comes to an end, I'm reposting some of the comics I made this year, including this ridiculous thing.
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if you’re doing some holiday shopping this weekend, just a reminder that you can order signed copies of any of my books through my local bookstore and have them shipped to you. 🥰 sidetrackbooks.com
these are my children. they are all beautiful to me. a good mother does not have a favorite child. my favorite child is friends to keep in art and life.
November 25, 2025 at 3:35 PM
if you’re doing some holiday shopping this weekend, just a reminder that you can order signed copies of any of my books through my local bookstore and have them shipped to you. 🥰 sidetrackbooks.com
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Find out what @beltpublishing.bsky.social is bringing you next year---
The 2026 Belt Pubishing Catalog
My Book Proposal Course Starts January 5: Six of the 12 spots have been claimed; want one of the remaining ones? Some news from former-participants: a NYT bestseller, a contract with Princeton, gettin...
open.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Find out what @beltpublishing.bsky.social is bringing you next year---
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Also? Stop believing the swill they spout about trans people, if we were such an existential threat you wouldn't need all of this right wing media and social media engineering to convince you of it, transphobia is all some billionaire ghouls' pet hate that they're boiling your brains to adopt.
November 24, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Also? Stop believing the swill they spout about trans people, if we were such an existential threat you wouldn't need all of this right wing media and social media engineering to convince you of it, transphobia is all some billionaire ghouls' pet hate that they're boiling your brains to adopt.
Reposted by James M. Fraleigh
Wait, so the actor who played the singer who used the godfather's influence to get a movie role in "The Godfather" (1972) apparently got his role in "The Godfather" because of the intervention of his own real-life godfather???
![Pasted in quote from Wikipedia:
Johnny Fontane
Johnny Fontane, a mob-associated singer and Vito's godson, seeks Vito's help in securing a movie role; Vito dispatches his consigliere, Tom Hagen, to Los Angeles to persuade studio head Jack Woltz to give Johnny the part. Woltz refuses until he wakes up in bed with the severed head of his prized stallion.
Al Martino, a then famed singer in nightclubs, was notified of the character Johnny Fontane by a friend who read the eponymous novel and felt Martino represented the character of Johnny Fontane.[3][4] Martino then contacted producer Albert S. Ruddy, who gave him the part.[3] However, Martino was stripped of the part after Francis Ford Coppola became director and then awarded the role to singer Vic Damone.[3] According to Martino, after being stripped of the role, he went to Russell Bufalino, his godfather and a crime boss, who then orchestrated the publication of various news articles that claimed Coppola was unaware of Ruddy having given Martino the part.[3] Damone eventually dropped the role because he did not want to provoke the mob, in addition to being paid too little.[5][3] Ultimately, the part of Johnny Fontane was given to Martino.[3][6]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:d6lghffuwlinx22c2rtfbdwv/bafkreiau7qifl7tt7pnmjtjjfv3yaejlpct66frjtufm57yuga66fxjpqa@jpeg)
November 25, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Wait, so the actor who played the singer who used the godfather's influence to get a movie role in "The Godfather" (1972) apparently got his role in "The Godfather" because of the intervention of his own real-life godfather???
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The angry & mocking replies & quotes from what I imagine are liberals is yet another bit of evidence that Americans of all stripes don't grasp how angry Canadians are about American belligerence. Pointing out the origin of "americano" insists on missing the point of the gesture.
November 25, 2025 at 2:41 PM
The angry & mocking replies & quotes from what I imagine are liberals is yet another bit of evidence that Americans of all stripes don't grasp how angry Canadians are about American belligerence. Pointing out the origin of "americano" insists on missing the point of the gesture.
Sentence also works if cut short at "Carville."
What if Dems ran on sacrificing James Carville's human rights?
November 25, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Sentence also works if cut short at "Carville."
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Thinking about that Krugman soundbite about how only 2% of Americans have ever done anything with crypto and it feels like the enormous crypto marketing blitz I see constantly in New York and New Jersey is less to attract customers and more to make people believe there's an industry there
November 25, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Thinking about that Krugman soundbite about how only 2% of Americans have ever done anything with crypto and it feels like the enormous crypto marketing blitz I see constantly in New York and New Jersey is less to attract customers and more to make people believe there's an industry there
Reposted by James M. Fraleigh
Once saw a man by the river doing a sort of Mortal Kombat stance, squaring up to a massive hissing swan & he kept shouting “I won’t fucking back down pal” at it, as it advanced on him, wings outstretched like a terrible, vengeful angel & sometimes it seems like that is basically the entire world now
October 29, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Once saw a man by the river doing a sort of Mortal Kombat stance, squaring up to a massive hissing swan & he kept shouting “I won’t fucking back down pal” at it, as it advanced on him, wings outstretched like a terrible, vengeful angel & sometimes it seems like that is basically the entire world now
Reposted by James M. Fraleigh
Do I know anyone at like WIRED or some other venue that would be interested in a pitch for this?
With 2026 around the corner, I wanna pitch a like 3-5k word feature on the Telecom Act of 96 and what's happened to music and media in the 30 years since then, that's also kinda filtered thru my experience as a music writer who is also class of 96.
November 24, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Do I know anyone at like WIRED or some other venue that would be interested in a pitch for this?
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“We can’t afford players because we’re in debt because we took all the money fans gave us and bought property to enrich ourselves.”
But don’t blame us! Blame the teams that re-invests money the team earns back into the organization via free agency and player development. They are the real villains!
But don’t blame us! Blame the teams that re-invests money the team earns back into the organization via free agency and player development. They are the real villains!
Did you know that some MLB owners take out loans against future season ticket sales and then use that money to buy themselves mansions/yachts etc? With the added bonus of being able to whine to fans that the team is actually carrying a lot of debt?
Last dodger owners did this!
Last dodger owners did this!
November 24, 2025 at 10:50 PM
“We can’t afford players because we’re in debt because we took all the money fans gave us and bought property to enrich ourselves.”
But don’t blame us! Blame the teams that re-invests money the team earns back into the organization via free agency and player development. They are the real villains!
But don’t blame us! Blame the teams that re-invests money the team earns back into the organization via free agency and player development. They are the real villains!
Reposted by James M. Fraleigh
what is buc-ee's if not our world's franchised mos eisley
November 24, 2025 at 9:08 PM
what is buc-ee's if not our world's franchised mos eisley
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By the way, it's National Editor Appreciation Day.
Nobody ever reads a great article and thinks, "Dang, that was some tight editing." But editing is a big part of how it got to be great.
So writers, if you've ever worked with a good editor, shout 'em out.
Nobody ever reads a great article and thinks, "Dang, that was some tight editing." But editing is a big part of how it got to be great.
So writers, if you've ever worked with a good editor, shout 'em out.
November 24, 2025 at 3:36 PM
By the way, it's National Editor Appreciation Day.
Nobody ever reads a great article and thinks, "Dang, that was some tight editing." But editing is a big part of how it got to be great.
So writers, if you've ever worked with a good editor, shout 'em out.
Nobody ever reads a great article and thinks, "Dang, that was some tight editing." But editing is a big part of how it got to be great.
So writers, if you've ever worked with a good editor, shout 'em out.
Reposted by James M. Fraleigh
Talked to some National Guard kids from West Virginia on the street near my office. They don't have leave to go home for Thanksgiving this week.
They can't see their families, because the president wants to use them as political props. No doubt, though, there'll be a feast at Mar-a-Lago Thursday.
They can't see their families, because the president wants to use them as political props. No doubt, though, there'll be a feast at Mar-a-Lago Thursday.
November 24, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Talked to some National Guard kids from West Virginia on the street near my office. They don't have leave to go home for Thanksgiving this week.
They can't see their families, because the president wants to use them as political props. No doubt, though, there'll be a feast at Mar-a-Lago Thursday.
They can't see their families, because the president wants to use them as political props. No doubt, though, there'll be a feast at Mar-a-Lago Thursday.