Reposted by JJ Akin
Zachary B. Wolf at CNN asked my Cato colleague David Bier to respond to some comments by White House aide Stephen Miller denouncing immigrants and liberal immigration law generally. This is David's response. /1
December 13, 2025 at 1:14 AM
Zachary B. Wolf at CNN asked my Cato colleague David Bier to respond to some comments by White House aide Stephen Miller denouncing immigrants and liberal immigration law generally. This is David's response. /1
Reposted by JJ Akin
Some days it don't come easy. Tales from the South Metro Karaoke Circuit, circa 2011-2013.
www.bayviewwonder.com/p/some-days-...
www.bayviewwonder.com/p/some-days-...
Some Days It Don't Come Easy
The South Metro Karaoke Circuit
www.bayviewwonder.com
September 17, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Some days it don't come easy. Tales from the South Metro Karaoke Circuit, circa 2011-2013.
www.bayviewwonder.com/p/some-days-...
www.bayviewwonder.com/p/some-days-...
Reposted by JJ Akin
What do Mountain Dew, Top the Tater, and a ragtag group of teenagers known as the Sweet Dreams Speed Team have in common?
Read the latest from Bayview Wonder: www.bayviewwonder.com/p/sweet-drea...
Read the latest from Bayview Wonder: www.bayviewwonder.com/p/sweet-drea...
September 7, 2025 at 3:00 PM
What do Mountain Dew, Top the Tater, and a ragtag group of teenagers known as the Sweet Dreams Speed Team have in common?
Read the latest from Bayview Wonder: www.bayviewwonder.com/p/sweet-drea...
Read the latest from Bayview Wonder: www.bayviewwonder.com/p/sweet-drea...
Reposted by JJ Akin
I’m not sure exactly when we got engaged. It might’ve been somewhere between Chippewa Falls and Wausau, Wisconsin.
It was early July, 2018. We’d been dating for six months and it had been serious from pretty much day one. It was time to talk about marriage.
jjakin.substack.com/p/lucky-charms
It was early July, 2018. We’d been dating for six months and it had been serious from pretty much day one. It was time to talk about marriage.
jjakin.substack.com/p/lucky-charms
Lucky Charms
Roadtrip conversations and questions of life.
jjakin.substack.com
September 3, 2025 at 1:16 PM
I’m not sure exactly when we got engaged. It might’ve been somewhere between Chippewa Falls and Wausau, Wisconsin.
It was early July, 2018. We’d been dating for six months and it had been serious from pretty much day one. It was time to talk about marriage.
jjakin.substack.com/p/lucky-charms
It was early July, 2018. We’d been dating for six months and it had been serious from pretty much day one. It was time to talk about marriage.
jjakin.substack.com/p/lucky-charms
Reposted by JJ Akin
The flags outside the campus center hung at half staff on first-year move-in day.
It was Friday of Labor Day weekend, a still morning on the hilltop campus above the Minnesota River Valley. I couldn’t decide if the lifeless flags looked tired or ashamed.
jjakin.substack.com/p/tears-and-...
It was Friday of Labor Day weekend, a still morning on the hilltop campus above the Minnesota River Valley. I couldn’t decide if the lifeless flags looked tired or ashamed.
jjakin.substack.com/p/tears-and-...
Tears and Flowers on Labor Day Weekend
A reflection on the individual, the community, and the nation.
jjakin.substack.com
August 31, 2025 at 2:45 PM
The flags outside the campus center hung at half staff on first-year move-in day.
It was Friday of Labor Day weekend, a still morning on the hilltop campus above the Minnesota River Valley. I couldn’t decide if the lifeless flags looked tired or ashamed.
jjakin.substack.com/p/tears-and-...
It was Friday of Labor Day weekend, a still morning on the hilltop campus above the Minnesota River Valley. I couldn’t decide if the lifeless flags looked tired or ashamed.
jjakin.substack.com/p/tears-and-...
Great piece on the American Dream through the lens of a trip to Disney World by the talented Dan Currell.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/o...
Opinion | Disney and the Decline of America’s Middle Class
www.nytimes.com
August 28, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Great piece on the American Dream through the lens of a trip to Disney World by the talented Dan Currell.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/o...
Reposted by JJ Akin
This is a good watch. So much potentially impactful science is being stopped for no good reason.
New York Times story with profiles of researchers whose grants were terminated.
[Gift Link]
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/o...
[Gift Link]
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/o...
Opinion | America First? Not When It Comes to Your Health.
www.nytimes.com
August 24, 2025 at 2:12 PM
This is a good watch. So much potentially impactful science is being stopped for no good reason.
Reposted by JJ Akin
Five traps per trawl and 56 trawls means that 280 lobster traps need to be checked, cleaned, baited, and reset. This takes place six days a week from May 1 - June 30 on our little corner of the Atlantic.
Read about my first excursions on the lobster boat...
jjakin.substack.com/p/markets-an...
Read about my first excursions on the lobster boat...
jjakin.substack.com/p/markets-an...
Markets and Canners
Sun or swells, the lobster traps need to be cleaned and reset.
jjakin.substack.com
August 24, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Five traps per trawl and 56 trawls means that 280 lobster traps need to be checked, cleaned, baited, and reset. This takes place six days a week from May 1 - June 30 on our little corner of the Atlantic.
Read about my first excursions on the lobster boat...
jjakin.substack.com/p/markets-an...
Read about my first excursions on the lobster boat...
jjakin.substack.com/p/markets-an...
At Kwik Trip this morning, the clerk asked if I wanted to try one of their specials—a berry smoothie for only $1.50. I declined.
“Are you sure?,” he asked. “They’re good with vodka.”
🤣
“Are you sure?,” he asked. “They’re good with vodka.”
🤣
August 23, 2025 at 3:02 PM
At Kwik Trip this morning, the clerk asked if I wanted to try one of their specials—a berry smoothie for only $1.50. I declined.
“Are you sure?,” he asked. “They’re good with vodka.”
🤣
“Are you sure?,” he asked. “They’re good with vodka.”
🤣
Reposted by JJ Akin
Fish Camp:
A meditation on masculinity through the lens of an annual multigenerational fishing trip. And some poetry to boot.
jjakin.substack.com/p/fish-camp
A meditation on masculinity through the lens of an annual multigenerational fishing trip. And some poetry to boot.
jjakin.substack.com/p/fish-camp
Fish Camp
The family cabin affectionately known as the Loon's Roost has seen a lot—especially on one particular weekend each year.
jjakin.substack.com
August 20, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Fish Camp:
A meditation on masculinity through the lens of an annual multigenerational fishing trip. And some poetry to boot.
jjakin.substack.com/p/fish-camp
A meditation on masculinity through the lens of an annual multigenerational fishing trip. And some poetry to boot.
jjakin.substack.com/p/fish-camp
Reposted by JJ Akin
When I met my now-wife for the first time, I was wearing short denim cut-offs and a leather tool belt.
We didn’t start dating until over a year later, but with an introduction like that it’s really no wonder she found me so charming and all-around irresistible.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
We didn’t start dating until over a year later, but with an introduction like that it’s really no wonder she found me so charming and all-around irresistible.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
A River Valley Fairy Tale
Every love story should include costumes and holiday parties.
open.substack.com
August 18, 2025 at 1:57 PM
When I met my now-wife for the first time, I was wearing short denim cut-offs and a leather tool belt.
We didn’t start dating until over a year later, but with an introduction like that it’s really no wonder she found me so charming and all-around irresistible.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
We didn’t start dating until over a year later, but with an introduction like that it’s really no wonder she found me so charming and all-around irresistible.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
Reposted by JJ Akin
A lot of people look at me and think I used to be a wrestler. I get it.
But back in those schoolboy days, once autumn wore on and the weather turned cold, I didn’t wrestle or play hockey or shoot hoops.
I was on the swimming team.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
But back in those schoolboy days, once autumn wore on and the weather turned cold, I didn’t wrestle or play hockey or shoot hoops.
I was on the swimming team.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
Lutefisk, Lefse, Copenhagen Snuff
A tight squeeze into the moldy swimsuit of memory.
open.substack.com
August 13, 2025 at 1:03 PM
A lot of people look at me and think I used to be a wrestler. I get it.
But back in those schoolboy days, once autumn wore on and the weather turned cold, I didn’t wrestle or play hockey or shoot hoops.
I was on the swimming team.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
But back in those schoolboy days, once autumn wore on and the weather turned cold, I didn’t wrestle or play hockey or shoot hoops.
I was on the swimming team.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
Reposted by JJ Akin
A week ago, I got caught in the closest thing Pictou Island has to a traffic jam when I stopped for two minutes so the mail plane could take off from the stretch of gravel road that doubles as a runway.
jjakin.substack.com/p/back-in-th...
jjakin.substack.com/p/back-in-th...
Back in the Valley
Are we headed for a workaholic relapse or a new way of approaching the job? Probably a little bit of both.
jjakin.substack.com
August 10, 2025 at 2:45 PM
A week ago, I got caught in the closest thing Pictou Island has to a traffic jam when I stopped for two minutes so the mail plane could take off from the stretch of gravel road that doubles as a runway.
jjakin.substack.com/p/back-in-th...
jjakin.substack.com/p/back-in-th...
Reposted by JJ Akin
The summer washer toss tournament on off-grid Pictou Island, Nova Scotia, is much more than a lawn game. The annual tournament is a distillation of life in all its joy, sorrow, competition, and community.
jjakin.substack.com/p/washer-toss
jjakin.substack.com/p/washer-toss
August 6, 2025 at 2:37 PM
The summer washer toss tournament on off-grid Pictou Island, Nova Scotia, is much more than a lawn game. The annual tournament is a distillation of life in all its joy, sorrow, competition, and community.
jjakin.substack.com/p/washer-toss
jjakin.substack.com/p/washer-toss
⌨️ 🧵
I've found that for short (750 words) articles I've published, it takes me, on *average*, 30 to 45 seconds per word to write. It's about 8 hours total. Shorter published pieces (NYT letters, for instance) run about one minute per word to write (250 words, requiring about four hours of work).
August 5, 2025 at 3:19 AM
⌨️ 🧵
Reposted by JJ Akin
I signed up for a ghost tour.
“…I approached a man holding a clipboard and wearing the sharp black suit of a Victorian undertaker. A top hat and spectacles completed the look. I introduced myself and handed him a twenty. He directed me to sign a waiver.”
Read:
jjakin.substack.com/p/that-place...
“…I approached a man holding a clipboard and wearing the sharp black suit of a Victorian undertaker. A top hat and spectacles completed the look. I introduced myself and handed him a twenty. He directed me to sign a waiver.”
Read:
jjakin.substack.com/p/that-place...
That Place Beyond Understanding
A ghost tour of Pictou results in laughter and uncertainty.
jjakin.substack.com
July 27, 2025 at 5:15 PM
I signed up for a ghost tour.
“…I approached a man holding a clipboard and wearing the sharp black suit of a Victorian undertaker. A top hat and spectacles completed the look. I introduced myself and handed him a twenty. He directed me to sign a waiver.”
Read:
jjakin.substack.com/p/that-place...
“…I approached a man holding a clipboard and wearing the sharp black suit of a Victorian undertaker. A top hat and spectacles completed the look. I introduced myself and handed him a twenty. He directed me to sign a waiver.”
Read:
jjakin.substack.com/p/that-place...
Reposted by JJ Akin
Lawn care is a growth area for me in Nova Scotia.
There are a lot of growth areas.
But even if I didn’t know it at the time, I’ve been training for this since that first visit to the province back in 2019.
Read now: open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
There are a lot of growth areas.
But even if I didn’t know it at the time, I’ve been training for this since that first visit to the province back in 2019.
Read now: open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
On Lawn Care
Raking in Nova Scotia in July. There's more to it than you think.
open.substack.com
July 23, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Lawn care is a growth area for me in Nova Scotia.
There are a lot of growth areas.
But even if I didn’t know it at the time, I’ve been training for this since that first visit to the province back in 2019.
Read now: open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
There are a lot of growth areas.
But even if I didn’t know it at the time, I’ve been training for this since that first visit to the province back in 2019.
Read now: open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
Reposted by JJ Akin
"The inland miles of the route looked like the cutting-room floor after a postcard photoshoot, pretty enough to capture on film but nothing that anybody’d buy at the drugstore to send home."
- A Love Letter from the Sunrise Trail
jjakin.substack.com/p/a-love-let...
- A Love Letter from the Sunrise Trail
jjakin.substack.com/p/a-love-let...
A Love Letter from the Sunrise Trail
A meandering journey along the Northumberland Strait.
jjakin.substack.com
July 20, 2025 at 3:00 PM
"The inland miles of the route looked like the cutting-room floor after a postcard photoshoot, pretty enough to capture on film but nothing that anybody’d buy at the drugstore to send home."
- A Love Letter from the Sunrise Trail
jjakin.substack.com/p/a-love-let...
- A Love Letter from the Sunrise Trail
jjakin.substack.com/p/a-love-let...
Reposted by JJ Akin
100 subscribers! Thanks to all who've started reading about the view from my little corner of the world as I make the move from Minnesota to Nova Scotia.
Want to see what it’s about? “A Love Letter from the Sunrise Trail” drops tomorrow morning!
Catch up (and sign up) here: jjakin.substack.com
Want to see what it’s about? “A Love Letter from the Sunrise Trail” drops tomorrow morning!
Catch up (and sign up) here: jjakin.substack.com
Bayview Wonder | JJ Akin | Substack
Click to read Bayview Wonder, by JJ Akin, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.
jjakin.substack.com
July 20, 2025 at 12:19 AM
100 subscribers! Thanks to all who've started reading about the view from my little corner of the world as I make the move from Minnesota to Nova Scotia.
Want to see what it’s about? “A Love Letter from the Sunrise Trail” drops tomorrow morning!
Catch up (and sign up) here: jjakin.substack.com
Want to see what it’s about? “A Love Letter from the Sunrise Trail” drops tomorrow morning!
Catch up (and sign up) here: jjakin.substack.com
Reposted by JJ Akin
I woke up Saturday morning thinking I’d spend the afternoon at the beach.
Pictou Island had other plans.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
Pictou Island had other plans.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
Extra-Step Island
Everything went smoothly until 7 a.m. It was a great day on the Northumberland Strait.
open.substack.com
July 16, 2025 at 4:00 PM
I woke up Saturday morning thinking I’d spend the afternoon at the beach.
Pictou Island had other plans.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
Pictou Island had other plans.
open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
Trying out some new muscles after mostly writing for professional purposes only for the last 15 years or so.
I'm among the sixth generation of my family to be raised in the same small town in Minnesota. Soon, I'm moving 2,000 miles to Nova Scotia.
Read the first edition of Bayview Wonder: open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
Read the first edition of Bayview Wonder: open.substack.com/pub/jjakin/p...
July 13, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Trying out some new muscles after mostly writing for professional purposes only for the last 15 years or so.
Poem of the day: The Writer by Richard Wilbur.
"...From her shut door a commotion of typewriter-keys
Like a chain hauled over a gunwale.
Young as she is, the stuff
Of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy:
I wish her a lucky passage..."
poets.org/poem/writer #potd
"...From her shut door a commotion of typewriter-keys
Like a chain hauled over a gunwale.
Young as she is, the stuff
Of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy:
I wish her a lucky passage..."
poets.org/poem/writer #potd
The Writer
In her room at the prow of the house
poets.org
June 23, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Poem of the day: The Writer by Richard Wilbur.
"...From her shut door a commotion of typewriter-keys
Like a chain hauled over a gunwale.
Young as she is, the stuff
Of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy:
I wish her a lucky passage..."
poets.org/poem/writer #potd
"...From her shut door a commotion of typewriter-keys
Like a chain hauled over a gunwale.
Young as she is, the stuff
Of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy:
I wish her a lucky passage..."
poets.org/poem/writer #potd
“It is my desire that there shall be as many poets and rhetoricians as possible, because I see that by these studies, as by no other means, people are wonderfully fitted for the grasping of sacred truth and for handling it skillfully and happily.” - Martin Luther
February 8, 2025 at 7:23 PM
“It is my desire that there shall be as many poets and rhetoricians as possible, because I see that by these studies, as by no other means, people are wonderfully fitted for the grasping of sacred truth and for handling it skillfully and happily.” - Martin Luther