Joel Barker
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joelbyronbarker.bsky.social
Joel Barker
@joelbyronbarker.bsky.social
Chair of the Jefferson County of Oregon Democrats.
Writer at https://joelbyronbarker.com and https://oldtruckgoodcoffee.com about urban rural interchanges. Fly fishing. Empathy. Some running. Lots of dogs. A new novel published.
This solsitice, I lean on these ideas that arise within people seeking to live well. I can raise up my own love with those ideas. I can see how people areound me express love. I can discover the world — wild and cultured — as it starts to again grow bright.
December 21, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Phil Collins was right about a lot of things, but he got one thing wrong.
December 19, 2025 at 7:30 PM
If you can't hang with the library rules, spend your life making your own library.

Leo Marcel Schuman in Old Truck Good Coffee substack.com/home/post/p-...
December 16, 2025 at 7:01 PM
I have no words.
December 16, 2025 at 5:35 AM
Oh sweet everything it is 60 degrees on a December day in Central Oregon and MY BOOK IS ARRIVING TODAY.
December 15, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Not really a shard, but some directions I heard this morning that held true as useful.
December 13, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Shard.
December 12, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Also not exactly a shard, but a thought that came to me while thinking about how to have something to say on social media and why I think of things to say on social media.
December 12, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Returning home to a dog is the experience of the world telling you that you belong.
December 11, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Shard
December 10, 2025 at 11:30 PM
The book proof — proof of its physical existence — is wending its way to me. I am in a strange haze as I await proof that my imagination has been turned to actuality.
December 9, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Not sure how far this piece will go.
December 8, 2025 at 11:30 PM
"I was just such a rider for many years. I loved my gear and was pleased with the grit. Particularly when that first real winter rain that would come down, signaling the end of the easy season."

#portland #pdxbike

open.substack.com/pub/oldtruck...
December 8, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Dogs on a frosty dawn. Me, lucky enough to witness.
December 7, 2025 at 11:30 PM
December 6, 2025 at 11:30 PM
The hour as long as the cup takes to drink.
December 5, 2025 at 11:30 PM
"When will it be over?"
"Once they release the files…"
"He'll resign, or die, or something…"

I don't think there are any quick fixes ahead of us.
December 5, 2025 at 1:49 AM
“When we regain a sense of what poems are for, we will renew the art (the technical means) of writing them. And so we will renew their ability to tell the truth.”
— Wendell Berry

December 4, 2025 at 11:30 PM
I have developed practices that keep social media from distracting me during writing sessions. Unfortunately I have no resistance to this face. #letsplay #writingdistraction #dogs
December 3, 2025 at 11:30 PM
It is very nearly here for you. Very nearly.
December 2, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Local Ants Achieve Multi-generational Dream, Building Scale Model of Snowy Volcano.
December 1, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Sent my novel off to print! What self publishing can be for the author today.
November 28, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Another friend of mine quit #spotify today! Hooray
November 25, 2025 at 7:28 PM
November 15, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Update on the book production. And have you gotten a sticker yet? Send me your address and I will get you one.

Should I share the book cover in advance of the release or make it a surprise?
November 11, 2025 at 11:30 PM