Glenn McRae
@vtmcrae.bsky.social
Sometimes a new book actually captures a current issue just right.
So You Want to Own Greenland....
We have, in a sense, acted as though we own Greenland for decades.
open.substack.com
January 13, 2026 at 6:12 PM
Sometimes a new book actually captures a current issue just right.
“How it works is each of us doing one small good thing, every day.”
A BAD WEEK
This week has felt like the bad shift when winter first begins and all of a sudden in the morning it's dark, and it is dark in the early evening, and the whole day becomes elliptically squeezed.
open.substack.com
January 11, 2026 at 1:03 AM
“How it works is each of us doing one small good thing, every day.”
Librarians are wonderful. “Use AI to explore. Use libraries to verify. Use your brain to evaluate.”
How to Spot AI Hallucinations Like a Reference Librarian
The verification tricks that would make fact-checkers weep with joy.
open.substack.com
January 9, 2026 at 8:36 PM
Librarians are wonderful. “Use AI to explore. Use libraries to verify. Use your brain to evaluate.”
The story of 2026?
A Woman on a NY Subway Just Set the Tone for Next Year
This is what's coming in 2026
open.substack.com
December 29, 2025 at 6:05 PM
The story of 2026?
“This gap, between the world as it is and how we’re told to see it, comes down to a choice about what we do with our attention.”
The Telemetry
All the news the headlines missed in 2025.
open.substack.com
December 29, 2025 at 3:06 PM
“This gap, between the world as it is and how we’re told to see it, comes down to a choice about what we do with our attention.”
Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler
Glenn McRae (@glennmcrae)
I just finished the new biography of Octavia Butler (Positive Obsession), one of the great writers of my lifetime. Whether you know her work well, or are just being introduced to it, this book is both...
substack.com
December 24, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler
“Is there any room for weirdness in this conformist world?”
The Return of the Weirdo
Will this be the cool new thing of 2026?
open.substack.com
December 22, 2025 at 2:55 PM
“Is there any room for weirdness in this conformist world?”
I can always count on Krista to frame a way of being in the world so that I can move on.
“Be kind, for everyone is fighting a great battle.” See what happens if you take this as a life practice through the ordinary encounters of your days. How do you internalize the news differently?
“Be kind, for everyone is fighting a great battle.” See what happens if you take this as a life practice through the ordinary encounters of your days. How do you internalize the news differently?
"Be Kind, For Everyone is Fighting a Great Battle"
Quiet intelligence with civilizational power
open.substack.com
December 21, 2025 at 8:42 PM
I can always count on Krista to frame a way of being in the world so that I can move on.
“Be kind, for everyone is fighting a great battle.” See what happens if you take this as a life practice through the ordinary encounters of your days. How do you internalize the news differently?
“Be kind, for everyone is fighting a great battle.” See what happens if you take this as a life practice through the ordinary encounters of your days. How do you internalize the news differently?
“So let me make a plea for fuzzier writing. Let me praise the metaphors and sublime indirection of the great poetic minds. Let us seek out that open-ended ambiguity which invites us inside the text—allowing each of us to test our own interpretive skills. “
My Problem with Clear Writing
Or why clarity is overrated
open.substack.com
December 10, 2025 at 12:07 AM
“So let me make a plea for fuzzier writing. Let me praise the metaphors and sublime indirection of the great poetic minds. Let us seek out that open-ended ambiguity which invites us inside the text—allowing each of us to test our own interpretive skills. “
Good summary of an important study.
When nature scares us: researchers warn of growing "biophobia"
A global review finds rising fear and discomfort toward nature, with major impacts on health and conservation.
open.substack.com
December 7, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Good summary of an important study.
Not sure much has changed since experiment in 1860…
“Just as worrying was the way that drivers often ignored the stop signal”
“Just as worrying was the way that drivers often ignored the stop signal”
Let there be light!
A tragic tale...
open.substack.com
December 5, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Not sure much has changed since experiment in 1860…
“Just as worrying was the way that drivers often ignored the stop signal”
“Just as worrying was the way that drivers often ignored the stop signal”
Saving heritage, expanding cultural literacy… Libraries do it all.
Ted Gioia (@tedgioia)
The last video rental store is your public library. https://www.404media.co/the-last-video-rental-store-is-your-public-library/
substack.com
December 5, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Saving heritage, expanding cultural literacy… Libraries do it all.
Gonna die with a smile if it kills me —Jon Gailmor
Jon Gailmor: Vermont Troubadour 1948-2025
77 years of song.
open.substack.com
December 4, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Gonna die with a smile if it kills me —Jon Gailmor
This is a particularly important conversation to have in the nonprofit sector generally and the arts specifically. How do we fund what is good? Is there funding that is not tainted? How do we navigate a path forward transparently and without creating stories to make us feel good?
How Jeffrey Epstein helped fund 'Poetry in America'
It rhymes with creepy.
open.substack.com
December 3, 2025 at 4:51 PM
This is a particularly important conversation to have in the nonprofit sector generally and the arts specifically. How do we fund what is good? Is there funding that is not tainted? How do we navigate a path forward transparently and without creating stories to make us feel good?
“It seems trivial or silly to be saying this, but it would make a huge difference if we reframed the focus of medicine as a system of caring for whole persons rather than as a system for treating diseases.”
What matters most at the end of life
Don't wait to say the things you need to say.
open.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:07 PM
“It seems trivial or silly to be saying this, but it would make a huge difference if we reframed the focus of medicine as a system of caring for whole persons rather than as a system for treating diseases.”
“Integrity was not just one of our values, but was the key to everything. Clients hired us on a basis of trust, and so our ethical standards were the foundation for the firm’s very existence.”
My Secret Initiation into McKinsey
This is something I will never forget
open.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 12:43 PM
“Integrity was not just one of our values, but was the key to everything. Clients hired us on a basis of trust, and so our ethical standards were the foundation for the firm’s very existence.”
Wise thoughts for today and a link to those past still relevant. allpoetry.com/poem/1262246...
SOMETIMES ALL I CAN DO IS WATCH IT PLAY OUT
I forget to make sure I am wearing matching sneakers sometimes, and—five minutes later, standing at the bathroom sink—whether I took the meds or just planned to take the meds.
open.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Wise thoughts for today and a link to those past still relevant. allpoetry.com/poem/1262246...
I worked for a number of years coaching young people and designing specific pathways to meaningful careers. This is the best synopsis of advice I have seen for the current moment.
A Young Reader Asks for Help
I recently received a letter from a young man—but what can I say to him?
open.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:08 PM
I worked for a number of years coaching young people and designing specific pathways to meaningful careers. This is the best synopsis of advice I have seen for the current moment.
German foodbanks turn to feeding US troops who cannot get paid during shutdown. www.dw.com/en/us-troops...
US troops given German food bank advice amid shutdown – DW – 11/05/2025
The US Army Garrison Bavaria removed references to German food banks and other discounted food provision services from its "shutdown guidance" web page.
www.dw.com
November 8, 2025 at 12:39 PM
German foodbanks turn to feeding US troops who cannot get paid during shutdown. www.dw.com/en/us-troops...
F E A R… “There is Fuck Everything and Run, and conversely, Face Everything and Rise. But my favorite of all is Frantic Effort to Appear Relaxed.”
WHEN I’M ON DEFENSE
One hears wise and evolved spiritual teachers and their students say with confidence that you can’t have faith and fear at the same time, and I think that is very nice, and I wish it was true for me.
open.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 1:21 PM
F E A R… “There is Fuck Everything and Run, and conversely, Face Everything and Rise. But my favorite of all is Frantic Effort to Appear Relaxed.”
“Censorship in the US comes via economic anxiety.”
Trump Detains British Journalist
And a wide-eyed young man on the plane
open.substack.com
November 2, 2025 at 5:00 PM
“Censorship in the US comes via economic anxiety.”