I'm vacationing in San Francisco this week with my one-year-old kid and our only plan is to take transit to various parks and playgrounds across the Bay Area. No cars. It's glorious and I wish we could all live like this.

When I visited Pittsburgh in 2019, that art drew me in. The bridges, the inclines, the old industrial stuff, I loved it all! I moved here a year later. (It's also on the old J&L Steel Mill site, where my family worked when they came here from Poland. This added to the industrial mystique.)

Um, I think my cats have a secret second family.

It started with AOC back in 2018. I remember Joy-Ann Reid expressing shock that @aoc.bsky.social beat Crowley in the primary, but those of us in her district knew all along it would happen. Mamdani is helping build it, together with many other dedicated people working on this for a long time.

A Cambodian woman stopped me on the street in Pittsburgh because I was wearing this Cambodia Peace Museum t-shirt! We exchanged numbers and will be meeting up. A colleague complimented the Khmer script and I shared more info. Here’s to building understanding and peace, one t-shirt at a time.

Genuinely bummed to learn that my politics don't align with the candidate who listed his favorite food as pizza. If you're a Democrat voter in Allegheny County, here's a guide that may be useful: alleghenydems-training.vercel.app/voter-guide

Lebanon is a breathtakingly beautiful country with the kindest, most welcoming people. I can't believe the same people and places I grew to love as they recovered from Israel's bombs are once again under bombardment. Or rather I can't bear to believe it. (Hiking from Niha to Jezzine 15 years ago.)

Baby's first peony.

Is there any city with a more delightful hospital cafeteria than Pittsburgh's Mercy Hospital? NFL Draft goers take note: the Pittsburgh salad option has a vegan chicken option, which pairs perfectly with the ranch dressing, French fries, and friendly staff's Pittsburgh accent. Affordable, too.

Somehow feel more confident as a pedestrian in NYC than I do in Pittsburgh.

My body is in Pittsburgh but my heart os with Lebanon. Fortunately, we have many great Lebanese restaurants here so I decided to support one (easy decision). I highly recommend Kassab's on the South Side. Any other suggestions?

Back to my happy place (the Carrie Blast Furnaces just outside of Pittsburgh).

The Metro has 2.5-foot aluminum stops! And they are on sale! Very tempting to spend $65 to share my New Carrollton pride... And get a matching one for my Takoma Park partner. And make a whole WMATA map in our yard.

More turtle posts!

My opinion on the Lindy West drama is that Ahameful aka Aham should have stuck with the turtle posts on Instagram. I unfollowed the account when it switched to the people posts because the "I love them so much" came across as totally inauthentic, whereas the love for turtles seemed real.

I've already called @deluzio.house.gov and friends are on it for @summerlee.bsky.social. Both reps have previously signed letters supporting funds for humanitarian demining but I'm sure they'd appreciate more encouragement. Deluzio: 202-224-3121 Lee: 202-225-2135

Six years ago, I moved from NYC to Pittsburgh. I'll never tire of these views from the plane, no matter how gray the sky is.

See a bridge, post a bridge

Releasing 94 birds for the 94 countries that signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on December 3, 2008. This was 17 years ago in Phnom Penh together with survivors, deminers, monks, and activists. Time to ban cluster bombs, Cambodia (and everyone else).

A fun one was organizing a ride on an NYC sludge vessel (look it up, very cool!) for our international colleagues to share what they do with biosolids collected from wastewater treatment centers. Was great to facilitate international poop conversations with incredible views.

For example, in September 2017 I helped facilitate an exchange between the New York City Fire Department and Syria's White Helmets. They discussed responding to 9/11 and bombings in Syria. The smell of burning bodies. The pain of ashes in their lungs. The shared humanity. Not a dry eye in the room.

I'm ready to run as the humanitarian disarmament mom.

Why did you leave the face on the ground?

I made a raccoon pumpkin in honor of the new Rainbow Raccoon Park in my town, but the raccoons ate its face overnight.

Hooray for local government! What a delight to see NYC's Local Law 97 (2019) getting a shoutout during this New York Botanical Gardens presentation at the Phipps Climate Toolkit conference here in Pittsburgh.

'When you say your only going to represent the marginalized, you only end up marginalizing the people who you consider not to be marginalized. All our students have needs and their needs shall not be ignored." This is from a school board election mailer just outside of Pittsburgh.

When I worked in/around the UN, I'd often see the Syrian ambassador who backed the deadly regime that killed countless people and destroyed the lives of many more. I'd say "kuss ummak" loud enough for him to hear, but not loud enough for him to know it was me. But sometimes he did. Like here.

Yes, okra and also cotton, another plant I grew but did not harvest. I do enjoy the flowers, which change from yellow to purple and open and close before forming cotton bolls.

Hello, okra-loving friend! I tried growing okra once. The flowers are breathtaking! But I only got like one okra a week so it wasn't very efficient.

Too often, only the terrible things in DC make it to the public eye, but there is a beautiful, longstanding punk history that warrants recognition. Proud to be born in DC to a dad who ran the Rainbow Press on 18th Street, which supported such movements in the 70s.