"The book touches something deep and interesting …then circles away…. to move on to observe something or someone new and interesting… then it circles back…" Yes, I read my reviews on Good Reads. If you want to circle back with me, pick up Clear and Sane wherever finer books are sold. Now paperback!

Among our interesting and inspiring political stories is the Dems who are stepping aside for better non-affiliated candidates. Leo has a great look inside the story in Montana. Check it out. Bankhead has one day left to get off the ballot. www.oldtruckgoodcoffee.com/p/stop-maga-...

If you are inclined and you understand the implications here, you could get involved and help overcome these cynical misinformation tactics.

Axle stopped and contemplated the red sun for quite some time on our evening walk. It is my sense, it might be projection, but the animals around me seem to be altering their ways for these conditions. Their way of adapting is different. To live today is to be a keeper of this liminal moment.

On the death of Glen Hansard, in this week's Old Truck Good Coffee. www.oldtruckgoodcoffee.com/p/on-losing-...

Raise your hand if the apps you rely on suck while AI features "enhance" your experience miserably. Here is the FI app which has been pushing an AI to recognize your dog on cameras but displays 140% as 50%. Developers are distracted from shipping improvements in the rush to ship AI no one wants.

Latest Old Truck Good Coffee from Leo Schuman is of this moment, a banger. www.oldtruckgoodcoffee.com/p/luddites-a...

"His purchasing decisions can’t make the world better. His political power can’t make the world better. He just lives, it seems to me, in a narrow world trying to optimize for his family while the whole structure falls apart for the human spirit everywhere." open.substack.com/pub/oldtruck...

If you have a dog, don't forget to kiss them in the sunset. If you have read Clear and Sane, don't forget to write a review wherever reviews are held

Things are hard for some folks right now. They could use your attention and love

I published this article *My Current Plan in the Face of All This Fascism* in April 2025. Looking at the eight points, I think I have stuck with them and they have helped me be effective. www.oldtruckgoodcoffee.com/p/my-current...

When/if the AI bubble pops, it will be a good time for us all to reflect that it was writers who looked at the output of ChatGPT and noticed that the words were in a correct order but no meaning existed. It would be cool if people started asking writers what they think again.

Found

Happy Birthday, USA. I believe in you.

When a CEO or corporate leader predicts the future, they are only trying to mesmerize you into living the future that has the most profit for them.

People say my novel is hard to read, so I fixed it. I respond to input from audiences. I have done a structural revision of my novel to keep it from being so hard. You can order it in the hard or soft version at any bookstore, on any online platform, or at joelbyronbarker.com.

The view of #IP28 from Montana. It is not pretty, but it underlines how we need to speak against it NOW. It does not matter that "it won't pass." It matters how it is seen by our fellow Oregonians, our fellows all across the nation who it threatens. www.oldtruckgoodcoffee.com/p/politics-a...

This week's Old Truck Good Coffee. Oregon's angry culture-killing movements: The PEACE Act and Greater Idaho.

Right now at this very moment, Clear and Sane is becoming someone's new favorite book. You can order it where ever you get your books.

“you know, Joel, you live the life of a conservative.” www.oldtruckgoodcoffee.com/p/beers-in-m...

It is Saturday, which would be a great day to crack open a new book. Treat your future self right, order Clear and Sane today so that future you can have a nice Saturday.

We are complicated, beautiful, and we don't dismiss each other here open.substack.com/pub/oldtruck...

We have moved our Old Truck Good Coffee publishing (only once a week and only pure gold writing on the interchanges other folks call divides) to Tuesday, so you will need some other Sunday morning reading. Try Pat Kruis out!

This makes perfect sens to me, but of course I made it. Which do you believe in and which do you not?

Cheatgrass revisited: I will give away (for the algorithm) that it is an allegory about disappointed Trump voters, dealing with the hard problems that they face just like you do. Check out the latest Old Truck Good Coffee. open.substack.com/pub/oldtruck...

Time passes, winds shift, and you still have not ordered Clear and Sane: The Craft of the Green Paintbrush.

All I could summon for my writing practice today was one word. It is a good one.

County Commissioner forum are coming up: May 4 in Madras, May 7 in Crooked River Ranch, and May 11 in Camp Sherman. Show up, learn about your candidates, and support Greg Mead!

Leadership has gotten into the "defend my silo against AI" act! I hear people say that LLMs can do everyone else's job well enough but not their own. I think it stems from everyone's desire to think and sound like a simplistic "high-level" executive. hbr.org/2026/04/what...

"Don't let Trump voters forget what they have done" Your mourning and theirs.