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When I wrote SHINE and "Shattered" (in the Shade series), I did a lot of research on solitary confinement. It was horrifying and heartbreaking. Many people think those in solitary are violent offenders, but in fact, the crime that put you in prison has nothing to do with whether you land in isolation. It can be something as simple as reading the wrong book, or complaining when a guard has sexually assaulted you.

This video is a great 5-minute illustration (literally) of why solitary confinement is torture, plain and simple. it serves no purpose other than to destroy lives.

(Don't worry, there's no graphic footage whatsoever, just words and beautiful drawings.)

#pelican bay #solitary confinement #torture #human rights

‘The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins’ by Leonard Nimoy Like many people, I turn to music in times of sorrow. #RIPLeonardNimoy

#thisismyjam

‘First Light’ by Django Django SO EXCITED these guys have new stuff!!

#thisismyjam

courtneymilan

Do you want to build a strawman? Come on let’s talk today. I don’t use logic anymore It’s all gone out the door It’s like my brain is hay! We used to trust in reason And now we don’t I’ll switch off when you tell me why. Do you want to build a strawman? (It doesn’t have to be a strawman.) Okay,...

‘Fireball’ by Pitbull In honor of last night's #Antaresrocket "anomaly."

#thisismyjam

thisfeliciaday

I had a day off this weekend from shooting Supernatural, and I was walking around downtown Vancouver on Saturday, sampling all the artisan coffee I could get my throat around. At one point I saw a pair of guys walking towards me wearing gamer shirts. Black short-sleeved, one Halo and one Call of...

The Walking Dead, "Strangers" (S5, E2) Bible verses

I noticed the board on the wall in Gabriel's church (the one that usually shows which hymns you're supposed to sing during the service) had a bunch of Bible verses on them:

Rom(ans) 6:4 Eze(kiel) 37:7 Ma(tthew) 27:52 Re(velation) 9:8 Lu(ke) 24:5

If you string them all together, it makes this (New International Version translation):

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life...So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone...and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life...Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth...In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?

What does it mean? I dunno. I wonder if Gabriel put those verses there to tell himself a story, or if he held a service and put the verses up for his congregation? If the latter, that means he lied about being there alone all this time since It All Started.

Or maybe it's just a fun thing the set designers added as an Easter egg.

EDITED TO ADD: OK, on Talking Dead they revealed that the verses and the hymn (not sure which hymn it was) refer to the quote above the arch: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life," which is from John 6:54. (The conclusion of the verse is "and I will raise him up on the last day.")

#the walking dead

denisejaden

Foreign Exchange is out this week! I’m thrilled to share these awesome blurbs from authors I respect so so much!

"Denise Jaden’s newest novel, FOREIGN EXCHANGE, is a must read for contemporary YA fans. The characters leap off the pages and readers will furiously turn pages to keep up with the fast pace and intriguing premise. Definitely add a copy of Foreign Exchange to the top of your reading list."

Janet Gurtler, Rita Finalist and Best Selling Author of I’m Not Her

“I loved the well-drawn relationships in Foreign Exchange – the tension between Jamie and her mother, Jamie’s tenderness with disabled brother Eddy and especially the intense chemistry between Jamie and Sawyer. Their off-limits attraction and the increasingly dangerous hunt for his sister had me racing through the final chapters.”

- Jen Nadol, author of The Mark, The Vision, and This is How it Ends

"Foreign Exchange takes you on a thrilling ride through the exotic streets of Europe into the dark side of the fashion world. Our charming heroine will stop at nothing to save her best friend. A sweet dose of romance keeps it light."

- Lee Strauss - author of The Minstrel Series

"Foreign Exchange is a fresh contemporary YA that will keep readers compulsively turning pages until the very end. Combining international intrigue with a steamy forbidden romance makes for a can’t miss read."

—Eileen Cook, author of Year of Mistaken Discoveries.

"A pitch perfect voice and delicious chemistry between the characters kept me turning those pages!"

—Tara Kelly, author of Amplified and Encore

"Foreign Exchange is heart pounding and suspenseful…the teenage dream of escaping the boredom of suburbia by travelling Europe and spending quality time with a hot guy shifts into a dangerous nightmare."

—D.R. Graham, author of Rank and the Noir et Bleu MC series.

jerismithready

I've loved all of Denise Jaden's books, and this one looks like the best yet. Find out more and pick up your copy for only $4.49 (limited time only)!

#ya fiction #ya lit #denise jaden

Hello! The Baltimore Book Festival shows you as speaking on Sunday the 28th. Is this accurate? I'm really hoping it is because I haven't had a chance to see you speak publicly, but I'm a huge fan of the WVMP series!!!

Yes, I am! On Sunday the 28th I’ll be doing a panel with other YA authors from Simon & Schuster from 3-4:30pm.

We’ll be on the main stage (!), the Literary Salon, which is on Rash Field.

I’m really excited!

I think only my YA titles will be for sale afterward, but you are more than welcome to bring any books from home for me to sign. Thank you so much for loving the WVMP series, Anonymous! :)

fallintotheparty

There is another side to Glasgow today.

After the rioting by a minority group of unionists in Glasgow’s George Square last night, which shamed and embarrassed our wonderful country, a new scene showed its face today.

Several groups of people have now left over 100 bags with donations for Glasgow’s homeless food banks on George Square under peace flags. This is the Glasgow and Scotland that I know and love.

We will continue fighting for a better country. To bring an end to austerity, to food banks, to immoral, illegal nuclear weapons of mass destruction.

maggie-stiefvater-deactivated20

Why are you angry at the zip-lining dog?

For the same reason I’m angry at most videos of sky-diving and scuba-diving dogs. Because the videos are full of laughing humans with the delighted body language of people making videos they expect to go viral, and the videos are full of dogs with the body language of a terrified, unprepared animal.

I grew up with show dogs and show horses and cats and parakeets and now live with dogs and cats and cows and 9 miniature silky fainting goats, and I’m very aware that animals have to do things that terrify them all the time. But I’m also aware that living respectfully and responsibly with these incredible creatures means that it’s my job to introduce them to a frightening or unfamiliar situation as slowly and carefully as I can, with an eye toward whatever their species needs to understand it. And it’s my job to only put them into situations like that when they need it — transportation, for instance, is bewildering to every animal, ever — or when I think that the pay-off will ultimately be rewarding for both of us (showing, swimming, walking past the blue barrel that is strangely terrifying).

In my kindest moments, I assume that the sky-diving/ scuba-diving/ zip-lining dog owners are motivated by that second impulse. They truly believe the dogs will enjoy the experience eventually. But last night I went looking for a video of a voluntarily zip-lining dog after seeing that latest gif show up on my dash. Instead I found three different videos of dogs just harnessed up and then shoved into mid-air. The result is the gif that I reblogged last night — a stiff-legged dog whose body language shouts WHAT IS HAPPENING AM I GOING TO DIE.

This is the equivalent of pushing a human off the top of a high-rise building without reassuring her that she’ll survive, and then saying, “she’ll learn to love it!”

This concludes my anger.

jerismithready

All of the above. Thank you, Maggie.