Marla Lepore

@marlaink.bsky.social

576 Followers 568 Following

Nashville-based writer/compulsive editor. I write the Muck Rack Daily newsletter. Essays in North American Review, Hippocampus, Points in Case, Sky Island Journal, plus others. Usually covered in dog and/or cat hair.

"Deceased Charlie Daniels to be hologram on July Fourth"
Mockup of an ad for a junkyard/scrap business with a picture of the Venus de Milo and the tag: "For those hard to get parts, call..."
Cover of "The Last Samurai" by Helen DeWitt
Animals Have you forgotten what we were like then when we were still first rate and the day came fat with an apple in its mouth it’s no use worrying about Time but we did have a few tricks up our sleeves and turned some sharp corners the whole pasture looked like our meal we didn’t need speedometers we could manage cocktails out of ice and water I wouldn’t want to be faster or greener than now if you were with me O you were the best of all my days [1950] Frank O'Hara
Poem Sometimes everything seems SO oh, I don't know. - Joe Brainard 1942 - 1994
People Magazine News Alert: Donald Trump, 79, Steps Out with Scabbing Neck Rash at Medal of Honor Ceremony
A pot of creole shrimp
“You should know that there is little you can seek in this world, that there is no need for you to be so greedy, in the end all you can achieve are memories, hazy, intangible, dreamlike memories which are impossible to articulate. When you try to relate them, there are only sentences, the dregs left from the filter of linguistic structures.” ― Gao Xingjian, Soul Mountain
Blackeyed peas and greens
I think people ought to know that we're anti-fascist, we're anti-violence, we're anti-racist and we're pro-creative. We're against ignorance. Joe Strummer
Ginger cat chilling in the sun
It's an unsettling doll leg lying in a pile of leaves. Looks way more realistic than one would prefer.
Mr. Blatt appealed the case, and four years later, an administrative law judge ruled in his favor. The judge cited Mr. Blatt's decision to take his dog, an Italian greyhound mix named Thelma, with him to Dallas. "Petitioner's dog was his near and dear item which reflected his ultimate change in domicile," the judge wrote.
Orange cat lying in a slice of sunshine
Orange cat with only her body sticking out of her play tunnel
"I voted" sticker on David Johansen t-shirt
Me outside the student media room at Captain Shreve High School, Shreveport, Louisiana
Sweet beagle in a witchy/princess costume
Orange cat sleeping on top of a plastic dry-clean-wrapped formal gown laying on a bed
Dear Traveller, You have reached the end of the journey that led you to climb the Palatine Hill and walk, with your eyes but above all your imagination, in what remains of the Farnese Gardens, scattered amid the ancient, ruins and vegetation today. Here, on this very spot, travellers, writers, artists, men and women of culture and enthusiasts of art and archaeology paused before you. Like them, you can enjoy the charm of the hour, and with a purified and understanding gaze contemplate a panorama of "unheard of richness", just as Johann Wolfgang Goethe did before you. He also visited this place, where you sit now, and described the sensations he felt. «That same evening we went for a walk in the gardens on the Palatine which have reclaimed the waste spaces between the ruins of the Imperial palaces and made them attractive. There, on an open terrace beneath magnificent trees, with fragments of ornamental capitals, smooth and fluted columns, bas-reliefs etc., strewn all around us in a wide circle in the same way that tables, chairs and benches are arranged for a merry party out of doors, we enjoyed the lovely hour to our beart's content, and when, at sunset, we surveyed the panorama with freshly washed eyes, we bad to admit that, even after all we had seenthat day, this picture was still worth looking at. Drawn and coloured by someone with Cassas's taste, it would arouse universal enthousiasm» Goethe, Italian Journey, September 1787, London 1970, p. 392. Translated by W. H. Auden and E. Mayer.
A beagle in front of the Weinermobile
A beagle relaxing in a yard
Snoozing beagle
I think people ought to know that we're anti-fascist, we're anti-violence, we're anti-racist and we're pro-creative. We're against ignorance. - Joe Strummer
"London Dry-style gin only, the juniper and citrus flavors frontward and searing. (Restaurants that stock only upmarket floral gins drive me crazy; everyone should have a basic like Beefeater on their shelves.)"
Andy Richter: What is the national language of the United States? Conan: Third grade English
NYT quiz based on Michael Grynbaum's new book, “Empire of the Elite: Inside Condé Nast, the Media Dynasty That Reshaped America” (I got a tres chic 32 out of 32)
A longhaired ginger cat, mildly alarmed at the thought that it might be time for her annual haircut
Video of a beagle dog-paddling in the Little Harpeth River at Edwin Warner Park in Nashville
A beagle
The Wire’s Wee-Bey, who agrees to let Bunny and his wife raise Namond (“Man come down here to say my son could be anything he damn please”)
Prior to the rise of rearview cameras in America, many drivers had to reverse by turning their heads to look through their rear window or rely on rearview mirrors. Drivers of older vehicles still rely on this technique
A bright jumble of fresh berries
Article in Footwear News with the headline: "Adidas Is No Longer Sourcing Kangaroo Skins for Its Athletic Shoes" BY JADEN THOMPSON
Aretha Franklin - Queen of Soul
Adam and Ashley Nelson Levy, co-founders of Transit Books, publisher of Nobel laureate Jon Fosse, described being taken aback by the email’s rationale about the new funding priorities, such as to “make America healthy again,” which seemed far afield from the agency’s traditional remit. “You’re going to come up with a crack cure for measles with arts funding?” Adam asked. “We’re obviously thinking about this beyond the financial impact,” said Ashley, describing the cuts as “another form of censorship that we’re seeing from the administration.”
Screenshot of AP, CNN and NY Times coverage of the May Day protests
A lil beagle propped up on her hind legs with her tongue out
Headline from The Tennessean: "'American Pickers' star is trading his Nashville shop for lowa family"
A floofy orange cat with big round eyes and bunny arms lying on the bed, staring into abyss
Voice mail list showing repeated alerts from the metro Nashville severe weather warning system through the wee hours.
Picture of the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile cruising along I-65 N through Nashville
A review of Baked Ziti by "Seamax": This sounds delicious, I can't wait to try it. I make a similar dish sometimes, and to reduce the fat a bit I substitute cottage cheese for the ricotta. There is no substitute, however, for journalism free of fear or favor in the face of the pernicious growing threat of authoritarianism.
Screenshot of a post from r/whatismycookiecutter The cookie cutter in question looks like an upside-down Partridge Family bird probably
Shrimp and sausage jambalaya
A cartoon rabbit saying "WTF, over" into a walkie talkie
[Headline] Price of the brick going up As David Frum of The Atlantic says, here's yet another example of "Inflation. In 2017, Kuwait paid only $60,000 to bribe Trump. Today, it cost Meta $25 million." Annie Linskey and Rebecca Ballhaus of The Wall Street Journal broke the news that Meta has agreed to pay $25 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit Trump filed against the company and Mark Zuckerberg after Trump's social media accounts were suspended following the Jan. 6 attack. Sources tell them the bulk of the money will go toward Trump's presidential library.
Muppet-faced orange cat with her tail wrapping around her foot
To the New Year By W. S. Merwin With what stillness at last you appear in the valley your first sunlight reaching down to touch the tips of a few high leaves that do not stir as though they had not noticed and did not know you at all then the voice of a dove calls from far away in itself to the hush of the morning so this is the sound of you here and now whether or not anyone hears it this is where we have come with our age our knowledge such as it is and our hopes such as they are invisible before us untouched and still possible
Goodtime Jesus Jesus got up one day a little later than usual. He had been dreaming so deep there was nothing left in his head. What was it? A nightmare, dead bodies walking all around him, eyes rolled back, skin falling off. But he wasn't afraid of that. It was a beautiful day. How 'bout some coffee? Don't mind if I do. Take a little ride on my donkey, I love that donkey. Hell, I love everybody. James Tate (1979)
Lightning Rods by Helen DeWitt
That Luigi Mangione has the background and education of someone in a protected class has complicated this argument for certain writers, whose narratives demand that wealth be considered virtuous, and criminality as the exclusive province of poor and marginalized people. Few are prepared to say openly that it's this argument itself-and the obvious and false hierarchy it underpins- that is degrading humanity and pushing the world into dystopia: the idea that it is "those other people" who die in the darkness and silence of what is normal. When the brutality was turned against a millionaire CEO, that tacit arrangement was both violated, and revealed.
Lucy the beagle resting up for turkey
People News Alert: Diddy Will Have Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches For Thanksgiving Dinner in Jail
Lucy the beagle wearing a pink t-shirt
When Bluesky was “Celebrating 10M users” #398,964 - first 10%