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Joyce Reynolds-Ward

@joycereynoldsward.bsky.social

3.5K followers 1.3K following 10K posts

Writer of speculative fiction from the wide open spaces. Rural liberal. Dispenser of horse cookies to the fancy-stepping Marker-boi. Former special ed teacher who's forgotten more about cognitive assessment than most people knew. #SFWA

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Joyce Reynolds-Ward @joycereynoldsward.bsky.social · Jan 19

Wow. I guess #BookTok has shown up here? Well, anyway, welcome to my new followers.
So here's how I do things.
I tend to keep my followbacks low until I get to know you as an account management tool. I use the OnlyPosts and Spec List feeds primarily.
Gotta have time to write.
What do I write? 1/5

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Joyce Reynolds-Ward @joycereynoldsward.bsky.social · 1h

Enjoy!

Joyce Reynolds-Ward @joycereynoldsward.bsky.social · 1h

Not just heat pumps but mini-splits. We installed a mini-split this year--one big head--and is it ever amazing. Small house but even so...

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Joyce Reynolds-Ward @joycereynoldsward.bsky.social · 1h

Not unless they reinstate Auras. I'm pissed that they discontinued that line--best-fitting riding jean for me. I'm now riding in men's work pants. The resizing weirdness is totally...not friendly to post-menopausal me.

Joyce Reynolds-Ward @joycereynoldsward.bsky.social · 1h

Oh yeah. Saw this for ten years teaching middle school special ed. Some crunchy parent types would yank the kid out, realize it was too much work, and back they would come. There were legitimate cases where homeschooling worked, but the parent was also committed to their student learning.

Joyce Reynolds-Ward @joycereynoldsward.bsky.social · 2h

Even 38 years ago. La Leche League and its crowd. I ran screaming from them after a couple of months.

Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 16h

We need to talk about how social media algorithms push moms down a slippery slope of distrust.

From "Are my kids getting enough support in school?" To "Maybe I should homeschool." To "Maybe modern medicine is bad."

I've seen this first-hand in research I'm doing on parenting apps. 1/🧵

Joyce Reynolds-Ward @joycereynoldsward.bsky.social · 2h

There are places that self-serve here--Fred Meyer on Johnson Creek. Or if you go out of town.

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Joyce Reynolds-Ward @joycereynoldsward.bsky.social · 3h

Absolutely agree with this. And don't watch nightly news. Or morning news. Make your news consumption from a "cold" medium.

Joyce Reynolds-Ward @joycereynoldsward.bsky.social · 3h

Fortunately I have a lot of things to do. Fall/winter prep, training a horse, downsizing as an elder, managing financial requests for a service organization committee, and writing a fantasy novel about what happens once the evil Emperor is deposed.

You know. Stuff like that.

Joyce Reynolds-Ward @joycereynoldsward.bsky.social · 3h

Jack Welch corporate culture was dominant. Shudder.

Joyce Reynolds-Ward @joycereynoldsward.bsky.social · 3h

I'd like to know just what planet these people were living on.

Mike Chen @mikechenwriter.bsky.social · 4h

I do find it weird that there's all these "life was better in the 80s/90s" and I'm like, I grew up in the 80s/90s, it was super racist/misogynist, both in person to me and in culture. People were SO MAD at a black or female leads in Star Trek.

The Lilith Fair documentary covers this really well.

Nilah "Nine Jobs" Magruder @nilahmagruder.com · 4h

Like this is me personally but I think you're fooling yourselves if you think there was ever a moment in American history when white people were subtle about their racism.

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Joyce Reynolds-Ward @joycereynoldsward.bsky.social · 7h

Fucking hell. I didn't grow up reading unwed mother scare stories during the early '70s to tolerate this bullshit.

Joyce Reynolds-Ward @joycereynoldsward.bsky.social · 7h

I dunno. I never pay attention to the colors.

Reposted by Joyce Reynolds-Ward

Occam’s Shaving Scream @occamshavecream.bsky.social · 7h

Pope Leo, His Holy Shitposter

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Joyce Reynolds-Ward @joycereynoldsward.bsky.social · 11h

They did it in the '60s. No reason to expect anything different.

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Joyce Reynolds-Ward @joycereynoldsward.bsky.social · 11h

And even then...nope.

Joyce Reynolds-Ward @joycereynoldsward.bsky.social · 11h

YES YES YES.
Those who say otherwise either weren't around or are letting nostalgia color their memories.
I was an activist in the '80s and held positions in the Young Democrats. You bet I heard stuff.

Joyce Reynolds-Ward @joycereynoldsward.bsky.social · 11h

Libertarians saying stuff like this has been around for a long time.

Joyce Reynolds-Ward @joycereynoldsward.bsky.social · 11h

Amanda lives on a different planet. I was on campus in the late '70s/early '80s as a Young Democrats leader and the stuff I heard from Republicans was...icky. And this was in a state generally regarded as blue (though actually more purpleish).

Joyce Reynolds-Ward @joycereynoldsward.bsky.social · 11h

Yep. Oh, it would be a wink-wink-nudge-nudge testing to start with, and if you gave them any encouragement...it got worse.
I was a legislative intern in 1981 and some of the stuff said at parties by Republican interns *then*....

Joyce Reynolds-Ward @joycereynoldsward.bsky.social · 12h

Oh dear ghod. Obviously they weren't there.

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Joyce Reynolds-Ward @joycereynoldsward.bsky.social · 13h

I...dunno. I heard some pretty icky stuff as asides during my political years in the '80s and '90s. Especially when I was at the University of Oregon. The YR types there tended to be frat boys, and...yeah.

Reposted by Joyce Reynolds-Ward

Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 13h

I submit that a huge part of the pandemic of distrust is that reactionaries & progressives the world over are both dissatisfied with democracy, for different reasons, but this creates a pervasive common sense (via incompletely theorized agreement) that democracy's in crisis.

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Reposted by Joyce Reynolds-Ward

Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 13h

I suspect populist parties bootstrapped their own political support by weaponizing the residual, ambient distrust present in all societies & MAKING MORE OF IT, spreading & intensifying it, by propagating narratives of distrust & corruption. By repetition & uptake by other political actors, it rose.

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Reposted by Joyce Reynolds-Ward

Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 13h

Ha ha, trick question: it's those same parties benefiting from disillusionment who are saying you shouldn't trust democracy, that it's corrupt. We call these "populist" parties.

There's tons of work on populism, but everyone agrees it's associated with rhetoric that makes distrust commonsensical.

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Reposted by Joyce Reynolds-Ward

Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 13h

With the assumptions in place, the main event: why are people distrustful of democracy?

Put simply: because they're told to distrust it. They're told it's betrayed them, that it's failing. That's why people are becoming disillusioned—& it's why some support parties who say so. But WHO'S SAYING IT?

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