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Miriam Forster

@miriamforster.bsky.social

2.3K followers 1.2K following 6.1K posts

Two capybaras in a long wool cardigan pretending to be a writer. Autistic, agender, fact-checker and heretic. She/they. “Exclamation marks are numerous, but justified.” -Kirkus, starred review

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Miriam Forster @miriamforster.bsky.social · Sep 28

Your periodic reminder that I wrote a book about shark evolution AND another one about bug evolution!

They are BIG and GORGEOUS and illustrated by the exceptional @gordywright.bsky.social

A hand holding two oversized picture books. The back one is blue and called Sharks, a Mighty Bitey History, and the front one is green and titled Bugs, a Skittery Jittery History.

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Miriam Forster @miriamforster.bsky.social · 1h

Listen, it’s fall and that means rain, you just can’t go out willy nilly without your crimson cloak!

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Mary Sue @marysuesays.bsky.social · 1h

Listen, I am getting tired of having to keep saying that's just how we dress in Portland! AVERT YOUR EYES, gosh, don't be rude!

Jordan Shiveley (Dread Singles) @jordanshiveley.bsky.social · 1h

ENJOY NATURE

Look around you. Enjoy the beauty of the night sky. The woods. The call of insects down in the tall grass. The crisp air against your fevered brow. The procession of crimson robed figures. The hymn of knives they are singing

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Chantal James @chantalalive.blacksky.app · 8h

John Brown listened to Black people. A lot of wanna be white revolutionaries who try to claim him can’t even do that much.

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tamara nopper @tamaranopper.bsky.social · 14h

Sometimes our contribution is to stay out of the way.

To not project our insecurities or fears on others willing to take political risks we’re not ready to take. To not make it harder for those ready to fight the good fight.

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Miriam Forster @miriamforster.bsky.social · 11h

White people need to take seriously the abuse and trama that white colonialist social structures inflict on us. We need to face it and do the inner work to heal.

But we need to do it without expecting sympathy, help, or support from Black, indigenous and other racially marginalized people.

Miriam Forster @miriamforster.bsky.social · 11h

I’m about to start tackling how white people abuse and punish each other, and I feel like I need to draw a clear line between the things that white people experience (abuse), and the things that racially marginalized people experience (oppression).

Miriam Forster @miriamforster.bsky.social · 11h

Idk, I’m still feeling my way through this.

There’s something interesting in the idea that systemic oppression is just as much about allowing the “right” people to abuse freely as they wish, as it is about punishing the “wrong” people.

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Miriam Forster @miriamforster.bsky.social · 11h

So in a sense, oppression is what happens when victims of abuse have no recourse or remedy under the current system.

And it’s intentional. The victims must be suffering to satisfy the abusers.

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Miriam Forster @miriamforster.bsky.social · 11h

Been thinking a lot about the differences between oppression and abuse.

Obviously oppression is systemic while abuse is personal, but there’s also a connection because a major aspect of oppression is protection of abusers.

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Oregon 🕎🎲 @oregonthedm.bsky.social · 17h

Protip

Don't scroll down this thread there's a monster at the end of these skeets

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🇬🇾🗽Sydette The Dreaded Gorgon🗽🇬🇾 @blackamazon.bsky.social · 14h

Anybody whose worth their salt will not collect your data , they will have ways for you to contact them after

Don’t put any contact info on ANYTHING

Raider @iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social · 1d

Apparently, ICE has set up a website to trap individuals attempting to do the right thing. Please exercise caution.

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Dan Baldassarre @evornithology.bsky.social · 16h

Banding owls really is a spiritual experience. The woods are dark and quiet save for the rhythmic “toot, toot, toot” of the audio lure. They seem vacant. Suddenly, a tiny nocturnal spirit drops in to bless you with its brief presence. Then it’s off, likely never to be seen again.

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 15h

Here's how ProPublica categorizes the 170 US citizens ICE has kidnapped. 50 Kavanaugh stops and 120 cases where ICE claimed they were assaulted, usually (IMO) after assaulting the person in question.

Remember that 2 of the electeds--Ras Baraka and Brad Lander--were arrested DURING their election.

We reviewed more than 170 cases overall, which we sorted into two categories.

The first is Americans who were held because agents questioned their citizenship. We found more than 50 such cases. The second category is Americans arrested by immigration agents after being accused of assaulting or impeding officers at protests or during immigration arrests of others. In that category, we tallied about 130 Americans, including more than a dozen elected officials. In many of these cases, the government never charged these individuals or the cases were dismissed.

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IYKYK @nisslbody.blacksky.app · 15h

The "No Kings vs. Civil Rights Movement: Which Is Bigger?" discourse is extremely stupid and also symptomatic of the Winning culture that has brought us all to the brink of disaster.

Consider that not everything is a binary competition to be won or lost. Most things are not, in fact.

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Jess McLaughlin, PhD (they/them) @jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social · 15h

It can't be overemphasised how much of a disaster is happening in western AK right now. Kipnuk and Kwigillingok are evacuating, with people only allowed to bring one bag and being forced to leave everything else (including their pets).

Hundreds airlifted from storm-battered Western Alaska villages in historic evacuation

The Alaska Airlines Center arena at the University of Alaska Anchorage will shelter 300 displaced residents starting Wednesday evening, the American Red Cross said.

www.adn.com

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Angus Johnston @angus.bsky.social · 1d

Go ask any historian what it means for one social movement to be "bigger" than another. Any fucking historian. If they tell you, without you prompting them or coaching them, that the one true measure is how many people show up for marches in connection with that movement, I will eat my hat.

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Angus Johnston @angus.bsky.social · 1d

Because the civil rights movement WASN'T A MARCH. It wasn't a series of marches. That's just factually, empirically, fundamentally not what the civil rights movement was.

To say No Kings is "bigger" because of crowd size, you must first adopt an incorrect definition of the civil rights movement.

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Dr. Kat Napaaqtuk❄️ @napaaqtuk.bsky.social · 21h

"Consequently, the Indigenous data sovereignty movement formed to protect collective interests in data governance and ensure that benefits derived from data are directed back to Indigenous peoples"

Heck yeah! @joseph-yracheta.bsky.social @kstsosie.bsky.social

Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 22h

A Tribal data repository to advance Indigenous health and sovereignty www.nature.com/articles/s41... (read free: rdcu.be/eLiqc)

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Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis @kendrawrites.com · 21h

As we go into No Kings weekend (and with the influx of new followers from x) seems like a good time to resurface this.

It was written in 2020 then focused on George Floyd about the media's antagonistic relationship to protest

It’s time to change the way the media reports on protests. Here are some ideas.

"People kept sharing these videos that were coming up and it was unambiguous what was going on. We weren't looking at a stream of videos of violence erupting or clashes breaking out. We were looking a...

www.niemanlab.org

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Sigrid Ellis @sigridellis.bsky.social · 1d

Quick cultural lecture time, from Sigrid Ellis:

As we are in Spooky Season, why do so many horror movies of the 80s and early 90s feature extremely creepy homeless people?

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Emily L. Hauser (she/her) ❌👑 @emilylhauser.bsky.social · 1d

Uline's owners "have used their wealth to funnel millions of dollars into the most extreme RW politicians & mvmts... contributed $144 million to conservative groups in the 2024 election cycle... donated $4+ million to bankroll anti-abortion groups who pushed to overturn Roe v Wade."
refuseuline.com

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Louisa @louisathelast.bsky.social · 1d

I know it’s late in the day, but if you have a moment, spare a thought or light a candle for Trixie. Margot should have had a big sister already here in the house. We miss her every day.

Katie C @spiffykt.bsky.social · 1d

October 15 is Infant Loss Remembrance Day. Thinking about Trixie, today and every day. 🕯️

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Mr. Chau @srirachachau.bsky.social · 1d

Long story short, an actual Nazi doxxing ring. Enough people reported them that they went away for like 12 hours and then Elon personally brought them back. The site is dead. If you’re still on there, go lock your account right now

chris @knightscrest.bsky.social · 1d

what even happened on the other site this time

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Anna O. Law @unlawfulentries.bsky.social · 2d

On the boat out there, I explained that calling Angel Island the "Ellis Island of the West" is inappropriate. Ellis Island was to welcome immigrants, Angel Island to detain and screen out immigrants. Reject rate at Ellis was 1-3% where mostly Europeans entered. 2/

Plaque explaining why the comparison to Ellis island is inappropriate. Angel Island was to enforce the Chinese Exclusion Act and to screen out undesirable immigrants. Ellis Island welcomed and admitted almost all arrivals.

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Anna O. Law @unlawfulentries.bsky.social · 2d

Just returned from SF where I went with my cousins & their kids to explain the history of Angel Island immigrant landing depot. It's an island off of SF, look how close it is to SF, yet for detained immigrants who were there, it was a world away to getting to the US. Was in operation 1910-1941. 1/

Angel Island in the distance in the water, photo taken from a San Francisco scenic point with a few other tourists.

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