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Andrea Pitzer

@andreapitzer.bsky.social

48K followers 1.1K following 4.2K posts

Books! One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps, Icebound: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World, & a Nabokov bio. Now working on Snowblind: Death on the Polar Ice. Former karateka & record store clerk. Newsletter & podcast: andreapitzer.com.

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · Nov 10

I currently have a newsletter in which I write regularly about how societies devolve into authoritarianism & what that means right now in the US & around the world. It also features essays about my unsettled childhood in West Virginia. Soon, it will also include art, surprises, & links to resources.

Degenerate Art

Andrea Pitzer on politics and history, the Arctic, and Appalachian exile.

degenerateart.beehiiv.com

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 9m

They're all gonna get fellowships at the University of Austin, aren't they?

John Schwartz @jswatz.bsky.social · 47m

Vile and racist comments when they think no outsiders can listen in. Because Chatham house rules, right? A lot of bold, outside-– box thinking going on here on “forbidden” topics.
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 4h

I find all these filters super-creepy.

TechCrunch @techcrunch.com · 4h

Google Meet finally has a makeup filter for those days when you don't feel like applying lipstick.

Google Meet launches an AI-powered makeup feature | TechCrunch

Google Meet finally has a makeup filter for those days when you don't feel like applying lipstick.

techcrunch.com

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Reposted by Andrea Pitzer

Tim Dickinson @timdickinson.bsky.social · 17h

The Portland ICE protest camp literally has a rack full of inflatable costumes for demonstrators who want to try one on...

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 18h

Flann O'Brien is consistently funny.

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 20h

It's actually good to point out Bari Weiss's shitty inaccuracies, her lack of any real journalistic experience or original ideas, and the fact that she's failing upward, promoted by antidemocratic oligarchs who have no interest in reporting the truth.

The middle-aged white guy standing up in a crowd from Norman Rockwell's "Freedom of Speech" painting.

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 20h

Thanks for reading it, Anne! So glad it's useful. (And thanks to @hcrichardson.bsky.social for sharing my work!)

Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 20h

The Moviegoer is the best novel he wrote, though he wrote it several more times before dying. I do also like the protagonist in the Second Coming, who climbs to a desolate cave planning to die there unless God reveals himself—only to get a toothache. And Lost in the Cosmos (nonfiction) is terrific.

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 20h

Yeah, given the way white Gen X guys have been going, relieved Tommy is on the side of the angels here.

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 21h

Who would have guessed in 1989 that one day Tommy Stinson would be out in Virginia campaigning for a former CIA case officer running for governor and fighting the GOP attempt to install Donald Trump as dictator?

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 1d

Keeping an eye on him, just in case...

Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 1d

This anecdote is in no way intended to suggest that you need to follow in my teenage-Walker-Percy-fangirl-shoes and draw a portrait of @johnlingan.bsky.social in order to attend.

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 1d

I'm very fond of Kramers! They hosted the first author event I attended after moving to DC: Walker Percy, three years before he died. I gave him a portrait I'd drawn of him, and he wrote a lovely note in my copy of THE THANATOS SYNDROME. Come out to see John, and he can sign BACKBEATS for you, too.

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 1d

Don't be fooled, Elon. John called me a cockroach not long ago.

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 1d

Delighted to get to talk to @johnlingan.bsky.social about his new book BACKBEATS on Nov. 11 at Kramerbooks! John and I have known each other for more than a decade, but it's really the power of rock and roll drummers and the great stories he'll share that should compel you to join us.

John Lingan @johnlingan.bsky.social · 1d

DC folks, I couldn’t be more excited to announce this BACKBEATS publication day event at Kramers in DuPont Circle. I’ll be in conversation with my friend and inspiration @andreapitzer.bsky.social. Come out and talk rock and roll with us!

John Lingan: Backbeats | Kramers

kramers.com

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Reposted by Andrea Pitzer

CM Janeese Lewis George @cmlewisgeorgew4.bsky.social · 3d

Every sign in DC marks the loss of someone’s neighbor, someone’s loved one, someone’s friend.

Every sign marks yet another step in the march toward authoritarianism.

Signs popping up around D.C. note: ‘ICE kidnapping happened here’

The signs range in style and mark numerous locations where people have been taken by federal agents.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Andrea Pitzer

Susan (George) Schorn @susanschorn.bsky.social · 1d

. “Our first advice to people is to don't do this alone,” he said. “The feds seem to be more cautious when we are in groups, which makes perfect sense because they're bullies.”

Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 1d

My latest is the story of how my community has rallied to protect and defend our neighbors in recent days, as ICE has targeted the Rogers Park neighborhood in Chicago. "This is not a story about a moment of victory, but a moment of being reminded of our power."

They Came for Our Neighbors. We Showed Up.

Before long, there were dozens, and then hundreds of people in the streets, watching and responding.

organizingmythoughts.org

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Reposted by Andrea Pitzer

Stacy Fahrenthold @sfahrenthold.bsky.social · 1d

I've been watching AAUP v. Trump, the lawsuit by @uofcalifornia.bsky.social faculty, students, staff, unions to stop Trump's illegal use of funding threats to stifle free speech.

The latest: Trump's lawyers have been furloughed, are asking the court for a stay because they aren't getting paid.

American Association of University Professors v. Trump, 3:25-cv-07864 - CourtListener.com

Docket for American Association of University Professors v. Trump, 3:25-cv-07864 — Brought to you by Free Law Project, a non-profit dedicated to creating high quality open legal information.

www.courtlistener.com

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 1d

Going to write a song titled "Emergency Naked Bike Ride."

Tim Dickinson @timdickinson.bsky.social · 1d

Fierce, unruly joy in Portland at the emergency naked bike ride

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 1d

The notorious Mr. Tammany.

Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 1d

I did not sing Marvin Gaye, if that's what you're asking.

Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 1d

It got wild! (No one died, including me.) Sometime in the next couple weeks, I'll write about that morning for the newsletter. There are a couple lessons from it that would be useful to keep in mind at this particular moment in US history.

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 1d

Remembering the Tuesday at the record store when the Madonna album paired with this movie came out. My clerk called in sick, leaving me solo. Bringing in the huge shipment from the street, I realized 3 dudes in motorcycle leathers were shoplifting everything they could grab. So I confronted them.

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

watching the warren beatty DICK TRACEY movie and it is insane? legitimately wild to me that it was a hit?

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 1d

NY and NJ people! I'll be talking about concentration camp history and how mass civilian detention without trial took root all over the world more than a century ago. Join us at 5:30pm on Tuesday October 21 at Ramapo College in Mahwah.
www.ramapo.edu/holocaust/ce...