Rika⁷
@commanderrika.blacksky.app
Writer+Illustrator. She/Her.
💜 Blackness 💜 Books 💜 BTS 💜
Stories in Lightspeed, FIYAH, Strange Horizons, Fantasy, and Apparitions
Portfolio: commanderrika.com
Commissions OPEN: [email protected]
💜 Blackness 💜 Books 💜 BTS 💜
Stories in Lightspeed, FIYAH, Strange Horizons, Fantasy, and Apparitions
Portfolio: commanderrika.com
Commissions OPEN: [email protected]
Pinned
Rika⁷
@commanderrika.blacksky.app
· Sep 1
What takes you out of time? And what is sweet enough to bring you back into it again? Read Marika Bailey's "Gifted and Talented" today and consider what moves you so that you could move others:
Gifted and Talented - Small Wonders
Being beyond time is a revolution against creation most bodies aren’t built to bear. It’ll kill you, that dark matter time.
smallwondersmag.com
Hi! I have a story out in Small Wonders today! This is a little horny gremlin of a tale and I hope you take a chance on it, if you're into words and whatnot.
Reposted by Rika⁷
I feel like my local Bluesky followers have mostly seen these resources already, but if you have less-connected friends who are trying to figure out how to pitch in on our current community project, feel free to use this link:
naomikritzer.com/2026/01/19/h...
naomikritzer.com/2026/01/19/h...
How to Help: Twin Cities Residents
This is a post for people in Minnesota. I’m going to do a separate post for the non-Minnesotans when I’m done with this one. (If you’re in a hurry you can go to Stand With Minneso…
naomikritzer.com
January 19, 2026 at 10:18 PM
I feel like my local Bluesky followers have mostly seen these resources already, but if you have less-connected friends who are trying to figure out how to pitch in on our current community project, feel free to use this link:
naomikritzer.com/2026/01/19/h...
naomikritzer.com/2026/01/19/h...
Reposted by Rika⁷
Happy MLK day, gang! Martin was a Democratic Socialist, anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, thought white moderates were the bane of Black existence, and died on a trip to support a sanitation workers' strike!
Beware his sanitized and sanded-down edit!
Beware his sanitized and sanded-down edit!
January 19, 2026 at 4:41 PM
Happy MLK day, gang! Martin was a Democratic Socialist, anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, thought white moderates were the bane of Black existence, and died on a trip to support a sanitation workers' strike!
Beware his sanitized and sanded-down edit!
Beware his sanitized and sanded-down edit!
Reposted by Rika⁷
And the RICHEST country in the world…won’t spend a dime on it.
His whole interview is why we shout that we matter. That I matter. That when I matter, I get to be part of the melting pot.
I get to be a person too.
youtu.be/2xsbt3a7K-8?...
His whole interview is why we shout that we matter. That I matter. That when I matter, I get to be part of the melting pot.
I get to be a person too.
youtu.be/2xsbt3a7K-8?...
MLK Talks 'New Phase' Of Civil Rights Struggle, 11 Months Before His Assassination | NBC News
YouTube video by NBC News
youtu.be
January 19, 2026 at 6:13 PM
And the RICHEST country in the world…won’t spend a dime on it.
His whole interview is why we shout that we matter. That I matter. That when I matter, I get to be part of the melting pot.
I get to be a person too.
youtu.be/2xsbt3a7K-8?...
His whole interview is why we shout that we matter. That I matter. That when I matter, I get to be part of the melting pot.
I get to be a person too.
youtu.be/2xsbt3a7K-8?...
Reposted by Rika⁷
it is -10 here today. I was supposed to go do a volunteer shift standing outside loading groceries into people’s cars to deliver to families stuck at home. just got a call not to come in because they have too many volunteers already. if you were wondering if the cold would stop us.
January 19, 2026 at 5:09 PM
it is -10 here today. I was supposed to go do a volunteer shift standing outside loading groceries into people’s cars to deliver to families stuck at home. just got a call not to come in because they have too many volunteers already. if you were wondering if the cold would stop us.
Reposted by Rika⁷
My favorite speech by MLK, and possibly his greatest.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. - April 4, 1967 - Beyond Vietnam: A Time To Break Silence [Full Speech]
YouTube video by Servant2All
youtu.be
January 19, 2026 at 5:54 PM
My favorite speech by MLK, and possibly his greatest.
Reposted by Rika⁷
Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She was 95.
Dr. Gladys West, Mathematician Whose Work Made GPS Possible, Dies at 95
ALEXANDRIA, VA — Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She passed away
thezebra.org
January 19, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She was 95.
Reposted by Rika⁷
I think it's very good, actually, to talk to romance people about Heated Rivalry! (and in this case, the romance person is me)
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Why can’t women enjoy Heated Rivalry without being treated with contempt? | Zoe Williams
The TV hit has cracked open a rich seam of misogyny: romance is written off as a weird thing that women like, and the audience is dismissed as ‘wine moms’, writes Zoe Williams
www.theguardian.com
January 19, 2026 at 6:26 PM
I think it's very good, actually, to talk to romance people about Heated Rivalry! (and in this case, the romance person is me)
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Rika⁷
i wish i could still buy things at the prices i used to complain about
January 19, 2026 at 6:28 PM
i wish i could still buy things at the prices i used to complain about
Reposted by Rika⁷
ICE ended up returning the man, Saly, after realizing he’s a fucking US citizen with no criminal record, per his sister-in-law. These fucking animals.
January 19, 2026 at 5:41 AM
ICE ended up returning the man, Saly, after realizing he’s a fucking US citizen with no criminal record, per his sister-in-law. These fucking animals.
Reposted by Rika⁷
But what is too much to bear? Not being alive. So we kept being alive even as they destroyed us. So we buried our secrets though they tried to extinguish our secrets with us. Up until this very day. They keep coming, they never stop. You couldn't kill us all. - Dead Astronauts
January 19, 2026 at 5:06 AM
But what is too much to bear? Not being alive. So we kept being alive even as they destroyed us. So we buried our secrets though they tried to extinguish our secrets with us. Up until this very day. They keep coming, they never stop. You couldn't kill us all. - Dead Astronauts
Reposted by Rika⁷
People who basically gave up all of the Black and Indigenous colleagues for being “our of their place”
Can’t imagine that an entire city would defend them just because they were neighbors
And the especially can’t imagine losing relevance or being required to repair to earn it back
Can’t imagine that an entire city would defend them just because they were neighbors
And the especially can’t imagine losing relevance or being required to repair to earn it back
January 19, 2026 at 3:44 AM
People who basically gave up all of the Black and Indigenous colleagues for being “our of their place”
Can’t imagine that an entire city would defend them just because they were neighbors
And the especially can’t imagine losing relevance or being required to repair to earn it back
Can’t imagine that an entire city would defend them just because they were neighbors
And the especially can’t imagine losing relevance or being required to repair to earn it back
Reposted by Rika⁷
I’m not sure people outside the Twin Cites realize the prevalence and the fear ICE is causing in Twin Cities. They are dining undercover pretending to be couples at restaurants, they are going to businesses and checking the license plates of cars to find employees. Every public place is compromised.
January 19, 2026 at 3:17 AM
I’m not sure people outside the Twin Cites realize the prevalence and the fear ICE is causing in Twin Cities. They are dining undercover pretending to be couples at restaurants, they are going to businesses and checking the license plates of cars to find employees. Every public place is compromised.
Reposted by Rika⁷
There's a guide I read at some point for writers about how to not use this shit, and one of the points it makes is that you can just use a word that describes the ACTUAL behavior.
The actual description of what they do is never the developmental slur that you want to use.
The actual description of what they do is never the developmental slur that you want to use.
I will never for my entire life understand why people are so fucking hostile to the idea that a word they use is violent against disabled people and they shouldn’t say it
We remove racial slurs from our vocabulary easily. Slurs against disabled people are no different, you’re just lazy and ableist
We remove racial slurs from our vocabulary easily. Slurs against disabled people are no different, you’re just lazy and ableist
January 18, 2026 at 10:49 PM
There's a guide I read at some point for writers about how to not use this shit, and one of the points it makes is that you can just use a word that describes the ACTUAL behavior.
The actual description of what they do is never the developmental slur that you want to use.
The actual description of what they do is never the developmental slur that you want to use.
Reposted by Rika⁷
As I said in COLOR TASTE TEXTURE, the amount of people who don’t have at least one food aversion is extremely rare. That parent giving their kid a hard time for having food aversions almost assuredly has their own off-limits foods, for whatever reason. They won’t extend the same acceptance to a kid.
Via neurowild
(The reality is that the western world runs on a historical assumption that kids aren't people but property. We've made huge progresses but that assumption is still around)
(The reality is that the western world runs on a historical assumption that kids aren't people but property. We've made huge progresses but that assumption is still around)
January 17, 2026 at 11:50 PM
As I said in COLOR TASTE TEXTURE, the amount of people who don’t have at least one food aversion is extremely rare. That parent giving their kid a hard time for having food aversions almost assuredly has their own off-limits foods, for whatever reason. They won’t extend the same acceptance to a kid.
Reposted by Rika⁷
January 19, 2026 at 1:29 AM
I don't watch a single sport but I love to see y'all having fun. Or not having fun, as the case may be.
January 19, 2026 at 3:28 AM
I don't watch a single sport but I love to see y'all having fun. Or not having fun, as the case may be.
Reposted by Rika⁷
This is the thing. Even if magically things become affordable, DISAPPEARING PEOPLE IS BAD
Makes me feel absolutely fucking insane when you feckless losers just keep posting about grocery prices. I can buy 18 eggs for $5 at my overpriced Manhattan grocery store, so what now bitch.
January 19, 2026 at 3:10 AM
This is the thing. Even if magically things become affordable, DISAPPEARING PEOPLE IS BAD
Reposted by Rika⁷
I am terrified with what happens if we actually do push this back
For women and kids in the reach of these people
For women and kids in the reach of these people
January 19, 2026 at 1:30 AM
I am terrified with what happens if we actually do push this back
For women and kids in the reach of these people
For women and kids in the reach of these people
Reposted by Rika⁷
January 19, 2026 at 1:40 AM
Reposted by Rika⁷
I’ll never get tired of this ad at our local indie theater 😂
January 19, 2026 at 1:45 AM
I’ll never get tired of this ad at our local indie theater 😂
Reposted by Rika⁷
People really really downplay dental health. Cavities are not the worse case scenario here. Poor oral health can kill you
January 19, 2026 at 1:59 AM
People really really downplay dental health. Cavities are not the worse case scenario here. Poor oral health can kill you
Reposted by Rika⁷
it's 100% what they expected. Conservatives think of Minneapolis' white people as scared of our neighbors, especially the immigrants. But that's because *they're* scared, not because we are. They cannot imagine being in a city with such diversity and enjoying it.
To those saying “nuh-uh, ICE picked Minneapolis because they WANTED the city to rise up as one against them” -
no, pretty sure they expected a scattering of blue-haired protesters they could easily crush for content + tacit support from other whites, not the organized total resistance they got.
no, pretty sure they expected a scattering of blue-haired protesters they could easily crush for content + tacit support from other whites, not the organized total resistance they got.
ICE and MAGA really did bet the farm on all of Minneapolis’s white people going “oh yes, please take away our disgusting, evil non-white-foreigner neighbors, oh thank you so much.”
it’s beautiful that they’ve been proven incredibly wrong about that - may the rest of the country do the same.
it’s beautiful that they’ve been proven incredibly wrong about that - may the rest of the country do the same.
January 19, 2026 at 2:21 AM
it's 100% what they expected. Conservatives think of Minneapolis' white people as scared of our neighbors, especially the immigrants. But that's because *they're* scared, not because we are. They cannot imagine being in a city with such diversity and enjoying it.
Reposted by Rika⁷
Free option for reading Chantal's writing: web.archive.org/web/20230219...
January 19, 2026 at 2:22 AM
Free option for reading Chantal's writing: web.archive.org/web/20230219...
Reposted by Rika⁷
I keep thinking about how everyone from the Twin Cities I have ever met would cheerfully feed you or fight you. Your choice, but they are down with whatever.
ICE and MAGA really did bet the farm on all of Minneapolis’s white people going “oh yes, please take away our disgusting, evil non-white-foreigner neighbors, oh thank you so much.”
it’s beautiful that they’ve been proven incredibly wrong about that - may the rest of the country do the same.
it’s beautiful that they’ve been proven incredibly wrong about that - may the rest of the country do the same.
January 19, 2026 at 2:37 AM
I keep thinking about how everyone from the Twin Cities I have ever met would cheerfully feed you or fight you. Your choice, but they are down with whatever.
Reposted by Rika⁷
No. I don't think I will.
"you must tell white americans that white america is responsible for nazis while trying to convince white america that the nazis they voted for are doing a bad job and should go"
focusing on getting rid of the nazis first, before telling them nazis are their fault, is more prudent. baby steps
focusing on getting rid of the nazis first, before telling them nazis are their fault, is more prudent. baby steps
That David French NYT op-ed people are raving about is the problem with white punditry. Talking about the Nazi dual state without ever mentioning that Nazis learned from white America and its treatment of Black people. Jesus Christ it is painful waiting for y'all to catch up
January 18, 2026 at 7:28 PM
No. I don't think I will.