Author | Lightnews

Elena Existing

@elenaexisting.bsky.social

1.9K followers 2.3K following 5.4K posts

Gen X spinster aunt. Idaho to Louisville. Corporate drone from 8-5; devastatingly quiet from 5-8. Learning Mandarin. Going for a hike. Let's take better care of each other, okay?

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Elena Existing @elenaexisting.bsky.social · 13m

A New (Old) American Play, in Three Acts:

A bluesky post from Teen Vogue: "Zohran Mamdani's Establishment Fighting Campaign Built Community for Young People.

A headline from RollingStone: New York's Ultra Rich are in the Hampton's Freaking Out About Zohran Mamdani

A headline from Vogue: Teen Vogue is Joining Vogue.Com

Elena Existing @elenaexisting.bsky.social · 17m

She's one of my favorite American authors.

Elena Existing @elenaexisting.bsky.social · 30m

I recently finished Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward and have just started The Humanity Archive: Recovering the Soul of Black History from a Whitewashed American Myth by Jermaine Fowler.

I'm also reading poems from The Crazy Bunch by Willie Perdomo on the side.

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Elena Existing @elenaexisting.bsky.social · 1h

That is also nuts.

Elena Existing @elenaexisting.bsky.social · 2h

I'm just amazed that UPS is paying to put probably thousands of agents on the phone where the number one question they must get asked is "where is my package" and somehow doesn't give call center agents any detailed visibility into package tracking.

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Elena Existing @elenaexisting.bsky.social · 3h

"Maybe it will be delivered this Thursday... or Friday," she said. The agents are all very sorry because there is nothing they can tell me about where my package is or isn't.

My dad is texting me everyday from a boat on the way to Gibraltar or somewhere and I'm 🤷‍♀️😬.

A truly terrible system.

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Elena Existing @elenaexisting.bsky.social · 3h

She says that it should arrive in Louisville today or tomorrow or Wednesday (her answer changed throughout the call) and that I can check the online status to see when it arrives (even though it already says it arrived and even though she agrees the status online isn't accurate).

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Elena Existing @elenaexisting.bsky.social · 3h

I checked today and the tracking status details still haven't changed since 10/30. It still says it arrived in Louisville 10/30. I called UPS. The person I spoke to said she can see it has been released from customs on 10/8 (um, no) and that it is on the way to Louisville. 🙄

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Elena Existing @elenaexisting.bsky.social · 3h

I called Saturday. I was told that even though the shipping status in the UPS system showed it had arrived in Louisville on 10/30... the shipping status wasn't actually accurate and that it hadn't "physically arrived" in Louisville but that it was "on the way" and would be delivered Monday.

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Elena Existing @elenaexisting.bsky.social · 3h

I stayed home all day Thurs waiting for it to be delivered (signature required).

It was never delivered. On Friday, I had a 2 hour wait for a call back from UPS customer service and was told "It will be delivered between 11:45am-3:45am today."

It was not delivered.

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Elena Existing @elenaexisting.bsky.social · 3h

The package was supposed to arrive last Thursday. I checked the routing online everyday and watched the package hop from France to Germany to Louisville. I got a notification from UPS that it was going to be delivered Thursday, 10/30, between 11:45am-3:45am.

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Elena Existing @elenaexisting.bsky.social · 3h

Can I take a minute to just gripe about how truly awful UPS's tracking and customer service is for an international package.

My parents left a document in their safe in Paris. I coordinated with the hotel to print a label and have it shipped last Monday. It cost a lot of money.

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Elena Existing @elenaexisting.bsky.social · 4h

You know I didn't realize I was from a working class family until I went to a small liberal arts college in Michigan on scholarship, so I don't know why I'm surprised to find out (from LinkedIn!) that my alma mater now has an equestrian center and horse boarding, but still <eyes rolling very hard>.

Elena Existing @elenaexisting.bsky.social · 7h

Are teachers allowed to give candy to their students? I need a plan to offload approximately $50 worth of Halloween candy.

Reposted by Elena Existing

Howard Eissenstat @heissenstat.bsky.social · 10h

M. Gessen, "How to be a good citizen of a bad country"

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/o...

Opinion | How to Be a Good Citizen of a Bad Country

www.nytimes.com

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Elena Existing @elenaexisting.bsky.social · 1d

Precisely.

Elena Existing @elenaexisting.bsky.social · 1d

I have Schrödinger's pink eye: My left eye was fine until I looked in the mirror.

Reposted by Elena Existing

Elena Zhang @ezhang77.bsky.social · 1d

One of mine in Scaffold Lit

#smallpoemsunday
@tomsnarsky.bsky.social

the pianist by elena zhang
The pianist sits down on the concert hall stage. She has childhood in her ears. It laughs in c minor.
Thousands of eyes blink in tandem. Her fingers are grandmothers. They forget where home is. All they need are the right keys, then muscle memory will take over. But where should she start? Where to actually start?

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Reposted by Elena Existing

Erin Keane @erinkeane.bsky.social · 1d

It’s our time down here. www.salon.com/2022/11/03/l...

Why we should set our clocks back in November and keep them there

Like one-third of my fellow Americans, I prefer Standard Time. Unfortunately for us, the clock is ticking toward permanent DST

www.salon.com

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Elena Existing @elenaexisting.bsky.social · 1d

Agreed!

Elena Existing @elenaexisting.bsky.social · 1d

Oh dang, I missed it!

Elena Existing @elenaexisting.bsky.social · 1d

Fall back... to me waking up at 4am instead of 5am when I don't need to be awake at all. Dumb.

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Elena Existing @elenaexisting.bsky.social · 1d

Cool, thanks! My Asian watch history has been heavily skewed towards Chinese language films & Korean movies. Appreciate this list.

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Elena Existing @elenaexisting.bsky.social · 1d

Me, all day today. It's been lovely.

Flannel, Steady Diet of @flanneloccluded.bsky.social · 2d

Mood

Reposted by Elena Existing

Solomon @solomonmissouri.bsky.social · 3d

Can kicking
Marbles
Cornbread making
Checking your neighbors paper
Rugby
The order of service
Getting a phd
Finding the vein

There is not a single activity you beating a heavy legged angel in

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