Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Kate Violette

@kateviolette.com

6.7K followers 790 following 23K posts

Multipurpose nerd. Engineering manager currently waylaid by a complex illness. On a mission to watch every Katharine Hepburn movie. 🏳️‍🌈 they (🇬🇧), elle (🇫🇷) Currently in Portland OR. Always a Mainer. ✍️ Blog at my username! 📊 @healthlog.kateviolette.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Kate Violette @kateviolette.com · Jul 16

whew this poem 😮‍💨

Miyanda Nehwati 🇿🇼 @emmessenn.com · Jul 16

Ohhh Andrea Gibson ;(

Text: poem by Andrea Gibson :every time i ever said i want to die
By Andrea Gibson

A difficult life is not less worth living than a gentle one.
Joy is simply easier to carry than sorrow. And your heart could lift a city from how long you've spent holding what's been nearly impossible to hold.
This world needs those who know how to do that.
Those who could find a tunnel that has no light at the end of it, and hold it up like a telescope to know the darkness also contains truths that could bring the light to its knees.
Grief astronomer, adjust the lens, look close, tell us what you see.

3 5 61

Kate Violette @kateviolette.com · 31m

this question was oddly helpful and motivating, thank you!

Kate Violette @kateviolette.com · 31m

I have a fun treat in a package in my entryway that I haven't opened yet? that's probably gonna be the highlight of my day

also a spiteful desire to eventually recover from Lyme which means I gotta stay on top of meals and meds timing

1 1

Reposted by Kate Violette

Sarah Tuttle @niais.bsky.social · 49m

What's getting us all out of bed this morning.

13 1 10

Kate Violette @kateviolette.com · 34m

this is how I learned @kerrizor.bsky.social made it over to bluesky 🥹 hi Kerri!!

Kate Violette @kateviolette.com · 35m

yeah I would also make an exception for that specific smart device lol

Reposted by Kate Violette

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 19h

I interviewed one of these factory workers in Los Angeles. She gets paid three cents to sew a zipper, five cents for a collar, and seven cents to prepare the top part of a skirt.

This is how fast fashion brands like Fashion Nova can put "Made in USA" tags on dress shirts that retail for only $25

"Every day at 6 am, Bilma boards a bus that shuttles her to downtown Los Angeles’s Fashion District. When she reaches the garment factory an hour later, she starts working immediately, without punching in. Like thousands of other garment workers in the United States, Bilma’s wages aren’t tethered to the clock but rather to the quantity of operations she executes. Three cents for a zipper or sleeve, five cents for a collar, and seven cents to prepare the top part of a skirt before she passes it onto the next sewing operator in line. Assembling an entire dress earns her a mere 15 cents. Bilma toils away on garments primarily for fast-fashion labels such as Fashion Nova, Lulus, and Lucy in the Sky, who prioritize quickly stocking on-trend items over the quality of materials. These companies peddle things like $80 maxi dresses, $25 poplin dress shirts, and $5 crop tops, all modeled by beautiful people and bedecked with the tantalizing promise of low-cost glamor."

"This worker payment system, known as “piecework” in the garment industry, is how US-based manufacturers can sidestep labor laws that require companies to pay at least the minimum wage. Rather than compensating Bilma for the exhausting 12-hour shifts—a regimen that, according to LA County’s minimum wage requirement, should yield $202.80—her pay is determined by the individual tasks she performs, which can fluctuate daily. Despite her adept handling of hundreds of garments a day, Bilma’s earnings typically linger around $50 per day. That’s $300 weekly for the standard six-day grind and $350 if she opts for Sunday labor. Doing what she can with this modest income, Bilma spends $400 a month to live in a two-bedroom apartment with six other people, some of whom are day laborers. In this crowded arrangement, two occupants squeeze into each bedroom, while two more lay claim to the living room. Bilma sleeps in the corner of the bustling kitchen."

33 410 2.9K

Reposted by Kate Violette

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 19h

It's hard to help Americans left behind because so much of US identity is rooted in individualism. The average American conservative holds all three positions at once:

— Virtue signals about supporting US manufacturing
— Against raising the minimum wage
— Buys foreign imports because they're cheap

HardPass4 on Twitter tweets: "I'm willing to pay more for quality products if they are made in America, by Americans, who are paid a decent income." The tweet shows Norman Rockwell's "Freedom of Speech" painting, which is often used to show the tweeter is expressing a brave opinion.

HardPass4 on Twitter tweets: "MINIMUM WAGE JOBS WERE NOT MEANT TO BE A CAREER. Why does no one understand this? Entry level jobs are STEPPING STONES to better jobs. No one wants to work towards that though."

HardPass4 on Twitter tweets: "Buy $5 gloves instead of $50 ones. Trust me." The tweet shows a box of "Gorilla Grip" gloves.

The label on Gorilla Grip gloves show they're made in China.

76 1.3K 6.2K

Kate Violette @kateviolette.com · 1d

and people have no idea how bad it is. I think if you were to drop your average person into your or my average day, they would truly have a mental health breakdown by the end of it. maybe a few brave souls would last a week.

it's so hard and people have fuck all for compassion for it

Reposted by Kate Violette

Sparrow / Liz @untonuggan.bsky.social · 2d

~chronic illness feelings~

yesterday I went in person to two (2!) stores. just small corners of each store, nearby, with a ride.

but this would have been inconceivable to me a few years ago when I was about ~90% bedbound

and yet there's still a fucking physical cost to going out

#NEISvoid

2 1 70

Kate Violette @kateviolette.com · 1d

I feel every detail of this so hard

cursed illness energy math solidarity

it is exhausting on top of existing exhaustion

1 3

Reposted by Kate Violette

sarah jeong @sarahjeong.bsky.social · 1d

I have a theory www.theverge.com/policy/79849...

American politics has devolved into shitposting and aura farming

The Frog is owning the president.

www.theverge.com

92 650 3.2K

Kate Violette @kateviolette.com · 1d

I was gonna say, if "anecdotes are not data" then I have bad news about what a 16 person study is at its heart

1 6

Kate Violette @kateviolette.com · 1d

est-ce que ce mec a que des visages ridicules ou est-ce que ce sont les journaux qui choisissent les photos les plus ridicules que possible

vraie question, j'ai pas encore vu une seule photo dans laquelle il a l'air normal

Libération @liberation.fr · 2d

Gouvernement Lecornu II : premier déplacement du Premier ministre attendu ce samedi à 11 h 30 dans un commissariat

Suivez notre direct ⬇️

EN DIRECT - Sébastien Lecornu, de nouveau nommé à Matignon et critiqué, dans une course contre la montre pour désigner un gouvernement

www.liberation.fr

Reposted by Kate Violette

cosmoflash @cosmoflash.bsky.social · 2d

Lecornu II : Matignon Drift
Lecornu 3
Lecornu 4Ever
Lecornu V Infinite
Lecornu Origins
The Lecornu Tales
Legend of Lecornu

62 320 1.4K

Kate Violette @kateviolette.com · 1d

being short of breath sucks, I hate it so much

I don't know if it's a thing that's gonna come back now that we've paused the alinia, or what

but whatever the cause is, it fucking sucks, it never used to be a symptom of mine before a year ago, and I would like a doctor to figure it out please

2 32

Reposted by Kate Violette

pumpkin spice amb 🎃 @amb.fyi · 1d

with obvious caveats that all politics are local and i don’t know the race specifics, the fact mainstream Dems are running a 77 year old candidate against that young charismatic progressive oysterman in the Maine primary makes it pretty clear the rank-and-file of the party must be shot into the sun

5 8 72

Kate Violette @kateviolette.com · 1d

speaking as a born and raised Mainer: a-fucking-men

I lost my absolute shit when I saw Mills was entering the race

Kate Violette @kateviolette.com · 1d

Yeah, like I also feel bad for the guys too!, I'm not just trying to beat up on them here. And of course there are always exceptions to trends. What I mean to get at is on average, if more men took the time to build more relationship skills, everyone would benefit.

1 1

Kate Violette @kateviolette.com · 1d

This ad is everything. 😭❤️

Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 2d

UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 4: Sylvia Rivera

In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion.

As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.

Kate Violette @kateviolette.com · 1d

1, I *really* feel for my straight lady friends, who are mad catches but can't find anyone on their level

2, It sucks to have to write off an entire gender that's among those I'm attracted to simply because they can't get their act together? That still bums me out even though I have other options

1 7

Kate Violette @kateviolette.com · 1d

Mostly, the relationships on the show failed because men couldn't make up their minds, were afraid of commitment and having responsibility towards another person, etc.

And as tempting as it would be to joke that since I'm bi this is not my mess to deal with but:

1 3

Kate Violette @kateviolette.com · 1d

I finished slogging my way through "Love is Blind - France" (I told myself I'd never watch another one but I wanted the language practice) and whew if that wasn't a whole study in how there's a surplus of women ready and capable of being in loving, committed relationships, and a deficit of such men.

1 1 6

Kate Violette @kateviolette.com · 1d

chaque jour une nouvelle horreur 😮‍💨

Kate Violette @kateviolette.com · 1d

my exact reaction, too lol

that spam goes too hard

Reposted by Kate Violette

Annie Abrams @annieabrams.bsky.social · 2d

high school isn't just easier college, a lot else goes out the window if you cede the idea that the institutions serve distinct purposes

2 4 27