Kathryn C-K
@kathrynck.bsky.social
Sociolinguist. Spinner, weaver, knitter. Parent. Queer. Chronically ill. she/her
“As you can see, Cloud Dancer is the color of a MacBook charger in its waning days of service. The color of bad news delivered with bureaucratic indifference. The color of congressional insider trading. The color of a person’s thoughts while ignoring war.“
sorry I'm late! I have at last broken my silence on Pantone's Color of the Year johnpaulbrammer.substack.com/p/cloud-danc...
'Cloud Dancer': A Measured Response
Regarding Pantone's decision, and so on, and so forth
johnpaulbrammer.substack.com
December 7, 2025 at 1:15 PM
“As you can see, Cloud Dancer is the color of a MacBook charger in its waning days of service. The color of bad news delivered with bureaucratic indifference. The color of congressional insider trading. The color of a person’s thoughts while ignoring war.“
Reposted by Kathryn C-K
This is horrific and exactly what those of us in Black studies, gender studies, women’s studies have been warning our colleagues in the sciences about. Their seeming neutrality will not save them.
Heartbreaking. The University of Nebraska will terminate its entire Earth science department.
One of the country's most successful and respected geology & climate programs: gone.
When ideologues & politicians are threatened by the very act of studying climate change, I wonder: who of us is next?
One of the country's most successful and respected geology & climate programs: gone.
When ideologues & politicians are threatened by the very act of studying climate change, I wonder: who of us is next?
It's over.
Despite the fact that the academic council recommended against it, despite the fact that the program brought in more tuition than it cost, and despite the fact that Nebraskans need & deserve this expertise, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences will be cut.
www.dailynebraskan.com/news/adminis...
Despite the fact that the academic council recommended against it, despite the fact that the program brought in more tuition than it cost, and despite the fact that Nebraskans need & deserve this expertise, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences will be cut.
www.dailynebraskan.com/news/adminis...
December 7, 2025 at 5:13 AM
This is horrific and exactly what those of us in Black studies, gender studies, women’s studies have been warning our colleagues in the sciences about. Their seeming neutrality will not save them.
Reposted by Kathryn C-K
Exactly. Newsom translated is “we need to treat a lot of you as abnormal and we need you to be a lot less judgmental about it.”
Which is it man because you can’t say ‘be more normal’ back-to-back with ‘be less judgmental’ without a hint of irony because that’s just positioning yourself as cultural authority & then demanding the type of grace that by virtue of your immediately preceding statement you refuse to extend to us
California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Thursday that the Democratic Party needed to be “more culturally normal” and “less judgmental.”
December 7, 2025 at 2:43 AM
Exactly. Newsom translated is “we need to treat a lot of you as abnormal and we need you to be a lot less judgmental about it.”
Reposted by Kathryn C-K
Which is it man because you can’t say ‘be more normal’ back-to-back with ‘be less judgmental’ without a hint of irony because that’s just positioning yourself as cultural authority & then demanding the type of grace that by virtue of your immediately preceding statement you refuse to extend to us
California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Thursday that the Democratic Party needed to be “more culturally normal” and “less judgmental.”
December 7, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Which is it man because you can’t say ‘be more normal’ back-to-back with ‘be less judgmental’ without a hint of irony because that’s just positioning yourself as cultural authority & then demanding the type of grace that by virtue of your immediately preceding statement you refuse to extend to us
Reposted by Kathryn C-K
My constituent, Wilmer, was mauled by an ICE attack dog despite the fact that, as he has consistently explained, he was not resisting arrest or trying to flee—his wife and young children, all U.S. citizens, were forced to watch helplessly as Wilmer was violently attacked and dragged away.
December 6, 2025 at 2:41 AM
My constituent, Wilmer, was mauled by an ICE attack dog despite the fact that, as he has consistently explained, he was not resisting arrest or trying to flee—his wife and young children, all U.S. citizens, were forced to watch helplessly as Wilmer was violently attacked and dragged away.
Reposted by Kathryn C-K
it might seem surprising that the people who said “look, let trans people live their lives, but i have Reasonable Concerns about sports and toilets” aren’t up in arms about this, but what you have to remember is that those people who said that are liars who were lying
December 6, 2025 at 12:40 PM
it might seem surprising that the people who said “look, let trans people live their lives, but i have Reasonable Concerns about sports and toilets” aren’t up in arms about this, but what you have to remember is that those people who said that are liars who were lying
ok see when I saw the announcement I was like “come on, don’t overthink this. not everything is political. They probably don’t even think it’s really white”
Now seeing this… they chose this year. THIS year. To be their first year of white?
Now seeing this… they chose this year. THIS year. To be their first year of white?
This is the first time Pantone has chosen a shade of white. The company says it's "a lofty white that serves as a symbol of calming influence in a society rediscovering the value of quiet reflection." n.pr/4rDF0jv
You read that white: Pantone's 2026 Color of the Year is 'Cloud Dancer'
This is the first time Pantone has chosen a shade of white. The company says it's "a lofty white that serves as a symbol of calming influence in a society rediscovering the value of quiet reflection."
n.pr
December 5, 2025 at 1:09 AM
ok see when I saw the announcement I was like “come on, don’t overthink this. not everything is political. They probably don’t even think it’s really white”
Now seeing this… they chose this year. THIS year. To be their first year of white?
Now seeing this… they chose this year. THIS year. To be their first year of white?
Reposted by Kathryn C-K
Does anyone know anything about Praat and accessibility?
TTU is beginning to request accessibility documentation (i.e. VPAT) for all software in use.
My impression is that Praat doesn't play well with screen-readers, and I haven't been able to find a VPAT.
#praat #linguistics #accessibility #a11y
TTU is beginning to request accessibility documentation (i.e. VPAT) for all software in use.
My impression is that Praat doesn't play well with screen-readers, and I haven't been able to find a VPAT.
#praat #linguistics #accessibility #a11y
December 3, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Does anyone know anything about Praat and accessibility?
TTU is beginning to request accessibility documentation (i.e. VPAT) for all software in use.
My impression is that Praat doesn't play well with screen-readers, and I haven't been able to find a VPAT.
#praat #linguistics #accessibility #a11y
TTU is beginning to request accessibility documentation (i.e. VPAT) for all software in use.
My impression is that Praat doesn't play well with screen-readers, and I haven't been able to find a VPAT.
#praat #linguistics #accessibility #a11y
Reposted by Kathryn C-K
As a Democrat, I do not believe in the goals of the company SauronMurdersEveryone Inc and do not trust their claims that they will not murder everyone. However, in the spirit of bipartisanship, I will be voting to give SauronMurdersEveryone Inc the government contract monitoring citizen locations.
hi i'm a billionaire my company, which will definitely not murder everyone, is named SauronMurdersEveryone Inc after the beloved jrr tolkien character sauron whom i have always admired for his disruptive use of world changing technology and for murdering everyone
December 4, 2025 at 9:24 PM
As a Democrat, I do not believe in the goals of the company SauronMurdersEveryone Inc and do not trust their claims that they will not murder everyone. However, in the spirit of bipartisanship, I will be voting to give SauronMurdersEveryone Inc the government contract monitoring citizen locations.
Reposted by Kathryn C-K
Today I learned that NASA has a collection of free ebooks that can be downloaded as pdfs or ebub format.
The science books even include a children’s section with fun activites and coloring books!
science.nasa.gov/multimedia/s...
The science books even include a children’s section with fun activites and coloring books!
science.nasa.gov/multimedia/s...
Science e-Books - NASA Science
From Earth and the other planets in our solar system, to supermassive black holes and the distant galaxies that contain them, explore NASA science and imagery through our library of e-books.
science.nasa.gov
December 4, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Today I learned that NASA has a collection of free ebooks that can be downloaded as pdfs or ebub format.
The science books even include a children’s section with fun activites and coloring books!
science.nasa.gov/multimedia/s...
The science books even include a children’s section with fun activites and coloring books!
science.nasa.gov/multimedia/s...
Reposted by Kathryn C-K
Hey, I want to offer some helpful tips for coping with the cold for ICE folks who might have come from warmer places.
1. Wear cotton socks! Cotton is nice and soft next to your skin and will absorb your sweat so your feet stay warm. Cotton everything but ESPECIALLY socks!
1. Wear cotton socks! Cotton is nice and soft next to your skin and will absorb your sweat so your feet stay warm. Cotton everything but ESPECIALLY socks!
Good morning to fuckers in our neighborhood kidnapping our neighbors! Can you see the city skyline? No? You’re wondering if Minneapolis burned down again overnight? Oh no, sweetie. That’s ice crystals in the air . It looks like it will get to around -8F without windchill! Please enjoy your stay!
December 4, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Hey, I want to offer some helpful tips for coping with the cold for ICE folks who might have come from warmer places.
1. Wear cotton socks! Cotton is nice and soft next to your skin and will absorb your sweat so your feet stay warm. Cotton everything but ESPECIALLY socks!
1. Wear cotton socks! Cotton is nice and soft next to your skin and will absorb your sweat so your feet stay warm. Cotton everything but ESPECIALLY socks!
Reposted by Kathryn C-K
Holy shit.
Reuters reporting that new admin instructions on visas are if you worked at a platform in trust & safety or content moderation or on fact checking or online safety at an platform you *and your loved ones* are ineligible for H-1B visa.
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
Reuters reporting that new admin instructions on visas are if you worked at a platform in trust & safety or content moderation or on fact checking or online safety at an platform you *and your loved ones* are ineligible for H-1B visa.
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
December 4, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Holy shit.
Reuters reporting that new admin instructions on visas are if you worked at a platform in trust & safety or content moderation or on fact checking or online safety at an platform you *and your loved ones* are ineligible for H-1B visa.
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
Reuters reporting that new admin instructions on visas are if you worked at a platform in trust & safety or content moderation or on fact checking or online safety at an platform you *and your loved ones* are ineligible for H-1B visa.
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
Reposted by Kathryn C-K
Thinking of the student Mary Young who 106 years ago today 'said "shan't" under [her] breath when told to repeat poor work'.
December 4, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Thinking of the student Mary Young who 106 years ago today 'said "shan't" under [her] breath when told to repeat poor work'.
I can’t read behind the paywall but on the face of it it seems odd to describe her as “call[ing] it censorship” when someone gives her a list of words she’s not allowed to say
Darcie Little Badger, a member of the Lipan Apache Tribe, said she was “taken aback” by the prohibitions under HB261 and calls it censorship.
An Indigenous author felt compelled to cancel her Utah appearance after this university gave her a list of banned DEI words
Darcie Little Badger, a member of the Lipan Apache Tribe, said she was “taken aback” by the prohibitions under HB261 and calls it censorship.
www.sltrib.com
December 4, 2025 at 5:14 PM
I can’t read behind the paywall but on the face of it it seems odd to describe her as “call[ing] it censorship” when someone gives her a list of words she’s not allowed to say
Ok maybe this is a dumb thought, but is the ICE city-terror-project moving south for the winter because it’s harder to racially profile people dressed for cold weather?
December 4, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Ok maybe this is a dumb thought, but is the ICE city-terror-project moving south for the winter because it’s harder to racially profile people dressed for cold weather?
It’s funny how the people who want clear national borders are most often the ones who think Puerto Rico is exists in a permanently liminal US-and-yet-not plane of existence
December 4, 2025 at 1:22 PM
It’s funny how the people who want clear national borders are most often the ones who think Puerto Rico is exists in a permanently liminal US-and-yet-not plane of existence
It’s worth noting that a frantic need to restore order in scary times is normal and human! I myself just reorganized part of my closet at 8pm despite being past my spoon count with a heavy day tomorrow. Not the ideal choice, but healthier than advocating for publically humiliating disabled people
This really comes down to punishment fetishism, wherein someone makes up imaginary villains they can salivate over meting out an imaginary severe punishment to, "making an example" of them to maintain an imaginary order and status.
Except the only people likely to be punished are disabled.
Except the only people likely to be punished are disabled.
I do think the only workable solution is occasionally making a high profile, dramatic example of people who get caught flagrantly abusing the system which helps generate social opprobrium for rule breakers.
December 4, 2025 at 2:21 AM
It’s worth noting that a frantic need to restore order in scary times is normal and human! I myself just reorganized part of my closet at 8pm despite being past my spoon count with a heavy day tomorrow. Not the ideal choice, but healthier than advocating for publically humiliating disabled people
Reposted by Kathryn C-K
Everyone in Chicago needs to read this AND TAKE ACTION. Everyone else should read this and ask what's happening where you are with your public library systems.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has proposed disastrous cuts to our city's libraries while setting aside $5M for a ShotSpotter replacement. As library associate Sara Heymann told me, “Libraries embody everything we need to fight back against fascism.” My piece on what’s at stake and how to fight back:
You Can’t Fight Fascism While Defunding Libraries
“Libraries embody everything that we need right now to fight back against fascism," says Sara Heymann.
organizingmythoughts.org
December 3, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Everyone in Chicago needs to read this AND TAKE ACTION. Everyone else should read this and ask what's happening where you are with your public library systems.
Reposted by Kathryn C-K
This is called Universal Design, where something is designed technically to help people with disabilities but ends up helping a whole bunch of other people too.
Curb cuts is perhaps the most famous example of this - it's for people in wheelchairs, but everyone uses them.
Curb cuts is perhaps the most famous example of this - it's for people in wheelchairs, but everyone uses them.
This is great. I think the whole idea of accommodation should rightly be an invitation to reject an ableist, eugenicist approach to the world and instead ask "What if we want to give *everyone* the chance to do their best?"
December 3, 2025 at 4:52 PM
This is called Universal Design, where something is designed technically to help people with disabilities but ends up helping a whole bunch of other people too.
Curb cuts is perhaps the most famous example of this - it's for people in wheelchairs, but everyone uses them.
Curb cuts is perhaps the most famous example of this - it's for people in wheelchairs, but everyone uses them.
I would have hoped that the current political moment put us all in the mood to shut down or ignore "I want high-profile punishments for people getting resources they're not *really* entitled to" dude, but I guess I forgot the part about how we managed to reach the current political moment
December 3, 2025 at 5:18 PM
I would have hoped that the current political moment put us all in the mood to shut down or ignore "I want high-profile punishments for people getting resources they're not *really* entitled to" dude, but I guess I forgot the part about how we managed to reach the current political moment
I'm ashamed to report that my commitment to bodily autonomy is not as strong for physical well-being as it is for social cues. At 27 degrees fahrenheit I want to tell the student in a crop top to cover up
I didn't do it. But I really wanted to
I didn't do it. But I really wanted to
December 3, 2025 at 4:43 PM
I'm ashamed to report that my commitment to bodily autonomy is not as strong for physical well-being as it is for social cues. At 27 degrees fahrenheit I want to tell the student in a crop top to cover up
I didn't do it. But I really wanted to
I didn't do it. But I really wanted to
Reposted by Kathryn C-K
This part is *infuriating*. This cis woman heard an 80 year old trans woman say, 'This is the only place I've been respected as a woman IN MY LIFE.'
And did not immediately think, 'I will fight every inch like a dying badger to keep her in my organization.'
Absolutely pathetic.
And did not immediately think, 'I will fight every inch like a dying badger to keep her in my organization.'
Absolutely pathetic.
December 3, 2025 at 2:25 PM
This part is *infuriating*. This cis woman heard an 80 year old trans woman say, 'This is the only place I've been respected as a woman IN MY LIFE.'
And did not immediately think, 'I will fight every inch like a dying badger to keep her in my organization.'
Absolutely pathetic.
And did not immediately think, 'I will fight every inch like a dying badger to keep her in my organization.'
Absolutely pathetic.
I found the advent calendar but it’s happened again. I dropped my embroidery & the needle minder fell off. I found the two pieces days apart & carefully put them in different safe places. But I can only remember one. I miss the days when I lost stuff because I didn’t bother to put it somewhere safe
I ordered that advent calendar in July so I wouldn’t forget, put it in a safe and intuitive place, now where the fuck is it: AuDHD in middle age
December 3, 2025 at 1:19 PM
I found the advent calendar but it’s happened again. I dropped my embroidery & the needle minder fell off. I found the two pieces days apart & carefully put them in different safe places. But I can only remember one. I miss the days when I lost stuff because I didn’t bother to put it somewhere safe
Reposted by Kathryn C-K
The truth is that there are many good people in good institutions regretfully making the choice to sacrifice trans people because they fear for their own survival and their institution's survival...
...and it is incumbent on us to show them that their choice is not without consequence.
...and it is incumbent on us to show them that their choice is not without consequence.
December 3, 2025 at 11:04 AM
The truth is that there are many good people in good institutions regretfully making the choice to sacrifice trans people because they fear for their own survival and their institution's survival...
...and it is incumbent on us to show them that their choice is not without consequence.
...and it is incumbent on us to show them that their choice is not without consequence.
I didn’t know Apple was doing this assign a breed thing so for months I was like why is my phone proudly labeling all Artie’s pictures as “cat”?
Your phone cannot tell you if your cat is a certain breed. My phone thought Fergus and Francie were a shih tzu. If you got your cat from a shelter or picked it up as a stray it is OVERWHELMINGLY likely that you have a standard mixed breed cat and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
December 3, 2025 at 10:44 AM
I didn’t know Apple was doing this assign a breed thing so for months I was like why is my phone proudly labeling all Artie’s pictures as “cat”?