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Ursula

@ladyofsardines.bsky.social

5.1K followers 1.7K following 3.2K posts

I am a high school teacher. Earnest posting until the end. (she/they)

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Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · Jul 26

A good question to ask oneself at the start of each day, imho. Comrade card for 7/26/2024.

Round watercolor card with 11 colorful segments and the question in the center, “What does solidarity demand of you?”

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Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · 13m

Thank you.

Reposted by Ursula

Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · Jun 16

Comrade card for 6/16/2025. Words by @mskellymhayes.bsky.social & @prisonculture.bsky.social

Colorful road with many switchbacks. Words: If we are serious about supporting people who rebel, we must understand that support as a long-term project. -Mariame Kaba and Kelly Hayes

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Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · Jul 5

Comrade card for 7/5/2025. (Words by @mayaschenwar.bsky.social in @mskellymhayes.bsky.social's forthcoming Read This When Things Fall Apart: Letters to Activists in Crisis.)

Watercolor: Many tiny boxes to make a mosaic circle of rainbow colors with some of the inner circles incomplete.
Words by Maya Schenwar: In moments when you're thinking, "Who the fuck am I?" sometimes it's helpful to counter with, "What the fuck am I doing?"

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Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · 19h

I am so sorry. Awful.

Reposted by Ursula

Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 19h

What gives you courage? Please immerse yourself in that right now.

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Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · 19h

"To walk away from this system is to speak the only language the system will ever understand." Omar El Akkad, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

Whatever late capitalism is, it seems to be careening into this embrace of growth by negation. Through that prism, it's hard not to see the advances in something like artificial intelligence less driven by technological breakthroughs as by a society that has, over years, over decades, become normalized to a greater and greater magnitude of both loneliness and theft, such that a sputtering algorithm badly trained on the stolen work of real human beings might be celebrated with a straight face as something approximating humanness. Under this ordering, it is not some corporation's increasing capacity for better that drives the extractive world, but everyone else's increasing tolerance for worse.
Unconfronted, this kind of negation will not remain confined to widgets or labor or even the economic world.
When the bigger wildfires come— as they already have-the industries whose callous disregard helped bring this about will depend on our ever-growing tolerance for calamity. When climate change upends the lives of billions, our governments will depend on our ever-growing tolerance for violence against the hordes of nameless others to enact its cruelest, most violent fortressing. In time, negation becomes all there is. To walk away from this system is to speak the only language the system will ever understand.

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Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · 19h

"The walking away is not nihilism, it's not cynicism, it's not doing nothing—it's a form of engagement more honest, more soul-affirming, than anything the system was every prepared to offer."

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Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · 19h

"The idea that walking away is childish & unproductive is predicated on the inability to imagine anything but a walking away from, never a walking away toward—never that there might exist another destination."

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Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · 19h

There is a part in Omar El Akkad's One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This that I was re-reading today about "leavetaking" or walking away. I found it useful.

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Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · 19h

For me, though? Nope. The only approach that makes any sense to me is to occupy as total a position of noncooperation as I can manage.

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Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · 19h

Second most common: "I figure it's here, so better figure out how best to use it," or "Well, if the kids are using it—and they are—we need to be able to guide and coach them."

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Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · 19h

I try to mostly keep quiet about the fact that I do not & will not use ChatGPT or similar for *anything*. But occasionally people will ask. When I say I don't use it, period, I am met with a variety of reactions. Most common, "I hate it too, but use it for this one thing..."

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Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · 19h

Hard to overstate how ubiquitous AI use by teachers (in my school anyway) has become — and so quickly. It makes me enormously sad.

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Reposted by Ursula

Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · Aug 9

Good morning.

Sunrise in Portland at the foot of a bridge. Green bike lane. Someone has stenciled FUCK ICE.

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Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · 1d

"The way we stop them is by growing our community power. If you see unmarked vans or suspect ICE presence, report it to a trusted immigrant rights group. Join or support a local rapid response network. Donate to mutual aid efforts for those in detention...Refuse to let kidnapping become normal."

Jack Tripper @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 1d

“ICE has raided our day labor sites at least 14 times since June.”

truthout.org/articles/ice...

ICE Is Targeting Day Labor Centers in LA That Hold Contracts With the City

Elected leaders are failing to protect immigrant workers. We must build community power, as only we can keep us safe.

truthout.org

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Reposted by Ursula

Megan Piontkowski illustration @meganpiont.bsky.social · 1d

The Spanish language zines have really been a group effort. Many thanks to @kimtillman.bsky.social, Rommel and the Marin Promise Partnership, @mediaperuana.bsky.social, Leah and @taniazsk.bsky.social!!!

You can find them here: drive.google.com/drive/folder...

Hand holding Spanish “how to report ICE” zines

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Katelyn Boo-urns @katelynburns.com · 1d

I wrote a little about some of the little details you might have missed in this video and why it hit me so hard as a trans person this morning:

www.burnsnotice.com/you-have-to-...

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Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · 1d

lol true my grammar leaves something to be desired

Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · 1d

Megan, thank you so much for these zines. I have printed so many for my fence (free zine dispenser) and keep running out. Appreciate your labor and heart.

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Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · 1d

All they do is lie.

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 1d

A trend I’ve noticed after having watched too many of these despicable ICE arrest videos is when bystanders demand they let detainee go, an officer suggests they’re being picked up for a serious crime to try and deter help. But we know that’s not true of a vast majority of people and the jig is up.

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Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · 1d

Two more! (A treat for @darthbluesky.bsky.social)

A little black and white dog in a trailer with bags of veggies. Also not on fire.

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Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · 1d

For over a decade, I have taken my (87-year-old) mom to the Portland Farmer’s market most Saturday mornings so she can do her weekly shopping. Today, I thought why not share a few snaps with Bluesky?

Vendor with pumpkins, tomatoes, arugula, lettuce. No fires.

South Park Blocks with vendors and people lined up waiting to purchase their veggies. No fires.

Beautiful multicolored peppers in foreground. Radishes, zucchini, and radicchio in background. Not on fire.

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Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · 1d

Must be strange to be here while the propagandists in DC do their best to warp reality beyond recognition. 🔥 🔥 🔥 🐸 🐸 🐸

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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · Aug 27

yup, we rise up to the level of our training, not to the level of our imagined selves.

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Ursula @ladyofsardines.bsky.social · 1d

Of course, the too-passionate post results in a meaningful typo. CANNOT repeat enough...