Author | Lightnews

Michael V. Smith

@michaelvsmith.bsky.social

550 followers 280 following 32 posts

That writer performer filmmaker radical faerie professor curator consummate host and adorable gender-radical queerdo guy.

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Michael V. Smith @michaelvsmith.bsky.social · Feb 1

Maybe it's a good time to share my feel-good doc about being gender-queer. Cuz, you know. We need to increase our gender joy. www.vimeo.com/michaelvsmit...

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Charlie Angus @charlieangus104.bsky.social · May 1

Alberta First Nations issue cease and desist order against Danielle Smith's attempt to create a national unity crisis. Alberta is on treaty lands.
Those treaties were signed 30 years before Alberta became a province.

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Sam G 🇨🇦 @itssamg.bsky.social · Apr 29

It’s funny that all the conservatives who thought Carney shouldn’t be interim PM because he wasn’t elected are okay with Poilievre staying on as the CPC leader even though he literally just LOST an election

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Quill & Quire @quillandquire.bsky.social · Apr 23

Poetry-only press Brick Books marks its 50th anniversary, celebrating the “unlikely feat” of publishing nothing but verse for half a century. bit.ly/44CDJAc

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Michael V. Smith @michaelvsmith.bsky.social · Apr 21

This was fun. Thanks for the questions, Kathryn Mockler!

Kathryn Mockler @themockler.bsky.social · Apr 20

Michael V. Smith on advice to his younger self:

"I'd tell my younger self how amazing he is, just for being alive, just as he is, in that genderqueer skin."

@michaelvsmith.bsky.social
@bookhugpress.bsky.social

I would like us to look up to the world, not down on it.

I've been meaning to ask Michael V. Smith

sendmylovetoanyone.substack.com

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Soraya Nadia McDonald @sorayanadiamcdonald.com · Apr 17

"In an earlier post, she wrote: "As for the inevitable death, if I die, I want a loud death, I don't want me in a breaking news story, nor in a number with a group, I want a death that is heard by the world, a trace that lasts forever, and immortal images that neither time nor place can bury."

Photographer Fatima Hassona killed ahead of Cannes documentary debut

The Palestinian photojournalist Fatima Hassona, killed along with ten family members in an Israeli air strike on her home in northern Gaza, is the star of a documentary due to be screened at the Cannes film festival next month.

www.euronews.com

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Roxane Gay @roxanegay.bsky.social · Apr 15

Feel free to recruit me international university even though I am not a scientist. I have other skills.

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Michael V. Smith @michaelvsmith.bsky.social · Apr 15

Anyone want to bring me to their town for this fun karaoke + poetry event?

Reposted by Michael V. Smith

Childhood's End🍁 @childhoodsend.bsky.social · Apr 6

The rights hypocrisy of blaming social programs that help those in need and saying nothing of the blatant bl Corporate welfare for the rich... www.biv.com/news/canadas...

Canada's oil and gas industry received $29.6B in subsidies in 2024, report finds

The subsidies dwarf the previous years total and come as Ottawa said it would wind down direct financial support for the industry

www.biv.com

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Osita Nwanevu @ositanwanevu.com · Apr 11

Not the first time I've said it, but I do think we should sit with the fact that the folks likeliest to have predicted we'd elect a reality TV president who'd create a fascist police state where people would be put into unmarked vans for criticizing Israel have been widely ridiculed my entire life.

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Apr 6

Schiff: "That may end up being the most enduring image of the Trump presidency: The president out on a golf cart while peoples' retirement is in flames."

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Michael V. Smith @michaelvsmith.bsky.social · Apr 7

It's crazy to be living in such intense times that every day there are multiple news stories of how despicable or heroic humans can be that each feel...legendary. This history is intense in the making. And fast.

Reposted by Michael V. Smith

fintechernest.bsky.social @fintechernest.bsky.social · Apr 7

“Trump has ordered border agents to look through personal devices for any anti-Trump sentiment and has turned away or detained dozens of Canadians vacationing or working in the US - legally.” 🎃🎃🎃
open.substack.com/pub/deanblun...

Canada’s New US Travel Warning: Leave Your Phone, Grab a Burner, and Maybe Skip the U.S. Altogether

April 2, 2025

open.substack.com

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Kathryn Mockler @themockler.bsky.social · Mar 27

Part 3 of My Adventures in Book Publicity - Book Tours

"Launching a book into the world is a mind fuck. It’s exciting but often devastating and can be humiliating."

Launching a book into the world is a mind fuck. It’s exciting but often devastating and can be humiliating.

My Adventures in Book Publicity Part 3 | Book Tours

sendmylovetoanyone.substack.com

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Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · Mar 27

It is truly sick that universities have preyed on international students for exploitatively exorbitant tuition fees and now they are allowing those same students to be thrown to the wolves with nary a fucking complaint.

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Jacek Debiec, MD, PhD, DPhil 🌎 🧠 @drjacekdebiec.bsky.social · Mar 26

This speaks volumes:

Yale professors, Timothy Snyder, a historian of totalitarianism and the author of "On Tyranny," and Jason Stanley, a philosopher and the author of "How Fascism Works", move to Canada.

leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2025/03...

munkschool.utoronto.ca/person/timot...

Stanley from Yale to Toronto

Jason Stanley (philosophy of language, epistemology, political philosophy), Professor of Philosophy at Yale University, has accepted a senior offer from the University of Toronto, where he will be thr...

leiterreports.typepad.com

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · Mar 25

The Signal scandal isn't just about the security breach: it's also a window into Trump's mafia foreign policy. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Group Chat War Plans Provide a Window Into Trump’s Mafia State

American foreign policy is now all about incompetent shakedowns and cover-ups.

www.thenation.com

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Michael V. Smith @michaelvsmith.bsky.social · Mar 23

Queers who lived thru the AIDS crisis know about living through genocide. Joy was a huge part of the struggle. There is no fight without joy. Joy will lift us up. Do not live in despair; that story is no place to build a home. Build your home in joy.

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Michael V. Smith @michaelvsmith.bsky.social · Mar 20

I found one of my books in this list ffs.

Michael Livingston @michaellivingston.com · Mar 20

Meta used at least 16 of my books, and numerous articles, to help train the AI it will use to make billions.

Authors, search your name here:

www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI

Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.

www.theatlantic.com

Reposted by Michael V. Smith

Catherine Bush @catebush.bsky.social · Mar 19

Please read all of this: an account of her own detention and the stories of other detained women as well.

I’m the Canadian who was detained by Ice for two weeks. It felt like I had been kidnapped

I was stuck in a freezing cell without explanation despite eventually having lawyers and media attention. Yet, compared with others, I was lucky

www.theguardian.com

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George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · Mar 16

America hasn’t felt this upside down since I was a child in an internment camp.

X post by Amy Nixon (@texasrunnerDFW
), featuring a verification badge. The post reads, "The USA is weird now. If you're a person under 30, you probably think it's normal but that's because you don't know. Trust me. It's weird."

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Michael V. Smith @michaelvsmith.bsky.social · Mar 17

As a genderqueer Canadian who posts about genocide like he cares for all life...I withdrew from my AWP panel and visit. Too dangerous to visit America. Too scary how basic human rights and decency are vanishing. #awp2025

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Sarah Slack @sarahjslack.bsky.social · Mar 13

The AMS vote for a UBC student strike March 24 & 25 is live!
Vote here ⤵️

ams.simplyvoting.com?fbclid=PAZXh...

Screenshot of a @palestinestrikeactionubc post on Instagram

VOTE YES!
Student Strike Advocating Divestment for Palestine
Whereas the AMS represents the UBC student body and has historically
taken a public stance on international human rights violations.
Whereas UBC has not condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza which have been
stated as “consistent with genocide” by the United Nations. Whereas
UBC Board of Governors has failed to act on student demands that UBC
divest from Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, and the other 28 companies
listed by UBC Divest as complicit in the genocide of Palestinians,
including by enabling illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian
Territories. I support the AMS student council calling for a 2 day
student strike on the 24th and 25th of March 2025 to demand that the
University of British Columbia divest from all companies complicit in
the Israeli government’s violence against Palestinians. Note: The
strike would include encouraging students not to attend class for the
duration. VOTING OPEN MARCH 10-17

A banner in the colours of the Palestinian flag that says UBC STRIKE NOW unfurled by students outside the window of the Buchanan building at UBC Vancouver

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Michael V. Smith @michaelvsmith.bsky.social · Mar 11

Friends, I'm putting a karaoke launch party together. Let your local festival know if you want a karaoke+poetry event in your town. It's going to be FUN!

Michael V. Smith @michaelvsmith.bsky.social · Feb 20

Thrilled to release the cover of my lyric memoir Soundtrack, about growing up and coming out in the shadow of AIDS. All framed by music albums/songs as mnemonic devices, for "where I was when." Pre-orders are open with @bookhugpress.bsky.social !

Michael V. Smith @michaelvsmith.bsky.social · Mar 11

Finally finished the memorial zine for Kim Kinakin. Dm me if you love him too and would like a copy.

Reposted by Michael V. Smith

Rowan Jetté Knox 🇨🇦 @mavenofmayhem.bsky.social · Mar 5

This would be a perfect time for Canada to start allowing US trans people into our country as asylum seekers.

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