Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Rachel Martin @racheljo.bsky.social · 11h

I’m so glad you have such great resources! I think something like that would work for me, too. The online and self study just hasn’t. And I know it will be an enormous confidence booster, as you say!

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Rachel Martin @racheljo.bsky.social · 11h

I do understand that and glad you’re pursuing it! I wish I had more time and discipline for it myself. I’m regularly misgendered on the phone which bothers me. In public I know my voice instinctively changes, which combined with my presentation is good enough. But I do lack confidence and hold back.

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Rachel Martin @racheljo.bsky.social · 11h

Laser does make SUCH a difference. I’m kind of astounded when I look at photos of my early transition. The voice thing? When I first began using the women’s and discovered we TALK! 😬 I never could get serious about voice training but have found it doesn’t matter. And you’ll be miles ahead of me.

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Ann Autumn @ladyann.bsky.social · 15h

Applicable to all levels of ability. Chair-dancing works. One time after a major surgery I stood, holding on to a wall, and just sort of swayed gently to the rhythm of the music. Instant spirit-soaring.

#dancingqueen #godimadancer #adancerdances

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Rachel Martin @racheljo.bsky.social · 1d

This edition published in 1918, but apparently written in 1899?

The Transfeminine Review @thetransfemininereview.com · 2d

Alright I need a short story break before I dive back into another gargantuan anthology, so let's read one of the oldest transfemme books I'm aware of!

Autobiography of an Androgyne is one of the earliest "trans memoirs," published a solid 15 years before the commonly cited 'first' trans memoir.

Autobiography of an Androgyne by Jennie June

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · Feb 6

attempting to describe the vibes of the moment. have yet to do better than: "imagine watching a documentary reenacting the burning of the Library of Alexandria set to the soundtrack of 'Yakety Sax'"

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Rachel Martin @racheljo.bsky.social · 1d

Aww, thank you that's mighty kind! Estrogen seems to be a little magic, and the right selfie lighting is my friend 😁 I do have a hard time believing, too, that I'm 66!?! How did that happen? Though my body does tell me so in the morning 😂

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Rachel Martin @racheljo.bsky.social · 1d

Yes, my partner wasn't too surprised, either! And said (knowing their own history) it made sense that we ended up together!

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Rachel Martin @racheljo.bsky.social · 1d

I'm one, having come out just six years ago at 60. My queer partner knew something was going on with me. After a lifetime of trying to pass as a "guy," building a wall around the real me, cracks were growing. She sat me down one night and plied me with bourbon... here we are and ever so thankful 🌈 💜

Imani Gandy Corn 🎃 @angryblacklady.blacksky.app · 1d

Happy National Coming Out Day to everyone, especially all my fellow late stage queers! 🌈 #BitchListen

Imani Gandy Corn 🎃 @angryblacklady.blacksky.app · 17d

Episode 1 of B*tch, Listen is here! It's finally here!

rewirenewsgroup.com/2025/09/25/c...

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Sisyphus Idaho @sisyphus43.bsky.social · 1d

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CR in North Idaho @cathleenabeans.bsky.social · 1d

Grew up Catholic on the south side of Chicago singing “whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers…” and absolutely can’t believe Christians are okay with the current administration doing this.

Mo Ryan @moryan.bsky.social · 1d

I was raised Catholic & grew up singing "whatsoever you do for the least of my brothers, that you do unto me." The people I saw in vans with their hands ziptied, people inside ICE Broadview... they are our siblings. Our neighbors. And they are being denied everything, including visits from clergy

skippyoz @skippyoz.bsky.social · 1d

Religious leaders denied request to deliver Communion to detainees at Broadview facility chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

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Chantal James @chantalalive.blacksky.app · 1d

Damn yo what if the United States empire was collapsing. Just imploding & losing all its function because its white supremacist history culminated in a dictator. That would be crazy, yo. Nah that would never happen.

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Rachel Martin @racheljo.bsky.social · 1d

It’s Scrappy’s world and the rest of us just get to live in it (this used to be the dog’s bed).

#caturday

A calico kitten sleeps on a dog bed onba wooden floor. Behind her are our shelves for records and cd’s. Her bed is a gray cushion, and it’s covered with a fuzzy black blanket that has a red and black plaid backing. The room is sunlit.

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𝓙𝓪𝔂 𝓟𝓪𝓾𝓵 @jaypaul.fyi · 1d

#w-alt-text

Tom Morello
@tmorello

"Fascinating that all those “don’t tread on me” posers and their AR-15’s are nowhere to be seen and government tyranny is instead being opposed by a guy in an inflatable frog suit."

12:51 PM · Oct 11, 2025

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Rachel Martin @racheljo.bsky.social · 1d

It's hard to kick someone's ass when they bounce? 🤔😉

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Rachel Martin @racheljo.bsky.social · 1d

Ohhhh, I'm so sad to hear this! 😢

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Rachel Martin @racheljo.bsky.social · 1d

I'm glad to know I'm not the only person who has wished for this option!

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Ebony Elizabeth Thomas @ebonyteach.blacksky.app · 1d

And everything that is happening now? We won't forget. ✍🏾

Anna Gifty @itsafronomics.bsky.social · 1d

lol gentle reminder that DEI is not illegal. Supporting marginalized groups is not illegal. Anyone reneging on support is making a CHOICE to do so.

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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 1d

Important piece by Prof. Kate Andrias. This is why treating SCOTUS as the only word on the Constitution gives away our power as citizens.

As I frequently say “we are founders and framers” of the next iteration of democracy in this country.
GIFT LINK
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/o...

Opinion | The Constitution Doesn’t Belong to Trump or the Supreme Court

www.nytimes.com

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Jenny Boylan 🦞 @jennyboylan.bsky.social · 1d

Here is her own good self live on ABC News. For PEN America.

Free people write books.
Free people read books.

Including books that contain ideas with which we disagree. That’s what makes us Americans.

Or used to, anyhow.

Video Report finds ‘disturbing’ normalization of banned books in U.S.

ABC News’ Stephanie Ramos speaks with Jennifer Finley Boylan, president of PEN America, discusses a report that show there are more banned books than any living American has seen in their lifetime.

abcnews.go.com

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Capt'n Amy, the Girl with the Sun in her Eyes @captnamy.bsky.social · 2d

This morning we witnessed an ICE action on our block.

This afternoon I saw this woman standing where it happened.

She was still there this evening.

I took her a bottle of water and asked her if she was standing vigil.

She looked at me with pain on her eyes and said "It's all I can do"

A woman wearing a dark green hooded clock stands motionless on a sidewalk holding a candle. A candle burns at her feet.

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Anne @anneb.bsky.social · 2d

Today ICE came to my neighborhood, feet from me getting ready for work.

They arrested an Emmy winning television employee & others.

They were brutal. The woman cried. Cars honked to alert others of the injustice.

A peaceful area. "Not here" some said. Yes. It is here, thanks to the Supreme Court.

Capt'n Amy, the Girl with the Sun in her Eyes @captnamy.bsky.social · 2d

This morning we witnessed an ICE action on our block.

This afternoon I saw this woman standing where it happened.

She was still there this evening.

I took her a bottle of water and asked her if she was standing vigil.

She looked at me with pain on her eyes and said "It's all I can do"

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Rachel Martin @racheljo.bsky.social · 1d

"The man with the most power has expended enormous energy targeting those with the least." - Zohran Mamdani, 10/11/2025

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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Rachel Martin @racheljo.bsky.social · 1d

Republicans slander me, to Democrats I’m a political inconvenience, and then… this. Brought tears to my eyes.

Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 1d

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.

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Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 1d

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.

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