Author | Lightnews

Susan A. Kitchens

@susankitchens.bsky.social

1.2K followers 790 following 1.5K posts

This year I started growing a home garden bc I’d rather be bloomscrolling than doomscrolling. Hope I can edit my posts here. SoCal SGV Tovangaar LA Co; Zone10b SunsetZone21

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Susan A. Kitchens @susankitchens.bsky.social · Feb 2

Dear people outside L.A. County who are not distracted by fire, you who’ve got the brain power to strategize re this admin, please tell us, “hey, we got you, L.A. We have a plan for how to respond to Trump & Musk. When you’re ready to join us again, we’ll put you to work on our efforts.”
Please.

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Susan A. Kitchens @susankitchens.bsky.social · 32m

I'm looking at this L A Taco guide to see what to do to take part in Día de Muertos

lataco.com/dia-de-los-m...

L.A. TACO's Ultimate Guide to Día de Muertos Events in Los Angeles ~ L.A. TACO

Day of the Dead lowrider cruises, arts workshops, ofrenda contests, Indigenous dancing, and a brand-new festival in Downtown mark this big year in remembrance and community perseverance.

lataco.com

Susan A. Kitchens @susankitchens.bsky.social · 1d

The other #Papercraft I cut out last night is here: sugar skulls and flowers made with treble clefs. (All inspired by an remembrance altar for my brother, who played guitar)

Alterations will need to be made

Purple sugar skull made of paper glued to white background. Decorations all music notations. Also in the pile of cut-outs are pink round flowers decorated by a circular repeated treble clef design.

Susan A. Kitchens @susankitchens.bsky.social · 1d

Now experimenting with the best glue method.

Orange on white is easy; it’s the black on orange that’ll be tricky.

Options are:
Glue stick
Tombow mono liquid glue
Some old watered down PVA + brush
Some very old Yes paste plus brush
Or… [looks around]
Might try peel-n-stick double-stick tape.

Susan A. Kitchens @susankitchens.bsky.social · 1d

Lovely!!!!

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Susan A. Kitchens @susankitchens.bsky.social · 1d

Translated:
“I made a variety of papercraft umbrellas 😆
They even open and close!♪

#handmade #papercraft #umbrella
#handmade #papercraft”

Susan A. Kitchens @susankitchens.bsky.social · 1d

Went to Altadena Public Library’s Fab Lab Yday to make small #Papercraft #DayOfTheDead art.

I feared that the black paper for the monarch butterfly was gonna tear apart coming off mat, but it was strong enough!

📸1️⃣ cut out, before glue
📸2️⃣ on the cricut mat

(Yes, the 🦋+my NoKings sign are related)

Orange black and white papers in shape of butterfly, pre-assembly.

On a dark blue cricut mat, black butterfly shapes with the cuts in place but not all lifted off the mat. One has been lifted off mat, and it rests against orange and white. The interior shapes of monarch butterfly pattern remain on mat in a curious dark-matte against blue reflective mat appearance.

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Susan A. Kitchens @susankitchens.bsky.social · 2d

No AI version. Here’s a human one, with a brilliant word!
bsky.app/profile/gwen...

Gwen C. Katz @gwenckatz.bsky.social · 5d

I saw a tragically AI-generated version of this poster, so I have recreated a 100% human-made version for all your protest sign needs.

The Obama Hope poster, but it's a frog and it says "Hop"

Susan A. Kitchens @susankitchens.bsky.social · 2d

I’m so heartened to see #SGVHabitat and a large group volunteer effort to rebuild homes destroyed by #EatonFire

Pondering how to help.

1st, Himself’s remediation, +a big Family of Origin home project.

It’s OK, there’ll still be lotsa work to do by time I’m ready to 🔨 www.instagram.com/sgvhabitat

Two Instagram screenshots of sgvHabitat account depicting volunteers wearing hard hats holding and lifting wall frames into place on poured concrete foundation.

Susan A. Kitchens @susankitchens.bsky.social · 2d

🛴👑: “Africa is mine”

Hahahahahahaha, no

Susan A. Kitchens @susankitchens.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you for this.

Good. Insightful. And uplifting. It helped me put a finger on a portion my my experience on Saturday. And that is so, so helpful.

Reposted by Susan A. Kitchens

Total Lowlife Hat @kenwhite.bsky.social · 3d

/4 The last time I saw a reach-out this undisciplined it was when Michael Avenatti called me at work to tell me that everyone was laughing about what a nobody I am.

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Reposted by Susan A. Kitchens

Total Lowlife Hat @kenwhite.bsky.social · 3d

/2 In fact, the NATURAL AND PROBABLE CONSEQUENCE is that you look like a whiner. Second, she arguably violates 6(e) by revealing grand jury information. Third, she argues. DON'T ARGUE WITH REPORTERS. Fourth, she violates DoJ press guidelines. Fifth, she displays ignorance to a reporter...

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Susan A. Kitchens @susankitchens.bsky.social · 3d

Yes, it might be entertaining if people weren't being stolen off the streets, and actual physical wreckage of parts of the White House complex.

Would that someone with this kind of "thoughtfulness" reached out with contents of the Epstein Files.

Susan A. Kitchens @susankitchens.bsky.social · 3d

I have not! But I will definitely be going to this, sooner rather than later!

Susan A. Kitchens @susankitchens.bsky.social · 3d

“Day of the Dead started to emerge in popular culture in the 1970s during the Chicano movement and one artist who was critical in that transformation was Ofelia Esparza.”

New Ofelia Esparza exhibit opened at the Vincent Price Art Gallery at ELAC in Monterey Park (til 4/26)
laist.com/news/arts-an...

At 93 years old, LA artist who helped popularize Day of the Dead gets her first solo show

L.A.’s preeminent altarista Ofelia Esparza’s work will be on display at the Vincent Price Museum from October to April.

laist.com

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Reposted by Susan A. Kitchens

G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 5d

After adding new data to our spreadsheet, our central estimate of turnout for the No Kings Day protests yesterday has risen to 5.5 million, with an upper bound of 8.7 www.gelliottmorris.com/p/second-no-...

Second "No Kings Day" protests likely the largest single-day political demonstration since 1970, with 4.2-7.6 million participants

Here are the initial results from our crowdsourced crowd-counting estimates

www.gelliottmorris.com

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Susan A. Kitchens @susankitchens.bsky.social · 4d

this post and the excerpt came up. Guess the Alt tag contained both sewing and room. Piece work wages are not liveable wages.
bsky.app/profile/diew...

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 11d

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."

Susan A. Kitchens @susankitchens.bsky.social · 4d

I began sewing again during the mask-making stage of pandemic, put the machine away (argh, don't have good space for it) So when I saw a link on 🦋 re setting your sewing space, I clicked, viewed. Later, 🔎 for "sewing room" showed this thread, about why it's hard to make clothes in the US of A.

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 11d

This two-parter below is exactly why it's hard to make clothes in the United States.

Let's look at how much it costs to produce a button-up shirt in the US. 🧵

Someone on Twitter replies to me: "meh. buy american or stfu."

Two hours later, in a separate thread, the write: "$30 for a single button-up is ridiculous unless it is decent quality silk."

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Reposted by Susan A. Kitchens

Fear Captain @cheercaptain.wang · 5d

I wasn’t exaggerating it rules so hard

Pin from today’s No Kings protest showing Barney and Friends and the phrase “Join Antifa”

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Reposted by Susan A. Kitchens

Leah Greenberg ❌👑 @leahgreenberg.bsky.social · 5d

Elites collapsed and capitulated. Regular people never did. #NoKings

Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 5d

Remember back in January when all these sage politics-knowers were writing about how there had been a vibe shift and now the resistance was over?

lol. lmao.