Ellen Seebacher ❌👑
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ekseebacher.bsky.social
Ellen Seebacher ❌👑
@ekseebacher.bsky.social
Editor, writer, teacher; partner, parent, friend. 🏳️‍🌈 cis woman; 🏳️‍⚧️ rights are human rights.

(Banner: A Maine lake surrounded by mountains at sunrise. PFP: Self-portrait by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, who looks a bit like me.)
Do you want to do it while he’s still alive, so he can watch?
December 11, 2025 at 3:50 AM
COVID vaccines provide a window of a few months when they lessen (but do not remove) your ability to catch the virus. Mostly they’re good at keeping people out of the hospital. asm.org/articles/202...

People who don’t want COVID (and I wish that was more of us!) should be masking.
Why Do Some Vaccines Work Better Than Others? | ASM.org
Some vaccines prevent disease—others don’t. Why is that? It’s complicated, with the virus, vaccine type, host immune response and more playing a role.
asm.org
December 11, 2025 at 3:44 AM
What, because "Calibri" is Italian for "calipers"? Shouldn't he be equally suspicious of "Roman," then?
December 10, 2025 at 7:23 AM
I like Allred and Crockett quite a bit, but I think Talarico has a much better shot in Texas.
December 8, 2025 at 9:24 PM
I don't think it's "purity" to feel blindsided when you're participating in a march for one cause and have the crowd take up chanting slogans for another that make you feel extremely uncomfortable and out of place. That's happened to me more than once.
December 4, 2025 at 8:14 PM
I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to read it last night!

It was so, so good to see an update from you -- and to learn there that you have a Bluesky account, too. Thanks for bringing us another peek into that AU!
December 3, 2025 at 10:01 PM
One of my kids transferred from UMass Amherst (which does a dreadful job of supporting students with disabilities) to Hampshire (which is stellar). Hampshire was on shaky ground for a while, though, and I'm praying its turnaround does the trick. www.highereddive.com/news/hampshi...
Back from the brink, Hampshire College is nearing financial viability
In the past five years, the college recommitted to its mission, raised funds and revamped its curriculum. Experts say others can learn from its playbook.
www.highereddive.com
December 3, 2025 at 12:46 AM
I've personally met a couple of angry vegans, and they're all too common online -- I've blocked a few on Bluesky.

(And I have nothing against vegans -- my daughter was vegan for two years, and we cheerfully made her meals she could eat -- I just don't care to be shouted at and proselytized.)
December 1, 2025 at 6:56 PM
I'm reading this while drinking a rich dark roast, black. But when I'm out running errands, if I buy a second coffee, I rarely order another black dark roast -- I can have that anytime. So I'll often get something like a flat white, which requires more effort, as a treat.
December 1, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Back in the days when I seemed to tolerate gluten, I liked *real* fruitcake. Anything with colors not found in nature, though, was an instant "no." Most fruitcakes seem to contain more food coloring and preservatives than fruit -- and I'm allergic to tartrazine and sulfites. :(
November 28, 2025 at 6:51 PM
November 26, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Er, no. Blueberries are also for Maine Pie Company gluten-free blueberry pie, which is the bomb.
November 25, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Eh. I live over the border from New Hampshire’s state-run liquor stores, which do just fine. I don’t see why states and large municipalities couldn’t handle grocery sales just as well.
November 21, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Commissaries still exist. Can you clarify your question?
November 21, 2025 at 7:23 PM
My father was a career Air Force officer, though he’s dead now. Commissaries still exist. If you have a point here, I’m clearly missing it.
November 21, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Pardon? I grew up going to government grocery stores with my dad. We called them
commissaries.
November 21, 2025 at 5:25 PM
@politicalwire.com was founded in 1999. (PW is more of a news aggregator, true, but Taegan Goddard still does regular pieces where he or guest writers go into more depth on the news.)
November 20, 2025 at 7:07 AM
Wasn’t me, it was a poster on r/AO3. I’d have been just as happy not knowing, but the Reddit comments were hilarious.
November 19, 2025 at 4:28 AM
I'm ignoring you both.
November 18, 2025 at 5:43 AM
The guy at HD making all the Republican donations died last year. Meanwhile, Lowe’s was one of the first companies to bend the knee on DEI, while HD kept its diversity page up much later (it’s since been watered down). We no longer shop at Lowe’s.
November 12, 2025 at 5:48 AM
Yep. I couldn't see anything at all with the naked eye, but got some nice mixed colors with my old iPhone, which usually struggles in low light. Lots of subdued greens and lavenders.
November 12, 2025 at 4:46 AM
It’s supposed to be visible as far south as Oklahoma and North Carolina, maybe even Alabama!
November 12, 2025 at 3:13 AM
Doesn’t matter if they’re not in and their voicemail isn’t accepting messages.
November 10, 2025 at 6:00 AM
Purity tests? Saying you’ll vote for a Republican to screw us harder because Democrats aren’t standing up to totalitarianism hard enough strikes me as more of a tantrum.

I’m entirely in favor of primarying all these cowards, but not in favor of voting *for* even less healthcare and civil rights.
November 10, 2025 at 4:42 AM