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merisand.bsky.social
meri sand
@merisand.bsky.social
750 followers 410 following 3.6K posts
Texan. Musician. Artist. Incorrigible weirdo. Geek. Faithful servant of my feline overlords.
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merisand.bsky.social
Re: the idea that the assignment prompt invited this
From a lawyer's perspective, looking for wiggle room to exploit or maliciously interpret assignment requirements might make sense. I had an ex who once turned in HS math homework on toilet paper, claiming the teacher didn't specify they couldn't do that. But every reasonable adult understands that that wasn't a problem with the teacher's instructions. & teens in HS are children. We do a great disservice by allowing college students to play those kinds of games. They aren't in court. They don't need extensive fine print to remind them on every single assignment that they're in an academic setting & are expected to act accordingly. That's especially true for upper level college students!!!
December 1, 2025 at 8:41 PM
merisand.bsky.social
Reading reflection in social science disciplines aren't free writing, but should critically engage with the text & reflect the specific discipline you are studying. I studied psych, linguistics, & English lit in undergrad, linguistics in grad.

Average essay, my ass...
Psych is a social science discipline, & reflection on a study doesn't equal license to turn in your diary entry or to use the study as a jumping off point to talk about whatever you want, citing no sources & barely engaging with the study's topic. She didn't cite the study, or engage with its methodology or findings. I can't even tell what hypothesis the study had! She couldn't even bother to cite the Bible--which is not a psych text or study & this isn't religion class or philosophy, so... Had I turned in that blog post hot take as an academic assignment to my psych profs/TAs back in the day, any of my instructors would've readily given me a zero. Had they been generous, they'd have given me the option to resubmit to improve on that. My HS english teachers would've flunked screeds like that, unless it was specifically a free journaling assignment. & that was in the Bible Belt in the 90s!! No one in college would have defended it if I'd decided to use a mention of personal reflection in a long list of criteria on a reading reflection (on a psych study, ffs) to go off on a tangent attacking the prof I had for Human Sexuality for being into evo psych (which I hate with the fiery fury of 1000 suns), let alone attacking their identity & all of my classmates.
December 1, 2025 at 7:58 PM
merisand.bsky.social
help I think my cat is broken, part 7486
a jumble of black & orange tortie cat limbs & tail & sideways head that makes zero anatomical sense. sometimes you can describe a cat as being in spiral configuration or shaped like an "s" or something. I don't even know what this is.
November 6, 2025 at 5:44 AM
merisand.bsky.social
I find it extremely difficult to care about the melodramatic whining of sanctimonious wannabe authoritarians who claim FDR was an evil socialist & that robber barons were good, actually, as they try to recreate the conditions that lead to the Great Depression
Laissez-faire capitalism is malignant. Its evangelists have too much power, & deregulation, not busting trusts or punishing bad actors has made the lives of the 99% worse. Labor & consumers have lost, shareholders have become the actual customers that companies care about. Private equity is making dental care, medical care, veterinary care inaccessible & is destroying things people enjoy. Tech is ensh*ttifying, & Thiel, Ellison, Yarvin, Srinivasan all OPENLY yap about subjugating us peasants with dystopian Philip K Dick style surveillance & violence. If they didn't want a vote that was a referendum on all of that, they should never have argued that regulated markets are socialism. They shouldn't have attacked regulations or social programs. The GOP has screeched for decades that regulations that protect workers, that keep our food from killing or hospitalizing us, that prevent the proliferation of horrific disease, that protect us from predatory businesses & predatory business practices = socialism. They've said that busting monopolies = socialism. They've clutched pearls & gnashed their teeth & wailed that public services that keep our disabled or/& elderly loved ones healthy & alive = socialism. That public goods like National Parks & public spaces & public schools & public libraries = socialism. Scientific research = socialism. Arts grants that improve our communities = socialism. ...& they expect people to be afraid of socialism?  Vs what they're offering: austerity, suffering, exploitation, misery, death while billionaires hoard resources
November 5, 2025 at 6:27 PM
merisand.bsky.social
the criminal tortie snuggles

of course, now I can't move to go go to bed or get a snack or anything
a black & orange tortie curled up in a ball on a blue fleece. her head is upside down. a bit of fang is visible. her pink toe bean on her peanut butter toe is visible
October 31, 2025 at 5:32 AM
merisand.bsky.social
Some more of French's awfulness, for those interested in why he might've gotten his current position. Of course he finds Posobiec's bloodthirstiness appealing.
Texas Tribune Screenshot: And in July, French joined other Republican leaders onstage at a conference in Fort Worth that urged attendees to resist a Democratic campaign to rid the earth of the white race" and embrace Christian nationalism. The event was held by True Texas Project, a prominent group in Dunn and Wilks' network whose leaders have sympathized with the racist motives of the gunman who murdered 23 Hispanic people at an El Paso WalMart in 2019. The conference included several speakers who have frequently collaborated with white nationalists or eugenicists, prompting far-right Republicans such as former U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert and former State Sen. Don Huffines to condemn or pull out of the event. Other Dunn and Wilks allies have similarly disparaged people with disabilities. In 2020, two of the billionaires' longest-serving operatives accidentally published unedited podcast audio in which they mocked Gov. Greg Abbott's use of a wheelchair. The two were reprimanded amid bipartisan outrage, and have since found new jobs -- as vice chair and general counsel for the Tarrant County GOP. Texas Tribune screenshot, continued: French has for years been a fixture of a sprawling political empire funded by Tim Dunn and Farris Nilks, two West Texas oil tycoons who have spent tens of millions of dollars cleansing the Texas GOP of more moderate members while simultaneously employing white nationalists and associating with well-known antisemites. Groups funded by the billionaires gave French roughly $375,000 for his unsuccessful Texas House campaigns in 2016 and 2018, and he was backed by their network in his successful bid last year to lead the local party Since then, French has continued to pull the Tarrant County GOP further right. In September, the party hosted Jack Posobiec, a prominent far- right activist who has praised Chilean autocrat Augusto Pinochet and Spanish fascist dictator Francisco Franco, both of whom oversaw the murder, torture or imprisonment of hundreds of thousands of their political opponents.
October 30, 2025 at 3:36 AM
merisand.bsky.social
Bo French is such a hateful husk of a man. He uses all kinds of racist & ableist slurs, spouts misogyny, wants to purge Tarrant County of all opposition, etc.

www.yahoo.com/news/texas-r...
screen shot of Bud Kennedy (writer for Fort Worth Star Telegram) captioning a screen shot. Kennedy: "I don't think local Republicans have ever said before that their goal is to drive Democrats out of the county." Screenshot of Bo French on the deadbirdsite formerly known as Twitter, saying "This is Tarrant County. We are a grassroots machine dedicated to completely routing democrats from our community, making it a conservative city on a hill. With your help, we will completely transform Tarrant County & usher in the golden age of Republican rule." There's also a video of his hateful self. It's dated 03/01/2025
October 30, 2025 at 3:26 AM
merisand.bsky.social
nightmare before Christmas tree

wondering how long it'll take Stella to attempt to murder it...

Mosaic seems uninterested in it
orange lit tree with iridescent purple/blue/gold skull, glitter ball decorations in green, purple, & black, a shiny decoration with a spider web decoration tree lit in violet with purple/gold/pink/blue skull, glittery ornaments violet lit tree with clear pink iridescent skull ornament, pink coffin ornament that reads Get in Loser, glitter ball ornaments, additional string lights with gray moths & orange jack-o-lanterns tree topper that is a copper/pink/gold/teal rose & glittery black spray of foliage/berries/branches
October 29, 2025 at 4:14 AM
merisand.bsky.social
Remembering my precious purrbot on National Black Cat Day. I miss her so much right now
a little black cat with green eyes & a small white locket on her chest stares at the camera from her perch on a sunny windowsill. the picture is taken from underneath a baker's table, so it serves as a frame for her inquisitive face a little black cat with green eyes resting on her side on a bed with a gray comforter. she looks back over her shoulder in a relaxed, loving way at the camera. a hand scritches her neck a little black cat with green eyes rests on a tan fleece heated cat bed. her nose has had a nasal planectomy & her muzzle is salt & pepper from previous successful radiation treatments for cancer. she is relaxed, bright eyed, plump, with shiny fur. a little black cat with green eyes, nasal planectomy & salt & pepper muzzle from cancer treatment is wildly playing with a red & black feather toy attached to a wand. she is blurry, caught in motion, her eyes wide, her tongue out, having just caught her toy
October 27, 2025 at 7:07 PM
merisand.bsky.social
All the No Kings photos are giving me life. I've got an N95 & sign, so I'm going to add to the voices defending democracy, even if I'm not out long.
yellow poster that reads: I choose liberty I choose democracy I dissent and has a scroll illustration of the Constitution that reads "WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice," and 2 illustrations on either side of the bottom of the poster of crowns in red circles crossed out with a line
October 18, 2025 at 3:25 PM
merisand.bsky.social
Happy Caturday! Some recent sun-cat Stella pics & Mosaic being silly on the couch.
black & orange tortie with bright green eyes lies partially in the sun on a shelf with a red cat mat on it. the parts of her fur in the sun look rusty. her forelegs are stretched out a little bit in front of her. she looks at the camera with a relaxed expression. one front paw has a visible peanut butter toe with a cute pink toe bean. black & orange tortie with green eyes on her back in a semi crescent shape, forelegs out of the way so that her chest & belly are exposed for pets. this is not a trap--she lives for gentle belly pets orange & black tortie with yellow chartreuse eyes rests on her side on a gray couch, one back leg along her cheek, one foreleg curled, the other extended toward the camera so you can see the mostly orange, stripey underside of her leg. a blurred orange-y tail tip flicks & casts a shadow on the left side of the pic. her face & forepaws are darker than the rest of her
October 18, 2025 at 3:09 PM
merisand.bsky.social
middle of the night lizard invasion

it has escaped us, but a kitty is on high alert
a house gecko on a doorway by lamp light
October 15, 2025 at 9:16 AM
merisand.bsky.social
Re: Weiss & thought police
Weiss created a joke of a university where they indulge RW grievance politics...in a state already captive to strategic grievance theater from the RW party that's had us in a vice grip since the early '00s. She's their ally in crushing dissent, & she knows it. She openly states that it's her goal to target pluralistic, egalitarian democratic values. She's not contrarian, she's a RWer. She accuses us of being in bubbles & being thought police, while my red state is the 1 with bounty laws on exercising bodily autonomy & my AG targets libs/lefties, while our voices at the ballot box are silenced by gerrymandering & limited polling places in our cities, while our state enacts literal violence.
October 13, 2025 at 5:02 PM
merisand.bsky.social
Here are our 2 torties: one sweet & wise, the other whose brain is a number station or attuned to alien frequencies telling her to do ridiculous things. I hope they bring you some comfort. I'm sorry for your loss.
an orange & black tortie with yellow chartreuse eyes laying on her side on a rug--her body & 1/2 her chin are very orange, her belly, feet, & head are dark a black & orange tortie with wide, very green eyes curled up against a gray couch cushion. her expression is very much "no, I'm innocent, I wasn't just trying to murder this couch cushion 30 seconds ago"
October 3, 2025 at 10:28 PM
merisand.bsky.social
We have one like that. She's always climbing something, getting inside things, doing things the hard way or the weird way. While Andrea Grimes' tortie cat has no thoughts just vibes, mine has no thoughts, just crimes.
black & orange tortie in the back of the dishwasher black & orange tortie exploring a refrigerator black & orange tortie atop a lone, high kitchen cabinet wondering where to go, eyes wide & clueless black & orange tortie going through window blinds
October 3, 2025 at 10:19 PM
merisand.bsky.social
That's right, Stella, you've been caught being sweet

(she'll probably go commit 35 crimes 2 minutes from now, so I enjoy it while I can)
a black & orange tortie with green eyes curled around a Woodstock toy in a round fleecy heated bed
October 3, 2025 at 5:08 AM
merisand.bsky.social
The continuing saga of Stella & her never-ending crimes

...she literally just had to be rescued from what was sure to be a suicidal attempt to get a moth on the ceiling from atop a box on top of the kitchen cabinets, like, 5 minutes ago, btw
a black & orange tortie standing in the refrigerator, tail up in a question mark near the water dispenser, head concealed by the other fridge door black & orange tortie, tail happily up, inside a dishwasher, investigating the heat coil black & orange tortie with huge green eyes, still in dishwasher, looking out at the camera & licking her lips
September 27, 2025 at 1:07 AM
merisand.bsky.social
Proof of cat: Mosaic edition + a few Tuesday blooms
orange & black tortie with yellow chartreuse eyes lounges comfortably on the top platform of the shorter of 2 cat trees arranged side by side by a window. bright pink bell shaped flowers with yellow centers & yellow striping coming out from the middle cluster of orange lantana blooms. the center blooms are a more yellowy orange, the outer blooms are a slightly darker, more red orange
September 23, 2025 at 7:39 PM
merisand.bsky.social
My hibiscus survived the storms without losing their buds, 4 of which bloomed today! & proof of cat, Stella edition. She's sleeping off her ordeal--she'll spend a lot of time in the bedroom or closed in her pen when she can't be directly supervised for a few days, to try to encourage rest.
a large white hibiscus bloom with bright magenta center & yellow stamen. the petals are papery & faint pink streaks out from the center into the white petals. a large yellow hibiscus bloom with a neon pink center, bright orange & yellow stamen, & gently curling petal edges. the neon pink radiates out into veins in the yellow bloom curled into a tight ball, nose under tail, a black & orange tortie sleeps in a red & white plush cat bed
September 22, 2025 at 6:11 PM
merisand.bsky.social
Show me a picture on your phone that has your energy. Not a selfie.
a comic by dorrismccomics Panel 1: a person with glowing head & hands, mouth gaping open & eyes wide "I am an artist Panel 2: close up of the person, the top of their skull open. colorful geometric & abstract shapes spill out, along with squiggles. "Look at my Ideas" Panel 3: pan out, the person is crying, a large hole is visible in their torso with purple, orange, red, & pink vaguely organ-like shapes streaming out. "Look at all my feelings" Panel 4: person holds hands up in the air, looking & gesturing at all the colorful shapes from the previous 2 panels "& with these I shall create" Panel 5: the person holds a pencil in 1 hand, drawing a jagged, yellow lightning bolt-like frame & is trying to wrangle the shapes into the frame with the other hand, still crying, almost turning their face away from all the shapes, sweat beads expressively shooting from their head, mouth still gaping Thought bubbles join this panel to Panel 6: a zoomed out view of person sitting calmly at their desk, mouth closed, wearing a focused expression as they look down at the page as they draw. their room is much less chaotic than their imagination, with a bookcase, a vase with flowers, a mug with a cat on it, a lamp.
September 19, 2025 at 7:57 AM
merisand.bsky.social
Stella & I share a life of affectionate mutual disrespect.
She commits crimes, I spoil her plans.
a black & orange tortie inside a blue fabric reusable Aldi shopping box that she has been clawing & bunny kicking. she is frozen on her side, looking up with huge green eyes as if to say, "I wasn't doing anything!"
September 19, 2025 at 4:19 AM
merisand.bsky.social
If TXGOP wants to start playing fair, they can do nonpartisan redistricting any time, & places like CA will back down. But they won't, just like they won't do ballot initiatives (& retaliate against municipal ballot initiatives they don't like), just like their 2024 party platform calls for this
Screenshot of Texas Republican Party platform calling for a state electoral college for statewide races, knowing Texas has many more low population rural counties than urban counties due to its vast geographic size. This would silence the voices of 4 of the country's largest metro areas (DFW, Houston, San Antonio, Austin) "21. Concurrent Majority: The Legislature shall cause to be enacted a State Constitutional Amendment to add the additional criteria for election to a statewide office to include the majority vote of the counties with each individual county being assigned one vote allocated to the popular majority vote winner of each individual county."
September 13, 2025 at 8:00 PM
merisand.bsky.social
His slurs aren't the end of his problems, either. He once tweeted that women just can't be trusted & aren't good at things, & he's associated with this whole mess. I can't recall if it was him or O'Hare that called for purging Tarrant Co of Democrats, but that's no complement to either of them.
Texas Tribune screenshot: And in July, French joined other Republican leaders onstage at a conference in Fort Worth that urged attendees to resist a Democratic campaign to rid the earth of the white race" and embrace Christian nationalism. The event was held by True Texas Project, a prominent group in Dunn and Wilks' network whose leaders have sympathized with the racist motives of the gunman who murdered 23 Hispanic people at an El Paso WalMart in 2019. The conference included several speakers who have frequently collaborated with white nationalists or eugenicists, prompting far-right Republicans such as former U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert and former State Sen. Don Huffines to condemn or pull out of the event. Other Dunn and Wilks allies have similarly disparaged people with disabilities. In 2020, two of the billionaires' longest-serving operatives accidentally published unedited podcast audio in which they mocked Gov. Greg Abbott's use of a wheelchair. The two were reprimanded amid bipartisan outrage, and have since found new jobs -- as vice chair and general counsel for the Tarrant County GOP. Texas Tribune screenshot: French has for years been a fixture of a sprawling political empire funded by Tim Dunn and Farris Nilks, two West Texas oil tycoons who have spent tens of millions of dollars cleansing the Texas GOP of more moderate members while simultaneously employing white nationalists and associating with well-known antisemites. Groups funded by the billionaires gave French roughly $375,000 for his unsuccessful Texas House campaigns in 2016 and 2018, and he was backed by their network in his successful bid last year to lead the local party Since then, French has continued to pull the Tarrant County GOP further right. In September, the party hosted Jack Posobiec, a prominent far- right activist who has praised Chilean autocrat Augusto Pinochet and Spanish fascist dictator Francisco Franco, both of whom oversaw the murder, torture or imprisonment of hundreds of thousands of their political opponents.
September 11, 2025 at 4:48 PM
merisand.bsky.social
flowering weeds at golden hour
backlit sunflowers amidst tall, green weeds with a sun beam & bit of lens flare many backlit thistles at various stages of fluffiness...some are more pale & spiky, some are vivid purple against the green foliage around & behind them a backlit ?snow on the mountain? weed--it is topped by light green leaves that are ringed with white
September 9, 2025 at 3:29 AM
merisand.bsky.social
yep. that's one of things about this timeline--it's not only disturbing, but the villains are cheesier than the lowest budget, suckiest movie ever...

it probably comes back to that ?sartre? quote about antisemites using language irresponsibly--it seems to apply as well to fascism inspired by Nazis
Never believe that anti- Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.
September 6, 2025 at 6:04 PM