Dr Francesca Santoro
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phyllida.bsky.social
Dr Francesca Santoro
@phyllida.bsky.social
1.6K followers 770 following 3.1K posts
Greek & Roman history, politics, art history, literature. Music: Mahler, DSCH, opera, chamber music. Have lived in Rome & Amsterdam. Love languages, theatre, museums in general, Shakespeare, London, the House of Commons, Rowson cartoons, in particular.😊
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phyllida.bsky.social
Me 2day, opening laptop: "Voiceover? hmmm; wonder what it does?" Phone rings. I had long Chat w/ daughter. I hang up & look at screen. V.O.'s taken dictation from both of us.🤦‍♀️ Built-in Spyware? @lightacandle.bsky.social @tonylarch.bsky.social @marshacoupe.bsky.social @tjmiddleton.bsky.social
November 25, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
katmabu.bsky.social
Trump wrongly indicted me. I’ll rightly impeach him.

Impeachment isn’t just an option, it’s a necessity. I know firsthand the lengths Trump is willing to go in order to silence dissent — but is it working?
November 24, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
chapps.bsky.social
We're used to seeing ancient Greek funerary stelae with gorgeous carved reliefs. However, during the Hellenistic era - particularly in Cyprus - steles were painted with the images of the deceased instead of carved. This pedimented stele shows a painted image of a youth holding a bird. 🏺 1/

📸 me
Limestone stele with pedimental top, with painted decoration showing a young boy holding a bird, probably a dove. The stele is a tall narrow slab with plain sides and a molded pedimental top, with three simple acroteria - emulating a shrine or small temple. The youth is standing in three-quarter view, facing right; he wears a sleeved red tunic and a white chlamys (short cloak), the folds of which hang over his left arm; a bird sits in his outstretched left hand, and apparently other birds were visible at his feet when the stele was first discovered in the late 19th century. The boy's short hair is painted red and his flesh now appears a pale color; the dove was also originally painted. Hellenistic, probably made in Amathus (which is also where it was found), Cyprus, ca. 320-170 BCE. Height: 69 cm (27.17 in.) Width: 34.50 cm (13.58 in.) British Museum, London (1894,1101.716)
November 24, 2025 at 3:49 AM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
redderbeanpaste.bsky.social
Local woman went out and got something stupid for the cats
November 24, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
thetnholler.bsky.social
SEN. KELLY : “They informed me of this in a tweet because this is not about the law. This is about the media cycle, and intimidation… We basically repeated the uniform code of military justice, and they're saying that's in violation of it. It's absurd. Comical.”
November 25, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
profduff.bsky.social
There is beauty everywhere but especially in autumn in Philadelphia! 😻
November 24, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
meowkins.bsky.social
Mug shot ( or should I say moggy shot)🤣😹
#cats #hedgewatch #moggies #ididnotdoit
Zuni, diluted tortie/tabby mix in full front picture Zuni side view
November 24, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
rbreich.bsky.social
Tyson is closing a Nebraska plant that employs 3,200 workers in order to “right-size” its business.

The meatpacking giant paid its CEO $22.7M last year, 525x its median employee's pay.

It also spent $196M in stock buybacks to reward shareholders.

Textbook corporate greed.
November 24, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
gingercatdusty.bsky.social
Sharing mine last year's Xmas photo cause I am starting my yuletide season early. This year's pic coming soon. After turkey day. Hoomom says. Stay beautiful, kind, share some love if you're able. Love & hugs from this family 🍂🧡🍂
November 24, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
maddow.bsky.social
chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
Signs across Chicago mark locations of ICE arrests
Signs resembling temporary no parking notices serve as reminders for the thousands of people arrested by federal immigration authorities under "Operation Midway Blitz" and the pain left behind for lov...
chicago.suntimes.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
bluealways.bsky.social
FBI Director Kash Patel Criticized for Assigning SWAT Team Members to Protect His Country Singer Girlfriend Alexis Wilkins

Patel has also received backlash for flying a government-owned plane for personal use
FBI Director Kash Patel Criticized for Assigning SWAT Team Members to Protect His Country Singer Girlfriend Alexis Wilkins
FBI Director Kash Patel is facing criticism for assigning SWAT team members as a security detail for his girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins. The blowback comes following backlash for flying a government-owned...
people.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
usshope.com
BINGO!!!
Without a conviction in the Senate, an impeachment means nothing
November 24, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
ronfilipkowski.bsky.social
I still can’t figure out why the taxpayers of this country have to pay for FBI security details for the girlfriend of the Director.
November 24, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
nytimes.com
A federal judge threw out the criminal charges against James Comey after finding that the prosecutor President Trump handpicked to bring the cases had been illegally appointed.
Read the Ruling Dismissing the Charges Against James Comey
A federal judge threw out the criminal charges against the former F.B.I. director James Comey after finding that the prosecutor President Trump handpicked to bring the cases had been illegally appointed.
nyti.ms
November 25, 2025 at 2:00 AM
phyllida.bsky.social
Decodex 2025-11-25

🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢

Time: 1:20

@lightacandle.bsky.social @tonylarch.bsky.social

See 10:00 o'Clock News!🤨

Play here: playdecodex.com
Decodex – A Daily Cryptogram Puzzle Game
Decode a quote a day! Play the daily cryptogram at playdecodex.com.
playdecodex.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
mdstamper.bsky.social
“Self-Portrait” by Priscilla Warren Roberts (American) - Oil on canvas board / 1937 - Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Philadelphia) #WomenInArt #PriscillaWarrenRoberts #PriscillaRoberts #PAFA #SelfPortrait #artText #art #WomensArt #WomanArtist #WomenArtists #PennsylvaniaAcademyoftheFineArts
Painted in 1937, when American artist Priscilla Warren Roberts was about 21 and beginning serious study in New York, this portrait reads as a clear statement of intent. She presents herself not as a polished society woman but as a working artist with her hair askew, no jewelry, and a practical collared-shirt standing in for a studio smock. It’s a vertical, close-up self-portrait showing the light-skinned young woman centered against a dark forest green background. Her dusty brown hair is pulled back but escapes in loose wisps, especially at the right edge, as if caught mid-motion. Large round amber glasses frame wide green-brown eyes that look directly at us, giving her an alert, almost startled focus. Light hits her forehead, nose, and long neck, leaving soft shadows around the eyes and jaw. Her mouth is parted and painted a brick red, as if she might of just inhaled to speak. She wears a dark navy shirt with bright cobalt stripes and pale piping around an open collar and the shoulders cropped close to the edges. Her tilted gaze and tight mouth suggest uncertainty as well as resolve, catching a moment of self-questioning. Roberts would later be praised for painstaking “magic-realist” still lifes that juxtapose everyday objects with near-photographic precision. In this self-portrait, that exacting attention is turned inward, tracing each flare of light on skin and glasses. In PAFA’s collection, the painting marks an early, uncompromising self-image of a woman determined to build a lifelong, quietly unconventional career in art.
November 24, 2025 at 6:54 AM
phyllida.bsky.social
Decodex 2025-11-24

🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢

Time: 0:58

@tonylarch.bsky.social @lightacandle.bsky.social

Yatayata Capitalism Yawn!🥱 More literature, please.😊

Play here: playdecodex.com
Decodex – A Daily Cryptogram Puzzle Game
Decode a quote a day! Play the daily cryptogram at playdecodex.com.
playdecodex.com
November 24, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
idkfrootz.bsky.social
And the next cat… sweet baby Coco. She barely has a meow and she’s so gentle and silly.
November 23, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
maks23.bsky.social
🇺🇦 Zelensky: The crux of the entire diplomatic situation is that it was Russia, and only Russia, that started this war, and it is Russia, and only Russia, that has been refusing to end it throughout the full-scale invasion.
November 23, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
phyllida.bsky.social
#ShakespeareSunday Grumio: Fie on all tired jades & all mad masters...I am sent before to make a fire, & they are coming after to warm them. Now were not I a little pot & soon hot, my very lips might freeze to my teeth...ere I'd come to a fire to thaw me...TS IV.1 Topic: hot/cold
"Kate & Petrucchio" [& servants]. CR Leslie,; National Trust Image from Wikimedia Commons.
November 23, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
phyllida.bsky.social
Jul: How oddly thou repliest! "Your love says like an honest gentleman 'Where Is your mother?'"
Nurse: O God's lady dear, are you so hot? Marry, come up, I trow. Is this the poultice for my aching bones? Henceforward do your messages yourself. R&J II #ShakespeareSunday #Hot #Synechdoche
JM Wright, 1810: The Nurse and Juliet
November 23, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
merisi-vienna.bsky.social
VIENNA IN LATE AUTUMN
Maple Leaves at the Golden Hour
Image © Merisi Vienna
#EastCoastKin #Photography
#Leaves #Scape #ForestFriday
A veritable landscape of maple leaves, from green to yellow, orange to red, in the golden evening light.
November 21, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
merisi-vienna.bsky.social
❄️ Good Night, Good People Everywhere! ❄️

VIENNESE IMPRESSIONS
The Lion Sleeps Tonight
Under a Blanket of Snow
Still Guarding Schönbrunn Palace
Image © Merisi Vienna
#EastCoastKin #Photography #Snow
#StunDay #Scape #ImageAndVerse
A large stone lion guarding the access road to Schönbrunn Palace. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion_Sleeps_Tonight: '"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" is a popular song originally written and composed by the South African musician Solomon Linda in 1939; it was first published as "Mbube".' 'While global commercial success transformed "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" into an "immortal pop epiphany," its background, particularly Linda's perceived lack of recognition and fortune in his lifetime, is now deemed an example of racial exploitation. The song and Linda's history has been probed in numerous documentaries and is the part-inspiration of the 2020 film Black Is King.'
November 23, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
mdstamper.bsky.social
“Seated Self Portrait, Shown in a Cheval Dressing Mirror” by Marie-Louise Roosevelt Pierrepont - Oil on canvas / 1952 - Thoresby Courtyard (Thoresby Park, Nottinghamshire, England) #WomenInArt #artText #Pierrepont #ThoresbyCourtyard #SelfPortrait #BlueskyArt #WomenArtists #WomensArt #WomanArtist
In a warmly lit yellow room, an oval cheval mirror with red wood frame dominates the centre of the painting. Within its tall frame, we see the artist’s reflection depicting a mature light-skinned woman with short softly waved fair hair, seated and turned toward us. She wears a blue housecoat over a skirt, a white cloth draped across her lap, a painter’s palette held in one hand and a brush poised in her other hand, as if caught mid-stroke. Behind her reflection is a brass or iron bedstead, glimpsed through the mirror’s narrow vertical. Outside the mirror, to the left, a small wooden table holds a patterned mug and papers; to the right, a green chaise has a small brown dog sitting upright, ears pricked, and facing off canvas to the right. Books crowd a shelf, framed pictures line the walls, and a red floor anchors the intimate, lived-in studio-bedroom. Painted late in a career that stretched more than seventy-five years, this self-portrait shows artist Marie-Louise Roosevelt Pierrepont, aka Countess Manvers, as a working artist rather than as an aristocrat. Trained in Paris, where she exhibited at the Salon and Société Nationale des Beaux Arts before returning to Britain, she became known for portraits and detailed interior views of Cliffe Castle and later Thoresby Hall. Here, the mirror becomes both literal tool and metaphor as it frames a woman who insists on being seen at work, surrounded by books, paintings, and her dog as an alert companion witness. Created in 1952, after her move to Thoresby Park, the painting belongs to the Pierrepont Collection of more than 600 of her works now housed at Thoresby Courtyard, preserving the self-image of an artist who documented her domestic and estate worlds with affectionate precision.
November 23, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
mrsbettybowers.bsky.social
November 23, 2025 at 3:56 PM