Lauren Merry Vale (they/she)
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pixielauren.bsky.social
Lauren Merry Vale (they/she)
@pixielauren.bsky.social
1K followers 610 following 1.7K posts
Queer & genderqueer. Associate Professor. Creative writer. Backpacker. I teach LGBTQ Studies! 🌈 I'm obsessed with mushrooms & cats. Tiny farm in rural Ohio, USA. 🍀 🍄 🌸
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pixielauren.bsky.social
Friends it's the end of the semester, so for the academics #academicsky among us, please enjoy this gif that I keep open in a browser tab when I need to remind myself that I'm going to make it through:
December 3, 2025 at 12:19 AM
pixielauren.bsky.social
The reason it's important to remind enlisted regular military folks NOT to obey illegal orders is that Hegseth is out here gloating about war crimes -- but he's protected by Trump. He's not gonna go down for this.

If I were the guy who pushed that button I'd be terrified right now.
A Washington Post headline that reads "Trump says Hegseth told him he didn't order killing of boat crew."
December 1, 2025 at 3:03 AM
pixielauren.bsky.social
And one of her friends brought out the ableism big guns when I innocently asked her to stop defending fascists

So here's another one for the blocklists 🧐
I posted, "It really should be easy to NOT defend fascism. You could stop defending fascism at any point in time, you know!" Ableist fuckwad bree goose, @goose.ski, replies to me: "are you, like, actually illiterate" and then "she is not ... defending ... fascism. she is making the point that some people are markedly cognitively limited -- not wholly dissimilar to yourself, apparently."
November 29, 2025 at 12:04 AM
pixielauren.bsky.social
He's doubling down -- and I got blocked two minutes after I posted this:
An internet douchebag named awkword posted "Keep it up, cowards -- helps to know who to block." I replied: "Step 1: Post a fake AI video, thereby supporting the billionaire-enriching, planet-destroying disinformation machine. Step 2: Devend that video even though you know the harm fake videos cause to democracies and to justice movements; call people who ask for accountability 'cowards.' Step 3: Profit?"
November 28, 2025 at 4:37 PM
pixielauren.bsky.social
Wonder no more (and I got blocked two minutes after posting this reply):
An internet douchebag named awkword posted "Keep it up, cowards -- helps to know who to block." I replied: "Step 1: Post a fake AI video, thereby supporting the billionaire-enriching, planet-destroying disinformation machine. Step 2: Devend that video even though you know the harm fake videos cause to democracies and to justice movements; call people who ask for accountability 'cowards.' Step 3: Profit?"
November 28, 2025 at 4:34 PM
pixielauren.bsky.social
I got blocked in TWO MINUTES for replying:
An internet douchebag named awkword posted "Keep it up, cowards -- helps to know who to block." I replied: "Step 1: Post a fake AI video, thereby supporting the billionaire-enriching, planet-destroying disinformation machine. Step 2: Devend that video even though you know the harm fake videos cause to democracies and to justice movements; call people who ask for accountability 'cowards.' Step 3: Profit?"
November 28, 2025 at 4:33 PM
pixielauren.bsky.social
I got blocked in TWO MINUTES 🙄 after replying thusly:
An internet douchebag named awkword posted "Keep it up, cowards -- helps to know who to block." I replied: "Step 1: Post a fake AI video, thereby supporting the billionaire-enriching, planet-destroying disinformation machine. Step 2: Devend that video even though you know the harm fake videos cause to democracies and to justice movements; call people who ask for accountability 'cowards.' Step 3: Profit?"
November 28, 2025 at 4:31 PM
pixielauren.bsky.social
So he's deleted all his posts/replies since the AI thing, and then there's this -- I was blocked 🙄 TWO MINUTES after I replied thusly:
An internet douchebag named awkword posted "Keep it up, cowards -- helps to know who to block." I replied: "Step 1: Post a fake AI video, thereby supporting the billionaire-enriching, planet-destroying disinformation machine. Step 2: Devend that video even though you know the harm fake videos cause to democracies and to justice movements; call people who ask for accountability 'cowards.' Step 3: Profit?"
November 28, 2025 at 4:25 PM
pixielauren.bsky.social
OMG this just happened and I got blocked by him in TWO MINUTES 😂 🙄
A fuckwad who goes by the name "awkword" wrote, "Keep it up, keyboard cowards -- helps to know who to block. If it's about truth and not clout, dms are open." I replied, "Step 1: Post a fake AI video, thereby supporting the billionaire-enriching, planet destroying disinformation machine. Step 2: Defend that video even though you know the harm fake videos cause to democracies and to justice movements; call people who ask for accountability 'cowards.' Step 3: Profit?"
November 28, 2025 at 4:21 PM
pixielauren.bsky.social
I have a cat with a spot just like that, and did you know that spot on a kitty's chest is called a "locket" ??? 😻
Woody the cat sits on the kitchen table giving a death-stare. He wants to bite you. He's in the boxcar position and one paw hangs over the edge of the table. He has pointy ears, yellowish eyes, and a little white locket spot on his chest.
November 20, 2025 at 7:07 PM
pixielauren.bsky.social
Awww!

My Woody is a very bad cat. At the vet there is a note in his file that he BITES 😂 😬

My old boy Woody:
An old black cat sitting in a boxcar shape on the kitchen table. His one paw hangs over the edge of the table. He has a tiny white "locket" spot on his chest, yellow eyes and big pointy ears. His face looks perennially crabby like he wants to bite you -- which he definitely does.
November 20, 2025 at 6:56 PM
pixielauren.bsky.social
Yeah but in fairness ...
November 18, 2025 at 3:56 PM
pixielauren.bsky.social
Yes, but ...
November 18, 2025 at 3:56 PM
pixielauren.bsky.social
Him saying he bought her Cartier jewelry for "four birthdays" ...
November 18, 2025 at 2:36 PM
pixielauren.bsky.social
The goose chase meme in two frames. In the first frame, the goose is saying "Which four birthdays?" and in the second frame, the goose is chasing a man and yelling "WHICH FOUR BIRTHDAYS, KEITH?"
November 18, 2025 at 2:33 PM
pixielauren.bsky.social
Hmmmm, but:
A headline from the New York Times on November 6, 2025, that reads "Did Women Ruin the Workplace?"
November 16, 2025 at 3:32 AM
pixielauren.bsky.social
Literally don't make me look at this sexual harasser's fucking face I swear to god
A screenshot of the New York Times headine "Maurene Comey's Case Is More Consequential Than Her Father's" -- with Jeffrey Toobin's byline and thumbnail photo of his disgusting sex-pest troll head.
November 13, 2025 at 7:35 PM
pixielauren.bsky.social
Today maybe wasn't the best day for @nytimes.com to publish a story with a Toobin byline?
A screenshot of the New York Times front page today, with Jeffrey Toobin's byline.
November 13, 2025 at 7:31 PM
pixielauren.bsky.social
I'm sorry this is terrible
A political sign in the style of Zohran Mamdani's "ZOHRAN FOR NEW YORK CITY" sign that reads "WAITING FOR GODOT"
November 8, 2025 at 10:01 PM
pixielauren.bsky.social
And then hilariously the NYT chickened out and changed it to this:
a headline from the New York Times showing Ross Douthat's "Interesting Times" article. The headline reads, "Did Liberal Feminism Ruin the Workplace?"
November 7, 2025 at 5:14 PM
pixielauren.bsky.social
LMAO the fucking cowards
November 6, 2025 at 4:52 PM
pixielauren.bsky.social
Oooh! I did a temperature scarf project twice in my life -- the most recent being in 2020. One year I did a row per day, but the scarf was like 10 miles long LOL. So the 2020 scarf was one small medallion motif per day. Laid out like a calendar -- one row was one week. Like this!
October 3, 2025 at 8:21 PM
pixielauren.bsky.social
To get back $50 million in research funding, Brown has thrown its trans and genderqueer students under the bus.

So stunningly shitty. Heartbreaking.
From a Boston Globe news story: "Brown also agreed to adopt Trump’s definitions of a male and female, which were laid out in an executive order in January, for women’s sports, programing, facilities, and housing."
July 30, 2025 at 10:48 PM
pixielauren.bsky.social
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW
Screenshot of a Bret Stephens column headline which reads "The Trump Presidency Takes a Better Turn." It was published on July 29, 2025.
July 30, 2025 at 2:57 AM
pixielauren.bsky.social
Yep. This is in Trump's EO -- and we know when he says "sexually dangerous persons" he does not mean rapists like himself!
A screenshot of text from Trump's executive order on homelessness. The text reads: "ensure that homeless individuals arrested for Federal crimes are evaluated, consistent with 18 U.S.C. 4248, to determine whether they are sexually dangerous persons and certified accordingly for civil commitment;"
July 25, 2025 at 4:39 PM