Michelle Chihara
@thisblue.bsky.social
Los Angeles since 2003. Media Studies, Critical Finance; power ballads; history of this wild city Find me at michellechihara.com
Pinned
View Seminar | American Comparative Literature Association
www.acla.org
Come to Montreal in the Spring!!!
Come think beyond current constraints! I’m going to be talking complementary currencies…
www.acla.org/seminar/7bfc...
Come think beyond current constraints! I’m going to be talking complementary currencies…
www.acla.org/seminar/7bfc...
💯History of Palo Alto is the history of capitalism, everybody read their Malcolm Harris
If you're wondering why a large chunk of ostensibly left-of-center pundits are waging war on environmental protections in the form of an "abundance agenda," it's because Silicon Valley has quietly developed a culture of rampant pollution.
EPA fines Apple over hazardous waste violations at Santa Clara factory
November 20, 2025 at 4:24 PM
💯History of Palo Alto is the history of capitalism, everybody read their Malcolm Harris
Reposted by Michelle Chihara
I wasn't familiar with Elle Cordova's work. I like this a lot:
For our scientists
YouTube video by Elle Cordova
www.youtube.com
November 16, 2025 at 1:29 AM
I wasn't familiar with Elle Cordova's work. I like this a lot:
Reposted by Michelle Chihara
"There is a link between finance and paranoia, and that link may well be inescapable." www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?b...
April 23, 2025 at 10:52 AM
"There is a link between finance and paranoia, and that link may well be inescapable." www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?b...
This graf of this "Goon Squad" Harper's Mag article really gutted me with despair about the post-literate age... "...Think about it for a second: What are these gooners actually doing? Wasting hours each day consuming short-form video content. Chasing intensities of sensation across platforms. 1/
November 18, 2025 at 8:05 PM
This graf of this "Goon Squad" Harper's Mag article really gutted me with despair about the post-literate age... "...Think about it for a second: What are these gooners actually doing? Wasting hours each day consuming short-form video content. Chasing intensities of sensation across platforms. 1/
Reposted by Michelle Chihara
WE WON. I am *begging* you to take note of who did this. *Not* UCLA admin—they’re still scuttling around behind closed doors, attempting to appease—but FACULTY AND STAFF, led by AAUP.
BREAKING: In AAUP et al v. Trump (wall-to-wall union lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful use of TItle VI to reshape the University of California system), the faculty and staff of the UC system WON!!!
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
November 15, 2025 at 12:01 AM
WE WON. I am *begging* you to take note of who did this. *Not* UCLA admin—they’re still scuttling around behind closed doors, attempting to appease—but FACULTY AND STAFF, led by AAUP.
Reposted by Michelle Chihara
BREAKING: In AAUP et al v. Trump (wall-to-wall union lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful use of TItle VI to reshape the University of California system), the faculty and staff of the UC system WON!!!
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
November 14, 2025 at 11:55 PM
BREAKING: In AAUP et al v. Trump (wall-to-wall union lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful use of TItle VI to reshape the University of California system), the faculty and staff of the UC system WON!!!
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
Reposted by Michelle Chihara
*This* is how the left should be talking about Mamdani's fiscal prospects & challenges. Rather than reify private market prices while fetishizing liberal budget-balancing, Weber challenges the political composition of pricing in the first place. Bravo!
Zohran Mamdani shows how Democrats can defeat authoritarians like Trump | Isabella Weber
Democrats have two choices: fight to make life affordable again for ordinary people or watch voters embrace authoritarians
www.theguardian.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:09 PM
*This* is how the left should be talking about Mamdani's fiscal prospects & challenges. Rather than reify private market prices while fetishizing liberal budget-balancing, Weber challenges the political composition of pricing in the first place. Bravo!
Reposted by Michelle Chihara
ohhh, I see. They're going to try and remake higher ed the way they did with tech, by flooding the zone with frauds who crowd out any reasonable discussion
November 9, 2025 at 7:21 PM
ohhh, I see. They're going to try and remake higher ed the way they did with tech, by flooding the zone with frauds who crowd out any reasonable discussion
Reposted by Michelle Chihara
meanwhile ...
*This* is how the left should be talking about Mamdani's fiscal prospects & challenges. Rather than reify private market prices while fetishizing liberal budget-balancing, Weber challenges the political composition of pricing in the first place. Bravo!
Zohran Mamdani shows how Democrats can defeat authoritarians like Trump | Isabella Weber
Democrats have two choices: fight to make life affordable again for ordinary people or watch voters embrace authoritarians
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 4:11 PM
meanwhile ...
Reposted by Michelle Chihara
✨ New Essay! ✨
@mattseybold.bsky.social agues that the new Mamdani administration ought to fund CUNY to develop its own public, open-source educational technology. The result stands to socialize the means of knowledge production for collaborative use across the entire US higher education system.
@mattseybold.bsky.social agues that the new Mamdani administration ought to fund CUNY to develop its own public, open-source educational technology. The result stands to socialize the means of knowledge production for collaborative use across the entire US higher education system.
Mamdani Win Could Be The First Step Towards Seizing The Means of Knowledge Production (Let CUNY Socialize EdTech for All of Us)
by Matt Seybold This essay originally appeared on Matt Seybold’s The American Vandal Substack. We are grateful for his generous permission to republish it here. An understandable response to …
moneyontheleft.org
November 6, 2025 at 1:45 AM
✨ New Essay! ✨
@mattseybold.bsky.social agues that the new Mamdani administration ought to fund CUNY to develop its own public, open-source educational technology. The result stands to socialize the means of knowledge production for collaborative use across the entire US higher education system.
@mattseybold.bsky.social agues that the new Mamdani administration ought to fund CUNY to develop its own public, open-source educational technology. The result stands to socialize the means of knowledge production for collaborative use across the entire US higher education system.
“Mamdani showed the way forward: You integrate civil rights into your economic message. You show up for people when they're under attack. You have the courage to say that in your vision of America, everyone gets to thrive — including trans kids. And then you back it up with real policies...” 🔥🔥🔥
November 5, 2025 at 5:28 PM
“Mamdani showed the way forward: You integrate civil rights into your economic message. You show up for people when they're under attack. You have the courage to say that in your vision of America, everyone gets to thrive — including trans kids. And then you back it up with real policies...” 🔥🔥🔥
Reposted by Michelle Chihara
Leprechaun theory of Eric Adams remains undefeated.
September 5, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Leprechaun theory of Eric Adams remains undefeated.
Reposted by Michelle Chihara
this is an obvious overcorrection that misleads the polling data and will lead to disaster in the Heartland. the results of tonight show that the Democrats should moderate: adopting two or at most three of the five pillars of Islam
if democrats are serious about winning they need to learn from tonight and convert to islam
November 5, 2025 at 3:00 AM
this is an obvious overcorrection that misleads the polling data and will lead to disaster in the Heartland. the results of tonight show that the Democrats should moderate: adopting two or at most three of the five pillars of Islam
Reposted by Michelle Chihara
It doesn’t matter what I think. Also, none of this would ever happen. But if I had a zillion dollars:
1. Run a “we do hard things” campaign across southern and rust belt states. Invest heavily in local, state and regional social infrastructure. Sponser later hours at a library, build a skate park…
1. Run a “we do hard things” campaign across southern and rust belt states. Invest heavily in local, state and regional social infrastructure. Sponser later hours at a library, build a skate park…
If I were to sum up my advice to the Democratic party leadership about how to defeat Trumpism, it would be to set aside policy for now and focus instead on articulating a vision of what American society should look like and what role the US should play in a rapidly changing world today.
November 3, 2025 at 12:46 AM
It doesn’t matter what I think. Also, none of this would ever happen. But if I had a zillion dollars:
1. Run a “we do hard things” campaign across southern and rust belt states. Invest heavily in local, state and regional social infrastructure. Sponser later hours at a library, build a skate park…
1. Run a “we do hard things” campaign across southern and rust belt states. Invest heavily in local, state and regional social infrastructure. Sponser later hours at a library, build a skate park…
Reposted by Michelle Chihara
Here’s where it gets personal for me. When I was 9, I started experiencing suicidal ideation … disinterested in living, and at least some of the time contemplating death and how it might happen … It’s easy to imagine how I would have used programs like these chatbots.
Perry: How can AI be used ethically when it’s been linked to suicide?
"It’s not on us, on you and me, to use AI ethically or responsibly. It’s on the companies to build safe, reliable, ethical products," David M. Perry writes.
www.startribune.com
October 26, 2025 at 6:58 AM
Here’s where it gets personal for me. When I was 9, I started experiencing suicidal ideation … disinterested in living, and at least some of the time contemplating death and how it might happen … It’s easy to imagine how I would have used programs like these chatbots.
Reposted by Michelle Chihara
A few signs from he No Kings rally in CLT…
October 18, 2025 at 3:11 PM
A few signs from he No Kings rally in CLT…
Reposted by Michelle Chihara
LOS ANGELES, CA—Headed now to DTLA to begin today’s coverage of the LA #nokings protests. There are big ones and other auxiliary protests scheduled until well past 6 so I’ll be threading things service permitting to this account all day.
The train has a decent amount of folks w/signs and costumes
The train has a decent amount of folks w/signs and costumes
October 18, 2025 at 7:12 PM
LOS ANGELES, CA—Headed now to DTLA to begin today’s coverage of the LA #nokings protests. There are big ones and other auxiliary protests scheduled until well past 6 so I’ll be threading things service permitting to this account all day.
The train has a decent amount of folks w/signs and costumes
The train has a decent amount of folks w/signs and costumes
Reposted by Michelle Chihara
Giant copy of the Constitution being carried down Pennsylvania Avenue.
October 18, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Giant copy of the Constitution being carried down Pennsylvania Avenue.
Reposted by Michelle Chihara
A Message From The Frog Resistance
YouTube video by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
youtu.be
October 14, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Reposted by Michelle Chihara
“Excuse me mate, we’d like to actually see the tulips please”
Oh what’s that? They will depreciate at roughly 3 times the rate previously touted and require constant replacement and 2-3x the revenue to match initial expenditure?
AI Data Centers Are an Even Bigger Disaster Than Previously Thought
An investment manager realized he made a crucial mistake — and that his grim prediction about AI investments may not have been cynical enough.
futurism.com
October 11, 2025 at 6:44 PM
“Excuse me mate, we’d like to actually see the tulips please”
"...like Pynchon, he knows that aesthetic pleasure and comedy can be corollaries to political work."
I wrote on One Battle After Another, Thomas Pynchon and Paul Thomas Anderson’s California
open.substack.com/pub/davidher...
open.substack.com/pub/davidher...
A Few Small Beers with Pynchon: On One Battle After Another
If you put Paul Thomas Anderson’s films alongside each other you’d have a shadow history of California.
open.substack.com
October 8, 2025 at 2:54 PM
"...like Pynchon, he knows that aesthetic pleasure and comedy can be corollaries to political work."
by any historic measure, we have very little time left
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Adam Tooze · Ecological Leninism: Drill, baby, drill
The question isn’t whether liberal activists do or don’t want to engage in sabotage. If we keep to our current...
www.lrb.co.uk
October 8, 2025 at 1:49 PM
by any historic measure, we have very little time left
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Michelle Chihara
Today in Politics Chat, I talked about how power sloshes around when a president is checked out, and noted that right now unelected officials like Stephen Miller are trying to grab it. But instead, We the People can take it back and create a better nation.
October 8, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Today in Politics Chat, I talked about how power sloshes around when a president is checked out, and noted that right now unelected officials like Stephen Miller are trying to grab it. But instead, We the People can take it back and create a better nation.
Fight on, friends
www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2025/10/06/r...
www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2025/10/06/r...
‘Reject the Compact’ petition urges USC not to sign Trump’s contract
Faculty show support for USC to reject the federal government’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.
www.uscannenbergmedia.com
October 7, 2025 at 5:54 AM
Fight on, friends
www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2025/10/06/r...
www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2025/10/06/r...
Reposted by Michelle Chihara
I think we’re really going to have to do a lot more of this. A massive deprogramming so that people can read more than ten words at a time without anxiety.
www.thetimes.com/uk/education...?
www.thetimes.com/uk/education...?
Universities teaching literature students how to cope with long novels
Critics blame GCSE English for deterring teenagers from the subject, describing the literature syllabus as boring and repetitive
www.thetimes.com
October 4, 2025 at 2:49 PM
I think we’re really going to have to do a lot more of this. A massive deprogramming so that people can read more than ten words at a time without anxiety.
www.thetimes.com/uk/education...?
www.thetimes.com/uk/education...?