Aleksei I. Valentín (he/they) ✡️♿🏳️🌈
@aivalentin.bsky.social
🇺🇦 Writer, artist, PhD candidate | C19 US, New Orleans, immigration, religion, death | Disabled Jewish queer trans | Husband and cavalier of @thelionmachine.bsky.social 🪬
Pinned
Hello new followers!
I'm Aleksei (he/they) and I'm the other half/cavalier primary of @thelionmachine.bsky.social
I'm a PhD student working on German Catholic immigrants and yellow fever in 19th c New Orleans. I write spec lit, dabble in art, and generally nerd around.
I'm Aleksei (he/they) and I'm the other half/cavalier primary of @thelionmachine.bsky.social
I'm a PhD student working on German Catholic immigrants and yellow fever in 19th c New Orleans. I write spec lit, dabble in art, and generally nerd around.
Reposted by Aleksei I. Valentín (he/they) ✡️♿🏳️🌈
this is fantastic and my favorite is that technically france should have been listed (st-pierre et miquelon and martinique) but it's more correct to leave france out
February 10, 2026 at 1:27 AM
this is fantastic and my favorite is that technically france should have been listed (st-pierre et miquelon and martinique) but it's more correct to leave france out
Reposted by Aleksei I. Valentín (he/they) ✡️♿🏳️🌈
Super Bowl viewers Sunday speculated that 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos appeared in the halftime show. In fact, he has been in hiding with his family.
“He can’t sleep well at night. He wakes up three or four times a night screaming, ‘Daddy, Daddy,’” Liam's father Adrian Conejo Arias, said.
“He can’t sleep well at night. He wakes up three or four times a night screaming, ‘Daddy, Daddy,’” Liam's father Adrian Conejo Arias, said.
‘He’s not the same’: Father of Liam Conejo Ramos says 5-year-old continues to suffer
Some people thought they say the 5-year-old during the Super Bowl halftime show. But Liam is still in hiding with his family, after he and his father were detained and then released from a Texas deten...
www.mprnews.org
February 10, 2026 at 1:11 AM
Super Bowl viewers Sunday speculated that 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos appeared in the halftime show. In fact, he has been in hiding with his family.
“He can’t sleep well at night. He wakes up three or four times a night screaming, ‘Daddy, Daddy,’” Liam's father Adrian Conejo Arias, said.
“He can’t sleep well at night. He wakes up three or four times a night screaming, ‘Daddy, Daddy,’” Liam's father Adrian Conejo Arias, said.
I cannot count how many unhoused folks in the French Quarter I encounter in hospital gowns or scrubs, wearing their hospital bracelets, only socks on their feet, with dirty dressings over wounds or in medical distress.
This problem is everywhere, because disabled people are disposable in the US.
This problem is everywhere, because disabled people are disposable in the US.
During freezing temperatures in Port Arthur, Texas, a 61-year-old homeless man was found dead in his wheelchair outside a convenience store.
He was wearing a hospital gown and no shoes. Authorities say he had been released from a hospital the previous day.
This is a diseased society.
He was wearing a hospital gown and no shoes. Authorities say he had been released from a hospital the previous day.
This is a diseased society.
'What's wrong with the world?' Man in wheelchair found dead outside in freezing temps
The 61-year-old man had been released from a hospital the day before.
news4sanantonio.com
February 9, 2026 at 7:46 PM
I cannot count how many unhoused folks in the French Quarter I encounter in hospital gowns or scrubs, wearing their hospital bracelets, only socks on their feet, with dirty dressings over wounds or in medical distress.
This problem is everywhere, because disabled people are disposable in the US.
This problem is everywhere, because disabled people are disposable in the US.
Reposted by Aleksei I. Valentín (he/they) ✡️♿🏳️🌈
one of the greatest human triumphs of my lifetime is the relentless, unceasing, heroic effort by DECADES' worth of doctors and scientists to find a cure for a disease much of the world didn't take seriously for years because it predominantly affected a community they thought kinda deserved it
Just because good news is worth celebrating:
There is now a Prep medication that is an *every six month* injection.
HIV has, effectively, a vaccination.
There is now a Prep medication that is an *every six month* injection.
HIV has, effectively, a vaccination.
February 7, 2026 at 1:37 AM
one of the greatest human triumphs of my lifetime is the relentless, unceasing, heroic effort by DECADES' worth of doctors and scientists to find a cure for a disease much of the world didn't take seriously for years because it predominantly affected a community they thought kinda deserved it
Reposted by Aleksei I. Valentín (he/they) ✡️♿🏳️🌈
February 7, 2026 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by Aleksei I. Valentín (he/they) ✡️♿🏳️🌈
CFP IR UK: The call for papers for the 48th Implicit Religion Conference, "Knowingness, Agency and Authority" is live. #IR48
DEADLINE: 27th March 2026
www.implicitreligion.co.uk/ir-uk/implic...
CFP PDF: cdn.prod.website-files.com/616453adbf9f...
DEADLINE: 27th March 2026
www.implicitreligion.co.uk/ir-uk/implic...
CFP PDF: cdn.prod.website-files.com/616453adbf9f...
February 6, 2026 at 4:32 PM
CFP IR UK: The call for papers for the 48th Implicit Religion Conference, "Knowingness, Agency and Authority" is live. #IR48
DEADLINE: 27th March 2026
www.implicitreligion.co.uk/ir-uk/implic...
CFP PDF: cdn.prod.website-files.com/616453adbf9f...
DEADLINE: 27th March 2026
www.implicitreligion.co.uk/ir-uk/implic...
CFP PDF: cdn.prod.website-files.com/616453adbf9f...
Reposted by Aleksei I. Valentín (he/they) ✡️♿🏳️🌈
More in the history of slavery that's not history but actually taking place right now:
"Most new prisoners begin working in the cotton fields. A prisoner may spend years working there before gaining a better job.[29]"
In Angola parlance, a "freeman" is a correctional officer.[131]"
"Most new prisoners begin working in the cotton fields. A prisoner may spend years working there before gaining a better job.[29]"
In Angola parlance, a "freeman" is a correctional officer.[131]"
Louisiana State Penitentiary - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 26, 2025 at 1:02 AM
More in the history of slavery that's not history but actually taking place right now:
"Most new prisoners begin working in the cotton fields. A prisoner may spend years working there before gaining a better job.[29]"
In Angola parlance, a "freeman" is a correctional officer.[131]"
"Most new prisoners begin working in the cotton fields. A prisoner may spend years working there before gaining a better job.[29]"
In Angola parlance, a "freeman" is a correctional officer.[131]"
Reposted by Aleksei I. Valentín (he/they) ✡️♿🏳️🌈
GM: Charisma check.
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
February 7, 2026 at 5:01 AM
GM: Charisma check.
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
Reposted by Aleksei I. Valentín (he/they) ✡️♿🏳️🌈
Do you ever feel like you missed your calling, and were meant to be touring the countryside in a motorcycle & sidecar with your well dressed badger best friend, solving minor mysteries and enjoying tea & adventure?
February 6, 2026 at 11:03 PM
Do you ever feel like you missed your calling, and were meant to be touring the countryside in a motorcycle & sidecar with your well dressed badger best friend, solving minor mysteries and enjoying tea & adventure?
Reposted by Aleksei I. Valentín (he/they) ✡️♿🏳️🌈
i think we all need to step back and realize that peak art was made when neolithic pot in the shape of a pig was fired
February 6, 2026 at 7:46 PM
i think we all need to step back and realize that peak art was made when neolithic pot in the shape of a pig was fired
Reposted by Aleksei I. Valentín (he/they) ✡️♿🏳️🌈
Forrest the superb owl is showing off his game-day moves with a coconut football and some meaty nibbles! 💙🦉💚
📹: Animal care staff Maureen & Erica
📹: Animal care staff Maureen & Erica
February 6, 2026 at 9:53 PM
Forrest the superb owl is showing off his game-day moves with a coconut football and some meaty nibbles! 💙🦉💚
📹: Animal care staff Maureen & Erica
📹: Animal care staff Maureen & Erica
Reposted by Aleksei I. Valentín (he/they) ✡️♿🏳️🌈
lol
LMAO
LMAO
I'm at the Olympics and the entire stadium booed JD Vance. 😌
February 6, 2026 at 10:46 PM
lol
LMAO
LMAO
Parade days in the Quarter make me so anxious this Carnival. I'm just constantly waiting for something to pop off. I know it's trauma from the New Year's attack last year, but it's also difficult to ignore, especially today as we blundered into a walking parade that wasn't on the tracking app.
February 6, 2026 at 10:40 PM
Parade days in the Quarter make me so anxious this Carnival. I'm just constantly waiting for something to pop off. I know it's trauma from the New Year's attack last year, but it's also difficult to ignore, especially today as we blundered into a walking parade that wasn't on the tracking app.
Bless RNS for good reporting on Catholic issues. If stuff goes down with the Vatican, trust these folks to get it the most correct.
Pope Leo XIV is facing his first major crisis with traditionalist Catholics: A breakaway group attached to the traditional Latin Mass announced plans to consecrate new bishops without papal consent in a threatened revival of schism.
religionnews.com/2026/02/06/p...
religionnews.com/2026/02/06/p...
Pope Leo XIV faces crisis as a traditionalist group plans bishop consecrations without consent
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Swiss-based Society of St. Pius X, which has schools, chapels and seminaries around the world, has been a thorn in the side of the Holy See for four decades, founded in…
religionnews.com
February 6, 2026 at 7:05 PM
Bless RNS for good reporting on Catholic issues. If stuff goes down with the Vatican, trust these folks to get it the most correct.
Reposted by Aleksei I. Valentín (he/they) ✡️♿🏳️🌈
OKAY GANG BUCKLE UP we are PUBLISHERS MARKETPLACE OFFICIAL for WICKHILLS
Thank you to @mkcurry.bsky.social and @jonathanstrahan.bsky.social and @torbooks.bsky.social for making it happen!
Prepare for me to NOT SHUT UP ABOUT THIS MOTHERFUPPIN BOOK (when I am less busy)
Thank you to @mkcurry.bsky.social and @jonathanstrahan.bsky.social and @torbooks.bsky.social for making it happen!
Prepare for me to NOT SHUT UP ABOUT THIS MOTHERFUPPIN BOOK (when I am less busy)
February 5, 2026 at 8:16 PM
OKAY GANG BUCKLE UP we are PUBLISHERS MARKETPLACE OFFICIAL for WICKHILLS
Thank you to @mkcurry.bsky.social and @jonathanstrahan.bsky.social and @torbooks.bsky.social for making it happen!
Prepare for me to NOT SHUT UP ABOUT THIS MOTHERFUPPIN BOOK (when I am less busy)
Thank you to @mkcurry.bsky.social and @jonathanstrahan.bsky.social and @torbooks.bsky.social for making it happen!
Prepare for me to NOT SHUT UP ABOUT THIS MOTHERFUPPIN BOOK (when I am less busy)
No new pictures. Where are you at mentally?
February 6, 2026 at 5:29 AM
No new pictures. Where are you at mentally?
Reposted by Aleksei I. Valentín (he/they) ✡️♿🏳️🌈
“…scribes carried their stylus as both tool and sacred trust - understanding that every mark upon clay would endure long beyond their mortal span.”
😆
😆
February 6, 2026 at 3:12 AM
“…scribes carried their stylus as both tool and sacred trust - understanding that every mark upon clay would endure long beyond their mortal span.”
😆
😆
Weencycat resents the fact that the tile floors in the bathroom are making her paws cold, and so she registers her complaint by banging cupboard doors, then coming to me to put her cold toes on my hand. Such injustice. Her life is full of torments.
February 6, 2026 at 3:15 AM
Weencycat resents the fact that the tile floors in the bathroom are making her paws cold, and so she registers her complaint by banging cupboard doors, then coming to me to put her cold toes on my hand. Such injustice. Her life is full of torments.
Reposted by Aleksei I. Valentín (he/they) ✡️♿🏳️🌈
The public made noise for Liam Ramos and it got him released from Dilley.
Now we must make noise for 7 year old Diana Crespo.
Her parents were taking her for emergency medical care when ICE grabbed them, and she’s rotting in the camp sick and exposed to measles.
Get them out!
Now we must make noise for 7 year old Diana Crespo.
Her parents were taking her for emergency medical care when ICE grabbed them, and she’s rotting in the camp sick and exposed to measles.
Get them out!
February 6, 2026 at 12:08 AM
The public made noise for Liam Ramos and it got him released from Dilley.
Now we must make noise for 7 year old Diana Crespo.
Her parents were taking her for emergency medical care when ICE grabbed them, and she’s rotting in the camp sick and exposed to measles.
Get them out!
Now we must make noise for 7 year old Diana Crespo.
Her parents were taking her for emergency medical care when ICE grabbed them, and she’s rotting in the camp sick and exposed to measles.
Get them out!
Reposted by Aleksei I. Valentín (he/they) ✡️♿🏳️🌈
The National Park Service has removed visitor brochures from the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument. Among the anticipated changes? No longer calling his murderer a “racist.”
The truth will never be erased.
mississippitoday.org/2026/02/05/m...
The truth will never be erased.
mississippitoday.org/2026/02/05/m...
Medgar Evers’ killer was a Klansman, but Trump administration says stop calling him a racist - Mississippi Today
Among anticipated changes to a new visitor brochure for the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument is no longer using "racist" to describe the killer of the civil rights leader.
mississippitoday.org
February 5, 2026 at 10:47 PM
The National Park Service has removed visitor brochures from the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument. Among the anticipated changes? No longer calling his murderer a “racist.”
The truth will never be erased.
mississippitoday.org/2026/02/05/m...
The truth will never be erased.
mississippitoday.org/2026/02/05/m...
Reposted by Aleksei I. Valentín (he/they) ✡️♿🏳️🌈
Farm workers in solidarity with @sbworkersunited.org baristas. #DeleteTheApp
February 4, 2026 at 4:24 PM
Farm workers in solidarity with @sbworkersunited.org baristas. #DeleteTheApp
Reposted by Aleksei I. Valentín (he/they) ✡️♿🏳️🌈
One of the best examples of ancient #polychromy that I know of is this terracotta thymiaterion - incense burner - in the form of a group of colorfully dressed women sitting around a wellhead. The iconography reflects a local cult, perhaps of Demeter and Kore. 🏺 1/
4th c. CE. #MetMuseum
📸 me
4th c. CE. #MetMuseum
📸 me
February 3, 2026 at 9:51 PM
One of the best examples of ancient #polychromy that I know of is this terracotta thymiaterion - incense burner - in the form of a group of colorfully dressed women sitting around a wellhead. The iconography reflects a local cult, perhaps of Demeter and Kore. 🏺 1/
4th c. CE. #MetMuseum
📸 me
4th c. CE. #MetMuseum
📸 me
The motivation is willing, but the joints are weak and achy.
February 3, 2026 at 5:33 PM
The motivation is willing, but the joints are weak and achy.
Reposted by Aleksei I. Valentín (he/they) ✡️♿🏳️🌈
Three centuries, two women's love for each other, one fight for abolition and union. You can find my trans sapphic scifi novel #GreyDawn at buff.ly/yY4IK1b or in ebook form via buff.ly/Z0svrO2
September 27, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Three centuries, two women's love for each other, one fight for abolition and union. You can find my trans sapphic scifi novel #GreyDawn at buff.ly/yY4IK1b or in ebook form via buff.ly/Z0svrO2
Why is the most difficult part of this lit review to write the part I know the best? I know all of the literature on New Orleans history that's even remotely relevant, but formulating what it's all doing and why I'm doing it differently is so dang difficult today.
February 2, 2026 at 10:07 PM
Why is the most difficult part of this lit review to write the part I know the best? I know all of the literature on New Orleans history that's even remotely relevant, but formulating what it's all doing and why I'm doing it differently is so dang difficult today.