Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
@ajcousins.bsky.social
Queer romance author. Obsessive book buyer. Slow runner. Newly fascinated birder. She/her, bi. Rep'd by Handspun Literary Agency. Volunteer Child Advocate for detained immigrant kiddos. Views my own.
Pinned
I released a new audiobook last year and neglected to tell anyone! 😂 Grumpy-grumpy, found-family holiday romance.
Adam Beckett did a FANTASTIC job with this one. He's an amazing performer.
Glass Tidings: www.amazon.com/Audible-Glas...
Adam Beckett did a FANTASTIC job with this one. He's an amazing performer.
Glass Tidings: www.amazon.com/Audible-Glas...
I'm too tired to find out if it's a DHS helicopter buzzing Uptown tonight, but I cannot tell you how tired I am of this shit.
January 6, 2026 at 4:49 AM
I'm too tired to find out if it's a DHS helicopter buzzing Uptown tonight, but I cannot tell you how tired I am of this shit.
I always have peanuts in my pocket when I go birding, hoping to make some Crow friends. 🤞 #NationalBirdDay #birds
January 6, 2026 at 4:27 AM
I always have peanuts in my pocket when I go birding, hoping to make some Crow friends. 🤞 #NationalBirdDay #birds
I can watch Paige Buckets play basketball all day. 😍 #Unrivaled
January 6, 2026 at 3:49 AM
I can watch Paige Buckets play basketball all day. 😍 #Unrivaled
Mabrey was gonna to sink that one, yeah. 😂 #unrivaled
January 6, 2026 at 1:40 AM
Mabrey was gonna to sink that one, yeah. 😂 #unrivaled
Bummer that Kah is out, but Chelsea Gray is just killing it. 😍 #Unrivaled
January 6, 2026 at 1:30 AM
Bummer that Kah is out, but Chelsea Gray is just killing it. 😍 #Unrivaled
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
NEW: More than 300 judges — including 33 appointed by Trump himself — have now rebuffed the Trump administration’s bid to dramatically expand efforts to lock people up while they fight deportation.
www.politico.com/news/2026/01/05/trump-administration-immigrants-mandatory-detention-00709494
www.politico.com/news/2026/01/05/trump-administration-immigrants-mandatory-detention-00709494
January 5, 2026 at 11:51 AM
NEW: More than 300 judges — including 33 appointed by Trump himself — have now rebuffed the Trump administration’s bid to dramatically expand efforts to lock people up while they fight deportation.
www.politico.com/news/2026/01/05/trump-administration-immigrants-mandatory-detention-00709494
www.politico.com/news/2026/01/05/trump-administration-immigrants-mandatory-detention-00709494
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
🚨 REMINDER: 2026 #ACA Open Enrollment isn't over yet! 49 states +DC still have time for Feb. 1st coverage!
acasignups.net/26/01/05/rem...
acasignups.net/26/01/05/rem...
Reminder: 2026 Open Enrollment isn't over yet! 49 states + DC still have time for Feb. 1st coverage!
Welcome to 2026, for good or bad. Now that we're into January and there have been several more Open Enrollment deadline extensions, it's time for another updated rundown of the remaining deadlines are...
acasignups.net
January 5, 2026 at 7:28 PM
🚨 REMINDER: 2026 #ACA Open Enrollment isn't over yet! 49 states +DC still have time for Feb. 1st coverage!
acasignups.net/26/01/05/rem...
acasignups.net/26/01/05/rem...
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
I'm boosting myself to say this:
You're going to see people On Here tell you calling electeds doesn't matter. That's not true.
Some are bots. Some are people who like being contrary to be edgy.
But calling moves the needle, especially against a blatantly illegal act by Trump and Co. ACT.
You're going to see people On Here tell you calling electeds doesn't matter. That's not true.
Some are bots. Some are people who like being contrary to be edgy.
But calling moves the needle, especially against a blatantly illegal act by Trump and Co. ACT.
Candid answer - as someone who handled constituent affairs calls for years - while they’re not checking the phone right now, the urgency of the moment is important.
Show them you care enough to make the weekend call, and be counted that way. Staffers will clock and report this upstream.
Show them you care enough to make the weekend call, and be counted that way. Staffers will clock and report this upstream.
Is there actually a benefit to leaving a VM now vs getting a staffer on Monday? Can do both but just curious
January 3, 2026 at 10:48 PM
I'm boosting myself to say this:
You're going to see people On Here tell you calling electeds doesn't matter. That's not true.
Some are bots. Some are people who like being contrary to be edgy.
But calling moves the needle, especially against a blatantly illegal act by Trump and Co. ACT.
You're going to see people On Here tell you calling electeds doesn't matter. That's not true.
Some are bots. Some are people who like being contrary to be edgy.
But calling moves the needle, especially against a blatantly illegal act by Trump and Co. ACT.
💯👇 Bird photography is just for me. I am made happy every time I look at a photo of a Piping Plover chick the size of a golf ball or a Green Heron striding across lily pads.
I say this often but it bears repeating: if you make your money from creating art then you NEED to find an art or craft where you just do it for fun and don't try to be perfect or make any money from it, and when anyone tells you to monetise it you say 'No', because otherwise your soul will die.
Have needle. Have thread. Have scraps of paper. Have free will. Have made a notebook.
January 4, 2026 at 2:22 PM
💯👇 Bird photography is just for me. I am made happy every time I look at a photo of a Piping Plover chick the size of a golf ball or a Green Heron striding across lily pads.
This time last year, the Belted Kingfisher was still my nemesis bird. When I finally found them in February, it was the start of my regular visits to Legion Park to see them whenever I need a kingfisher fix. :) #birds
January 4, 2026 at 4:00 AM
This time last year, the Belted Kingfisher was still my nemesis bird. When I finally found them in February, it was the start of my regular visits to Legion Park to see them whenever I need a kingfisher fix. :) #birds
Look at these beauties. I fucking love Chicago. 😍 Legion Park today, directly across the river from the path where it gets closest to the river (where the mallards hang out.)
January 4, 2026 at 2:52 AM
Look at these beauties. I fucking love Chicago. 😍 Legion Park today, directly across the river from the path where it gets closest to the river (where the mallards hang out.)
I didn't see either of the birds (Northern Pintail, American Wigeon) I was hoping to find this afternoon, but I took some AMAZING photos of a Herring Gull trying to steal the fish out of a Red-breasted Merganser's mouth and of the two coyotes patrolling the west bank of the river in Legion Park. :)
January 3, 2026 at 11:15 PM
I didn't see either of the birds (Northern Pintail, American Wigeon) I was hoping to find this afternoon, but I took some AMAZING photos of a Herring Gull trying to steal the fish out of a Red-breasted Merganser's mouth and of the two coyotes patrolling the west bank of the river in Legion Park. :)
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
thinking about how, in the Russian history elective I took in HS, every time a tsar was facing domestic weakness the teacher would turn to the assembled students and ask "so what is it time for?" and we would chant "stunning territorial annexation!" and she would respond "well, DUH, girls"
January 3, 2026 at 3:22 PM
thinking about how, in the Russian history elective I took in HS, every time a tsar was facing domestic weakness the teacher would turn to the assembled students and ask "so what is it time for?" and we would chant "stunning territorial annexation!" and she would respond "well, DUH, girls"
The most unexpected side effect of watching Heated Rivalry has been remembering how much I used to love writing romance. The last ms. I wrote before switching to my current job was a baseball romance. I've been rereading it and damn. I used to know how to write books that made *me* cry. :)
January 3, 2026 at 4:33 AM
The most unexpected side effect of watching Heated Rivalry has been remembering how much I used to love writing romance. The last ms. I wrote before switching to my current job was a baseball romance. I've been rereading it and damn. I used to know how to write books that made *me* cry. :)
I MISS THIS SO MUCH. It feels like so many SFF books published pre-2000 did this, but now, when my memory has developed the retention power of a sieve, you rarely see it.
Help us, publishers. Please. 😭
Help us, publishers. Please. 😭
setting an intention for SFF publishers in 2026 that they will put a "previously on" page at the front of the book when they are publishing sequels
IF IT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR TOLKIEN IT IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU
IF IT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR TOLKIEN IT IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU
January 3, 2026 at 12:55 AM
I MISS THIS SO MUCH. It feels like so many SFF books published pre-2000 did this, but now, when my memory has developed the retention power of a sieve, you rarely see it.
Help us, publishers. Please. 😭
Help us, publishers. Please. 😭
This is a *fantastic* read. Highly recommended!
Also wow I don't think I've ever cracked the Kindle Top 50 in... anything, LOL. (They have some VERY esoteric categories and still no.) UNTIL NOW!
THE BUTCHER OF THE FOREST is still $1.99 at ebook retailers apparently! :)
THE BUTCHER OF THE FOREST is still $1.99 at ebook retailers apparently! :)
January 2, 2026 at 10:37 PM
This is a *fantastic* read. Highly recommended!
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
Definitely would suggest everyone who wants to detail their experiences to write them out and email that so they can understand the totality of our experiences because only 60 minutes means 30 public speakers in total which is hardly anything for a city of nearly three million.
Chicago’s Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability is holding a special meeting next Thursday, January 8.
This is in response to a 2000+ signature petition asking CCPSA to hold a public hearing to “understand the extent of CPD's interactions with federal immigration authorities.”
This is in response to a 2000+ signature petition asking CCPSA to hold a public hearing to “understand the extent of CPD's interactions with federal immigration authorities.”
January 2, 2026 at 7:13 PM
Definitely would suggest everyone who wants to detail their experiences to write them out and email that so they can understand the totality of our experiences because only 60 minutes means 30 public speakers in total which is hardly anything for a city of nearly three million.
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
A reminder of the stunning rate of scientific progress: it’s only been 101 years that we’ve known the Universe is larger than the Milky Way. Now we know that it’s at least *1 million* times larger in linear size than the Milky Way (and probably 50 or more times larger than that, even).
Edwin Hubble announced OTD in 1925 that Andromeda and other spiral nebulae were in fact separate galaxies outside the Milky Way, in a paper read to an AAS meeting by H.N. Russell. The Universe was far larger than what many astronomers had imagined; more than just our little island of stars. 🧪 🔭
January 2, 2026 at 2:13 AM
A reminder of the stunning rate of scientific progress: it’s only been 101 years that we’ve known the Universe is larger than the Milky Way. Now we know that it’s at least *1 million* times larger in linear size than the Milky Way (and probably 50 or more times larger than that, even).
A coyote jogged right past me as I arrived at the harbor this morning for my first birding walk of the year, and then I finally spotted the American Black Duck that's been hanging around, which is a Cook county lifer for me. So 2026 is getting off to a great start. :)
January 1, 2026 at 6:52 PM
A coyote jogged right past me as I arrived at the harbor this morning for my first birding walk of the year, and then I finally spotted the American Black Duck that's been hanging around, which is a Cook county lifer for me. So 2026 is getting off to a great start. :)
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
Just making sure that 2025 is definitely over
January 1, 2026 at 4:43 AM
Just making sure that 2025 is definitely over