Geoff Cordner
@geoffcordner.bsky.social
Pinned
Intelligence in His Toes
A Tuareg Proverb, Desert Etiquette, and the Colonial Gaze
open.substack.com
A Tuareg proverb about “intelligence in the toes” becomes a lens on desert etiquette, colonial misunderstanding, and a white geophysicist’s fantasy of masculinity. A story about/from my childhood in Libya. open.substack.com/pub/geoffcor...
Reposted by Geoff Cordner
Friends from Minneapolis reporting to me that things are at the point where folks are being hidden in other people's houses and we are in the "again" part of "never again" which the "never" was supposed to preclude
February 10, 2026 at 10:54 PM
Friends from Minneapolis reporting to me that things are at the point where folks are being hidden in other people's houses and we are in the "again" part of "never again" which the "never" was supposed to preclude
Reposted by Geoff Cordner
I get so frustrated hearing certain people complain that nothing can be done to stop all of this 💩 until the next election. The greatest organizers I know led a coordinated hunger strike from *solitary confinement* in Pelican Bay. If they can find a way to fight back, surely the rest of us can, too
February 2, 2026 at 9:01 PM
I get so frustrated hearing certain people complain that nothing can be done to stop all of this 💩 until the next election. The greatest organizers I know led a coordinated hunger strike from *solitary confinement* in Pelican Bay. If they can find a way to fight back, surely the rest of us can, too
Reposted by Geoff Cordner
Every day Mamdani comes out and is like "hey guys, I turned off the orphan-crushing machine. Literally just had to flip a switch. Took less than 5 minutes."
After decades of dem leadership pissing and moaning and fundraising about how complex an issue it is and how difficult the process is etc
After decades of dem leadership pissing and moaning and fundraising about how complex an issue it is and how difficult the process is etc
February 3, 2026 at 3:58 AM
Every day Mamdani comes out and is like "hey guys, I turned off the orphan-crushing machine. Literally just had to flip a switch. Took less than 5 minutes."
After decades of dem leadership pissing and moaning and fundraising about how complex an issue it is and how difficult the process is etc
After decades of dem leadership pissing and moaning and fundraising about how complex an issue it is and how difficult the process is etc
Reposted by Geoff Cordner
We didn't say body cams on ICE. Their murders are already on video. We said no more ICE.
February 2, 2026 at 10:16 PM
We didn't say body cams on ICE. Their murders are already on video. We said no more ICE.
A Tuareg proverb about “intelligence in the toes” becomes a lens on desert etiquette, colonial misunderstanding, and a white geophysicist’s fantasy of masculinity. A story about/from my childhood in Libya. open.substack.com/pub/geoffcor...
Intelligence in His Toes
A Tuareg Proverb, Desert Etiquette, and the Colonial Gaze
open.substack.com
January 28, 2026 at 4:21 PM
A Tuareg proverb about “intelligence in the toes” becomes a lens on desert etiquette, colonial misunderstanding, and a white geophysicist’s fantasy of masculinity. A story about/from my childhood in Libya. open.substack.com/pub/geoffcor...
Reposted by Geoff Cordner
Okay sorry one more shot:
January 23, 2026 at 7:45 PM
Okay sorry one more shot:
Reposted by Geoff Cordner
ICE exist to do the federal leader’s dirty work. Local pol-ICE exist to carry out local leaders’ dirty work. They perform the same functions but operate under different “jurisdictions.” Everything that you see ICE doing is also done by local pol-ICE.
January 22, 2026 at 7:20 PM
ICE exist to do the federal leader’s dirty work. Local pol-ICE exist to carry out local leaders’ dirty work. They perform the same functions but operate under different “jurisdictions.” Everything that you see ICE doing is also done by local pol-ICE.
Reposted by Geoff Cordner
This is what love looks like.
It’s -9 degrees. Downtown Minneapolis is packed for the anti-ICE rally and the crowd keeps growing
January 23, 2026 at 8:34 PM
This is what love looks like.
Reposted by Geoff Cordner
We don’t need to compare what happened in Minneapolis to Nazi Germany. We can compare it to what has happened in Minneapolis before.
January 7, 2026 at 10:00 PM
We don’t need to compare what happened in Minneapolis to Nazi Germany. We can compare it to what has happened in Minneapolis before.
Reposted by Geoff Cordner
We’re not becoming like the N*zis. They became like the US…(excerpt from the book CREEP)
January 8, 2026 at 5:05 PM
We’re not becoming like the N*zis. They became like the US…(excerpt from the book CREEP)
The Great Die Up - a little bit about the Dakotas, my great grandmother, and settling on stolen land.
open.substack.com/pub/geoffcor...
open.substack.com/pub/geoffcor...
The Great Die Up
“‘North Dakota is Italy,’ says the Minneapolis Journal, ‘and its delightful climate makes it the winter resort of America.’ ”
open.substack.com
January 6, 2026 at 4:03 PM
The Great Die Up - a little bit about the Dakotas, my great grandmother, and settling on stolen land.
open.substack.com/pub/geoffcor...
open.substack.com/pub/geoffcor...
Reposted by Geoff Cordner
ICE defeated by SNOW
January 2, 2026 at 7:56 PM
ICE defeated by SNOW
My stepfather was fond of arbitrary rules that seemed to shift all the time. There really wasn't a way to follow them. He also gave poor guidance. This is a story about 6 year old me attempting to bond with him over his favorite thing -- Playboy Magazine. geoffcordner.substack.com/p/bosoms?r=2...
Bosoms
A six-year-old asks an innocent question about his stepfather’s Playboy. He uses the wrong word, then the right one — and is punished either way. 1967.
geoffcordner.substack.com
December 21, 2025 at 6:43 PM
My stepfather was fond of arbitrary rules that seemed to shift all the time. There really wasn't a way to follow them. He also gave poor guidance. This is a story about 6 year old me attempting to bond with him over his favorite thing -- Playboy Magazine. geoffcordner.substack.com/p/bosoms?r=2...
My latest, a Christmas story about alcoholism, denial, and family secrets.
geoffcordner.substack.com/p/whiskey-ja...
geoffcordner.substack.com/p/whiskey-ja...
Whiskey Jack's Christmas
A family’s Christmas unravels under the weight of drink, shame, & silence. A boy watches his stepfather drink, rage & lose control – until violence explodes.
geoffcordner.substack.com
December 15, 2025 at 8:25 PM
My latest, a Christmas story about alcoholism, denial, and family secrets.
geoffcordner.substack.com/p/whiskey-ja...
geoffcordner.substack.com/p/whiskey-ja...
This is a short memoir piece about family, loss, ghosts — a box of photos, a fatal crash, & the rituals we use to keep spirits at rest. It’s called Zimmerman, after the town in Minnesota where my sister’s final boyfriend lost his life & she nearly did too.
geoffcordner.substack.com/p/zimmerman?...
geoffcordner.substack.com/p/zimmerman?...
Zimmerman
A short memoir piece about family, loss, and ghosts — a box of photos, a fatal crash, and the rituals we use to keep spirits at rest.
geoffcordner.substack.com
December 3, 2025 at 6:00 PM
This is a short memoir piece about family, loss, ghosts — a box of photos, a fatal crash, & the rituals we use to keep spirits at rest. It’s called Zimmerman, after the town in Minnesota where my sister’s final boyfriend lost his life & she nearly did too.
geoffcordner.substack.com/p/zimmerman?...
geoffcordner.substack.com/p/zimmerman?...
Reposted by Geoff Cordner
Reposted by Geoff Cordner
it is hard to think of another political figure in my lifetime I have turned on harder than Hillary Clinton. I am exactly the right flavor of Middle Aged White Lady to have been DEEPLY emotionally invested in her way back when, but every time she opens her mouth now I’m like “holy shit lady 🤯”
Hillary Clinton blames TikTok and “totally made up” videos for young people’s views on Israel and Palestine.
She says social media influenced “not just the usual suspects” but also “young Jewish Americans who don’t know the history and don’t understand.”
She says social media influenced “not just the usual suspects” but also “young Jewish Americans who don’t know the history and don’t understand.”
December 2, 2025 at 10:49 PM
it is hard to think of another political figure in my lifetime I have turned on harder than Hillary Clinton. I am exactly the right flavor of Middle Aged White Lady to have been DEEPLY emotionally invested in her way back when, but every time she opens her mouth now I’m like “holy shit lady 🤯”
Great article from High Country News on how heavy metal is healing teens on the Blackfeet nation. It's about Indigenous headbangers finding catharsis, community, and coping skills while a string of suicides rips thru the Blackfeet Nation in Montana.
www.hcn.org/issues/57-11...
www.hcn.org/issues/57-11...
Heavy metal is healing teens on the Blackfeet Nation - High Country News
In response to youth suicides, teachers show students the power of headbanging at Fire in the Mountains festival.
www.hcn.org
December 2, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Great article from High Country News on how heavy metal is healing teens on the Blackfeet nation. It's about Indigenous headbangers finding catharsis, community, and coping skills while a string of suicides rips thru the Blackfeet Nation in Montana.
www.hcn.org/issues/57-11...
www.hcn.org/issues/57-11...
Train Songs: a compact, lyrical memoir about a kid, me, imagining escape from an unsafe home. It’s about trains & vastness. The horizon is a much greater distance away on the Canadian prairie than it is anywhere else. I wanted to get to the other side of it. open.substack.com/pub/geoffcor...
Train Songs
As a child on the Canadian prairie, I dreamed of escape by train - seeking safety and a way back to a past before loss.
open.substack.com
November 23, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Train Songs: a compact, lyrical memoir about a kid, me, imagining escape from an unsafe home. It’s about trains & vastness. The horizon is a much greater distance away on the Canadian prairie than it is anywhere else. I wanted to get to the other side of it. open.substack.com/pub/geoffcor...
At Myriam's @lesbrains.bsky.social urging, I've started writing a memoir... about someone else... the family history around it, a story of settler colonial violence, patriarchy, intergenerational trauma, a few comical drug store heists. Trying out ideas on substack. open.substack.com/pub/geoffcor...
Maureen
I’m writing a memoir — about someone else. My sister. I didn’t see her between the time I was two and the week she died. It’s a story about ghosts, intergenerational trauma, family violence, and the n...
open.substack.com
November 19, 2025 at 4:39 PM
At Myriam's @lesbrains.bsky.social urging, I've started writing a memoir... about someone else... the family history around it, a story of settler colonial violence, patriarchy, intergenerational trauma, a few comical drug store heists. Trying out ideas on substack. open.substack.com/pub/geoffcor...
Tomorrow Nov 8 at the Altadena Public Library: Myriam Gurba, Carla Rachel Sameth, Angela Peñaredondo, Veronica Reyes, and others!
2 - 4pm
600 E. Mariposa Street
Altadena, California 91001
@lesbrains.bsky.social
2 - 4pm
600 E. Mariposa Street
Altadena, California 91001
@lesbrains.bsky.social
November 7, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Tomorrow Nov 8 at the Altadena Public Library: Myriam Gurba, Carla Rachel Sameth, Angela Peñaredondo, Veronica Reyes, and others!
2 - 4pm
600 E. Mariposa Street
Altadena, California 91001
@lesbrains.bsky.social
2 - 4pm
600 E. Mariposa Street
Altadena, California 91001
@lesbrains.bsky.social
Reposted by Geoff Cordner
TURKEY VULTURE
Cathartes aura
Family: CATHARTIDAE
Order: CICONIIFORMES
Class: AVES.
📷 @geoffcordner.bsky.social
Cathartes aura
Family: CATHARTIDAE
Order: CICONIIFORMES
Class: AVES.
📷 @geoffcordner.bsky.social
October 31, 2025 at 1:07 PM
TURKEY VULTURE
Cathartes aura
Family: CATHARTIDAE
Order: CICONIIFORMES
Class: AVES.
📷 @geoffcordner.bsky.social
Cathartes aura
Family: CATHARTIDAE
Order: CICONIIFORMES
Class: AVES.
📷 @geoffcordner.bsky.social
Reposted by Geoff Cordner
So many people here have developed panic disorder in response to our abandonment...and the landscape doesn’t just “look” apocalyptic. It is.
Months after fire in Altadena, determination turns to despair
Months after fire in Altadena, determination turns to despair
The adrenaline that drove victims in the aftermath of the Eaton fire has worn off for many, leaving a sense of "great disillusionment."
www.latimes.com
October 30, 2025 at 3:36 PM
So many people here have developed panic disorder in response to our abandonment...and the landscape doesn’t just “look” apocalyptic. It is.
Reposted by Geoff Cordner
Reposted by Geoff Cordner
Poppy State: A Labyrinth of Plants and a Story of Beginnings launches this week! I hope to see you at Skylight Books ! Come say hi and share your favorite plant name in exchange for a small botanical gift. If you can’t make it to the Los Feliz launch, please check out the other tour dates! 🌿💕🌿
October 19, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Poppy State: A Labyrinth of Plants and a Story of Beginnings launches this week! I hope to see you at Skylight Books ! Come say hi and share your favorite plant name in exchange for a small botanical gift. If you can’t make it to the Los Feliz launch, please check out the other tour dates! 🌿💕🌿