Joy Watford
@joywatford.bsky.social
Founder and creator of portraits and stories at Those We Lost, an online memorial to the victims of the drug war in the Philippines: www.thosewelost.org
Writer of essays on life, culture, books and art
Tech and travel editor
Book editor and designer
Writer of essays on life, culture, books and art
Tech and travel editor
Book editor and designer
'In memory of them, in memory of their inedible beauty, today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. In other words, for the elimination of violence by the little Trujillos that rule in so many homes.'
—Eduardo Galeano, 'Children of the Days'
—Eduardo Galeano, 'Children of the Days'
November 25, 2025 at 7:44 AM
'In memory of them, in memory of their inedible beauty, today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. In other words, for the elimination of violence by the little Trujillos that rule in so many homes.'
—Eduardo Galeano, 'Children of the Days'
—Eduardo Galeano, 'Children of the Days'
There are 30,000 humanitarian reasons for Rodrigo Duterte to stay in prison.
October 7, 2025 at 10:19 AM
There are 30,000 humanitarian reasons for Rodrigo Duterte to stay in prison.
Reposted by Joy Watford
If you stop thinking that Germany's response to anything Israel is about Holocaust guilt and instead about rewriting German history, you'd understand German politics better. 🧵
June 9, 2025 at 11:06 AM
If you stop thinking that Germany's response to anything Israel is about Holocaust guilt and instead about rewriting German history, you'd understand German politics better. 🧵
I feel like Google's NotebookLM has been designed to annoy the hell out of me. I tested it with some bits of fiction I wrote, and it kept getting details wrong. The audio overview 'hosts' kept saying 'mischievious.' It was like listening to two pretentious idiots talking.
May 20, 2025 at 6:50 AM
I feel like Google's NotebookLM has been designed to annoy the hell out of me. I tested it with some bits of fiction I wrote, and it kept getting details wrong. The audio overview 'hosts' kept saying 'mischievious.' It was like listening to two pretentious idiots talking.
'I Am from There' by Mahmoud Darwish. 77 years on, the Nakba continues.
May 15, 2025 at 4:25 PM
'I Am from There' by Mahmoud Darwish. 77 years on, the Nakba continues.
'Technology partnership.' This is going to be a rotten deal.
‘Incredible platform for future’: Starmer hails UK-US trade deal – UK politics live
Trump says he is ‘thrilled’ with deal and claims it will be ‘so good’ for both countries
www.theguardian.com
May 8, 2025 at 3:23 PM
'Technology partnership.' This is going to be a rotten deal.
Stationary? STATIONARY?
Really, Esquire? You don’t employ copy editors now?
Really, Esquire? You don’t employ copy editors now?
May 2, 2025 at 5:03 AM
Stationary? STATIONARY?
Really, Esquire? You don’t employ copy editors now?
Really, Esquire? You don’t employ copy editors now?
Drawing for the sake of drawing. I missed doing this.
April 28, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Drawing for the sake of drawing. I missed doing this.
Reposted by Joy Watford
You know you're getting old when you manage to capture the right skin tone for a test portrait but immediately forget which colours you mixed. 😔
April 26, 2025 at 1:06 PM
You know you're getting old when you manage to capture the right skin tone for a test portrait but immediately forget which colours you mixed. 😔
Reposted by Joy Watford
While investigating Nike’s claims about sustainability, I started collecting paystubs from its suppliers. It’s been almost 27 years since Phil Knight acknowledged that Nike products had become synonymous with “slave wages.” I wanted to know what people in Asia earned producing Nike apparel. (thread)
April 25, 2025 at 8:16 PM
While investigating Nike’s claims about sustainability, I started collecting paystubs from its suppliers. It’s been almost 27 years since Phil Knight acknowledged that Nike products had become synonymous with “slave wages.” I wanted to know what people in Asia earned producing Nike apparel. (thread)
Reposted by Joy Watford
Categories used by the state to sort people into boxes are never neutral.
Some thoughts on the UK Supreme Court case ruling and the wider anti-trans campaign to narrow sex and gender categories in policy, data and law.
📝 kevinguyan.com/2025/04/16/t...
Some thoughts on the UK Supreme Court case ruling and the wider anti-trans campaign to narrow sex and gender categories in policy, data and law.
📝 kevinguyan.com/2025/04/16/t...
April 16, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Categories used by the state to sort people into boxes are never neutral.
Some thoughts on the UK Supreme Court case ruling and the wider anti-trans campaign to narrow sex and gender categories in policy, data and law.
📝 kevinguyan.com/2025/04/16/t...
Some thoughts on the UK Supreme Court case ruling and the wider anti-trans campaign to narrow sex and gender categories in policy, data and law.
📝 kevinguyan.com/2025/04/16/t...
'[Meta’s Director of Public Policy for Israel and the Jewish Diaspora Jordana] Cutler actively instructed employees of the company to search for and review content mentioning Ghassan Kanafani, an Arab novelist considered to be a pioneer of Palestinian literature.'
Leaked Data Reveals Massive Israeli Campaign to Remove Pro-Palestine Posts on Facebook and Instagram
A sweeping crackdown on posts on Instagram and Facebook that are critical of Israel—or even vaguely supportive of Palestinians—was directly orchestrated by the government of Israel, according to inter...
www.dropsitenews.com
April 14, 2025 at 1:09 PM
'[Meta’s Director of Public Policy for Israel and the Jewish Diaspora Jordana] Cutler actively instructed employees of the company to search for and review content mentioning Ghassan Kanafani, an Arab novelist considered to be a pioneer of Palestinian literature.'
It's alarming how deeply US right-wing organisations have penetrated the UK. We might laugh off Trump and his antics, but our country is in real danger of falling under chaotic authoritarianism if these organisations get their way.
counterdisinformationproject.substack.com/p/how-the-us...
counterdisinformationproject.substack.com/p/how-the-us...
How the US seeks to influence UK law under the guise of free speech
A Russian linked anti-abortion & anti-LGBT+ network, Musk, Thiel & FSU
counterdisinformationproject.substack.com
April 10, 2025 at 10:45 AM
It's alarming how deeply US right-wing organisations have penetrated the UK. We might laugh off Trump and his antics, but our country is in real danger of falling under chaotic authoritarianism if these organisations get their way.
counterdisinformationproject.substack.com/p/how-the-us...
counterdisinformationproject.substack.com/p/how-the-us...
Reposted by Joy Watford
In practical terms, siding with the strong against the weak is easy, but morally, it is far more difficult for others.
Transgender people in Syria continue to face state-sanctioned persecution. In Damascus, this Syrian was arrested as part of an ongoing campaign of humiliation.
Those involved in such policy making and execution show a total disregard for freedom and human rights, not to mention zero compassion.
Those involved in such policy making and execution show a total disregard for freedom and human rights, not to mention zero compassion.
March 24, 2025 at 10:08 AM
In practical terms, siding with the strong against the weak is easy, but morally, it is far more difficult for others.
Revisiting old Those We Lost portraits and reposting them as videos while I’m working on new ones. Impossible to document all 30,000 lives lost, but it’s important to remember that each life mattered and each death tore a hole in the fabric of our collective humanity.
#Duterte
#PhilippineDrugWar
#Duterte
#PhilippineDrugWar
March 22, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Revisiting old Those We Lost portraits and reposting them as videos while I’m working on new ones. Impossible to document all 30,000 lives lost, but it’s important to remember that each life mattered and each death tore a hole in the fabric of our collective humanity.
#Duterte
#PhilippineDrugWar
#Duterte
#PhilippineDrugWar
On 22 January, GB News presenter Josh Howie repeated a homophobic slur linking the LGBTQ+ community to paedophilia. This is offensive, wrong and unlawful. Join me and @GoodLawProject to file a complaint to Ofcom :point_down: action.goodlawproject.org/ofcom-stop-g...
Ofcom, stop GB News broadcasting hate
*CW: Homophobia, hate speech GB News is no stranger to spouting hatred and toxic lies. They take pride in it, and pretend the rules don’t matter. But they do. And they must be enforced. On 22 January,...
action.goodlawproject.org
February 11, 2025 at 4:23 PM
On 22 January, GB News presenter Josh Howie repeated a homophobic slur linking the LGBTQ+ community to paedophilia. This is offensive, wrong and unlawful. Join me and @GoodLawProject to file a complaint to Ofcom :point_down: action.goodlawproject.org/ofcom-stop-g...
February 9, 2025 at 11:06 AM
I've been so out of the loop on Philippine news that I've only just found out about Edcel Lagman's passing. He was a real servant of the people with a rare combination of courage and progressive ideas. Rest in power, sir.
February 5, 2025 at 8:49 AM
I've been so out of the loop on Philippine news that I've only just found out about Edcel Lagman's passing. He was a real servant of the people with a rare combination of courage and progressive ideas. Rest in power, sir.
Reposted by Joy Watford
It has been 1000 days since Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli forces while covering an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on May 11, 2022.
Despite efforts for justice, no one has been held accountable aje.io/56v4aj
Despite efforts for justice, no one has been held accountable aje.io/56v4aj
February 4, 2025 at 4:35 PM
It has been 1000 days since Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli forces while covering an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on May 11, 2022.
Despite efforts for justice, no one has been held accountable aje.io/56v4aj
Despite efforts for justice, no one has been held accountable aje.io/56v4aj
I'm starting to read Szentkuthy's 'Marginalia on Casanova' and finding myself baffled by parts of the introduction from Zéno Bianu. 'Rigorous bulimia of a thousand burgeoning stories' is a bit much for me. 😩
#BookSky
#BookSky
January 26, 2025 at 4:16 PM
I'm starting to read Szentkuthy's 'Marginalia on Casanova' and finding myself baffled by parts of the introduction from Zéno Bianu. 'Rigorous bulimia of a thousand burgeoning stories' is a bit much for me. 😩
#BookSky
#BookSky
January 22, 2025 at 5:36 PM
If the UK cover isn't as trippy as this, there will be WORDS.
I did a brief interview about it for elle magazine. famously mind-bending haha www.elle.com/culture/book...
Exclusive: Patricia Lockwood Reveals Her Next Book, 'Will There Ever Be Another You'
The famously mind-bending writer’s new novel introduces a young woman grappling with illness and insanity.
www.elle.com
January 22, 2025 at 5:31 PM
If the UK cover isn't as trippy as this, there will be WORDS.
Neil Gaiman's books were a huge part of my life. For decades I felt secure in the knowledge that I was, as the kids say, stanning the right person, having met the man and chatted with him at several book launches. I even took my kids to his book readings.
www.vulture.com/article/neil...
www.vulture.com/article/neil...
There Is No Safe Word
How the best-selling fantasy author Neil Gaiman hid the darkest parts of himself for decades.
www.vulture.com
January 13, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Neil Gaiman's books were a huge part of my life. For decades I felt secure in the knowledge that I was, as the kids say, stanning the right person, having met the man and chatted with him at several book launches. I even took my kids to his book readings.
www.vulture.com/article/neil...
www.vulture.com/article/neil...