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karmabennett.com
DareToEatAPeach
@karmabennett.com
1.2K followers 640 following 830 posts
I'm Karma: Word wrangler, spin doctor, agitator. I'm all about books, street art, politics, writing, web design & your new favorite band. Mod for San Francisco Writers Conference Discord, web mistress cwc-berkeley.org. Writing a memoir, like everyone else.
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karmabennett.com
DareToEatAPeach @karmabennett.com · May 19
My publishing starter pack is nearly full...that means it's time to expand my lists. I never start with enough lists and have to go back and add people I already follow. If that's you, ping me about a list of mine you should be on. For now here's the starter pack.
go.bsky.app/QPLs7sv
karmabennett.com
Surprising no one, another fascist with a 🍄

www.cbsnews.com/news/adolf-h...
Hitler's DNA reveals Nazi leader likely had syndrome that can affect genitals, researchers say
Researchers behind the "Hitler's DNA" documentary say the Nazi dictator likely had Kallmann Syndrome, a rare genetic condition which can cause undescended testicles and a micropenis.
www.cbsnews.com
November 21, 2025 at 7:27 AM
karmabennett.com
Big win for not allowing cops to surveil citizens last night in #oakland. This morning city council trying to sneaky reintroduce proposal this morning while folks are at work. Call to stop them.
Here’s what I found about the Oakland Police Department (OPD) / Flock Safety camera-contract proposal in Oakland, California: ⸻ ✅ What happened on 11/18/2025 On Tuesday, November 18 (or effectively the evening of that day) the city’s Oakland City Council Public Safety Committee met and considered the proposal for OPD to expand its camera-/license-plate-reader system with Flock Safety. The committee vote ended in a 2–2 deadlock (two “yes” votes, two “no” votes) and thus the proposal did not advance from committee at that time. So, yes: the committee effectively rejected or stalled the proposal at that level on 11/18/25. ⸻ 📅 What happens on 11/20/2025 On Thursday, November 20, 2025 the full Oakland City Council (or potentially the Rules & Legislation Committee) is scheduled to take up the matter again. Because the committee didn’t approve it, the item may be resubmitted to full Council (or a relevant committee) with amendments or additional safeguards. The article notes it “is expected to be reintroduced … likely with amendments.” In other words: the 11/20 meeting is the next stage of the process — the Council may review the contract proposal, hear public comment, consider changes, potentially approve, reject, or send it back for further work.
November 20, 2025 at 5:28 PM
karmabennett.com
"Be willing to "go there" to find your author voice."

-Renee Swindle

When you hear that idea, what writers come to mind?

For me, the poet Sharon Olds.

#writers #writers
November 16, 2025 at 11:43 PM
karmabennett.com
Renee Swindle asks us to discuss: how do you know your writing is honest?

I have my own answers but what do you guys think? 👀

#writers #authors

@cwc-berkeley.org
November 16, 2025 at 11:35 PM
karmabennett.com
@generousmuse.org suggests finding an author voice by getting so into the head of your narrator/protagonist that they are writing the story.

- Finding Your Author Voice with Renee Swindle for @cwc-berkeley.org #writing #writers
November 16, 2025 at 11:33 PM
karmabennett.com
Finding your author voice: identify your particular themes and obsessions. That's part of your voice.

#writing #writers @cwc-berkeley.org
November 16, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Reposted by DareToEatAPeach
newpages.bsky.social
Mark your calendars! swamp pink's annual prizes in fiction, poetry, & nonfiction will open on January 1! $2,000 & publication awarded per genre. $20 fee. All entries considered for publication.

#writingcontest #writers #litmag
The swamp pink Prizes in Fiction, Poetry, & Nonfiction
The 2026 swamp pink Prizes will be open to fiction, essays, and poetry during the month of January. $20 fee. $2,000 awarded per genre.
www.newpages.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:00 PM
karmabennett.com
My plans for Sunday... if you want to go but are feeling shy, @ me; I'll be your buddy.

#writers #EastBay #BayArea #Events #MeatSpace #writing #publishing #StuffToDo #Berkeley #SanFrancisco #Oakland
karmabennett.com DareToEatAPeach @karmabennett.com · Sep 10
If you don't know the CWC, it's completely run by volunteers, authors helping authors. They could really use your help in boosting this to author communities.

#signalBoost @authorspublish.com @paulcormanroberts.bsky.social @wgawest.bsky.social @authorsguild.org @authorsalliance.bsky.social
cwc-berkeley.org California Writers Club - Berkeley Branch @cwc-berkeley.org · Sep 10
Our speaker series starts up again in a few weeks! Get your tickets now and save the date for the third Sunday in September.

On Zoom! Attend in your underoos from afar!

#writerSky #writers #writingEvents #indieAuthors #ZoomEvents #writingSupport

bit.ly/indie-author...
November 13, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Reposted by DareToEatAPeach
drewtoothpaste.bsky.social
Are you sure that poisoning the entire Earth is the right move? Of course. Nothing is real except money.
November 7, 2025 at 2:23 PM
karmabennett.com
Been feeling this way since Mehserle murdered Oscar Grant on New Year's 2009.

One side effect of the prevalence of guns is a natural fear and distrust of strangers. "What if he has a gun" is a rational thought that tends to escalate the situation. Every encounter becomes life threatening.
markharris.bsky.social Mark Harris @markharris.bsky.social · 14d
One thing the NYC mayoral race underscored for me is how easily the phrase "I don't feel safe" can be weaponized. It's an argument I would hesitate ever to use again, even for a good cause. I hope we can all agree that we have the right to BE safe. Maybe we should leave it at that.
November 7, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Reposted by DareToEatAPeach
atrupar.com
Mamdani: "New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight, led by an immigrant."
November 5, 2025 at 4:40 AM
karmabennett.com
#BayArea #writers come hang with me at this event. I run the marketing and craft support group that meets after the speaker. Our new venue sells booze. =D

@cwc-berkeley.org

cwc-berkeley.org/discovering-...

#Berkeley #author #event
Discovering Your Author Voice with Renee Swindle - November 16, 2025
We all have a unique set of talents—whether writing compelling dialogue or complex characters. What makes any work of fiction stand out, however, is “voice.” Writing with voice, which is often elusive...
cwc-berkeley.org
November 4, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Reposted by DareToEatAPeach
mcsweeneys.net
Read more about our upcoming Trapper Keeper-inspired issue over at @sfgate.com

www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/a...
Award-winning SF magazine goes all in on '80s and '90s nostalgia
The award-winning publication spent years on the design.
www.sfgate.com
October 31, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Reposted by DareToEatAPeach
louisathelast.bsky.social
Well, an acquaintance who relies on the ACA marketplace for insurance just received a notice explaining that their fee for coverage will be rising. Right now they pay $180 a month. The new price?

$2733.15 a month.
October 31, 2025 at 1:07 PM
karmabennett.com
NY Times, history repeating.
Image of quote: As one of the few journalists permitted to tour the government’s new internment camp, about 40 miles from the southern border, the New York Times correspondent tried to be scrupulously fair. Forcing civilians to live behind barbed wire and armed guards was surely inhumane, and there was little shelter from the blazing summer heat. But on the other hand, the barracks were “clean as a whistle.” Detainees lazed in the grass, played chess, and swam in a makeshift pool. There were even workshops for arts and crafts, where good work could earn an “extra allotment of bread.” True, there had been some clashes in the camp’s first days—and officials, the reporter noted, had not allowed him to visit the disciplinary cells. But all in all, the correspondent noted in his July 1933 article, life at Dachau, the first concentration camp in Nazi Germany, had “settled into the organized routine of any penal institution.” from Jonathan M Katz’s article in Salon, “Not Every Concentration Camp is Auschwitz”
October 29, 2025 at 6:09 PM
karmabennett.com
Fantastic point.

It's wild how conservatives understand the need for economic growth but fail to connect how reducing government programs is a contracting of same economy.
neolithicsheep.bsky.social Shepherd @neolithicsheep.bsky.social · 26d
Not only is it going to be a hunger crisis, it's going to be a farm crisis. All those gallons of milk bought from dairy farmers, all the produce, all the on sale ground beef and packs of chicken that are paid for by SNAP are subsidies to farmers who don't qualify for commodities subsidies.
October 27, 2025 at 9:29 PM
karmabennett.com
Just gonna drop this into your algorithm

open.substack.com/pub/strangep...
An Anti-Algorithm Media Compendium for Literary Folks
Our ultimate guide to short fiction, essays, cinema, music, magazines, newsletters, podcasts & long-form video | PART 1
open.substack.com
October 26, 2025 at 10:15 PM
karmabennett.com
Next time a rural conservative complains to you about the dangers of #SanFrancisco tell them Berkshire Hathaway disagrees. www.ktvu.com/news/bay-are...
San Francisco named among the safest cities in the world
A new survey names this Bay Area city, targeted by Donald Trump as a crime-ridden "mess," among the safest in the world for travelers.
www.ktvu.com
October 25, 2025 at 2:54 PM
karmabennett.com
I tracked a lot of those job losses. Papers seldom cut sports section so at some they'd have 3 editors for amateur sports but like "call Jim for movies, music, gardening, opera, books." As if the guy into tulips and opera was also best to pick album of the year.
aaroncynic.bsky.social Aaron Cynic @aaroncynic.bsky.social · 29d
Also each one of these was its own full-time job that you made a living off of. You could just...do that one job and pay the rent/bills. You weren't going to get rich, but you didn't have to have one or two (or more) extra side gigs just to meet basic expenses.
leonardpierce.bsky.social Leonard Pierce @leonardpierce.bsky.social · 29d
I think a lot about how most big-city newspapers used to have a a couple of movie critics, a theater critic, a few book critics, an architecture critic, a music critic or two, an in-house cartoonist, at least two or three foreign correspondents, a fashion writer, and a whole staff of photographers
October 24, 2025 at 3:10 PM
karmabennett.com
Police in #Portland prevent #ICE from driving through protestors

This is why I'll have hope no matter how bad tyranny gets: the enforcers are people too.

substack.com/@letsgetinto...
LetsGetIntoIt2025 (@letsgetintoit2025)
This is the first time I have seen local police stand up to ICE agents. I’m not saying it hasn’t happened in other places, I’m only saying I haven’t SEEN it happen. I don’t know anything about thi...
substack.com
October 23, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by DareToEatAPeach
dintywmoore.bsky.social
"Write like you’re clinging to the edge of a cliff, white knuckles, on your last breath, and you’ve got just one last thing to say, like you’re a bird flying over us and you can see everything, and please ... tell us something that will save us from ourselves." ~ Alan Watts
October 21, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Reposted by DareToEatAPeach
thatgreenunionguy.bsky.social
Event: www.sunflower-alliance.org/panel-what-e...
Panel: What Everyone Should Know about Resisting State Repression, October 26
Resisting fossil fuels. Working for climate justice.
www.sunflower-alliance.org
October 21, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Reposted by DareToEatAPeach
thatgreenunionguy.bsky.social
actionnetwork.org/events/oct-2...
Oct 24th Oakland Youth Climate Walkout, March, & Rally
On October 24th, youth across the state are walking out of their schools to demand climate action and the passage of the Climate Superfund Bill in the Polluters Pay Youth Walkout. Join us in Oaklan...
actionnetwork.org
October 21, 2025 at 1:29 PM
karmabennett.com
"your pet is a number on somebody's spreadsheet"

A good example of how everything is political. If someone w/pets says they're not political send them this.
youtu.be/Po6muzvQgEk?...

#privateEquity #dogs #cats #technofeudalism #pets
Wall Street's Shocking Plan For America's Pets
YouTube video by More Perfect Union
youtu.be
October 21, 2025 at 2:18 PM
karmabennett.com
If you intend to march at #NoKings so that your opinion will be represented, you need to read this.

#directAction

karmabennett.substack.com/p/symbolic-p...
There is a weird dark side to advocacy protests and no one is talking about it
We change our avatars and hold signs over the freeway but does it make us feel empowered?
karmabennett.substack.com
October 17, 2025 at 6:49 PM