Emily L
@laskin.bsky.social
At the moment I'm a professional translator, somehow. Also I'm a former former academic and current high-level sage. All of my opinions belong to you. https://www.emilylaskin.com/
Ghouls.
Hmong man detained by ICE today in St. Paul, Minnesota.
(Photo via Reuters)
(Photo via Reuters)
January 19, 2026 at 2:57 AM
Ghouls.
Reposted by Emily L
A cool thing about stenographers is that they, over the course of a career, build up a personal dictionary.
There are pre-made ones, but those are basically the base. Each stenographer is gonna have a different set of commonly used words, phrases, to expand.
plover.wiki/index.php/Li...
There are pre-made ones, but those are basically the base. Each stenographer is gonna have a different set of commonly used words, phrases, to expand.
plover.wiki/index.php/Li...
List of available steno dictionaries - Plover Wiki
plover.wiki
January 19, 2026 at 1:44 AM
A cool thing about stenographers is that they, over the course of a career, build up a personal dictionary.
There are pre-made ones, but those are basically the base. Each stenographer is gonna have a different set of commonly used words, phrases, to expand.
plover.wiki/index.php/Li...
There are pre-made ones, but those are basically the base. Each stenographer is gonna have a different set of commonly used words, phrases, to expand.
plover.wiki/index.php/Li...
Even if they did expect or even want resistance, what is the argument in pointing that out? Just lie down and take it when the fascists raid your city? Seems like a crappy idea.
To those saying “nuh-uh, ICE picked Minneapolis because they WANTED the city to rise up as one against them” -
no, pretty sure they expected a scattering of blue-haired protesters they could easily crush for content + tacit support from other whites, not the organized total resistance they got.
no, pretty sure they expected a scattering of blue-haired protesters they could easily crush for content + tacit support from other whites, not the organized total resistance they got.
ICE and MAGA really did bet the farm on all of Minneapolis’s white people going “oh yes, please take away our disgusting, evil non-white-foreigner neighbors, oh thank you so much.”
it’s beautiful that they’ve been proven incredibly wrong about that - may the rest of the country do the same.
it’s beautiful that they’ve been proven incredibly wrong about that - may the rest of the country do the same.
January 19, 2026 at 2:22 AM
Even if they did expect or even want resistance, what is the argument in pointing that out? Just lie down and take it when the fascists raid your city? Seems like a crappy idea.
sfstandard.com/2025/08/28/s...
I’m lucky that I have a lawyer, and enough money, and a fancy education. Even so, I couldn’t prove that the person who abused me had done it, and I interact with him multiple times a week.
I’m lucky that I have a lawyer, and enough money, and a fancy education. Even so, I couldn’t prove that the person who abused me had done it, and I interact with him multiple times a week.
Survivors tethered to their abusers: An SF court’s lockdown on lives
“The more Mr. Jones screams at the judge, the more visitation time he gets.”
In SF, domestic violence survivors seeking safety find themselves trapped in family court for years, co-parenting with th...
sfstandard.com
January 17, 2026 at 6:16 PM
sfstandard.com/2025/08/28/s...
I’m lucky that I have a lawyer, and enough money, and a fancy education. Even so, I couldn’t prove that the person who abused me had done it, and I interact with him multiple times a week.
I’m lucky that I have a lawyer, and enough money, and a fancy education. Even so, I couldn’t prove that the person who abused me had done it, and I interact with him multiple times a week.
Reposted by Emily L
Photo by Pierre Lavie. Yes this is me. And I threw my Leica. It landed on the bass plate with hardly a scratch. Another Photographer grabbed it along with my phone and I was able to track him later. I was held face down tear gas deployed right in front of me and pepper sprayed directly into the eye.
January 17, 2026 at 2:57 PM
Photo by Pierre Lavie. Yes this is me. And I threw my Leica. It landed on the bass plate with hardly a scratch. Another Photographer grabbed it along with my phone and I was able to track him later. I was held face down tear gas deployed right in front of me and pepper sprayed directly into the eye.
This is so funny. They're so scared of everything!!
January 17, 2026 at 3:23 AM
This is so funny. They're so scared of everything!!
I have a rad new gig with thenewtab.io on a project to systematize a workflow for helping freelancers working from inside Russia place pieces with international newsrooms. It's a unique opportunity for editors to get on-the-ground stories from Russia.
Журнал «Новая вкладка» — документальные истории о жизни в регионах России
Медиа «Новая вкладка» рассказывает истории из регионов России и объединяет людей, для которых ценны жизнь, свобода и достоинство человека
thenewtab.io
January 16, 2026 at 5:00 PM
I have a rad new gig with thenewtab.io on a project to systematize a workflow for helping freelancers working from inside Russia place pieces with international newsrooms. It's a unique opportunity for editors to get on-the-ground stories from Russia.
Reposted by Emily L
Languages with the most Wikipedia articles
1. English
2. Cebuano
3. German
4. French
5. Swedish
6. Dutch
Linguist Sverker Johansson built a Wikipedia bot that creates articles in Cebuano (a language spoken in the southern Philippines) & Swedish.
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...
1. English
2. Cebuano
3. German
4. French
5. Swedish
6. Dutch
Linguist Sverker Johansson built a Wikipedia bot that creates articles in Cebuano (a language spoken in the southern Philippines) & Swedish.
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...
January 15, 2026 at 5:46 PM
Languages with the most Wikipedia articles
1. English
2. Cebuano
3. German
4. French
5. Swedish
6. Dutch
Linguist Sverker Johansson built a Wikipedia bot that creates articles in Cebuano (a language spoken in the southern Philippines) & Swedish.
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...
1. English
2. Cebuano
3. German
4. French
5. Swedish
6. Dutch
Linguist Sverker Johansson built a Wikipedia bot that creates articles in Cebuano (a language spoken in the southern Philippines) & Swedish.
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...
I think we should overthrow the US government
January 15, 2026 at 2:00 AM
I think we should overthrow the US government
I want to reappropriate “fake and gay” for good things only. The hockey show? Fake, because fictional, and gay. Gender? Fake and also separately gay.
January 14, 2026 at 2:26 PM
I want to reappropriate “fake and gay” for good things only. The hockey show? Fake, because fictional, and gay. Gender? Fake and also separately gay.
Look how good I am at beating the computer at Reversi
January 14, 2026 at 3:19 AM
Look how good I am at beating the computer at Reversi
Italian grandma known for having a name Nonna Nonymous (she's non anonymous)
January 12, 2026 at 7:15 PM
Italian grandma known for having a name Nonna Nonymous (she's non anonymous)
Reposted by Emily L
god that’s an amazing statistic
The leading cause of death by far among ICE officers is COVID-19.
How dangerous is it really to work for ICE?
According to ICE’s own data, none of its officers have been killed by an immigrant in the agency’s history.
www.motherjones.com
January 11, 2026 at 12:18 AM
god that’s an amazing statistic
Yeah, alas. The critiques of anthropology’s colonial and area studies’ CIA roots are legit, but certainly “Americans just shouldn’t know about the rest of the world” is not the antidote.
Much has been said about the colonial roots of anthropology. Area studies have been criticized for being an arm of US soft power. Western academia and soft power structures provided employment for those with niche interests in other places. But what happens now that it’s all crumbling?
January 11, 2026 at 6:09 PM
Yeah, alas. The critiques of anthropology’s colonial and area studies’ CIA roots are legit, but certainly “Americans just shouldn’t know about the rest of the world” is not the antidote.
Reposted by Emily L
[horse meeting]
We're getting a lot of good feedbag
We're getting a lot of good feedbag
January 11, 2026 at 4:17 PM
[horse meeting]
We're getting a lot of good feedbag
We're getting a lot of good feedbag
I see this getting pooh-poohed, but I think it's correct. Solidarity is impossible in the kind of economic and intellectual hierarchy that tenure creates and enforces. Even if all tenured and TT profs have immaculate personal politics (big if...), and solidarity is what we need.
You know, AHA has been surprisingly pretty good and on a personal level I was pleasantly surprised at how well I’ve handled it emotionally.
But it also reaffirmed that tenure needs to go, and the *minimum* ask for tenured and tenure-track faculty is abolishing it.
But it also reaffirmed that tenure needs to go, and the *minimum* ask for tenured and tenure-track faculty is abolishing it.
January 11, 2026 at 5:18 PM
I see this getting pooh-poohed, but I think it's correct. Solidarity is impossible in the kind of economic and intellectual hierarchy that tenure creates and enforces. Even if all tenured and TT profs have immaculate personal politics (big if...), and solidarity is what we need.
Everything is actually terrible and yet I'm signing on to say: poop is stored in the butt
January 10, 2026 at 4:26 AM
Everything is actually terrible and yet I'm signing on to say: poop is stored in the butt
Reposted by Emily L
they didn’t leak it to make the shooter look innocent, but to make the victim look guilty. not guilty of a crime. guilty of having a visibly queer wife. guilty of liberalism. guilty of opposing the regime. they don’t seek to exonerate themselves, only to demonstrate who deserves to die.
In the video that the shooter took, which I believe was leaked to be exculpatory, he appears to yell “fucking bitch” after he shoots Renee Good.
January 9, 2026 at 7:00 PM
they didn’t leak it to make the shooter look innocent, but to make the victim look guilty. not guilty of a crime. guilty of having a visibly queer wife. guilty of liberalism. guilty of opposing the regime. they don’t seek to exonerate themselves, only to demonstrate who deserves to die.
I’m in the kind of mood that, when I was in my 20s, I would’ve vented by going to a bar and mercilessly mocking some finance bro who didn’t understand why he was attracted to me.
January 9, 2026 at 2:20 AM
I’m in the kind of mood that, when I was in my 20s, I would’ve vented by going to a bar and mercilessly mocking some finance bro who didn’t understand why he was attracted to me.
Reposted by Emily L
Idk who needs to hear this, but in most American English dialects, R is a vowel.
January 9, 2026 at 2:06 AM
Idk who needs to hear this, but in most American English dialects, R is a vowel.
It’s weird to be 40 bc like I’m still so short
January 9, 2026 at 12:39 AM
It’s weird to be 40 bc like I’m still so short
Furry fanfic about the people who would become terminally online, but set in the early 2000s when they were just merely nerds, called Hamster Runner.
January 8, 2026 at 6:40 PM
Furry fanfic about the people who would become terminally online, but set in the early 2000s when they were just merely nerds, called Hamster Runner.
Sort of a reversal for me, but I think you should watch the video of ICE goons walking up to a car and shooting the driver in the head in Minneapolis today. Actually see what these fucking fascists think is normal.
January 7, 2026 at 10:09 PM
Sort of a reversal for me, but I think you should watch the video of ICE goons walking up to a car and shooting the driver in the head in Minneapolis today. Actually see what these fucking fascists think is normal.
Had a real galaxy brain arc just now with ChatGPT. I trained it to write cover letters for me, thinking it’d get a good enough draft that I could edit. But it sounded so wooden, and hallucinated enough, that I was rewriting from scratch anyway. And yet it was taking me like 1/4 of the usual time.
January 7, 2026 at 4:38 PM
Had a real galaxy brain arc just now with ChatGPT. I trained it to write cover letters for me, thinking it’d get a good enough draft that I could edit. But it sounded so wooden, and hallucinated enough, that I was rewriting from scratch anyway. And yet it was taking me like 1/4 of the usual time.
Ok, I'm a child of a journalist, and when I was a kid I always heard the standard writing advice was "kill your darlings," but now for some reason everywhere it's "murder your darlings" and like ffs, take your own advice, "kill" is a perfectly good word.
January 7, 2026 at 4:38 AM
Ok, I'm a child of a journalist, and when I was a kid I always heard the standard writing advice was "kill your darlings," but now for some reason everywhere it's "murder your darlings" and like ffs, take your own advice, "kill" is a perfectly good word.