Laurel
@laurelfynes.bsky.social
learning from the world, my family, students, birds, trees, plants, waterways, relationships. unlearning. biophiliac. growing roots along great lake ontario. settler. she/her.
class site: https://bsky.app/profile/k2westacres.bsky.social
class site: https://bsky.app/profile/k2westacres.bsky.social
Pinned
Laurel
@laurelfynes.bsky.social
· Oct 5
It’s as beautiful as I had imagined it. Dallas at Vision Seeker studio understood my vision, and made my dream come true. Chimney swifts, long gone to the skies from their summer homes here, gone until next May but with me forever, now.
Reposted by Laurel
Please don’t make jokes about Trump and Epstein.
The survivors are still waiting for justice.
They were children who experienced unspeakable horrors and abuse.
They’ve been ignored, gaslit, threatened and re-traumatized.
It’s not a joke and every predator must be punished.
The survivors are still waiting for justice.
They were children who experienced unspeakable horrors and abuse.
They’ve been ignored, gaslit, threatened and re-traumatized.
It’s not a joke and every predator must be punished.
February 1, 2026 at 3:33 AM
Please don’t make jokes about Trump and Epstein.
The survivors are still waiting for justice.
They were children who experienced unspeakable horrors and abuse.
They’ve been ignored, gaslit, threatened and re-traumatized.
It’s not a joke and every predator must be punished.
The survivors are still waiting for justice.
They were children who experienced unspeakable horrors and abuse.
They’ve been ignored, gaslit, threatened and re-traumatized.
It’s not a joke and every predator must be punished.
I hadn’t thought about it until now, but this may have inspired my 4 seasons of Toronto birds as tattoos… you know my swifts (pinned) and my fall kettle of vultures will soon follow. Spring, likely red-tailed bl & grackles (they’re first to return). But winter? Weird ducks!!! Long-tailed/mergansers?
I never got around to reposting my Weird Duck Time comic this year! Also, unrelatedly, today is a good day to help out at standwithminnesota.com
February 1, 2026 at 12:03 AM
I hadn’t thought about it until now, but this may have inspired my 4 seasons of Toronto birds as tattoos… you know my swifts (pinned) and my fall kettle of vultures will soon follow. Spring, likely red-tailed bl & grackles (they’re first to return). But winter? Weird ducks!!! Long-tailed/mergansers?
Today, I dropped my youngest off at work as it starts too early for the weekend subway. On my way home I could see dancing vapour ghosts over the water, so I headed down into Humber Bay West for some good lakeside views. But this was the highlight. I’ve missed the long-tailed ducks so much 🤩
January 31, 2026 at 11:52 PM
Today, I dropped my youngest off at work as it starts too early for the weekend subway. On my way home I could see dancing vapour ghosts over the water, so I headed down into Humber Bay West for some good lakeside views. But this was the highlight. I’ve missed the long-tailed ducks so much 🤩
I appreciate the trigger warnings, today. This is a rough day to be online. My thoughts keep straying back to the victims.
January 31, 2026 at 11:25 PM
I appreciate the trigger warnings, today. This is a rough day to be online. My thoughts keep straying back to the victims.
Yesterday morning, before school. It was bitterly cold, but there was no rushing. Goldeneyes beeping! Peach and pink streaks in a silvery grey landscape. Ice and snow sculpting the shoreline, vapour ghosts hugging the water… just gorgeous.
Listen to the goldeneyes “brrrbeep!” & their wing whistle.
Listen to the goldeneyes “brrrbeep!” & their wing whistle.
January 31, 2026 at 9:19 PM
Yesterday morning, before school. It was bitterly cold, but there was no rushing. Goldeneyes beeping! Peach and pink streaks in a silvery grey landscape. Ice and snow sculpting the shoreline, vapour ghosts hugging the water… just gorgeous.
Listen to the goldeneyes “brrrbeep!” & their wing whistle.
Listen to the goldeneyes “brrrbeep!” & their wing whistle.
Reposted by Laurel
January 31, 2026 at 4:23 PM
My 90s undergrad was a double major: Linguistics & Anthropology. This is precisely my experience. I remember some post-structural theory and linguistic-anthropology classes that properly broke my young brain for a while… I remember reading bell hooks, Paulo Freire, and (record scratch, ugh) Chomsky.
I want to do the 5 college classes thing but I can't remember the names of them because they were all so long
January 31, 2026 at 4:31 PM
My 90s undergrad was a double major: Linguistics & Anthropology. This is precisely my experience. I remember some post-structural theory and linguistic-anthropology classes that properly broke my young brain for a while… I remember reading bell hooks, Paulo Freire, and (record scratch, ugh) Chomsky.
Reposted by Laurel
This post has been on my mind for a few days now, so I’m going to say something about it. 🧵
January 31, 2026 at 3:00 AM
This post has been on my mind for a few days now, so I’m going to say something about it. 🧵
Reposted by Laurel
We are killing children all around the world because a handful of rich people who don’t understand the science think it is worse to be neurodivergent than it is to be dead.
U.S. ultimatum to vaccine group: No more funds unless you stop using thimerosal
This mercury-containing compound, used as a vaccine preservative, is commonly used in lower-income countries — and deemed safe. The U.S. is now demanding that Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance stop using it.
www.npr.org
January 31, 2026 at 12:16 AM
We are killing children all around the world because a handful of rich people who don’t understand the science think it is worse to be neurodivergent than it is to be dead.
Reposted by Laurel
They want to make us stop caring about the kids they're harming. Because they know that if we stop caring about what they do to kids, they'll be able to get away with doing whatever they want to adults.
They want to make protecting children dangerous, treat those who try to do it as criminals.
www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
January 31, 2026 at 1:03 PM
They want to make us stop caring about the kids they're harming. Because they know that if we stop caring about what they do to kids, they'll be able to get away with doing whatever they want to adults.
Some sights from my frosty morning walk near Bickford Park.
Clinton Public School mystery - why did they stick Christmas trees in each tree cage?
Shel Silverstein moment on my stroll…
Not much point in using the Harbord bike lanes 😞
Snowdrift flamingoes.
Clinton Public School mystery - why did they stick Christmas trees in each tree cage?
Shel Silverstein moment on my stroll…
Not much point in using the Harbord bike lanes 😞
Snowdrift flamingoes.
January 31, 2026 at 1:45 PM
Some sights from my frosty morning walk near Bickford Park.
Clinton Public School mystery - why did they stick Christmas trees in each tree cage?
Shel Silverstein moment on my stroll…
Not much point in using the Harbord bike lanes 😞
Snowdrift flamingoes.
Clinton Public School mystery - why did they stick Christmas trees in each tree cage?
Shel Silverstein moment on my stroll…
Not much point in using the Harbord bike lanes 😞
Snowdrift flamingoes.
Reposted by Laurel
A knife but make it pelican
January 31, 2026 at 4:23 AM
A knife but make it pelican
Reposted by Laurel
This is a wonderful thread by a Canadian who appreciates the beautiful diversity of our great people:
As a Canadian, what I've learned so far:
- Minnesotans are very nice and VERY organized
- Mainers are aggressively xenophobic but in a way that lCE will not like
- Philadelphians crave the blood of their enemies
- LA is ground zero for chaos tactics that never lose
- New Yorkers love gay hockey
- Minnesotans are very nice and VERY organized
- Mainers are aggressively xenophobic but in a way that lCE will not like
- Philadelphians crave the blood of their enemies
- LA is ground zero for chaos tactics that never lose
- New Yorkers love gay hockey
January 27, 2026 at 1:58 PM
This is a wonderful thread by a Canadian who appreciates the beautiful diversity of our great people:
Reposted by Laurel
There is not a lot Canadians can do about ICE, but we can ask Parliament to investigate Canadian companies doing business with them, like Hootsuite. Call or email your MP - or contact the INDU House committee MPs. Will post link below. www.theglobeandmail.com/business/art...
Hootsuite CEO says ICE contract will stand as long as agency honours terms and conditions
‘We did nothing wrong here,’ head of Vancouver social media company said in internal call with employees
www.theglobeandmail.com
January 26, 2026 at 1:49 PM
There is not a lot Canadians can do about ICE, but we can ask Parliament to investigate Canadian companies doing business with them, like Hootsuite. Call or email your MP - or contact the INDU House committee MPs. Will post link below. www.theglobeandmail.com/business/art...
Reposted by Laurel
Reposted by Laurel
I'm massively proud of these tree identification pins and really hoping people will see them. Truly my most practical #SciArt so far! 🌳🌍🧪 canopyrobin.etsy.com/listing/4386...
January 30, 2026 at 8:34 AM
I'm massively proud of these tree identification pins and really hoping people will see them. Truly my most practical #SciArt so far! 🌳🌍🧪 canopyrobin.etsy.com/listing/4386...
Sunset yesterday, and ice shelf update. That record-breaking dump of snow isn’t going anywhere with the frigid temperatures. The bay has iced over again, too, and the ice shelf regrowing where the storm broke them. Mostly, though, it is snow you see from the top of the hill where the spit starts.
January 29, 2026 at 12:57 PM
Sunset yesterday, and ice shelf update. That record-breaking dump of snow isn’t going anywhere with the frigid temperatures. The bay has iced over again, too, and the ice shelf regrowing where the storm broke them. Mostly, though, it is snow you see from the top of the hill where the spit starts.
So…
It turns out I’ve now managed to sit through 2 earthquakes and felt weird but had no idea why.
Like, for someone with ridiculously sensitive hearing (keeps me up at night) & smell (could tell my kids had ear infections before their fevers kicked in 🤢)
How do I not feel what my neighbours did?
It turns out I’ve now managed to sit through 2 earthquakes and felt weird but had no idea why.
Like, for someone with ridiculously sensitive hearing (keeps me up at night) & smell (could tell my kids had ear infections before their fevers kicked in 🤢)
How do I not feel what my neighbours did?
January 28, 2026 at 12:06 PM
So…
It turns out I’ve now managed to sit through 2 earthquakes and felt weird but had no idea why.
Like, for someone with ridiculously sensitive hearing (keeps me up at night) & smell (could tell my kids had ear infections before their fevers kicked in 🤢)
How do I not feel what my neighbours did?
It turns out I’ve now managed to sit through 2 earthquakes and felt weird but had no idea why.
Like, for someone with ridiculously sensitive hearing (keeps me up at night) & smell (could tell my kids had ear infections before their fevers kicked in 🤢)
How do I not feel what my neighbours did?
Reposted by Laurel
Sesame Street is now offering tips for parents on post-trauma comfort because the federal government is physically and mentally abusing our country's children.
January 27, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Sesame Street is now offering tips for parents on post-trauma comfort because the federal government is physically and mentally abusing our country's children.
Reposted by Laurel
acceptable restrictions on ice:
1. no existing
2. no funding
3. no rebranding
1. no existing
2. no funding
3. no rebranding
January 27, 2026 at 4:16 PM
acceptable restrictions on ice:
1. no existing
2. no funding
3. no rebranding
1. no existing
2. no funding
3. no rebranding
Reposted by Laurel
Care is a politics,not only an ethics.Care is a source of power, not only a disposition.A politics of care is not only good it is powerful.It is what undergirds parallel institutions,it is the support structure that allows people to say NO & mean it b/c they do for each other&don’t need permission.
This excerpt from @adamserwer.bsky.social's latest points to something that Alex Pretti's vocation as a nurse brought to mind: What we're seeing in Minneapolis is resistance, but resistance based on care.
I've said before that what we need is a care economy. What we're getting is a care resistance.
I've said before that what we need is a care economy. What we're getting is a care resistance.
January 27, 2026 at 9:02 PM
Care is a politics,not only an ethics.Care is a source of power, not only a disposition.A politics of care is not only good it is powerful.It is what undergirds parallel institutions,it is the support structure that allows people to say NO & mean it b/c they do for each other&don’t need permission.
Reposted by Laurel
There are rumors that ICE is dropping off people barefoot or even nude in the woods.
I just want to remind people that these tactics aren’t new or from 1940’s Europe.
Ask any indigenous people. It might be new to you, but they’ve been in this fight for centuries.
I just want to remind people that these tactics aren’t new or from 1940’s Europe.
Ask any indigenous people. It might be new to you, but they’ve been in this fight for centuries.
Left to freeze, Darrell Night exposed Canada police’s deadly ‘starlight tours’
Cree man, now dead at 56, helped reveal practice in which Saskatoon police drove Indigenous people out of city and abandoned them in sub-zero temperatures
www.theguardian.com
January 26, 2026 at 3:50 PM
There are rumors that ICE is dropping off people barefoot or even nude in the woods.
I just want to remind people that these tactics aren’t new or from 1940’s Europe.
Ask any indigenous people. It might be new to you, but they’ve been in this fight for centuries.
I just want to remind people that these tactics aren’t new or from 1940’s Europe.
Ask any indigenous people. It might be new to you, but they’ve been in this fight for centuries.
Today was gloriously sunny and a little warmer than it has been, after that record-breaking dump of snow. Thankfully the snow was fluffy, the kind that falls when it’s very cold, so not as terrible to shovel as the good packing snow. It sure drifts easily, tho. And it crunches, squeaks under foot.
January 27, 2026 at 1:10 AM
Today was gloriously sunny and a little warmer than it has been, after that record-breaking dump of snow. Thankfully the snow was fluffy, the kind that falls when it’s very cold, so not as terrible to shovel as the good packing snow. It sure drifts easily, tho. And it crunches, squeaks under foot.
Reposted by Laurel
let none of the people responsible for this ever experience a moment of peace for the rest of their miserable lives
The terror that ICE and CBP have inflicted on the children of the Twin Cities is, by itself, a crime of scandalous proportions that will forever stain this country's moral fabric, and all those responsible should never know another day of peace. www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
January 27, 2026 at 12:12 AM
let none of the people responsible for this ever experience a moment of peace for the rest of their miserable lives