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lilywrites.bsky.social
Lily
@lilywrites.bsky.social
Managing Editor at @episodesnewsletter.bsky.social. Words in @racketmn.com, @reactorsff.bsky.social, others. Ex-MFA person. She/her. All views my own!
Pinned
trying very hard to think about non-election things rn. like for instance how in the buffy episode where faith steals her body she has the exact cadence, intonation, and editing rhythm of jenny nicholson making fun of a star wars character she doesn't like
watched Stalker (1979) w my wife today and she had the great idea of leading a freshman orientation hiking trip where you just go rogue and turn it into a Stalker (1979) scenario. "Hi!! Welcome to Dartmouth :) I'm Katie, she/her. Today we'll be approaching the Room. This cannot be done directly, as
January 17, 2026 at 10:51 PM
Reposted by Lily
Love this @lilywrites.bsky.social piece on the slippery nature of Pluribus's central idea, and how it bucks a dispiriting trend of SFF stories with too-easy, one-to-one metaphors for trauma, or social ills, or etc.

episodes.ghost.io/pluribus-rev...
January 16, 2026 at 11:49 PM
Reposted by Lily
Dear neighbor,

It’s become common practice for ICE to stage its operations at the Target parking lot on East Lake Street. While immigration officials tear families apart, Target corporation is silent and makes its workers and customers feel unsafe. 1/
January 16, 2026 at 5:15 PM
New from me in Episodes! Thoughts on Pluribus, metaphor, and how speculative fiction can teach you to think for yourself in a turbulent time. episodes.ghost.io/pluribus-rev...
January 16, 2026 at 4:04 PM
Reposted by Lily
In this week's Friday newsletter: Lily Osler (@lilywrites.bsky.social) on Pluribus, allegory, and elastic metaphor
Pluribus isn't an allegory for anything. It's smarter than that
Pluribus' superpower, and its best feature in a media landscape full of too-obvious themes, is its use of elastic metaphor.
episodes.ghost.io
January 16, 2026 at 4:01 PM
this is the modern day equivalent of unplugging your phone to watch the State of the Union. X is offline today so we can give our whole selves to Whiskey Fridays with Tony Dokoupil
January 16, 2026 at 3:56 PM
Reposted by Lily
We made it
January 16, 2026 at 2:42 PM
ok look I know he's being racist and sexist here but would it be lovely to imagine he's a DS9 obsessive who's mad they retconned the Jem'Hadar being canonically unable to reproduce
Stephen Miller is upset about Star Trek, one of the most socially progressive franchises in TV history
January 16, 2026 at 3:14 PM
feels like there's discourse brewing so I will say that yes I do feel more loyalty or patriotism or w/e to Minnesota and Minneapolis than I do to the US generally
January 15, 2026 at 11:43 PM
Reposted by Lily
Well they didn’t call it project 2026, did they
I guess the project 2025 handbook didn't have a guide in it for what to do when everything in project 2025 turns out to be supremely unpopular?
January 15, 2026 at 8:17 PM
Went on another ICE patrol this morning. No sight of the fucks in Whittier, but saw multiple other people (in cars and on foot) doing the same thing I was doing. What is happening to Minneapolis is monstrous but we are fighting back. L'Étoile du fuckin' Nord, bitches
January 15, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by Lily
Another thing you should know about the Twin Cities, if you're not here, is that while the mayor and governor tell us to stay calm on TV, our council members and other local electeds are on the street patrolling and protecting neighbors, doing mutual aid, and otherwise serving the community.
January 15, 2026 at 2:57 PM
I don't see why I am supposed to give a shit about what people who don't live in my city think of it lol
January 15, 2026 at 3:11 PM
Reposted by Lily
Vance: I'm crying right now because you stupids won't let me have your green island. I could literally just - don't you know I'm smarter than you? I'm your better - don't leave, don't get the army

Trump: McDonald's needs to sell milk again. Nobody likes the Grimace. They get the milk from him
January 15, 2026 at 12:26 AM
I heard honking and yelling outside my building a few minutes ago. Rushed downstairs with whistle and phone, but they were gone by the time I got down there — pretty sure it was community defenders tailing ICE as they got on the highway. They can't go ANYWHERE without being followed. We will win.
Someone just called in ICE knocking doors in Uptown and within 5 minutes maybe 100 people had arrived. Probably a false alarm but extremely hard to see how ICE operates with this kind of suffocating neighborhood response. Incredible work Minneapolis. ICE, just give up and get out already.
January 14, 2026 at 11:00 PM
Just saw someone on the Minnesota subreddit say "they'll break us when we're dead," and boy, when you've got Minnesotans talking like that, I dunno about your long-term invasion plan's possibility of success
January 14, 2026 at 10:09 PM
Reposted by Lily
Weighing in on discourse that 99.9999% of you are unaware of, and you should not seek out if you're not (seriously):

Even the most niche corners of art are made healthier by earnest, honest critique. To attack a critic for offering such is to imperil the integrity of the art you most care about.
January 14, 2026 at 9:59 PM
Reposted by Lily
In today's free Wednesday newsletter: @emilystjams.bsky.social on narrative control, right wing flailing, and a vibe shift that wasn't.
The vibes aren't shifting
Why the right-wing effort to change the narrative is already flailing.
episodes.ghost.io
January 14, 2026 at 7:29 PM
Reposted by Lily
Poland does not want to sell its territory. But for an art student turned chancellor, the land of pierogis may be irresistible.
A remarkably large portion of American elites, even among the supposedly progressive and moderate ones, actually seems to not-so-secretly entertain fantasies of Imperial Grandeur.
January 14, 2026 at 5:02 PM
Reposted by Lily
In this installment, I talk a lot about how the boys are nice and good and handsome. Future installments will be for paid subscribers only, but this one is free to all! Subscribe for 20% off right here:

episodes.ghost.io/relaunch-sale
It's finally time: Episodes' staff is recapping Heated Rivalry! In this first issue, Emily and Lily meet our beloved hockey boys Shane and Ilya and get introduced to their very horny, very Canadian world:
Heated Rivalry: Episode 1, "Rookies"
Our new recap series debuts with hot hockey boys, an innovative approach to narrative time, and Canada's own Leslie Feist.
episodes.ghost.io
January 13, 2026 at 5:12 PM
Reposted by Lily
From a good friend in Minneapolis: "Target is allowing ICE to stage in their parking lots, use their restrooms, and abduct people from inside their stores - so if you weren’t boycotting already, now is the time." They were staging in Chicago as well.
January 12, 2026 at 3:42 PM
Reposted by Lily
In this week's Monday Rundown: No Other Choice, Resurrection, and some great video essays.
Episodes Monday Rundown, January 5–11 2026
This week: No Other Choice, Resurrection, and some great video essays.
episodes.ghost.io
January 12, 2026 at 4:05 PM
Reposted by Lily
LORD ABELARD: your little PROJECT is becoming quite the nuisance.

THE VAMPIRE WHO IS FALLING IN LOVE WITH ME: my interest is only in obtaining the amulet

LORD ABELARD: as long as you rem-

ME: *walking in drinking soup from a mug* babe is this your dad? sir it's an honor
March 24, 2024 at 12:31 PM
Reposted by Lily
The noble army of martyrs praise thee.
January 10, 2026 at 11:07 PM
watching buffy s3 again :(
January 11, 2026 at 1:03 AM