Melissa L (she/they)
@melissazlai.bsky.social
singer/composer/teacher with improvisatory and liberatory inclinations 🫧🌟
Pinned
ok I think I’ve finally settled on a phrase for this yr/season:
“courage to be seen & courage to be me” !! 🥲
“courage to be seen & courage to be me” !! 🥲
Reposted by Melissa L (she/they)
NEW: Ayman Soliman is locally renowned for helping the families of dying kids.
Now, friends say he’s been "tortured" in isolation as the Trump administration tries to deport him.
Story: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
Now, friends say he’s been "tortured" in isolation as the Trump administration tries to deport him.
Story: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
August 7, 2025 at 8:45 PM
NEW: Ayman Soliman is locally renowned for helping the families of dying kids.
Now, friends say he’s been "tortured" in isolation as the Trump administration tries to deport him.
Story: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
Now, friends say he’s been "tortured" in isolation as the Trump administration tries to deport him.
Story: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
Reposted by Melissa L (she/they)
& so to tenderness I add my action.
—Aracelis Girmay
—Aracelis Girmay
August 7, 2025 at 9:25 PM
& so to tenderness I add my action.
—Aracelis Girmay
—Aracelis Girmay
Reposted by Melissa L (she/they)
Killing SB 79 will make Los Angeles a less affordable, less sustainable place -- it'll keep us on the same trajectory we've been on since SB 827 and SB 50 were killed almost a decade ago. Why is the mayor going out of her way to oppose it? There's no excuse for this.
Call @mayor.lacity.gov to tell her to support - and stop telling other lawmakers to oppose - SB 79 and statewide standards for transit-oriented development! docs.google.com/document/d/1...
TALKING POINTS: Call Karen Bass to support SB 79
Call Karen Bass to support SB 79! (213) 978-0600 Script: Hello, my name is ____, (and mention if you are an LA city resident, consider sharing the neighborhood you live in). And I’m calling Mayor Kar...
docs.google.com
August 7, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Killing SB 79 will make Los Angeles a less affordable, less sustainable place -- it'll keep us on the same trajectory we've been on since SB 827 and SB 50 were killed almost a decade ago. Why is the mayor going out of her way to oppose it? There's no excuse for this.
Reposted by Melissa L (she/they)
“If you want to have loving feelings, do loving things.” - Anne Lamott
August 8, 2025 at 1:48 AM
“If you want to have loving feelings, do loving things.” - Anne Lamott
Reposted by Melissa L (she/they)
and to my grandchildren i leave 86 gigabytes of menswear photos to win any menswear argument online
August 2, 2025 at 5:35 PM
and to my grandchildren i leave 86 gigabytes of menswear photos to win any menswear argument online
Reposted by Melissa L (she/they)
I kinda think the way people use ChatGPT is sort of aspirational because it seems to emulate the way rich people have sycophants lying to them all the time until they lose touch with reality and also their entire minds
August 1, 2025 at 12:17 PM
I kinda think the way people use ChatGPT is sort of aspirational because it seems to emulate the way rich people have sycophants lying to them all the time until they lose touch with reality and also their entire minds
Reposted by Melissa L (she/they)
"Colorado’s three largest oil and gas producers were hit with violation notices for falsified lab reports that minimized the levels of a wide variety of pollutants, including arsenic and barium in the soil and benzene in groundwater."
ARSENIC IN THE FUCKING GROUNDWATER!
ARSENIC IN THE FUCKING GROUNDWATER!
Chevron, Occidental and Civitas cited for falsified lab reports downplaying pollutants in Colorado groundwater
Chevron, Occidental and Civitas were hit with violation notices for falsified lab reports that underrerported groundwater pollution levels.
coloradosun.com
July 25, 2025 at 6:18 PM
"Colorado’s three largest oil and gas producers were hit with violation notices for falsified lab reports that minimized the levels of a wide variety of pollutants, including arsenic and barium in the soil and benzene in groundwater."
ARSENIC IN THE FUCKING GROUNDWATER!
ARSENIC IN THE FUCKING GROUNDWATER!
Reposted by Melissa L (she/they)
EXCLUSIVE: ICE may have secretly done more third-country removals than previously known
Flight data from private jets contracted by ICE show a spike in activity to 13 countries targeted for third-country removals.
👀I've been working on this for two months.
hardghistory.ghost.io/exclusive-ic...
Flight data from private jets contracted by ICE show a spike in activity to 13 countries targeted for third-country removals.
👀I've been working on this for two months.
hardghistory.ghost.io/exclusive-ic...
EXCLUSIVE: ICE may have secretly done more third-country removals than previously known
Flight data from private jets contracted by ICE show a spike in activity to 13 countries targeted for third-country removals.
hardghistory.ghost.io
July 21, 2025 at 7:23 PM
EXCLUSIVE: ICE may have secretly done more third-country removals than previously known
Flight data from private jets contracted by ICE show a spike in activity to 13 countries targeted for third-country removals.
👀I've been working on this for two months.
hardghistory.ghost.io/exclusive-ic...
Flight data from private jets contracted by ICE show a spike in activity to 13 countries targeted for third-country removals.
👀I've been working on this for two months.
hardghistory.ghost.io/exclusive-ic...
Reposted by Melissa L (she/they)
ICE Detained 6-Year-Old with Cancer for Over a Month: "He and His Sister Cried Every Night
ICE Detained 6-Year-Old with Cancer for Over a Month: “He and His Sister Cried Every Night
As Congress approved some $45 billion to expand ICE’s immigration detention capacity, including the jailing of families and children, we look at the case of one family. In May, plainclothes ICE agents...
www.democracynow.org
July 22, 2025 at 3:00 PM
ICE Detained 6-Year-Old with Cancer for Over a Month: "He and His Sister Cried Every Night
Reposted by Melissa L (she/they)
ICE is sweeping up people with disabilities now, making no accommodations for them.
www.latimes.com/california/s...
www.latimes.com/california/s...
Deaf, mute and terrified: ICE arrests DACA recipient and ships him to Texas
Javier Diaz Santana, who is deaf and mute, was swept up in a federal immigration raid at his job in Temple City, unable to communicate in handcuffs. His attorney says U.S. agents "don’t care whether y...
www.latimes.com
July 22, 2025 at 3:58 PM
ICE is sweeping up people with disabilities now, making no accommodations for them.
www.latimes.com/california/s...
www.latimes.com/california/s...
Reposted by Melissa L (she/they)
Not that it makes him more deserving of freedom- I don’t think anybody should have to fear being snatched off the street by masked pigs- but Jon spends what has to be every single spare moment trying to improve the lives of normal people in our community
July 14, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Not that it makes him more deserving of freedom- I don’t think anybody should have to fear being snatched off the street by masked pigs- but Jon spends what has to be every single spare moment trying to improve the lives of normal people in our community
Reposted by Melissa L (she/they)
Reposted by Melissa L (she/they)
Our local NYC hero Youman Wilder was just on MSNBC talking about how he caught ICE agents questioning his players, asking "where you from? where your parents from?" Youman instructed the kids to not answer them & told the feds to back off.
Salute Youman! Listen to the whole clip (full in thread)
Salute Youman! Listen to the whole clip (full in thread)
July 14, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Our local NYC hero Youman Wilder was just on MSNBC talking about how he caught ICE agents questioning his players, asking "where you from? where your parents from?" Youman instructed the kids to not answer them & told the feds to back off.
Salute Youman! Listen to the whole clip (full in thread)
Salute Youman! Listen to the whole clip (full in thread)
Reposted by Melissa L (she/they)
Nobody captured love, loss, and the fight for belonging more powerfully than Andrea Gibson did. Their words gave voice to the unseen and hope to the unheard.
Colorado is better because of their words. Our hearts are with their loved ones and all mourning this profound loss.
Colorado is better because of their words. Our hearts are with their loved ones and all mourning this profound loss.
July 14, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Nobody captured love, loss, and the fight for belonging more powerfully than Andrea Gibson did. Their words gave voice to the unseen and hope to the unheard.
Colorado is better because of their words. Our hearts are with their loved ones and all mourning this profound loss.
Colorado is better because of their words. Our hearts are with their loved ones and all mourning this profound loss.
Reposted by Melissa L (she/they)
@lataco.bsky.social is doing heroic work in this crisis. Started with tacos, moved on to human rights and democracy, by providing some of the best coverage of what's happening and what to do about it. lataco.com/what-to-do-i...
What To Do If A Loved One Has Been Detained By ICE ~ L.A. TACO
In the heartbreaking event that someone you know has been detained by a federal immigration agent, you'll need to know what steps to take to locate them and hopefully, get some money on their books an...
lataco.com
July 15, 2025 at 12:01 AM
@lataco.bsky.social is doing heroic work in this crisis. Started with tacos, moved on to human rights and democracy, by providing some of the best coverage of what's happening and what to do about it. lataco.com/what-to-do-i...
Reposted by Melissa L (she/they)
Bye forever, WeTransfer.
July 14, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Bye forever, WeTransfer.
Reposted by Melissa L (she/they)
Have just realized that the silly “Bezos wants to buy Vogue as a lavish wedding gift for his bride” story that’s been circulating is inaccurate - Bezos wants to buy Condé Nast which owns The New Yorker,Teen Vogue, Wired & Arts Technica because he is an oligarch who wants to crush all dissent.
July 15, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Have just realized that the silly “Bezos wants to buy Vogue as a lavish wedding gift for his bride” story that’s been circulating is inaccurate - Bezos wants to buy Condé Nast which owns The New Yorker,Teen Vogue, Wired & Arts Technica because he is an oligarch who wants to crush all dissent.
Reposted by Melissa L (she/they)
Reposted by Melissa L (she/they)
A detailed and astounding report on ICE’s meteoric rise of funding and hiring and how it is creating an undertrained, overly aggressive massive masked police force. Great work, Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Spending $200 billion on ICE is a terrible idea
I've covered federal law enforcement for two decades. Here are the things that worry me most.
www.motherjones.com
July 13, 2025 at 4:10 PM
A detailed and astounding report on ICE’s meteoric rise of funding and hiring and how it is creating an undertrained, overly aggressive massive masked police force. Great work, Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Melissa L (she/they)
Seems extremely bad that the military remains deployed in Los Angeles and there doesn't seem to be anything that people with power are doing about it.
July 11, 2025 at 2:37 AM
Seems extremely bad that the military remains deployed in Los Angeles and there doesn't seem to be anything that people with power are doing about it.
Reposted by Melissa L (she/they)
I just listened as well, here is the audio - you can hear Kalief recount in his own voice what solidarity confinement feels like for a teen. I feel we owe it to him to listen since he should still be here and the system that killed him, which we can fight, heaps these evils on others everyday...
July 9, 2025 at 7:29 PM
I just listened as well, here is the audio - you can hear Kalief recount in his own voice what solidarity confinement feels like for a teen. I feel we owe it to him to listen since he should still be here and the system that killed him, which we can fight, heaps these evils on others everyday...
Reposted by Melissa L (she/they)
Reposted by Melissa L (she/they)
Vinay Prasad overrode the recommendations of a panel of scientists who said that 2025-2026 COVID19 vaccines should be recommended for everyone over the age of 12 years.
COVID19 remains a serious public health threat. He will get people killed. He doesn’t care. His ego wins, always.
COVID19 remains a serious public health threat. He will get people killed. He doesn’t care. His ego wins, always.
FDA vaccine official restricted COVID vaccine approvals against the advice of agency staff
A top official at the Food and Drug Administration recently overruled government scientists on the availability of two COVID-19 vaccines
abcnews.go.com
July 3, 2025 at 1:49 AM
Vinay Prasad overrode the recommendations of a panel of scientists who said that 2025-2026 COVID19 vaccines should be recommended for everyone over the age of 12 years.
COVID19 remains a serious public health threat. He will get people killed. He doesn’t care. His ego wins, always.
COVID19 remains a serious public health threat. He will get people killed. He doesn’t care. His ego wins, always.