Doctora Malka Older
@older.bsky.social
nerd with narrative disorder • humanitarian • sociopunk • evidence-based creativity • speculative resistance • predictive fictions • INFOMOCRACY • THE MIMICKING OF KNOWN SUCCESSES • …AND OTHER DISASTERS • GlobalVoices.org • ASU-CSI • opinions my own
Reposted by Doctora Malka Older
Reading Moby Dick with the Bluesky crew (which is a TRIP) and also Vajra Chandrasekara’s Rakesfall, which is so weird and wonderful and rageful and dizzying and beautiful. Love it so far.
January 22, 2026 at 11:36 PM
Reading Moby Dick with the Bluesky crew (which is a TRIP) and also Vajra Chandrasekara’s Rakesfall, which is so weird and wonderful and rageful and dizzying and beautiful. Love it so far.
Reposted by Doctora Malka Older
ALSO TODAY: @todseelie.bsky.social on photographing the only tall-bike builder in Cuba. "He uses ancient Chinese frames, rebar, and he makes pedals from sections of cut PVC pipe." flaminghydra.com/viva-la-bici...
Viva la bicicleta alta
Félix Ramón Guirola Cepero is the only tall bike builder in Cuba. I met him while on assignment in Cuba when I noticed a tall bike (meaning, a rideable bike built from two or more stacked bicycle fram...
flaminghydra.com
January 22, 2026 at 11:29 PM
ALSO TODAY: @todseelie.bsky.social on photographing the only tall-bike builder in Cuba. "He uses ancient Chinese frames, rebar, and he makes pedals from sections of cut PVC pipe." flaminghydra.com/viva-la-bici...
Reposted by Doctora Malka Older
Reading “Even Though I Knew the End” by C. L. Polk and loving it. Finished a different book last night in bed and immediately hopped on Libby. New book without even getting out from under the covers!
January 22, 2026 at 11:25 PM
Reading “Even Though I Knew the End” by C. L. Polk and loving it. Finished a different book last night in bed and immediately hopped on Libby. New book without even getting out from under the covers!
Reposted by Doctora Malka Older
reading Zambreno & Samatar's TONE at last and it's so much
so how's the reading going this week? anyone found any great books? tell your friends how awesome digital library loans are?
January 22, 2026 at 11:26 PM
reading Zambreno & Samatar's TONE at last and it's so much
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Feds removing info about the human beings America’s founders kidnapped and held as property.
Park Service removes slavery exhibit at Independence Park in Philadelphia
Park staff dismantled an exhibit about George Washington’s slave ownership amid a wider push to remove information on racism, sexism and climate change.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 22, 2026 at 11:18 PM
Feds removing info about the human beings America’s founders kidnapped and held as property.
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January 22, 2026 at 11:23 PM
Reposted by Doctora Malka Older
I just thought everyone should see this
January 22, 2026 at 11:02 PM
I just thought everyone should see this
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We seem to have reached the stage where you automatically lose your Global Entry/PreCheck simply because you got face scanned by a DHS officer’s phone app.
January 22, 2026 at 11:20 PM
We seem to have reached the stage where you automatically lose your Global Entry/PreCheck simply because you got face scanned by a DHS officer’s phone app.
Reposted by Doctora Malka Older
uh, hey, so... To all the Americans who will now be contending with lots of snow:
Shoveling is HARD WORK.
Do not force yourself to do it all at once.
Take your time.
Lift with your knees.
Shovel off a top layer and then the bottom layer.
Shovel a narrow path and then the whole sidewalk.
Go slow.
Shoveling is HARD WORK.
Do not force yourself to do it all at once.
Take your time.
Lift with your knees.
Shovel off a top layer and then the bottom layer.
Shovel a narrow path and then the whole sidewalk.
Go slow.
January 22, 2026 at 10:27 PM
uh, hey, so... To all the Americans who will now be contending with lots of snow:
Shoveling is HARD WORK.
Do not force yourself to do it all at once.
Take your time.
Lift with your knees.
Shovel off a top layer and then the bottom layer.
Shovel a narrow path and then the whole sidewalk.
Go slow.
Shoveling is HARD WORK.
Do not force yourself to do it all at once.
Take your time.
Lift with your knees.
Shovel off a top layer and then the bottom layer.
Shovel a narrow path and then the whole sidewalk.
Go slow.
Reposted by Doctora Malka Older
Currently reading I, Medusa by Ayana Gray.
so how's the reading going this week? anyone found any great books? tell your friends how awesome digital library loans are?
January 22, 2026 at 11:17 PM
Currently reading I, Medusa by Ayana Gray.
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I just finished Alix E. Harrow’s The Everlasting this morning, which I raved about earlier today. bsky.app/profile/jule...
I started listening to audiobooks on my drive to & from work about 5 years ago. I've had to pull over due to tears in my eyes for 2 books in that time. The first was Becky Chambers' To Be Taught If Fortunate. Today I added @alixeharrow.bsky.social's The Everlasting. I will now rave about it.
January 22, 2026 at 11:17 PM
I just finished Alix E. Harrow’s The Everlasting this morning, which I raved about earlier today. bsky.app/profile/jule...
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3 books at once right now but currently digging this one about a lesbian vampire hunter falling for her vampire roommate. It has a real Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibe!
January 22, 2026 at 11:18 PM
3 books at once right now but currently digging this one about a lesbian vampire hunter falling for her vampire roommate. It has a real Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibe!
Reposted by Doctora Malka Older
Ok, so what are people's recommendations for lesbian and broadly sapphic romance? Bonus points if it's pre-2000!
23) The Latecomer by Sarah Aldridge
An early lesbian romance novel. I really enjoyed a lot of this. I found the ending (while 'happy') also a little sad. I wished the love story was more (on Kay's part) than 'I really want to be loved by someone...anyone'. Often beautifully observed.
An early lesbian romance novel. I really enjoyed a lot of this. I found the ending (while 'happy') also a little sad. I wished the love story was more (on Kay's part) than 'I really want to be loved by someone...anyone'. Often beautifully observed.
January 22, 2026 at 8:37 PM
Ok, so what are people's recommendations for lesbian and broadly sapphic romance? Bonus points if it's pre-2000!
Reposted by Doctora Malka Older
Reposted by Doctora Malka Older
Signs about the history of slavery in the U.S. and the 9 people George Washington enslaved are being removed right now at the President’s House Site in Philadelphia, across from Independence Hall, months after the Trump administration threatend to do so.
How far we have not come in 250 years.
How far we have not come in 250 years.
January 22, 2026 at 9:33 PM
Signs about the history of slavery in the U.S. and the 9 people George Washington enslaved are being removed right now at the President’s House Site in Philadelphia, across from Independence Hall, months after the Trump administration threatend to do so.
How far we have not come in 250 years.
How far we have not come in 250 years.
Reposted by Doctora Malka Older
Can someone on the ground near a detainment camp start a volunteer transport network? People could sign up to drive refugees home, one leg of the trip at a time. Animal rescues have moved dogs cross-country this way for years.
Yesterday, I drove refugees that had been shipped off to Texas all the way back home to St. Paul
Seeing them reunite with their families reminded me this is their home.
So keep sending them to Texas. I’ll keep driving ‘em back and introducing them to Bucc-ee’s and KC barbecue along the way.
Seeing them reunite with their families reminded me this is their home.
So keep sending them to Texas. I’ll keep driving ‘em back and introducing them to Bucc-ee’s and KC barbecue along the way.
January 22, 2026 at 11:12 PM
Can someone on the ground near a detainment camp start a volunteer transport network? People could sign up to drive refugees home, one leg of the trip at a time. Animal rescues have moved dogs cross-country this way for years.
Reposted by Doctora Malka Older
The head of Trump DOJ's Civil Rights Division boosts prediction markets placing 36% odds she'll be able to prosecute Don Lemon for his journalism, after a federal magistrate judge found no probable cause of a crime.
January 22, 2026 at 11:16 PM
The head of Trump DOJ's Civil Rights Division boosts prediction markets placing 36% odds she'll be able to prosecute Don Lemon for his journalism, after a federal magistrate judge found no probable cause of a crime.
Reposted by Doctora Malka Older
I’m reading @greenwell.bsky.social’s book and saw something relevant to the Greenland stuff happening right now, as well as today’s conversation about the shittiness of US history
January 22, 2026 at 11:06 PM
I’m reading @greenwell.bsky.social’s book and saw something relevant to the Greenland stuff happening right now, as well as today’s conversation about the shittiness of US history
Reposted by Doctora Malka Older
Haven’t started it yet but the audiobook to Rick Rubins The Creative way was finally available at the digital library so I’m hyped
January 22, 2026 at 11:05 PM
Haven’t started it yet but the audiobook to Rick Rubins The Creative way was finally available at the digital library so I’m hyped
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Just finished A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang by Lee Onhwa which was a digital library loan. Absolutely lovely book that made me want all the Korean traditional pastries.
January 22, 2026 at 11:02 PM
Just finished A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang by Lee Onhwa which was a digital library loan. Absolutely lovely book that made me want all the Korean traditional pastries.
Reposted by Doctora Malka Older
Vision issues have drive me to audiobooks, the other form of digital loan. Bless libraries endlessly! Great series:
'Slow Horses' Mick Herron (i'm in mid-series)
'Finder Chronicles' Suzanne Palmer
'Rivers of London' Ben Aaronovitch
'Slow Horses' Mick Herron (i'm in mid-series)
'Finder Chronicles' Suzanne Palmer
'Rivers of London' Ben Aaronovitch
January 22, 2026 at 11:02 PM
Vision issues have drive me to audiobooks, the other form of digital loan. Bless libraries endlessly! Great series:
'Slow Horses' Mick Herron (i'm in mid-series)
'Finder Chronicles' Suzanne Palmer
'Rivers of London' Ben Aaronovitch
'Slow Horses' Mick Herron (i'm in mid-series)
'Finder Chronicles' Suzanne Palmer
'Rivers of London' Ben Aaronovitch
Reposted by Doctora Malka Older
"The White House on Thursday posted an altered photo of an attorney arrested after a Minnesota church protest, edited to make it look like she was crying, sparking concern among some forensic-image experts about the administration’s distortion of real-world imagery."
Image-forensic expert Hany Farid confirmed it's a fake.
@donmoyn.bsky.social told me this moves us "closer to the Stalinesque manipulation of images that we think about with authoritarian propaganda, where you really cannot trust materials the state is putting out"
Gift link: wapo.st/4sUEnmr
@donmoyn.bsky.social told me this moves us "closer to the Stalinesque manipulation of images that we think about with authoritarian propaganda, where you really cannot trust materials the state is putting out"
Gift link: wapo.st/4sUEnmr
White House shares doctored image portraying arrested church protester in tears
The photo of an attorney arrested after a Minnesota church protest was edited to make it look like she was crying. The White House’s X post had been seen roughly 2.5 million times by Thursday afternoo...
wapo.st
January 22, 2026 at 10:56 PM
"The White House on Thursday posted an altered photo of an attorney arrested after a Minnesota church protest, edited to make it look like she was crying, sparking concern among some forensic-image experts about the administration’s distortion of real-world imagery."
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Through Gates of Gold and Garnet by @seananmcguire.bsky.social, Inside Threat by @kbspangler.com, The Summer War by @naominovik.bsky.social
January 22, 2026 at 10:55 PM
Through Gates of Gold and Garnet by @seananmcguire.bsky.social, Inside Threat by @kbspangler.com, The Summer War by @naominovik.bsky.social
Reposted by Doctora Malka Older
some larger lessons from this:
1. realism can be stranger than fiction. we often associate 'realism' with a kind of staid, stern, and uncompromising documentary approach, whereas real life is always much stranger and in many cases stupider
1. realism can be stranger than fiction. we often associate 'realism' with a kind of staid, stern, and uncompromising documentary approach, whereas real life is always much stranger and in many cases stupider
January 22, 2026 at 9:39 PM
some larger lessons from this:
1. realism can be stranger than fiction. we often associate 'realism' with a kind of staid, stern, and uncompromising documentary approach, whereas real life is always much stranger and in many cases stupider
1. realism can be stranger than fiction. we often associate 'realism' with a kind of staid, stern, and uncompromising documentary approach, whereas real life is always much stranger and in many cases stupider
Reposted by Doctora Malka Older
My response when I heard they went to arrest Nekima Levy Pounds and dragged off a completely different Black woman
every day now i see or read or hear something that would get one laughed out of a writers room, usually multiple times a day
anyway this thread is good
anyway this thread is good
the president slowly physically decaying and manifesting what appears to be some kind of stigmata on his hand while becoming more insane and evil would be dismissed as a hacky writing device
January 22, 2026 at 10:55 PM
My response when I heard they went to arrest Nekima Levy Pounds and dragged off a completely different Black woman