Lauren Hougen
@thistlewicche.bsky.social
Writer. Musician. Witch. Copyeditor. Winter girl.
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
Having remembered that I, too, am a Small Business, I am running a flash sale on editing services. Book and make your deposit this weekend and receive 10% off. More info on what I do here: www.kathowardbooks.com/editing
November 29, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Having remembered that I, too, am a Small Business, I am running a flash sale on editing services. Book and make your deposit this weekend and receive 10% off. More info on what I do here: www.kathowardbooks.com/editing
How did I never listen to Kiki Rockwell before this week???
November 15, 2025 at 5:07 AM
How did I never listen to Kiki Rockwell before this week???
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
Teen Vogue did some terrific work. Great story here on Teen Vogue and how the Vogue/Conde Nast bosses seem like the "liberal" types who have been eager to use Trump's rise as a pretext to silence progressives/leftists they disagree with. www.cjr.org/feature/the-...
What the closure of Teen Vogue means for journalism.
Condé Nast folded a beloved magazine that treated youth and feminism as political topics, not trends.
www.cjr.org
November 14, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Teen Vogue did some terrific work. Great story here on Teen Vogue and how the Vogue/Conde Nast bosses seem like the "liberal" types who have been eager to use Trump's rise as a pretext to silence progressives/leftists they disagree with. www.cjr.org/feature/the-...
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
Remember Rev. David Black, the Chicago pastor who was shot in the head with pepper balls? If you haven't heard him speak yet, listen to this.
To ICE: "You can repent"
To ICE: "You can repent"
November 7, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Remember Rev. David Black, the Chicago pastor who was shot in the head with pepper balls? If you haven't heard him speak yet, listen to this.
To ICE: "You can repent"
To ICE: "You can repent"
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
I feel like we have the opportunity to turn David Lynch's quote into this moment's "Keep Calm and Carry On" and it's a far better rallying cry too.
November 7, 2025 at 1:15 PM
I feel like we have the opportunity to turn David Lynch's quote into this moment's "Keep Calm and Carry On" and it's a far better rallying cry too.
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
Is it good politics to ask the Supreme Court if you can continue starving people?
November 8, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Is it good politics to ask the Supreme Court if you can continue starving people?
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
Good literary translation requires understanding (language, culture, genre--on both sides of the translation) and an ability to write well. "AI" can't do that. There are no shortcuts. Treat your work and foreign language readers with the respect they deserve. You won't fool anyone with this.
Amazon has launched a new AI-driven translation service, Kindle Translate, for Kindle Direct Publishing authors 👇 #BookSky
Amazon launches AI translation service for indie authors
ebx.sh
November 7, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Good literary translation requires understanding (language, culture, genre--on both sides of the translation) and an ability to write well. "AI" can't do that. There are no shortcuts. Treat your work and foreign language readers with the respect they deserve. You won't fool anyone with this.
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
We’re hiring!
Our new resume portal is live, and we’re looking for top talent in NYC to help build this administration and deliver on our affordability agenda.
Could that be you? Apply using the link below.
transition2025.com/apply
Our new resume portal is live, and we’re looking for top talent in NYC to help build this administration and deliver on our affordability agenda.
Could that be you? Apply using the link below.
transition2025.com/apply
November 6, 2025 at 1:36 PM
We’re hiring!
Our new resume portal is live, and we’re looking for top talent in NYC to help build this administration and deliver on our affordability agenda.
Could that be you? Apply using the link below.
transition2025.com/apply
Our new resume portal is live, and we’re looking for top talent in NYC to help build this administration and deliver on our affordability agenda.
Could that be you? Apply using the link below.
transition2025.com/apply
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
The truly maddening thing is that, unlike when I was a young man in science and the materials and engineering just weren’t there yet, the future is *right there.* The problem is *solved*. What’s holding us back is not just greed, but this bizarre nostalgia, an obsession with petro- masculinity.
Australia has so much electricity from solar power that it is going to start offering free electricity to everyone for at least three hours during the day as the wholesale price of power goes negative
electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
Australia has so much solar that it's offering everyone free electricity
Australia's extensive solar power penetration makes so much energy that the government wants to offer free electricity at peak hours.
electrek.co
November 6, 2025 at 2:08 PM
The truly maddening thing is that, unlike when I was a young man in science and the materials and engineering just weren’t there yet, the future is *right there.* The problem is *solved*. What’s holding us back is not just greed, but this bizarre nostalgia, an obsession with petro- masculinity.
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
No matter where you live or if you’ve never protested before, there’s a local No Kings Day event for you. Join a peaceful protest to make it clear that We The People will never bow down to a wannabe king: www.nokings.org?SQF_SOURCE=i... #NoKings
October 18, 2025 at 1:05 AM
No matter where you live or if you’ve never protested before, there’s a local No Kings Day event for you. Join a peaceful protest to make it clear that We The People will never bow down to a wannabe king: www.nokings.org?SQF_SOURCE=i... #NoKings
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
Also, ayo @jay.bsky.team and the BlueSky team, if you’re gonna permaban Link and Palestinian aid accounts, it’s not a good look if you also don’t ban government accounts engaged in obvious violations of the Hatch Act, which is an actual federal law.
October 18, 2025 at 1:20 AM
Also, ayo @jay.bsky.team and the BlueSky team, if you’re gonna permaban Link and Palestinian aid accounts, it’s not a good look if you also don’t ban government accounts engaged in obvious violations of the Hatch Act, which is an actual federal law.
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
The first thing the State Dept account did here was threaten to use Bluesky posts to strip people of visas and investigate non citizens.
That's a real threat against every Bluesky user and it's absurd the account isnt banned yet.
That's a real threat against every Bluesky user and it's absurd the account isnt banned yet.
October 18, 2025 at 2:04 AM
The first thing the State Dept account did here was threaten to use Bluesky posts to strip people of visas and investigate non citizens.
That's a real threat against every Bluesky user and it's absurd the account isnt banned yet.
That's a real threat against every Bluesky user and it's absurd the account isnt banned yet.
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
If I have to explain to you why it's a bad idea to use a machine that makes shit up 15-80% of the time AND destroys the environment AND contributes to rising fascism and genocide AND puts brilliant skillful creatives out of work by stealing their work, then we're already speaking different languages
August 6, 2025 at 1:01 AM
If I have to explain to you why it's a bad idea to use a machine that makes shit up 15-80% of the time AND destroys the environment AND contributes to rising fascism and genocide AND puts brilliant skillful creatives out of work by stealing their work, then we're already speaking different languages
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
christ on tiny little crackers, climateworld, we've got to ask people to do good things that they can do, and which help them, rather than asking them to volunteer for an emotionally devastating existential-threat experience without exits into action
my takeaway from climate week nyc is that "climate storytelling" is a little too much "we must reimagine our deepest souls in relationship to mother nature and the moral abyss of the polycrisis into which we must now stare" and not enough "ok but get a heat pump"
September 29, 2025 at 12:15 AM
christ on tiny little crackers, climateworld, we've got to ask people to do good things that they can do, and which help them, rather than asking them to volunteer for an emotionally devastating existential-threat experience without exits into action
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
Hey! It’s a full moon. It’s a lunar eclipse. It’s a giveaway! Win an annotated copy of HIGHER MAGIC and some moon-themed stickers! 🌚 Details in thread.
September 7, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Hey! It’s a full moon. It’s a lunar eclipse. It’s a giveaway! Win an annotated copy of HIGHER MAGIC and some moon-themed stickers! 🌚 Details in thread.
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
People are shouting "LOOK HE'S THE BEST WE CAN DO" about the Governor of California, meanwhile the Governor of Illinois is out here talking like John Wick while *also* standing up for trans people.
Illinois Gov. Pritzker vows to pursue Trump officials who participate in an illegal National Guard deployment to Chicago:
"If you hurt my people, nothing will stop me - not time or political circumstance - from making sure that you face justice under our constitutional rule of law."
"If you hurt my people, nothing will stop me - not time or political circumstance - from making sure that you face justice under our constitutional rule of law."
August 25, 2025 at 9:40 PM
People are shouting "LOOK HE'S THE BEST WE CAN DO" about the Governor of California, meanwhile the Governor of Illinois is out here talking like John Wick while *also* standing up for trans people.
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
Hochul should call a press conference TOMORROW AM and regurgitate everything that Pritzker said this afternoon.
August 25, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Hochul should call a press conference TOMORROW AM and regurgitate everything that Pritzker said this afternoon.
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
Illinois Gov. Pritzker vows to pursue Trump officials who participate in an illegal National Guard deployment to Chicago:
"If you hurt my people, nothing will stop me - not time or political circumstance - from making sure that you face justice under our constitutional rule of law."
"If you hurt my people, nothing will stop me - not time or political circumstance - from making sure that you face justice under our constitutional rule of law."
August 25, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Illinois Gov. Pritzker vows to pursue Trump officials who participate in an illegal National Guard deployment to Chicago:
"If you hurt my people, nothing will stop me - not time or political circumstance - from making sure that you face justice under our constitutional rule of law."
"If you hurt my people, nothing will stop me - not time or political circumstance - from making sure that you face justice under our constitutional rule of law."
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
Pritzker: To the members of the press who are assembled here today and listening across the country, I am asking for your courage to tell it like it is. This is not a time to pretend here that there are two sides to this story.
August 25, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Pritzker: To the members of the press who are assembled here today and listening across the country, I am asking for your courage to tell it like it is. This is not a time to pretend here that there are two sides to this story.
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
if you're not from or have never been to new york i cannot stress enough how normal the subway is 99% of the time. kids take it to school. everyone is basically chill. you learn to be in proximity with harmless weirdos or minor irritations pretty quick. for all its issues it's an incredible thing
August 23, 2025 at 9:36 PM
if you're not from or have never been to new york i cannot stress enough how normal the subway is 99% of the time. kids take it to school. everyone is basically chill. you learn to be in proximity with harmless weirdos or minor irritations pretty quick. for all its issues it's an incredible thing
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
That was one of the most batshit press conferences of Trump's public life. He brandished a photo of Putin and promised to deploy the US military to occupy Chicago, New York, and San Francisco. A sane country would be moving toward impeachment and removal right now.
August 22, 2025 at 5:57 PM
That was one of the most batshit press conferences of Trump's public life. He brandished a photo of Putin and promised to deploy the US military to occupy Chicago, New York, and San Francisco. A sane country would be moving toward impeachment and removal right now.
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
Heads up library workers, Overdrive is shoving AI into Libby. It will be making book recommendations and they are rolling it out over the next few weeks. Smoke is pouring out of my ears. 📚
August 14, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Heads up library workers, Overdrive is shoving AI into Libby. It will be making book recommendations and they are rolling it out over the next few weeks. Smoke is pouring out of my ears. 📚
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
We have enough to support us for about two more years of KGB but really need to raise more so we don't have to do this annually. Every $ helps.
www.gofundme.com/f/fantastic-...
www.gofundme.com/f/fantastic-...
Donate to Fantastic Fiction reading series at the KGB Bar, organized by Matthew Kressel
Fantastic Fiction at KGB is a monthly speculative-fiction reading seri… Matthew Kressel needs your support for Fantastic Fiction reading series at the KGB Bar
www.gofundme.com
August 18, 2025 at 7:31 PM
We have enough to support us for about two more years of KGB but really need to raise more so we don't have to do this annually. Every $ helps.
www.gofundme.com/f/fantastic-...
www.gofundme.com/f/fantastic-...
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
I think it’s high time we take back the national narrative. For centuries Americans of all races, genders, religions, and abilities have worked to create a more perfect union, and we should shout from the rooftops that WE are America. Not these idiot white supremacist authoritarians.
August 18, 2025 at 6:16 PM
I think it’s high time we take back the national narrative. For centuries Americans of all races, genders, religions, and abilities have worked to create a more perfect union, and we should shout from the rooftops that WE are America. Not these idiot white supremacist authoritarians.
Reposted by Lauren Hougen
The thing about all these fucking statements now from world leaders calling for the food to be let in to Gaza: you have the ability to impose sanctions on Israel and every second you spend talking instead of imposing them is a collaborationist lie.
July 26, 2025 at 1:44 AM
The thing about all these fucking statements now from world leaders calling for the food to be let in to Gaza: you have the ability to impose sanctions on Israel and every second you spend talking instead of imposing them is a collaborationist lie.