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amandabcook.bsky.social
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@amandabcook.bsky.social
290 followers 620 following 150 posts
Lapsed academic (PhD Political Theory) and editor. Writer of SFF, but: chronically ill. I’ll finish writing that book…eventually. In the meantime, knitting, audiobooks, ao3. Choir singer, find me in the alto section.
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amandabcook.bsky.social
New shirt, best shirt (from Wildfang)
A white woman wearing a black t-shirt with the Peanuts character Peppermint Patty smiling and raising one fist in the air next to the word “SIR” in white capital letters
April 24, 2025 at 4:20 PM
amandabcook.bsky.social
March books! This doesn’t seem like *that* many unless you know how long those Stormlight books are 😅 I actually loved all of these.📚🌈
A StoryGraph monthly wrap up cover collage titled ‘@amandabcook’s March 2025 reads’ with the covers of the following books: Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson, The New Life by Tom Crowe, A Safe Girl to Love by Casey Plett, Erasure by Percival Everett, Fun Home by Allison Bechdel, Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson
April 1, 2025 at 12:27 PM
amandabcook.bsky.social
A photo of Cillian Murphy with an inset photo of cheeses. A quote is superimposed that reads, “I’ve just been at home, eating cheese” —Cillian Murphy on what he did during the SAG strike A photo of Columbo with hand on his forehead with the caption, “Something just computed” A screencap of Blackbeard from Our Flag Means Death with the caption, “Hey…Do you want to do something weird?” A gif of Roy Kent from Ted Lasso wearing a black shirt and a metallic party hat. With a stern expression he nods. The caption reads, “I love it.”
March 29, 2025 at 2:03 AM
amandabcook.bsky.social
It only took me til age 40 to properly organize my choral music scores
Four blue and green file holders labeled “Choral Scores A–G, H–M, N–Z,” and “Vocal Solos and Practice” next to a binder labeled “Solo Repertoire.” They’re filled with musical scores, the most visible of which is a chunk orange one reading HANDEL
March 16, 2025 at 3:30 PM
amandabcook.bsky.social
Stella quilt blanket is coming along 🤩 #stellaquiltblanket #knitting
Photo of four finished knitted squares laid out to shoe how they will form a blanket when joined together. Each square has a star motif reminiscent of a quilt, the stars are reds, oranges, yellows, and greens, respectively.
March 11, 2025 at 7:53 PM
amandabcook.bsky.social
George Orwell, 1984. #ukraine #trump
He accepted everything. The past was alterable. The past had never been altered. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia....He remembered remembering contrary things, but those were false memories, products of self-deception. How easy it all was! Only surrender, and everything else followed.
February 20, 2025 at 3:42 PM
amandabcook.bsky.social
Missing Otto, he's been gone for 1.5 years!
A black and white mini schnauzer
February 16, 2025 at 5:04 PM
amandabcook.bsky.social
I knew I wanted to re-read Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble (1990). I didn’t expect it to speak so directly to so much of our current politics. #judithbutler #currentlyreading #booksky #democrats #politicalopposition #politicalidentities #coalitions #purityculture
A passage from Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble (1990): “The insistence in advance on coalitional "unity" as a goal assumes that solidarity, whatever its price, is a prerequisite for political action. But what sort of politics demands that kind of advance purchase on unity? Perhaps a coalition needs to acknowledge its contradictions and take action with those contradictions intact. Perhaps also part of what dialogic understanding entails is the acceptance of divergence, breakage, splinter, and fragmentation as part of the often tortuous process of democratization. The very notion—“
February 14, 2025 at 9:07 PM
amandabcook.bsky.social
Tweet thread from Elliot Lusztig: "Hannah Arendt in her book The Origin of Totalitarianism provides a helpful guide for interpreting the language of fascists. She noted how decent liberals of 1930s Germany would "fact check" the Nazis" bizarre claims about Jews like they were meant to be factual. What they failed to understand, Arendt suggests, is that the Nazi Jew hating was not a statement of fact but a declaration of intent. So when someone would blame the Jews for Germany's defeat in WW1, naive people would counter by saying there's no evidence of that. What the Nazis were doing was not describing what was true, but what would have to be true to justify what they planned to do next. Did 3 million "Illegals" cast votes in this election? Clearly not. But fact checking is just a way of playing along with their game. What Trump is saying is not that 3m Illegals voted. What he's saying is: I'm going to steal the voting rights of millions of Americans."
February 13, 2025 at 3:33 AM
amandabcook.bsky.social
Number of hours and counting on the phone with @blueshieldca.bsky.social trying to get my medication: 7 hours 52 minutes. AND COUNTING. Same med, same ins plan, same doctor, but (god forbid, apparently) a new calendar year. #healthinsurance #healthcare #disability
Screenshot of recent calls listing 9 phone calls to BlueShield CA starting 1/24/25 and continuing through 2/11/25
February 11, 2025 at 6:34 PM
amandabcook.bsky.social
This book is so smart, so incisive, so good. 🌈📚 #booksky
Screenshot of the StoryGraph page for the novel Evenings and Weekends by Oisín McKenna. It shows that I started reading it on February 2 and am currently 74% through. It’s 344 pages and first published in 2024. The book is tagged as fiction, contemporary, lgbtqia+, literary, emotional, reflective, medium-paced
February 6, 2025 at 5:46 PM
amandabcook.bsky.social
Without downloading any new pictures where are you at mentally
Kathy Bates giving side eye
February 4, 2025 at 3:20 PM
amandabcook.bsky.social
Getting there! 3.5mm needles, so it's not a fast knit...the yarn is Erika Knight Wool Local, which is 100% British wool from sheep to finished product that I bought on vacation in England over the summer. #knitting
A white woman standing in front of a mirror trying on a half-knitted sweater. The yarn is a heathered tan, and only one sleeve has been knitted. The body of the sweater is on hold and just reaches her jeans.
February 3, 2025 at 6:28 PM
amandabcook.bsky.social
Please call me MacGyver...I have sewed straps into my bag and attached a "tactical" bottle holder so my water/tea won't fall over in my choir bag 💁🏻
The inside of a black tote bag with a black fabric bottle holder secured to the inside side of the bag The inside of a black tote bag with a thermos in the bottle holder next to a stack of music, topped with a well-used copy of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis
February 2, 2025 at 4:38 PM
amandabcook.bsky.social
#booksky 🌈📚 January reading wrap-up! Great books this month 🙏🏻 Some thoughts in 🧵
A StoryGraph app cover collage for the month of January 2025 for user @amandabcook, with covers of the following books: Every Arc Bends Its Radian by Sergio De La Pava, Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, The One by John Marrs, Cursebreakers by Madeleine Nakamura, The Pairing by Casey McQuiston, Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly, The Optimal Dose by Judson Somerville, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, and Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison.
February 1, 2025 at 8:34 PM
amandabcook.bsky.social
#GenAlpha needs Mario Teaches Typing
A screenshot of Mario Teaches Typing. Mario progresses across a brick path against a blue sky with sun and clouds. There are blocks labeled with letters K and J in the air above his head. Below this, two gloved hands show which finger should be typing, along with time, letters typed, WPM, and errors.
January 26, 2025 at 11:44 PM
amandabcook.bsky.social
Reading Greta & Valdin. Incredible characters that jump off the page, so funny, incredible insights about family, place, and historical legacy (ethnically, generationally, personally). New Zealand, alt pov bt 20sth sister + brother—both queer + in/quit academia, with Russian refugee dad + Māori mum
Screenshot of an audiobook player showing the book Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly, at Chapter 41 of 56
January 26, 2025 at 1:52 AM
amandabcook.bsky.social
Finally finished this sweater for my son that I started in Dec '23. Very cool details on this pattern "Cosy Hubby" by Marzena Kołaczek. (I've just realized I still need to make the drawstring.) Yarn is Knit Picks Hawthorne Fingering Kettle Dye in Goddess.
A variegated handknit purple sweater with a wrap collar, raglan construction. Close-up of the double-knit wrap collar of a purple handknit sweater Close-up of the double-knit cuff using a lateral braid technique on a purple handknit sweater
January 25, 2025 at 8:42 PM
amandabcook.bsky.social
Wearing my #pots shirt at the labcorp. This is as exciting as it gets around here
A white woman wearing a mask and winter coat over a tshirt with a spaceship and a floating cat astronaut that says "allergic to gravity"
January 24, 2025 at 6:43 PM
amandabcook.bsky.social
I'm not the person to write it, but it would be a shame not to include something about math in Waldorf/Steiner education! Here's a geometry project my 12yo made
A colored pencil geometric drawing in pinks and blues
January 23, 2025 at 10:59 PM
amandabcook.bsky.social
Finished blocking this sweater and excited to wear it! Perfect for this NC snow day (i.e. the snow is melted, the kids are home)
January 23, 2025 at 5:27 PM