e.c. barrett
@ecbarrett.bsky.social
writer, teacher, printmaker, lit crit. reviews editor for Reckoning. queer, nd, they/she. For Reckoning reviews email me: ecbarrett@reckoning.press
Reposted by e.c. barrett
nothing can put a bigger smile on my face than reading that Microsoft has to scale back its AI ambitions because NOBODY uses copilot.
December 15, 2025 at 10:40 AM
nothing can put a bigger smile on my face than reading that Microsoft has to scale back its AI ambitions because NOBODY uses copilot.
Reposted by e.c. barrett
Apropos to a post I'm not going to quote: no, you are not fucking obliged to battle the fucking right on fucking social media, or go to where they are. Why make yourself miserable shouting at bots (who don't care) or trolls (who get off on your misery). Make your fucking social media enjoyable, FFS.
December 15, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Apropos to a post I'm not going to quote: no, you are not fucking obliged to battle the fucking right on fucking social media, or go to where they are. Why make yourself miserable shouting at bots (who don't care) or trolls (who get off on your misery). Make your fucking social media enjoyable, FFS.
Reposted by e.c. barrett
shoutout to the crowd that insisted it was a political loser to stand up for abrego garcia’s rights
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an ordinary man, has defeated the great might of the US Government
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is free. every bit of cruelty, boasting, slander, and persecution was for absolutely fucking nothing.
December 12, 2025 at 12:38 PM
shoutout to the crowd that insisted it was a political loser to stand up for abrego garcia’s rights
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I’m running for Congress because we need leaders who will fight, not fold. I recognize this moment, and I’m ready to meet it. #FightDontFold #LanderForNYC #LanderForCongress
December 10, 2025 at 10:49 AM
I’m running for Congress because we need leaders who will fight, not fold. I recognize this moment, and I’m ready to meet it. #FightDontFold #LanderForNYC #LanderForCongress
Reposted by e.c. barrett
New today from @reckoningmag.bsky.social's special #neurodivergent reprints collection A CHORUS, DIVERGENT is "Swimming Whole" by @ecbarrett.bsky.social , a story about small, would-be tyrants & the importance of local resistance - both individual & collective.
reckoning.press/swimming-who...
reckoning.press/swimming-who...
Swimming Whole | Reckoning
First Jeff Martin bought the narrow strip of land between the river and Banks Road from the town, then he spider-webbed caution tape between the trees and nailed posted signs to their bark. The swimmi...
reckoning.press
December 8, 2025 at 2:29 PM
New today from @reckoningmag.bsky.social's special #neurodivergent reprints collection A CHORUS, DIVERGENT is "Swimming Whole" by @ecbarrett.bsky.social , a story about small, would-be tyrants & the importance of local resistance - both individual & collective.
reckoning.press/swimming-who...
reckoning.press/swimming-who...
Reposted by e.c. barrett
Why can't the right win without gerrymandering?
Why can't the right uphold free speech when it isn't about them?
Why can't the right mind their own business?
Why is the right the party of Fuck Your Feelings until it's time to joke about that mediocre podcaster who caught one in the neck?
Why can't the right uphold free speech when it isn't about them?
Why can't the right mind their own business?
Why is the right the party of Fuck Your Feelings until it's time to joke about that mediocre podcaster who caught one in the neck?
The real question is not "Why is Bluesky so left-coded," the real question is "Why can't the right exist in a social media environment without algorithmic assistance, where people can ignore them"
December 2, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Why can't the right win without gerrymandering?
Why can't the right uphold free speech when it isn't about them?
Why can't the right mind their own business?
Why is the right the party of Fuck Your Feelings until it's time to joke about that mediocre podcaster who caught one in the neck?
Why can't the right uphold free speech when it isn't about them?
Why can't the right mind their own business?
Why is the right the party of Fuck Your Feelings until it's time to joke about that mediocre podcaster who caught one in the neck?
Reposted by e.c. barrett
This cross-pollination IS how new ideas happen. EVERY field needs humanistic thinking, that's why they call PhDs "Doctors of Philosophy"
Alt text for those who need it. This is amazing.
December 2, 2025 at 11:38 AM
This cross-pollination IS how new ideas happen. EVERY field needs humanistic thinking, that's why they call PhDs "Doctors of Philosophy"
Reposted by e.c. barrett
All of this. Incredible people like Marissa & the editors of these magazines are being forced to make hurtful choices because MRM is determined to turn the short story market into a Hollywood & foreign market IP goldmine, and they really think authors should be happy to be cut out for 8cents a word.
Friends, I'm in tears over this. Sheila is the first editor I ever worked with. I was 20. She deserves better bosses than this. She and Trevor and Sheree have all proven themselves again and again to be really good and decent people in this field. MRM should not use them as reputation shields.
November 18, 2025 at 7:23 PM
All of this. Incredible people like Marissa & the editors of these magazines are being forced to make hurtful choices because MRM is determined to turn the short story market into a Hollywood & foreign market IP goldmine, and they really think authors should be happy to be cut out for 8cents a word.
Reposted by e.c. barrett
it is almost as if accommodating and conceding to far right ideas legitimizes them and signals to voters that the far right is a legitimate choice for governance
The Danish Social Democrats are currently on course for their worst election result since at least the Second World War, despite their brand of far-right accommodationism being touted as a blueprint for other centre-left parties.
Oh
November 18, 2025 at 2:24 PM
it is almost as if accommodating and conceding to far right ideas legitimizes them and signals to voters that the far right is a legitimate choice for governance
Reposted by e.c. barrett
Reposted by e.c. barrett
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
November 9, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
Reposted by e.c. barrett
Cornell agreed to pay $30m, hand over admissions data with demographic breakdowns, produce annual "campus climate" surveys to check on antisemitism and changes "since October of 2023," and—here's the dumbest part they agreed to—that the govt can open new investigations whenever it wants.
Appeasers.
Appeasers.
Cornell has reached an agreement with the federal government to restore our funding:
statements.cornell.edu/2025/2025110...
statements.cornell.edu/2025/2025110...
An agreement to restore Cornell’s federal research funding | University Statements | Cornell University
statements.cornell.edu
November 7, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Cornell agreed to pay $30m, hand over admissions data with demographic breakdowns, produce annual "campus climate" surveys to check on antisemitism and changes "since October of 2023," and—here's the dumbest part they agreed to—that the govt can open new investigations whenever it wants.
Appeasers.
Appeasers.
Reposted by e.c. barrett
I hope the centrists learned a hard lesson last night. No more reaching across the aisle to people who have been spitting in our faces for decades. Run young people, run socialists, run on actionable ideas that seek to make our lives better.
November 5, 2025 at 12:04 PM
I hope the centrists learned a hard lesson last night. No more reaching across the aisle to people who have been spitting in our faces for decades. Run young people, run socialists, run on actionable ideas that seek to make our lives better.
Reposted by e.c. barrett
Deeply saddened and more than a little shocked that we've lost Celeste Rita Baker. I had the privilege of editing her once—do read “De MotherJumpers” in Strange Horizons! strangehorizons.com/wordpress/fi...
November 5, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Deeply saddened and more than a little shocked that we've lost Celeste Rita Baker. I had the privilege of editing her once—do read “De MotherJumpers” in Strange Horizons! strangehorizons.com/wordpress/fi...
Reposted by e.c. barrett
Nazi tat affair useful because anyone doing bizarre prevarications atm re how its totally normal to have a Nazi tattoo, good actually, not a big deal that'd matter in an election, if anything its cringe you care, etc etc, has revealed you never need to take their politics opinions seriously again.
October 22, 2025 at 5:48 AM
Nazi tat affair useful because anyone doing bizarre prevarications atm re how its totally normal to have a Nazi tattoo, good actually, not a big deal that'd matter in an election, if anything its cringe you care, etc etc, has revealed you never need to take their politics opinions seriously again.
Reposted by e.c. barrett
The Maine primary is in what, June? People really wanna die on the unrepentant Nazi tattoo hill instead of, idk, using the next eight months to support somebody else?
October 21, 2025 at 10:22 PM
The Maine primary is in what, June? People really wanna die on the unrepentant Nazi tattoo hill instead of, idk, using the next eight months to support somebody else?
Reposted by e.c. barrett
meanwhile, the top 1% will receive an average tax cut of ~$80K
"researchers have estimated that the end of enhanced tax credits will lead to 7.3 mill people losing their ACA coverage in 2026, of whom 4.8 mill would become uninsured. The loss of the additional subsidies are projected to increase how much...enrollees must pay...from an avg of $888 to $1,904/year"
Expiring ACA Premium Tax Credits Could Lead to Nearly 340,000 Jobs Lost Across the U.S. in 2026
Unless Congress acts quickly to extend the enhanced ACA marketplace premium tax credits, nearly 5 million people could lose health insurance coverage in 2026.
www.commonwealthfund.org
October 20, 2025 at 3:16 PM
meanwhile, the top 1% will receive an average tax cut of ~$80K
Reposted by e.c. barrett
The very imperfect ACA is how I got to stay being a writer, one not reliant on somebody else's health insurance.
The ACA is not perfect but it’s much much much much much better than what came before it (more or less *nothing*, for all intents and purposes), and people saying anything different are either 1) too young to know any better, 2) dumb, or 3) Republicans. Combinations of 1-3 are also valid.
October 20, 2025 at 1:40 PM
The very imperfect ACA is how I got to stay being a writer, one not reliant on somebody else's health insurance.
Reposted by e.c. barrett
*pounds fists on table* HAUNTED HOUSE! HAUNTED HOUSE!
reactormag.com/backlist-bon...
reactormag.com/backlist-bon...
Backlist Bonanza: 5 Underrated Books About Evil Houses - Reactor
Houses that try to murder their occupants is one of our favorite horror tropes...
reactormag.com
October 16, 2025 at 8:12 PM
*pounds fists on table* HAUNTED HOUSE! HAUNTED HOUSE!
reactormag.com/backlist-bon...
reactormag.com/backlist-bon...
Reposted by e.c. barrett
MKE, if you're seeing the Marcus Center's Les Misérables this fall, I'm doing a Q&A on the novel before the Tues, Oct 28 show.
Come on out to learn about Hugo's 1300-page treatise on prison abolition, police brutality, & the necessity of perpetual revolution!
www.marcuscenter.org/event/les-mi...
Come on out to learn about Hugo's 1300-page treatise on prison abolition, police brutality, & the necessity of perpetual revolution!
www.marcuscenter.org/event/les-mi...
Les Misérables
Set against the backdrop of 19th century France, Les Misérables tells an enthralling story of broken dreams and unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption – a timeless testament to the surviva...
www.marcuscenter.org
October 15, 2025 at 2:29 PM
MKE, if you're seeing the Marcus Center's Les Misérables this fall, I'm doing a Q&A on the novel before the Tues, Oct 28 show.
Come on out to learn about Hugo's 1300-page treatise on prison abolition, police brutality, & the necessity of perpetual revolution!
www.marcuscenter.org/event/les-mi...
Come on out to learn about Hugo's 1300-page treatise on prison abolition, police brutality, & the necessity of perpetual revolution!
www.marcuscenter.org/event/les-mi...
Reposted by e.c. barrett
Would it surprise you that the owner of Scientific American's parent company, Stefan von Holtzbrinck, invested $37 million in Inkitt, an AI firm?
What a SHOCK
What a SHOCK
Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies
Want to See Marilyn Monroe in Game of Thrones? AI Could Make It Soon
Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies
www.scientificamerican.com
October 14, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Would it surprise you that the owner of Scientific American's parent company, Stefan von Holtzbrinck, invested $37 million in Inkitt, an AI firm?
What a SHOCK
What a SHOCK
Reposted by e.c. barrett
Honestly, it needs to go further than this.
We need to confront the fact that democracy and wealth hoarding cannot coexist. Allowing people to amass the resources of a small state/country allows them to act as such, which is inimical to a shared society of “one person, one vote.”
We need to confront the fact that democracy and wealth hoarding cannot coexist. Allowing people to amass the resources of a small state/country allows them to act as such, which is inimical to a shared society of “one person, one vote.”
“No Kings” is great , but we really don't get a functioning democracy back until we internalize, bone deep, the instinctive response to this and every other statement like it: “I don’t care what that rich guy thinks.”
Make it your morning affirmation. Say it ten times at the top of every hour.
Make it your morning affirmation. Say it ten times at the top of every hour.
Elon Musk calls for US troops to be sent to San Francisco for war on drugs: ‘It’s the only solution’
October 13, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Honestly, it needs to go further than this.
We need to confront the fact that democracy and wealth hoarding cannot coexist. Allowing people to amass the resources of a small state/country allows them to act as such, which is inimical to a shared society of “one person, one vote.”
We need to confront the fact that democracy and wealth hoarding cannot coexist. Allowing people to amass the resources of a small state/country allows them to act as such, which is inimical to a shared society of “one person, one vote.”
Reposted by e.c. barrett
UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 4: Sylvia Rivera
In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion.
As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.
In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion.
As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.
October 11, 2025 at 12:33 PM
UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 4: Sylvia Rivera
In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion.
As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.
In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion.
As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.
Reposted by e.c. barrett
Or maybe, just maybe, what was obvious in 2024 was correct: Netanyahu fully backed Trump and would not deal with Biden because Trump would give him a free hand to escalate the starvation, bombing, and do full ethnic cleansing. Which he then did, until Netanyahu embarrassed him by bombing Qatar.
October 13, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Or maybe, just maybe, what was obvious in 2024 was correct: Netanyahu fully backed Trump and would not deal with Biden because Trump would give him a free hand to escalate the starvation, bombing, and do full ethnic cleansing. Which he then did, until Netanyahu embarrassed him by bombing Qatar.
Reposted by e.c. barrett
