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elishamay.bsky.social
Elisha
@elishamay.bsky.social
200 followers 150 following 130 posts
writer, publisher, hiker

(she/her)
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elishamay.bsky.social
I'll be reading some #BruceTrail poems at MA|DE's #ptbo launch of ZZOO!

Wednesday June 18, 7PM
Take Cover Books
MA|DE presents ZZOO Peterborough Launch Reading & Signing Guest readings by: Murgatroyd Monaghan Elisha Rubacha Wed June 18 at 7PM Take Cover Books 59 Hunter St
June 4, 2025 at 10:37 PM
elishamay.bsky.social
None of the "Caprock Poems" manuscript would exist without public funding for the arts.

Thank you to @ontarioarts.bsky.social for supporting my continued work on this project, and thanks to Brick Books for recommending me for funding.

#OAC #RecommenderGrants

#BruceTrail #CanLit #Poetry
March 7, 2025 at 5:19 PM
elishamay.bsky.social
I couldn't stop thinking about this photograph, so I spent my afternoon and evening sitting with it.

#StandWithUkraine
Acrylic painting of Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump on a circular wood block, based on a photograph taken by Doug Mills while Trump yelled at Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. Zelenskyy looks into the camera almost like Jim from The Office, but full of what I assume is a mix of rage and disbelief (and which I admit isn't properly captured in his expression in the painting.) Same painting, but viewed from an angle to show the sides of the wood block painted the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag.
March 2, 2025 at 12:48 AM
elishamay.bsky.social
Get yourself down to Bijoux Bar right NOW for LIVE poetry and broadsides by Justin Million and @jacksoncreek.bsky.social.

#KEYBOARDS
Letterpress poster by Jackson Creek Press: KEYBOARDS Live poetry and broadsides Bijoux Bar Feb 28th, 7-9PM 399 Water St PTBO NOGO
March 1, 2025 at 12:07 AM
elishamay.bsky.social
While I don't approve of "land barons" in the real world, I am pretty pumped to have built all three possible homesteads in #Skyrim.

I have been so hyperfocused on completing this that I still haven't even chosen a side in the civil war yet. 😂

#SkyrimAchievements
Skyrim Achievements, including: Master Architect [Build three houses. 3% of players have this achievement.] Land Baron [Buy three plots of land. 4.7% of players have this achievement.]
February 15, 2025 at 1:22 PM
elishamay.bsky.social
Strategic voters in #ptbo, we now have an even vote split between left and right.

Please just vote for whichever candidate/party you REALLY believe in!
Peterborough—Kawartha Candidates: Jen Deck – Ontario NDP/NPD Lucas Graham – Green Party of Ontario Adam Hopkins – Ontario Liberal Party Brian Martindale – Ontario Party Andrew Roudny – New Blue Party Dave Smith – PC Party of Ontario (incumbent)
February 14, 2025 at 12:13 PM
elishamay.bsky.social
Provincial All Candidates Meeting on Housing and Homelessness in #PTBO TONIGHT at 7PM at All Saints, or watch on the livestream here:

www.youtube.com/@allsaintspe...
Peterborough Housing and Homelessness All Candidates Debate: February 12 2025, 7PM - 9PM at All Saints Anglican Church (235 Rubidge Street) Hosted by One City Peterborough, United Way Peterborough & District, Research for Social Change Lab, and All Saints Anglican Church.
February 12, 2025 at 8:30 PM
elishamay.bsky.social
Just started wading into this document @troutinplaid.bsky.social shared with me but can already tell it's brilliant!

"Ministry of Imagination: An imagination-based manifesto for times that need one."

Smash this link to get the PDF 👇🏼

www.robhopkins.net/wp-content/u...
Front cover of "Ministry of Imagination", featuring digital collage art. The report is "Harvested by Rob Hopkins from the guests of the From What If To What Next podcast."
February 8, 2025 at 9:46 PM
elishamay.bsky.social
It was one of those mornings where it was extremely difficult to haul myself out of bed and to the gym. - But I got there and did the thing!

Showing up is truly WAY harder than working out, at least for me at this point.

Early mornings in the dark suck, but I love putting the work in.

#fitnesssky
"The hardest part is over. You showed up." - Jess Sims
February 5, 2025 at 1:56 PM
elishamay.bsky.social
We need fairer taxation.

#TaxTheRich

[Stats borrowed from @oxfaminternational.bsky.social

Source: www.oxfam.org/en/research/... ]
"For every dollar of tax revenue globally, on average just 4 cents are made up of revenue from wealth taxes." From Oxfam's 2019 report "Public Good or Private Wealth?" While the richest continue to enjoy booming fortunes, they are also enjoying some of the lowest levels of tax in decades – as are the corporations that they own: • Wealth is particularly undertaxed. Only 4 cents in every dollar of tax revenue comes from taxes on wealth. • In rich countries, the average top rate of personal income tax fell from 62% in 1970 to 38% in 2013. In developing countries, the average top rate of personal income tax is 28%. • In some countries like Brazil and the UK, the poorest 10% are now paying a higher proportion of their incomes in tax than the richest 10%. ‘Financing the education of the poorest children is saving lives and it is constructing the future of the world.’ – Illiassou Boubagar, ROTAB Alliance for Budget Transparency, Niger • Governments should focus their efforts on raising more from the very wealthy to help fight inequality. For example, getting the richest to pay just 0.5% extra tax on their wealth could raise more money than it would cost to educate all 262 million children out of school and provide healthcare that would save the lives of 3.3 million people. • The super-rich are hiding $7.6 trillion from the tax authorities. Corporates also hide large amounts offshore. Together this deprives developing countries of $170bn a year. [Graphic also includes pie chart of breakdown of tax revenue, and an image reiterating the fact above about $7.6 trillion being hidden from tax authorities.]
February 3, 2025 at 4:38 PM
elishamay.bsky.social
"A ribbon of wilderness" is what the Bruce Trail Conservancy aims to preserve, the trail following as closely to the Niagara Escarpment as possible.

Looking at that part of the map is a bit sad since it really is just a thin ribbon that remains, but look at the rest.

Blue is tree gain from 2000-20
A tree cover map showing the entire length of the Bruce Trail, which runs from Tobermory down to Niagara. The part of the map North-Northwest of Hamilton is far more densely tree covered, with significant tree gain between 2000 to 2020 [pictured in blue].
February 2, 2025 at 2:42 PM
elishamay.bsky.social
Thinking more about forests this morning and found myself looking at various maps, including the tree cover map pictured below.

I was struck by my immediate recognition of the line of the Bruce Trail crossing from Hamilton, through Grimsby, all the way to St. Catharines.

"A ribbon of wilderness."
On top, the Bruce Trail App map, and below, a tree cover map, both centred on Grimsby, with Hamilton on the far left, and St. Catharines on the right. The tree cover map has a largely unbroken green line of trees following the Niagara Escarpment. Because the Bruce Trail traces along the Niagara Escarpment, the lines on these two maps are almost identical - a clear illustration of the "ribbon of wilderness" the Bruce Trail Conservancy aims to preserve.
February 2, 2025 at 2:32 PM
elishamay.bsky.social
I really appreciate the arts coverage, but what this [pay-walled] article misses is that artists need *multiple sources of funding* to apply in some grant streams.

Having funding available at the municipal level can open doors to other opportunities that we may not be able to access otherwise.
Screenshot of the Ontario Arts Council webpage for Multi and Inter-Arts Projects: "Your application will include: -basic information about the project -your answers to application questions a project budget --The OAC will not fund 100 per cent of a project except in the Creation category. --Applications to the other categories must include a range of revenue sources such as other arts grants, box-office sales, registrant fees and so on. -artistic examples: documentation of past programming and/or artwork by participating artists. This video may help: Preparing Effective Support Material for Theatre, Dance and Performance-Based Multi and Inter-Arts. -support documents: résumés, bios"
January 27, 2025 at 5:27 PM
elishamay.bsky.social
Can't seem to find my copy of this @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social book at the moment, but it's my recommended read for the times we are living in.

People are quite good at coming together in moments of need.

Order it through your local book seller, and have your faith in humanity restored.
Cover of Rebecca Solnit's book "A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster"
January 25, 2025 at 2:41 PM
elishamay.bsky.social
Some photos of Rookie, our pug-spaniel puppy, to break up all the politics I've been dropping in your feed. 🐾
Rookie, a pug-spaniel puppy who looks a bit like a black lab, in a four-photo collage.
January 25, 2025 at 2:25 PM
elishamay.bsky.social
Ban billionaires.

#maximumwage
#poetry #poem
@thesedayszine.bsky.social
A poem titled "uncharted" with a graph in the background of Ontario's minimum wage rates and value in 2023 dollars, which also illustrates that rates were frozen half the time between 1989 and 2023. The poem, written by Elisha May Rubacha, and published in These Days, reads: here is our floor where is their ceiling?
January 25, 2025 at 12:51 AM
elishamay.bsky.social
Probably have too many copies of that one lol
A JD Salinger box set, as well as other Salinger works, and most significantly three total copies of Franny and Zooey.
January 24, 2025 at 11:57 PM
elishamay.bsky.social
So happy to learn about this feature! Toggled on!
A screenshot of the "Require Alt Text" feature toggled on. [It is in your "accessibility" settings!]
January 24, 2025 at 7:54 PM
elishamay.bsky.social
Here... but also working really hard to keep hope alive for myself and others.

[The City folks in the truck in the background cleaned this mess up. We all need to roll up our sleeves and do the same!]
January 24, 2025 at 2:02 PM
elishamay.bsky.social
#RedFever - the opening night film at #ReFrameFilmFestival - was incredible!

One of my dearest friends, Eryn Lidster, is the creative director of the festival and it looks like she has programmed a fascinating line up of films.

Don't miss it!

reframefilmfestival.ca
January 24, 2025 at 1:38 PM
elishamay.bsky.social
I'm not seeing what you are seeing...

#basicincome IS in the NDP platform (tho admittedly an incremental approach) and they only worked with the Liberals on the condition they implement some of the other policies you mentioned.

[See screenshots attached]
With the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, we have seen what’s possible when governments mobilize to make a livable income a priority. But unlike the Liberals, who moved quickly to cut these benefits, New Democrats won’t stop there – we’ll get to work right away building towards a guaranteed livable income for all Canadians. We’ll start this work immediately by lifting every senior and person living with a disability out of poverty, and build from there until every Canadian can count on a basic livable income when they need it. This will be complemented by bold new investments in housing, health care, post-secondary education and training to set all Canadians up to succeed. In time, New Democrats will work to expand all income security programs to ensure everyone in Canada has access to a guaranteed livable basic income. Making the creation of a guaranteed livable basic income a priority will strengthen our social safety net and finally ensure dignity, security and peace of mind for everyone in Canada. The 2021 Canadian federal election resulted in a minority government for the incumbent Liberal Party of Canada led by Justin Trudeau, establishing the 44th Canadian Parliament.[4] Six months later, the New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) led by Jagmeet Singh formed a confidence and supply agreement with the Liberal Party to ensure the latter would govern until 2025.[5] The NDP support was contingent on the Liberals agreeing to a set of priorities for the session of Parliament, among them to establish national dental care and pharmacare programs.[6] The dental care program had been a long-standing priority for the NDP,[7] which had campaigned during the 2019 and 2021 Canadian federal elections to implement such a program if elected.[8]
January 23, 2025 at 6:05 PM
elishamay.bsky.social
Offering up this #poem I wrote [for a specific anthology, from which it was rejected] in hopes that it might inspire some hope in others. - Hope and more specifically *defiance* in the face of oppression.

[Not my usual sort of #poetry, which is why I don't mind giving it away for free.]
revision by Elisha May Rubacha imagine Pandora a rebel maybe she saw her box as an opportunity a chance at direct defiance here is this thing somehow a gift that she’s forbidden to open so she opens it just to resist Zeus made by request of Zeus the first mortal woman is given gifts by all the gods so she might tempt a titan and unleash evils on man herself tempted into opening Zeus’ box her entire function without agency a story written by men they say hope remains in the box but maybe Pandora provides hope maybe she calls the emptied box a toolbox and stocks it with that one tool that every rebellion needs
January 23, 2025 at 12:35 PM
elishamay.bsky.social
#ptbo NDP candidates *are* listed on the website and I've been told they are planning on joining bluesky.

They would always welcome more volunteer support if anyone is interested in helping out.
The Peterborough Kawartha NDP website with candidates Heather Ray (federal) and Jen Deck (provincial) listed in the menu.
January 22, 2025 at 3:32 PM
elishamay.bsky.social
Please follow the new @basicincomeptbo.bsky.social account I just setup!

BIPN is cooking up some great projects. Our Hope Series started last year with the aim of creating solidarity between transformative movements, and we'll be seeking committee members in #ptbo for our Festival of Hope soon.
Elisha Rubacha and Joëlle Favreau, members of Basic Income Peterborough Network, holding up a BASIC INCOME NOW sign together.
January 21, 2025 at 2:56 PM
elishamay.bsky.social
Was asked by @ptboexaminer.bsky.social for a quote in relation to homelessness and tonight's frostbite alert for #ptbo.

I will always promote upstream solutions. Our housing crisis is a *systemic* problem. We can choose to change our systems and prevent human suffering.
“While we of course need a robust shelter system, we cannot expect that system to take the place of adequate housing, and in particular, supportive housing,” stated Elisha Rubacha, community impact officer for United Way Peterborough and District, by email. According to UWPD’s last available 2021 Point in Time Count, 176 people experiencing homelessness participated in the survey. “While tonight’s frostbite alert may elevate concern for our unhoused residents and even motivate much needed charitable giving, we must also turn our efforts to advocacy,” she stated. “The suffering that will surely be experienced on cold nights like these is preventable.”
January 20, 2025 at 10:00 PM