Els
@elswhere.bsky.social
Queer middle-aged Vancouverite. She/her. Library and children's book person. Sometime ukuleleist. Once and future picture book author. Talk, sing, read, write, play.
@skeskali.ca I thought of you: www.facebook.com/share/r/17X3...
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www.facebook.com
October 4, 2025 at 5:53 AM
@skeskali.ca I thought of you: www.facebook.com/share/r/17X3...
I recommend reading the entire thread. And the nested thread Rabbi Danya quotes below.
This is important to talk about, incl where it’s more about Jewish trauma & where it’s got an understandable basis (Protest chants of “burn down Tel Aviv!” have been heard, perhaps less unreasonably, as calls for the mass murder of Jews.)
Accountability must include safety for *all* civilians. +
Accountability must include safety for *all* civilians. +
I'm weary of us refusing to speak the elephant in the room so I'm just gonna say it:
The reason Jewish people didn't (and are still reluctant to) say Israel was committing genocide is they and we didn't want to provide ammunition for the people who demand that the world invade & destroy Israel.
The reason Jewish people didn't (and are still reluctant to) say Israel was committing genocide is they and we didn't want to provide ammunition for the people who demand that the world invade & destroy Israel.
August 4, 2025 at 1:51 AM
I recommend reading the entire thread. And the nested thread Rabbi Danya quotes below.
Reposted by Els
I just sent this out.
The Jewish people have moral frameworks for this moment.
It is a choice not to heed them.
Please let us meet this moment, let us see the shattered Temple around us, right now, and our responsibility to it.
The Jewish people have moral frameworks for this moment.
It is a choice not to heed them.
Please let us meet this moment, let us see the shattered Temple around us, right now, and our responsibility to it.
to Jews, on the Gaza famine
an open letter: we have been commanded
www.lifeisasacredtext.com
July 24, 2025 at 10:22 PM
I just sent this out.
The Jewish people have moral frameworks for this moment.
It is a choice not to heed them.
Please let us meet this moment, let us see the shattered Temple around us, right now, and our responsibility to it.
The Jewish people have moral frameworks for this moment.
It is a choice not to heed them.
Please let us meet this moment, let us see the shattered Temple around us, right now, and our responsibility to it.
Reposted by Els
1. Alert, and please share widely. A lawyer at the ACLU has asked me to inform my transgender readers that they should NOT be applying for passports right now - the state department has not issued guidance to comply with the court order and they are urgently trying to get them to do so.
🧵
🧵
I am getting multiple reports that the Trump admin is NOT complying with the court order requiring passport updates for transgender people.
Some passport agencies are being told not to give trans people passports with their correct gender marker, for now.
Some passport agencies are being told not to give trans people passports with their correct gender marker, for now.
June 20, 2025 at 9:59 PM
1. Alert, and please share widely. A lawyer at the ACLU has asked me to inform my transgender readers that they should NOT be applying for passports right now - the state department has not issued guidance to comply with the court order and they are urgently trying to get them to do so.
🧵
🧵
This kid! ♥️
this is a letter to the editor from a high school track runner who came in second to a trans girl in a race. her state house rep in maine started talking about it. so she wrote this: www.pressherald.com/2025/05/14/r...
May 16, 2025 at 11:34 AM
This kid! ♥️
Reposted by Els
Really great thread, and a key question…
Let's talk about these two department store owners: brother and sister Louis Bamberger and Caroline Bamberger Fuld. From Newark, New Jersey.
They are random people, basically. But in the late 1920s, with fascism taking over Europe, they made a choice that profoundly changed the world: 🧵
They are random people, basically. But in the late 1920s, with fascism taking over Europe, they made a choice that profoundly changed the world: 🧵
May 14, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Really great thread, and a key question…
Reposted by Els
Much love for Filipinx comrades and community impacted by horrific violence during Lapu-Lapu Day celebrations.
For ppl seeking support such as meal train or counseling, you can access resources thru Filipinx-led mutual aid network coming together.
Share widely:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
For ppl seeking support such as meal train or counseling, you can access resources thru Filipinx-led mutual aid network coming together.
Share widely:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Filipino Emergency Response - Request Form
If you need support, please enter your contact information below. Please note, that this is not an immediate service and one of our members will try our best to reach out to you as soon as we can.
I...
docs.google.com
April 27, 2025 at 6:43 AM
Much love for Filipinx comrades and community impacted by horrific violence during Lapu-Lapu Day celebrations.
For ppl seeking support such as meal train or counseling, you can access resources thru Filipinx-led mutual aid network coming together.
Share widely:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
For ppl seeking support such as meal train or counseling, you can access resources thru Filipinx-led mutual aid network coming together.
Share widely:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Reposted by Els
it has never been more crucial for cis lesbians to be loud in support of our trans family. this is a chilling escalation of longtime tactics; attempts at a “feminist” case for transphobia ALWAYS include a disingenuous “nooooo won’t someone think of the poor lil lesbians 🥺🥺🥺” and it is such bullshit
![Perhaps most concerningly, the Supreme Court adopts extremely transphobic rhetoric concerning transfeminine lesbians.
The Court concludes that a lesbian “must be a [AFAB] female who is sexually oriented towards (or attracted to) [AFAB] females”. The Court concludes that female here cannot include trans women, as the “concept of sexual orientation” would be “rendered meaningless”, and in its opinion, wrongly affect the composition of lesbians as a group.
The Court claims this would lead to an “inevitable loss of autonomy and dignity for lesbians”. It points to evidence from gender-critical groups like the LGB Alliance and The Lesbian Project to make this argument. They claim the inclusion of trans women is having a ‘chilling effect on lesbians’ to associate in lesbian-only spaces. The vast majority of lesbians reject this claim.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:i7aox3qj5gv2bqvlclpwcw5u/bafkreicrxzlblscgchacobotqqxbvfhiyclwilbbzjs363mwf65meyssly@jpeg)
April 19, 2025 at 7:34 PM
it has never been more crucial for cis lesbians to be loud in support of our trans family. this is a chilling escalation of longtime tactics; attempts at a “feminist” case for transphobia ALWAYS include a disingenuous “nooooo won’t someone think of the poor lil lesbians 🥺🥺🥺” and it is such bullshit
Reposted by Els
Hey Vancouver/lower mainland BC peeps!
THIS Saturday from 2-4 at the US consulate!
THIS Saturday from 2-4 at the US consulate!
April 15, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Hey Vancouver/lower mainland BC peeps!
THIS Saturday from 2-4 at the US consulate!
THIS Saturday from 2-4 at the US consulate!
Reposted by Els
This Passover I’m thinking hard about the holiday’s history of resistance to tyrannical leaders, and the imperative for Jewish people to stand with all oppressed peoples of the world.
April 13, 2025 at 12:53 AM
This Passover I’m thinking hard about the holiday’s history of resistance to tyrannical leaders, and the imperative for Jewish people to stand with all oppressed peoples of the world.
Reposted by Els
A win for truth and history: A National Park Service page(removed by Musk) on the Underground Railroad has been restored to prominently feature Harriet Tubman, after her image and quote were removed earlier this year. Now, her legacy as a fearless champion for freedom has rightfully been restored. ✊
April 8, 2025 at 1:52 AM
A win for truth and history: A National Park Service page(removed by Musk) on the Underground Railroad has been restored to prominently feature Harriet Tubman, after her image and quote were removed earlier this year. Now, her legacy as a fearless champion for freedom has rightfully been restored. ✊
Reposted by Els
It’s worth saying that book sales are down across the board so far in 2025. If you love authors, buy their books and celebrate them loudly online. We really need it.
As a sidenote, it's weird trying to do the "buy my book" dance in the middle of everything going on. It's like trying to sell ice cream during a neverending earthquake.
March 16, 2025 at 10:06 PM
It’s worth saying that book sales are down across the board so far in 2025. If you love authors, buy their books and celebrate them loudly online. We really need it.
Reposted by Els
go read the good replies
Let us speak of joy.
Tell us about something that brought you joy this week.
Tell us about something that brought you joy this week.
March 16, 2025 at 1:31 AM
go read the good replies
I'm incredibly chuffed and grateful that 14 years later, the picture book that started as a @keshet contest entry is still in print, and still being talked about. Chag Purim Sameach, and happy bookiversary to Nate and his dads 😊
Tho this is the “Nate has two dads” banned book and it’s also v charming - the queer parents are more incidental to the main plot
The Purim Superhero
Check out The Purim Superhero - <p>Nate loves aliens and he really wants to wear an alien costume for Purim, but his friends are all dressing as superheroes and he wants to fit in. What will he do? Wi...
bookshop.org
March 14, 2025 at 12:30 AM
I'm incredibly chuffed and grateful that 14 years later, the picture book that started as a @keshet contest entry is still in print, and still being talked about. Chag Purim Sameach, and happy bookiversary to Nate and his dads 😊
Reposted by Els
Some good mind games for this era:
A. Remember that Executive Orders are not laws
B. Remember that they don't have a grand plan. They have a long wish list (Project 2025), but they don’t have good ideas about how to get there, & most of their ideas are illegal. Their methods are a sh*tshow. 1/
A. Remember that Executive Orders are not laws
B. Remember that they don't have a grand plan. They have a long wish list (Project 2025), but they don’t have good ideas about how to get there, & most of their ideas are illegal. Their methods are a sh*tshow. 1/
March 11, 2025 at 2:52 AM
Some good mind games for this era:
A. Remember that Executive Orders are not laws
B. Remember that they don't have a grand plan. They have a long wish list (Project 2025), but they don’t have good ideas about how to get there, & most of their ideas are illegal. Their methods are a sh*tshow. 1/
A. Remember that Executive Orders are not laws
B. Remember that they don't have a grand plan. They have a long wish list (Project 2025), but they don’t have good ideas about how to get there, & most of their ideas are illegal. Their methods are a sh*tshow. 1/
Reposted by Els
we're in legit first they came for territory and a lot of people have been failing at this test they cite all the time
if you find yourself reluctant to support the guy at Columbia because you find some of the politics he espoused distasteful or even abhorrent, you should know that this is exactly the reaction that they hoped for in choosing him as a target for unlawful detention based on political speech.
March 10, 2025 at 7:50 PM
we're in legit first they came for territory and a lot of people have been failing at this test they cite all the time
Reposted by Els
For my American friends
I don't think the average American grasps how concerned the average Canadian is about the annexation threat.
A lot of Americans are brushing it off a backburner ridiculous thing from Trump -- but here in Canada, our prime minister is literally telling us tariffs are part of an annexation plan.
A lot of Americans are brushing it off a backburner ridiculous thing from Trump -- but here in Canada, our prime minister is literally telling us tariffs are part of an annexation plan.
March 6, 2025 at 6:46 PM
For my American friends
How am I doing? Well, I just wrote "Eat Dinner" on my to-do list so I could cross it off.
March 4, 2025 at 3:41 AM
How am I doing? Well, I just wrote "Eat Dinner" on my to-do list so I could cross it off.
Reposted by Els
I see every new piece of art or fiction as a small miracle. We live in a society where most people’s time is eaten up just trying to survive and pay the bills. We are told art has little value. Yet artists persevere and still find ways to create. That’s incredible.
March 2, 2025 at 4:31 PM
I see every new piece of art or fiction as a small miracle. We live in a society where most people’s time is eaten up just trying to survive and pay the bills. We are told art has little value. Yet artists persevere and still find ways to create. That’s incredible.
There are good things in the world.
I have a new book coming out, too. In June.
*dies of self-promotion*
*dies of self-promotion*
Up now at @reactorsff.bsky.social, the first chapter of my upcoming novel, AMONG GHOSTS!
reactormag.com/excerpts-amo...
reactormag.com/excerpts-amo...
March 2, 2025 at 6:41 PM
There are good things in the world.
Today I'm mad at chronic illness, mine and my friends', and the myriad and insidious ways in which it steals joy. That's all.
March 1, 2025 at 3:11 AM
Today I'm mad at chronic illness, mine and my friends', and the myriad and insidious ways in which it steals joy. That's all.
I did. But here we are.
You had different dreams for yourself than having to meet this shit historical moment.
I did too. I did too.
I did too. I did too.
March 1, 2025 at 12:42 AM
I did. But here we are.