Ess Jay
@essjay-reads.bsky.social
🍁Librarian, West Kootenay, BC
Mir Centre for Peace (Council)
BC Yukon Book Prizes (Board)
Make good trouble.
~*~
Mir Centre for Peace (Council)
BC Yukon Book Prizes (Board)
Make good trouble.
~*~
Reposted by Ess Jay
I teach a history of antifascism course @ruhistorydept.bsky.social and figured I'd start an ongoing thread this semester to share some insights from course readings and recommend some great works on antifascism.
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September 30, 2025 at 3:30 PM
I teach a history of antifascism course @ruhistorydept.bsky.social and figured I'd start an ongoing thread this semester to share some insights from course readings and recommend some great works on antifascism.
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Reposted by Ess Jay
To find out what kind of surveillance tech you may be facing at a protest, check out EFF’s Atlas of Surveillance: www.atlasofsurveillance.org/.
Atlas of Surveillance
Documenting Police Tech in Our Communities with Open Source Research
www.atlasofsurveillance.org
October 16, 2025 at 8:57 PM
To find out what kind of surveillance tech you may be facing at a protest, check out EFF’s Atlas of Surveillance: www.atlasofsurveillance.org/.
Reposted by Ess Jay
September 18, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Reposted by Ess Jay
Newsletter: There is nothing inevitable about artificial intelligence, outside of the media's continued deference to the power. For a better tech industry - and a better world - the media must become more accountable, more sincere, and fight for the truth for the public.
www.wheresyoured.at/sic/
www.wheresyoured.at/sic/
Sincerity Wins The War
Hello Where’s Your Ed At Subscribers! I’ve started a premium version of this newsletter with a weekly Friday column where I go over the most meaningful news and give my views, which I guess is what yo...
www.wheresyoured.at
June 16, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Newsletter: There is nothing inevitable about artificial intelligence, outside of the media's continued deference to the power. For a better tech industry - and a better world - the media must become more accountable, more sincere, and fight for the truth for the public.
www.wheresyoured.at/sic/
www.wheresyoured.at/sic/
Reposted by Ess Jay
TONIGHT! 7pm PT. Earth Day at City Lights continues! 🌱
Malcom Harris joins us in-store to discuss WHAT'S LEFT: Three Paths Through the Planetary Crisis [@aaknopf.bsky.social]
The event will be broadcast on Zoom, so if you want to catch it online, register here: citylights.com/events/malco...
Malcom Harris joins us in-store to discuss WHAT'S LEFT: Three Paths Through the Planetary Crisis [@aaknopf.bsky.social]
The event will be broadcast on Zoom, so if you want to catch it online, register here: citylights.com/events/malco...
April 22, 2025 at 9:12 PM
TONIGHT! 7pm PT. Earth Day at City Lights continues! 🌱
Malcom Harris joins us in-store to discuss WHAT'S LEFT: Three Paths Through the Planetary Crisis [@aaknopf.bsky.social]
The event will be broadcast on Zoom, so if you want to catch it online, register here: citylights.com/events/malco...
Malcom Harris joins us in-store to discuss WHAT'S LEFT: Three Paths Through the Planetary Crisis [@aaknopf.bsky.social]
The event will be broadcast on Zoom, so if you want to catch it online, register here: citylights.com/events/malco...
Reposted by Ess Jay
“It doesn’t matter if the CBC is good or bad, it’s both. It is ours, and it is us.”
In Rural Canada, CBC Brought Us the World | The Tyee
It sparked the careers of many artists. Now as the election nears, we risk losing it.
thetyee.ca
April 12, 2025 at 2:05 AM
“It doesn’t matter if the CBC is good or bad, it’s both. It is ours, and it is us.”
Reposted by Ess Jay
We're excited to announce the finalists of the 2025 BC and Yukon Book Prizes! These books represent the amazing talent and creativity in BC and Yukon, and we're honoured to be able to celebrate the work being done in our region.
bcyukonbookprizes.com/2025/04/10/b...
bcyukonbookprizes.com/2025/04/10/b...
BC and Yukon Book Prizes 2025 Shortlists Announced - BC and Yukon Book Prizes
The West Coast Book Prize Society is pleased to announce the names of the finalists vying for recognition in eight categories at the 41st Annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes: Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize aw...
bcyukonbookprizes.com
April 10, 2025 at 4:51 PM
We're excited to announce the finalists of the 2025 BC and Yukon Book Prizes! These books represent the amazing talent and creativity in BC and Yukon, and we're honoured to be able to celebrate the work being done in our region.
bcyukonbookprizes.com/2025/04/10/b...
bcyukonbookprizes.com/2025/04/10/b...
"Prime Minister Mark Carney [is] promising a $150-million boost to the CBC budget.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre . . . has promised to defund the public broadcaster . . . and is refusing to take questions from its reporters." @thetyee.ca
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre . . . has promised to defund the public broadcaster . . . and is refusing to take questions from its reporters." @thetyee.ca
CBC’s Surreal Task: Report on the Guy Who Wants It Dead | The Tyee
Poilievre has vowed to defund Canada’s public broadcaster. Try covering that.
thetyee.ca
April 8, 2025 at 4:45 PM
"Prime Minister Mark Carney [is] promising a $150-million boost to the CBC budget.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre . . . has promised to defund the public broadcaster . . . and is refusing to take questions from its reporters." @thetyee.ca
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre . . . has promised to defund the public broadcaster . . . and is refusing to take questions from its reporters." @thetyee.ca
Preserving and protecting @cbcradiocanada.bsky.social needs to be one of our top election issues of concern. PP has declared that he will defund it if elected, a surefire way to quicken Canada's descent into the disinformation hellscape currently holding the US hostage. @savethecbc.bsky.social
Carney pledges $150-million funding increase for CBC/Radio-Canada – with more to come
Pierre Poilievre accuses Liberal Leader of failing to explain where the additional public money would come from
www.theglobeandmail.com
April 5, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Preserving and protecting @cbcradiocanada.bsky.social needs to be one of our top election issues of concern. PP has declared that he will defund it if elected, a surefire way to quicken Canada's descent into the disinformation hellscape currently holding the US hostage. @savethecbc.bsky.social
@taylorowen.bsky.social "After the 2016 U.S. election Canada was remarkably resilient: polarization was low, trust in journalism was high, and news consumption remained strong.
Fast forward to 2025 . . . “almost everything that gave us resilience is either gone, or getting much, much worse.”"
Fast forward to 2025 . . . “almost everything that gave us resilience is either gone, or getting much, much worse.”"
Canada’s (Dis)information Crisis: 3 Major Threats Going Into the 45th Federal Election
YouTube video by Centre for Media, Technology & Democracy
youtu.be
March 31, 2025 at 10:46 PM
@taylorowen.bsky.social "After the 2016 U.S. election Canada was remarkably resilient: polarization was low, trust in journalism was high, and news consumption remained strong.
Fast forward to 2025 . . . “almost everything that gave us resilience is either gone, or getting much, much worse.”"
Fast forward to 2025 . . . “almost everything that gave us resilience is either gone, or getting much, much worse.”"
“As a historian of the 1930s, of totalitarianism … of this unhinging from empirical reality that happened in Russia, I was able to see certain things sooner in my own country than I would have otherwise been able to see.” @marcishore.bsky.social
U.S. professors who left Yale for University of Toronto raise alarm about Trump crackdown
The professors, who are vocal critics of the U.S. President, have taken up roles at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy
www.theglobeandmail.com
March 30, 2025 at 4:33 AM
“As a historian of the 1930s, of totalitarianism … of this unhinging from empirical reality that happened in Russia, I was able to see certain things sooner in my own country than I would have otherwise been able to see.” @marcishore.bsky.social
Alma Lee's @writersfest.bc.ca has grown to be such a fun and unique lit fest experience.
It is with the deepest sorrow that we announce the passing of the Vancouver Writers Fest’s founding artistic director, Alma Lee. Alma’s vision and dedication put Vancouver on the literary map. She passed away peacefully on March 28, 2025.
writersfest.bc.ca/alma-lee-mem...
writersfest.bc.ca/alma-lee-mem...
Alma Lee: In Memoriam | Vancouver Writers Fest
In Loving Memory of Alma Lee “Short, curly-haired, powerful as a bundle of dynamite—how she has cared for us, put up with us, comforted us, sung our praises whether we deserved it or not. The Fes...
writersfest.bc.ca
March 29, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Alma Lee's @writersfest.bc.ca has grown to be such a fun and unique lit fest experience.
"If you are tired of the drumbeat of inevitability that insists English faculty adopt AI into our teaching practices . . . you are allowed to object. There is no path to ethically teach AI skills. Not only are we allowed to say no, we ought to think deeply about the why of that no."
Another one I really appreciate is this piece by @melaniedusseau.bsky.social
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
Burn it down: a license for AI resistance (opinion)
Resistance is not futile, Melanie Dusseau writes.
www.insidehighered.com
March 24, 2025 at 6:55 PM
"If you are tired of the drumbeat of inevitability that insists English faculty adopt AI into our teaching practices . . . you are allowed to object. There is no path to ethically teach AI skills. Not only are we allowed to say no, we ought to think deeply about the why of that no."
I’m always rooting for the urgent rebellion of creative well-read teenagers.
Ukraine’s clandestine book club defies Russia’s push to rewrite history
Risking discovery and even prison, teenage readers meet in secret to discuss texts that Putin’s troops are trying to erase
www.theguardian.com
March 23, 2025 at 6:17 AM
I’m always rooting for the urgent rebellion of creative well-read teenagers.
“Hoping that Google or hoping that Meta is going to save us in terms of local news production is a real fool’s errand,” said @davidmaccdn.bsky.social, co-author of new @policyalternatives.ca report News Deprivation. @civicplan.bsky.social #misinformation www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...
Local news coverage in Canada in steep decline, inviting misinformation, report finds
The report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives found that almost 2.5 million Canadians live in a postal code with either one or zero local news outlets, double the proportion from 2008
www.theglobeandmail.com
March 20, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Reposted by Ess Jay
Privacy isn’t about hiding—it’s about trust and control over our own information. In her #SXSW 2025 Keynote, Signal President, @meredithmeredith.bsky.social breaks down why our privacy matters.
March 8, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Privacy isn’t about hiding—it’s about trust and control over our own information. In her #SXSW 2025 Keynote, Signal President, @meredithmeredith.bsky.social breaks down why our privacy matters.
Reposted by Ess Jay
We’re celebrating both International Women’s Day (March 8th) and Women’s History Month (March) virtually tonight starting at 8pm central.
Click twitch.tv/djjakerudh then and be inspired by brilliant and groundbreaking artists from the 1970s, ‘80s & ‘90s punk, post-punk, new wave and indie scenes!
Click twitch.tv/djjakerudh then and be inspired by brilliant and groundbreaking artists from the 1970s, ‘80s & ‘90s punk, post-punk, new wave and indie scenes!
March 7, 2025 at 7:47 PM
We’re celebrating both International Women’s Day (March 8th) and Women’s History Month (March) virtually tonight starting at 8pm central.
Click twitch.tv/djjakerudh then and be inspired by brilliant and groundbreaking artists from the 1970s, ‘80s & ‘90s punk, post-punk, new wave and indie scenes!
Click twitch.tv/djjakerudh then and be inspired by brilliant and groundbreaking artists from the 1970s, ‘80s & ‘90s punk, post-punk, new wave and indie scenes!
Reposted by Ess Jay
"In these possibly last days... I will not tell you how many tons of carbon per acre the old and mature forests absorb," Rick Bass wrote in 2022. "Know that it is a lot. That data and science are out there."
On the importance of our old growth forests as they face new attacks.
On the importance of our old growth forests as they face new attacks.
From the Oldest Forest in Montana - Orion Magazine
When a forest gets to be this old and untouched, it becomes something more than a forest.
orionmagazine.org
March 6, 2025 at 4:50 PM
"In these possibly last days... I will not tell you how many tons of carbon per acre the old and mature forests absorb," Rick Bass wrote in 2022. "Know that it is a lot. That data and science are out there."
On the importance of our old growth forests as they face new attacks.
On the importance of our old growth forests as they face new attacks.
Guernica-inspired. The clocks do seem to be surrealistically melting backwards.
Great piece from @chaykak.bsky.social on America’s technofascism — includes some of my work on 1990s Silicon Valley, as well as other important precursors
www.newyorker.com/culture/infi...
www.newyorker.com/culture/infi...
Techno-Fascism Comes to America
The historic parallels that help explain Elon Musk’s rampage on the federal government.
www.newyorker.com
February 27, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Guernica-inspired. The clocks do seem to be surrealistically melting backwards.
Reposted by Ess Jay
Happy publication day to Ira Wells' ON BOOK BANNING 🎉🎉🎉Just in time for Freedom to Read Week
"What emerges in this deceptively slim and powerful volume is the voice of a devoted reader – ON BOOK BANNING is a testament to the life-altering power of books and ideas."—Quill & Quire
"What emerges in this deceptively slim and powerful volume is the voice of a devoted reader – ON BOOK BANNING is a testament to the life-altering power of books and ideas."—Quill & Quire
February 25, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Happy publication day to Ira Wells' ON BOOK BANNING 🎉🎉🎉Just in time for Freedom to Read Week
"What emerges in this deceptively slim and powerful volume is the voice of a devoted reader – ON BOOK BANNING is a testament to the life-altering power of books and ideas."—Quill & Quire
"What emerges in this deceptively slim and powerful volume is the voice of a devoted reader – ON BOOK BANNING is a testament to the life-altering power of books and ideas."—Quill & Quire
Praise be to the Humanities.
Hey, artists, in case you were wondering if your work matters: I'm a scientist working on climate change and biodiversity, and I would not be who I am today without The Lorax, The Secret of NIMH, Watership Down, The Last Unicorn, and The X-Files. I know I'm not alone. Thank you for all you do.
February 26, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Praise be to the Humanities.
Reposted by Ess Jay
“When profit becomes the only motive for culture, originality ceases to be. The algorithm only knows what is – it cannot invent what has not yet been.” Dolores McElroy
February 24, 2025 at 9:01 PM
“When profit becomes the only motive for culture, originality ceases to be. The algorithm only knows what is – it cannot invent what has not yet been.” Dolores McElroy
Reposted by Ess Jay
It's hard to shake the sense that if generative AI were any other tech trend—without the AGI mythology, the industry-wide bias confirmation, the historic levels of investment many firms treat as sunk costs—the AI boom would either just be one pretty successful app or dead in a ditch altogether.
Newsletter: There is no AI Revolution. Consumer adoption of generative AI outside of ChatGPT is barely 100 million people, every single company in generative AI is deeply unprofitable, Microsoft is pulling capex, and OpenAI spent $9bn in 2024 to lose $5bn.
www.wheresyoured.at/wheres-the-m...
www.wheresyoured.at/wheres-the-m...
There Is No AI Revolution
Soundtrack: Mack Glocky - Chasing Cars
Last week, I spent a great deal of time and words framing the generative AI industry as a cynical con where OpenAI's Sam Altman and Anthropic's Dario Amodei hav...
www.wheresyoured.at
February 24, 2025 at 11:46 PM
It's hard to shake the sense that if generative AI were any other tech trend—without the AGI mythology, the industry-wide bias confirmation, the historic levels of investment many firms treat as sunk costs—the AI boom would either just be one pretty successful app or dead in a ditch altogether.