Jen
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jkmahal.bsky.social
Jen
@jkmahal.bsky.social
1.3K followers 1.6K following 500 posts
Former lots of things, current Jill-of-all-trades. Also Associate Director of the Center for Monster Studies at UC Santa Cruz. Manga lover. Anime fan. Quaker. Unashamed reader of romance. Will write for food.
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jkmahal.bsky.social
This is a quick down and dirty version, but I’d buy a T-shirt like this. (Image is public domain, taken from the original WPA poster)
Rosie the Riveter saying “I’m Jasmine Crockett’s type. “
November 6, 2025 at 6:38 PM
jkmahal.bsky.social
Bribing people to donate to @ucscmonsters.bsky.social
. We’re raising money for the 2026 Festival of Monsters and the $ is matched. So, if you would like me to make you an emotional support ghost, donate $30+ and send proof/address to ucscmonsters at gmail and I’ll make you one! bit.ly/monstergive
A crocheted ghost with a UCSC Center for Monster Studies button on a table with marigolds and candles.
November 6, 2025 at 12:33 AM
jkmahal.bsky.social
I voted. Did you? Get out there and do it!!!
An I Voted sticker with a sea otter holding a heart next to a wave. A hibiscus flower is next to it.
November 4, 2025 at 5:13 PM
jkmahal.bsky.social
My shark-loving kid decided to carve this as her Halloween pumpkin.
A shark with teeth Jack-o-lantern.
November 1, 2025 at 7:56 PM
jkmahal.bsky.social
This is the costume I’m working on for the boy. Hope the forecast gets better for you.
A beanie decorated to look like Derpy from K-pop Demon Hunter.
October 29, 2025 at 5:30 AM
jkmahal.bsky.social
Honestly, I don’t know why the clerk at the taqueria was so surprised to see me tonight. It’s not like we don’t go there every Monday after the kid’s Pokemon tourney…. Riiiiight. It was Pokeween! The night all Poke-moms turn Pikachu.
A brown skinned woman in glasses wearing a bright yellow pikachu onesie.
October 28, 2025 at 5:55 AM
jkmahal.bsky.social
Thank you for being part of our Festival of Monsters!! We enjoyed having you and @gretchenmcneil.bsky.social and @natcassidy.bsky.social at @bookshopsantacruz.bsky.social yesterday. Safe flight.
Gretchen McNeil, Nat Cassidy and Alma Katsu hold up their books after the Oh the Horror panel at Bookshop Santa Cruz, part of the 2025 Festival of Monsters
October 19, 2025 at 5:42 PM
jkmahal.bsky.social
David Livingstone Smith is giving the keynote speech for the 2025 Festival of Monsters. He is sharing his view that dehumanization is the attitude of conceiving of others as less-than-human creatures.
David Livingstone Smith gives the opening keynote at the 2025 Festival of Monsters in Santa Cruz, Calif.
October 16, 2025 at 12:42 AM
jkmahal.bsky.social
The Festival of Monsters has begun!!
Michael Chemers, director of the UC Santa Cruz Center for Monster Studies, opens the 2025 Festival of Monsters.
October 16, 2025 at 12:34 AM
jkmahal.bsky.social
Only 2 weeks before the Festival of Monsters! Keynote 10/15 David Livingstone Smith, conference 10/16-17, and events including a panel with @almakatsu.bsky.social , @natcassidy.bsky.social and @gretchenmcneil.bsky.social at @bookshopsantacruz.bsky.social on 10/18. Details monsterstudies.ucsc.edu
A skeletal monster with a skeleton bird on its tongue is the poster image for the 2025 Festival of Monsters (Oct 15-18) in Santa Cruz, Calif.
October 1, 2025 at 8:38 PM
jkmahal.bsky.social
I am so proud of my husband @n-w-f.bsky.social’s new book: Animal Crossing New Horizons: Can a Game Take Care of Us? It’s deeply personal and made me cry (in a good way). He got his preview copy today (it’s out Oct. 9 ) and I just have to share the preface…. Congratulations, my love.
Book page from Animal Crossing New Horizons: Can a Game Take Care of Us? “Preface I Hated Animal Crossing I’m passionate about Animal Crossing New Horizons. This book is the story of how that passion developed, how it turned to hatred, and then how that hatred came undone. It’s the story of playing a game with my kids, while the COVID-19 swept by outside our windows. It’s a story about fatherhood and paternalism, about trying care for my kids as a disabled dad, and about a game codesigned by a father who hoped to caretaker at a distance. It’s a book about wondering ‘Can a game help take care of us in a time of crisis? Do we want it to try? And what do we have to give up to fall into its embrace?’ Noah Wardrip-Fruin Santa Cruz, Calif. April 2024
September 12, 2025 at 1:55 AM
jkmahal.bsky.social
I just started @slackmistress.bsky.social ‘s The Crone Zone and I love it. Highly recommend. Bought it on a whim and do not regret. Favorite quote so far: “It’s like a Voltron of caretaking expectations.”
Cover of Nina Bargiel’s book “The Crone Zone” featuring witchy herbs, skulls , a cauldron, mushrooms, a candle and other illustrations.
September 2, 2025 at 7:26 PM
jkmahal.bsky.social
This image, which my kid created for the 2023 Festival of Monsters, is why :)
A sticker from the 2023 Festival of monsters featuring a cartoonish image of the creature from the black lagoon holding Medusa.
July 11, 2025 at 4:24 AM
jkmahal.bsky.social
#nokings #nokingsday
Picture of Martin Luther King Jr. with the words “The only king América Needs”
June 14, 2025 at 8:26 PM
jkmahal.bsky.social
Here’s means my sign at the end of the Santa Cruz #HandsOff rally. One estimate had the crowd at 9,000.
A woman in a face mask holding a Hands Off sign.
April 6, 2025 at 1:03 AM
jkmahal.bsky.social
Proud of my Santa Cruz community for showing up for #HandsOff. Some estimates had the crowd at 9,000. That would mean one out of every 6-7 people in the city were there!
A crowd of protestors holding signs at a Hands Off protest in Santa Cruz, Calif. some estimates had the crowd number at 9,000. A crowd of protestors holding signs at a Hands Off protest in California.
April 5, 2025 at 11:45 PM
jkmahal.bsky.social
I am sick with a cold, but that won’t stop me from going to my local #handsoff protest (masked of course). Hope many of you are out there. #nokings
A handmade sign that says “Hands Off” with the words “science, National Institutes of Health, Department of Education, Peace Corps, forests, NASA, Food and Drug Admin, National Parks, water, Treasury, National Endowment for the Arts, Fish and Wildlife, IRS, Schools, Social Security, Canters for Disease Control, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, Veteran’s Affairs, IMLS, Clean Air, WIC, SNAP, National Endowment for the Humanities, Libraries, National Archives…and so much more” underneath. At the bottom, five stick figures hold protest signs that say: “Tariffs are taxes,” “No Kings,” “Due Process for All - Immigrants too,” “Trans Rights and Human Rights” and “F*ELON”
April 5, 2025 at 6:09 PM
jkmahal.bsky.social
My daughter and I spent some time tonight drawing postcards to send to federal workers with words of encouragement. It’s a little thing, inspired by someone else on this app, but we hope it will bring a moment of joy to those under siege in these trying times.
A pile of handmade postcards meant for federal workers. The cards are each unique. Two have whales with jellyfish, one has a Love stamp, one has a school of sardines, one has a goldfish. There is also a bunny sleeping on top of a mushroom and an astronaut with stars.
March 21, 2025 at 5:25 AM
jkmahal.bsky.social
My son and I attended the local Stand Up For Science protest. Was very proud of my 10yo, who spoke to the crowd of around 150-200 and told them “We have to, each one of us, stand up for science and our community.” #standupforscience2025
A woman (Jen M) and her son stand with protest signs for Science at a rally. A sign that reads “Every Disaster Movie Starts with Scientists Being Ignored,” seen at the local Stand Up for Science rally. Signs reading “Science not Silence” and “Slugs 4 Science” at a Stand Up for Science rally.
March 7, 2025 at 9:33 PM
jkmahal.bsky.social
My son and I are ready to Stand Up for Science tomorrow!!
A sign that says “Science is Everything” with the word “Everything” using elements from the periodic table — vanadium, erbium, yttrium, thorium and indium. There are also drawings of a human heart, whales, hammerhead sharks, a bee, a duck, planets, stars, test tubes, an infinity sign and an atomic model. A poster with an image of an asteroid heading towards the earth with the words “Only Science can Save Us. Fund Science. NIH/NSF/NOAA/USGS and more.”
March 7, 2025 at 6:57 AM
jkmahal.bsky.social
In honor of Pokémon Day and to lighten the darkness just a little, I present to you a photo of moi dressed as a poké ball. My son was Intellion that year (made his costume, which was better than mine.)
A woman (me, Jen M) wearing a pokemon ball sandwich board costume.
February 28, 2025 at 6:10 AM
jkmahal.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.
#BookSky
💙📚
#Books
#BookChallenge
#20daybookchallenge

Day 8/ 20
The cover of Katie Fforde’s Life Skills has a woman with a basket walking past a trio of oversized reeds.
November 26, 2024 at 5:24 PM
jkmahal.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.
#BookSky
💙📚
#Books
#BookChallenge
#20daybookchallenge

Day 7/20
A flowery cover of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.
November 26, 2024 at 6:22 AM
jkmahal.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.
#BookSky
💙📚
#Books
#BookChallenge
#20daybookchallenge

Day 6/20
The cover (black words on yellow) of Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo.
November 25, 2024 at 3:55 PM
jkmahal.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.
#BookSky
💙📚
#Books
#BookChallenge
#20daybookchallenge

Day 5/20
The cover of Friday by Robert Heinlein. A woman in a jumpsuit stands in front of a space portal
November 24, 2024 at 4:45 AM