Lara Trale
@laratrale.bsky.social
Doing what I can; canning what I don't.
She/they. Anti-fascist. Public services enthusiast.
Oakland, California / Lisjan Ohlone land.
She/they. Anti-fascist. Public services enthusiast.
Oakland, California / Lisjan Ohlone land.
Public education, even
I'll say again: we are oddly selective about the government services about which we will say, they operate at a loss.
We say Amtrak and the post office "lose money" but we never say highways, the court system, the Pentagon, etc lose money
We say Amtrak and the post office "lose money" but we never say highways, the court system, the Pentagon, etc lose money
The USPS posting a NINE BILLION DOLLAR LOSS!!! sounds terrible. Certainly worse than if you said "USPS costs thirty dollars per person per year" even though that means the same thing and more accurately describes a government service
December 7, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Public education, even
What a doofus; until everyone's ways get to be normal, there's no future in "cultural normalcy"
California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Thursday that the Democratic Party needed to be “more culturally normal” and “less judgmental.”
December 7, 2025 at 7:58 PM
What a doofus; until everyone's ways get to be normal, there's no future in "cultural normalcy"
Notes from today's sort-of run at Lake Merritt:
It will never stop being a thrill to walk through the OMCA gardens on the way to/from the lake.
Running with a headphone in and music thumping is nice, actually! Kind of invigorating. Do the people know?
Ladies love pelicans.
It will never stop being a thrill to walk through the OMCA gardens on the way to/from the lake.
Running with a headphone in and music thumping is nice, actually! Kind of invigorating. Do the people know?
Ladies love pelicans.
November 9, 2025 at 4:18 AM
Notes from today's sort-of run at Lake Merritt:
It will never stop being a thrill to walk through the OMCA gardens on the way to/from the lake.
Running with a headphone in and music thumping is nice, actually! Kind of invigorating. Do the people know?
Ladies love pelicans.
It will never stop being a thrill to walk through the OMCA gardens on the way to/from the lake.
Running with a headphone in and music thumping is nice, actually! Kind of invigorating. Do the people know?
Ladies love pelicans.
Just eyeballing my cat while we both listen to some owls converse above the freeway noise
October 7, 2025 at 6:13 AM
Just eyeballing my cat while we both listen to some owls converse above the freeway noise
@jeopardypodcast.bsky.social Working through a backlog of episodes, and I just need you to know I got the Sutter BFJ. I was alone, and had this convo with myself over the paused podcast:
"John Sutter! John? James? No, Marshall was James. They'll probably accept just Sutter, though, right?"
"John Sutter! John? James? No, Marshall was James. They'll probably accept just Sutter, though, right?"
July 25, 2025 at 2:52 PM
@jeopardypodcast.bsky.social Working through a backlog of episodes, and I just need you to know I got the Sutter BFJ. I was alone, and had this convo with myself over the paused podcast:
"John Sutter! John? James? No, Marshall was James. They'll probably accept just Sutter, though, right?"
"John Sutter! John? James? No, Marshall was James. They'll probably accept just Sutter, though, right?"
Petri remains exceptional
“how much can possibly happen when I’m on parental leave” I asked in January of 2025
anyway uh I have a new job just in time for President Trump’s tank parade www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
anyway uh I have a new job just in time for President Trump’s tank parade www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
So, What Did I Miss?
“How much can possibly happen when I’m on parental leave?” I said five months ago.
www.theatlantic.com
June 13, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Petri remains exceptional
Here's my art submission for indivisible.org's #NoKings protests.
You can submit, too, at nokings.org/art!
You can submit, too, at nokings.org/art!
June 11, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Here's my art submission for indivisible.org's #NoKings protests.
You can submit, too, at nokings.org/art!
You can submit, too, at nokings.org/art!
Pretty sure this is one of @naominovik.bsky.social 's baby maw-mouths. Watch out!
May I present the mascot for the Halifax Oyster Festival, Pearl
June 4, 2025 at 11:43 PM
Pretty sure this is one of @naominovik.bsky.social 's baby maw-mouths. Watch out!
Gemini AI has apparently read everything I've ever written and is making the computer-based aspects of my life appreciably worse. Nowhere in the platform can I, an individual, opt out.
I'm far from the first to say this, but if you have made a product that people want, you make it a choice.
I'm far from the first to say this, but if you have made a product that people want, you make it a choice.
June 1, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Gemini AI has apparently read everything I've ever written and is making the computer-based aspects of my life appreciably worse. Nowhere in the platform can I, an individual, opt out.
I'm far from the first to say this, but if you have made a product that people want, you make it a choice.
I'm far from the first to say this, but if you have made a product that people want, you make it a choice.
WE SOLVE MURDERS by Richard Osman. Another jolly little mystery. I knew what to expect storywise, and got it, but missed the greater emotional resonance of the Thursday Murder Club. The father-in-law/daughter-in-law team was a treat.
THE DREAM HOTEL by Laila Lalami. One of those brutal dystopias where every time you put the book down to catch your breath, you remember actually this shit has been real, is real now, and is getting worse. It's a book that makes you want to hurl your shoes into the gears of progress.
May 10, 2025 at 4:07 PM
WE SOLVE MURDERS by Richard Osman. Another jolly little mystery. I knew what to expect storywise, and got it, but missed the greater emotional resonance of the Thursday Murder Club. The father-in-law/daughter-in-law team was a treat.
Done!
If you feel an inchoate itch to preorder a book, you can scratch here:
bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)
Check out The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) - <p><b>"Alameddine is a writer with a boundless imagination."--NPR</b></p><p><b>From National Book Award finalist and winner of the...
bookshop.org
May 10, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Done!
Your world has probably served you a lot of messages that youth = beauty = worth.
Scrub these from how you perceive others. You'll probably like yourself and your future more as a result.
Scrub these from how you perceive others. You'll probably like yourself and your future more as a result.
If you’re over 30, quote this with some life advice 🤌🏼
May 10, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Your world has probably served you a lot of messages that youth = beauty = worth.
Scrub these from how you perceive others. You'll probably like yourself and your future more as a result.
Scrub these from how you perceive others. You'll probably like yourself and your future more as a result.
This is silly for many reasons, but especially because the humans who create it demand that Wikipedia shows its work, therefore making it a very reasonable starting-point from which to explore a topic.
Gen AI, on the other hand, will just make stuff up and lie about its sources
Gen AI, on the other hand, will just make stuff up and lie about its sources
Some of the anti-AI stuff feels a bit like when people would say "don't use Wikipedia as a source." It's just like anything else, a piece of information that you weigh against multiple sources and your own understanding of its likely failure modes
April 26, 2025 at 6:18 PM
This is silly for many reasons, but especially because the humans who create it demand that Wikipedia shows its work, therefore making it a very reasonable starting-point from which to explore a topic.
Gen AI, on the other hand, will just make stuff up and lie about its sources
Gen AI, on the other hand, will just make stuff up and lie about its sources
Wow, this is beautiful and wonderful and also extremely helpful
New story day!! (I haven't said that in a while)
It's a love letter. It's an anxiety attack. It's a love letter wrapped in an anxiety attack.
www.uncannymagazine.com/article/10-v...
It's a love letter. It's an anxiety attack. It's a love letter wrapped in an anxiety attack.
www.uncannymagazine.com/article/10-v...
10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days - Uncanny Magazine
1. There is a future in which a hellgate opens off the coast of California. It happens at midnight on the first day of the new year, which is sooner than anyone expected. The waters rise and we are fo...
www.uncannymagazine.com
April 19, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Wow, this is beautiful and wonderful and also extremely helpful
18 years into trying to teach students to write better; two years into teaching students who have access to generative AI. I'm so dang tired of it already
April 4, 2025 at 10:51 PM
18 years into trying to teach students to write better; two years into teaching students who have access to generative AI. I'm so dang tired of it already
Public education is fucking essential
March 6, 2025 at 3:06 AM
Public education is fucking essential
I loved this book! If you like things I like, you will, too!
This is out today! Congrats to @emilystjams.bsky.social on her wonderful debut novel WOODWORKING and buy it either in hardcover online or from your local indie bookstore or (if you want more from the voice of Olivia Breckenridge herself, Saoirse Ní Shúilleabháin) in audio from the link below!
Woodworking, a novel by Emily St. James (*Karina Longworth voice* that's me), is out in NINE DAYS.
There's an AUDIO version coming. If you're an @ardenpod.bsky.social listener, good news! Saoirse Ní Shúilleabháin (who played Olivia) is one of the narrators!
Preorder here: libro.fm/audiobooks/9...
There's an AUDIO version coming. If you're an @ardenpod.bsky.social listener, good news! Saoirse Ní Shúilleabháin (who played Olivia) is one of the narrators!
Preorder here: libro.fm/audiobooks/9...
March 5, 2025 at 4:34 AM
I loved this book! If you like things I like, you will, too!
When you see a picture of a beach with an ocean behind it, which direction do you imagine you're looking?
February 28, 2025 at 6:42 AM
When you see a picture of a beach with an ocean behind it, which direction do you imagine you're looking?
Reposted by Lara Trale
I only regret that I had but one WaPo subscription to cancel for my country.
February 26, 2025 at 3:00 PM
I only regret that I had but one WaPo subscription to cancel for my country.
Yes, absolutely. The most basic thing.
We pay attention to other people and treat them like they matter.
We pay attention to other people and treat them like they matter.
i understand that this is coming from the right place, but can we stop academicizing these concepts with “affirm” and “validate”
it’s literally just “can you use this name instead”, it doesn’t have to be this arcane and impenetrable idea that isn’t comprehensible to any person in any way
it’s literally just “can you use this name instead”, it doesn’t have to be this arcane and impenetrable idea that isn’t comprehensible to any person in any way
cliffs notes for those who don’t care to absorb the bombast: if any teacher in a k-12 school affirms even a single trans child’s gender identity, the federal government can elect to withhold any and all funding to that school indefinitely. the teacher may also be subject to federal prosecution
January 30, 2025 at 5:47 AM
Yes, absolutely. The most basic thing.
We pay attention to other people and treat them like they matter.
We pay attention to other people and treat them like they matter.
Well, I #DidThisToday and also updated my phone contact for Sen. Schiff.
My best (only?) phone-calling tip is to keep your reps in your Contacts list so it's always easy to give them a ring.
My best (only?) phone-calling tip is to keep your reps in your Contacts list so it's always easy to give them a ring.
Just got an email from AALDEF that the US Senate is about to vote on the Laken Riley Act, "a dangerous bill that would incarcerate noncitizens simply accused of a crime."
Please call your senators NOW and tell them to vote AGAINST it. Find your senators here: www.senate.gov/senators/sen...
Please call your senators NOW and tell them to vote AGAINST it. Find your senators here: www.senate.gov/senators/sen...
January 20, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Well, I #DidThisToday and also updated my phone contact for Sen. Schiff.
My best (only?) phone-calling tip is to keep your reps in your Contacts list so it's always easy to give them a ring.
My best (only?) phone-calling tip is to keep your reps in your Contacts list so it's always easy to give them a ring.
Books I've read in 2025: a list.
January 20, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Books I've read in 2025: a list.
That everyone keeps telling me I'm not
i don't want to hear your most boomer complaint. what's your most millennial complaint?
January 16, 2025 at 2:10 AM
That everyone keeps telling me I'm not
Actually, my very best life hack is that you can use the phrase "Thanks; that's not for me" about just about anything!
A food you don't eat, a religion you don't want to hear more about, someone else's weird life hack... With a firm voice and a smile, this works every time.
A food you don't eat, a religion you don't want to hear more about, someone else's weird life hack... With a firm voice and a smile, this works every time.
So hey, let’s start off 2025 maybe making somebody’s life better in a small tangible way. What is a small practical thing—object, lifehack, whatever—that solved a small annoyance for you?
For me, did you know you can buy clips with elastic specifically to hold the corner of your fitted sheet on?
For me, did you know you can buy clips with elastic specifically to hold the corner of your fitted sheet on?
January 3, 2025 at 7:25 AM
Actually, my very best life hack is that you can use the phrase "Thanks; that's not for me" about just about anything!
A food you don't eat, a religion you don't want to hear more about, someone else's weird life hack... With a firm voice and a smile, this works every time.
A food you don't eat, a religion you don't want to hear more about, someone else's weird life hack... With a firm voice and a smile, this works every time.
When the silicone ice-cube trays (or anything that is 100% silicone) start to smell unbearably awful, bake them at like 300F until they don't smell anymore!
(You will know, because first the kitchen will be SO TERRIBLE, and then, magically, it won't. Run the fan!)
(You will know, because first the kitchen will be SO TERRIBLE, and then, magically, it won't. Run the fan!)
So hey, let’s start off 2025 maybe making somebody’s life better in a small tangible way. What is a small practical thing—object, lifehack, whatever—that solved a small annoyance for you?
For me, did you know you can buy clips with elastic specifically to hold the corner of your fitted sheet on?
For me, did you know you can buy clips with elastic specifically to hold the corner of your fitted sheet on?
January 3, 2025 at 7:04 AM
When the silicone ice-cube trays (or anything that is 100% silicone) start to smell unbearably awful, bake them at like 300F until they don't smell anymore!
(You will know, because first the kitchen will be SO TERRIBLE, and then, magically, it won't. Run the fan!)
(You will know, because first the kitchen will be SO TERRIBLE, and then, magically, it won't. Run the fan!)