Melissa Williams
@melissa13mw.bsky.social
Expat Chicagoan in the PNW woods. Doer of as good a works as possible. Posts my own.
#NewCollege alum
#NewCollege alum
Reposted by Melissa Williams
I guess it's Small Business Saturday so if anyone wants a new desk or a bookshelf or a dining table or whatever, I am currently accepting new commissions
dtfabs.com
dtfabs.com
dt fabrications
custom woodwork and design
dtfabs.com
November 29, 2025 at 8:21 PM
I guess it's Small Business Saturday so if anyone wants a new desk or a bookshelf or a dining table or whatever, I am currently accepting new commissions
dtfabs.com
dtfabs.com
This really struck a chord. Not just for the academic enterprise but for one’s everyday life in these times.
But it requires not only a willingness to flunk students, but also a willingness to construct your course—and your pedagogy, and your professional persona—around an overt, articulated, emphatic set of ethical commitments.
November 29, 2025 at 6:36 PM
This really struck a chord. Not just for the academic enterprise but for one’s everyday life in these times.
Reposted by Melissa Williams
Since people find being hopeful and optimistic so cringe these days, let me remind you once again that there isn’t a single liberation movement in the world that wasn’t built on hope and optimism.
November 28, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Since people find being hopeful and optimistic so cringe these days, let me remind you once again that there isn’t a single liberation movement in the world that wasn’t built on hope and optimism.
Reposted by Melissa Williams
Posted without comment, the 2026 America the Beautiful Pass for national parks and public lands.
November 26, 2025 at 1:37 AM
Posted without comment, the 2026 America the Beautiful Pass for national parks and public lands.
Reposted by Melissa Williams
REMINDER: if you think your right-on lefty/socialist/communist/etc. politics justifies pirating books, well guess what? Most writers don't make a living wage from their books or writing work, and stealing from them makes you a class traitor.
November 24, 2025 at 7:30 PM
REMINDER: if you think your right-on lefty/socialist/communist/etc. politics justifies pirating books, well guess what? Most writers don't make a living wage from their books or writing work, and stealing from them makes you a class traitor.
Reposted by Melissa Williams
People are going to pirate my books. I certainly can't stop them from doing it. But I refuse to pretend that it doesn't annoy me or that it has no bearing on my career. And I won't indulge them in the lie that they're doing anything other than stealing for pleasure
November 25, 2025 at 7:58 PM
People are going to pirate my books. I certainly can't stop them from doing it. But I refuse to pretend that it doesn't annoy me or that it has no bearing on my career. And I won't indulge them in the lie that they're doing anything other than stealing for pleasure
Nothing in this piece says that the reason Boy Scouts (now known as Scouting America) started admitting girls was the massive costs of the lawsuits of the child sexual abuse cases. Kind of a terrible legacy for Hegseth to want to uphold.
Hegseth is very very terrified, deep deep down of something to do with maleness www.npr.org/2025/11/25/n...
U.S. ready to cut support to Scouts, accusing them of attacking 'boy-friendly spaces'
Documents show the U.S. military is planning to sever all ties with the organization formerly known as the Boy Scouts.
www.npr.org
November 25, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Nothing in this piece says that the reason Boy Scouts (now known as Scouting America) started admitting girls was the massive costs of the lawsuits of the child sexual abuse cases. Kind of a terrible legacy for Hegseth to want to uphold.
Reposted by Melissa Williams
listen to me. listen to me right now. if you don't know what this tweet means, just close your device. don't look anything up. go for a walk. return in a week. if you don't listen to me, your life will be ruined and i can't be held accountable
November 23, 2025 at 1:51 AM
listen to me. listen to me right now. if you don't know what this tweet means, just close your device. don't look anything up. go for a walk. return in a week. if you don't listen to me, your life will be ruined and i can't be held accountable
The weirder the US government gets, the more I lean into birding. Saw a brown pelican where they are uncommon today and tomorrow I’m getting up early to go see a bird that seems to have blown in from Asia.
November 23, 2025 at 2:02 AM
The weirder the US government gets, the more I lean into birding. Saw a brown pelican where they are uncommon today and tomorrow I’m getting up early to go see a bird that seems to have blown in from Asia.
I can hate what RFK is doing to health care and regulation in this country just fine without learning about his personal relationships, too.
November 22, 2025 at 5:20 PM
I can hate what RFK is doing to health care and regulation in this country just fine without learning about his personal relationships, too.
Reposted by Melissa Williams
Dr Bae this am: hey whatcha doin?
Me: reading the latest Ryan Lizza piece about Olivia Nuzzi
Dr Bae: I don't even know who that is
Me: then I won't tell you
And that, dear reader, is love
Me: reading the latest Ryan Lizza piece about Olivia Nuzzi
Dr Bae: I don't even know who that is
Me: then I won't tell you
And that, dear reader, is love
November 22, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Dr Bae this am: hey whatcha doin?
Me: reading the latest Ryan Lizza piece about Olivia Nuzzi
Dr Bae: I don't even know who that is
Me: then I won't tell you
And that, dear reader, is love
Me: reading the latest Ryan Lizza piece about Olivia Nuzzi
Dr Bae: I don't even know who that is
Me: then I won't tell you
And that, dear reader, is love
I should have stayed far, far away from this link.
Part 2 omgwtf
November 22, 2025 at 5:35 AM
I should have stayed far, far away from this link.
I’m not the only one who thinks someone paid her off to quit, right?
November 22, 2025 at 2:05 AM
I’m not the only one who thinks someone paid her off to quit, right?
So are my previous tax filings through this private company now part of an AI training database?
TurboTax is about to be integrated into ChatGPT, where customers will be guided through tasks tied to their tax filings or financial profile by the AI chatbot.
TurboTax owner Intuit is also paying OpenAI more than $100 million a year to power AI agents.
TurboTax owner Intuit is also paying OpenAI more than $100 million a year to power AI agents.
November 19, 2025 at 3:40 AM
So are my previous tax filings through this private company now part of an AI training database?
Reposted by Melissa Williams
I'm so proud of local Chicago journalists & their fearless coverage of the ICE/CBP terror campaign. Now retired broadcast journalists are also playing a role with a powerful new letter to the people of our city. I talked to Phil Ponce, who led this effort.
open.substack.com/pub/jennifer...
open.substack.com/pub/jennifer...
Retired journalists raise the alarm about state sponsored terror in Chicago
"It is without precedent that the biggest names in Chicago journalism have come together to condemn a public action"
open.substack.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:23 PM
I'm so proud of local Chicago journalists & their fearless coverage of the ICE/CBP terror campaign. Now retired broadcast journalists are also playing a role with a powerful new letter to the people of our city. I talked to Phil Ponce, who led this effort.
open.substack.com/pub/jennifer...
open.substack.com/pub/jennifer...
I’ve never been more relieved to be thinking “Olivia who?”
November 14, 2025 at 6:10 PM
I’ve never been more relieved to be thinking “Olivia who?”
My most woke opinion is that capitalism ruins everything.
November 14, 2025 at 4:58 PM
My most woke opinion is that capitalism ruins everything.
Relevant- nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...
Trump Hides White House Visitor Logs
Washington, D.C., April 14, 2017 – The Trump White House announced today it would no longer disclose the routine visitor logs maintained by the Secret Service and published online by the Obama adminis...
nsarchive.gwu.edu
November 13, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Relevant- nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...
Pouring one out for every furloughed fed’s inbox tomorrow.
November 13, 2025 at 4:38 AM
Pouring one out for every furloughed fed’s inbox tomorrow.
Reposted by Melissa Williams
Today is a good day to remember, and to say, that the #MeToo movement was right, and was righteous, and has been vindicated over and over again. There was no overreach. There was no excess. There was no they-went-too-far.
So much work remains to be done.
So much work remains to be done.
November 12, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Today is a good day to remember, and to say, that the #MeToo movement was right, and was righteous, and has been vindicated over and over again. There was no overreach. There was no excess. There was no they-went-too-far.
So much work remains to be done.
So much work remains to be done.
The absolute worst part of Trump2.0 (besides everything) is having to remember how much fucked up stuff he got away with during Trump1.0. People In Charge™️ basically shrugged and moved on.
November 13, 2025 at 2:55 AM
The absolute worst part of Trump2.0 (besides everything) is having to remember how much fucked up stuff he got away with during Trump1.0. People In Charge™️ basically shrugged and moved on.
Reposted by Melissa Williams
It’s wild to suggest this is a circular firing squad or something when it’s millions of citizen Democrats who hate it versus 47 elected Democrats who conspired to surrender for nothing.
We’re not fighting “each other,” we’re fighting you. There’s only a few dozen of you, but you hold all the power.
We’re not fighting “each other,” we’re fighting you. There’s only a few dozen of you, but you hold all the power.
But there are real dangers out there that must be fought; and energy spent fighting each other is energy lost to that bigger fight.
November 11, 2025 at 1:27 AM
It’s wild to suggest this is a circular firing squad or something when it’s millions of citizen Democrats who hate it versus 47 elected Democrats who conspired to surrender for nothing.
We’re not fighting “each other,” we’re fighting you. There’s only a few dozen of you, but you hold all the power.
We’re not fighting “each other,” we’re fighting you. There’s only a few dozen of you, but you hold all the power.
Reposted by Melissa Williams
Still processing the inanity of this cave, like, "We're going to make Republicans go on record that they want to destroy the ACA." You mean the motherfuckers who radicalized in opposition to it & voted to repeal it, like, 22 times? You're finally getting them on record? Really impressed over here
“If Schumer really wanted to use his considerable influence and leverage to stop this, he could have done that,” a senior Democratic Senate aide tells Zeteo. “He didn’t.”
Furious Liberals Call for Schumer to Step Aside, Senate Dems Mostly Quiet
After their shutdown surrender, liberal lawmakers are begging their base to unite behind them anyway – as Trumpland celebrates that their opposition is a bunch of 'p*ssies.'
zeteo.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Still processing the inanity of this cave, like, "We're going to make Republicans go on record that they want to destroy the ACA." You mean the motherfuckers who radicalized in opposition to it & voted to repeal it, like, 22 times? You're finally getting them on record? Really impressed over here
Given my county has two (2) private insurers for our one (1) hospital, I’m sure I can get an entrepreneurial deal in my health care.
Trump: "I want the money to go into an account for people where they buy their own health insurance. It's so good. The insurance will be better. It'll cost less. Everybody is gonna be happy. They're gonna feel like entrepreneurs. They're actually able to go out & negotiate their own insurance"
November 11, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Given my county has two (2) private insurers for our one (1) hospital, I’m sure I can get an entrepreneurial deal in my health care.