Paz Pardo
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pazsays.bsky.social
Paz Pardo
@pazsays.bsky.social
3.6K followers 1.2K following 9.9K posts
Talk like Sam Spade, live like Miss Marple. Real life: Buenos Aires. Fiction: debut novel THE SHAMSHINE BLIND (scifi noir alternate history!) from Atria Books: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-shamshine-blind-a-novel-paz-pardo/80bf4e7d932a98a6
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pazsays.bsky.social
well now I am imagining the type character that would google this question often enough for health websites to break it out for SEO reasons
Screenshot of a question, bolded: "Is male pattern baldness contagious?" underneath, the answer (unbolded): "No, male pattern baldness isn't contagious."
November 19, 2025 at 2:58 PM
pazsays.bsky.social
sign with one of those pointy finger indicators that says YOU MUST BE THIS ONLINE TO RIDE!
November 17, 2025 at 1:08 PM
pazsays.bsky.social
screenshot of the word NO in a san-serif font, zoomed in so far it's pixelated
November 14, 2025 at 2:37 PM
pazsays.bsky.social
fair. maybe something like this (had to stack a bunch of things to get the plant more in the frame, haha, hope there's nothing on the floor that gets curious and wants to crawl up!)
me in chair, plant now closer to my right shoulder. two-headed dragon creeping up through leaves; tiny puppet has moved to the other side of me, just to be safe.
November 13, 2025 at 2:36 PM
pazsays.bsky.social
good point re: plant—maybe something like this, putting it more in the foreground?
me sitting in chair, window in background to my left, plant in foreground to my left. Also: tiny puppet over my right shoulder, weird doll with backwards arms screwed onto a wooden block peeking out of plant.
November 13, 2025 at 2:18 PM
pazsays.bsky.social
more like this?
me sitting in a chair, spider plant to my right and window to my left, tiny puppet over my right shoulder and two-headed burgundy dragon over my left.
November 13, 2025 at 1:40 PM
pazsays.bsky.social
very close up on puppet face: magenta hair, green cap, giant smile and two eyes becoming one
November 13, 2025 at 1:35 PM
pazsays.bsky.social
I am about to start teaching a class and have redone my zoom corner, any thoughts appreciated
me, sitting in a chair with an embroidered pillow behind me; spider plant leaves fall over a shelf to my right and a blue window frame can be seen to my left. Also, a small puppet head with magenta hair, a green cap and a goofy expression is peeking over my right shoulder.
November 13, 2025 at 1:31 PM
pazsays.bsky.social
Convincing you to read THE SHAMSHINE BLIND by sharing the first sentence except oopsie! I cropped the photo wrong so you get two paragraphs! share yours etc.
CHAPTER 1 Shamshine and Sunshine are not the same thing. Anybody with training can tell the difference. Just like anybody with training could tell that Winfred Pimsley was a crook. But he was my kind of crook. His antique shop perched on a hilltop just south of the ruins of San Francisco. On the Daly City side, little houses made of ticky-tacky sat back from the street, guarded by picket fences. Cars smuggled up from Mexico were parked across lawns, rusting steadily in the Pacific fog as they waited to get their plates changed. Kids playing hooky raced bikes held together with duct tape and resignation. A block away in San Francisco, moldy Victorians crumbled onto shattered sidewalks. Wild anise poked through the cracks in the deserted streets. Even daredevil teens knew to stay out of the old city.
November 11, 2025 at 3:28 PM
pazsays.bsky.social
The kindergarten English class had the kids made a video about planets that they made out of tempera and tinfoil, this was my child’s response to a question about whether their planet was cold
Photo of a projected video showing parts of two kindergarteners with “planets” on straws. The subtitle reads “technically no but fictionally yes.”
November 6, 2025 at 1:11 AM
pazsays.bsky.social
Hope explicitly tied TO CONCRETE ACTION? In this economy???
(ngl, the speech made me cry)
And there are others who see politics today as too cruel for the flame of hope to still burn. New York, we have answered those fears. Tonight we have spoken in a clear voice. Hope is alive. Hope is a decision that tens of thousands of New Yorkers made day after day, volunteer shift after volunteer shift, despite attack ad after attack ad. More than a million of us stood in our churches, in gymnasiums, in community centers, as we filled in the ledger of democracy.
November 5, 2025 at 2:00 PM
pazsays.bsky.social
It’s jacarandá season, motherfuckers
Five lilac jacarandá bells float in a small gray-green bowl of water
November 3, 2025 at 10:41 PM
pazsays.bsky.social
“El peligro subsiste siempre para el hombre en cualquier edad; pero su amenaza amengua si desde pequeño se acostumbra a no contar sino con sus propias fuerzas”
Wizening watermelon with a face carved into it.
November 3, 2025 at 10:39 PM
pazsays.bsky.social
*last time we carved a MELON
a honeydew with a face carved into it: horrifying toothpick teeth, weird dried-out eyes.
November 3, 2025 at 1:26 PM
pazsays.bsky.social
I brought down pumpkin carving tools so this was much easier than the last time we carved a pumpkin, but the kid was mostly interested in using them to create "watermelon guts"
a small plate with watermelon which has been carved into a gloppy mess by two pumpkin-carving knives. It sits on a messy counter (why did I not put away the crackers and the onion before starting??) A kid's hand holds a spoon that was being used to remove the watermelon juice from the plate.
November 3, 2025 at 1:24 PM
pazsays.bsky.social
could not find a pumpkin to carve down here so I present to you:

the Hallowatermelon
a hollowed-out and carved watermelon, two tiny eyes and a jagged smile. The candle burns very, very bright inside.
November 3, 2025 at 12:52 PM
pazsays.bsky.social
behold, our matching voidcat costumes. am I sure any of the glue will hold? no. do I know how the tails will work? also no. trick or treat, here we come!
Two black headbands made from construction paper with black cat ears. Behind them hang two black cat tails.
October 31, 2025 at 5:44 PM
pazsays.bsky.social
stare too long into the void and the void will sit on you
VOID CAT ON MY LAP! NOT A DRILL! THE VOID KITTY SAT ON MY LAP! look at those little slitted yellow eyes, omigoodnessgracious, her lil paws are snuggled under my jean jacket and her tail is all wrapped around her legs, aaaaaaw, her fur is so sleak and black! You cannot see my face, just my scarf, but I’ve got a total twee emoji expression going.
October 28, 2025 at 10:58 PM
pazsays.bsky.social
That’s what I ended up doing 😂
Strawberry muffins cooking in the toaster oven. My phone is reflected in the glass and you can see the COOL NEW TEA STICKER I put on it this weekend if you look closely!
October 23, 2025 at 2:00 AM
pazsays.bsky.social
Erika was correct! I cackled
An orange slide from Swyler’s Worldbuilding lecture. It is entitled “HOMOGENEITY” and has a row of pictures of white men who all look exactly the same. Underneath the photos it says “*FROM AN UPROXX ARTICLE TITLED: ‘EVEN THE CREW OF AMERICAN HORROR STORY: HOTEL CAN’T TELL THE ACTORS APART.’
October 22, 2025 at 9:01 PM
pazsays.bsky.social
uh-oh, six-year-old is in the WhatsApp chat showing tendencies towards (a) skepticism and (b) over-reliance on polls
A whatsapp poll entitled “do you think I believe you?” with the options Yes and No. two people have voted for “no.”
October 21, 2025 at 6:49 PM
pazsays.bsky.social
It is not! h/t @labalteira.bsky.social who found it on istock
picture of the CNN picture of a kid holding peanuts in their hand on istockphoto.com, along with a photo of another kid cupping acorns in their two hands. There is a banner which reads: "Our creative library is free of AI-generated content Choose your visuals with confidence knowing our creative library is free from AI-generated content, so your searches only return safe, high-quality visuals you can trust."
October 20, 2025 at 8:25 PM
pazsays.bsky.social
If you see this, share a leaf
I CHEATED, I couldn't pick just one; instead I've posted a photo of a small pile of maple leaves on the sidewalk, ranging in color from yellow-orange to dark red.
October 20, 2025 at 7:12 PM
pazsays.bsky.social
One-woman wine-mom NO KINGS brigade PRESENT at the Ambassador’s residence, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Selfie of a brown-haired pale lady with big sunglasses holding a sign that says NO KINGS, with the crown crossed out with a big red X and a disappointed frog frowning in the top corner. My t-shirt says DESTROY FASCISM. Behind me is the literal palace which is the ambassador’s residence in Buenos Aires, with an American flag waving at the top.
October 18, 2025 at 8:06 PM
pazsays.bsky.social
Not gonna vote for this guy, but I’m impressed with his radical pro-coherence stance in this day and age
A political billboard in Buenos Aires: a white-haired man stares piercingly at some future that floats just above our heads. Behind him, the sun breaks through clouds, illuminating the dome of the Argentine Congress. Yellow letters read “COHERENCIA” (trans: coherence). Underneath: Ricardo Lopez Murphy | Candidato a diputado nacional por CABA (trans: candidate for national legislator for the City of Buenos Aires).
October 18, 2025 at 7:10 PM