Sarha
LightNews LightNews
banner
sarha7nj.bsky.social
Sarha
@sarha7nj.bsky.social
420 followers 600 following 850 posts
She/her. Never enough spoons or books. Weeping widow. Romancelandia fan. Deconstructionist. Neurodivergents-R-US. Obsessed with my big black greyhound.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Sarha
theladyred.bsky.social
The rats didn't cause it. For centuries, we got that wrong. We built an entire mythology around vermin scurrying through medieval streets, their fleas fat with Yersinia pestis, leaving corpses in their wake.

...

We keep forgetting it. The bacterium remembers.
post by Genny Harrison ❤ The rats didn't cause it. For centuries, we got that wrong. We built an entire mythology around vermin scurrying through medieval streets, their fleas fat with Yersinia pestis, leaving corpses in their wake. We needed the story to be simple: rats brought death, and when we conquered the rats, we conquered the plague. But recent genomic research suggests human parasites, particularly lice and fleas living in our clothing and bedding, were the primary vectors. The Black Death wasn't something that came from outside our homes. It was already there, in the fabric we wore against our skin. This revelation matters because we're still telling ourselves the same comfortable lies about contagion, about distance, about the bodies we imagine we can separate from danger. The plague killed somewhere between 75 and 200 million people across Eurasia in the 14th century. It reduced Europe's population by at least a third. The bacterium, a gram-negative coccobacillus that attacks the lymphatic system, moved with terrifying efficiency. Once infected through a flea bite, victims developed buboes, those characteristic swollen lymph nodes in the groin, armpit, or neck that gave the bubonic plague its name. Without treatment, 60 to 90 percent died within days. The speed was unthinkable. The parish register of Givry in Burgundy records five burials in January 1348. By September, the priest was burying 40 people per day. Then he stopped keeping records. Likely because he was dead too. The bacterium moved faster than information could travel. People died without knowing what was killing them, creating explanations from the materials their worldview provided: God's wrath, poisoned wells, miasmatic vapors rising from rotting organic matter, the conjunction of planets Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars in 1345. The Jewish communities of Europe were massacred by mobs convinced they had caused the pestilence by contaminating water supplies. In Strasbourg, 900 Jews were burned alive in February 1349, months before plague even reached the city. We needed someone to blame. We still do. What the plague really exposed wasn't divine judgment but infrastructure. The disease flourished in cities whose density made them economic powerhouses but also perfect incubators for catastrophe. It followed trade routes, particularly the Silk Road networks connecting China, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Genoese merchants fleeing the Mongol siege of Caffa in 1347 carried the plague to Sicily. From there, it radiated outward along established commercial pathways. The same networks that had generated unprecedented wealth and cultural exchange became highways for death. Connectivity, we learned, cuts both ways. The bacterium also mutated. While bubonic plague, transmitted through flea bites, was the most common form, pneumonic plague developed when the infection reached the lungs. This variant could spread through respiratory droplets, person to person, without any insect vector. It killed faster, sometimes within 24 hours, and was nearly 100 percent fatal. Medieval physicians had no framework for understanding this. They couldn't see bacteria. They didn't know about immune systems or lymph nodes. They worked with humor theory, believing disease resulted from imbalances of blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. The economic aftermath restructured European society in ways that echo through our present. Labor scarcity gave surviving peasants bargaining power they had never possessed. Before the plague, agricultural workers were abundant and therefore cheap. Afterward, landlords competed for laborers. Wages rose dramatically. The feudal system, dependent on a captive workforce bound to land, began its long, messy collapse. The wealthy attempted to freeze wages and restrict movement through sumptuary laws and the Statute of Labourers in England. It didn't work. You cannot legislate away the mathematics of supply and demand, though every generation tries. We tend to frame medieval people as helpless before the plague, as if they passively accepted mass death. They didn't. Quarantine as a systematic public health measure was born in the plague years. The word itself comes from quarantena, the 40-day isolation period Venice imposed on incoming ships starting in 1377, based on the belief that disease would manifest within that timeframe. Milan closed its gates entirely, enforcing cordons sanitaires that prevented movement in or out of infected areas. remembers. Physicians, despite their useless therapeutics of bloodletting and theriac, developed the first contact tracing protocols, tracking who had encountered the sick. The plague suits, those grotesque bird-beaked leather outfits, represented an early attempt at protective equipment. The beak was filled with aromatic herbs, meant to filter poisonous miasmas. The theory was wrong, but the impulse toward barrier protection was sound. These physicians were groping toward germ theory three centuries early. The plague also didn't disappear. Yersinia pestis still infects thousands annually, primarily in Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Peru. It lurks in prairie dog colonies across the American West. We have antibiotics now, streptomycin and gentamicin, which work if administered quickly. But antibiotic-resistant strains have emerged. The bacterium is patient. What we've forgotten is that the Black Death didn't just kill and recede. It returned in waves for four centuries. The Great Plague of London in 1665. Marseille in 1720. Moscow in 1771. Each outbreak smaller than the last, but only because populations had developed some immunity and cities had learned that public health requires collective action. The real lesson isn't about rats or medieval ignorance. It's about systems, about how we blame the vulnerable and protect the powerful, even when the threat respects neither. The plague showed us that private health is a fantasy when disease moves through populations. We learned this in the 14th century. We keep forgetting it. The bacterium remembers.
December 7, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Reposted by Sarha
johnathanperk.bsky.social
Been barking about the 15 tenets of White Supremacy Culture, long before Trump was re-elected.

Project 2025 relies on these pillars in an obvious and expansive way. Pay attention to the ways these forces harm our society in the micro and macro level.
• Perfectionism • Urgency • Defensiveness • More = better • Written word worship • Only one right way • Paternalism • Either/Or mindset • Power-hoarding • Fear of conflict • Individualism • I'm the only one • Progress = bigger/more • Objectivity • Right to Comfort
December 10, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Reposted by Sarha
readingtheend.bsky.social
good morning, I have noticed that some of the critical responses to the Crave show Heated Rivalry have been, let's say, incomplete

sex scenes are craft! goddammit!
Anatomy of a Sex Scene: Heated Rivalry Edition - Reading the End
Heated Rivalry, AKA the gay hockey show, has been getting a lot of buzz for its explicit(-ish) sex scenes, and a lot of that buzz has been coming from viewers and critics whose experience with the rom...
readingtheend.com
December 10, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Reposted by Sarha
prisonjournalism.bsky.social
We need your help! So far, we’ve raised $16,000 from 164 donors, which tells us that a lot of people understand the importance of this work. We train incarcerated writers and publish their stories. Our goal is to raise $50,000 by Dec. 31. Can you support our work?
Donate | Prison Journalism Project
Prison Journalism Project is supported by people like you. Support Prison Journalism Project today.
prisonjournalismproject.fundjournalism.org
December 8, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Reposted by Sarha
rdotspoon.bsky.social
Small town romantic suspense with a BDSM chaser. Check out my Beards & Bondage trilogy today!

😈 print: www.therippedbodice....
😈 e: amzn.to/48lbAfm
😈 audio: www.chirpbooks.com/a...

#booksky #romancelandia #blacksky
Now available in audio! Haven, Sanctuary and Harbor by Rebekah Weatherspoon Three romances with shirtless buff guys on the cover, standing in front of the mountains, in front of a farm and in front of the ocean. All three books have plus size black heroines and all three books feature BDSM elements. Haven - he saves her from serial killers. Months later they reunite and do the nasty instead of going to therapy. Sanctuary - She saves herself from a professional hit and ends up hidding at his farm. They do the nasty Harbor is a polyam story with three black folks. Their cheating partners are killed and they try to find meaning in it all. The meaning involves a threesome on the beach. Now available in audio! Haven, Sanctuary and Harbor by Rebekah Weatherspoon Three romances with shirtless buff guys on the cover, standing in front of the mountains, in front of a farm and in front of the ocean. All three books have plus size black heroines and all three books feature BDSM elements.
December 4, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Reposted by Sarha
chuckwendig.bsky.social
It's time to talk to you about my cat.
Vital Cat Update
It’s time to talk about my cat. To which you might be saying, “Chuck, I didn’t know you had a cat!” and I’d respond with, “I didn’t know I had a cat either…
terribleminds.com
December 4, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Reposted by Sarha
michaeljriser.com
Friendly reminder that any Five Nights at Freddy's property benefits its creator, who made Christian video games early in his career and is a regular (now quite rich) donor to Republican causes and politicians. So maybe don't spend your money on any of that shit this weekend. Or, you know, ever.
December 4, 2025 at 3:28 AM
Reposted by Sarha
ekjohnston.bsky.social
Next time someone asks me why I don't just adapt my books for television to make money, I'm going to tell them about the time Harlequin underestimated Canada's love FOR HOCKEY ROMANCE so badly it ruined Christmas for every romance bookstore in two countries.
December 4, 2025 at 2:27 AM
sarha7nj.bsky.social
@jenreadsromance.bsky.social Is there a list of the best danger banging romances somewhere? I know Uncharted would be on it. But I don't think I've read many more.
December 3, 2025 at 2:57 AM
Reposted by Sarha
rdotspoon.bsky.social
A MAN FOR MRS CLAUS is now available in audiobook!
🎅🏾🤎🤶🏾

rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/97...
Ho! Ho! Ho yeah! A man for Mrs claus now available in audiobook! For sale & thru your library platforms! Rebekahweatherspoon.com A MAN FOR MRS CLAUS by Rebekah Weatherspoon. A Black couple embraces. The man is kissing the woman's neck as she holds a sprig of mistletoe over their heads. He is wearing a red tshirt and fireman's gear pants with suspenders. She is wearing a short tight fur lined red christmas dress and white boots. This book takes place in the summer so its technically a North Pole romance, not so much a Christmas romance.
December 2, 2025 at 11:06 PM
Reposted by Sarha
smartbitches.bsky.social
If a video has no captions, I don't watch
If a video has no captions I don't watch
I don't wanna have to listen
It's hard work but have you considered
That if your video has no captions I won't watch.
November 30, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Reposted by Sarha
suleikhasnyder.bsky.social
This is going back up to $2.99 tomorrow night (December 1), so snap it up while it's still on sale!

#romancelandia
suleikhasnyder.bsky.social Suleikha Snyder @suleikhasnyder.bsky.social · 13d
For a limited time, you can grab my award-winning novella, TIKKA CHANCE ON ME, for just $0.99! Trucker and Pinky are a cheap date! But, sorry, you'll have to procure your own samosas.

Buy links: books2read.com/u/mKKrNv
A square light blue promo graphic with the words “Time to Tikka Chance” in red block letters at the top and “99 cent sale” in the same font in the lower right corner. Amazon, Apple, B&N and Kobo are listed as vendors. In the middle of the square is the illustrated cover of Tikka Chance on Me, which shows a bearded blond white man leaning against a black truck. He’s appreciating the view of a pretty brown-skinned and black-haired South Asian woman who’s teasingly looking over her shoulder and holding a plate of samosas. To the side of the cover is a review quote from Entertainment Weekly that says “An emotionally involving, out-of-this-world sexy love story.”
November 30, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Reposted by Sarha
jenreadsromance.bsky.social
and h/t to @anibundel.bsky.social for suggesting this much better read!

www.episodicmedium.tv/review-heate...
Review: Heated Rivalry, "Rookies" | Season 1, Episode 1
Hollanov has truly and fully broken containment, y'all
www.episodicmedium.tv
November 29, 2025 at 10:06 PM
sarha7nj.bsky.social
Ilya Rosonov will always.
November 29, 2025 at 3:53 AM
Reposted by Sarha
suleikhasnyder.bsky.social
Tikka Chance on Me is at #141 in Multicultural & Interracial romance on the 'Zon and #130 in Romance, New Adult in the Kobo store. Not bad for a novella that came out 7 years ago! Thank you to everyone who's been boosting and one-clicking and saying lovely things. <3
November 28, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Reposted by Sarha
fsmith827.bsky.social
If you're discovering Heated Rivalry now because of the tv show, you'll enjoy this @fatedmates.net podcast episode about the 2019 romance novel by Rachel Reid that the tv show is based on: fatedmates.net/episodes/202... 📚💕🌈 #FatedMates #HeatedRivalry #Romancelandia #MMRomance #BookSky
November 28, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Reposted by Sarha
suleikhasnyder.bsky.social
For a limited time, you can grab my award-winning novella, TIKKA CHANCE ON ME, for just $0.99! Trucker and Pinky are a cheap date! But, sorry, you'll have to procure your own samosas.

Buy links: books2read.com/u/mKKrNv
A square light blue promo graphic with the words “Time to Tikka Chance” in red block letters at the top and “99 cent sale” in the same font in the lower right corner. Amazon, Apple, B&N and Kobo are listed as vendors. In the middle of the square is the illustrated cover of Tikka Chance on Me, which shows a bearded blond white man leaning against a black truck. He’s appreciating the view of a pretty brown-skinned and black-haired South Asian woman who’s teasingly looking over her shoulder and holding a plate of samosas. To the side of the cover is a review quote from Entertainment Weekly that says “An emotionally involving, out-of-this-world sexy love story.”
November 27, 2025 at 2:38 PM
sarha7nj.bsky.social
@baumann.bsky.social Wondering if I should be watching Arsenal instead of LFC. Probably.
November 26, 2025 at 8:18 PM
sarha7nj.bsky.social
I just renewed my HBO streaming account.
youtu.be/lKO26odltss?...
Heated Rivalry | Official Trailer | HBO Max
YouTube video by HBO Max
youtu.be
November 21, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Reposted by Sarha
rdotspoon.bsky.social
Small town romantic suspense with a BDSM chaser. Check out my Beards & Bondage trilogy today!

😈 print: www.therippedbodice....
😈 e: amzn.to/48lbAfm
😈 audio: www.chirpbooks.com/a...

#booksky #romancelandia #blacksky
Now available in audio! Haven, Sanctuary and Harbor by Rebekah Weatherspoon Three romances with shirtless buff guys on the cover, standing in front of the mountains, in front of a farm and in front of the ocean. All three books have plus size black heroines and all three books feature BDSM elements. Haven - he saves her from serial killers. Months later they reunite and do the nasty instead of going to therapy. Sanctuary - She saves herself from a professional hit and ends up hidding at his farm. They do the nasty Harbor is a polyam story with three black folks. Their cheating partners are killed and they try to find meaning in it all. The meaning involves a threesome on the beach. Now available in audio! Haven, Sanctuary and Harbor by Rebekah Weatherspoon Three romances with shirtless buff guys on the cover, standing in front of the mountains, in front of a farm and in front of the ocean. All three books have plus size black heroines and all three books feature BDSM elements.
November 16, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Reposted by Sarha
tkingfisher.com
I see the “technically it’s ephebophelia” crowd is out today, so just a reminder that A) this is NOT a case where technically correct is the best kind of correct and B) the minute you say this, the gods dump you in the “irredeemable creeper” basket and wash their hands thoroughly after touching you.
November 13, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Reposted by Sarha
older.bsky.social
At @globalvoices.org, we offer ad-free multilingual community journalism from around the world FOR FREE! But with all the funding cuts, we are struggling to keep publishing this vital information for you. We are just over $400 short of being at one-third of our goal for November - can you help?
Donate · Global Voices
Support freedom of expression for everyone, everywhere, by donating to Global Voices.
globalvoices.org
November 10, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Reposted by Sarha
fridaytea.com
This fall has been an extra slow one for small businesses out here, and the tea house is $3.7k shy of where we need to be to make rent before late fees hit this month.

All this to say, if you have some tea shopping to do or friends to point our way today, we'd sure appreciate it!
November 7, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Reposted by Sarha
paulisci.bsky.social
A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women

🧵
November 6, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Reposted by Sarha
sahilkapur.bsky.social
Rep. Yassamin Ansari has set up a table and this sign outside Speaker Johnson’s office.
November 6, 2025 at 6:22 PM