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thatlauraruby.bsky.social
Laura Ruby
@thatlauraruby.bsky.social
3.6K followers 1.4K following 1K posts
Novelist, poet, teacher, unrepentant cat-lover, cancer patient, two-time National Book Award Finalist. Bone Gap, Thirteen Doorways, etc. Made of bees. @thatlauraruby on most socials. www.lauraruby.com
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thatlauraruby.bsky.social
#NoKings protest in Oak Park, IL. (Burb outside of Chicago) No idea exactly how many people, but there were definitely a couple of thousand.
June 15, 2025 at 2:40 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
Gotta celebrate the good news when you can. Today, I’m grateful to the folks at KIRKUS REVIEWS for including my novel BONE GAP among their picks for the Best Books of the 21st Century.
April 1, 2025 at 4:07 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
@eliotschrefer.bsky.social wrote an excellent book on queer animal behavior called QUEER DUCKS. www.eliotschrefer.com/copy-of-the-...
Picture of a book called “Queer Ducks” along with review quotes like “a mind-blowing treatise” — San Francisco Chronicle.
March 6, 2025 at 11:21 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
Same guy.
A picture of RFK Jr. looking like a boiled turnip. Picture of one of the fungus zombies from the TV show The Last of Us, a mushroom monster with dripping teeth.
February 26, 2025 at 11:25 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
😩
January 1, 2025 at 4:44 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
I find this bit persuasive. I've been saying something like this for years, now:
"I call this ‘what did you say to make him hit you?’ politics...We tend to perceive both liberalism and the Democratic party as female-coded—the result of decades of heavily gendered use of language by conservatives. This filters into our assessment of moral responsibility (which is also gendered), in which we offer explanations for the bad behaviour of male-coded groups...We are asked to ‘understand’ the perspective of those who shift to the right and cautioned against ‘dismissing’ them."
December 13, 2024 at 9:00 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
STOP

THIS IS A CUTE ANIMAL PIC CHECKPOINT. PLEASE SHARE A MINIMUM OF ONE (1) CUTE ANIMAL PIC BEFORE PROCEEDING.

THIS IS A PRECAUTIONARY MEASURE TO PRESERVE THE MENTAL HEALTH OF THIS SITE. WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.
Floofy white cat with grey face reclining on a green sofa a la "draw me like one of your French girls." White woman's hands holding floofy white kitten with tiny gray nose.
November 5, 2024 at 3:24 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
Defenders of bans insist that this is about “parents’ right” to decide what their children read. But parents have always had that right. What these shrieking weirdos want is to make the choice for the rest of us. For them, “freedom” means the power to take your freedom away. If their kids aren’t allowed to read a biography of Derek Jeter, then your kids can’t either.
October 19, 2024 at 6:35 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
What does this mean? It means that in a Trump presidency, that one judgy jerk you avoid at block parties can label any book he doesn’t like as “pornography” or “CRT” and declare anyone who offers that book is a “groomer” or “brain-washer.” Librarians and teachers could be fired, prosecuted and/or forced to register as sex offenders simply for putting books on their shelves. It’s absurd. It’s anti-American. But because of the very people involved with Project 2025, it’s already happening. Since 2021, book bans have exploded across the country, with thousands of titles and authors targeted. Teachers have been fired and librarians bombarded with rape and death threats. According to Pen America, “Three states have passed laws that would treat librarians as criminals for refusing to pull books from their shelves, and 17 more states are considering … similar legislation.” What kind of books? Picture books. Classics such as Beloved, Of Mice And Men, Maus, The Handmaid’s Tale, and The Odyssey. Books about history, puberty, mental health, science, and grief. Books that feature Black or Brown or Queer characters simply … existing. Ban This Book, a book about book banning? Banned.
October 19, 2024 at 6:35 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
Project 2025 calls to deport 15-20 million people; abolish the Department of Education, the FDA, the EPA, and the Federal Reserve; end the Affordable Care Act; fire 50,000 federal workers; defund the FBI; ban contraceptives and no-fault divorce — and this only scratches the surface. What Project 2025 also does is redefine pornography. From Project 2025: “Pornography, manifested today in the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology and sexualization of children … has no claim to First Amendment protection. Its purveyors are child predators.”
October 19, 2024 at 6:34 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
Picture your favorite teacher or librarian. Maybe this person recommended a book you loved so much as a kid that you now read the story to your own children. Maybe this person offered you the first story that made you feel seen, valued and important. Now imagine your favorite teacher or librarian in jail because they handed a child a cheerful picture book called Everywhere Babies or Dim Sum for Everyone. Ridiculous? Impossible? Not if Donald Trump and his Project 2025 friends get their way. Project 2025 is a 900-plus page policy guide vomited up by ghouls at the Heritage Foundation. This guide — packed with plans to turn the U.S. into a violent, Christian-nationalist dystopia — is intended to help Trump become a dictator should he win the presidency. (Trump claims he has nothing to do with Project 2025, though more than 100 former/future Trump staffers worked on the guide and Trump is on video endorsing the plans).
October 19, 2024 at 6:33 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
I can’t be the first person who immediately thought of this kind of minibat.
July 8, 2024 at 1:21 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
Good morning, Pingis! Fergus isn't quite ready to get up yet.
Sleepy, fluffy white cat with brown face wrapped in white faux fur.
July 7, 2024 at 5:09 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
July 5, 2024 at 3:38 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
My cat's Bill the Cat impression.
White fluffy cat sitting like a human, legs splayed.
July 1, 2024 at 9:39 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
Here, have a kitty in a pointy hat.
A fluffy white cat with a gray face wears a polka-dotted blue felt hat with a pompom on top.
July 1, 2024 at 6:58 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
Drawing of a stick figure breathing fire and another stick figure holding its ears.
June 28, 2024 at 3:54 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
Anyone else try to get Meta not to use your data only to get this crap back? Do we have to nuke Meta accounts? What's the recourse?
Letter from Meta saying that it won't stop using my data for AI
June 27, 2024 at 1:42 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
White cat with it's ears nearly flattened against its head, squinting in a judgy manner.
June 2, 2024 at 2:37 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
Reskeet with a banger picture of your cat.
Close up of fluffy white cat with blue eyes, ears cocked back and a judge-y expression on its face.
April 20, 2024 at 2:07 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
March 9, 2024 at 11:50 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
March 9, 2024 at 11:49 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
March 9, 2024 at 11:48 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
March 9, 2024 at 11:47 PM
thatlauraruby.bsky.social
March 9, 2024 at 11:46 PM