Ess Writes Things 🏳️‍⚧️

I have been writing *about* gender more than I want, because I feel like I have to say as much as possible while it is still possible.

I will not cry in the airport, I will not cry in the airport…

The rest of the story of the Prodigal Transitioned Child One of the ways I put my seminary training to use is looking at parables through a different lens. Trans people often have strained…

"Let’s have a feast and celebrate.

For this son of mine is dead and my daughter is alive again; he was lost and she is found.’ So they began to celebrate."

(I will not cry in the coffee shop. I will not cry in the coffee shop. I will not cry in the coffee shop.) 🥹
medium.com/@shelleybwok...

"PhD-level experts in your back pocket" is a completely nonsensical description of AI but a pretty good description of social media if you follow the right people

Convinced public universities should unite to save the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Then they can create more local journalism jobs and support evidence-based reporting nationwide.

They won’t because of board interests and how that would proliferate tough, good student reporting. But yeah

Schools are using AI to spy on students and some are getting arrested for misinterpreted jokes and private conversations “Is this the America we live in?” said one parent. “And it was this stupid, stupid technology that is just going through picking up random words and not looking at context.”

Cool. Cool cool cool.

I want to say something smart about the legacy of coloniality and inescapability of carceral logics but it’s too early on a Saturday and you already know it.

fortune.com/2025/08/07/s...

I work in the nonprofit sector and the amount of people who uncritically use AI for drafting emails, presentations, agendas, run of show docs, and summarizing or synthesizing research is astounding.

Brown University is ‘functionally inaccessible’ to transgender students after Trump settlement “Everyone I talked to thought it only applied to sports. But it applies to everything," one transgender student told The Advocate.

The Trump administration effectively created a de facto bathroom ban at Brown University and none of the major media is covering it, and if they do, they character it as about sports. This is how the trans visa ban was enacted and characterized.

www.advocate.com/news/transge...

Space Unicorn!

PLEASE REPOST! WRITERS! Uncanny Magazine will be open to Short Story Submissions from August 25 to September 8! Uncanny Magazine will be open to Poetry Submissions from August 9 to August 26. WE WANT TO SEE YOUR SHINY WORDS! buff.ly/9AyStcb

PBS: Public Broadcasting Service Watch full episodes of your favorite PBS dramas, find in-depth news analysis and explore documentaries on history, science, art and more!

For $5/month or $60/yr you get access to PBS Passport and the entire Masterpiece library plus Great Performances, etc. Defunded but not defeated. www.pbs.org/passport/lea...

Working in a library for a change of pace today.

To the youths necking: gross, get a room.

BUT also, I love that this space feels safe and inviting enough for you to embrace one another (and yourselves) like this.

Thanks for the replies and to the person who will also print this to give out! This catalog is for any #trans #nonbinary writer to share e-books, print books, etc., and file will be available for you to use.

Reply to get in or sign up on this form: forms.gle/abN69dfWzzUc... #booksky #queerbooks

If you are here for spooky queer gender haunting, I have the short poem for you! Lol

Body Horror by Ess Pokornowski — AC | DC A Journal for the Bent Poetry

Hey, a little thing I wrote came out today in (the extraordinarily cool) AC|DC a Journal for the Bent!

www.acdclit.com/pokornowski-...

“banning pornography” is bad on its own but it is imperative that everyone understand that these people consider the very existence of queer people to be pornographic

they consider the most chaste depiction of a queer relationship, or an openly trans person, to be porn and they want it banned

Johns Hopkins Press will license its books to train AI models Authors at the Johns Hopkins University Press will be able to opt out of the AI licensing agreement until the end of August; if they do not, their work will be used to train AI models.

“Authors have until the end of August to opt out of the licensing agreement. If they do not, their work will be used to help train AI models.”

Patriarchy is core to a fascist regime, as is control over cultural production, the means of distribution, the tools to shape ideology and manufacture consent. 'Obscenity' then has always been a tool of control, of regulating sexuality to be ... well, not non-exploitative, but under strict control.

I think it’s worth noting this piece generated the most unsubscribes I’ve seen in a while, and the newsletter version had the lowest open rate in many months. These horrors persist in part because too many people go to great pains to avoid them.

UPDATE: If you have a confirmed report on a book that has been REMOVED or DELISTED on itch, please share the titles and authors in this thread ⬇️⬇️⬇️

When critical race theorists point out that “neutrality” and “objectivity” are often a thin veneer for white supremacy, they mean stuff like this.

I know Haunted Bookshop knows this, but for emphasis: the (sometimes explicit) plan with laws like this has always been to be expansive with what is “obscene.” This also mirrors censorship policies inside prisons, which have historically been used to silence BIPOC and 2SLGBTQIA+ voiced.

since this one is moving around, maybe tap into the thread below and make a few calls to try to help stop this shit from going national.

Congratulations to @susanrinkunas.com and @garnethenderson.com on this essential new venture! Please read their first stories and consider supporting them

I know it doesn't stop them from being exhausting but please know the reason there's a relentless stream of thinkpieces from centrists or right-leaning dems going DITCH THE TRANSES is because the public opinion as a whole is "just leave them alone, jesus" and they fucking hate that

I've had actual arguments with people about "Separating art from the artist." There's no separating this. Like Idk what to tell you, but trans people should be more important to you than like dobby the elf or whatever

Let’s get some trans joy going, here is an updated version of my Trans Writers & Authors starter pack!

The folks in here are either moots and/or i’ve read & enjoyed their work.

Whether you need some escapism or a dose of revolutionary optimism, there’s something in here for everyone.

🏳️‍⚧️💖🏳️‍⚧️

So excited to see this!

BBC News: IDF is destroying everything that remains of Gaza, far-right Israeli minister says published at 07:19 07:19 Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends an inauguration event for Israel's new light rail line for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, in Petah Tikva, Israel, August 17, 2023. Image source,Reuters We can now bring you some lines from a press conference held this morning by Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. He says the little amount of food entering the Strip will not reach Hamas: "The bare minimum will reach the population - simply so the world doesn't stop us and accuse us of war crimes." "What will enter in the coming days is very little: a few bakeries distributing pita bread to people, and public kitchens providing one daily serving of cooked food." Civilians, he says, will receive one pita and a plate of food - "that's it". He adds that Israel's military is "destroying everything that remains of the Strip", describing the territory as "one big terror city". He says civilians will be moved out of combat zones as the army leaves "no stone unturned". "The population will reach the south of the Strip, and from there, with God’s help, to third countries," he says. As we've been reporting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will take control of all of Gaza.

"The bare minimum will reach the population - simply so the world doesn't stop us and accuse us of war crimes."

www.bbc.com/news/live/cq...

Do you like the internet? Do you support queer folks and women's bodily autonomy? Call and/or write your reps!

bsky.app/profile/hype...