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Laura Tanenbaum

@ltanenbaum.bsky.social

poetry, teaching, good trouble. proud member PSC-CUNY and JVP. all my humor is situational. Poetry collection, Dear Mother, out soon: https://mainstreetragbookstore.com/product/dear-mother-laura-tanenbaum/

295 Followers  |  479 Following  |  653 Posts  |  Joined: 14.02.2025
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Posts by Laura Tanenbaum (@ltanenbaum.bsky.social)

This is what ecocide looks like.

08.03.2026 17:41 β€” πŸ‘ 4800    πŸ” 1764    πŸ’¬ 90    πŸ“Œ 40
Screenshot from NY Mag feature on how much people make in NYC: "Bronx Day-Care Worker

$31,000

$16,600 from day-care profits

$14,400 from trainings and consulting

Last year, I lost a lot of kids. I live in the Bronx, and a bunch of families in my neighborhood lost their child-care vouchers. We're talking about people who make as much as I do; most of the moms I work with are home health aides. They can't afford full-time child care. If I have 16 kids, I can pay myself for 40 hours of work. But last year, I didn't, and obviously I'm still doing the same amount of work. I've been running the day care out of my home for more than seven years. It's a profession I entered out of necessity and have stayed in out of passion. I pay for everything - food, cleaning supplies, toys - and we have to meet the same requirements as a large company in terms of paying for liability insurance, which can feel pointless in this industry. I mean, if something happens to one of my children, I lose my license. End of story."

Screenshot from NY Mag feature on how much people make in NYC: "Bronx Day-Care Worker $31,000 $16,600 from day-care profits $14,400 from trainings and consulting Last year, I lost a lot of kids. I live in the Bronx, and a bunch of families in my neighborhood lost their child-care vouchers. We're talking about people who make as much as I do; most of the moms I work with are home health aides. They can't afford full-time child care. If I have 16 kids, I can pay myself for 40 hours of work. But last year, I didn't, and obviously I'm still doing the same amount of work. I've been running the day care out of my home for more than seven years. It's a profession I entered out of necessity and have stayed in out of passion. I pay for everything - food, cleaning supplies, toys - and we have to meet the same requirements as a large company in terms of paying for liability insurance, which can feel pointless in this industry. I mean, if something happens to one of my children, I lose my license. End of story."

Screenshot from NY Mag feature about how much people make in NYC: "Consultant

$17,000,000

$9.5 million from consulting fees

$7.5 million in stock in companies that went public

The big-picture way that I make my money is consulting; that work covers my day-to-day.

Separate from that, I had stock in a couple of companies that went public. Because I made money later in life, my tastes and needs are a lot simpler. I don't spend money on things like having multiple homes, or flying private, or watches, or boats. I make enough money that I do what I want and I don't think about it. I also don't believe in leaving my kids a crazy amount of money because everyone I know who has that is fucked up, so why would I do that to them?"

Screenshot from NY Mag feature about how much people make in NYC: "Consultant $17,000,000 $9.5 million from consulting fees $7.5 million in stock in companies that went public The big-picture way that I make my money is consulting; that work covers my day-to-day. Separate from that, I had stock in a couple of companies that went public. Because I made money later in life, my tastes and needs are a lot simpler. I don't spend money on things like having multiple homes, or flying private, or watches, or boats. I make enough money that I do what I want and I don't think about it. I also don't believe in leaving my kids a crazy amount of money because everyone I know who has that is fucked up, so why would I do that to them?"

When people in the future ask what America was show them this

09.03.2026 16:08 β€” πŸ‘ 220    πŸ” 78    πŸ’¬ 7    πŸ“Œ 2

wasn't he also the guy who made a big splash by "confessing" he found women in their 40s fuckable?

09.03.2026 15:09 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

yes I think it's definitely a continuum where it's possible to both overstate continuity and overstate rupture and so I think the debates outside specific contexts are most often unhelpful

06.03.2026 16:32 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Advocates ask Mamdani to add NYC student detained by ICE to list of immigration cases sent to Trump Dylan Lopez Contreras was the first New York City public school student detained by ICE during President Donald Trump’s second-term immigration crackdown.

NYC public school student Dylan Lopez Contreras has been detained by ICE in Pennsylvania for the past 10 months. TY @mayor.nyc.gov for demanding the release of Columbia student activists β€” now let's keep it up and #BringDylanHome! gothamist.com/news/advocat...

05.03.2026 21:08 β€” πŸ‘ 31    πŸ” 13    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

Israel has not β€œdragged the United Stares into war.”
An elite faction of the United States that identifies intensely with the interests of Israel has, with the complaisance of other factions, launched an aggressive war.
Israel figures heavily into Washington’s motives but the difference matters.

03.03.2026 14:39 β€” πŸ‘ 550    πŸ” 105    πŸ’¬ 8    πŸ“Œ 11
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I think about this Tony Benn speech much more than I used to

28.02.2026 16:09 β€” πŸ‘ 13131    πŸ” 5318    πŸ’¬ 89    πŸ“Œ 184
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PSC members are continuing to bear witness & support immigrants who are called to the courts at 26 Federal Plaza. Join your colleagues as we continue to escort our neighbors out of the courts.

RSVP: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

03.03.2026 15:25 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Additionally, I want to speak directly to Iranian New Yorkers: you are part of the fabric of this city β€” you are our neighbors, small business owners, students, artists, workers, and community leaders.Β You will be safe here.

28.02.2026 17:50 β€” πŸ‘ 9985    πŸ” 1431    πŸ’¬ 53    πŸ“Œ 84

Absolutely shameful. If you can't denounce this immoral institutionalized mass murder, please dissolve yourself immediately.

02.03.2026 17:55 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Graphic promoting the Fall 2026 CUNY Cultural Corps Internship. A student looks at a piece of art in a museum. Text: β€œJoin the Fall 2026 CUNY Cultural Corps Internship! Apply by March 31, 2026. Get paid $20/hour.” Departments listed: Communications & Marketing, Education & Public Programs, Development & Fundraising, Curatorial & Exhibitions, and Production Management.

Graphic promoting the Fall 2026 CUNY Cultural Corps Internship. A student looks at a piece of art in a museum. Text: β€œJoin the Fall 2026 CUNY Cultural Corps Internship! Apply by March 31, 2026. Get paid $20/hour.” Departments listed: Communications & Marketing, Education & Public Programs, Development & Fundraising, Curatorial & Exhibitions, and Production Management.

✨ Applications are now open for Fall 2026 CUNY Cultural Corps! Interns earn $20/hour while working at NYC’s top arts and cultural institutions.

➑️ Apply by March. 31 at cuny.edu/culturalcorps

02.03.2026 17:32 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

a lot of people who seem dumb are also really evil. becoming more and more religious about this

02.03.2026 16:22 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

on one level erasure of a heroic Black woman and so not surprising. But also I think it's somewhat memory holed that in some instances there *was* more dem opposition to wars.

02.03.2026 16:21 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I felt the same way about Oedipus which I also saw too late to recommend

02.03.2026 00:41 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

say what you will about callow stupid and overreaching incarnations of trauma discourse but apparently actual adults still believe that you can just do genocides, decimate populations, murder at scale abroad etc without that having any material or libidinal consequences whatsover

01.03.2026 23:54 β€” πŸ‘ 129    πŸ” 23    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

This is what I kept thinking about during the genocide in Gaza, which is not over. yes, too many Americans are propagandized but at root this is a part of the democracy crisis.

01.03.2026 23:26 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

my HS had a post-prom tradition of running into the lake and running out polar bear plunge style *in May* that's how cold it is!

28.02.2026 12:22 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

This is amazing. As a native Chicagoan, going into the lake at all in February is a huge feat of will, let alone treading water holding a stroller over your head

27.02.2026 22:53 β€” πŸ‘ 114    πŸ” 36    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

and now being extended to - if we go to war with Iran it is only because Israel is making us

27.02.2026 22:14 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

our 14 yo loved it too. hoping it will be the rare movie 14 yo and 8 yo can agree on; given martian is one of the few others I'm hopeful.

27.02.2026 19:31 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

thank you for reading!

27.02.2026 08:54 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

In a very different register, I remember Mary Gordon writing about how the women of her mother's generation were all in love with priests because sexism and all they were the only men who would have serious conversations with women and believe they had inner lives

26.02.2026 23:50 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

great read thanks. while the cases are very different, one similarity to my long engagement with Roth's work was that unlike so many of his peers he at least seemed *interested* in women

26.02.2026 23:06 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

thanks! not sure how I missed this . .

26.02.2026 22:48 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Philip Roth (1933–2018) Philip Roth's work could only have been written by someone who came of age during the peak of postwar liberalism.

jacobin.com/2018/05/phil.... i didn't really go into it here, but Vivian Gornick's critique that post-war Jewish men acted out their feelings about class and assimilation via women seems . .. relevant, shall we say

26.02.2026 22:45 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

I wrote an obit of Roth no one read, lol. I was pretty generous to him but when I was on a panel because of it I still got cast as the feminist scold 🀷my fellow panelist had written an obit where he pretended to be PR talking from beyond the grave

26.02.2026 22:41 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

someone still needs to write the big woody allen piece about this, I think

26.02.2026 22:19 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

interesting. I think they feed into each other as culturally specific misogyny is enforced by homo-social networks. like the specific misogyny of the Italian mobsters was not about Italianness or Catholocism but those identities shaped how it was formed and reproduced

26.02.2026 22:19 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

agree 100% and also I think that's what Klion is saying? a little surprised at the vitriol against him from some but maybe I shouldn't be

26.02.2026 22:14 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

JFC. Stay safe get organized and protect your people

26.02.2026 15:15 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0