Melissa

Rest in power, Fobazi. Such an influential voice in the field.

200 Protesters Flood Maersk’s Manhattan HQ to Demand End to Military Shipments The protest targeted a transnational company that plays a critical role in supplying F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel.

Roughly 200 protesters occupied the lobby of Maersk’s Manhattan headquarters on Wednesday, June 11, to demand that the multibillion-dollar shipping conglomerate stop sending military cargo to Israel amid the genocide in Gaza.

Let’s Learn and Live Lessons in Collective Survival Together “We are really good at finding what’s wrong with each other,” says author and podcaster Margaret Killjoy.

This interview with Kelly Hayes & Margaret Killjoy is so wonderful and articulates a lot of what makes sense to me about how to organize and how to just be in these increasingly perilous times. Also it's the 2nd time recently I heard people on the left encourage go bags! truthout.org/audio/lets-l...

Appreciating this grounding. "Who is fed, housed, given health care, safety, and security by what we’re fighting about? Does the fight we’re in lead to a change that can alter people’s lives for the better or advance us toward a revolutionary shift?"

Some work from former Brooklyn PL colleagues is part of this exhibit! Moving and important. Remember that Rikers with all its horrors was originally established to be "the most perfect prison in the world." archive.rikersmemoryproject.org/items/show/247

"'I fear suicidality, bc it's such an extreme discomfort in one's body & identity,' the therapist said. 'For someone who's been living their whole life, for them to then have to deal with a body that is changing in ways that feels even more uncomfortable & wrong, I worry about their mental health.'"

I signed the @nymagunion.bsky.social pledge. I legitimately love NY Mag (and subscribe to print) bc the combo of investigative reporting, local political analysis, cultural crit, and photos of whacked-out overdesigned apartments makes me feel like a truly tapped-in NYer. nymagunion.org/reader-pledge

Screenshot of part of a Truthout article displaying this paragraph: "Attempts to turn Canada into U.S. territory had the lowest rating. Only 18 percent of Americans backed that idea, while 60 percent said they opposed it, the poll found — a net rating of -42 points."

There's a lot in here but this is what my brain snagged on. 18% of Americans is a lot of people. 😳 From @truthout.org truthout.org/articles/maj...

(The answer to the first is no, they were not achieving calm or care, unfortunately. But I'm okay.)

Told someone about today's blood-drawing fight between two ppl over a public computer, and they responded, "Hoping folks got to a place of calm and received the care they needed. And especially hoping that you are okay," which are exactly the sentiments I try to have re violence in the library.

I got up to Harlem too late to actually join in, but I endorse this message!

Via a friend from NY Health Act activist circles: "A colleague lost his wife, partly because United Healthcare determined after two surgeries, she was not permitted to have her mass removed a third time. She died soon after, leaving five children....I think of her whenever I hear about the UHC CEO."

Agreed - "From Ground Zero," shorts created by dozens of people experiencing the genocide in Gaza, is illuminating and powerful. Still thinking about the filmmaker who broke in at the end of her own footage to explain why she couldn't bring herself to finish it.

That would be so fun to be Fly Girls together. And/or in the courtroom.

Just finished @librarianjones.com's "That Librarian." Not that we don't have effects of societal decay seeping into NYC public libraries, but the right-wing Christian supremacist hysteria she details is waaaay beyond what I have to deal with. It'd make me truly wrestle to keep my faith in humanity.

Rest in power, 88 open tabs in my mobile browser that are now toast since I had to factory reset my phone.

1. Fly Girl.
2. Plumber.
3. The good kind of lawyer.

A photo of a 2025 wall calendar with a drawing of a grackle on the cover.

Come on peoples, it's grackle time.

So far air fryers have not revealed their special magic to me.

Love that Hochul refuses to take steps towards actual public safety such as supporting strong tenant protections including Good Cause Eviction to keep people stable, just filling the subway system with cops and the National Guard as a counterproductive band-aid. www.404media.co/governor-say...

Report from the Brooklyn Heights Association annual meeting tonight featuring Sen Gillibrand! #ceasefireNOW

People holding a large banner reading NYC City Workers for Palestine on the steps of Brooklyn Borough Hall.

With City Workers for Palestine and lower-case city workers for Palestine (and other activists) at Brooklyn Borough Hall. Some speakers linking starving public services with official support for imperialism and genocide. Demands include a ceasefire resolution by the NYC government.

Obviously not against clearing out some people's medical debt, but how about we abolish it for everyone forever (by instituting a universal coverage system). Last I heard NYC officials were not in favor of the New York Health Act, too bad...
www.bkreader.com/news/city-to...

Love this by @victorialaw.bsky.social and Erica Meiners about lessons from Australia's Sisters Inside conference, including "Grassroots Networks Are Crucial!" and conferences are (or, well, can be) sexy and fun. truthout.org/articles/abo...

To NYC public library folks and other public sector workers here! Rank & File meeting this Wed at 7 on Zoom. Register at bit.ly/PSRFJan10 .

Projection on building on 3rd Ave near 44th St in Manhattan reading: AIPAC FUNDS GENOCIDE NY ELECTEDS COMPLICIT YVETTE CLARKE $22K

My rep Yvette Clarke featured (along with other NY electeds) on this projection at the big unionized worker-led march for a ceasefire tonight. "Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Israel's crimes!"

Quote: "The city, meanwhile, paid out at least $121 million in settlements last year for lawsuits alleging misconduct by police officers - the highest total in five years."

Noticing this small detail in Eric Umansky's "The Failed Promise of Police Body Cameras" as I contemplate our austerity mayor and his budget cuts. www.nytimes.com/2023/12/13/m...

Look at you @zinelib.bsky.social tagging me in the hopes that one day I'll actually start using Bluesky. 😍😭