I wonder if Sarah Waters will ever publish another novel. I hope so.

NORMAL BOOING AUSTERITY

To everyone who cheerleaded Carney's faux speech in Davos & posturing as independent middle power - His atrocious statement today backing US-Israeli attacks on Iran make clear that he & Canada are firmly aligned with dominant imperial interests. And he did so while shaking hands with Modi in India

Update: everyone enjoyed your replies very much and we all agreed with @librarian-m.bsky.social

There's a shitload of people out of work and a lot of important work to be done and it is madness-inducing how the overwhelming majority of our leaders don't care that those two problems can solve each other.

Also, many will argue that snow clearing, like Transit Plus, has gotten considerably worse since it much of it was outsourced. Snow clearing is a public service that impacts so many people. Maybe leaving these services up to the lowest bidder is a bad idea and we should bring them back in house.

As we have said and continue to say: the absolute vibe-based public safety conversation is not going to change until we get serious about social change: library-specific deescalation work and broader social interventions around housing, youth engagement, safe consumption, and accessible healthcare.

Anger exercise from my book: Locate your anger in your physical form (ex. jaw, gut) Envision a powerful laser emerging from that spot, all the way to what you're angry at Is that where you want to point it? If not, move the beam somewhere else Let the beam fade, seek a relevant action

I think members of the public service should file a respectful workplace complaint against Janice Lukes for the way she misrepresents her work as their own, and then slags them for it.

Nuclear power requires a level of institutional trust and faith in future generations that have just, to me, always felt completely incompatible with capitalism.

The “normal” state of affairs gets defined by the bodies that can absorb neglect by stepping over piles, squeezing through gaps, tolerating risk, and improvising around failure, while accessibility is recoded as a special accommodation for exceptions rather than as part of what the city is. 8/

When capacity is treated as fixed, the eugenic (and of course neoliberal) premise of “not everyone can be taken care of” is depoliticized as an economic discovery instead of named as a political decision. And that move does not merely reflect an able-bodied baseline—it produces one. 7/

This is really important for a lot of cities and frankly, other levels of government and institutions to understand.

CBC airing the State of the Union address pisses me off and is also so embarrassing. I wish Canadians understood that "Everything the US does, impacts us" has become a self-fulfilling prophecy where we rely on them for everything and are therefore, constantly being impacted by their BS.

Winnipeg Bsky, maybe you can help my lunch friends and I resolve today's frivolous quandary: is the little bit of land east of Donald and between the rivers (where the Winter Club is) still Osborne Village? If not, what... is it instead?

Lotta frustrating takes on the TL today. John Davidson was interviewed on Access All, the BBC's disability podcast, about his film and life with Tourette's and it was super fascinating and informative. Emma is a great interviewer. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...

What this technology is going to do is not end higher education, but it is going to undo so much of the baseline work on accessibility by pushing overworked professors to take things back to offline modalities, in person timed exams, keeping tech out of the classroom, etc.

I'm getting very tired of this framing. The only reason there is "consensus" that the Liberals screwed up immigration is because we are allergic to holding any premier to account for a) demanding more immigration; b) doing fuck all about housing and healthcare; and c) let scam colleges run amok. 1/

IMAGINE if we just funded a lot of nice things for people to do together for free!

If city council is so interested in creating safety for people with disabilities, clear the sidewalks in the winter, fix the bus system, fix Transit Plus, and help create more accessible and affordable housing. That’s what will actually keep us safe. Not some shitty by-law that bans protests.

Reminder that yesterday Councillor Ross Eadie said that there was NO power within Canada to effect foreign conflicts, thus making protests in support of Palestine pointless. We deserve leaders who aren't apathetic and have an actual vision for the future.

anyone ever run across academic articles about the book Greenwitch

it's like they think we forgot all the actual years of OverDrive not having their own tech support

The Tumbler Ridge newspaper puts it better than I could

Hey all, Duncan (and presumably the mayor’s office) backing off is good news, but the battle isnt over—until this measure fails at EPC and Council, it isn’t dead yet. It’s still on the agenda. Rally is on for tomorrow.

I sent in my comments opposing the proposed bylaw. I said I don't want to see the original or an amended version pass, how legal tools already exist to deal with violence or harassment, and the bylaw is inherently discriminatory bc the rich and secure have no need to protest bsky.app/profile/akoh...

From yesterday's update from a friend in Edinburgh

Made a double batch of the Smitten Kitchen strawberry cream biscuits with frozen strawberries I picked last summer. Baked one this morning and flash froze the rest. A little treat for Future Marika.

Ohhhh he's the Canadian Brian Wansink. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_W...

Supporters of the by-law are saying that submissions are still open for written statements. If you haven’t written in to express your opposition, you may still have time. It won’t hurt to send something, and given that efforts are being made to solicit support still, it’s essential to try.

The right to protest is essential. Fascism isn’t something that only happens elsewhere.

Glad to see this column by @doubleemmartin.bsky.social about Evan Duncan's proposed anti-protest bylaw in today's paper, with @buck.aboli.sh's graphic

Walked around Wolseley in the sun doing errands and getting some extremely @minxmarple.bsky.social coded treats

Just got my Public Lending Right money from Canada Council. And for the firs time ever, it's pretty good money ($1500). This is thanks to you taking my books out at the library. Keep doing it! And do it for your favourite authors! Even if you don't read the books!!

Shout out to our man @akohan.bsky.social this morning, for his well-crafted letter to the WFP re: the city's attempt to knock down a load-bearing stanchion of our democratic existence.

You have just under 24 hours to register to speak or submit a statement opposing Evan Duncan’s Charter-free zones. Choose Executive Policy Committee from the drop-down, and write in “7. Safe Access to Vulnerable Infrastructure By-law” for the item you oppose.

Are you a professor, librarian, or instructor at a Winnipeg post-secondary institution? SIGN THIS LETTER

ObSESSED with how good all the WAG exhibits are right now. Winnipeg friends, I can't recommend it enough. The curation is so fun and clever and beautiful

what makes something "vulnerable to AI" is not the capacity of machines but the credulity of management.

“The chaos that is unfolding south of us right now is a clear indicator that it’s coming our way and if we don’t put these things in place to stop that, it’s going to be your neighborhood next” Is Duncan saying Winnipeg is banning actions similar to the Twin Cities resistance to ICE violence? WHY

What is the academic equivalent of #NoTechForICE? A colleague has proposed #NoPapersForICE... A lot of the journals we publish in and subscribe to are behind some of the grossest targeting of humans in the US. See also: bsky.app/profile/jamb...

Basically, your Charter right to free expression won’t apply downtown

I much prefer being around people who try to improve things, even if they ultimately aren't successful, rather than folks who assume nothing will ever change.

For context: city defunded the community-led initiative with social workers and librarians (Community Connections), mayor’s office gave space instead to DCSP as office in last minute backroom deal, Kinew’s fixer comes in w/o consulting community at all and *does not fund* any librarian hours there

SCREAMING at my radio as Wab Kinew rejects the CCPA proposal for a municipal income wealth tax on households over $200k/year because of "cost od living."

In case you're wondering why major news channels keep booking the same (sometimes idiotic) men again and again on their 24-hour newscasts, here's some insider intel:

Finally some good goddamn news

This goes to my longstanding soapbox: everything is a disability policy from housing to health care to urban planning to mass transit.

Periodic reminder that what's marketed as 'youth social media bans' actually amounts to requiring people to provide personally identifying information in order to access whatever content a given government disfavours.