Have kids, they said. It’ll be fun, they said. They never tell you that your kid will be like “mom you aren’t allowed to read Sunrise on the Reaping Alone and have to wait till I’m home from school” 😭😭😭

🚨🚨ALERT🚨🚨: If you want Democrats to hold the line on Musk's illegal funding/firing spree, **RIGHT NOW** is time to make your voice heard. This update below is about just that. Not clear how hard a line they're taking. GOPS are abt to shutdown the govt. Their leadership wants Dem help outmaneuver...

I suspect this is a HUGELY underestimated factor in radicalization. If you look at, say, QAnon boards, it’s not really folks looking for scapegoats for their dire material circumstances. It’s middle-class people with boring lives who want to imagine they’re in The Parallax View.

You GUYYYYSSSSSSS The military choir sang Do You Hear the People Sing from Les Mis at the governor's dinner at the white house. Thanks to @beebrookshire.bsky.social for helping me fact check tihs one. As far as I can it's only "officially" been posted on Dan Scavino's FB

So I post a lot about buying my books, but don't think I've listed all of them and what they are about. Here's a thread of all Karuna Riazi books at the moment 🧵 As a reminder, I am a middle grade author so all of these are middle grade titles!

There is a lot of talk about blue states resisting, etc. and this educator would humbly suggest that this is not the way forward. I refuse to leave our people in red states behind. The Civil Rights Movement came from the Deep South. Red state progressives are some of the hardest working activists.

‼️ The National Park Service has REMOVED mentions of transgender people being involved with Stonewall. Not only did the remove the world "Transgender" but changed "LGBTQ+" to "LGBQ+". The federal government is attempting to erase us and take away our history. This pride, we riot.

New newsletter on the crucial importance of collective liberation 💜 open.substack.com/pub/cindybal...

How much Elon Musk makes from the government a day: $8 million. How much a senior on Social Security gets a day: $65 Guess which budget Musk and Trump want to cut?

I would urge those who live in states that are not involved in this case to contact your AGs office and ask that they file an amici brief in support of Section 504, if they are not already planning on doing so.

Disabled rights are being attacked on multiple fronts right now. One is the lawsuit 17 states have joined trying to get the federal government to do away with Section 504. This is DIRE. Info: dredf.org/protect-504/ Script to email your state AG: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Y’all I’m really trying to love blue sky but on threads today Duo the Duolingo owl either was murdered or faked his own death and the prime suspect is Drake. Also Duo’s full name was revealed to Duo Keyshauna Renee Lingo. I cannot pull myself away from the unhinged shitposting that happens there😂

New google maps update just dropped

Section 504 prohibits discrimination against disabled people & guarantees equal access to anything (services, programs, buildings, etc.) that receives federal funding. It paved the way for the ADA. The sit-in that got it passed is an extraordinary moment in US history. I am incandescent with rage.

🎶If you’re tired of getting sick, wear a mask 👏👏 If you care about resistance, wear a mask 👏👏 If you’re an ally and you know it Then your face will surely show it 😷 If you want to help us all, wear a mask 👏👏🎶

“I would punch a N*zi.” Um, you won’t even wear a mask.

Middle grade authors! What do you do with artwork/posters/etc. from students? Especially when a whole class (or multiple) give you art they've made as part of studying your work?

Apparently it’s National Hedgehog Day so here, have a cute hedgie named Penelope 💜

I posted a newsletter today about rebellious disabled joy and celebrating the small pleasures as a middle finger to those who wish bodies like mine would disappear: open.substack.com/pub/cindybal...

i know it's cringe to post star wars as ~revolution~ or whatever, & that's not what this is, but I do think about this sequence from Andor a lot bc I know how paralyzing it is to feel overwhelmed. So, I'll continue working in the lanes where I feel the most needed/helpful.

Killing off the elderly, ill, and disabled. What does that sound like to you "he's not a Nazi" people?

Writers! Have you experienced writing burnout and recovery? And if so, would you be willing to briefly chat about it with me over email?

Lovely little New Year's poem by Author Cindy Baldwin (also see her latest substack post!) A Blessing For A New Year I wish you gentleness—the whisper patter of rain on moss, to feel inside yourself the way the dark feels when a candle is lit, like you are entirely known, entirely loved.

At midnight last night I decided instead of sleeping to rebrand my newsletter and declare a newer, messier direction for 2025. Will I live to regret it? Maybe, but I’m more excited about it than I’ve been in a while! open.substack.com/pub/cindybal...

So in all seriousness, I learned something this week that was not included in my Adulthood Manual: modern washing machines have drain filters that trap debris from draining out of the washer and need to be periodically cleaned. (1/2)

Me: In 2025 I’m not going to feel at the mercy of random stuff that happens and complicates my life, I am going to focus on JOY and REST, dammit 2025: Hello would you like to spend a day engaged in super hard, emotionally exhausting neurodivergent parenting AND THEN HAVE YOUR WASHER BREAK?

I’m trying to explore bsky more considering the *gestures at everything* but one thing I really love about 🧵 is how the algo can pretty easily create a really wonderful feed that isn’t focused on ONE topic. I’ve got book stuff there but also #cottagecore coziness, art, plants, herbs, #pnw travel etc

It took me a month to figure out exactly what I wanted this poem to say, but: this is the energy I’m taking into 2025. It will be a hard year. But I refuse to allow people who consider bodies like mine acceptable losses to steal one more moment of my joy and peace.

I don’t miss what Twitter became but what I really wanna know is where is the social media app where people remember the soap 🍆, Handbook for Mortals, Bad Art Friend, and the fake biography that claimed credit for My Immortal and was pulled by the publisher after author sleuths figured it out

okay, we're starting with this Step 1. call your own rep if you haven't already! Step 2. sign this (cis women only please! cis guys, you can help by boosting) Step 3. much depends on the success and reach of step 2; lots of options if this blows up actionnetwork.org/petitions/no...

I am craving pumpkin bars to a devastating degree and it is so rude of Past Me to not have made any

*taps mic* Is this thing on??? I gave up on this app a while ago because it felt like talking to a literal wall, but maybe I should give it another try...

Writers & agents! I'm prepping a class on traditional publishing for my cystic fibrosis writing group. What are your favorite up-to-date resources on how to write a good query letter?

I think you can moderate how you see replies by toggling how they appear based on likes. Here it is in Home Feed Preferences.

One thing I feel like I’m noticing lately about this app is the large ratio of replies it shows. Not sure I love that since I feel like it means I’m saying a lot of contextless replies my friends make to people I don’t know.

It’s just one thing after another for the poor eels in that London isn’t it?

Today in "linguists are not kidding when they say that language enables you to understand sentences that have never been said before in the entirety of human history"

The Good Place is still the most perfectest show ever made.

This is how you look whenever you say we are in a better place with COVID because only "vulnerable" people are dying.

Who gave my 10yo a blue sky code

This app needs gifs because otherwise how am I supposed to convey how exhausted I am after a month of traveling while trying to launch an ambitious writer’s program for writers with #cysticfibrosis WHILE ALSO writing curriculum and prepping to start another year teaching a homeschool ELA class😅

Ok I’m generally curious, people of blue sky: are you using this platform exclusively instead of 🐦app? Are you using 🧵? I feel like it’s still so quiet here compared to the old place and I’m terrible at dividing my posts between

Got stung in the head by a wasp, if you wondered how my Monday is going 🤬🐝🫠

My friend’s 13yo tried to explain online fanfic and what “AU” meant to be the other day and it was all I could do to not laugh out loud

Calling all #teachers & #librarians ! I'm in the process of arranging virtual school visits for the fall to promote my spooky #middlegrade novel THE VERY UNFORTUNATE WISH OF MELONY YOSHIMURA. For schools, I waive my author fee for a minimum book order. Pls comment if interested! #kidlit