Lizzy (@mousebumples) @Mousebumples@qoto.org

Today, Justice Janet Protasiewicz takes her seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the balance shifts from 4-3 conservative to 4-3 liberal.

Abortion rights and gerrymandering are on the agenda.

(And probably not overturning election results).

#Wisconsin #law #lawfedi #supremecourt #SCOWI #politics

Fascinating developments for the family of #HenriettaLacks: "Around the time of her death, Hopkins researchers discovered the cells they had secretly sampled from their patient’s cervix were capable of regenerating outside the body, and they shared Lacks’ miraculous cells with other scientists for free. They’re now widely used around the world."

https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/economy/science-medicine/henrietta-lacks-settlement-compensation-stolen-cells-biotech-company-JNCPZLQGEZENPCHLR643GKBBGA/

Fantastic accomplishment!♥️👍🏿

https://19thnews.org/2023/07/chanda-prescod-weinstein-physicist-tenure-rare-feat/

And when she tried to join the Fediverse, she was greeted with a barrage of hate, sexism, racism, and anti-semitism that should have never been allowed to happen.

So now no one on Fediverse gets to interact with her directly about her work on here. Our loss. 😢

Which is why we'll make it so that this type of terrible welcome is unlikely to happen again. Allowing it to happen to her was a choice. We will make better ones.

#BlackMastodon

Look at what the Teamsters got for UPS workers. $21/hr for part time. The end of mandatory OT on days off. A/C in their trucks. Unions WORK. Don't let anyone tell you differently.

Hey nerds! I'm looking for a roommate in Seattle for August-September. I'm looking at getting a place. If you can chip in your half of the rent and bills, I'll happily go in with you on a two bedroom place.

My only asks:
- You not be a Nazi
- We can get along at a basic level
- You have or will have some sort of income
- You contribute your half of the bills, rent, food, etc, and I will do the same
- You clean up after yourself
- Chores are split down the middle

DM me if you're interested.

Please boost!!!

Hello Fediverse! I am coming before you all today to promote my new instance: blackqueer.life! You may have seen my post on my old account about it a few weeks back. I wanted to wait until I finished migrating my old account over here, got the instance up and running to where I wanted it, etc before promoting it fully.

We all know Fedi isn't always kind to Black users, doubly so for Black queers. My instance represents my attempt to continue the amazing work some folks are doing in the Fediverse to make these platforms more accessible and safer for all users, ESPECIALLY marginalized folks.

When I joined the fediverse, the first thing I was searching for almost from the beginning was an instance dedicated to or centering Black queer people explicitly. While there are a few amazing communities like that out there, many of them are either not federating, offering limited federation only, or are currently closed to new users.

This allows them to have much greater control over the content their users are exposed to, which I have tremendous respect and appreciation for. Hell, I've got alts in some of those places!

However. As a newcomer to Fedi, it was not overly easy for me to find these places and gain access, which I recognize is somewhat by design. Limited or no federation meant the only way to locate them was by word of mouth and extensive research.

This is where BlackQueerLife comes in. I want to build a place where Black queer, trans, and GNC folks can feel safe making a home while also being able to venture out into the rest of the fediverse. I want somewhere they can use as a landing pad. I want as many multiply marginalized Black folks off of corporate hellsites like Twitter and Bluesky as possible. We are not safe being corporate playthings.

Most importantly, I want every Black queer person who joins Fedi to know that they have somewhere they can go. I don't expect that all would necessarily want to join, but I want all Black queer fedizens to know that they are welcome to.

So if you see this, please boost this post to spread the word. If you already boosted the other posts that have gone out about this instance, no pressure. Thanks so much!

@blackmastodon@a.gup.pe @BlackMastodon@chirp.social

#BlackMastodon #BlackFedi #BlackFediverse #BlackQueer #BIPOC #QTPOC #LGBTQ

Please boost. #Transgender #lgbtq

Huge abortion news I missed over the weekend. Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin is going to start offering abortion services at three clinics again if a Dane County judge rules against the 1849 ban, which could happen soon. AG Kaul filed the challenge days after the Dobbs ruling, and oral arguments happened in May.

#abortion #Dobbs #ReproductiveRights #Wisconsin

https://isthmus.com/news/news/planned-parenthood-will-start-offering-abortion-services-aga/

This is probably the best thing I ever posted on Twitter. The memory is pretty dear to me; I'm sharing it here so it still exists somewhere if that place collapses.

Though I don't live in Wisconsin, I make a small monthly donation to the Wisconsin Democratic Party because what happens in #Wisconsin politics has an outsized influence on federal politics AND because the WisDems have repeatedly shown how effective they are in winning key contests. Please consider joining me as a small dollar monthly contributor. https://wisdems.org

📬 Fly my pretties! Postcards to help elect Judge Janet Protasiewicz to Wisconsin Supreme Court, April 4th. Also writing for Jodi Habush Sinykin for Wisconsin State Senate.

#postcardstovoters #wisconsin #elections

Happy to be writing #postcardstovoters to my former home of Wisconsin. Forward!

I’m very sad to say that my nephew Kevin has died. My sister said that my nephew was made an organ donor and two people will receive a kidney from him today. While it doesn’t lessen the grief, it helps to know others will benefit. #organdonation

When I was six, I asked for a pair of roller skates for Christmas. On Christmas morning, I opened my present to find a single roller skate.

I knew my parents didn’t have a lot of money, so I was still grateful and determined to make it work and I thanked my mom and dad and went outside to play with my roller skate.

I proceeded to “skate” along the curb with the roller skate on my right foot and my sneaker on my left foot and I was honestly having a blast when my mom came outside.

Mom: Uhhh…what are you doing?
Me: I’m roller skating, mom!
Mom: Yeah, but why are you only wearing one of your roller skates?
Me: There are TWO skates?!?

It turns out my mom wrapped the roller skates separately to give me more presents to open, but the other roller skate got buried in the Christmas morning shuffle and nobody noticed because I didn’t say anything about only receiving one roller skate.

Today marks ten years since I lost my mom and, every so often, I remember that day because it was so very her, doing whatever she could with what she had, even if it meant wrapping presents separately to make me feel like I had more.

If your mom is still around, hold her tightly. If she’s gone, remember the good times fondly.

Another batch of #PostcardsToVoters heading to Wisconsin for Judge Janet Protasiewicz #JudgeJanet #VoteBlue