Notices by chiasm (chiasm@mastodon.online)

Beautiful day for a rally and protest march! I loved the "DEI until I DIE" sign, but every time I tried to get a picture it was blocked. 😉

I signed the Stop SB1 petition, sang along to a revived Woody Guthrie song about all fascists gonna lose, had a nice stroll with like-minded people chanting anti fascist slogans, and generally had a lovely afternoon. 😆 #10may2025 #uspol #antifascism #indivisible

Now back to calling Senators etc.

@aral quite a few of us need to hear that! Can I repost elsewhere?

Scenes from the Cincinnati protest today! And I'm told the Columbus one was even bigger than the big one on April 12th-- it's growing. #uspol #handsoff #indivisible 💗

https://open.substack.com/pub/davidpepper/p/bending-the-arc-one-protest-at-a?r=2n867n&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

It was cold and snowy and I was too busy keeping my fingers warm to take pictures, but @standupforscience.bsky.social here in Ohio was amazing! The chants were militant, and the speakers were firecrackers!! 💜

"The arc of history bends toward justice--because we force it to!"

#standupforscience #science

@silverwizard yeah that's the tricky part, from what I understand! My mom always described it as working herself out of a job as our parent. 😉 I don't have kids myself but I can appreciate the challenges, a little bit. You'll do great! 👍

@silverwizard When I was little I knew there were books in the library I was not supposed to read, and as I got older I could venture into those areas, but my mom still kept an eye on what I was reading and would talk to me about it, exploring how various groups were presented, etc.

Simpler days, eh? You can't know what all websites or whatever your kids lands on unless you've got a parental control in place, I would imagine.

#threegoodthings

1) my eyes are ok, after a scare earlier in the week. All functions are as they were a few months ago. (phew!)
2) Students continue to have great ideas and keep working on research analyses identifying some interesting things!
3) Extra-office lines of communication are getting sorted out, so we can support each other in science and DEI advocacy without upsetting our employer. Woot.

@silverwizard !!! Not for cooking cakes and brownies!!

I got an email from an NIH employee who's handling one of my proposals, letting me know the review panel was cancelled, hopefully to be rescheduled. I sent words of encouragement, and got a surprisingly heartfelt response.

I let her know I'm badgering my reps about it and trying to inform people about the impact of NIH shutdown, and she was really moved.

If you know a federal employee, send words of support. They are in a truly hard place. #science

@silverwizard oh wow, first I've heard of *that*. 😄 I hope you find a reference!

@silverwizard That is what I was thinking of. What's the coffee mug story?

@silverwizard Wasn't it MIT? And a coffee pot rather than a mug? or am I thinking of a different story?

So... I may have started a resistance cell at work. 🤣 #uspol Not exactly! but a bunch of us want to share resources, brainstorm as needed, and act where we can as individuals (not employees!), so we started a Coffee for Science Advocacy meeting. In person, at a coffee shop.

Wish us luck. First meeting next week, and we'll see if anyone joins in.

I love this.

"People tend to go along with majorities. If we say the majority of people are becoming hateful, people tend to become more hateful, for instance. Spreading messages of hope can make people more hopeful. And hope is the cure to nihilism, and nihilism is the fuel of authoritarianism. So we need to be hopeful — and we need to be hopeful in ways that are concrete... We need to actually talk about what can be achieved."

(shortened from WagingNonViolence site)
https://rb.gy/bmfkt0

I did not know Black History month had a yearly theme!

"2025 Black History Month theme, African Americans and Labor, focuses on the various and profound ways that work and working of all kinds – free and unfree, skilled, and unskilled, vocational and voluntary – intersect with the collective experiences of Black people."

#blackhistorymonth

https://asalh.org/black-history-themes/

It's recent history, but in honor of Black History Month!! From 2021, "1st Black Trans Woman On Presidential HIV/AIDS Panel Seeks To Focus On Equality"

#BlackHistory

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/21/1028839183/aids-hiv-tori-cooper-first-black-trans-woman-presidential-council

Give me a minute. I am coming to grips with the immediacy, the enormity of the situation. 😢

If anyone in the US wants to help, you can call/write your Senators about the economic impact of NIH funding in your state any importance of keeping that running smoothly-- it's over $2.5 billion of economic impact just in my state. God knows they don't care about the ethical or long-term societal issues, but the economics might hit home.

https://www.unitedformedicalresearch.org/nih-in-your-state/

My friend of mine who is faculty in biomedical engineering has accepted an excellent job at a Canadian university. I am so very happy for him! 😀

He's been looking for a job outside the US since the first Trump administration, and finally landed it.

And so goes the brain drain from the US. #academicchatter

I have to admit, scanning MLKJr quotes and writings is one heck of an inspiration!
Remind yourself about your heroes, right? 😉
#mlkday
#mlk

In a fit of navel-gazing, I reviewed the 10ish posts I put up over on FB as part of a 10 days of things that remind you that life is good. I came up with two pictures of things coming into bloom; one cocktail in the afternoon sunlight; one dessert buffet (all you can eat is always one of my weaknesses); space exploration; dinosaurs; fairy tales; and anime. That pretty much covers it. What about you? 😁