Notices by Susan Kaye Quinn 🌱(she/her) (susankayequinn@wandering.shop)

Turns out the people who come out in the unseasonably cold driving rain to talk to authors and get books are my people.

And we're gonna need that grit in the times ahead, my friends. Because all of it — knowledge, science, arts—is under attack and books are 100% part of the fight.

I become more convinced every day that focusing on the wrong metric ("efficiency" "sales" "likes and subscribes")—or metrics at all tbh—is insidiously corrupting and will actually prevent you from doing the thing you're *really* trying to do.

Know why you're in this. Stay on that.

#vagueposting

I will be teaching a solarpunk visioning workshop at this!

PLUS you can volunteer...
🚨🌿Pittsburgh: Solarpunk Future 2025 seeks volunteers—your volunteer hours earn credits you can spend with eco-friendly businesses...

Register: https://bit.ly/solarpunkvolunteer25

Thursday, May 29 | 1 PM - 6PM

ok, who would like to go to this with me?

#solarpunk film festival
Portland, OR
June 22nd, 5:30pm
https://www.bridgecitymedia.com/solarpunk/

oh damn, there it is

I would smash this into the concrete.

Early in the AI assault-on-everything, I wrote a few short stories about this endless thirst for data, how they would never stop & the invasiveness would quickly go Black Mirror.

Anyway, you can get those stories here: https://susankayequinn.com/books/closet-full-of-time-and-other-dark-tales
#bookstadon #SFF #scifi

@seanbala ironically, I think it even makes it worse for THEM... because it degrades their service/company and eventually that shows up on the bottom line. It might make it "better" for one quarter when they fire everyone and ride on the high of delivering crappy service for less cost to them, but it won't last. I'm less likely to renew AAA. It will *COST THEM* and somehow every company has to learn this shitty lesson personally.

Got a flat tire. Called AAA. It's all enshittified now. Tried to call & talk to a human & it hung up on me. Used the chatbot but it got all the info wrong in relaying it to the towing people. Once I got humans (the towing guy) on the phone, it was fine.

chatGPT=making things worse for everyone

This bill is a nightmare.
https://hillheat.news/p/throwing-america-into-the-trash
@climatebrad.hillheat.com

this, this is it — this is the post

#harris2024 @kamalaharrisforpresidentnews

Apparently, I need to update my will to ban ever making an AI of ME or using my likeness or words or written works to train AI of any kind.

(My family knows but JFC this world)

I'm not surprised by fascist attacks on reality, education, science, arts—I'm surprised how effective erasure is. They'll simply *stop gathering data* on the climate crisis. They'll stop the weather predictions. They'll erase "DEI" from the website.

That people will die is feature, not a bug.

https://jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/into-the-dark-fascist-capture-of

PA friends, primary voting is tomorrow, May 20th — it's important to protest, it's important to resist, but it is STILL VERY IMPORTANT to vote.

Please check out your local races, which are more important than ever.

Sample ballots: https://ballotpedia.org/Pennsylvania_Sample_Ballot

PA races info: https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/a/philadelphia-pennsylvania-2025-primary-election-voter-guide-candidates-ballot-20250429.html

More info on races: https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2025/05/pennsylvania-primary-election-day-2025-last-minute-voting-guide/

#Pittsburgh folks: https://www.wesa.fm/pa-election-guide-2025

"I don't care about voting for judges!"

Really? Because the integrity of the judicial system is under attack by fascists & it's REALLY FUCKING IMPORTANT to have good judges.

"But I don't know anything about the judges!"
My friend, I'm begging you, use the internet.

https://www.wesa.fm/wesa-voter-guide/2025-primary-election/allegheny-county-court-of-common-pleas

Grab this #solarpunk story by @ana FREE for a short time! It's the last of the Bright Green Futures stories I'm setting free but you can grab the full anthology anytime (or request it from your library!).

story: https://lnk.to/BGF24S6website
anthology: https://lnk.to/BGF24website

#bookstadon #hopepunk #climatefiction #climatechange

This Tiktok is a great idea for electoral candidates (use mutual aid to build political power):

https://www.tiktok.com/@katmabu/video/7503648606725999902

but you don't need to be someone running for office to do this—in fact, this is exactly what I've been encouraging people to do for a while, but esp since the election.
1/n

Think local, build systems of care outside of capitalism.

Rethink how you do everything and how it could move closer to community-connection and sustainable practices.

It's food systems, it's where you shop, it's how you spend your time, it's your friend/neighbor networks...
2/n

@NatureMC

"AI slop" is one of the better terms I've seen, covers everything (text, images, whole websites, information pollution) @dalias

@NatureMC 100% on the metaphors — one of the problems early in the genAI discourse was a chronic lack of good metaphors or actively harmful outdated metaphors (this is still a problem with the harmful ones but we've developed some helpful ones that are getting encoded in language like theftbot).

@dalias

@dalias it's a testament to how strong the cultural norm has been that if you're "anti tech" in any capacity, you're some kind of loser that isn't cool and can't keep up with the world.

Pretty impressive how the tech industry completely colonized the culture that way.

Equally impressive how HORRIBLE the tech industry had to become before we made a dent in that cultural norm.

GenAI did it.

So much so we're reclaiming "Luddite" as punk-as-hell (it is).

Some folks still catching up LOL