Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 8h

Annie Hall and First Wives Club were so formative. Her later “rich lady in a nice house with nice sweaters” films were so cozy. A real legend.

1 7

Reposted by Miriam Elder

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 16h

Can’t fight fascism with a monoculture (this is about Taylor Swift) open.substack.com/pub/miriamel...

The Death of the Monoculture

Unfortunately, we will be talking about Taylor Swift.

open.substack.com

2 3 8

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 15h

Thank you 😭

1

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 16h

Can’t fight fascism with a monoculture (this is about Taylor Swift) open.substack.com/pub/miriamel...

The Death of the Monoculture

Unfortunately, we will be talking about Taylor Swift.

open.substack.com

2 3 8

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 16h

Lessons from the great Svetlana Alexievich. “How do you fight rats?” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/w...

Understanding Post-Soviet Tyranny, in Order to Fight It

www.nytimes.com

2 10

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 1d

Children of Soviet emigres unite, we have nothing to lose but our chains www.thecity.nyc/2025/10/02/z...

Their Families Fled Soviet Socialism. Now They’re Knocking Doors for Mamdani.

A world away from their parents’ Iron Curtain upbringings, young New Yorkers with roots from Poland to Turkmenistan are helping power the Democratic mayoral nominee’s sunny socialist campaign.

www.thecity.nyc

1 4

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 1d

Seeing protesters in Portland reclaim the frog from Pepe - thrilling

4

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 2d

“The upshot is that any video you see on an app that involves scrolling through short videos, such as TikTok, Instagram’s Reels, YouTube Shorts and Snapchat, now has a high likelihood of being fake.” 🙃

1 3

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 2d

“The tech could represent the end of visual fact — the idea that video could serve as an objective record of reality — as we know it. Society as a whole will have to treat videos with as much skepticism as people already do words.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/t...

What the Arrival of A.I.-Fabricated Video Means for Us

www.nytimes.com

1 2 3

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 3d

ugh

1

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 3d

Some of the smartest people in my life are sending me cat videos (which I love) which are AI (which I hate) which they do not realize (which scares me). We are cooked.

2 3 17

Reposted by Miriam Elder

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 3d

#WarRavagedPortland

1.3K 11K 36K

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 4d

Has anyone seen Nothing Can Take You From The Hand of God? Surprisingly, cannot find a single review.

1

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 4d

She’s baaaaack. Thoughts on the Free Press from one of the best

Sara Yasin @sarayasin.bsky.social · 4d

going back to my roots.....
Blogging
sarayasin.substack.com/p/rejoining-...

rejoining the living and some thoughts on....free press and...that deal

I haven’t said much these last few months, that’s because I’ve felt way more introspective since leaving the L.A.

sarayasin.substack.com

1 1 6

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 4d

Extremely depressing to look back on texts from the morning of Oct 7, 2023 and be reminded that everything unfolded exactly as expected. May Bibi and Hamas have their day in The Hague.

1 11

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 5d

I’ve been Bad Bunny-pilled

1 4

Reposted by Miriam Elder

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 7d

This week’s newsletter tackles the eternal question miriamelder.substack.com/p/why-are-men

Why Are Men?

Sailing the stormy seas of compulsory heterosexuality.

miriamelder.substack.com

1 4

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 7d

This week’s newsletter tackles the eternal question miriamelder.substack.com/p/why-are-men

Why Are Men?

Sailing the stormy seas of compulsory heterosexuality.

miriamelder.substack.com

1 4

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 8d

Funny to see TikTok and critics turn on TS because the music has always sounded like this (bad, basic) so what else has changed (engagement? overexposure? the veil of fascism imposing cultural insight?)

2

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 8d

Endless coverage of the descent into fascism: I understand this and society needs it
Endless coverage of T*ylor Sw*ft: why are you doing this to me?!?!!!

1 5

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 8d

Impossible to delink this from the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - the total militarization of law enforcement. Story opens with a Black Hawk helicopter deployed against Americans and only gets worse from there abc7chicago.com/post/ice-chi...

ICE agents raid South Shore apartments; Trump says Chicago could become military training ground

ICE agents raided a South Shore apartment building overnight as the city braces for a possible military deployment.

abc7chicago.com

3 29 76

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 9d

And on the 30th day she discovered trazadone

1 1

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 10d

This @tressiemcphd.bsky.social column is obviously so much more than a subtweet of Ezra Klein (who himself is a stand-in for a certain type of thinking) but I did appreciate that aspect of it www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...

Opinion | When Silence Is the Only Logical Choice, Are We Really Free?

www.nytimes.com

6 9

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 10d

sigh

Miriam Elder @miriamelder.bsky.social · 10d

bah

1