Cassidy Aster 🏳️⚧️ They/Them
@cassidyaster.bsky.social
Archaeologist, Master Naturalist, Game-runner, hobbyist crafter and writer.
Nonbinary, they/them.
Nonbinary, they/them.
Reposted by Cassidy Aster 🏳️⚧️ They/Them
Your Cherokee words for today.
The top word is English followed by how it is written in the Cherokee language followed by how it is spelled in English then how to pronounce it phonetically.
The top word is English followed by how it is written in the Cherokee language followed by how it is spelled in English then how to pronounce it phonetically.
February 9, 2026 at 1:17 AM
Your Cherokee words for today.
The top word is English followed by how it is written in the Cherokee language followed by how it is spelled in English then how to pronounce it phonetically.
The top word is English followed by how it is written in the Cherokee language followed by how it is spelled in English then how to pronounce it phonetically.
Reposted by Cassidy Aster 🏳️⚧️ They/Them
Amber Glenn, a queer Texan who started ice skating at the stonebriar mall in frisco at age 5, who plays magic the gathering, is an olympic gold medalist
grateful to work at a place that always lets me write about how much i love gay women
www.chron.com/culture/arti...
www.chron.com/culture/arti...
Amber Glenn, a queer icon from Texas, is about to make Olympic history
The American figure skater's unapologetic queerness feels more important than ever.
www.chron.com
February 8, 2026 at 10:45 PM
Amber Glenn, a queer Texan who started ice skating at the stonebriar mall in frisco at age 5, who plays magic the gathering, is an olympic gold medalist
Eventually some middle manager is going to without permission do this with our division's files and I'm going to bake a cake commemorating it during every quarterly meeting.
February 8, 2026 at 10:58 PM
Eventually some middle manager is going to without permission do this with our division's files and I'm going to bake a cake commemorating it during every quarterly meeting.
The mayor of my town owns half the rental properties in this town so it is not a problem he actually wants to solve; he creates the scarcity to increase his wealth to fund his petty ambitions, while the rest of us who can barely afford to feed ourselves form meal trains for the local warming center.
I was thinking about this the other day, especially in the middle of the Minnesota winter: every unhoused person who dies from exposure in this cold does so as the result of a policy decision.
When you see unhoused people asking for money what you should see is a fracturing of the social contract where an issue (housing) that should be addressed on a municipal or statuary level is instead foisted on individuals in a way designed o put callouses on their souls
February 8, 2026 at 7:21 PM
The mayor of my town owns half the rental properties in this town so it is not a problem he actually wants to solve; he creates the scarcity to increase his wealth to fund his petty ambitions, while the rest of us who can barely afford to feed ourselves form meal trains for the local warming center.
I feel weird still planning for long term future things, like wanting to buy a house.
February 8, 2026 at 4:37 PM
I feel weird still planning for long term future things, like wanting to buy a house.
It's -5 degrees and I have to walk across the street to the office to get something from my work computer I'm so mad. I have to put on more layers and put my boots on this is outrageous.
February 8, 2026 at 1:19 PM
It's -5 degrees and I have to walk across the street to the office to get something from my work computer I'm so mad. I have to put on more layers and put my boots on this is outrageous.
Reposted by Cassidy Aster 🏳️⚧️ They/Them
hatred of unhoused people is genuinely a pipeline to fascism. if the wealthy can get you to dehumanize your own neighbors, then they can get you to do it to anyone.
February 8, 2026 at 4:54 AM
hatred of unhoused people is genuinely a pipeline to fascism. if the wealthy can get you to dehumanize your own neighbors, then they can get you to do it to anyone.
Reposted by Cassidy Aster 🏳️⚧️ They/Them
I’m not arguing with no account defending AI. My grandmother lives in an area being environmentally compromised currently by an ai data center. I remember the color of the lake before they built it and the sludge I see in it when I go to see her. Shut the fuck up about “the benefits of AI” forever.
February 7, 2026 at 3:46 PM
I’m not arguing with no account defending AI. My grandmother lives in an area being environmentally compromised currently by an ai data center. I remember the color of the lake before they built it and the sludge I see in it when I go to see her. Shut the fuck up about “the benefits of AI” forever.
Reposted by Cassidy Aster 🏳️⚧️ They/Them
We also know, as academics & researchers, that the period in which any child is 'gender questioning' is very often on their own, in silence, months or even years before they speak the words to a single other person.
We do not know which children around us are 'questioning' their gender.
We do not know which children around us are 'questioning' their gender.
February 7, 2026 at 9:36 AM
We also know, as academics & researchers, that the period in which any child is 'gender questioning' is very often on their own, in silence, months or even years before they speak the words to a single other person.
We do not know which children around us are 'questioning' their gender.
We do not know which children around us are 'questioning' their gender.
Reposted by Cassidy Aster 🏳️⚧️ They/Them
Been thinking a bit about the way that John Brockman acted as Epstein's scientist collector and would organize dinners where Epstein would just happen to show up and I think a lesson here for *white scientists* is if you're being invited to all-white events, that might be actively intentional 🧪
February 7, 2026 at 3:56 PM
Been thinking a bit about the way that John Brockman acted as Epstein's scientist collector and would organize dinners where Epstein would just happen to show up and I think a lesson here for *white scientists* is if you're being invited to all-white events, that might be actively intentional 🧪
Reposted by Cassidy Aster 🏳️⚧️ They/Them
coming up with a new idea called "driving like shit olympics". no more bland, unprovable statements like "california drivers are the WORST" allowed. whichever state wins every 4 years gets a moonshot-sized public transit investment to get those fuckers off the road
February 7, 2026 at 5:34 PM
coming up with a new idea called "driving like shit olympics". no more bland, unprovable statements like "california drivers are the WORST" allowed. whichever state wins every 4 years gets a moonshot-sized public transit investment to get those fuckers off the road
Reposted by Cassidy Aster 🏳️⚧️ They/Them
If it's good enough for an Olympic athlete then why isn't it good enough for you?
Olympians are masking up with N95s because they know a covid infection can derail their chances of competing.
They know it could derail their careers.
They know it could disable them.
They’re practicing self care and community care.
Give them a gold medal in public health!
They know it could derail their careers.
They know it could disable them.
They’re practicing self care and community care.
Give them a gold medal in public health!
February 7, 2026 at 4:10 AM
If it's good enough for an Olympic athlete then why isn't it good enough for you?
Reposted by Cassidy Aster 🏳️⚧️ They/Them
"I need AI to make art, human art is only for the rich and privileged-"
February 6, 2026 at 7:29 PM
"I need AI to make art, human art is only for the rich and privileged-"
Reposted by Cassidy Aster 🏳️⚧️ They/Them
Democratizing the arts looks like universal income, low-barrier grants for both emerging and working artists, well-funded municipal arts & recreation programs, vibrant third spaces, and a well-funded public school system with progressive curriculum.
Not a free pass for corporate-owned slop engines.
Not a free pass for corporate-owned slop engines.
Every instance of "AI democratizes the arts, you're classist and ableist and a gatekeeper for trying to stop it" is a slap in the face to the literally centuries of poor, disabled people making art on the margins and a crass lie in service of a machine that strips down and regurgitates dreams
February 7, 2026 at 12:58 AM
Democratizing the arts looks like universal income, low-barrier grants for both emerging and working artists, well-funded municipal arts & recreation programs, vibrant third spaces, and a well-funded public school system with progressive curriculum.
Not a free pass for corporate-owned slop engines.
Not a free pass for corporate-owned slop engines.
Reposted by Cassidy Aster 🏳️⚧️ They/Them
one of the greatest human triumphs of my lifetime is the relentless, unceasing, heroic effort by DECADES' worth of doctors and scientists to find a cure for a disease much of the world didn't take seriously for years because it predominantly affected a community they thought kinda deserved it
Just because good news is worth celebrating:
There is now a Prep medication that is an *every six month* injection.
HIV has, effectively, a vaccination.
There is now a Prep medication that is an *every six month* injection.
HIV has, effectively, a vaccination.
February 7, 2026 at 1:37 AM
one of the greatest human triumphs of my lifetime is the relentless, unceasing, heroic effort by DECADES' worth of doctors and scientists to find a cure for a disease much of the world didn't take seriously for years because it predominantly affected a community they thought kinda deserved it
Reposted by Cassidy Aster 🏳️⚧️ They/Them
I do want to shout-out my fellow sociologists, who have collectively created a discipline so woke that not a single one of our introductory textbooks can make it past Florida's censors.
Great work everyone.
Great work everyone.
February 6, 2026 at 3:00 PM
I do want to shout-out my fellow sociologists, who have collectively created a discipline so woke that not a single one of our introductory textbooks can make it past Florida's censors.
Great work everyone.
Great work everyone.
Reposted by Cassidy Aster 🏳️⚧️ They/Them
Reposted by Cassidy Aster 🏳️⚧️ They/Them
GM: Charisma check.
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
February 7, 2026 at 5:01 AM
GM: Charisma check.
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
This guy at work is always emailing me a major project update 10 minutes before I leave work on a Friday.
February 6, 2026 at 9:25 PM
This guy at work is always emailing me a major project update 10 minutes before I leave work on a Friday.
Reposted by Cassidy Aster 🏳️⚧️ They/Them
New Study Once Again Shows Trans Women Have No Physical Advantage Over Cis Athletes
www.them.us/story/new-st...
www.them.us/story/new-st...
New Study Once Again Shows Trans Women Have No Physical Advantage Over Cis Athletes
Researchers analyzed data from almost 3,000 trans women.
www.them.us
February 6, 2026 at 12:34 AM
New Study Once Again Shows Trans Women Have No Physical Advantage Over Cis Athletes
www.them.us/story/new-st...
www.them.us/story/new-st...
One of my coworkers brought me ppks to ID, it's the best thing that's happened to me at work on a Friday morning for a long time.
February 6, 2026 at 2:00 PM
One of my coworkers brought me ppks to ID, it's the best thing that's happened to me at work on a Friday morning for a long time.
Reposted by Cassidy Aster 🏳️⚧️ They/Them
All these men driving women out of their fields with giggly idiot grabassery and then bloviating to the public about how the lack of women is proof of male intellectual superiority... I hate them all. I hate them so much.
February 6, 2026 at 12:38 AM
All these men driving women out of their fields with giggly idiot grabassery and then bloviating to the public about how the lack of women is proof of male intellectual superiority... I hate them all. I hate them so much.
Reposted by Cassidy Aster 🏳️⚧️ They/Them
Two tribes are showing how saving sage grouse, and other iconic species of the West’s vast sagebrush steppe, will require are assessment of the widespread cattle grazing that has become an emblem of the landscape.
What’s needed to protect sage grouse? Less grazing. - High Country News
Two tribes are showing how saving sage grouse, and other iconic species of the West’s vast sagebrush steppe, will require are assessment of the widespread cattle grazing that has become an emblem of...
buff.ly
February 6, 2026 at 9:01 AM
Two tribes are showing how saving sage grouse, and other iconic species of the West’s vast sagebrush steppe, will require are assessment of the widespread cattle grazing that has become an emblem of the landscape.
Don't threaten me with a good time
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday that demands made by Democrats for new restrictions on federal immigration officers are “unrealistic” and warned that the Department of Homeland Security will shut down next week if they do not work with Republicans and the White House.
Homeland Security shutdown grows more likely as Republicans rebuff Democratic demands for ICE
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday that demands made by Democrats for new restrictions on federal immigration officers are “unrealistic” and warned that the Department of Homeland Secu…
trib.al
February 6, 2026 at 12:37 AM
Don't threaten me with a good time
Reposted by Cassidy Aster 🏳️⚧️ They/Them
My latest @newscientist.com column for subscribers and library patrons is about Elon Musk’s attempts to co-opt Star Trek and how Mars is actually a hostile planet 🧪🔭
www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...
www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...
Why Elon Musk has misunderstood the point of Star Trek
As Elon Musk and Pete Hegseth talk about wanting to make Star Trek real, long-time fan Chanda Prescod-Weinstein says they've misconstrued the heart of the story
www.newscientist.com
February 5, 2026 at 12:54 PM
My latest @newscientist.com column for subscribers and library patrons is about Elon Musk’s attempts to co-opt Star Trek and how Mars is actually a hostile planet 🧪🔭
www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...
www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...