Elizabeth Donald
@edonald.bsky.social
720 followers 260 following 1K posts
Author. Journalist. Professor. Photographer. Traveler. she/her Member: #AWP, #AABB, #SPJ, #AuthorsGuild, more writing organizations than is healthy https://linktr.ee/edonald
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edonald.bsky.social
It's aliiiiiive. Happy book birthday to BLACKFIRE RISING, and I'm so delighted that this book is shambling to a bookstore near you.
Details at www.elizabethdonald.com/.../its-aliv...
Reposted by Elizabeth Donald
junoryleejournalism.com
David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)
SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.
edonald.bsky.social
I’m disturbed that we actually need this, but congratulations to the Chicago Headline Club on their legal victory.
chrisgeidner.bsky.social
BREAKING: Federal judge issues a TRO in the Northern District of Illinois (including Chicago and the Broadview ICE facility), providing protections for protesters and journalists covering the protests.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Some of the key elements:
1. It is hereby ORDERED that Defendants,' their officers, agents, assigns, and all
persons acting in concert with them (hereafter referred to as "Federal Agents"), are temporarily ENJOINED in this judicial district from:
Dispersing, arresting, threatening to arrest, threatening or using physical
force against any person whom they know or reasonably should know is a Journalist, unless
Defendants have probable cause to believe that the individual has committed a crime.
Defendants may order a Journalist to change location to avoid disrupting law enforcement,
' President Trump, one of the named Defendants, is not included in this Order.
1
Case: 1:25-cv-12173 Document #: 42 Filed: 10/09/25 Page 2 of 6 PagelD #:836
as long as the Journalist has an objectively reasonable time to comply and an objectively
reasonable opportunity to report and observe; b. Issuing a crowd dispersal order requiring any person to leave a public place
that they lawfully have a right to be, unless dispersal is justified by exigent circumstances as defined by Department of Homeland Security Use of Force Policy (updated Feb. 6,
2023), Sections III.F and XII.E;
С.
For purposes of this Order, a crowd dispersal order is a lawful command
given by a Federal Agent for all persons to leave a designated area when three or more persons are committing acts of disorderly conduct that are likely to cause substantial harm in the immediate vicinity;
d. Using riot control weapons including kinetic impact projectiles (KIPs), Compressed Air Launchers (e.g., PIS and FN303), Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) Spray, CS gas, CN gas, or other chemical irritants, 40 mm Munitions Launchers, less-lethal shotguns,
Less-Lethal Specialty Impact-Chemical Munitions (LLSI-CM), Controlled Noise and Light Distraction Devices (CNLDDs), Electronic Control Weapons (ECWs) - on members of the press, protesters, or religious practitioners who are not posing an immediate threat to the safety of a law enforcement officer or others; To facilitate the Defendants' identification of Journalists protected under
this Order, the following are examples of indicia of being a Journalist: visual identification as a member of the press, such as by carrying a professional press pass, badge or credentials; wearing distinctive clothing or patches that identify the wearer as a member of the press; or carrying professional gear such as professional photographic or videography
equipment. Other indicia of being a Journalist under this Order include that the person is standing off to the side of a protest, not engaging in chanting, sign holding, shouting slogans, or otherwise protesting, and documenting protest activities, although these are not
requirements. These indicia are illustrative, and a person need not exhibit every indicium
to be considered a Journalist under this Order. Defendants shall not be liable for unintentional violations of this Order in the case of an individual who does not wear a press pass, badge, or other official press credential, professional gear, or distinctive clothing that identifies the person as a member of the press. It is further ORDERED that all Federal Agents, excepting those who do not wear a 
uniform or other distinguishing clothing or equipment in the regular performance of their official
4
Case: 1:25-cv-12173 Document #: 42 Filed: 10/09/25 Page 5 of 6 PagelD #:839
duties or are engaged in undercover operations in the regular performance of their official duties, must have visible identification (for which a unique recognizable alphanumeric identifier sequence
will suffice) affixed to their uniforms or helmets and prominently displayed, including when
wearing riot gear.
edonald.bsky.social
Please try to differentiate between the idiot talking heads, offering commentary on TV and actual journalists, who are not only covering the system we have and exposing its horrors, but being shot with rubber bullets and chemical weapons for doing it.
edonald.bsky.social
Today I threw out my whole lesson plan and led my creative writing students out on campus. I passed around books of poetry and held an open mic, making them read poetry aloud to each other. One actually gasped when I said “We’re going OUTSIDE” … but they really got into it.
edonald.bsky.social
It’s one thing when a vehicle without a handicap tag is parked in one of the few ADA spots on a college campus. It’s another when it’s actually a contractor or campus vehicle. Come on people, like it’s not hard enough to get around in a wheelchair! ♿️
edonald.bsky.social
Unpopular take: the version of Salem’s Lot with Rob Lowe, James Cromwell, Andre Braugher, Rutger Hauer and Donald Sutherland is far superior to any other version. Yes, including that one.
a black background with red letters that say salem 's house
ALT: a black background with red letters that say salem 's house
media.tenor.com
Reposted by Elizabeth Donald
weneeddiversebooks.bsky.social
To aid folks in their ongoing education regarding the nature of book bans and censorship this #BannedBooksWeek (and beyond), we’re giving away a bundle of nonfiction and fiction books about the ongoing fight against book bans!

Check out our post on Instagram to enter ⬇️

📷 bit.ly/47dZjvJ
Cream colored graphic displaying a series of black lines, emulating blackout poetry. The words revealed between the strike-outs say, “Banned Books Giveaway”. The bottom half of the graphic is obscured by a torn piece of paper that says, "Enter only on Instagram!" followed by the Instagram handle @WeNeedDiverseBooks.
edonald.bsky.social
“The compact is not a statute passed by Congress or a regulation written with public consent. It is only the ideological will of the president, offered with the logic and ethics of a Mafia protection racket.”
edonald.bsky.social
“In exchange for vaguely defined funds, MIT, Dartmouth, Brown, Vanderbilt, the University of Virginia, and others were asked to sign a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” that amounts to complete adoption of the MAGA higher-education agenda.”
theatlantic.com
Donald Trump is offering nine universities funding if they sign a compact that’s a “complete adoption of the MAGA high-education agenda,” Kevin Carey writes. The document is “shot through with the tensions that mark Trumpism in its latest form”:
A Deal That Would End Universities’ Independence
The free-speech provisions of the so-called compact are an exercise in contradiction.
bit.ly
Reposted by Elizabeth Donald
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
“.. On closer inspection, however, it turned out that the image was not a photograph of a real event in Portland, but instead a fabrication created by combining two photographs of scenes that unfolded in South America nearly a decade apart ..”

@theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
edonald.bsky.social
“Those who ban books are trying to lock away ideas they fear, but in truth, they are trying to steal our freedom.”
— George Takei
#bannedbooksweek
bannedbooksweek.bsky.social
"Those who ban books want to lock away ideas they fear. But in truth, they are trying to steal our freedom."

#BannedBooksWeek honorary chair @georgetakei.bsky.social encourages all of us to stand up for the freedom to read! #CensorshipIsSo1984

youtu.be/qwtzX15AKvQ?...
George Takei, Banned Books Week 2025 Honorary Chair
YouTube video by Banned Books Week
youtu.be
Reposted by Elizabeth Donald
bookshop.org
#BannedBooksWeek is the perfect time to add a challenged book (or two) to your shelf. We’re partnering with @weneeddiversebooks.bsky.social to offer you 20% off select challenged titles from now until October 19: bookshop.org/info/banned-...
Banned Books
bookshop.org
edonald.bsky.social
Note: Bookshop.org shipping is free today and tomorrow!
Reposted by Elizabeth Donald
washingtonpost.com
Long before “A Room of One’s Own,” Virginia Woolf wrote a trio of fairy tales about a woman named Violet.

This early experimental fiction, rediscovered in 2018, is now being published for the first time, showing Woolf in a startling new light.
A lost work by Virginia Woolf will be published for the first time
The author’s early fiction, written in tribute to her friend Mary Violet Dickinson, shows her in a startling new light.
wapo.st
edonald.bsky.social
We talked a bit on this in “writing as resistance” yesterday, and I always default to Toni Morrison. I also recommended @colsonwhitehead.com , who I make my students listen to each semester, and @gabino.bsky.social Igelsias.
edonald.bsky.social
Day 2 of Archon! My signing is at 1pm, followed by my book banning panel, navigating the publishing world and a panel on diverse books. Name the best book by a person of color, a woman or an LGBTQ writer that people need to read!
Reposted by Elizabeth Donald
spj-posts.bsky.social
SPJ strongly condemns recent attacks by federal agents on journalists reporting on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity and protests around the country.

🔗Read the full statement: www.spj.org/spj-condemns...
Reposted by Elizabeth Donald
washingtonpost.com
The White House abruptly terminated a large share of the council members advising the National Endowment for the Humanities, an advisory board to the head of the government’s grantmaking agency, retaining only four Trump appointees.
White House fires much of the National Council on the Humanities
The White House appeared to fire all but four members of the National Council on the Humanities, an advisory board to the head of the government’s grantmaking agency.
www.washingtonpost.com
Reposted by Elizabeth Donald
china-m.bsky.social
For those of you observing Yom Kippur, may you have an easy fast. This is my favorite version of Kol Nidre:
edonald.bsky.social
There was actually a situation where I had to put my initials on bullets, so there are literally 50 bullets with my name on them.

It’s a long story….
edonald.bsky.social
I want to write something so amazing that more than a century later, people are baking cookies that resemble my main character.
edonald.bsky.social
You mean like the in-depth investigations published this week by the New York Times, Washington Post, Politico, the Guardian, and several more? The exposure of the crypto-chip UAE deal and collusion with Trump family members? After he sued them for $15b? That kind of courage?
edonald.bsky.social
Dear spammers and scammers of the world: you will get absolutely nowhere by cold-calling me Donald or Mr. Donald. Still female. Buzz off.