Leslie Root
@lesja.bsky.social
reproductive justice for all, solidarity forever. demographer, asst prof of research at CU Boulder, inveterate and not particularly professional poster. на носу очки, а в душе осень
Pinned
Leslie Root
@lesja.bsky.social
· Apr 12
"shouldn't the left be engaging with pronatalism" comes up constantly. yeah I'm engaging with it. engaging by saying it sucks!!
OK it's Saturday night and our kid has asked us: if we could switch between being 6 sea creatures, what creatures would we pick?
February 8, 2026 at 1:12 AM
OK it's Saturday night and our kid has asked us: if we could switch between being 6 sea creatures, what creatures would we pick?
Reposted by Leslie Root
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? 😊
My choir is embroiled in a debate about whether to sing a Russian song at a Ukrainian themed concert/fundraiser, want 2 die
February 6, 2026 at 11:03 PM
My choir is embroiled in a debate about whether to sing a Russian song at a Ukrainian themed concert/fundraiser, want 2 die
Reposted by Leslie Root
Mongolia and Haiti correctly identified that the Winter Olympics are primarily a chance to design baller cold weather uniforms
February 5, 2026 at 5:50 PM
Mongolia and Haiti correctly identified that the Winter Olympics are primarily a chance to design baller cold weather uniforms
Reposted by Leslie Root
"This Whole Thing Smacks Of Gender," i holler as i overturn Ross Douthat's desk and turn the Paper of Record into the Paper of Shit.
February 6, 2026 at 2:54 PM
"This Whole Thing Smacks Of Gender," i holler as i overturn Ross Douthat's desk and turn the Paper of Record into the Paper of Shit.
total aside but it's been bugging me for two days that he wrote "stopped worrying and learned to love fertility polarization" instead of "learned to stop worrying and love fertility polarization"
They're going to keep pushing this narrative that only conservatives have children, and it's very important that we keep saying "what the fuck are you talking about"
February 6, 2026 at 4:01 PM
total aside but it's been bugging me for two days that he wrote "stopped worrying and learned to love fertility polarization" instead of "learned to stop worrying and love fertility polarization"
Are there still jobs in software where your manager doesn't include AI use as a performance metric?
February 5, 2026 at 4:56 PM
Are there still jobs in software where your manager doesn't include AI use as a performance metric?
Reposted by Leslie Root
microsoft teams
February 5, 2026 at 4:29 PM
microsoft teams
It's difficult to express the emotions I felt when going down a Wikipedia rabbit hole recently about how many people in Hitler's inner circle committed suicide at the end
doing some comfort reading (about the nuremberg trials)
February 5, 2026 at 4:02 AM
It's difficult to express the emotions I felt when going down a Wikipedia rabbit hole recently about how many people in Hitler's inner circle committed suicide at the end
Reposted by Leslie Root
As if I would ever voluntarily participate in a right wing activity
February 4, 2026 at 7:30 PM
As if I would ever voluntarily participate in a right wing activity
They're going to keep pushing this narrative that only conservatives have children, and it's very important that we keep saying "what the fuck are you talking about"
February 4, 2026 at 7:22 PM
They're going to keep pushing this narrative that only conservatives have children, and it's very important that we keep saying "what the fuck are you talking about"
Reposted by Leslie Root
Highlighting the speaker who stood in front of the Surprise mayor and told him to consider what the Mayor of Ohrdruf must’ve thought before he died by suicide: “He might have thought ‘how is this my fault I had no jurisdiction over this’ maybe he said ‘this site was not subject to local zoning.’”
February 4, 2026 at 6:43 AM
Highlighting the speaker who stood in front of the Surprise mayor and told him to consider what the Mayor of Ohrdruf must’ve thought before he died by suicide: “He might have thought ‘how is this my fault I had no jurisdiction over this’ maybe he said ‘this site was not subject to local zoning.’”
i want a flight simulator that reproduces the cramped space, deafening white noise and lack of internet because apparently that's my optimal writing environment
February 3, 2026 at 9:21 PM
i want a flight simulator that reproduces the cramped space, deafening white noise and lack of internet because apparently that's my optimal writing environment
our nephew from Long Island applied to a bunch of southern schools and the reason was: SEC football and nice weather
We only want the good immigrants who study hard and don't commit crimes, unless they try to take little Brayleigh's (28 ACT, 1350 SAT) God-given slot at an Ivy away by being smarter, in which case Korematsu didn't go far enough
February 2, 2026 at 6:26 PM
our nephew from Long Island applied to a bunch of southern schools and the reason was: SEC football and nice weather
love it, i'm slough
Presenting year 3 of the highly anticipated niche wetlands meme: Which wetland are you? #WorldWetlandsDay
February 2, 2026 at 6:10 PM
love it, i'm slough
BARS
"The majority of white women consistently vote against securing pathways to citizenship for immigrants, even as their own path to full citizenship was granted to reinforce & multiply white control of the country in the face of Black civil rights progress and early 20th-century immigrant influxes."
February 1, 2026 at 4:00 PM
BARS
Feel absolutely awful about everything today, but Cosmic Crisp apples are really good
January 31, 2026 at 7:31 PM
Feel absolutely awful about everything today, but Cosmic Crisp apples are really good
Five classes you took in college, freak edition:
Wagner's Ring Cycle
Comparative Scandinavian syntax
Old Norse
Sex, evolution, and human nature
The Russian novel
Wagner's Ring Cycle
Comparative Scandinavian syntax
Old Norse
Sex, evolution, and human nature
The Russian novel
January 31, 2026 at 3:35 PM
Five classes you took in college, freak edition:
Wagner's Ring Cycle
Comparative Scandinavian syntax
Old Norse
Sex, evolution, and human nature
The Russian novel
Wagner's Ring Cycle
Comparative Scandinavian syntax
Old Norse
Sex, evolution, and human nature
The Russian novel
Not Catherine O'Hara 😭
January 30, 2026 at 6:35 PM
Not Catherine O'Hara 😭
Reposted by Leslie Root
we have somehow invented a general strike with no demand and only coffee and yarn stores are closing
January 30, 2026 at 10:44 AM
we have somehow invented a general strike with no demand and only coffee and yarn stores are closing
A quarter of our district's teachers are calling out tomorrow!
January 30, 2026 at 6:05 AM
A quarter of our district's teachers are calling out tomorrow!
Reposted by Leslie Root
Normal research into the benefits of marriage identifies a relationship that people enter only if they can find one they think will benefit them, and remain in only if it continues to benefit them. Then it asks whether those people are better off than if they weren't married. Genius.
/1
/1
January 28, 2026 at 9:11 PM
Normal research into the benefits of marriage identifies a relationship that people enter only if they can find one they think will benefit them, and remain in only if it continues to benefit them. Then it asks whether those people are better off than if they weren't married. Genius.
/1
/1
"I hope Americans are inspired by three of the most overtly evil people in the administration having babies!"
January 28, 2026 at 5:25 PM
"I hope Americans are inspired by three of the most overtly evil people in the administration having babies!"
Reposted by Leslie Root
Even if the right's pronatalist policies worked (which they won't), there is no possible way birth rates could rise among native-born Americans sufficiently enough to compensate for population loss due to declining immigration.
The central failure of US immigration policy over my entire adult life is that it has always put xenophobia over facts. This is the result. And if we were talking about facts, this one would be setting off all our alarms. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/u...
U.S. Population Growth Slows Sharply as Immigration Numbers Plunge
www.nytimes.com
January 28, 2026 at 4:10 PM
Even if the right's pronatalist policies worked (which they won't), there is no possible way birth rates could rise among native-born Americans sufficiently enough to compensate for population loss due to declining immigration.