Shane Liesegang, SJ
@sjml.bsky.social
🎭 theater kid turned 🎮 game dev turned ✝️ Jesuit [scholastic/deacon]
past: skyrim, fallout, god of war, novitiate, philosophy/political econ, refugee aid (🇱🇧🇮🇶🇯🇴🇸🇾), theology, starfield, migrant care (🇵🇭)
present: theology in Boston
https://shaneliesegang.com
past: skyrim, fallout, god of war, novitiate, philosophy/political econ, refugee aid (🇱🇧🇮🇶🇯🇴🇸🇾), theology, starfield, migrant care (🇵🇭)
present: theology in Boston
https://shaneliesegang.com
Pinned
Shane Liesegang, SJ
@sjml.bsky.social
· Feb 3
I'm increasingly skeptical that "another birdsite" is the answer but there's so many people I can only keep in touch with on the social, so here we are. My old feed was a mix of lefty politics, tech/games, and religion. Trying to find more of the same, but now with migration/refugee stuff thrown in.
What deep sickness of the soul would enable you to put a TWO-YEAR-OLD in a detention center? Leave aside the deeply flawed politics of all of this, the horrific abuse of policing powers, all of that. There is absolutely no world where a TODDLER should be sent to a jail in another state.
ICE detained a 2-year-old girl in Minneapolis and put the child on a flight to a detention center in Texas, despite a court ordering her release: www.startribune.com/agents-detai...
January 24, 2026 at 2:09 AM
What deep sickness of the soul would enable you to put a TWO-YEAR-OLD in a detention center? Leave aside the deeply flawed politics of all of this, the horrific abuse of policing powers, all of that. There is absolutely no world where a TODDLER should be sent to a jail in another state.
Reposted by Shane Liesegang, SJ
DESPITE A COURT ORDERING HER RELEASE
ICE detained a 2-year-old girl in Minneapolis and put the child on a flight to a detention center in Texas, despite a court ordering her release: www.startribune.com/agents-detai...
January 24, 2026 at 1:12 AM
DESPITE A COURT ORDERING HER RELEASE
Reposted by Shane Liesegang, SJ
I had a good time talking to Rohan about how games can fit into a living of The Good Life 🥹 but are not a magic panacea that makes people more empathetic 😔 while also making a plug for the Ignatian Examen 🙏🏻 and the spiritual writings of Starfield 🚀
Little announcement: I’ll be presenting Soul Search for the next six weeks or so!
We’re kicking off the 2026 season with a reflection on leisure, pleasure and video games, featuring @sjml.bsky.social!
We’re kicking off the 2026 season with a reflection on leisure, pleasure and video games, featuring @sjml.bsky.social!
Can video games be part of the “good life?” - ABC listen
Are video games a waste of time? Aristotle said a good life is one of flourishing and realising your potential. So, can games enrich our lives, or are they a kind of "false pleasure?"
www.abc.net.au
January 22, 2026 at 7:07 PM
I had a good time talking to Rohan about how games can fit into a living of The Good Life 🥹 but are not a magic panacea that makes people more empathetic 😔 while also making a plug for the Ignatian Examen 🙏🏻 and the spiritual writings of Starfield 🚀
Reposted by Shane Liesegang, SJ
One of them images that sticks with you. The long gun the expression on the marine, the man holding Elian, Elian himself. Never forgot it and I was 12.
January 22, 2026 at 10:33 PM
One of them images that sticks with you. The long gun the expression on the marine, the man holding Elian, Elian himself. Never forgot it and I was 12.
Kris is super good at their job and you should hire Kris if you are a person who hires people to do things that Kris does well
Periodic reminder that I am open for work!
Specifically I am looking for:
-Writing roles
-Editing roles
-Project management roles
I have a decade of experience in all levels of journalism and seven years as a game developer and localizer
Specifically I am looking for:
-Writing roles
-Editing roles
-Project management roles
I have a decade of experience in all levels of journalism and seven years as a game developer and localizer
January 22, 2026 at 10:32 PM
Kris is super good at their job and you should hire Kris if you are a person who hires people to do things that Kris does well
it was multi-WEEK; it was headline news; it was a matter of constant scandal and debate; I was literally asked to articulate my thoughts about it at a college interview
dangit I can already tell Liam Ramos is gonna be one of those things that makes me righteously angry until my deathbed, like USAID
dangit I can already tell Liam Ramos is gonna be one of those things that makes me righteously angry until my deathbed, like USAID
Every time I see that photo of the poor kid being used as bait by immigration fascists I can’t help but remember how only 25 years ago, it was a multi-day scandal that INS busted down a door to abduct a young immigrant boy.
January 22, 2026 at 10:31 PM
it was multi-WEEK; it was headline news; it was a matter of constant scandal and debate; I was literally asked to articulate my thoughts about it at a college interview
dangit I can already tell Liam Ramos is gonna be one of those things that makes me righteously angry until my deathbed, like USAID
dangit I can already tell Liam Ramos is gonna be one of those things that makes me righteously angry until my deathbed, like USAID
Reposted by Shane Liesegang, SJ
I had a good time talking to Rohan about how games can fit into a living of The Good Life 🥹 but are not a magic panacea that makes people more empathetic 😔 while also making a plug for the Ignatian Examen 🙏🏻 and the spiritual writings of Starfield 🚀
Little announcement: I’ll be presenting Soul Search for the next six weeks or so!
We’re kicking off the 2026 season with a reflection on leisure, pleasure and video games, featuring @sjml.bsky.social!
We’re kicking off the 2026 season with a reflection on leisure, pleasure and video games, featuring @sjml.bsky.social!
Can video games be part of the “good life?” - ABC listen
Are video games a waste of time? Aristotle said a good life is one of flourishing and realising your potential. So, can games enrich our lives, or are they a kind of "false pleasure?"
www.abc.net.au
January 22, 2026 at 7:07 PM
I had a good time talking to Rohan about how games can fit into a living of The Good Life 🥹 but are not a magic panacea that makes people more empathetic 😔 while also making a plug for the Ignatian Examen 🙏🏻 and the spiritual writings of Starfield 🚀
This increases the number of Academy Award Nominees/Winners in THE CORE (2003) to six!!
Delroy Lindo has finally received his first ever Oscar nomination for his performance in ‘SINNERS’
See the full nominees list: bit.ly/OscarNoms26
See the full nominees list: bit.ly/OscarNoms26
January 22, 2026 at 6:36 PM
This increases the number of Academy Award Nominees/Winners in THE CORE (2003) to six!!
Reposted by Shane Liesegang, SJ
Well, this is really something. A majority of *working class whites* disapprove of ICE, per new NYT poll.
Dovetails with the unpublished data that I got from Quinnipiac finding similar on working class more broadly (see below).
(cc @gelliottmorris.com )
Dovetails with the unpublished data that I got from Quinnipiac finding similar on working class more broadly (see below).
(cc @gelliottmorris.com )
Quinnipiac gave me unpublished data from new poll and it finds huge, huge, huge percentages of young and working class voters have seen video of Minneapolis shooting.
Majorities of both disapprove of ICE. Pundits are getting the working class/immigration wrong:
newrepublic.com/article/2052...
Majorities of both disapprove of ICE. Pundits are getting the working class/immigration wrong:
newrepublic.com/article/2052...
January 22, 2026 at 5:32 PM
Well, this is really something. A majority of *working class whites* disapprove of ICE, per new NYT poll.
Dovetails with the unpublished data that I got from Quinnipiac finding similar on working class more broadly (see below).
(cc @gelliottmorris.com )
Dovetails with the unpublished data that I got from Quinnipiac finding similar on working class more broadly (see below).
(cc @gelliottmorris.com )
One of the problems with policing in general is that there are not anywhere near enough virtuous people to trust with the power of violence. As the ranks swell, the ratio gets worse. When you race to hire as many people as possible, you get folks who've been looking for license to causing suffering.
This guy went to work today, put a mask on, kidnapped a 5 year old child, and then used him as bait so both he and his father could be sent behind bars
January 22, 2026 at 2:55 AM
One of the problems with policing in general is that there are not anywhere near enough virtuous people to trust with the power of violence. As the ranks swell, the ratio gets worse. When you race to hire as many people as possible, you get folks who've been looking for license to causing suffering.
Reposted by Shane Liesegang, SJ
This guy went to work today, put a mask on, kidnapped a 5 year old child, and then used him as bait so both he and his father could be sent behind bars
January 22, 2026 at 2:13 AM
This guy went to work today, put a mask on, kidnapped a 5 year old child, and then used him as bait so both he and his father could be sent behind bars
Reposted by Shane Liesegang, SJ
This child's family has an ACTIVE asylum case. Which means they are not here illegally. And if they were, it would be a civil offense, not a felony. And yet they separated this family and scarred this child forever.
CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY. That is where we are.
CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY. That is where we are.
Okay.
Liam Ramos is five.
Taken from his father after school.
His family didn’t know where he was for 24 hours.
He’s NOW in a federal detention facility in Texas.
At least one other student is there too.
Two other elementary school students were taken and the school doesn’t know where they are.
Liam Ramos is five.
Taken from his father after school.
His family didn’t know where he was for 24 hours.
He’s NOW in a federal detention facility in Texas.
At least one other student is there too.
Two other elementary school students were taken and the school doesn’t know where they are.
Here’s the report from KARE. The boy is five-year-old Liam Ramos.
January 22, 2026 at 2:17 AM
This child's family has an ACTIVE asylum case. Which means they are not here illegally. And if they were, it would be a civil offense, not a felony. And yet they separated this family and scarred this child forever.
CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY. That is where we are.
CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY. That is where we are.
I see this child and my heart breaks open. I don't know how to fix the soul of a land where a large group of people delight in his anguish, in the idea of using him to get at his family. This little boy with a Spider-Man backpack (that detail kills me), whose eyes should be bright and smile broad.
January 22, 2026 at 2:26 AM
I see this child and my heart breaks open. I don't know how to fix the soul of a land where a large group of people delight in his anguish, in the idea of using him to get at his family. This little boy with a Spider-Man backpack (that detail kills me), whose eyes should be bright and smile broad.
Reposted by Shane Liesegang, SJ
This makes me so angry that it almost takes my breath away, but I think what Stephen Miller et al do not understand is that this will make a lot of people who are a lot further to my right just as angry, too www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ne...
January 22, 2026 at 1:17 AM
This makes me so angry that it almost takes my breath away, but I think what Stephen Miller et al do not understand is that this will make a lot of people who are a lot further to my right just as angry, too www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ne...
Reposted by Shane Liesegang, SJ
For All Mankind is great because as it has gotten dumber and worse, as a TV show, it has also started exploring some of the most interesting science fiction ideas on TV. It's like gas leak The Expanse. I love it very much.
My god, look at Joel Kinnaman's old man makeup for the upcoming fifth season of For All Mankind:
January 21, 2026 at 4:56 PM
For All Mankind is great because as it has gotten dumber and worse, as a TV show, it has also started exploring some of the most interesting science fiction ideas on TV. It's like gas leak The Expanse. I love it very much.
I know it's retro and old-fashioned these days, but sentence diagramming was one of the most useful things I ever learned and helped me avoid making this kind of goofily vague headline.
Yesterday it was cows using tools, today its penguins using satellite imagery.
January 21, 2026 at 4:30 PM
I know it's retro and old-fashioned these days, but sentence diagramming was one of the most useful things I ever learned and helped me avoid making this kind of goofily vague headline.
C-suite executive being paid absurd amounts of money: "My work is easily replaced by autocomplete"
weird flex, but all right
I mean, at some point do shareholders take their fiduciary responsibility into account and demand that the by-their-own-declarations-useless executives step down?
weird flex, but all right
I mean, at some point do shareholders take their fiduciary responsibility into account and demand that the by-their-own-declarations-useless executives step down?
The disconnect between management and employee on AI usage is big. At the same time, CEOs are reporting they aren't seeing any revenue growth from AI.
🤷
www.wsj.com/lifestyle/wo...
🤷
www.wsj.com/lifestyle/wo...
CEOs Say AI Is Making Work More Efficient. Employees Tell a Different Story.
How much time workers say the technology saves them on the job is vastly different from what executives report.
www.wsj.com
January 21, 2026 at 4:21 PM
C-suite executive being paid absurd amounts of money: "My work is easily replaced by autocomplete"
weird flex, but all right
I mean, at some point do shareholders take their fiduciary responsibility into account and demand that the by-their-own-declarations-useless executives step down?
weird flex, but all right
I mean, at some point do shareholders take their fiduciary responsibility into account and demand that the by-their-own-declarations-useless executives step down?
Reposted by Shane Liesegang, SJ
Yesterday it was cows using tools, today its penguins using satellite imagery.
January 20, 2026 at 6:44 PM
Yesterday it was cows using tools, today its penguins using satellite imagery.
Taking confessions practicum, I have to memorize (a) the formula of absolution [and if you listened to my track on Wake Up Dead Man you know is my FAVE] and (b) the Ten Commandments by number because some penitents just say the numbers. So I have 'em by to my mirror to recite while I brush my teeth.
January 21, 2026 at 12:50 AM
Taking confessions practicum, I have to memorize (a) the formula of absolution [and if you listened to my track on Wake Up Dead Man you know is my FAVE] and (b) the Ten Commandments by number because some penitents just say the numbers. So I have 'em by to my mirror to recite while I brush my teeth.
Reposted by Shane Liesegang, SJ
Immediately incorporating "Sure. But from a virtual perspective, and as a gamer," into my rhetorical repertoire
She's really not kidding
January 20, 2026 at 4:41 PM
Immediately incorporating "Sure. But from a virtual perspective, and as a gamer," into my rhetorical repertoire
In 2006, when digital distribution was still kind of a novelty, an executive at one of the megapublishers explained to me that he saw selling games as a boxed goods business, along the same lines as selling baking soda. "You're wasting a lot of time trying to make the baking soda MEAN something."
It is hard to overstate how radical the position it held was, and how important the platform it provided for radical voices in games was. If you think games are overly corporate and not appreciated as art now, wait until you hear about the 2000s and early 2010s.
January 20, 2026 at 1:04 PM
In 2006, when digital distribution was still kind of a novelty, an executive at one of the megapublishers explained to me that he saw selling games as a boxed goods business, along the same lines as selling baking soda. "You're wasting a lot of time trying to make the baking soda MEAN something."
Reposted by Shane Liesegang, SJ
The Good Place predicted ChatGPT about 7 years ago.
January 19, 2026 at 3:06 AM
The Good Place predicted ChatGPT about 7 years ago.
Lynda Carter saw me spill taco sauce on myself but was pretty cool about it.
Right folks. Feeling rather down at the moment so bringing back an oldie
Please Quote this with your most minor celebrity interaction
Please Quote this with your most minor celebrity interaction
January 20, 2026 at 1:57 AM
Lynda Carter saw me spill taco sauce on myself but was pretty cool about it.
Reposted by Shane Liesegang, SJ
The millennial's curse: Very online 30/40 somethings cannot write, talk, or make art without constantly trying to defy or (worse in some ways) outflank the scorn of an audience they will never know or see. If that curse has extended to how you interact with your kids, you're well and truly cooked
January 20, 2026 at 12:14 AM
The millennial's curse: Very online 30/40 somethings cannot write, talk, or make art without constantly trying to defy or (worse in some ways) outflank the scorn of an audience they will never know or see. If that curse has extended to how you interact with your kids, you're well and truly cooked