Sonja Boon
LightNews LightNews
banner
storiedselves.bsky.social
Sonja Boon
@storiedselves.bsky.social
1K followers 1.5K following 460 posts
writer. researcher. flutist. teacher. stitcher of stories.

https://linktr.ee/sonjaboon
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Sonja Boon
davidandress.bsky.social
In a few years, this will all look as stupid as NFTs and MOOCs, but by then, a whole generation will have forgotten how to learn anything.
January 19, 2026 at 11:42 AM
Reposted by Sonja Boon
eatonhamilton.bsky.social
lithub.com/renee-nicole...
Renee Nicole Good, murdered by ICE, was a prize-winning poet. Here’s that poem.
Renee Nicole Good, 37, mother to a six-year-old boy, was murdered earlier today by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, a few blocks from her home. According to the Minnesota Star Tribune: [An ICE agent] s…
lithub.com
January 8, 2026 at 4:13 AM
storiedselves.bsky.social
www.swaan.org/workshop
Women and the Sea Workshop — SWAAN
SWAAN will host the Woman and the Sea Workship on 29 April to 1 May 2026 at Memorial University's Maritime History Archive in St. John's NL. To imagine a future for women in maritime industries, we mu...
www.swaan.org
January 8, 2026 at 7:36 PM
Reposted by Sonja Boon
jamellebouie.net
keep thinking of a vocally anti-woke reporter who insisted that the term "environmental racism" was nonsense
phillewis.bsky.social Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 14d
After a white county in South Carolina rejected a data center, developers have sets their sights on a Black community for a proposed data center complex the size of 1,200 football fields
After a White Town Rejected a Data Center, Developers Targeted a Black Area
Four million Americans live within 1 mile of a data center. The communities closest to them are “overwhelmingly” non-white.
capitalbnews.org
January 7, 2026 at 3:02 PM
storiedselves.bsky.social
A roundtable discussion on Politics, (Best) Practices, Pitfalls, and Pleasures at the MUNL Archives, with the editors and some contributors to Dear Mr. Smallwood

🗓 Friday, Jan 9, 2026
⏰ 12:00–1:15 pm NST
📍 SN4022, MUN St. John‘s + Online
🔗 Zoom reg: shorturl.at/pnGh8

@memorialup.bsky.social
Poster text reads: HSS ON OUR WORLDS. Friday Jan 9th 12:00-1:15 Newfoundland Standard Time SN4022 and online. Politics, (Best) Practices, Pitfalls and Pleasures at the MUNL Archives. A roundtable discussion with the editors and contributors to Dear Mr. Smallwood: Confederation int he Words of Those who Lived it (Memorial UP, 2025). There are photos of five participants: Sonja Boon, Heidi Cooms, Vicki Hallett, Daze Jefferies, and Amy Sheppard, and on the right hand side of the page, an image of the book cover, which is red with white text. Along the left side of the book are two pairs of glasses.
January 6, 2026 at 12:46 PM
storiedselves.bsky.social
chilling.
adamrothman.bsky.social Adam Rothman aced his cognitive test @adamrothman.bsky.social · 28d
“Like Prime, but with human beings.”
“We need to get better at treating this like a business,” ICE acting director Todd M. Lyons said at a border security conference in April, according to the Arizona Mirror. The administration’s goal, he said, was to deport immigrants as efficiently as Amazon moves packages: “Like Prime, but with human beings.”
December 24, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Reposted by Sonja Boon
erinbartram.bsky.social
When we say "no, everything hasn't been digitized," I need you to understand that we really mean is that virtually nothing has been digitized. This is because the realm of primary sources that historians use is incomprehensibly large.
December 22, 2025 at 1:40 AM
storiedselves.bsky.social
The Vancouver Symphony has *a lot* of explaining to do. And also? Get rid of NDA's. They only protect perpetrators and institutions.

katherineneedlemanoboist.substack.com/p/esther-hwa...
ESTHER HWANG
in her own words
katherineneedlemanoboist.substack.com
December 19, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Reposted by Sonja Boon
anthonymoser.com
while i am not an academic i did see this coming and post about it on bluesky, which is why i am quoted in this article
Moser tells Rolling Stone that to even claim LLMs "hallucinate" fictional publications misunderstands the threat they pose to our comprehension of the world, because the term "implies that it's different from the normal, correct perception of reality" But the chatbots are "always hallucinating," he says. "It's not a malfunction. A predictive model predicts some text, and maybe it's accurate, maybe it isn't, but the process is the same either way. To put it another way: LLMs are structurally indifferent to truth."
December 17, 2025 at 8:17 PM
storiedselves.bsky.social
New blog post:

"Getting Messy" is an ode to Ms. Frizzle, Alabama quilter Yvonne Wells, and the current (read: usual) state of my desk and creative space.

www.storiedselves.ca/blog/getting...
getting messy — storied selves
Take chances, make mistakes, get messy. That’s Ms. Frizzle’s refrain, in the popular Magic School Bus series of books and television episodes. She’s talking about science, and about learning by d...
www.storiedselves.ca
December 17, 2025 at 2:53 PM
storiedselves.bsky.social
want to know more about Dear Mr. Smallwood? Here's an interview I did with the Royal Society of Canada

rsc-src.ca/en/voices/dr...
The Voices Behind Confederation with Canada: Dr. Sonja Boon on "Dear Mr. Smallwood"
Dr. Sonja Boon wears many hats, including adjunct professor in the Department of Gender Studies at Memorial University and RSC College Member – but above all, she is a storyteller. In this interview, ...
rsc-src.ca
December 16, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Reposted by Sonja Boon
merriam-webster.com
Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.
December 15, 2025 at 2:07 PM
storiedselves.bsky.social
Thread. Read.
erinbiba.bsky.social Erin Biba @erinbiba.bsky.social · Dec 14
The thing about measles is that it’s the only known virus that triggers immune amnesia - it causes your immune system to forget everything it has previously learned. Meaning you essentially reset to zero and are now at risk of basically everything.

It can take 2-3 years to get immunities back.
December 15, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Reposted by Sonja Boon
globalabortionnews.bsky.social
Amazing!! Women Help Women (womenhelp.org) is manufacturing their own abortion pills in order to make abortion safer, simpler and more accessible across borders. They designed an eco-friendly combi-pack that's easier to mail discreetly and centred around women’s experiences and needs.
A Global Telehealth First: Women Help Women Begins Producing Abortion Pill Combipack
The feminist telehealth provider Women Help Women cuts out pharma middlemen to make its new mifepristone-misprostol abortion pill combo pack.
msmagazine.com
December 15, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Reposted by Sonja Boon
chanda.blacksky.app
NOT GOOD 🫠

‘the air traffic controller noted not seeing the military aircraft on their end, as it had the transponder off and was not transmitting its location.

“We almost had a midair collision up here,” the pilot said, according to ATC recordings. "They passed directly in our flight path ..."’
JetBlue pilot narrowly avoids 'midair collision' with Air Force plane near Venezuela
A JetBlue Airways pilot said he narrowly avoided a "midair collision" with a U.S. military aircraft that entered his flight path.
abcnews.go.com
December 15, 2025 at 1:37 AM
Reposted by Sonja Boon
shawnmicallef.bsky.social
Talking to somebody yesterday about a Cdn oral history archive that disappeared - turns out LLMs were scraping it so much it crashed their servers so it’s offline. Vile vulture technology.
December 9, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Reposted by Sonja Boon
lizleclairhfx.bsky.social
My latest piece for @thecoast.ca about how Houston and his staff keep trying to silence dissent in the ranks, the public, and most dangerously in the nonprofit sector.

www.thecoast.ca/news-opinion...
Why the ability to speak truth to power matters, and why Houston and his staff are quelling dissent - The Coast | News, events, restaurants, concerts and Burger Week for Halifax, Nova Scotia
On Nov. 28, former Justice Minister and Attorney General Becky Druhan participated in a panel discussion and made a public admission that many of us in the advocacy space have long suspected: the cent...
www.thecoast.ca
December 9, 2025 at 1:45 PM
storiedselves.bsky.social
a truly depressing read
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself
Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.
www.currentaffairs.org
December 7, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Reposted by Sonja Boon
bubbaprog.xyz
ICE raided a James Beard award winning restaurant & because the chef/owner was prepared, left emptyhanded:
Photo shared by Christina Nguyen on December 04, 2025 tagging @naomi.marie__, @nathanmiller612, @rubyscher, @holaarepa, @birksg, @chefjholig, and @haihaimpls. May be an image of text that says 'AS SOME OF YOU MAY HAVE HEARD, I.C.E. PAID US A VISIT AT AREPA YESTERDAY. OUR GM NAOMI & TEAM MEMBERS FOLLOWED OUR ICE PROTOCOL PERFECTLY, THE AGENTS LEFT & NO ONE WAS DETAINED. tO WHOEVER NEEDS THIS: KNOW YOUR RIGHTS WHEN IT COMES TO I.C.E. (1/5)'. christinanguyenmpls 11h We had an ICE scare yesterday and even though we’re afraid of the repercussions of being vocal, we feel that it’s also important to inform people that this is right at our front door. ICE is not some far away boogeyman. They are here right now, spreading fear in our community. We’re so grateful to our entire staff and their bravery. They did the right things and couldn’t have dealt with this situation in a better way. We are grateful to our community activists that came to support us from @miracmn @litosonlake and Monarcha. We hope that if you find yourself in the same situation, that you find these resources helpful. Peace and take care of each other ❤️ Photo by Christina Nguyen on December 04, 2025. May be an image of text that says 'IF I.C.E. COMES TO YOUR RESTAURANT: UNLESS THE AGENTS HAVE A SIGNED JUDICIAL WARRANT, THEY CANNOT ENTER A PRIVATE AREA LIKE THE KITCHEN WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION EVEN IF THEY LIE AND SAY THY DON'T NEED A WARRANT, STAND YOUR GROUND AND INSIST THAT YOU NEED PAPERWORK (2/5)'. Photo by Christina Nguyen on December 04, 2025. May be an image of text that says 'IF I.C.E. COMES TO YOUR RESTAURANT: HAVE OTHER STAFF OR PEOPLE PRESENT RECORD THEM AND EVERYTHING THEY ARE SAYING. (PEOPLE DOING UNLAWFUL THINGS HATE BEING CAUGHT IN TH ACT) YOU HAVE THE RIGHT to REFUSE SERVICE & YOU CAN ASK M tO LEAVE YOUR PRIVATE PROPERTY IF THY DON'T HAVE A WARRANT. (3/5)'. WE ARE HEARTBROKEN THAT OUR IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES IN THE TWIN CITIES ARE BEING TARGETED AND TERRORIZED BY THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION. THESE ARE REAL PEOPLE THAT ARE BEING USED AS POLITICAL PAWNS AND IT'S APPALLING. REGARDLESS OF THEIR LEGAL STATUS, THERE ARE SO MANY LATINOS & SOMALIANS WHO ARE AFRAID OF BEING DETAINED DUE TO MISTAKEN IDENTITY BECAUSE THEY KNOW THEY MIGHT NOT GET DUE PROCESS & A FAIR TRIAL. THEY WILL JUST END UP IN DETENTION CENTERS & A LEGAL PROCESS THAT HAS BEEN DESCRIBED AS A BLACK HOLE. WE STAND IN SUPPORT OF OUR IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY, WHO ARE THE BACKBONE OF THIS COUNTRY. WITHOUT IMMIGRANTS, AMERICA IS NOT THE SAME PLACE. STAY SAFE OUT THERE & TAKE CARE OF YOUR NEIGHBORS. LOVE, HOLA AREPA & HAI HAI (5/5)
December 5, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Reposted by Sonja Boon
pinholepoetry.bsky.social
Creative Constraints Workshop Series
In a series of 90 minute Zoom sessions, explore how creative limits can reroute writing habits, silence the inner critic and open up new ways of making a poem.

register & find out more at pinholepoetry.ca/events
Creative Constraints Workshop Series In a series of 90 minute Zoom sessions, explore how creative limits can reroute writing habits, silence the inner critic and open up new ways of making a poem. After a general introduction on constraints, special topics will include: The Cento (Dagne Forrest) Hermit Crab Poetry (Rayya Liebich) Erasure (Erin Bedford) & Poetic Forms (Jade Liu) first workshop: January 18, 2026 register or find out more at pinholepoetry.ca/events PINHOLE POETRY $15 per session or $50 for all 5
December 4, 2025 at 6:45 PM
storiedselves.bsky.social
contractors next door blasting ABBA: Fernando.
December 2, 2025 at 6:05 PM
storiedselves.bsky.social
nothing to see here. nothing at all.

www.theguardian.com/technology/n...
excerpt from an article in the Guardian. The excerpt reads: "Anthropic’s chief scientist says AI autonomy could spark a beneficial ‘intelligence explosion’ – or be the moment humans lose control Robert Booth UK technology editor Tue 2 Dec 2025 12.37 GMT Humanity will have to decide by 2030 whether to take the “ultimate risk” of letting artificial intelligence systems train themselves to become more powerful, one of the world’s leading AI scientists has said. Jared Kaplan, the chief scientist and co-owner of the $180bn (£135bn) US startup Anthropic, said a choice was looming about how much autonomy the systems should be given to evolve. The move could trigger a beneficial “intelligence explosion” – or be the moment humans end up losing control. In an interview about the intensely competitive race to reach artificial general intelligence (AGI) – sometimes called superintelligence – Kaplan urged international governments and society to engage in what he called “the biggest decision”. Anthropic is part of a pack of frontier AI companies including OpenAI, Google DeepMind, xAI, Meta and Chinese rivals led by DeepSeek, racing for AI dominance. Its widely used AI assistant, Claude, has become particularly popular among business customers."
December 2, 2025 at 2:09 PM
storiedselves.bsky.social
Are you a pantser, or a plotter... and is there really that much difference between them?

In my latest blog post, I'm thinking about massaging texts and textiles and about the value of taking time to really think and dream.

www.storiedselves.ca/blog/iterati...
iterations — storied selves
I’m not one for outlines. I tend to write my way in (or, when sewing, stitch my way in). I’m also not one for pre-designed patterns. I want to find my own way through rather than follow a path estab...
www.storiedselves.ca
December 2, 2025 at 1:59 PM
storiedselves.bsky.social
I am *wrecked* today! Clearly the last week was a busy one. All I want to do is sleep. But if I sleep now, I won't sleep tonight.
December 1, 2025 at 6:35 PM
storiedselves.bsky.social
home again after a rich and full week away, and there is ontbijtkoek and chocoladehagel and beemsterkaas for breakfast.... which are all tastier than the overly-sweet day-old muffins my personal travel budget allowed for in St. John's.
December 1, 2025 at 4:13 PM