Sydnee
@sydmt.blacksky.app
Copy editor, SFF writer (FIYAH, Fireside, io9, Tor), SFWA/ACES member, has strong opinions about journalism ethics, covered in cat hair
(Website: shadesofsydnee.com)
(Website: shadesofsydnee.com)
Reposted by Sydnee
The Wright Museums Instagram page is HILARIOUS. Think The Office but it's the staff at a Museum for Black History. Better believe this is on my list of places to visit.
Gentle Spades
"I'm a veteran"
Gentle Spades
"I'm a veteran"
February 6, 2026 at 8:23 AM
The Wright Museums Instagram page is HILARIOUS. Think The Office but it's the staff at a Museum for Black History. Better believe this is on my list of places to visit.
Gentle Spades
"I'm a veteran"
Gentle Spades
"I'm a veteran"
In this shitty moment I'm grateful to @karenattiah.bsky.social and @resistanceschool.bsky.social for introducing me to "News for All the People," which calls out US media's white supremacist origins and the ways POC have always resisted it. It's essential reading.
bookshop.org/p/books/news...
bookshop.org/p/books/news...
February 5, 2026 at 12:52 AM
In this shitty moment I'm grateful to @karenattiah.bsky.social and @resistanceschool.bsky.social for introducing me to "News for All the People," which calls out US media's white supremacist origins and the ways POC have always resisted it. It's essential reading.
bookshop.org/p/books/news...
bookshop.org/p/books/news...
Reposted by Sydnee
There is no way, in no world, that people stop telling stories about ourselves. Journalism as we all know it is dead and dying but I’m really hopeful we can rebuild something that is truly equitable, illuminating, and clear-eyed about the world that we actually live in.
February 5, 2026 at 12:09 AM
There is no way, in no world, that people stop telling stories about ourselves. Journalism as we all know it is dead and dying but I’m really hopeful we can rebuild something that is truly equitable, illuminating, and clear-eyed about the world that we actually live in.
Reposted by Sydnee
If you are able, The Post's union has started a layoff fund for those fired by the world's fourth-richest man today. gofund.me/a310d0286
Donate to Washington Post 2026 layoff fund, organized by Rachel Siegel
On Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, The Washington Post laid off hundreds of journalists. We ar… Rachel Siegel needs your support for Washington Post 2026 layoff fund
gofund.me
February 4, 2026 at 4:35 PM
If you are able, The Post's union has started a layoff fund for those fired by the world's fourth-richest man today. gofund.me/a310d0286
Reposted by Sydnee
Without a major investment in publicly funded media or VERY well-funded worker-run collectives, we are all on a sinking ship. The problem is convincing the public that they're going down, too.
A lot of people cannot just start a paid newsletter or become freelancers to sustain their careers. The sports, metro, and international desks did work that requires *team* resources, like legal checks, documents, access to archives, and long-term beat experience.
February 4, 2026 at 4:46 PM
Without a major investment in publicly funded media or VERY well-funded worker-run collectives, we are all on a sinking ship. The problem is convincing the public that they're going down, too.
Reposted by Sydnee
I really hate that media layoffs have been happening for the last three years, including my own, and most of the people responsible for the mismanagement won't experience any negative consequences, especially for decimating the number of people of color in so many American newsrooms.
February 4, 2026 at 2:57 PM
I really hate that media layoffs have been happening for the last three years, including my own, and most of the people responsible for the mismanagement won't experience any negative consequences, especially for decimating the number of people of color in so many American newsrooms.
I've had the pleasure of working with Unbreaking for almost six (!) months now as part of their comms team. In light of...everything...I wrote this essay to unpack how it feels to ID as a "lowercase-j" journalist while Journalism courts fascism.
@sydmt.blacksky.app became a journalist to be part of the solution. Journalism had other plans.
She's given us an essay on what it means to choose empathy and ethics as both are under attack, and to tell the truth outside the media institutions that are failing us.
unbreaking.org/blog/Unbreak...
She's given us an essay on what it means to choose empathy and ethics as both are under attack, and to tell the truth outside the media institutions that are failing us.
unbreaking.org/blog/Unbreak...
Unbreaking: Journalism and the Ethics of Community Care — Unbreaking
It could be argued that once you learn the essential tools of journalism—critical thinking, skepticism, research, documentation, meticulousness, stubbornness—they become second nature to you, a skin t...
unbreaking.org
February 3, 2026 at 9:59 PM
I've had the pleasure of working with Unbreaking for almost six (!) months now as part of their comms team. In light of...everything...I wrote this essay to unpack how it feels to ID as a "lowercase-j" journalist while Journalism courts fascism.
Linkedin is not a place of honor
February 3, 2026 at 8:32 PM
Linkedin is not a place of honor
I just backed The Cookout: A Speculative Fiction Anthology on @kickstarter.com www.kickstarter.com/projects/and...
The Cookout: A Speculative Fiction Anthology
Sci-fi, fantasy, & horror stories by Black authors, centering traditions of “the cookout” — the joy, the drama, and the delicious food.
www.kickstarter.com
February 3, 2026 at 4:04 PM
I just backed The Cookout: A Speculative Fiction Anthology on @kickstarter.com www.kickstarter.com/projects/and...
lupita is the kind of fine that makes you go, "how dare you"
February 2, 2026 at 9:26 PM
lupita is the kind of fine that makes you go, "how dare you"
Reposted by Sydnee
Who among us would not launch a thousand ships for the sake of Lupita Nyongo
February 2, 2026 at 8:47 PM
Who among us would not launch a thousand ships for the sake of Lupita Nyongo
Reposted by Sydnee
Don Lemon has been released without bail, and his next court appearance is Feb. 9
January 30, 2026 at 11:07 PM
Don Lemon has been released without bail, and his next court appearance is Feb. 9
Reposted by Sydnee
Journalist Georgia Fort has been released from custody (video @fox9mn.bsky.social)
January 30, 2026 at 9:30 PM
Journalist Georgia Fort has been released from custody (video @fox9mn.bsky.social)
So it seems like I need to finally watch Schitt's Creek this weekend, is what y'all are saying
January 30, 2026 at 8:19 PM
So it seems like I need to finally watch Schitt's Creek this weekend, is what y'all are saying
all I will say about this current news cycle is that severance packages typically have NDAs for a reason. POC journalists have not been doing well for a long, long time
January 30, 2026 at 6:16 PM
all I will say about this current news cycle is that severance packages typically have NDAs for a reason. POC journalists have not been doing well for a long, long time
Reposted by Sydnee
I’ve see a couple mentions that both Georgia Fort & Don Lemon are independent journalists without the coffers, status, & lawyers of media companies to back them - with no acknowledgment of Black press being *forced en masse* to leave the field or go indie in the last 2 years or so.
A Black reporter being targeted for arrest again in an industry that doesn’t even acknowledge that it pushed Black reporters out.
January 30, 2026 at 4:15 PM
I’ve see a couple mentions that both Georgia Fort & Don Lemon are independent journalists without the coffers, status, & lawyers of media companies to back them - with no acknowledgment of Black press being *forced en masse* to leave the field or go indie in the last 2 years or so.
The important thing to understand about Oakland County, MI, is that it's so racist, a county executive fantasized about turning Detroit into an "Indian reservation" and still kept his job:
www.metrotimes.com/news/rip-l-b...
www.metrotimes.com/news/rip-l-b...
January 30, 2026 at 2:15 PM
The important thing to understand about Oakland County, MI, is that it's so racist, a county executive fantasized about turning Detroit into an "Indian reservation" and still kept his job:
www.metrotimes.com/news/rip-l-b...
www.metrotimes.com/news/rip-l-b...
Reposted by Sydnee
Grateful to @hammerandhope.bsky.social for recognizing the importance of Dr. King's work with Chicago gangs. Blackstone Rangers leader Jeff Fort stressed what a good listener King was —and how he saw their potential for community leadership & organization. hammerandhope.org/article/mart...
The Martin Luther King Jr. We Don’t Know
His work with gang members in Chicago shows how much he valued the part played by young people in the Black freedom struggle.
hammerandhope.org
January 28, 2026 at 12:58 PM
Grateful to @hammerandhope.bsky.social for recognizing the importance of Dr. King's work with Chicago gangs. Blackstone Rangers leader Jeff Fort stressed what a good listener King was —and how he saw their potential for community leadership & organization. hammerandhope.org/article/mart...
Reposted by Sydnee
Totally love this newsletter from @seizethepress.bsky.social about how art doesn't replace action and more about moralizing stories. Said better than I ever could.
buttondown.com/STPMagazine/...
buttondown.com/STPMagazine/...
005: The Author as Misguided Activist: Why We Don't Publish Moralising Stories
Sign up to the STP newsletterI’m semi-frequently asked what I mean when I say we publish stories that don’t moralise. After all, making space for more...
buttondown.com
January 26, 2026 at 9:24 PM
Totally love this newsletter from @seizethepress.bsky.social about how art doesn't replace action and more about moralizing stories. Said better than I ever could.
buttondown.com/STPMagazine/...
buttondown.com/STPMagazine/...
Reposted by Sydnee
Oh, this snow is crazy.
January 25, 2026 at 6:41 PM
Oh, this snow is crazy.
Reposted by Sydnee
Something about the prevalence of sharing these feels like lynching postcards to me. Brutal final moments of someone’s life circulated forever.
And in the constant rush to share, sure some is for awareness, but a lot feels like people sharing a spectacle.
And in the constant rush to share, sure some is for awareness, but a lot feels like people sharing a spectacle.
FWIW I don’t just try to avoid videos of state murder because it’s traumatizing, I try to avoid them because these are human beings who lived human lives and I don’t want to identify them primarily with the single worst moment of those lives
January 24, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Something about the prevalence of sharing these feels like lynching postcards to me. Brutal final moments of someone’s life circulated forever.
And in the constant rush to share, sure some is for awareness, but a lot feels like people sharing a spectacle.
And in the constant rush to share, sure some is for awareness, but a lot feels like people sharing a spectacle.
This reminds me of an excellent review I read on this movie by Brooke Obie, which has this banger line in it:
“A loveless revolutionary is just a terrorist.”
blackgirlwatching.substack.com/p/one-battle...
“A loveless revolutionary is just a terrorist.”
blackgirlwatching.substack.com/p/one-battle...
January 22, 2026 at 3:27 PM
This reminds me of an excellent review I read on this movie by Brooke Obie, which has this banger line in it:
“A loveless revolutionary is just a terrorist.”
blackgirlwatching.substack.com/p/one-battle...
“A loveless revolutionary is just a terrorist.”
blackgirlwatching.substack.com/p/one-battle...
Every time I log into this website after a long hiatus I recognize why I needed the hiatus in the first place.
January 21, 2026 at 3:36 PM
Every time I log into this website after a long hiatus I recognize why I needed the hiatus in the first place.
Reposted by Sydnee
I found the ep in PLURIBUS where Carol--white, American--meets 5 non-white, non-American survivors of the hivemind off-putting, but in a way that made me curious to see where Gilligan was going. Now that I have, I wrote about how empire, privilege, genAI, & resistance converge in the show's subtext:
Resisting the Hivemind: Pluribus, Generative AI, and Empire - Reactor
While its creator tell us that Pluribus is not about advent of generative AI, it's difficult not to spot the many places where the fledgling tech and extraterrestrial hivemind overlap.
reactormag.com
January 14, 2026 at 6:53 PM
I found the ep in PLURIBUS where Carol--white, American--meets 5 non-white, non-American survivors of the hivemind off-putting, but in a way that made me curious to see where Gilligan was going. Now that I have, I wrote about how empire, privilege, genAI, & resistance converge in the show's subtext:
Reposted by Sydnee
I just donated to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, in case you want to do the same. www.ilcm.org/donate/
Donate to ILCM
Every dollar donated to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota goes to support our mission of providing the highest quality legal services, education, and advocacy to meet the needs of low-income immig...
www.ilcm.org
January 15, 2026 at 5:29 PM
I just donated to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, in case you want to do the same. www.ilcm.org/donate/