Gwendolyn Ann Smith
LightNews LightNews
banner
gwensmith.com
Gwendolyn Ann Smith
@gwensmith.com
3.3K followers 360 following 11K posts
I foster communities, I shape opinions, and I dance the dream. columnist for Bay Area Reporter and online support staff. ⚧ and proud.
Posts Replies Media Videos
gwensmith.com
I put my order in.
An image of a virtual Girl Scout patch. It reads "I {heart} Girl Scout Cookies"
January 11, 2026 at 6:42 PM
gwensmith.com
"Dread it, run from it, Big Macs arrives all the same."
Ronald McDonals, the McDonald's clown mascot with red hair, and white face, and a red, white, and yellow outfit, wields Thanos's Infinity Gauntlet, a brass colored metal glove with several colored stones set into the hand.
January 11, 2026 at 4:45 AM
gwensmith.com
Finding beauty (in an ugly world)
A rainbow against a stormy sky
January 3, 2026 at 4:32 PM
gwensmith.com
Also, did I ever mention that my Grandmother was a badass?
A black and white photo of a young woman in a short ruffled dress and light colored top hat, holding a short cane or baton. She is standing in a professional photo studio with a painted backdrop, and posed as if to start tap dancing. As a young woman, she danced in speakeasies. A woman outside in the yard of a home, in front of a tree. She has her hands clasped in front of her, and is wearing a military style uniform, including a skirt, a belted jacket, and a garrison cap. Medals adorn her chest. She was one of the first women admitted to the ROTC, and had to lobby congress to gain the right to do so.
January 3, 2026 at 12:40 AM
gwensmith.com
I've been going through the family photos my mom left behind, and came across this one that I had to share, Her and her first born: me!
A grainy black and white photo of a woman in her mid-20s, holding a baby. Both are looking at the camera.
January 3, 2026 at 12:35 AM
gwensmith.com
Basically...
The Marge Simpson "I just think they're neat" meme, but the potato has been replaced with the trans pride flag.
January 2, 2026 at 8:57 PM
gwensmith.com
I feel like this is the perfect moment for Terry Pratchett's Boots theory.
An image labeled "For Reading Addicts," showing of a pair of old boots. Text over it reads as follows: "The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or too and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time. while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet. This was the Captain Samuel Vimes Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness." - Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms: The Play
January 1, 2026 at 8:11 PM
gwensmith.com
Welp.
A screen shot of “your 2026 word” from Merriam Webster. The word in this case is “Slapdash.”
January 1, 2026 at 4:06 PM
gwensmith.com
. @bonkina.bsky.social made a lemon pig. Because why not?
A crude pig-shaped critter made come a lemon, with cloves for eyes and matchstick legs, sitting on a yellow plate. A 2013 penny is in its mouth.
January 1, 2026 at 6:24 AM
gwensmith.com
Looks like 37 reels. 50’ b&w, no sound.
A shoebox full of yellow Kodak super 8 film reels from the 60s-70s
December 31, 2025 at 6:15 PM
gwensmith.com
Best I have for you is the Dream Hit.
A Barbie Dream Home with pink chicken feet. Text next to the image says “Barbie Yaga Dream Hut.”
December 31, 2025 at 3:16 PM
gwensmith.com
Pardon me being hyperfixated on this, but looking around the web, I also spotted another shot of that faux cable car... near another engine *and* the hearse that's now at Disneyland's Haunted Mansion.

img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/...
A road near some ersatz western buildings. To the left, some vintage (1950s era) gambling machines. To the left, a tram dressed up like a San Francisco cable car, a rusted 0-4-0 locomotive (now rebuilt and operating at the Cortez Mines Limited Railway!), a white horse-drawn hearse wagon, and a blue horse-drawn coach at the Last Frontier Hotel, Las Vegas, likely some time in the 60s or so
December 30, 2025 at 10:52 PM
gwensmith.com
Digging through old family/family adjacenct slides. Sharing these four for my train friends.
A Kodachrome slide of an empty road stretches into the distance on a clear day. To the right, telephone poles do the same. To the left, on a rise, a passenger train pulled by a steam locomotive, is traveling into the distance. It appears to be a Union Pacific passenger train, in its familiar armor yellow livery. The slide is undated, but likely near 1948. A Kodachrome slide of an empty road stretches into the distance on a clear day. To the right, telephone poles do the same. To the left, on a rise, a passenger train pulled by a steam locomotive, is traveling out of the distance. It appears to be a freight train. The slide is undated, but likely near 1948. A Kodachrome slide of a faux trolley modeled after a San Francisco cable car, but with conventional car wheels visible beneath it. It is numbered as # 38, and is panted in cream over red. A person dressed as a "cowboy" is standing on the running boards. Behind it is a building marked as the Silver Slipper Gambling Hall. A sign overhead shows only the letters "ILLAGE," but is cropped off. This was taken at the Last Frontier Village, an early Las Vegas attraction. The slide is undated, but likely near 1948. A Kodachrome slide of a steam engine. It is red and black, and has a faded Union Pacific shield on the front. A woman poses out of the engineer's window, facing the camera. A young boy is looking up at the cab, facing away from the camera. The train is parked, in a park. This was taken at the Last Frontier Village, an early Las Vegas attraction. The slide is undated, but likely near 1948.
December 30, 2025 at 8:42 PM
gwensmith.com
Oh, forgot to post this yesterday. Went all out celebrating Boxing Day yesterday
A store on a busy side street. It has several signs promoting its wares, which happen to be boxes. The store is named Box City.
December 27, 2025 at 5:13 PM
gwensmith.com
My haul from @bonkina.bsky.social , thanks to @nora.zone and @peculiarityshop.bsky.social for their gorgeous work.
December 25, 2025 at 9:54 PM
gwensmith.com
A caucasian man in an olive green shirt and camouflage military style cap. He is holding a stuffed, preserved pheasant on a pole, and standing in a field. This is Chuck Testa, who was a member for about 10 seconds about a decade ago, thanks to his commercials for his taxidermy business where he would proclaim something along the lines us, "Is this a bird... Nope! It's Chuck Testa!"
December 24, 2025 at 6:40 PM
gwensmith.com
I call this three days ago!

Okay, folks. Let's get them documents. It's *vital.*
A Bluesky post from three days ago from ‪Gwendolyn Ann Smith‬ ‪@gwensmith.com‬ that reads, "I'd love it if they had used the redact feature the just puts black over the able-to-be-selected text underneath."
December 23, 2025 at 1:48 AM
gwensmith.com
This was posted by @elierlick.bsky.social elsewhere. This was from the early 1970s. We are no where near it on those 7 demands, and are actively going backwards.

I demand these today.
A joint statement on Transvestite and Transsexual Liberation from the 1970s, signed by the Queens Liberation Front, Transvestite-transsexual Action Organization, Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries, Cockettes, Fems Against Sexism, and the Radical Queens. The key portion is below. DEMANDS 1. Abolishment of all crossdressing laws and restrictions of adornment. 2. An end to exploitation and discrimination within the gay world. 3. An end to exploitative practices of doctors and psychiatrists who work in the fields of transvestism and transsexualism, Hormone treatment and transsexual surgery should be provided free upon demand by the state. 4. Transsexual assistance centers should be created in all cities of over one million inhabitants, under the direction of postoperative transsexuals. 5. Transvestities and transsexuals should be granted full and equal rights on all levels of society and a full voice in the struggle for the liberation of all oppressed people. 6. Transvestites who exist as members of the opposite anatomical gender should be able to obtain full Identification as members of the opposite gender. Transsexuals should be able to obtain such identifi. cation commensurate to their new gender with no difficulty, and not be regired to carry special identification as transsexuals. There should be no special licensing requirements of transvestites or transsexuals who work in the entertainment field. 7. Immediate release of all persons in mental hospitals or prison for transvestism
December 18, 2025 at 1:00 AM
gwensmith.com
Ah, new chat request. Are these ever authentic?
A chat request from someone laying on bullshit flattery. Almost certainly a scam
December 17, 2025 at 4:27 PM
gwensmith.com
Show me how your 2025 went
December 17, 2025 at 1:47 PM
gwensmith.com
Okay, @tomtomorrow.bsky.social , here’s the cat with the book. Need anything else with it? ;-)
A coy of the book, “Our Long National Nightmare” by Tom Tomorrow, sitting next to a black Bombay cat as she sleeps. The cat sleeps, not the book. It’s just sitting there.
December 17, 2025 at 3:08 AM
gwensmith.com
Well, then!
A coy of the book, “Our Long National Nightmare” by Tom Tomorrow A coy of the book, “Our Long National Nightmare” by Tom Tomorrow
December 15, 2025 at 6:54 PM
gwensmith.com
Arrived in the Bay Area, @tomtomorrow.bsky.social
A coy of the book, “Our Long National Nightmare” by Tom Tomorrow
December 15, 2025 at 6:29 PM
gwensmith.com
Nice!

This would be my want:
A Metro TAP "Transgender Awareness 2025" transit card from Los Angeles. It is covered with trans flags as if they are noodle-y roads.
December 13, 2025 at 3:11 AM
gwensmith.com
I'm just sayin'. Freaky-assed bird.
A night heron.
December 12, 2025 at 5:15 PM