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Jenny Rae Rappaport

@jennyrae.bsky.social

2.3K followers 780 following 4.3K posts

Writer of SFF stories. Published in Nature, Lightspeed, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies, among others. Member of Codex. Genealogist, too. All opinions are my own. She/her. www.jennyrae.com

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · Sep 6

Look, look, it's me! In a book! I'm so excited about seeing my short story in print. 😊

The anthology is gorgeous and full of so many awesome writers! ❤️❤️❤️

The beginning of my story, "Elephant in Winter".

It says:
Bess was late to the river.

So late, so very late, that they were already lighting the dusk-lanterns when she got there. Henry would be on the ice by now, his anger stewing despite the chill in the air. But the baby had been colicky again and Meg-down-the-street had been delayed coming to watch him, and really, today was just a terrible day.

It didn't matter how lovely the lanterns were with their tiny glass bowls and steady flames, each one a defense against the twilight-darkness of the midwinter day. It didn't matter that she wanted to stand on the frozen river and watch them, wanted to lose herself in them, wanted to think a thought just for herself and no one else. It didn't matter because there was no time to stop, and so, Bess went on.

The beautiful purple cover of Of Enchantment, Enigma, and the Infinite".

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

I feel like it's a very Jewish thing to make enough food for an army, whenever you have dinner guests or celebrate a major holiday.

Eat! Nu, you could eat some more, right?

Reposted by Jenny Rae Rappaport

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 1d

I will not back down.

Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power.

What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?

Donald Trump Truth Social Post: Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also.

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

I understand. I know that museums are usually looking for docents to help out, who are often volunteers. It’s not a job, per se, but it could be something with a regular schedule even if it’s just a few days a week?

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

Could she volunteer at some sort of nonprofit? Like a food bank or someplace where people get help with literacy skills (I’m assuming that this exists in Japan, but maybe not?)

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

I am being forced to come up with genotype problems on the fly! 😅

Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

I taught the younger two kids about Punnett squares at dinner tonight, and now, we are happily calculating the percentage of baby dragons who will be glitter dragons vs fire dragons. As one does. ❤️🐉

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

Also, back to history!

One of the WPA projects in 1936-1938 was recording firsthand accounts of people who had been born into slavery. The Library of Congress has made them available online, and it's definitely worth a read. There are photos, too.

www.loc.gov/collections/...

About this Collection | Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938 | Digital Collections | Library of Congress

Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938 contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. These nar...

www.loc.gov

Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

Also, just in terms of pop culture, Mae West lived long enough that she could totally have listened to Bruce Springsteen's first few albums. 🙂

Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

Not a pop culture reference, but I've told this story before:

My great-grandfather was born in a small shtetl in what's now Belarus in 1888. Cars had barely been invented. He lived to see men walk on the moon in 1969 on his television set in Brooklyn.

The past is rarely as distant as we think.

rax ‘levon honkers’ king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 1d

you ever think about those real weird overlaps. like tennessee williams might have listened to the ramones

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

I love stuff like this, but the handwriting gets progressively worse, the farther back in time I go. I have some stuff in Latin from the mid-1700s that I've been stuck on for years because the priest's handwriting was just atrocious.

Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

Additional ALT Text for above: The document is very old on clearly-aged, yellowing paper. The handwriting is faded, a bit, in mostly sepia ink, and cramped together. It also has a long "s"! (Or a really fancy "s", I can't decide, but it's distinctive.)

Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

OMG, yes. Except this is in Polish and 195 years old. 😅

The beginning of a prenuptial agreement in Polish from 1830, which has my relatives in it.

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

If you had told teenage me that my idea of fun would be trying to read a document in Polish, I wouldn't have believed you. 🙃 #genealogy

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 1d

I don't eat ground pork, but I know I've seen it at Italian markets near me. Possibly that's a good place to try finding it, if you have any local ones?

Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 3d

I suspect it will? The going rate around here is $35/hemming a too-long skirt, so I can only imagine that tailoring a blouse will be more than that. Not counting the cost of the shirt itself.

Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 3d

Actually, the spanx ones are all sold out in everything above a medium, but they're on my radar now, at least. 😅

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 3d

The Spanx ones say they're faux buttons, which may be what I'm looking for! I'm going to order one from there and one from Duluth Trading, to see if they fit me.

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 3d

I understand the point of the tailoring options, but I'd much rather be able to buy something off-the-rack for less money.

Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 3d

Thank you!

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 3d

Pretty much the same for me! And then, I'm never entirely happy with how it fits.

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 3d

They might? What brand?

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 3d

I have precisely one, which is from a Stitch Fix brand. And it's more of a stylish shirt with fake buttons, but there aren't any others like it on their entire website.

I would pay good money for an actual, mock button-up.

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 3d

Ok, hear me out:

I want a plus-size blouse that's basically a button-up shirt.

Except! The buttons aren't real; I want it to look like a button-up shirt, but not have to worry about gaping, etc.

Where can I buy something like this??

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Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 4d

I would take more car ads over the Adobe ad, any day.

Jenny Rae Rappaport @jennyrae.bsky.social · 4d

Online gambling and ridiculous finance ads and ads for the NJ gubernatorial race. Oh, and an Adobe AI PDF ad, too, gah. 🙄