Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

MissHalcyon

@misshalcyon.bsky.social

7.7K followers 3K following 1K posts

Autistic student, writer, mycology nerd, etc! My account is 50% mushrooms and 50% Autistic advocacy. Writer for theautisticadult.org Missy | 28 | she/her

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

MissHalcyon @misshalcyon.bsky.social · Nov 20

Courtesy of @autisticbooks.bsky.social, I have picked out 12 books by Autistic authors you should totally read for 2025!

We've got great picks like...

- Stories of Autistic Joy
- Atypical Love (about ND love)
- Lavender Clouds (about Autism + ADHD + mental health)
- and more!

bit.ly/4fGcOGE

12 Months of Autistic Books by Autistic Authors for 2025

Want to read Autistic authors more this year? We’ve got one for every month of 2025!Reading books is a fantastic habit to have, but what about broadening your horizons to include specifically Autistic...

www.theautisticadult.org

10 36 120

MissHalcyon @misshalcyon.bsky.social · 8d

Both of those sound amazing!! A convention does sound like a lot though: lots of people, smells, visual stimuli, etc... But I bet it would be super rewarding and fun too!

Do you sing already? I've always wanted to learn how, but the farthest I've gone is singing in the car lol.

MissHalcyon @misshalcyon.bsky.social · 8d

Autistics-- what's a dream of yours you've always wanted to achieve? Regardless of whether it's doable re: your neurodivergence.

I REALLY want to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. It's a backpacking trail from the Mexican to the Canadian border.

I just wonder whether I would get too overstimulated..

2 3

MissHalcyon @misshalcyon.bsky.social · 8d

So beautiful!!

Ann @slowrunn3r.bsky.social · 8d

Pole position for these Crepidotous specimens! 🍄🤗
#fungifriends

MissHalcyon @misshalcyon.bsky.social · 11d

Autustics-- are you on any medication for your Autism?

I'm currently on Abilify. It's been game-changing for me. I can now tolerate sounds and textures that normally would have made me run and hide.

The downside is how much weight I've gained on it. Easily over 100 pounds. Not good...

1 4

Reposted by MissHalcyon

Bernoid @bernoid.bsky.social · 18d

Hypholoma fasciculare - Sulphurtuft. #FungiFriends

1 39 280

MissHalcyon @misshalcyon.bsky.social · 19d

A Master's of Public Health! I'm super excited, this is something I've wanted to do for a long time now.

1 1

MissHalcyon @misshalcyon.bsky.social · 19d

I'm writing this as I'm listening to 1 song on repeat, wearing the same pajamas I've worn for days, running low on safe foods-- I'm unabashedly Autistic, and I DID THIS.

Autistics: I know reaching for your dreams is difficult. We're all capable at different levels. But damn I hope you get there too

3 1 14

MissHalcyon @misshalcyon.bsky.social · 19d

...

I was just accepted to an Ivy League.

I'm an Autistic girl who spent 10 years getting a BA with a 2.9 GPA.

I'm in total shock. I try to overestimate myself because hey, you never know. If you reach high, ask questions, good things usually happen... but this? Wow.

Anything's possible.

4 1 51

MissHalcyon @misshalcyon.bsky.social · 19d

Thinking today about how much being employed affects my Autistic self.

I come home from each workday (I only work part-time) completely dead. My boyfriend says I only speak in 1 or 2 words, never in complete sentences, laid back in my chair, basically lifeless.

Being employed is SO hard as an Aut

2 9 84

Reposted by MissHalcyon

Call me Jan @followerofclay.bsky.social · 23d

It´s all about fungi!
Pluteus aurantiorugosus
#fungifriends #mycology #pluteus

5 63

MissHalcyon @misshalcyon.bsky.social · 26d

This is such a gorgeously bright color! When hunting for mushrooms, at least where I'm located, it's easy to confuse pieces of trash for fungi.

But I can't imagine turning a corner and seeing this beauty-- it would be hard to miss!

Ian B @bunhead63.bsky.social · 26d

Calocera viscosa - Yellow Stagshorn. Found in Scottish highlands this week.
#fungifriends

1 12

MissHalcyon @misshalcyon.bsky.social · 27d

I was just accepted to Boston U's online MPH program!!!

I don't know if I'll actually be attending there, but wow, I feel so surprised and grateful that I was accepted anywhere at all. It's the 7th best MPH school in the US and I have a 2.9 undergrad GPA.

Good things can happen! ❤️

2 1 18

Reposted by MissHalcyon

Caroline @cqinthecloud.bsky.social · Sep 7

Still early for these guys but I was fortunate enough today so spot my first Amantia of the season 😍🍄🍄🍄 #fungi #fungifriends #mycology #mushroom

1 6 56

Reposted by MissHalcyon

Laura Walsh @lauramwalsh.com · Sep 5

Two tiny toadstools, timidly tanning 'twixt the trees. #fungifriends #fungifriday #mushrooms #excessivealliteration

A closeup of two tiny mushrooms growing out of the bark on a fallen log.

10 62

Reposted by MissHalcyon

Chelton's Mushroom Photography @mush-photos.bsky.social · Sep 5

As if it's glowing, a beautiful yellow, orange, and green parrot mushroom emerges from thick cedar duff

📷 Canon 5D Mk III
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM
M, f/2.8, 1/20, ISO 800
Stack of 42 images
11/24/21
Olympia area, Washington

#mushroom #fungifriends #mushrooms

🍄📷 📸🎞 🌿🌱 🟢 🍄 🍄‍🟫

Among thick orange and dark brown cedar duff, a beautiful mushroom that almost appears to glow is centered in the photo. Its stipe is relatively short and yellow. Its cap is a beautiful mixture of mostly green, but also yellow and a hint of orange. The cap is also very shiny.

2 14 110

MissHalcyon @misshalcyon.bsky.social · Sep 4

Things I've considered:

- Investing in some stim toys for my place of work (any suggestions?)

- Offering him common objects to stim with, like clay or pens

- Gently asking him to do something different to self-soothe

What would you most want a social worker to do, if it were you?

2 5

MissHalcyon @misshalcyon.bsky.social · Sep 4

So I have a potentially-Autistic client who visits me at work. He stays the full day, 8 hours, and the entire time he does a VERY loud stim.

It bothers me, and potentially other people as well.

Any thoughts on how to address this?

1 3

MissHalcyon @misshalcyon.bsky.social · Sep 2

I'm not a photographer-- of ANY kind-- but I think there's some value to taking photos.

It's so easy these days to forget about good moments + occasional beauty, so... why not capture them?

I know some folks might say "you're viewing the world through your phone!" but, hey, I get to relive it!

It's a picture of some fir trees at dusk, with a light blue sky behind. The sun is making the fir branches appear a bright orange-red color in the light, and there are contrasting dark shadows of branches behind.

This photo makes it appear as though the upper branches of a tree are holding up a waxing (or waning) moon. The sky is a darker navy-ish kind of blue behind.

1 8

Reposted by MissHalcyon

Sparky Harlan (she/her) @sparkyharlan.bsky.social · Sep 1

Time for some #fungi from my #hiking trip to BC. #MushroomMonday #fungifriends #photography #forest

Two cluster of wet mushrooms from a rainy day in the forest.

12 74

MissHalcyon @misshalcyon.bsky.social · Aug 30

Some sights from my more-recent walks!

A black kitty with a short tail and a collar sits in the bottom left corner, as if observing the beautiful sunlight playing on leaves in the rightside of the image. There is a bed of English Ivy on the ground next to the kitty, and there is a concrete pathway next to them that leads to several fenced-off houses.

It's (I believe) a Western Fence Lizard. It's standing on a bed of mud and sticks, with a leafy green plant frond reaching out behind it. It is observing the picture-taker carefully.

MissHalcyon @misshalcyon.bsky.social · Aug 29

I've been pushing myself to walk more and get back in shape for Mushroom Season, and on my lunch break I managed to spot TWO mushrooms on the overwatered, lush lawns bordering the street. The left is a Russula, I could tell by the loud SNAP when I pulled it from the ground. The right is an Agaricus!

The background is a bed of mess, grass, fallen leaves, and dirt. In front of this a white hand with sparkly pink nail polish holds an upside down mushroom. Its pure white stem is visible, as well as its white gills and pale pink color of the cap.

This is a more blurry photo. You can see in the background several more white mushrooms growing out of the grass and fallen leaves. In the foreground a blurry white hand with sparkly pink nail polish holds a white-stemmed mushroom with dark brown gills and spores. It also has a skirt around the middle of the stem.

2 21

Reposted by MissHalcyon

Wintersweet of the Woods @wintersweetbou.bsky.social · Aug 27

Sharp scaled pholiota 🍄 🌿 in moss!

#fungifriends #mushroom #moss

1 5 45

MissHalcyon @misshalcyon.bsky.social · Aug 27

If you get lucky, while you're walking the creeks by my house you might see a river otter or a Great Egret. I didn't even know river otters were a thing until an old man walking the creek path told me he saw one the other day.

Here's a Great Egret I saw yesterday! So beautiful!

In a creek with muddy, brown water surrounded on both sides by yellowing underbrush, there stands a Great Egret. its body is slender and practically glowing white, and its beak is also thin and a pale yellow color.

1 15

MissHalcyon @misshalcyon.bsky.social · Aug 26

#FungiFriends

I went walking on my lunch break at work, and even among the tailored lawns of a business lot I managed to find some mushrooms! Here's an itty bitty... something. I only picked the smallest one so in a few days I'll revisit and we'll see what it's grown into! Any guesses?

On a bed of grass and fallen leaves, you can spot a tiny white round shape that indicates a mushroom cap.

A white hand holds up a plucked white mushroom. It's incredibly undeveloped-- the partial veil covering the gills hasn't even been removed yet.

Reposted by MissHalcyon

Jeremy Bartlett @jeremybartlett.bsky.social · Aug 24

The Flirt, Russula vesca.
Marsham Heath, Norfolk, today.

#Fungi #FungiFriends

The Flirt, Russula vesca. The colour of old ham.

The Flirt, Russula vesca. FeSO4 on stem goes rapidly intense pinkish-rust and guaiac quickly blue.

The Flirt, Russula vesca. The cap cuticle pulls away from the margin of the cap, exposing white flesh beneath.

2 6 57