Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨

✪ Jonathan H. Gray: “Professor of Halloweenery” ✪ @jongraywb.bsky.social · 20h

If you are willing to throw away entire groups of people to protect your insular strategy that will only protect you instead of protecting everyone then I don’t want your leaders and I sure as hell don’t want to be associated with you.

the tallest stone @talleststone.bsky.social · 23h

I hate to say it but the majority of the country is not going to die on the hill of trans rights. We can’t protect ANY groups if we can’t win a national election, so purity tests only serve to make specific groups feel triumphant. That’s not “erasing” them; it’s long-horizon strategy.

16 500 1.6K

Reposted by Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨

Jadzia Axelrod 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @planetx.bsky.social · 2d

She IS trans! And you can read all about her in these books, available whereever fine comics are sold!

GALAXY: AS THE WORLD FALLS DOWN won't be out until 5/5/26. But you can get the rest of them now!

GALAXY: THE PRETTIEST STAR by Jadzia Axelrod, Vash Taylor and Ariana Maher

BAD DREAM: A DREAMER STORY by Nicole Maines, Rye Hickman, Bex Glendining and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

GALAXY: AS THE WORLD FALLS DOWN by Jadzia Axelrod, Rye Hickman and Jodie Troutman

HAWKGIRL: ONCE UPON A GALAXY by Jadzia Axelrod, Amancay Nahuelpan, Adriano Lucas, Alex Guimarães, Carrie Strachan, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

1 4 18

Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨ @talenshi.bsky.social · 1d

Took a much needed day off yesterday after two weeks of pushing through. Napped on a stone bench in the botanical garden, watched bees, and found these really cool mushrooms. I also saw common yellowthroats in forest park and a chipmunk almost ran up my leg. 10/10.

3 more weeks of STL ren fest.

Cluster of mushrooms on the bottom edge of a stump.

9

Reposted by Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨

Magical Kaleidoscope (Silvi) @magicalscope.bsky.social · 8d

Defiant Voltage
A sword for an Oathbreaker
Owner: drdiego3

[ #fantasy #item #design #dnd #dndart #homebrew #pathfinder #rapier #electricity #faraday #swordtember #magicalscope ]

A rapier with the basket serving as a faraday cage, capable of grounding and shielding the user as well as redirecting the god's wrath lightning strikes.

2 34 91

Reposted by Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨

Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 9d

It’s official: AIPAC is trying to buy my election to keep me out of Congress.

Apparently, I’m a “dangerous detractor”... by believing Palestinians (like myself and my family) deserve basic human rights.

But we’re not going to let AIPAC win.

490 6.2K 23K

Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨ @talenshi.bsky.social · 9d

Oh weird! I've never smelled one. Handled them several times.

1

Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨ @talenshi.bsky.social · 9d

I really enjoy the invertebrates I get to see when vending outside. This stink bug hung out on the ceiling of my tent right by me for like four hours. There was also a really cool wheel bug walking around, but I had to move that one.
The stinkbugs are so derpy and gentle.

A brown marmorated stink bug on a white sheet. The fabric is hung as a ceiling in my pop up tent, which has a maroon canopy- thus the reddish lighting.

1 6

Reposted by Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨

Nicole 🪲 @fossilforager.bsky.social · 12d

The Invertober prompt list for 2025 is HERE! If you’re looking for an invert-themed art prompt list for the month of October, here it is 🦀🪲🐚💕 #sciart #invertober #invertober2025

Invertober 2025
1. Japanese sea nettle (Chrysaora pacifica)
2. Red-banded leafhopper (Graphocephala coccinea)
3. Giant green anemone (Anthopleura xanthogrammica)
4. Palmetto weevil (Rhynchophorus cruentatus)
5. Painted spiny lobster (Panulirus versicolor)
6. Buff-tip moth (Phalera bucephala)
7. Scaly foot gastropod (Chrysomallon squamiferum)
8. Bee-killer robber fly (Mallophora fautrix)
9. Flamboyant cuttlefish (Ascarosepion pfefferi)
10. Common earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris)
11. Dark fishing spider (Dolomedes tenebrosus)
12. Pacific razor clam (Siliqua patula)
13. Banded sugar ant (Camponotus consobrinus)
14. Bobbit worm (Eunice aphroditois)
15. Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing
(Ornithoptera alexandrae)
‪16. Giant isopod (Bathynomus giganteus) ‬
17. Blue-lined flatworm (Pseudoceros concinnus)
18. Black & yellow mud dauber (Sceliphron caementarium)
19. Vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis)
20. By-the-wind sailor (Velella velella)
21. Flame skimmer dragonfly (Libellula saturata)
22. Sea angel (Clione limacina)
23. Pink sand dunes tiger beetle (Cicindela albissima)
24. New Zealand mussel (Perna canaliculus)
25. House centipede (Scutigera coleoptrata)
26. Sea bunny (Jorunna parva)
27. American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis)
28. Pearly green lacewing (Chrysopa perla)
29. Red sea urchin (Mesocentrotus franciscanus)
30. Christmas beetle (Anoplognathus pallidicollis)
31. Death’s-head hawk moth (Acherontia atropos)

10 140 330

Reposted by Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨

Petra Korlević @petrathepostdoc.bsky.social · 9d

so here it is folks, with one day to spare the complete #SciArt collage of critters for #invertober2024 by @fossilforager.bsky.social

and now I have a fresh clean slate to start the 2025 list! which hopefully is done before September 2026...

a collage of 31 invertebrates in a 7x5 grid, with a list of their latin names in the middle. there are lanternbugs, butterflies, cephalopods, jellyfish, flies, spiders, wasps, flatworms, ants, chnidarians, beetles, crabs, bees, snails, isopods, sea slugs, sponges, sea cucumbers, and bottom right occupying two spaces a horseshoe crab with a long tail.
the text (white on black) in the middle:
Invertober 2025

1 | Fulgora laternaria
2 | Siproeta stelenes
3 | Sepia officinalis
4 | Cotylorhiza tuberculata
5 | Bombylius major
6 | Brachypelma smithi
7 | Chrysis ignita
8 | Bipalium choristosperma
9 | Nothomyrmecia sp.
10 | Radianthus magnifica
11 | Goliathus goliatus
12 | Macrocheira kaempferi
13 | Bombus pratorum
14 | Monadenia infumata
15 | Argema mittrei
16 | Armadillidium gestroi
17 | Lampyris noctiluca
18 | Chromodoris annae
19 | Aplysina fistularis
20 | Coccinella trifasciata
21 | Histioteuthis heteropsis
22 | Neotibicen linnei
23 | Eristalis flavipes
24 | Hierodula membranacea
25 | Tachypleus gigas
26 | Chicobolus spinigerus
27 | Kiwa hirsuta
28 | Synchlora aerata
29 | Phidippus audax
30 | Parastichopus johnsoni
31 | Gecarcinus quadratus

5 48 140

Reposted by Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨

Natee (they/them) @himmapaan.bsky.social · 9d

Hen & Mouse

Ink and gouache on Fabriano Medioevalis, approximately 95 × 64 mm.

Silhouette drawing in black ink of a hen standing with one leg poised, facing a mouse who looks up at her as it stands on a broken branch in the grass. The hen's comb and wattle are the only touch of red gouache.

1 86 360

Reposted by Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨

Heknitt @heknitt.bsky.social · 9d

Fall guy is up for adoption 🍂🍁

#aesthetic #cottagecore #frog #spookyseason #knitting #decor #Whimsical #spooky #cutecore

4 35 230

Reposted by Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨

Jay Edidin @edidin.bsky.social · 9d

hey, cis people. we need you to call every single elected official you've got, now.

PinkNews @pinknews.bsky.social · 10d

Trump threatens to shut down US government unless Democrats agree to ban all trans health care
https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/09/29/trans-care-ban-government-shutdown/?utm_content=1759153201&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky

Trump threatens to shut down US government unless all trans health care is banned

The US government's looming shutdown hinges on anti-trans measures after Donald Trump refused to speak to Democrats unless they were passed.

www.thepinknews.com

55 3.2K 4.5K

Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨ @talenshi.bsky.social · 9d

I don't wear dresses when I'm alone. I walk differently when I'm alone. I hold my facial expression differently when I'm alone. This became unconscious habit at some point, but it shouldn't have to be. I don't want anyone else to feel scared to wear what they like or be themselves.

14

Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨ @talenshi.bsky.social · 9d

Any woman who isn't on the side of trans rights needs to think long and hard about how much thought she puts into her own wardrobe and why. Fem presenting people always on some level have to consider our safety when picking clothing. Why would you want anyone to feel that?

1 13

Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨ @talenshi.bsky.social · 9d

To everyone else: be safe out there. I hope you find more safe places to wear things that make you feel like you.

1 9

Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨ @talenshi.bsky.social · 9d

It's so cruel that we live in a world where someone can be unsafe for wearing a beautiful dress that they love. There are no actual rules in this life and everyone should wear clothes that make them feel good and feel like themselves.

Fuck off to anyone making people unsafe to be themselves.

1 4 29

Reposted by Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨

Cloudy🐈 @hellocloudy.bsky.social · 10d

i love sunny autumn days 🍂☀️

A fluffy tuxedo cat is sitting in a fall tree - the leaves are in vivid yellow, red and hot pink tones and frame the cat against blue sky

14 690 1.9K

Reposted by Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨

The Captain @cpt-moreau.bsky.social · 10d

Let's also not forget there ARE STILL PLACES THAT ARE PROUD AND PRACTICING 'Sundown Towns'

Don't know what that means?
It means "If you aren't white, finish your business before the sun goes down" or they will literally harm you or destroy your shit.

✪ Jonathan H. Gray: “Professor of Halloweenery” ✪ @jongraywb.bsky.social · 10d

The only reason I have relatives in Philly is 100% b/c my grandaddy’s brother whistled @ a white woman. He fled Alabama hopping a train & didnt get off until Philly for fear of getting lynched. And instead the Klan nearly lynched our family in retaliation for *that!*

I am (1) generation from that.

C. L. Polk @clpolk.blacksky.app · 10d

Coates says Black Americans have stories about relatives who were lynched or had to flee and that a life free of political violence is not in reach in his time

Klein:
"Sometimes I think that having a historical scope that wide can make the present too deterministic."

They lynched a kid last week.

2 64 140

Reposted by Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨

✪ Jonathan H. Gray: “Professor of Halloweenery” ✪ @jongraywb.bsky.social · 10d

The only reason I have relatives in Philly is 100% b/c my grandaddy’s brother whistled @ a white woman. He fled Alabama hopping a train & didnt get off until Philly for fear of getting lynched. And instead the Klan nearly lynched our family in retaliation for *that!*

I am (1) generation from that.

C. L. Polk @clpolk.blacksky.app · 10d

Coates says Black Americans have stories about relatives who were lynched or had to flee and that a life free of political violence is not in reach in his time

Klein:
"Sometimes I think that having a historical scope that wide can make the present too deterministic."

They lynched a kid last week.

Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 11d

This was revealing. Worth reading. The basic demand is that Coates spend less time thinking/writing his true feelings and more time playing political strategist. Klein asks him over and over him to do Dem strategy; he says no, over and over. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/28/o...

10 370 1.2K

Reposted by Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨

MariNaomi (they/them) @marinaomi.bsky.social · 13d

update about the cartoonists of color, queer cartoonists, and disabled cartoonists databases

tldr: i am shuttering the databases and i am sad.

www.patreon.com/posts/139743...

update about the cartoonists of color, queer cartoonists, and disabled cartoonists databases | MariNaomi

Get more from MariNaomi on Patreon

www.patreon.com

41 110 290

Reposted by Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨

Meesh @cookiedoves.bsky.social · 10d

pink-spotted fruit-doves!! 💛

3 40 250

Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨ @talenshi.bsky.social · 12d

Just realized today that I've been pursuing art with intent for almost 21 years. 😵‍💫 2004 vs 2025

We all have to start whatever it is we want to do if we want to get good at it or even do it at all.

#art #progress #drawing

drawn in 2004 at age 14. My OC, an anime elf girl with wings and a tail floating with one leg folded under her. She's holding her staff behind her back.

My drawing of a Hawaiian short eared owl wearing a teal cloak and hat with native grasses on it. The owl is mid hop, with wings held open but close to their body, and a happy expression.
Digital drawing

17

Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨ @talenshi.bsky.social · 12d

Oh! I'm Talenshi! I like to draw birds in fantasy outfits and settings.

1

Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨ @talenshi.bsky.social · 12d

Happy birthday! I hope it's excellent!
What a good idea for an art share.
I looked for one of my oldest drawings that I still have a scan of to start.
(2004, 2012, 2020, 2025)

A watercolor and soft pastel drawing of the Egyptian God Horus giving papyrus fronds to. Sparrow wearing a crown. Done in 2012, right after finishing art school.

A cockatiel wizard holding a staff in his left foot and looking to the left with wings spread. He's in a study with bookshelves lining the walls and many books and papers lying about. There's a short podium and cup of cashews in front of him. Swirling yellow magic is billowing in from the left.
Digital art commission I did in 2020

2 2 7

Reposted by Talenshi✨🕊️Birds and magical books📚✨

Kvacm Art | Michal Kváč @kvacm.bsky.social · 13d

Birthday #artshare 🎉🍾
I'm 34 y.o. today, pff... was never older! It's time to celebrate!! ✨🔥

Show me how you progressed in years!! 📆

🍾Introduce yourself!
🍾Artist, drop your art made over years!
🍾Tag and support others!
❌No NFT, No AI, keep it SFW.

80 80 150