⚡⚡MAD DOCTOR IMPOSSIBLE⚡⚡

I write Stained Glass Woman, Dreaming Ourselves Into Being, and Nameless!

Thing explainer on #TeamRhetoric who talks trans science. Altersex polyamorous trans lesbian. She/her. Opinions mine.

Links:
https://solo.to/impossible_phd

Public Key

npub1hkzm9a77avhw429jz2ayjk0mx2ynfpl8uutce9eeyh2vlqqftvfq6r0akh

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqstmpdj7l0wkth24zep9wjft8an9zf5sln7w9uvjuujt4x0sqy4kyspz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dszec90u

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1hkzm9a77avhw429jz2ayjk0mx2ynfpl8uutce9eeyh2vlqqftvfq6r0akh

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Last Notes

2026-04-30 01:48:26 GMT

Soooo remember that talk about the history of trans medicine I gave last week? Someone who was there recorded it and uploaded it to the internet archive!
Go enjoy me going on about a special interest for an hour and a half!!!
https://archive.org/details/sallymet-harry-av1-xcode

2026-04-24 14:33:32 GMT

Just out of curiosity: does anyone know a university doing a tenure track search next year in technical writing, rhetoric, writing studies, women's and gender studies, or similar fields that's in a safe state?
Asking for no particular reason.

2026-04-20 13:11:52 GMT

Pssssst I wrote a book, and it's pretty dang good. You should check it out--it's got queer found family, growing out of your trauma, and a cat with a prosthetic leg.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GKX6C2ZR

2026-04-06 12:32:55 GMT

One of my petty pet peeves is that "vanilla" is synonymous with "basic."
Like, fuck, y'all, vanilla is probably the most complicated and glorious flavor on earth. What the fuck.

2026-04-04 16:46:08 GMT

This selfie turned out really nice. 🥰
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/116/347/447/527/784/593/original/a2bbc97f86e5e792.jpg

2026-04-03 14:47:47 GMT

Good goddamn I love space.
Taken by the Artemis II crew.
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/116/341/319/752/365/701/original/155ffebd5a9b5bb4.png

2026-02-24 13:20:51 GMT

I think this is one of those things that's stunning, in all the worst ways, and most of them aren't obvious.
Let's start with the basics: there are about 5.5 million trans Americans. This means that *nearly 10% of the entire trans population of the nation* has moved.
Just
Last
Year
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/116/125/810/103/861/401/original/a30f464a1f0c35f2.jpg

2026-02-20 00:24:00 GMT

So, I tried querying Nameless for years. The original goal was traditional publication. If you've noticed a few errors in it, that's because I had budget for profession sensitivity readers OR editing. I picked sensitivity, bc tradpub would've gotten me an editor.
NOBODY is signing new talent rn.
I had Nameless in a complete, edited state for *over 3 years* as I queried. I got to consult with longtime pros in the industry. Names you've heard. Names you might be following here on Bluesky.
I had every advantage. A PhD in writing. Vibrant social media.
I never even got a rejection letter.
Like, not even a form "thanks but no thanks" email. Literal ***nothing***.
It took me a long time to figure it out, but talking to people, but it seems like new writers are basically just... not being signed these days.
More or less ever, unless someone blows up in self-pub.
I think it's to do with GenAI. Trying to avoid the risk of unknown writers who might be using GenAI, which would expose publishers to lawsuits and strip the percentages from agents. I get it.
But right now? I wouldn't even imagine trying tradpub these days. If you're unknown. It's just *hopeless*.
Anyway, that's the spoiler-free BTS factoid about Nameless for the day.

2026-02-07 16:44:55 GMT

Nobody believes in your potential more than the people trying to oppress you.

2026-02-02 13:42:39 GMT

This week for #StainedGlassWoman is a sample--this first *seven thousand* words from my novel, Nameless, out February 11!
Have a read, and if you enjoy it, preorders are up now, with the paperback and hardcover editions available on the 11th!
#Trans #MtF #FtM #Enby #Fiction #Novel
https://stainedglasswoman.substack.com/p/announcing-nameless

2026-01-30 12:40:12 GMT

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Meanwhile, J Michael Bailey is the PI for this study, and Kenneth Zucker is part of it, and their study won't even describe trans people as trans--they use "gender dysphoric youth."
This is 100% a study that's gonna try and prove that conversion therapy is effective.
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/984/091/454/254/170/original/7e34ef2419404b96.png
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/984/092/303/340/780/original/844cd2106e427622.png

2026-01-30 12:39:11 GMT

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Aside from the obvious "don't trust someone who's trying to genocide us," part, Littman is infamous for putting her thumb on the scale in her research. Her "ROGD" study is a perfect example--she designed the methodology from the outset to show the result she wanted, not reality.
And finally, the smaller the participant pool for whatever garbage pseudoscience they're trying to cook up here, the easier it is for the scientific community to just ignore our of hand. If they can only recruit like 20 people, she can't show significance for anything.
If they gets several hundred, we have to go in an actually pull apart their idiot methods to show how "yes, this junk science was designed to fail from the outset; it can be safely ignored."
Dismissing their "findings" as insignificant is easier. And more insulting to them.

2026-01-30 12:38:00 GMT

Hey, pals, this study is headed by J Michael Bailey, Kenneth Zucker, and Lisa Littman, noted transphobes and pseudoscientist. Littman in particular ison the advisory board for the genocidal anti-trans group GENSPECT.
Do not, under any circumstance, participate in this junk study.
https://www.reddit.com/r/traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns2/s/2fzK4VZbMt

2026-01-28 18:29:25 GMT

I am incredibly excited to announce my first novel:
Nameless, a cyberpunk action-adventure set in the dead cold of a January Minneapolis winter, and featuring a pair of queer women leads, thrilling action, and a cat with a prosthetic leg.
Nobody survives winter alone.
Out February 11!
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/974/092/986/501/668/original/bf276a39693a7418.png

2026-01-28 12:23:18 GMT

Based on some invaluable advice from an author friend of mine as I get ready to self-publish my novel:
If you're an author or book reviewer and like what I do in general, would you be interested in an advance review copy? If so, DM me. You'd be doing me a huge favor! 💜

2026-01-26 12:25:13 GMT

Weighed myself this morning for the first time in a coupla months out of curiosity, and I'm down 5 pounds. And let me tell you, I sure as hell haven't been eating less. The only thing that's really changed is I'm getting a solid 8 hours of sleep every night now.
It's stress. That's the difference.
Reducing stress in my life--getting more sleep--took my body down from DEFCON 2 or wherever it's been. My body stopped hoarding calories, and I started dropping stored weight.
Calories In Calories Out is bullshit.
Whole body health is the thing to focus on.

2026-01-25 22:01:22 GMT

Right. So. I guess I'm gonna publish that cyberpunk novel set in Minneapolis on KDP as soon as I can get it together. I've got a cover designed and 7/33 chapters formatted for publication.
Watch this space for a title and cover announcement!

2026-01-10 17:53:10 GMT

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And yes, queer folks like Renee Good have borne a disproportionate brunt of that same racist heritage and practice--there's very good reason for No Cops At Pride. But we must never forget that this has been the daily reality of Black Americans for centuries, first and foremost.
In short:
Renee Good's murder is exactly why Black activists have been calling on us for decades to abolish American policing as it has existed until this point. They've been living this outrage for generations.
Maybe it's time to listen.

2026-01-10 17:52:46 GMT

Remember: even police organizations admit that modern American policing practices descended directly from slave patrols in the pre-Civil War South.
What's happening now is what has always been done to Black folks in America. Always.
https://nleomf.org/slave-patrols-an-early-form-of-american-policing/

2026-01-10 11:05:21 GMT

I know there are trans men out there feeling alone and shitty right now, so in case nobody else says it today:
You, and your masculinity, are beloved by this lesbian. To be frank, knowing trans men is what has given me hope that we can overcome all this.
Our enemy is patriarchy, *not men*.

2026-01-06 23:06:01 GMT

A tip:
If your instinct to respond something someone else wrote about themselves and their lived experience includes a "suggestion" about praying
Stop typing
Hit delete
Then turn your phone off.
Literally nothing you could ever write that includes those things will be welcome or helpful.
Ever.

2025-12-30 14:47:10 GMT

Last week, a friend who's a K-12 educator asked me what it's like to teach at university these days.
I found myself telling her about when I gave end of life care to my father as he was dying from cancer. Insane hours, and no matter how well I did, every day was ultimately just one day closer to the grave.
I've been thinking a lot about how instantly that answer came to me when she asked, how obvious it was to me, even though I'd never considered it before. I'm starting to really wonder whether my job is to be an educator or a hospice nurse.
I'm tired.

2025-12-25 13:28:54 GMT

This year for Christmas, if you've been living in the closet or nervously questioning your gender, remember that you deserve to have your Christmas wishes come true too.
Give yourself the gift of freedom, of joy, this year. 💜🎄🏳️‍⚧️

2025-12-09 15:22:08 GMT

Okay, so, real question for people who read Stained Glass Woman:
What would you think if I wrote an article about being altersex?
It's not, strictly speaking, a trans thing. The article would only tangentially be about trans stuff. I'm not sure it's appropriate for SGW, so I'm asking.
Part of what I'm thinking is an article exploring why and how trans folks tend to acumulate other identities in the wake of our transitions--some of which we can't do a damn thing about, like me being altersex.
And then talking about the "what now" of it all, when you find yourself at a wall.
I haven't written about this except in the most glancing of ways until now for several reasons, one of which being that I feel like a madwoman when I talk about what my heart cries out for in this respect. It's sci fi stuff at best, and impossible in my lifetime.
But it's also me.
SGW isn't a blog, and that's one of the main reasons I've always avoided calling it one. It uses blogging tools, sure, and I use autoethnography--my own lived story--to illustrate what I cover, but it's fundamentally about research and science.
This article wouldn't be.
So, uhh... thoughts?

2025-12-08 03:52:33 GMT

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@nprofile…u9py oh hey! I was wondering if you were ever gonna reach out!

2025-12-08 03:11:54 GMT

*Sigh*
I have never knowingly been in the same room as another altersex person.
I have never knowingly been in the same room as someone who wishes for a heavily artificial, Ghost in the Shell-type prosthetic body.
And sometimes, that leaves me feeling *intensely* lonely.

2025-11-25 00:48:52 GMT

A reminder: unsolicited advice is criticism, always.
And taking someone else's work and feeding it to an LLM without their permission is theft--and the exact reason that creatives *loathe* LLMs in the first place.
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/607/583/486/824/062/original/5e30466ae718a004.jpg

2025-11-20 11:56:51 GMT

For Transgender Day of Remembrance this year, please remember why we grieve. Our sadness is one of the most important biological adaptations that humans have evolved.
Because it drives us to seek each other out.
We mourn so we can come together and become strong again in community.
Please don't let this past year of pain and survival in the face of hatred make you bitter and hopeless. You deserve comfort, healing, justice, and happiness. Like all sadness, let that open your heart instead of closing it.
Humans are troop animals. Our greatest strength is always together.

2025-11-13 18:40:41 GMT

Happy 50th Oregon Blew Up A Whale Day for those who celebrate!
Also: if you're afraid of doing something because you're worried you'll look like a jackass if you mess up, PLEASE know that you will never look like as much of a jackass as the State of Oregon did as chunks of rotting whale blubber pelted onlookers.
They caught the whole debacle on the evening news.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a34658153/exploding-whale-dynamite-video/

2025-11-12 21:52:43 GMT

One of the hardest things to remember in these times is that while things are falling apart, *they are not falling apart because you're not trying hard enough*. They're falling apart because the structures of our society can't prop them up anymore.
You are enough, just as you are.

2025-11-12 18:43:43 GMT

I stopped for lunch at a fast food joint and the woman working the register was definitely late 70s/early 80s. She was definitely having mobility issues.
And like
What the actual fuck. We have failed as a society if folks that old and infirm have to work jobs that bad.

2025-11-02 12:19:34 GMT

If your idea of feminism brings you to the same endpoint that misogynistic evangelical Christianity dictates, in terms of sex, equality, diversity, or any other trait
That's not feminist.
You're wrapped up in white supremacy and are tying yourself into knots to try to justify it.

2025-10-20 16:32:37 GMT

I'm so tired of feeling afraid all the time. 😭

2025-10-16 12:29:23 GMT

I'm not gonna lie, the second most-irritating part, to me, about the Young Republicans being Nazis (no guesses on the first) is that they're all still gonna have political careers.
Meanwhile, I, a tenured prof, have to measure my words about the *active genocide* directed against trans people. 😤

2025-10-11 17:30:18 GMT

Okay, I'm at the museum today and I want to geek out about one if my very favorite things in the universe: manuscripts from the middle ages.
This is an illuminated Qur'an from the 15-1600s. It's embellished with gold leaf and blue lapis ink.
And most of y'all have NO IDEA how expensive that was.
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/356/716/866/482/445/original/80bc46ad1913a014.jpg

2025-09-06 18:24:48 GMT

A friendly, gentle PSA:
Especially if you consume a lot of news these days, please be aware that all of the fear and uncertainty that is scrawled across every headline and is the basis for everything coming out of Washington activates the limbic system in your brain. That's the deep animal part of your noggin that puts you into a survival-panic. The evolutionary purpose of this system is to shut down the logical parts of your brain and make you run, *now*, to survive.
The actual, literal objective of the firehose of terror they're drowning us in is to put as many people as possible into limbic system burnout, a state of long-term, perhaps permanent, limbic system activation. So, please, check your timeline and your posting habits. Consider the ratios in there of joy to fear--and adjust things toward joy, going forward, if you need to.
They need us to feel vulnerable all the time.
If you're in limbic burnout, you can't fight back.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29175078/

2025-09-04 12:10:08 GMT

Every semester, I have to stop my students when they try to go "you can just--" in my technical writing courses.
Nope. Everything that ever comes after that opening bit is *always* coming from your specialized knowledge. If someone could, they would've already. They wouldn't be asking for help.

2025-08-28 00:56:55 GMT

Okey dokey, the new COVID vaccine restrictions suck, & you can only get one if you have a condition that makes you high risk.
Here's the CDC's own list of conditions that meet that definition, and will let you get a shot if you want it.
Let's note the most common ones:
Asthma
Any mood disorder, from depression to anxiety to serious stuff like schizophrenia. If you are now or have ever been on antidepressants or antianxiety meds, you should have a pretty solid case you can make.
You have a BMI of 30+ (disclaimer: BMI is a racist, eugenicist measure, but if it lets you get a vaccine that could save your life or long-term health, go ahead and use it this time).
And here's the important one:
**You are physically inactive**. Most Americans who work office jobs can make the case that they live a sedentary life to a doctor. That can get you a shot.
So yeah. Talk to your PCP, or just go to the pharmacy when these shots become available, find your loophole condition, and protect yourself. COVID is solidly on the rise again.
I don't want a trip to the hospital. I'll be getting my shot. You should too.
Oh, and get your flu shot while you're at it! The flu still kills 20-30,000 people a year in the US alone!
https://www.cdc.gov/covid/risk-factors/index.html

2025-08-25 10:35:15 GMT

Just saw a tiktok where a Black queer lady said,
"Most white queer people are actually angry that they aren't entitled to the full scope of white privilege, so they invest in trying to control morality. It's a tool to take back power while dodging accountability."
And OH MY FUCKONG GOD YES!!!
Also, this is absolutely a thing that's not only true, but which we've done research on. It's called the Race to Innocence effect, and it's best-studied in white women who use their womanhood in this way, but it's widespread among minoritized white folks.
https://deptmedicine.utoronto.ca/sites/default/files/The%20Race%20to%20Innocence-%20Confronting%20Hierarchical%20Relations%20among%20W.pdf

2025-08-19 10:35:41 GMT

Cis folks who go absolutely feral with support and love when their partner comes out as trans to them are the cutest thing in the whole, entire world.

2025-08-15 14:51:27 GMT

This is at once one of the funniest things my internet-poisoned mind has ever seen and also evidence of exactly how LLMs are gonna be the end of us (or at least a usable internet).
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/033/339/891/476/918/original/5ad643cb410f2e15.jpg

2025-08-11 22:13:14 GMT

What I've been up to the last couple of days.
The cats in this house live better than the humans smgdh
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/012/428/439/108/934/original/047501bf575652d8.jpg

2025-08-10 13:32:27 GMT

Something to remember if you find yourself spiraling, as a trans person:
Until 1994, trans women were defined as a type of gay man, trans men were largely ignored, and nonbinary people were not considered to exist.
Its easy to forget how far we've come, and how recently.
We've got this.

2025-08-04 22:53:11 GMT

We're watching Wall-e for the first time since I transitioned and holy crap this is 100% the butch/the femme lesbians, not a straight couple.
Wall-e: *Is shot at repeatedly by a gorgeous woman who could kill her in a heartbeat*
Wall-e: *Falls in love instantly*

2025-08-01 01:59:41 GMT

Hey.
Hey, you.
Yeah, you. The person reading this. You, specifically.
Be messier and weirder. Fuck up more. And cut people a break when they're messy and weird and fuck up, if you can.
Queerness is about being messy.

2025-07-19 21:07:28 GMT

I'm seeing the biggest month-over-month readership drop I've ever seen on SGW; there's no new content, so obviously readership is gonna be down, but it usually stabilizes when I'm on hiatus. But I'm seeing an *over 14,000* reader difference, month over month, which is kinda stunning in its scale. At the same time, I'm seeing my articles linked more often than I have for a good while, with my typical rate of subscription. It's a really weird bit of dissonance.
Odd question for anyone else who's stuck with Substack: have you seen a drop-off too? They're changing their dashboard, and the last few times they've tinkered with the dashboard it's fucked with the readership stats, and they informed us a few months after of the whoopsie. If that's what's going on, this'd make sense.
Just trying to understand what's going on, is all.

2025-07-14 14:02:27 GMT

Fresh nails. It's been way too long.
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/114/851/954/424/430/248/original/4b538e880a8e9972.jpg

2025-07-12 17:42:22 GMT

After literal years of psyching myself up, I got to do something I've been dreaming of for a looong time--bikini too girl rollerblading!
Also, going swimming to cool down after skating is absolute sumer heaven.
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/114/841/493/683/868/346/original/5b643ec7ef47465a.jpg

2025-07-04 18:28:29 GMT

Sooooo... as a professor:
Under the new budget law's severe loan caps, I'm seriously concerned that a lot of universities are either going to have to radically cut like... everything, or they're just going to close.
A lot of people didn't notice, but going forward, undergraduate students are only going to be able to borrow a maximum of $20,000 a year, up to a lifetime cap of $65,000. I know that sounds like a lot, but the flagship public university near me runs a tuition of $31,700 *per year* before non-loan student aid, but also before housing, food, and so forth. Even mine, a midsized non-prestige university, runs $14k.
There's going to be a lot of Very Average students who don't qualify for Pell Grants (which were also cut) and who come from families that don't have a significant ability to support them financially. For them? The dream of college at a great school probably just died, especially at the best universities.
And before you mention athletics or academic scholarships: think about that flagship public university I mentioned. The only way that can realistically even survive in this system is to slash tuition. Where do you think that money is going to come from? Athletics. Academic scholarships. Dramatic cuts to staff and administrators.
I'm not an economist. I could very well be wrong.
But like
I cannot see how they make the math math.

2025-06-28 19:51:03 GMT

This is--by far--the funniest asexual sticker I've ever seen.
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/114/762/727/394/331/333/original/c0e01985e8aae517.jpg

2025-06-26 13:48:54 GMT

I just had to call my power company because reasons, and in the little automated hold thing, there was an announcement that said:
"We look forward to helping you though mutually respectful conversation (Emphasis added by me because the recording emphasized those words). Be aware that we will not tolerate any abusive language to our staff, and will disconnect the call in that event."
And like
YESSSSSSSSSSS
Holy shit why don't more call centers protect their people like this? I have too many friends working in call centers that deserve this sort of protection.

2025-06-17 23:46:34 GMT

Hey folks, nows a good time to get your passports fixed!
https://www.lawdork.com/p/breaking-federal-judge-blocks-rubios

2025-06-09 12:26:15 GMT

To everyone who figured yourself out this last year:
Happy first Pride. I hope it's magical for you. 💜

2025-06-06 14:19:51 GMT

I did a thread on something else over on bluesky, but I wanted to share my favorite part over here for y'all.
Meet Elanor Rykener: bisexual transgender woman, seamstress, and sex worker. She lived in the 1400s, and was readily welcomed into the circle of womanhood by a mutual aid network of cis women, and lived out her life mostly peacefully, with general acceptance. Europe was queer as fuck before Colonialism, and mostly nobody cared as long as noble and merchant bloodlines could be reliably traced.
It wasn't always the way it is now.
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/114/636/843/327/690/159/original/6ffb8b51e32a64ab.jpg

2025-05-24 17:03:13 GMT

A friendly reminder:
Willpower is a finite resource.

2025-05-20 12:37:43 GMT

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Ooh, addendum:
A feminist can talk about rape culture--violent sexual assaults, and the culture that enables them--without problem, but the moment we talk about feminine (let alone transfeminine) desire, suddenly it's a fucking scandal.

2025-05-20 12:36:39 GMT

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Seriously, I'm working on writing a proposal for a presentation that's kinda parallel to Beneath the Surface, but mainly deals with how, rhetorically, transness has been reduced to an OF category for so long, and what effects that has on closeted trans folks.
And I am *freaked the fuck out*.
Like, describing how we've all been rhetorically pornified is *urgently important* in understanding and fighting back against the political realities of what's going on right now around the world.
And I'm deadass scared of being pulled into a disciplinary meeting just because it's sex-adjacent.
In summary:
In the US, you can flash a pistol in a PG-rated movie (it happens in Lilo & Stitch) but flashing a tiddy gets you an R rating, and talking about the fact can get you a very harsh professional side-eye.
That's *really* fucked up.

2025-05-20 12:36:13 GMT

You know what I wish?
I wish the US--and particularly employers in the US--weren't so damn weird and creepy about sex-related stuff.
Mostly, I'm talking about the things almost everybody gets up to off the clock, but it's also a giant pain in the ass for researchers who want to look into sex-adjacent topics for our research. Human sexuality, and how human psychology shows up in the bedroom, is fascinating stuff.

2025-05-14 13:55:14 GMT

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The evidence on this one has been building for a long time--nearly 20 years now--and most hospitals won't even administer it anymore because of its risk factors.
But the short version is that Zyrtec/Allegra are more effective and far safer than Benadryl.
What risks?
Well, some of the obvious: sleepiness, irritability, brain fog, the stuff you know to expect.
But also irreversible dementia, from long-term use.
And long-term use? We're talking "as little as 3 times a month" over a period of years, in some cases.
Now, are those cases the outliers, and most folks who take Benadryl are okay? Yes, absolutely.
But Zyrtec and Allegra do not carry those risks. And that's not even touching on third-generation antihistamines like Allegra Allergy, which is fexofenadine, and even safer.

2025-05-14 13:54:39 GMT

So this isn't trans-related, but:
If you take Benadryl, even semi-regular, it's time to stop, and move to different medications, like Zyrtec or Allegra. Benadryl carries a lot of needless risk, both short and long-term, from its use.
https://www.worldallergyorganizationjournal.org/article/S1939-4551(25)00002-X/fulltext

2025-05-10 01:49:26 GMT

Jesus christ, this popped up in my city's subreddit.
Fucking ***thot patrol***. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/114/481/017/276/462/592/original/7aabdecc19bab318.jpg
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/114/481/020/969/676/872/original/3ee0bd9ee72e0bfb.jpg

2025-05-07 13:01:57 GMT

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Do you like employees with critical thinking skills? Do you like novels, TV shows, games? Do you appreciate instructions and warnings that keep you from getting hurt?
You'll lose all these things if our students don't learn how to write.
And the really fun bit is that I keep getting told by STEM profs that GenAI is inevitable, and that we'll end up "just using it to automate the low-level tasks, while we write out the complicated stuff, like with statistics engines."
As if the dead salmon problem wasn't a sterling example of how that's gone for them.
As if they haven't spent the last forty years shitting all over my entire field, calling it unnecessary. And no, that's not an exaggeration. A number of years back, I nailed a student for blatant plagiarism, and her father--a STEM prof--deadass told my chair, in conference, that Rhetoric and Writing Studies wasn't a real field of study, and so it didn't matter if someone cheated in it.
Honestly? I've been feeling less afraid of the federal takeover by the far right lately, because they're too goddamn dumb to make it work. You can see the structural cracks forming that will undo them.
But this? GenAI and the loss of creative thinking?
That will undo us all, as a society.
Anyway, these folks say it better than I do:
refusinggenai.wordpress.com

2025-05-07 13:01:50 GMT

I've caught 25% of my students in a single course section cheating with GenAI this semester. One even appealed it, arguing that "other professors allowed it."
The whole value of writing instruction is in the struggle and growth of the process.
Without that, my whole profession just closes up shop.
And by the way--in that class? I've had strong suspicions on about another 25% of students. It just wasn't blatant enough to catch them.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/openai-chatgpt-ai-cheating-education-college-students-school.html

2025-04-28 02:38:36 GMT

I say this every semester to my technical comm students, and it's on my mind tonight, so:
Unless you fall off a cliff, there is a 100% chance that you will become disabled. Multiply so. Both short and long-term.
Remember that.
Because the accommodations you're designing? They might be for you.

2025-04-27 18:48:47 GMT

Continuing D&D bullshit:
I used a magical girl transformation and a borrowed fly spell to ambush an evil max level warlock as he was flying into the city and pile drive him into the slums, then repeatedly punch him in the face as he tried to kill me.
To my knowledge, the warlock did not know our party existed before the instant I grabbed his ass. 🤭🤭🤭

2025-04-26 22:52:46 GMT

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@nprofile…ps99 I knew. That's not the point.
The point isn't that Francis treated us better than any prior pope, as low a bar as that is.
It's that the *surviving cardinals* made this happen. *That* is what shocks me.

2025-04-26 16:16:59 GMT

.....
I just...
I never thought I'd live to see a day where trans people would be among the chosen honor guard for a pope's burial.
I was raised catholic. I despaired at the injustice of the church, and left it when I was still a child.
It hits in a way I never expected. 😭

2025-04-24 12:36:46 GMT

Do not purchase from Devilinspired. They DO NOT stand behind their products, and their customer service is out and out dishonest.
I bought an empire-waisted skirt from them last month. When it arrived, they'd sent me a size too small. No biggie, right?
Well...
Turns out that Devilinspired has a THREE DAY return window.
Three. Days.
But hey, I'm a responsible consumer. I contacted them within a couple of hours of receiving my skirt. And yeah, it wasn't even close to the right size--16cm (that's 6.25 inches) too small.
Absolutely clear-cut case of a wrong size, right? The size I ordered is supposed to fit up to 100cm (a smidge under 40 inches), and the most I could stretch it to was 84cm, stretching so hard the fabric was groaning under my hands.
This is their idea of an appropriate customer response.
Read that email for a tick.
They claim that the appropriate place to measure for fit, in an empire-waisted skirt, is *in the bell of the skirt*.
That is *madness*. If that's how measurements actually worked, it'd be out and out impossible to size garments without trying them on.
More importantly, though, it's an obvious red herring.
They sent the wrong size and they know they sent the wrong size. I'm pretty sure that what's up here is that they don't want to deal with the tariff situation, so they're trying to fob off responsibility for their shipping error onto me.
So, please be aware that if you order from Devilinspired, you may get the wrong size and that, if you do, they'll lie to your face and blame you for their mistake.
Better yet, don't ever buy form them.
I've had to start a charge back through my bank their behavior is so outrageous.
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/114/392/965/502/005/708/original/c7e564c16b004e96.png

2025-04-21 01:54:04 GMT

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Ever since, I've heard variations on that story for a decade now. Sure, some of the guys believe what Trump says. A few of them like him for any reason other than his swagger and bluster. But a clear majority in that time--at least among my students--were *very* clear in their understanding of who and what Trump is to them:
A giant middle finger to the rest of a country that they believe abandoned them. That's why they turn out like crazy for Trump and skip every other election.
What they see is a system that has so totally and absolutely failed them, a string of politicians who've so baldfacedly lied to them for *literal generations* that they've given up all hope in it ever, *ever* working for them. That rage and pain so many of us are feeling now at our broken national system, that's been growing in the last decade?
They've been living with it for forty years.
And during that time, they fell out of the middle class, then all the way through the lower class. Their safety nets and savings were stripped from them, and poverty and oxycodone and meth have devastated them. They're hurting desperately, and now they want nothing other than to make everyone else hurt as much as they do.
That's why I don't do the leopards ate my face mocking some folks do. *They know this all was going to hurt them*. They just figured that the harm would disproportionately hurt city-dwellers. And generally, they're right.
So yeah, they're hurting themselves. Yeah, they're doing shitty things to all of us. But as much as I'm horrified by what they're doing and why, I understand how they got there.
And to be clear: they can't get out. They're trapped, in the exact same way that trans folks in deep red states are trapped: they simply don't have the money to be able to move to where jobs *are*, and the attempt would risk everything they have in what safety net they have left--family, friends, land they own free and clear.
I don't know how we fix all this. I'm angry at these people for doing this to all of us. I'm terrified at what might happen because of it.
But I see how they got there.

2025-04-21 01:42:09 GMT

I don't post a lot about politics. There are a lot of reasons for that. I wasn't to talk about one of the ones you probably wouldn't expect tonight.
I don't post much about politics because I teach at a rural university, and my classes are about 70-80% cis men, from deep in rural poverty, almost all of them the first in their families to go to college. And because I teach English and I'm approachable, over the years they've talked to me about why they vote how they vote.
And yeah. They're almost all Trump voters. Their whole families too. While I absolutely do not agree with them, I've come to understand how they got to where they are--and it's why I never, *ever* bitch about Trump voters, just the asshole himself and his cronies.
It started in 2016. I had one guy who wore a MAGA cap to class every day. In mid-October, he came to class way early one day, and I found myself alone in the room with him. I couldn't help myself. I asked him, "I don't see anyone else wearing merch for any candidate, but you're wearing the cap every day. I'm just curious: what made you like Trump so much?"
He gave me a huge grin before replying.
"Oh, I hate that guy. He's a giant asshole."
Yeah. I was surprised too. But he continued, "I'm here because my whole family pulled together to send me to school. I don't just mean my mom and dad either. My grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins--everyone. They all worked together to get me here. That's why I work so hard. None of them are ever getting out of the Upper Peninsula."
He paused for a minute.
"There used to be a plant up there. Everyone used to work at it. We made those big cranes they make skyscrapers with. But then in the late 80s or early 90s, they closed the plant, moved it to China or Vietnam or something. Everyone got told they'd get retrained and have better jobs. So, they did the retraining, but the jobs never came. Ever since, everything up there's been falling apart, and now nobody can get out. It's too expensive, and nobody wants our land."
Again, a pause.
"Trump's an asshole, but he's gonna smash everything in Washington he can. That's *why* we're voting for him. Same thing as throwing a brick through the family room window of the rich guy in town."

2025-04-19 17:50:27 GMT

Public service announcement:
If you're on estrogen and you take a multivitamin or if you take biotin to make your hair and nails healthier, it's ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL that you stop all of that stuff for at least 3, and preferably 4, days before you get your blood levels checked.
Biotin is the chemical they use in the estrogen level test, and if you've got a higher-than-normal amount of biotin in your bloodstream, your labs will come back saying you've got much more estrogen in there than is there in reality.
If you want accurate results, take a break from the multivitamins!

2025-04-05 02:51:57 GMT

Waylp, now I'm having a crisis of confidence about my prexentation at C's.
I just practiced my talk for the first time and someone commented something offhandedly and now I can't stop thinking of how *colossally stupid* it is for me to think SGW can possibly be an example of how to fight back against the transmisic authoritarianism rising in this shit hole country.
I wonder if it's too late to withdraw. 😩

2025-04-01 20:41:21 GMT

A friendly reminder, from a teacher:
Reward the behavior you want to see.
Even if it's not when you wanted it. Even if it's not as great as you were hoping for. Even if the person who's doing it metaphorically shat the bed before.
People learn from doing stuff. That's kinda the whole point of school. But the part they don't tell you outside of teacher training is that people learn *two* things when they do something:
1. How to do the thing you're asking them to do.
2. Whether it was worth the effort and risk of doing it.
This is why they teach us not to say "this is great" or "this isn't any good" as part of project feedback, but rather, "you did great work here" or "you didn't put in the effort you needed to." The first set of responses only speak to Item 1 people are learning.
The second speaks to both.

2025-03-30 15:21:40 GMT

I just had a FANTASTIC technical question in the comments of an SGW article, and I want to boost my answer a little:
The body of research on many, MANY parts of transition is very low quality, has not been reproduced, or outright doesn't exist.
Please be a little skeptical of what data we have.
Lots of research we have is very high quality, like research on the persistence of trans identities, that transition and gender affirming care are lifesaving, and that hormones are safe and effective, in broad terms.
However!
A lot of the stuff trans folks tend to care about the most is not.
Stuff like breast development, fat redistribution, body hair growth or lessening, basically everything on long-term fertility, long-term penile and vaginal function/atrophy--all of it relies on small-population studies, has not been reproduced, out and out bad studies, or haven't even been looked at.

2025-03-22 18:50:00 GMT

In advance: I'm fine.
I was just rear ended. In the middle of a car wash. Like, the automated ones that carry your vehicle forward for you.
By a 70+ year old white boomer in a brand-new gigantic pickup truck that he will never ever use for it's intended purpose.
Though, if "queer millennial couple gets hit by a negligent cishet boomer while they were doing literally nothing conceivably wrong" isn't a pretty poetic metaphor for the state of this country, I don't know what is.

2025-03-08 13:23:28 GMT

Just in case you need to hear this:
You are worthy of the people and things that you love.

2025-03-07 14:49:27 GMT

Uhh, friendly heads up:
If you get your meds from Walgreens, it's time to move to a new pharmacy. Private equity is gonna ravage an already-brutalized ability for Walgreens to service prescriptions, and then be driven into bankruptcy.
Think "what happened to Red Lobster, but with your meds."
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/07/nx-s1-5320798/walgreens-private-equity-acquisition

2025-02-27 23:02:16 GMT

*Long, long sigh*
Trials for an mRNA vaccine for pancreatic cancer have shown a 75% cure rate, when administered after diagnosis. Only 2 patients had their cancer return.
Life expectancy after diagnosis with PanCan, under conventional treatment, is less than a year.
My dad died from pancreatic cancer in 2018.
Im not going to do an explainer thread for why this is an incredibly big deal today. You can ask someone else, or read the study for yourself.
I miss my daddy.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08508-4

2025-02-21 00:46:34 GMT

My dissertation director died. I just found out.
Today has been awful and I would like it to end please.

2025-02-20 13:27:30 GMT

My Pride flag was taken off of my office door between my last time on campus and now. At my university, stuff on your doors is considered protected free speech.
So, anyone know where a girl could get a large and viciously hard to remove Pride sticker to replace it?
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/114/036/442/655/937/223/original/d08c410241d1dc3e.jpg
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/114/036/444/325/001/290/original/0e45e97e151abe1f.jpg

2025-01-22 21:20:01 GMT

A small, friendly reminder:
Injectable hormones are suspended in castor oil. Castor oil is really good at keeping those hormones dissolved.
But castor oil goes rancid in 1-2 years. Faster if you don't keep it in a dark place. And rancid castor oil doesn't work properly, and can even hurt you.
So, please keep an eye on the expiration date of any vial of hormones you have or get, and discard anything more than two years past it's date of manufacture.
Because you can't tell if castor oil has gone rancid by sight. Only smell or texture.
And you can't smell or feel it in a sealed vial.

2024-12-20 02:13:46 GMT

Crunchyroll.
Crunchyroll, *I am concerned for you*.
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/113/682/731/381/820/739/original/f4e953cad1cf098f.jpg

2024-11-20 01:09:57 GMT

Someone shared this with me today, and it helped me finally come to terms with a truth I've been avoiding:
I'm *tired*. Deep tired, the kind of tired that doesn't go away with a nice weekend.
And I need to do something about it. Idk what. But I do.
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/113/512/610/488/158/108/original/68fbaf866744dd25.png

2024-11-11 01:30:10 GMT

Dear fucking god, I'm gonna fight the fight, but...
the thought of the next four years makes me feel *so* tired.

2024-11-09 21:39:09 GMT

On my drive to the grocery store just now there was a house that now had big ol Progress and Trans Pride flags up. New since Tuesday.
I'm beginning to get the sense that this election is gonna scare us, but it's also gonna make a lot of us really fucking defiant.
If we can make the good ol American refrain "YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME!!!" work for us, I'll take it.

2024-11-08 02:12:25 GMT

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Resistance is about far, far more than the image we have in our heads of the brave French resistance fighter in WWII. It's making the gears of their fascist machine grind. Drop a little sugar in the right gas tank. Lose important paperwork and records. Follow all the rules, *exactly,* in excruciating detail, explaining to the fascists that their superiors will come down on you if you don't.
(3/?)

2024-11-08 02:09:08 GMT

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There's a lot of *wildly* irresponsible rhetoric floating around right now about how all queer folk should arm themselves to resist what's coming. And, deadass?
If you're armed, and you're not 10000% sure that you can shoot to kill, the only thing you're gonna do is get yourself and everyone around you dead.
Period.
A weapon is a *massive* escalation. Meanwhile, the tool that really gets you out of deadly trouble in a fascist dictatorship?
A silver tongue and steely guts.
(2/?)

2024-11-08 02:06:22 GMT

I'm the oldest daughter of two Lt Colonels, and the product of a three-generational military family on both sides, and I think y'all need to listen to the next bit:
We ended the draft because the military's analysis of the Vietnam War revealed that 90% of all draftees would not shoot to kill, even when it was life or death. They'd shoot high or low, but they *couldn't* shoot to kill. As such, they actively degraded the war effort.
So you need to think twice before arming yourselves.
(1/?)

2024-11-04 10:28:20 GMT

I know I'm not a Writer, but:
I worked on Beneath the Surface for *months*. I had nightmares about how it'd be received. I almost deleted it three or four times.
And it's for all these reasons.
We're held to impossible standards of perfection as transfem writers. It's really fucking hard.
https://kaichengthom.substack.com/p/how-to-read-a-trans-fem-writer

2024-09-18 19:47:21 GMT

I dream, someday, to be annoyed as hell at trans kids and teens.
Really.
I hope, someday, I'll look at trans kids and teens having dumb arguments over nothing of real consequence. Getting *heated* about it.
And I hope they do it because they've forgotten, or never really learned about, our history of brutal oppression, and the centuries-long global attempt to exterminate us.
I hope their biggest worry when they come out is which name they choose.
Because they're *able* to forget. Safely.

2024-09-14 15:01:00 GMT

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In a nutshell, the authors of that paper stuck some dead salmon into an MRI, and then displayed people's facial expressions to the--and I repeat--DEAD salmon.
And the MRI said that, according to its stats engine, the dead salmons' brains responded differently to different facial expressions.
(2/?)

2024-09-14 14:59:32 GMT

I was reminded of this paper today, and it got me all gooey inside from really good science. Then I realized that a lot of trans folks have probably never heard of it, and why it's REALLY IMPORTANT when we talk about trans brains and why trans people are trans!
(1/?)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053811909712029

2024-08-28 22:30:05 GMT

I just had an interaction on with somebody that left me legitimately rattled so:
If, when you raise a problem with a partner, they deny having done so and accuse you of having done it
If they throw things during arguments, even if not *at you*
If you don't feel safe from their outbursts when you share things important to you
If they shower you in affection when things are bad
If you don't feel safe at home
That's the cycle of domestic abuse and control. Your partner is abusing you.

2024-08-16 09:37:34 GMT

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Update: Muting this thread. I'm dead tired of the frequency with which older white reply guys with no background in education, much less the doctorate in Rhetoric and Composition that I have, are showing up to browbeat me about how important they think formal grammar instruction is.
You are the problem I'm describing.
I'm muting this thread.

2024-08-16 02:40:06 GMT

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So why haven't we abolished homework yet, and made recess mandatory?
Parents complain when we try. Loudly. They run for school board and institute minimum homework requirements.
Because they want their children to be "taught the value of a hard day's work."
That idleness is bad.

2024-08-16 02:34:57 GMT

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So why do we have homework, let alone lots of it?
The Puritan sin of idleness.
Yep.
Homework exists to teach our kids that rest, play, self-care, and listening to our own bodies is a bad thing.

2024-08-16 02:33:28 GMT

*Taps mic*
As a lifelong teacher, homework should be abolished.
At every grade level.
No research we have supports homework as being effective, and most of it (like teaching grammar) *ACTIVELY HARMS STUDENTS*.
(Except maybe some very mild homework in math and a couple of highly specific sciences).

2024-07-27 16:44:48 GMT

Four years.
A lot can happen in four years. A whole universe of changes. Impossible amounts.
Four years ago, today, I admitted to myself that I was trans.
And since, the whole world has opened up for me like a flower. Somehow, I am me, now.
Trans joy is the biggest miracle I know.
#transjoy

2024-07-23 21:57:42 GMT

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*Harris* is running for President. Personally, until she invites me to use her first name, I'll be treating her with the same baseline level of respect I treat other Presidential candidates.
Maybe you should too.

2024-07-23 21:57:27 GMT

A gentle reminder when talking about about the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, from someone who doesn't talk politics here:
Referring to someone by their last name is generally a sign of respect. Referring to someone by their first name is generally a sign of intimacy. Consider how people have referred, in short form, to other nominees and Presidents:
Bush, Clinton, Gore, Bush, Kerry, Obama, Romney, McCain, Biden, Trump
And then
Hillary and Kamala
See a pattern?