@viviengrimm.bsky.social once said to me “Love is a contract of mutual inconvenience.” and you know what? She’s not wrong.

"Play doesn’t preclude pathos, and Jimmy’s mimicry doesn’t keep him from facing something serious. And it releases the readers in the same way: we can play with our comics, and we can take them seriously too. Like Jimmy, we can be kids imagining growing up and we can be grown-ups imagining we’re kids. Comics are play, and Jimmy Olsen, in embracing the wonder of comics, is a player."

"...play “loves to surround itself with an air of secrecy,” a mystery that creates something that stands outside of everyday life. I think you could mount a serious (yet playful) argument based on all these claims that comics, and superhero comics in particular are permeated with play, from the metaphors come to life on the page to the utter seriousness of two fans arguing..."

The writers at @shelfdust.bsky.social continue their issue-by-issue look at our 2020 comics series Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen. Michael Hancock personofcon.bsky.social‬ gets at a big part of how Matt and I approached the creation of the book.shelfdust.com/2025/07/09/s...9/

Reuters For many months, local journalists have been the world's eyes and ears on the ground in Gaza We have agreed not to identify our colleagues by name out of consideration for their security.

BBC News straight up admitting that if they name their Gaza reporters they'll be taken out is quite the move.

Even though it’s hella niche, I have never had more fun in a costume than as Giant Turtle Man 🤣

I really gotta get back into the cosplay & convention saddle, I miss it.

It’s a Canon A1! Snagged it at Central Camera Company in downtown Chicago 7ish years ago & have a lot of fun with it whenever I bring it out (which isn’t nearly as often as I’d like).

Thank you! Even though it’s hella niche, I have never had more fun in a costume than as Giant Turtle Man 🤣

I miss this cosplay so much, it’s always fun. I really gotta get back into the cosplay & convention saddle.

The specific phrasing needs workshopping, but idk, it feels like maybe mimicking their scare tactic rhetoric style to point out the obvious flaw in the logic could be useful. 🤷🏼

And I bet it’s make some of ‘em think twice if they got a rude reminder that trans men exist.

Ok, just spitballing here, but what if we got some of the burliest & butchest trans masc public figures to agree to be on billboards in red states & DC that said something like “Republicans want me in women’s bathrooms, just because a doctor said I was a girl when I was born.”

And loving America means fighting to make it better.

The richest man in the world spent more money than most of us will see in our lifetimes to lose a state Supreme Court race by 10 points.

And the fact his $25 million was a drop in the bucket compared to what he's spent on other elections is exactly why we must overturn Citizens United.

To anyone living in a state that doesn't respect you for who you love or who you are: Illinois has a place for you.

You are seen, you are celebrated, you are protected, and you are welcome here in our state.

#HandsOff Protest in Elgin, IL Fights Back

Our Trans Day of Visibility walk in Elgin IL was full of smiles, car honks, flags and a refresher on how welcoming our city is! We are visible and we will always be part of the Elgin Community.
#Elgin #transdayofvisibility #community #welcomingcity #elginpride #elginil

A bright-pink plate on a gray wood background. The plate says "Elgin Pride Menu. ElginPride.org/ElginPrideMenu"and also on the plate are logos from our partners Steen N' Clay Tea, Sugar & Rhyme coffeehouse, Village Tavern & Grill South Elgin, and Cantina 52.

Announcing the Elgin Pride Menu program! Local safe spaces Steep N' Clay, Sugar and Rhyme coffeehouse, Village Tavern & Grill of South Elgin, & Cantina 52 now offer special items that earn Elgin Pride one dollar each time they're sold! Email jeffrey@elginpride.org for how to become a partner.

Krypto the superdog is dangling a tiny mr mxyzptlk from his mouth. There's a Daily Planet headline that says "Area Dog Good Boy" and a glimpse of a bunch of dinosaurs including the Tyrannosaurus Mayor of Metropolis.

Okay that Superman preview was a delight.

THREAD.

YouTube removes 'gender identity' from hate speech policy TariffTokers, Gen Z’s ‘it couple’, Easter potatoes, anti-MAGA hats, Zuck's D.C. mansion, Amazon's TikTok bid, Silicon Valley's cupid, and the fastest growing political channels on YouTube

SCOOP: YouTube removes 'gender identity' from hate speech policy. "YouTube quietly removing ‘gender identity and expression’ from its list of protected groups is a major radical shift away from best practices in the field of trust and safety."

There are 32m small businesses in the USA

Woooooooow

Helioscope artist Steve Lieber @stevelieberart.bsky.social has contributed FIVE signed & sketched copies of Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen to our etsy store. Free shipping for buyers in the US. Written by @mattfraction.bsky.social.
Winner of TWO Eisner awards!
helioscopepdx.etsy.com/listing/1771...

Less than 10% of people vote in local elections, which are often decided by less than 100 votes. Your vote matters SO MUCH when it comes to deciding who runs your municipality, township, and county.
🗳️🗳️🗳️🗳️
Please vote! They wouldn’t be trying to stop people from voting if it didn’t matter.

Serious question for Illinoisans — have any of you ever had a staffer answer the phone when calling any of Dick Durbin’s offices? I always either get a message saying to call back later or it goes to a voicemail system, but I’ve never actually had an actual person answer.

listen i would love to be able to go to a con ever again but if ventilation standards don't get improved that's like. basically never happening 🫠

Fangs Gallery: A Nordic Vampire the Masquerade Larp Play a rules light one-shot larp for 30 players set at an intimate art gallery opening in 1981. New larpers welcome!

Did you miss our 1980s vampire larp the 1st time around? We're running another session in May!

www.eventbrite.com/e/fangs-gall...

"With the tumultuous start of the second Trump Administration, two of the agencies that workers rely on to protect their rights and hold corporations accountable – the Department of Labor (DOL) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) – are under attack,” she wrote. “Between Trump’s illegal firing of NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox, Elon Musk challenging the National Labor Relations Act as unconstitutional, and huge tech giants like Amazon already using the vacant NLRB as grounds to reject union wins, it’s clear that Trump and the billionaire class he represents are working day and night to dismantle labor laws and put even more power back in the hands of corporations. We can no longer expect to rely on traditional legal frameworks to build worker power and to improve workplace conditions.” If the right-wing, reactionary government that we increasingly have wants to start stripping away that process, they're going to quickly remember that, actually, the NLRB and NLRA are a peace treaty between workers and bosses.

cwa, which represents over 2,000 workers across companies like microsoft, is launching a new games industry-wide union that anyone can join, even laid-off workers. with legal frameworks for organizing under attack, it's a return to tactics that predate those systems

aftermath.site/uvw-cwa-vide...

Picard management tip: It's okay to be gentle and kind.

Picard management tip: If people accuse your organization of endangering people who wear red shirts, put on a damn red shirt every day.

Picard morality tip: The moment you consider yourself morally superior to someone due to your genetics is the moment you prove you are not.