Amanda Leduc

@amandaleduc.bsky.social

Disabled writer, dreamer, dog mom. Space enthusiast. Lover of chocolate and stories, student of wonder and grief. New novel, WILD LIFE, out now. Might say things here…might not. To be continued! amandaleduc.com

Remember that you are more likely to become disabled than not. You can be disabled by illness, injury, climate disasters, war, police brutality, unmitigated pandemics, lack of access to healthcare, etc. Disability justice is for us all, and it’s foundational to all other forms of justice.

On Mike Birbiglia's podcast, he talked about realizing he was wrong for 99% of roles, not because of what he did but because he wasn't what the director was seeking. You have to keep doing your thing the best you can until the right person sees it. I think that's close to the whole game in the arts.

Just over here wondering how many other Canadian writers are now secretly, desperately, hopelessly fantasizing about Jacob Tierney sliding into their DMs with an adaptation request. 😭🤞😜

A reminder to the news media: “conflicting accounts” is what you say BEFORE the incontrovertible video evidence appears. After that, your job is to ask why one side is lying, not to repeat the lie and pretend no one knows the truth.

Since 2020, disabled people have been pointing out the rising ease with ableist rhetoric/language, the comfort with which so many people used the r word, the number of people willing to abandon disabled people for some notion of the "normal." All of it mattered/matters to understand fascism today.

Hey a thing I really don’t want to get lost here is that while Tylenol doesn’t cause autism, IT’S FINE TO BE AUTISTIC. Let’s not grant them the premise that autism should be eradicated in our way to correct the science, okay? Okay.

reposting with alt text because this feels incredibly significant. the right-wing disinfo machine means a lot of the people grieving Charlie Kirk never heard any of the things he said that would have tarnished his brand as Guy Who Just Wants to Have Dialogue Across the Aisle

One thing that has become really clear since yesterday is that we live in at least two different realities. Talking to a friend who only knew Charlie as a Christian motivational speaker because that's all that ever came across her feed. Showed me videos I've never seen before of him saying perfectly reasonable and empowering things.

I showed her videos she'd never seen before of his racism, misogyny, homophobia, advocating for violence against specific groups of people. She was horrified by his remarks about Pelosi's husband's attacker being bailed out and celebrated for his violent act. She was horrified by a number of things that he said, but she had never seen or heard them before, the same as I had never seen or heard the generalized clips of him sounding like a perfectly nice loving man and father.

Neither of us had a whole picture of this man. I mentioned he was a known white supremacist and she thought I was joking.

She talked about him giving a speech about finding your purpose and doing good in the world and I thought she was joking.I saw why this friend was mourning the loss of a person she thought was a good person.
My friend, bless her, saw why I feel the way I do about him. We understood each other better. In spite of a multi-billion dollar internet machine specifically focused on keeping us apart. Because we talked to each other with the desire to listen and to learn rather than the desire to change someone else's mind or to be "right".

None of those motivational things he said change my opinion about him because they don't erase the negativity, the subtle calls for violence, the belittling and denigrating of other races religions genders etc. His negative and blaming comments about homeless people, the poor, and victims of domestic violence. His comments about rounding up people who didn't think like him and putting them in camps where their behavior could be corrected. That time he said empathy was a made-up word he didnt believe in. That other time he said the Civil Rights Act was a mistake. The time he said most people are afraid when they get on a plane and see that there's a black pilot. His anti-vaccination rhetoric and his active campaigning against people being allowed to wear masks for their own health. His open support of fascism and white supremacy. To me, all of those are fully unchristian sentiments. Those are undeniable and just one of them would be a deal-breaker for me. All of them together are a picture of a man who was polarizing,enraged a lot of people and rightly so, but even with all of that I would never wish upon him or especially his children the end that he got.
Oh, and my friend had never heard, and God help me I don't know how she escaped the news, but she had never heard of the Minnesota legislators who were shot in June. The husband and wife and dog who were killed, one after throwing themselves over their child to protect the child. The other couple who somehow survived.

Politically motivated attacks specifically because they were democrats. She learned about those shootings that happened months ago because I showed her Charlie Kirk's comments about them. The kidnapping plot against a female Midwestern Democratic governor. The assassination attempt against Pennsylvania's democratic governor. All things Charlie had plenty to say about while supporting the Second Amendment and bashing the Democratic party. She didn't know about any of it because we're all living in two different worlds and none of us have the whole story.
🎃👻 Rob for Apples 👻🎃@robwillb.bsky.social · last yr.

This post that a friend of my partner's shared on FB potentially explains the Kristin Chenoweth thing, and is frightening.

Pay attention, Canada. If Alberta is successful in this book banning, this will spread. Look around you, b/c this is how it starts. We're on the same ledge the US was on. And we either start fighting this right-wing rise now, or we follow the Americans over the edge. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

The Handmaid's Tale among more than 200 books to be pulled at Edmonton public schools | CBC News

A list confirmed by CBC News shows titles like The Handmaid's Tale and Brave New World are among books to be pulled. The development comes after a policy from Alberta's education minister outlines new...

cbc.ca

Plainly, the people mad about the work required to write well and make great art who are justifying various artificial intelligence tools as shortcuts to that creative process don't value the labor inherent to it.

my view is that everyone should be able to earn a living wage doing whatever it is they like. if you love working in a bookshop, you should be able to live a comfortable life doing so. if you loving being a barista, the same. and if you want to do more traditional blue collar work, that’s cool too!

jamelle@jamellebouie.net · last yr.

the other thing is that no one who fetishizes manual labor actually cares to improve life for people who are in those circumstances! no support for unionization or a generous welfare state! no interest in policies that make life easier for people who work their hands or afford them more autonomy!