From the article: "There's still a lot to learn," Cowern said. "There's so little that's understood about this disease, but I will say that everyone that has it is desperate to live again." 🎯

Billy Hanlon@bhanlon15.bsky.social · 3w ago

KPBS: “'Nobody knows what to do': How Long COVID left Physics Girl searching for answers” www.kpbs.org/news/arts-cu...

Cleaning the air in schools would be such a win/win/win: Less acute sickness for kids Less student absences Better learning outcomes Less school staff sickness Less illness in the general public Less medical systems overwhelmed Less longterm health issues Less early deaths 1/2

DCapTO@dcapto.bsky.social · last mo.

Clean air in schools reduces infections for the WHOLE POPULATION. Why WOULDN’T we clean the air? The healthcare/missed work costs far exceed the infrastructure costs, don’t let them get away with “it costs too much”. Demand clean air in schools and workplaces!

If you saw a woman being groped on the bus, would you intervene? If you overheard slurs at a coffee shop, would you say something? Most people want to believe they would but IRL, tend to freeze. Let me teach you effective bystander intervention! linktr.ee/julieslalonde

I have a very convincing bark.

Adorable Golden Retriever Puppy Wagging Tail

ALT: Adorable Golden Retriever Puppy Wagging Tail

static.klipy.com

Alice Sheppard@penguingalaxy.bsky.social · last mo.

Quote this with something you can do that is funny or impressive, but absolutely useless. I do a really good imitation of a pigeon.

This condition, the ME version of Long Covid, it’s so brutal. I’ve been so incredibly lucky, in large part because I have caregivers. It’s heartbreaking to see the difference when folks don’t have that privilege, of unpaid labour essentially. 1/

Invention idea: a stiff collar thing you could wear under a turtleneck to stretch it out so you don’t feel like you’re being strangled all day.

Way too obvious

The Vertlartnic@thev.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Long Covid Unlikely To Explain Increase In People Too Ill To Work, Because That Would Be Too Obvious, Say Experts

So lovely

Ron Sexsmith@ronsexsmith.bsky.social · 4mo ago

In honour of the late Tom Springfield from The Seekers Ron sings "I'll Never Find Another You" RS youtu.be/METkNGIuoW0?...

Had such a lovely, inspiring chat with my pal Drea recently. Check out this podcast, it’s been filling me up. Love hearing about others’ creative processes, their struggles and the ways they go about overcoming them, their insights on making art (in its various forms). It’s such a treat.

Artists on Art Podcast@artists-on-art-pod.bsky.social · 5mo ago

It's all songwriters/musicians to start season 3 of the podcast, but stay tuned for more talks with poets, writers, visual artists and more. Thanks to @catherinemaclellan.bsky.social , Matt Epp and @nikkiegallant.bsky.social for the great convos. artistsonartpod.com

These are cool!

Graven@gravencanada.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Hey pals. The full-time artist journey has pushed me up against the wall recently so I’m trying to re-strategize. Tomorrow may 1 for Bandcamp Friday, some v-special 19x25 prints made by my friend Marc of Ragged Empire will be online. Marc has designed some rad stuff for me over the years. 🔗 below.

Do we do @MuseumSelfieDay over here?! Ok, I’m doing it. 🎉 At Eptek Art & Culture Centre in Summerside, PEI: part of the current exhibition by Red Sands Photography Club: David Weintraub's photograph, Sable Island Smiling Seal

The idea that repressed emotions are behind very physiological illnesses is honestly such victim-blaming. Correlation doesn’t equal causation and there’s so much bias (and grifting). (Also, I don’t think anyone who’s ever heard any of my songs could possibly think I have repressed emotions. 😬😆)

emily fraser 🌿🐌✨@emilyesfraser.bsky.social · 10mo ago

The amount of emotion I have to repress every time someone sends me another “repressed emotions & autoimmune disease” article. It’s like they’re trying to make me sicker 😵‍💫 If repressed emotions were to blame, shouldn’t all the men who think crying is gay have higher rates of autoimmune disease?

It’s like this with music, too. You’d be surprised by how many names you’d recognize who aren’t able to make a living solely from their music. Imagine all the great art we’re missing out on.

thank u, hexed@lindsaykingmiller.bsky.social · 12mo ago

And the folks who are actually writing full-time generally only got there after years of day jobs, family support, or both. The point of sharing this is not to demoralize anyone, but to let emerging writers know they're not failing if they can't make a living off writing alone. Almost no one can.

😐

Michael Nabert@sustainablesong.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Estimates of homelessness range up to about a quarter million. Estimates of the number of empty homes in Canada are more like 1.3 million. The supply is there. Capitalism just won’t let the people who need homes get safe or reliable access to homes because it would be slightly less profitable. 16/

Plz read

Michael Nabert@sustainablesong.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Canada's grievous lack of badly needed affordable housing goes hand in hand with a massive oversupply of overpriced condo units that sit empty. Both of them spring from the same cause: putting our trust in private enterprise to manage basic public needs. A Housing in 🇨🇦🧵 1/

Happy Halloween 👻 🧜 👻

Thank you to @longcovidweb.bsky.social and @memorialu.bsky.social for including me in the 3rd Canadian Long Covid Symposium in St. John’s, NL 🫶 I made the link to my speech public after the conference ended. It’s here if anyone wants to check it out: youtu.be/Gv-nTCTR2Yo?...

Long Covid patient lived experience - 3rd Canadian Long Covid Symposium

YouTube video by Nikkie Gallant

youtu.be

“Hope is not a balm for the reality of pain, it is a witness to it.” Hear, hear. 🙌 The hope never leaves. And, it’s not a cure. It’s there whether you’re improving, declining, or staying at the same baseline.

Alexis M.@turnoftheshrew.bsky.social · last yr.

I’ve grown so weary of healthy people reminding sick people to have hope. How do they think we’ve survived it all, many of us alone? We are already far more resilient than they can understand. Hope is not a balm for the reality of pain, it is a witness to it. #pwME #LongCovid #chronicillness #MECFS

the liminal-space-ness of being in between song obsessions

Me after saying I wasn't gonna buy any more books for a while

I’m playing a show tomorrow: The Craft of Song. With my pal Mike Dixon. At the North Bedeque Lil Red Schoolhouse hall. Part of their Love Local Live series. 3 pm. Masks welcome. Admission by donation. Hashtag It’s going to be fun

A lot of people think the world can be made better by identifying the bad people and making them suffer in exactly the ways that we suffer. I understand that urge. It may bring some kind of catharsis. But we all need to understand that it doesn't actually *solve* anything.

Do any of y’all get the feeling like your brain (or something) is literally swelling when you think? It’s like, a pressure. I get it more on the bad days, or when I’m crashing. No idea what the mechanism is. Blood flow? 🤷🏻‍♀️ #LongCovid #MECFS

The benefits of UBI are so clear, the only people who could be against it are those whose earnings rely on a segment of the population being so desperate that their labour can be more easily exploited, and those who profiteer off of poverty in various other ways.

@kateredleaf.bsky.social · last yr.

The cost of poverty in Canada is $80 billion. The cost to implement a liveable guaranteed basic income $3 billion. #UBI #Canada

Please look at this amazing victory. We need more of this energy 🙌

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · last yr.

"Tenants in Kansas City are declaring victory after eight months on rent strike—the longest such action in the city’s history...an outcome that lends momentum to efforts to adapt labor union strategies for housing fights." inthesetimes.com/article/rent...

I’m so appreciative to the folks at CBC for helping to spread the word about what Covid has been doing to folks. Hot tip: it’s still out there. Be safe, gang. 💘 #LongCovid #ME/CFS

Steve Brun@stephenbruncbc.bsky.social · 2y ago

Just over 2 years ago, @nikkiegallant.bsky.social never would have imagined that simply sitting up in bed would be an exhausting task for her. That's been the #PEI musician's reality since the fall of 2022, when she was diagnosed with post-COVID condition, more commonly known as #longCOVID.

Ok, it's tonight! On Compass at 6 pm. You can watch it on the tv or on CBC Gem. 📺

Nikkie Gallant@nikkiegallant.bsky.social · 2y ago

Hiya gang, I’m going to be on CBC PEI’s Compass tonight talking about some of my experiences dealing with Long Covid. Show is at 6 pm. (You can watch for free, live, on CBC Gem, FYI) #LongCovid #ME/CFS #etc.

Update! It won’t be tonight. It’ll be tomorrow or Monday. I’ll keep y’all posted.

Nikkie Gallant@nikkiegallant.bsky.social · 2y ago

Hiya gang, I’m going to be on CBC PEI’s Compass tonight talking about some of my experiences dealing with Long Covid. Show is at 6 pm. (You can watch for free, live, on CBC Gem, FYI) #LongCovid #ME/CFS #etc.

Hiya gang, I’m going to be on CBC PEI’s Compass tonight talking about some of my experiences dealing with Long Covid. Show is at 6 pm. (You can watch for free, live, on CBC Gem, FYI) #LongCovid #ME/CFS #etc.