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Alexis Gunderson

@alexiskg.bsky.social
1.3K followers 1.2K following 111 posts

Freelance TV critic and organizer with the National Writers Union / Freelance Solidarity Project | Public library comms 📚 | she/her

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Reposted by Alexis Gunderson
Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
A lot of people in the comments are mentioning that USA Today is owned by Gannett. One of my big concerns is that *every* Gannett-owned newsroom might have access to my interview now. I will never interview with any of them again.
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Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
While digging around their website, I found their ethics policy—including a section on AI-generated content. I suspect that’s a part of what happened here. And I’m upset about that too! I did NOT speak to a journalist with the assumption that my interview would be funneled into producing AI slop.
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Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I'm not linking the piece because I'd like for as few people to read it as possible. I'm writing about it here because: - I want to be clear about what happened to anyone who saw that article and felt betrayed to see me associated with it. - These are bad decisions that deserve public shame.
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Reo Eveleth @reveleth.com · 03/10/2026
Holy shit I've never in my life heard of a publication treating an interview one reporter did as fair game for *every single journalist who works at that publication* that's BANANAS and I would not ever speak with USA Today as long as that's the case.
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The Objective @objectivejournos.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"If a $1/word rate matched today’s inflation, the average writer should be making about $2/word. But — according to our data — they aren’t." @fspnwu.bsky.social members jen byers and Elena Novak analyze data from the project's Rate Sharing Database. buff.ly/g7wyXFU
buff.ly
Freelance journalism rates have barely changed since 2000
New data from the National Writers Union offers a glimpse into a bleak picture of decades-long wage stagnation in freelance journalism.
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Solomon @solomonrmissouri.com · 24/09/2026
lol lol lol lol lol lol lol
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Ken Jennings @kenjennings.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I don’t usually meddle on the writing side of Jeopardy!, but tonight I called in a favor for our Bluesky viewers.
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Soraya Nadia McDonald @soraya.press · 18/09/2026
these bozos is HIGHKEY WEIRD AND WE SHOULD SAY SO
futurism.com
Cult of Anthropic Insiders Rumored to Be Worshipping Claude as a God
According to a rumor that is apparently running rampant in Silicon Valley these days, some Anthropic engineers are "worshipping" Claude.
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Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune.com · 15/09/2026
Ed Sheeran’s tour of North and South America was plunged into chaos Tuesday when four of his supporting acts — including his touring band — abruptly quit in solidarity with the rapper Macklemore, who was dropped for making pro-Palestinian comments onstage.
chicagotribune.com
Ed Sheeran’s tour in trouble after opening acts drop out in solidarity with rapper Macklemore
Ed Sheeran’s tour of North and South America was plunged into chaos Tuesday when four of his supporting acts — including his touring band — abruptly quit in solidarity with the rapper Macklemore, who ...
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Better Things Are Possible @internethippo.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
There’s a bizarre contrarianism in the Democratic Party, where, if an idea catches on with the base it’s treated as presumptively unreasonable forever. Not even an effort to *appear* to be supportive. Politicians used to pander!
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Sean T. Collins @seantcollins.com · 10/09/2026
3 things about Dem politicians who dabble in transphobia: 1. It's wrong, they're wrong, on a moral basis they're being evil 2. It's stupid, they're stupid, they'll never get any credit from the fascists for it 3. It's proof you're not capable of reading or rising to this, and therefore any, moment
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Jon Phillips @jowiph.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
I picked up a copy of the collected letters of JRR Tolkien for reasons, and this is the most bullshit table of contents I've ever seen. I'm actively angry that it exists
Contents

Introduction - vii

Foreword to the Revised and Expanded Edition - xi

Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien - 1

Notes - 607

Index - 637
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Devierue @devierue.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
These are $875 and you're worried about charging for your art?
A pair of Prada shorts that look like the Army designed a diaper
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Goodnews @goodnews.computer · 04/09/2026
Take a break from being depressed that everything you love is being destroyed by slop for a moment and let me tell you about the beautiful symbiotic relationship between graffiti writers, train yard workers, and model train enthusiasts.
A hand holding a model train with a replica of the same graffiti on the full scale train car behind it.A model train with two graffiti pieces on opposite sides.
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🏳️‍⚧️ UNBAN LINK @biancamack.co · 30/08/2026
Love a direct, to the point queen. Say it plainly and leave no space for bad-faith bullshit.
Asked why the WNBA continues to experience these heightened distractions, Cloud said, "Men."
"The men now that are like 'Oh, we need to protect the WNBA,’ y'all were the same ones saying we shouldn't be paid," Cloud continued. "Y'all were the same ones saying we shouldn't have been invested in, saying we're a joke, the same ones that don't respect Black women. So, if you're going to protect women, that means all women. That includes Black women, trans women and the list goes on."
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Trans News Network @transnews.network · 27/08/2026
We stand by and reiterate our call to boycott the New York Times. Their role in enabling trans genocide is immense, and we cannot stand by idly. Additionally, we stand with those before us who have called to boycott the Times over their complicity in the genocide in Gaza. Boycott and Divest NYT!
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National Writers Union @nwu.org · 27/08/2026
It's not a good day for the NYT. In addition to @transnews.network's call for a public boycott for their role in enabling trans genocide, we're calling them out for ripping off one of our member's stories and failing to credit her, a situation all too common for freelancers. @kaytiburt.bsky.social
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kayti burt @kaytiburt.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
If you are a writer/creative worker reading this, I hope you will consider joining the National Writers Union (@nwu.org)/The Freelance Solidarity Project (@fspnwu.bsky.social), where we are organizing for better working conditions for writers, freelancers, and creative industry workers. It is vital.
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Karen K. Ho @karenho.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
This gallery of ICE crop/seed art at this year's Minnesota State Fair is incredible, especially the one based on Pablo Picasso's Guernica by Jennifer Nelson, which features the last words of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Morse code: www.cropart.com/Resist.pdf
A seed art entry in the 2026 Minnesota State Fair based on Pablo Picasso's Guernica. It features a loon, the words "Ice Out" and two representations of Renee Good and Alex Pretti’s. Notably, the mouths of Good and Pretty include their last words in Morse code:
‘I’m not mad at you,’ and ‘Are you okay?’” The artist is Jennifer Nelson.
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NE Ohio Regional Sewer District @neorsd.org · 25/08/2026
if infrastructure is what connects people, holds them together, serves, supports, and endures, then Dolly Parton was infrastructure.
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Sean T. Collins @seantcollins.com · 12/08/2026
The push for Harry Potter the TV show is going to be completely enormous—they're debuting it on fucking Christmas—and it is the responsibility of TV critics to contextualize this as rewarding the world's most transphobic billionaire (which is saying something) in everything we write about it.
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Alexis Gunderson @alexiskg.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
✊✊✊✊
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Victoria Rose Richards @aerialembroidery.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
'You'll choke too' - an aerial embroidery landscape inspired by all the wildfires happening right now... I'm upset every time I smell smoke outside and somehow we have people starting them maliciously too! But we all breathe the same air so they'll choke too (1/2 - see thread for close-ups)
An embroidery hoop containing a sewn landscape from above. It shows a forest on the right, a line of fire and charred ground with smoke on the left. The smoke is felted wool.
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Josh Sternberg @joshsternberg.com · 03/08/2026
There are 7 PR people for every journalist in the US. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
chart showing 280k pr specialists to 40k 'news analysts, reporters, and journalists'
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Benjamin Tausig @burrata.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
My genuinely brilliant colleague in Southeast Asian studies, Dr. Erik Davis at Macalester College in St Paul, faces a federal indictment and a possible six-year prison sentence, for having "ties" to "antifa" (i.e. for organizing anti-ICE protests). www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
theguardian.com
The professor facing prison in ‘antifa’ case: ‘They want to scare all who oppose ICE’
Erik Davis is accused by the government of a ‘conspiracy’ to obstruct ICE – experts say it’s part of a pattern to criminalize lawful organizing and ruin activists’ lives
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David_j_roth @davidjroth.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
The only creative industry that is inarguably both doing well and doing great work right now is "new baseball guy names."
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Jason Bailey @jasondashbailey.com · 31/07/2026
Well, it’s invoicing day, and since they’re really apparently not going to pay me for something I wrote for them two months ago, I guess today is the day to post about how @vulture.com fucks over its film freelancers. Long (sorry) thread, with receipts:
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Alexis Gunderson @alexiskg.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
This should NOT be the experience of freelancers anywhere, nevertheless at a publication as respected as Vulture! But this sort of thing is also what collective action is made for — freelancers, come join @fspnwu.bsky.social where culture critics are building power for better conditions!
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👻👹 boo-rit 👹👻 @britculpsapp.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
christ if that’s not a metaphor for our times
reuters: 

Sunken Nazi warships resurface as water levels drop
Scuttled German WW2 warships have reemerged from the Danube in drought-hit Europe.
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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
WOW, new finds from the Ice Age! Two absolutely stunning Ice Age figurines from the Swabian Jura were found, dating back around 40,000 years. The tiny carvings, about the size of a thumbnail, depict two birds, rendered with remarkable attention to detail. Snow grouse, buzzard, or...🧵1/2
A close-up photo of the two tiny figurines.
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EMILY WILSON @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
12. Beyond anything about the film as a film, it was a terrible and entirely unnecessary choice to film the Trojan Horse sequence in occupied Dakhla, Western Sahara, without the consent of the indigenous population.
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Rainesford Stauffer @rainesford.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
I was explaining the pitching process to a friend who isn’t in journalism/writing, because she was curious about what happens before a story is a story. There was a long pause and she goes “I think I need to subscribe to more things.”
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LAL @lindli.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Our local newspaper, The Portland Press Herald, has lifted their paywall on coverage of the ICE shooting of a man in Biddeford, Maine this morning. They have excellent reporters and will have much more accurate information than natl news as we learn more: www.pressherald.com/2026/07/13/s...
pressherald.com
Live updates: King calls for transparent investigation after Biddeford man killed in ICE-involved shooting
Protests are growing after a man identified as a 26-year-old from Colombia was fatally shot. Immigration advocates say he was authorized to work in the U.S.
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Nitish Pahwa @nitishpahwa.com · 12/07/2026
harpers.org/archive/2018...
21 Grahams

From descriptions of Donald Trump, stated between 2015 and 2018, by Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina.

A race-baiting, xenophobic bigot
The Islamic State’s “man of the year”
The death of the GOP’s relationship with Hispanic voters
A death blow to the GOP’s relationship with women
The world’s biggest jackass
A wrecking ball
A salesman of fear
A politician whose ideas are gibberish
A politician who is incapable of representing a mattress company
A poor representation of a Republican
A president who is unfit for office
A president who sometimes crosses the line
A Twitter user whose tweets are sometimes beneath the office of the presidency
A man who has a blind spot
A thoughtful person
A good person
A strong person
A golfer with an accurate drive and an athletic swing
A president doing a great job
The best hope in decades for peace
A potential recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
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Emma Grae @emmagraeauthor.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Marie Claire actually left a prompt from an AI in one of their recent articles. While there’s still some great journalists and publications left, this is utterly shocking. No wonder I’m trying to pivot.
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Audrey Farnsworth @audipenny.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
America keeps trying to get me to go to her birthday party and I’m like no girl u need to go to the hospital
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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
This is a truly remarkable development: A carbonized scroll, sealed since the eruption of #Vesuvius in 79 AD, has been virtually unwrapped and successfully deciphered in its entirety. What informations will the other carbonized scrolls reveal? What an exciting project! scrollprize.org/firstscroll
scrollprize.org
An entire Herculaneum scroll has been read for the first time
PHerc. 1667, sealed since the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, has been virtually unwrapped and read from beginning to end — without ever being opened.
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Captain Howdy @captainhowdy.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Happy 100th, Mel Brooks.
The Woman yelling at a cat meme, but the woman is now Gene Wilder's Dr Frankenstein ("Fronkensteen!"), his friend is Terri Garr's Inga, and the cat is now Igor ("Eye-gor!"), who is sitting behind the table with a big smile on his face. The table in front of him is taken up by a large glass jar with a brain in it. The label on the jar reads: "DO NOT USE THIS BRAIN! ABNORMAL". For the sake of argument, the massive hand resting on the chair behind him belongs to Peter Boyle's Monster. Although Mel Brooks does not personally appear in this image, it would not exist without him.
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Graeme Swanson @swansonian.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
I don't have any patience for the "but we're poor" argument for bands using AI for posters and publicity. Try to think back to roughly 3 years ago when you somehow coped without it.
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Faisal فيصل @faisalhamadah.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
It will never stop being funny to me that the street fighter subreddit has a much better, well reasoned ai policy vis a vis literally all universities.
Hi, thanks for posting! We do appreciate you thinking of us even though we have to moderate.

Our stance on all AI generated content (Images, Video, Voiceovers, and whatever else LLM based AI gets up to in the future):

At best, they are approximations of street fighter characters as the AI has no clue what it is trying to create. Because of this, there is no street fighter content so they are not allowed. (rule 1)

Also, they aren't allowed per our source rule. As AI sources cannot be tracked, we must assume that they use uncredited sources in the learning data. (rule 5)

Finally, AI images, video, text, and voiceovers are barely any different than posting a screenshot of a google search. The level of effort is so low that we consider it spam (rule 3).

Because of these reasons, AI art and other AI content is not allowed.

If you would like to contact the moderators about this removal, you can do so here.
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abby (sports) @stabbyabby.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Everyone shut up I finally got a video of Jyn doing her cartoon snoring thing
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Liz Dye @lizdye.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Washington Nat'l Opera sues the Kennedy Center alleging that the Center STOLE the opera's endowment. WNO had a longterm agreement where KC ran the opera's development back office, and in 2025 KC just ... stopped doing it and seized the funds. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
49. On January 8, the Kennedy Center’s Chief Financial Officer sent an email to
WNO’s General Director and Board President asserting for the first time and, contrary to the terms
of the 2024 Agreement, that the funds in the WNO BSRF belonged to the Kennedy Center. In
addition, the CFO disclosed that the Kennedy Center had used those funds—funds that the 2024
Agreement expressly required to be held for the long-term benefit of WNO—to collateralize the
Kennedy Center’s own line of credit.
50. The next day, on January 9, 2026, the WNO Board voted to terminate the 2024
Agreement. WNO’s Board President and Board Chair immediately notified the Kennedy Center
of that decision in a letter to Mr. Grenell and requested that the parties begin unwinding the
affiliation.
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Lambda Literary @lambdaliterary.org · 13/06/2026
🎉🎉 Congratulations to the 2026 Lambda Literary Award Winner for LGBTQ+ Speculative Fiction: Beings by Ilana Masad! @ilanaslightly.bsky.social 🎉🎉 #Lammys2026 #LammyAwards
Winner graphic displaying the book cover of Beings by Ilana Masad!
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Ilana Masad @ilanaslightly.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
HOLY SHIT I WON A LAMBDA
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Michael Okun @michael-okun.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
If human editors can’t control who reviews science, it’s no longer peer review — it’s a rubber-stamp machine designed for volume and profit, not quality. I have no intention of attaching my name to it. So I’m out.
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Doug Mack @douglasmack.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Just need everyone to know that the Belgium men's soccer team has new jerseys based on the art of Rene Magritte and this is the official photo shoot
Soccer player wearing fedora and with a green apple floating in front of his face, mimicking the Magritte painting "The Son of Man." The soccer player is wearing a jersey with a pattern of pink and blue stripes with half-visible spheres.Soccer player wearing fedora and with a green apple floating in front of his face, mimicking the Magritte painting "The Son of Man." The soccer player is wearing a jersey with a pattern of pink and blue stripes with half-visible spheres.Soccer player biting an apple. The soccer player is wearing a jersey with a pattern of pink and blue stripes with half-visible spheres.Soccer player wearing fedora and with a green apple floating in front of his face, mimicking the Magritte painting "The Son of Man." The soccer player is wearing a jersey with a pattern of pink and blue stripes with half-visible spheres.
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Jerad Walker @jeradwalker.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
What an incredible photo of the scorekeeper for the Durham Bulls.
PHOTO: FLORIDA STATE ATHLETICS
Chris Ivy watches as Florida State University outfielder Chase Williams makes a catch during the semifinals of the 2025 ACC Championship, which took place at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
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kate @thekatriarch.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
hey did you sign up for your library's summer reading program yet
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Luke Knox @lukeknox.me · 03/06/2026
I’ve watched this 500x
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Rodger Sherman @rodger.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Shrey spelling 32 words in 90 seconds to win the Spelling Bee is the new greatest athletic accomplishment of 2026. I don’t even know how he said the letters that fast. Got a “Holy Mackerel” out of @minakimes.bsky.social
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