Sign in

Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees

@amynewell.bsky.social
339 followers 485 following 330 posts

hope from despair. Forest Witch. Baba Yaga type. Crazy. Artist, Aspiring Activist, Recovering Engineering Leader. bipolar, bisexual, and bitchy AF she/they 🏳️‍🌈 amyforbrookline.com www.amywriteswords.com

PostsRepliesMedia
Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees @amynewell.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
drop Google search. I use DuckDuckGo and Wikipedia. and I search the library, find books, check them out, look at their sources, check out those. I’ve heard Kagi is good. Help everyone else see why this matters. We must not let chatbot owners dictate the terms of our access to information and ideas.
010
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Anthony Moser @anthonymoser.com · 20/05/2026
the only safe data is the kind that's not collected
13610
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
refuse, refuse, refuse
143614
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Annalee Newitz @annaleen.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Congrats, Google. We now have unreliable AI narrators of impoverished information sources, representing their hallucinations as truth. I'm glad I learned to use a card catalog when I was a kid, because fuck this. I'm going to the library. (3/3)
261948326
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Iris van Rooij 💭 @irisvanrooij.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
"Fake citations have turned into a nightmare for research librarians, who by some estimates are wasting up to 15 percent of their work hours responding to requests for nonexistent records that ChatGPT or Google Gemini alluded to." open access link: archive.ph/qt59c 2/🧵
rollingstone.com
AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals
Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.
22879456
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
best trend of 2026. boo all these fuckers.
8564781248
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Richard Chirgwin @rchirgwin.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Without the library, there is no history, only the stories power wants told.
5699311
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Internet Archive @archive.org · 16/05/2026
Last month, Brewster Kahle — digital librarian of the Internet Archive — was honored as a 2026 Fellow by the Computer History Museum, joining past Fellows including Tim Berners-Lee, Katherine Johnson, and Steve Wozniak. More about the award ⤵️ blog.archive.org/2026/03/24/b...
118837
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Patrick Samphire 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @patricksamphire.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
The next James Bond should be Gary Oldman in his Jackson Lamb persona.
Actor Gary Oldman playing Jackson Lamb in the Slow Horses TV series. He is scruffy, unshaven, with lank, greasy hair.
3767756866
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Jonathan Larsen @jonathanlarsen.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Hard to overstate this. We think of the internet as forever. Vast stores of information have already disappeared.
9369147
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Mya Byrne, Rhinestone Tomboy @rhinestonetomboy.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
“We live in a homophobic society…if you think there are not more gay players in the NFL, Major League Baseball, and the NBA, you’re just stupid” - Charles Barkley saying the quiet part out loud. I fuckin cried. god bless him and Jason Collins.
15683181735
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 13/05/2026
"The need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear."
11637145
Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees @amynewell.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
my friends, local politics matter. wherever you are, pay attention. show up for something. find allies. campaign for the things you and your allies want. celebrate your wins, with cakes and bubbly and glitter and love.
020
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Iris van Rooij 💭 @irisvanrooij.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
“We must protect and cultivate the ecosystem of human knowledge. AI models can mimic the appearance of scholarly work, but they are (by construction) unconcerned with truth — the result is a torrential outpouring of unchecked but convincing-sounding “information”. — as quoted in Guest et al. (2026)
digitalcultureandeducation.com
Against the Uncritical Adoption of ‘AI’ Technologies in Academia — Digital Culture & Education (ISSN: 1836-8301)
Written by: Olivia Guest, Marcela Suarez, Barbara C. N. Müller, Edwin van Meerkerk, Arnoud Oude Groote Beverborg, Ronald de Haan, Andrea Reyes Elizondo, Mark Blokpoel, Natalia Scharfenberg, Annelies ...
16732
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Jae @jaehanley.social · 12/05/2026
No one ever had to yell “adapt or die” to get me to use any other bit of technology in my life.
392750592
Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees @amynewell.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
In praise of fact-checking and against idiotic valuations.
020
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 12/05/2026
The stuff I write about is so nuts that I find myself quadruple-checking the facts with pen and paper. For example, in 2020 Andreessen Horowitz led a $12 million investment round in the Clubhouse app (at a $100M valuation). It had 1500 users. It reached $4 billion valuation in 2021, then...poof.
CNBC headline from May 2020: Tech
Silicon Valley is going crazy for Clubhouse, a social media app with 1,500 users that’s already worth $100 million
21596185
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Julianne McShane @juliannemcshane.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
"One study found that increasing the number of people who receive SNAP benefits by 5 percent could have prevented nearly 32,000 suicides over 15 years. And a $1 increase in minimum wage has been linked to roughly 8,000 fewer suicide deaths over a decade."
washingtonpost.com
How minimum wage hikes and food stamps fit in to suicide prevention
Studies show income, debt and access to basic needs shape mental health outcomes, but U.S. strategies have largely focused on clinical care.
6328731145
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
one time i wrote a post about how AI could never replicate the human experience of writing and someone accused me of using AI to write it, like as a bit, and anyway AI is cooking all of our brains and @jasonkoebler.bsky.social says it so well here:
404media.co
Your AI Use Is Breaking My Brain
AI writing is impossible to avoid, is making everything sound the same, and is driving us crazy.
17723125
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Pellechs @pellechs.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
This hit me so hard this week.
Search is full of ads and wrong answers. Every other email is an ad. Prime Video charges you and shows ads. Paramount? Ads. Peacock? YouTube? Hulu? Ads followed by more ads. Netflix full of ads. Meta and X, every other thing is an ad. Pinterest is nothing but ads. AI is in everything. AI finishes sentences incorrectly and won’t stop. AI reads your email and search history to target you with more ads. Every time you open an app or visit a site there’s an update making it worse. In a hurry? First, click here to agree to terms you don’t have time to read and must accept. You need an account to do that. Change your temporary password. Enter your 2FA code. Check your email and enter that code. Now use a passkey. Your password is too simple to remember. Change it. No, not like that. Now log on. Enter your 2FA code. Check your email for a code… Welcome back! We’ve updated our terms of service and privacy policy (you have none). Subscribe to the site. Subscribe to Netflix. Subscribe to toilet paper. Subscribe to these groceries. Pay a membership fee for the right to subscribe then tip your driver who delivers the subscriptions your membership lets you subscribe to. Time to work? We’ve got to update your laptop and will slow down everything you do until you agree to update. But first, click here to agree. Update installed — your laptop’s broken now. It doesn’t matter, since your boss just replaced you with AI.  Go to your phone to complain on social media. Wait, your phone needs an update so we can add more AI. Click here. Oh sorry, your phone can’t handle this update. Now it’s useless. Go get the newest phone. Here’s a text from a friend, an email, a voice mail they left three days ago but you didn’t see until now because of sync problems with the cloud. It’s their GoFundMe. Their MLM. Their Patreon. Never mind, you didn’t respond to their text within 9 minutes and now you’re no longer friends. They blocked you. Make new friends. Download this app to find people in your are…
261568563
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Sarah T Roberts, PhD @ubiquity75.xyz · 10/05/2026
I just can’t get over how willing the populace is to cede its fundamental right and ability _to_think_. Since when did that become so onerous and burdensome? Why do such large numbers of people find the idea of giving up analytical thinking a plus? Astounding and horrifying.
1316739
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Greg Pak @gregpak.net · 10/05/2026
Events like the Black Zine Fair are INCREDIBLY important in 2026. With every passing day, right wing billionaires seize control of more of our communications infrastructure and publishing and media outlets. We HAVE to support alternate, genuinely independent means of communication.
021048
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
"F&ck the planet" by the New York Times
1333595711
Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees @amynewell.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
The real Odyssey is to get enough of your prescription meds before you leave on your journey.
130
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Marissa Vogt @vogt4brookline.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
I am still absolutely stunned, in the best possible way, by the election results 🥹 Thank you, Brookline, for trusting me and @amynewell.bsky.social w/our library & showing up for our schools Thank you, P6, for re-electing me to TM So much love today ♥️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤🤎🤍🩷🩵 brookline.news/vanscoyoc-ou...
brookline.news
VanScoyoc ousted from Select Board; Federspiel, Baines-Walsh and Khan win School Committee seats - Brookline.News
VanScoyoc topped the vote count last time he ran for Select Board in 2023.
021
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Bess Hamilton @besshamilton.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
No public service (education, health care, public transit, postal service etc.) should be run like a business. Business only serves investors. Public services serve the people. All of them.
1647219
Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees @amynewell.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
My name is not "Mom". Stop saying "Mom" as a proper noun. Especially stop saying it as part of a headline about mothers' day "gifts for Mom" and maybe stop hawking mother's day gifts entirely. file under screaming into the void thanks
000
Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees @amynewell.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
This is an attack upon the infrastructure of democracy as well as on creativity and critical thinking.
020
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Serife (Sherry) Wong @serife.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Listening to an activist praising LLMs as kin. It stems from misperceptions of how the tool works; she views it as honest with her because it queries data, despite saying it has bias. AI is designed to hijack belief & we are all susceptible: smart, should know better, AI experts or awesome activists
1134
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Tom Flood @tomflood.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
come on kids, get off screens and go outside! get off the road it's for cars don't ride your bike on the sidewalk you'll hurt someone take your headphones off it's dangerous stop being so loud you're disturbing people don't just loiter around go to the park but calm down there's little ones
27854196
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
tante @tante.cc · 07/05/2026
I can't recommend reading this thing in full enough.
16527
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
BlackJew 🏳️‍⚧️ @blackjew.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
I love that this is making the rounds. I got sent this because of the confluence of my interests loving local government, especially town meeting, working on housing policy and being on zoning for my city. The MBTA law is a bare minimum of housing reform that towns are fighting it, is indeed immoral
3277
Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees @amynewell.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
I am delighted to announce that Brookline's prop 2.5 override passed bigly last night as part of a wave of progressive wins in our local election.
000
Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees @amynewell.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Last night, progressive candidates overwhelmingly won some highly contested races in our town election. We did not stray from our values. Protecting the entire LGBTQ+ community (THIS MEANS TRANS KIDS TOO!) was, in Brookline as elsewhere, among the many issues driving voters. Today we take the W.
170
Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees @amynewell.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
100% dude and if you wanted me to take you seriously maybe you shouldn't have let Bret Stephens praise you because that did not improve my already-negative feelings about your politics.
010
Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees @amynewell.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
I won my election tonight so I am soon to be a library trustee. thanks @librariesftp.bsky.social and @vogt4brookline.bsky.social specifically for the inspiration and help making it happen and congrats Marissa on your reelection!
071
Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees @amynewell.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Yeah folks I would be dead without psych meds and yes they can be hard to take and hard to get off of and yes they are not right for everyone and there are other good non med treatments but also rfk jr should fuck right off and nytimes should not platform him or his brain worms
010
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Hmmmm, who do I trust more to look out for women, Smith College or a Trump appointee currently being sued for covering up years of sexual abuse?
382286541
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Jessica Valenti @jessicavalenti.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
YouTube has removed one of my videos because I reported that women can still access abortion pills. I shared *factual & medically accurate* information about women's health—yet the platform says I'm "facilitating the sale of illegal drugs"
16474862439
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Snitty 🎃 @clofsnitville.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
RFK Jr. should fuck off and leave people taking SSRIs alone. Once again: health policy is being driven by the personal vanity of a man who believes based on nothing that he knows better than people with decades of expertise.
0114
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Jamison Foser @jamisonfoser.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
elon musk spends two-thirds of his time spreading racist pseudoscience and hating trans people and here is Ezra Klein in 2026 saying Musk is relentlessly focused on the only things that matter to him: EVs and going to Mars. I'm sorry but the guy's just very very dim
What I find laudable in Elon Musk, amid the many things I find not laudable in him, is the relentlessness with which he tries to achieve his goals. That guy believes in getting us to Mars and creating an electric vehicle transition and all the rest of it, and nothing else matters to him. He tries to create organizations that run through walls, and he actually does make tremendous things happen in the world.
30472651237
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Philip Eil @phileil.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
I see RFK is spreading more dangerous bullshit about antidepressants. Here's a piece I wrote about that last year.
rhodeislandcurrent.com
RFK Jr. is not a doctor. But he will play one at HHS. • Rhode Island Current
The new secretary leading the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has said things statements about antidepressants. Things that leave commentary writer Philip Eil very worried.
12512
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Have seen this cycle a lot of times: Paper promotes the benefits of AI in education, paper is hyped in media/LinkedIn/in AI circles. Paper is retracted as bullshit months later www.404media.co/nature-retra...
404media.co
'Nature' Retracts Paper on the Benefits of ChatGPT in Education
“What educators, parents and policy officials really needed was high quality data and evidence to help guide them. What they have had to deal with instead is some substandard research.”
12896370
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
ve, the ghost of information past @vortexegg.com · 04/05/2026
Yes, surely replacing all forms of access to knowledge, scientific production, lifelong education, labor and economic relations, etc with a giant dial in these people’s hand is the ultimate form of progress and desirable state of society
34112
Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees @amynewell.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Good editions of fairy tales from around the world is perfectly good exposure: variations on how people screw up when making bargains with lying sycophantic entities who do not have the humans’ best interests at heart. I don’t see any reason to expose them directly to the lying sycophantic entities.
100
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Greg Pak @gregpak.net · 04/05/2026
Last time he talked about this he wanted to make them more racist, as I recall.
16214
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Popcornbender Spatch @spatch.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
This area has an amazing wealth of college/community radio. Hell yes for the likes of Record Hospital and The Secret Spot and Standing Room Only and the stoned Tufts kids playing "Venus as a Boy" twice cause they like it and they hope you will, too
2131
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
WIFE: remember the time you talked shit about that restaurant that has now become one of our favorite, most reliable dinner options? ME: oh you mean the time that we dialectically overcame a past era of contradictions through protracted struggle?
251448146
Reposted by Amy Newell was elected to Brookline's Board of Library Trustees
Matt Zoller Seitz @mattzollerseitz.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
In 1979, Mattel sold toy Battlestar Galactica fighter ships that fired a tiny spring-loaded "torpedo." One 4-year old choked on it, and the entire line of torpedo toys was recalled and never sold again.
9879942743