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Kaia Ball (They/Them)

@kaiaballwrites.bsky.social
152 followers 115 following 853 posts

Writer? I hardly- Check out my soup history blog: soupapalooza.wordpress.com There's a professional website too with essays and poetry and stuff but I really really wanted you to read the soup one first: kaia-ball.com

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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
tryna bump my duotrigordle.com ranking. think i miiight be able to shave off a guess next time
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
hmm. institutional recognition truly is farcical
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
woah.. www.thewriterscollege.com/free-writing...
Screenshot of white text on a black background. Reads: 
The 'My Writing Journey Competition' has closed for entries

After 15 years of running the My Writing Journey Competition, we’ve made the difficult decision to bring it to a close.

In recent rounds, over 90% of submissions were entirely generated by AI. Whether they arrived from India, Brazil or Timbuktu, the entries were nearly identical in content and voice, and devoid of the spark, originality and soul that has defined this competition for so many years.

Moreover, judging AI-generated work proved to be a disheartening task. Our brilliant judges, who have given their time, care and expertise, deserve more than that. While AI is adept at correcting grammar and punctuation, it cannot write your life story for you.

And so, it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to one of the sweetest writing competitions, one that has drawn many thousands of unique, deeply human stories since 2010 from every corner of the globe.

On a brighter note, we’ve been hard at work compiling a new anthology of award-winning essays – our gift to you, in celebration of 20 years of nurturing global writing talent.

You can download the free anthology of winning entries directly below.
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
me showing off my OC's from WIPs I'll never finish #gamechanger #bleem
ginger man with manic eyes crouches behind a table. on the table is 5 dolls, 3 to the left of the man and 2 to the right, of varying skintones. Several pairs of doll shoes are on the table. In the background is a cabin in a dense forest
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
in the notes app of a poet you fill find riches untold
screenshot titled #writing and tagged writing below. reads "In debtors prison for defaulting on my crunchwrap supreme
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
#exmo bitching time babey! this packing list for #Mormon summer camp is relatively innocuous but I'd love to highlight some special points that really form the repressed weirdo I am today:
a graphic in the style of a legal pad. The text is in cutesy comic sans.
It reads: 
Joliet Stake Girls Camp, July 16-20, 2013Joliet Stake Girls Camp, July 16-20, 2013
Sack Breakfast (We will eat when we get there)
1 Suitcase or duffel bag (only one bag allowed per girl)
Day pack (a small backpack to carry your water and camp book)
Secret sister gifts (4 gifts: Tues, Weds, Thurs, Fri)
Costumes (Techie Tuesday, Wild Wednesday, Thrifty Thursday, Fairytale Friday)
4 shirts (1 long sleeved)
4 jeans, pants, shorts (Shorts MUST be to the knee)
Sweater or Jacket
Poncho (very useful for rainy weather and you can get them for about $1)
Shoes (sturdy pair of sneakers, you may want an extra pair, and no sandals)
6 pair of socks
Underwear
Swimsuit (modest one-piece suits, no bikinis)
Water shoes (they need to stay on your feet, NO flip flops, and ones you can wear IN the pool)
Washcloth, towel, soap, deodorant
Toothbrush and Paste
Hairbrush, ponytail holders
Feminine supplies
Pocket first aid kit
Sunscreen, lip balm
Flashlight with extra batteries
Camp Manual
Scriptures in large Ziplock bag
Insect repellent (with 40% DEET)
Pocket knife
Water bottle
Compass (3rd year campers)
Camera (optional, cannot be a cell phone or iPod)
Hat, bandana for hike
Laundry bag (plastic garbage works well for your dirty laundry)
Tent and Tarp (4th years and YCL’s need tents and tarps)
Camp chair (optional)
Work Gloves (gardening gloves or similar gloves for service project)
Please DON'T bring: cards, iPods, cell phones, curling irons, hair dryers, etc.
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
it is so, so easy for your data to be found by the lowest rung simpleton these days. look into putting in a mass data broker suppression request and get off these siiiiites
screenshot reads: "Monitor Kaia to be notified when background records become available. Monitor Kaia - it's free!"
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
Chicken Soup for the Soul taking a hard stance www.chickensoup.com/story-submis...
screenshot of text, all in bold: WE DO NOT ACCEPT AI-GENERATED OR AI-ASSISTED SUBMISSIONS. YOU MAY USE AI FOR FACT-CHECKING OR TO CHECK SPELLING AND GRAMMAR, BUT NOT FOR WRITING YOUR STORY. IN OUR EXPERIENCE, THE AI-GENERATED OR ASSISTED SUBMISSIONS ARE NOT VERY GOOD ANYWAY.
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
fun fact i have a tiamat funko pop. and i love her
funko pop of tiamat, a five headed dragon. body of the dragon is red. One of the heads is red, one blue, one white, one green, one black.
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
Hobbies & learning something new is fucking crazy because 2 months ago I 1) did not know crochet 2) wanted to cry looking at instructions like this Today I'm browsing links and realized I can visualize and feel the pattern as I read it! Its all practice 🥹 #crochet #crafts
Crochet instructions 
R1: Begin with 6 SC in a magic ring. (6 sts)

R2: 2 SC in each st around. (12 sts)

R3: *2 SC in next st, 1 SC in next st. Repeat from * around. (18 sts)

R4: 1 SC in each st around. (18 sts)
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
legit, if anyone has tips on how to communicate my "reading", "speaking", and "writing" levels in ASL... I'm ALL EARS! hahaha! signed, your HOH friend who wants to take more ASL classes soon... 🤟🤟🤟
screenshot of boxes on an online form. First text says "sign language" 
Check box for "I am fluent in this language" is unmarked.
Comprehension is marked 2 - Classroom Study
Overall is marked 1 - Beginner
Reading is marked 2 - Classroom Study
Speaking is marked 2 - Beginner
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
somebody has an allergy to whimsy and joy
screenshot reading Poems may be any style, but preferably non-rhyming
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
www.blackmothersinpower.org/bail-fund The Black Mamas site says it best. #bailfund #mothersday
Screenshot that reads" 
Why This Work Matters

The cash bail system was never built for us. It punishes people for being poor and criminalizes care.
 Black families feel this harm the hardest:

    44% of women in jail are Black

    Most are single mothers or caregivers

    Black trans folks face even greater risk and violence behind bars

Jail time, even a few days, can destroy lives - costing jobs, housing, and even custody. We’re here to stop that cycle.
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
i trust this person to keep a disco ball on their belt like a tape measure
screenshot reading Chief of Party (Continuous
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
collecting job titles that sound steampunk af
screenshot reading "Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter Specialist"
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
A lot to chew on in this new poll result report from Yale youthpoll.yale.edu/spring-2025-...
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
when you get assigned yet another meaningless number in this faceless system that further reduces you to a cog in the machine but this ones easy to remember
happy femme person in business casual excitedly punching the air
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
this entire page is a very interesting breakdown of "this is a very specific contest we are running for a hyper specific genre and you did not do The Thing" theheronsnest.com/awards/award...
Screenshot that reads: I very much appreciate the invitation to judge this year's Peggy Willis Lyles contest. It was a delight and an honor to read about poets' moments of joy, sorrow, irony, and wonder.

Of the 1,311 poems, however, only 50.3% followed the basic conventions of modern, English-language haiku as exemplified by the sponsor of the contest, The Heron's Nest, and by the Haiku Society of America in general. Here are the misconceptions I saw, along with resources for those who would like to learn more about how to shape their notable moments into the beautiful haiku form as it is practiced in this group.

The winning haiku for this prestigious award avoided

    titles
    capitals at the start of one or more lines
    omitting "the" and "a"/"an" where they would naturally appear in English
    making a comparison using the word "like"
    wordiness: the word "and"; the verb "is"/"are"; more than one verb; lists; a long word when a short synonym exists
    a dash in the middle of line two; and commas, periods, and slashes
    spelling errors
    flowery or archaic language from traditional English-language poetry
    rhyme
    three lines with a different image on each one
    statements of fact or philosophy, often in sentence form and without juxtaposition
    judgmental commentary on the beings or situations in the poem
    situation-explanation scenarios
    jokes, puns, and an overly comedic tone
    bathroom humor, gory scenes, and disrespect of people's gender identity or body size
    melodrama and stating emotions directly
    allegory and mythological references
    fantasy, and things that occur contrary to the laws of physics or cannot happen in reality
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
in honor of #TeachersAppreciationWeek. Apparently to be a teacher in Cali, you need to pass a whole ass course/exam on the US constitution. Even to be a science or math teacher. Not to beat a dead horse, but I know no politicians need to be doin all that to. ya know. change it.
Pass a course (at least two semester units) on the provisions and principles of the U.S. Constitution. **OR** Pass an examination on the provisions and principles of the U.S. Constitution at a regionally accredited community college, college, or university.
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
ayyyy they're on bluesky @tacobellquarterly.org anyways. im blasting. bajaly. and you could be too. #graphicdesignismypassion
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
just learned about double-cycle billing on credit cards and uh, yeah, starting to understand what happened with all the houses in 2008 www.investopedia.com/terms/d/doub...
Screenshot from Investopedia

Key Takeaways

    Double-cycle billing is an interest calculation method used by credit card companies that is now banned, following a congressional ruling.
    The practice allows the credit card company to charge additional interest by incorporating the average daily balance of the previous two months, rather than simply the current month.
    This method essentially forces cardholders to pay interest on balances that they may have already paid off in the previous month
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
This is a full-time position at a medical device company and perhaps the bleakest thing I've read in a moment. Capitalism breeds innovation (a job where someone spends 40 hours a week fighting uphill battles with bureaucracy for patients to use a single piece of tumor-destroying technology)
Screenshot from linkedin. The Histotripsy Patient Access and Appeals Specialist serves as a central contact for patients, providers and payers, via telephone (and potentially in person), assisting them in obtaining insurance pre-authorization for the Histotripsy procedure. The Histotripsy Patient Access and Appeals Specialist activities include speaking with patients and their providers as well as insurance plans, case managers, advocates or employers while recording these interactions in a patient tracking database. They also include completing prior authorizations, documentation, medical records gathering. This individual will provide exceptional customer service to meet the needs of patients and other healthcare providers.
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
im never getting in to heaven because i log on to my laptop to work on shit and i end up on websites like this. maam? www.complaintsdepartment.com/kfc/
Comment section. "I purchased a meal on Sunday through the drive thru. I paid for the order and left. Upon getting home and preparing to eat the meal, it fell out of the box on the floor!
I would like to have my meal replaced."
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
It's right around women in stem day and Im having Thoughts again. I made these designs years ago because of how left behind I felt. It felt like there's already no room for women in science, let alone gender minorities (1/?)
Shirt design that reads They/Them in stem. A triangular biohazard symbol lies in the middle
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
(not gonna doxx them obvi) but this lit mag makes you mail in submissions theres two editors. theyre at the same address. with the same last name. theyve worked together for 20 years i cannot work out if theyre sisters or cranky lesbians making people mail them manuscripts in the LOOLord 2025
screenshot of red text that reads "We do not accept emailed submissions EXCEPT from authors who live outside the US"
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
everyday it is our job to use the "infinite access to the anthropocene 's knowledge" in our pockets to its fullest potential
suggest searches "what is the difference between a gnome and a gonk?" "What does the Bible say about gnomes"Suggested searches "what happens when you kick a gnome?" "What is gnome power?"
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Oh, Hulu, I didn't realize there were circumstances!!! Please pollute my life as you please, milord #streaming #abbottElementaryIGottaFindAnotherWayToWatchYou
circumstances may require that certain titles and types of content include ads, even in our 'no ads' or 'ad free' subscription tiers.
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
i may genuinely be a luddite hater who doesn't get it but -making a punk genre and saying it can't be political is whack as hell -making a genre about the aesthetics of christian church where the church can't be evil is lame
Incensepunk is inevitably going to hit on political issues, but it is not a primarily political genre. Even when it addresses political issues, it shouldn’t treat adherents of any political belief as wicked or without dignity. It’s not a place to fantasize about a world where your political opponents don’t exist, but it is a place to fantasize about a world where the church can better address political differences.Incensepunk is not historical fiction. While stories need not take place in present day Earth, technology extrapolates into the future. The church grapples with emerging technologies, global trade, high-speed communication, and all the complications therein.

Like many of the “punk” subgenres, incensepunk needn’t focus on the “dregs of society”, though doing so is welcome and encouraged. The church may take on a villainous role in stories, but it shouldn’t be evil. Corruption is acceptable and appropriate, but the genre isn’t a place to criticize the traditional teachings of any faith or the faithful. The church itself and its place in society is relevant to stories, not just a set dressing.
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
hey seriously what is going on
screenshot that reads "We are looking for entertaining, accessible stories.  We do appreciate clever and poetic turns of phrase, but first and foremost we want a story readers can sink into late at night before they go to bed. We want to stretch people’s minds, but not give them a headache."
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
>chat are we cooked
Contains language and themes that will resonate with an audience that is not already familiar with literary techniques / devices (we love content that makes readers go wow, but not huh?)​
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
pulling up my C*lm app to meditate to transformers ASMR, teratophilia ASMR, and lofi shanties about whale fleesing
As screenshot from the Calm app. "Building Bridges with Optimus Prime"Screenshot from the Calm app. "Alien Dog, Venom the Last DanceScreenshot from the Calm app. The Wellerman
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
#poetry www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42468/...
Poem Love Like Salt by Liesl Mueller. It lies in our hands in crystals
too intricate to decipher

It goes into the skillet
without being given a second thought

It spills on the floor so fine
we step all over it

We carry a pinch behind each eyeball

It breaks out on our foreheads

We store it inside our bodies
in secret wineskins

At supper, we pass it around the table
talking of holidays and the sea
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
been sending this to my friends when they ask about the cost of living in California
screenshot of a chicken tender on an online menu. It is 170 calories and costs $3.99. there is a little tureen of brown sauce besides a tender in a photo
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
you shouldn't arm chair diagnose people. that said I think John cage has whatever the opposite of ADHD is
Quote from John cage reading "if something is boring after two minutes try it for four. If still boring then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all"
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
Spotify advertising 5 minutes crafts to me is dark in a way I can't articulate #DeadInternet
Screenshot from spotfiy. A five minutes crafts podcast episode is suggested titled Hair hacks for every hair type achieve salon results at home. Hair is in a strainer
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
not sure how to answer this one honestly
screenshot of a matrix asking about language proficiency, its for a job app. languages listed are "Cantonese 				
Farsi 				
Hindi 				
Korean 				
Mandarin 				
Russian 				
Sign Language 				
Spanish 				
Tagalog 				
Vietnamese 				
Other-Please List:"
Columns are marked N/A, Speak, Speak/Read, and Speak/Read/Write.

Most rows are marked N/A.
The Sign Language row is marked "Speak"
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
feeling sum type of way. Like grateful but umami
screenshot of text that reads "the difference between having 0 homies and 1 homies is infinite"
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
When I cannot walk, I write. When I cannot write, I weave. When I cannot weave, I weep until I can walk. #BallsRoundUp #poetry www.yourdailypoem.com/listpoem.jsp...
Screenshot reads:To Be of Use
by
Marge Piercy
	
Next
  	

The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.

From Circles on the Water: Selected Poems of Marge Piercy
(Alfred A. Knopf, 1982).
Used with permission.
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
I'm gonna kick this owls ass. Motherfucker I've been busy
Screenshot of the bitchass Duolingo owl Duo, a green owl, with large eyes and pixel confetti. He is saying "am I dreaming? Kaia Ball, you came back! Let's go!"
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
Like no way in hell
Screenshot of a skein of black cotton yarn, brand hearth and harbor. It costs $17.09 on sale, regularly $18.90
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
Read this as a kid and it straight up changed me. Read the play "Raisin in the Sun" a few years later - I think plays are just kinda out of style right now for some reason? Bring back plays y'all idc if we have to project subway surfer on the side
Poem Harlem by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

      Does it dry up
      like a raisin in the sun?
      Or fester like a sore—
      And then run?
      Does it stink like rotten meat?
      Or crust and sugar over—
      like a syrupy sweet?

      Maybe it just sags
      like a heavy load.

      Or does it explode?
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
Excerpt from a poem from 1633. In the gentlest way possible, while we do have plenty of unique experiences, self doubt is rarely one of them #poetry #BallsRoundUp
Excerpt from the triple fool, by John donne. "I am two fools, I know,
      For loving, and for saying so
          In whining poetry; "
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
been reading communist poetry
Screenshot reading
 Genevieve Taggard, "Interior"

(published in Proletarian Literature in the United States [1935])

    A middle class fortress in which to hide!
    Draw down the curtain as if saying No,
    While noon's ablaze, ablaze outside.
    And outside people work and sweat
    And the day clings by and the hard day ends.
    And after you doze brush out your hair
    And walk like a marmoset to and fro
    And look in the mirror at middle-age
    And sit and regard yourself stare and stare
    And hate your life and your tiresome friends
    And last night's bridge where you went in debt;
    While all around you gathers the rage
    Of cheated people
    Will we hear your fret
    In the rising noise of the streets? Oh no!
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
Through the mostly-fucking-around tapestry work I've done so far, I've learned that twining is your friend (bottom & top), and a cardboard..shed? I think? At the bottom takes up space but also makes for ✨quadrilaterals✨. Notice I did not guarantee 90° angles 🤣
Knitting loom warped(strung) for weaving. A weaving project is on the loom, and partially finished in white and red yarn. a piece of cardboard is woven through the yarn on the bottom
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
in the first two weeks of 2025 I've read 74 poems and learned to weave wooooh Comment your favorite poem/poet OR #weaving project suggestions below
Knitting loom with a woven object in the center. Object is a small piece of fabric with tassels. Close photo of a piece of woven fabric with tassels
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
currently at my hysterectomy. my "this guy needs a vasectomy" shirt currently raising a lot of questions that I feel have been addressed by my shirt but others beg to differ
black shirt, white text reads this guy needs a vasectomy with two thumbs up over the nipples
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
me realizing that at age REDACTED i will be forced to witness tricentennial celebrations of america vs me realizing at age REDACTED there might not be ame- THE REST OF THIS BSKYTWEET HAS BEEN REDACTED
spiderman actor in a gray hoodie, two images. first one he is crying second one he is somewhat happier
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
me writing: yes, standard conversation format, everyone works on their fidgets while talking AW WAIT OH NO #kaiawrites
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Kaia Ball (They/Them) @kaiaballwrites.bsky.social · 29/12/2024
hey mr bezos quik ques'chin for ya. what was that last one about right there
Job listing for a copywriter at Amazon (a company rated 3.5 stars on this job board). A blue apply now button is below the company's smile logo. screenshot reads: Skills:

    Bachelor’s degree in English, Journalism, Advertising, or Communications preferred
    4+ years of experience in copywriting, preferably for a publication or global company
    Creativity in creating various types and styles of stories
    Comfortable with ambiguity
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