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Laura Blanchard

@lblanchard.bsky.social
224 followers 300 following 303 posts

Retired. Consorts with librarians. Goes on stupid little daily walks. One husband, one [technically foster] cat. Lapsed Whovian, Tolkien nerd. Admirer of other people's gardens and plants. Lifelong Philadelphian except for some years spent in exile.

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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The sudden closure of the Academy of Natural Science was a gut punch. I went five times in September — all day for two of those times. But there’s a campaign to reopen it that includes stakeholders with clout. News reports and action steps at the link: save-the-academy.org
T-Rex and friends in Dinosaur Hall A young visitor views the bison diorama.Auditorium packed with attendees for a live animal programTinpsila (prairie turnip). Herbarium specimens — one collected by Lewis and Clark, the other by an ethnobotanist
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Reposted by Laura Blanchard
Michelle says: Be kind. Always. ❤️ @snarkysillysad.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Giving a tiny bird a helping hand: #AGoodPlace Source: www.reddit.com/r/MadeMeSmil...
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
No idea.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
save-the-academy.org
save-the-academy.org
Save the Academy of Natural Sciences
Don't mourn — organize. The museum's last public day is Sunday, Sept 27. Ten things you can do today.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Doing my bit to save the Academy of Natural Sciences -- I went on Friday, joined the Academy to help bump their numbers, and am contacting my elected officials and other stakeholders. Without a concerted public effort, the country's oldest natural history museum will close at the end of the month.
Picture shows a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton in Dinosaur Hall at the Academy of Natural Sciences. I understand that this is a cast but the Academy has the real deal i. Its collection of 19 million items.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Oooooh...
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Wishing peace to you and your family.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
It's pretty draining...
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
I will bring popcorn for this lawsuit.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
I had to miss it but am looking forward to the recording. Looking forward to your romp through so many chapters of The Hobbit.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
With Congress, having skedaddle and being disinclined to come back to cope with this, I suppose our only recourse is to call the White House comment line and register an opinion – which I just did. The number is 202-456-1111. I told them I would support any lawful action to invoke Article 25.
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Reposted by Laura Blanchard
Clare Moore @clarelmoore.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
Sneak peak for our first Big Read session: Erik Jampa Andersson on Tolkien’s “On Fairy-stories”! erikjampa.substack.com/p/tolkien-on...
erikjampa.substack.com
Tolkien On Fairy-stories
The Tolkien Society 'Big Read': Session 1
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
We’ll probably pop popcorn and watch Sylvester McCoy and his Rhosgobel rabbits.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Missing this one (family is here) but will catch the recording.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Her novel,The Ear Trumpet, merits reading and re-reading.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
I screamed at my Congresscritters about Trump/Hegseth and war crimes, immigration, the despoliation of our public lands, and the Epstein files first thing this morning. Enjoy this photo of a magnolia blossom with solar flare as a palate-cleanser.
Photo of a deep pink magnolia.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
I did my civic duty last weekend. I also scream at my Congresscritters on the regular.
Picture of me at the No Kings! Rally in Philadelphia on March 28, 2026, sitting on a Rollator and holding a sign that says “No Kings in America since 1776.”
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
It should say "go Birds" somewhere and it would then be perfect.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
I’m only sharing because Gritty is holding a gingko branch, honest!
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
I'm registered mobilize.us/s/BU4Ehc
mobilize.us
NO KINGS PHILADELPHIA · No Kings
**We have the power and are claiming it together. No Thrones. No Crowns. No Kings.** What began in 2025 as a single day of defiance has become a sustained national resistance to tyranny, spreading fr...
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Hey, Donnie-boy! You broke it, you fix it.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
I think that Daylight Savings time should start later so we don't have those dark mornings.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Are you a friend, colleague, or admirer of the open access work of the late, great Will Noel? Nominate an open access project for the Noel Prize Award (deadline March 15). Details: pacscl.org/what-we-do/f...
Will Noel contemplates an unusual acquisition -- a short sword fabricated from a narwhal horn.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
This is good stuff...
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
A cleanse for your feed as the level of political angst rises: my beautiful Hippeastrum 'La Paz,' a cybister hybrid, now opening on my windowsill. You're welcome.
Photo of Hippeastrum 'La Paz,' a cybister hybrid, with slender red and green tepals.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
Proud non-user of this sinister device.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
The signage is back at The President's House historic site. For now. share.inquirer.com/Wi6KW4
share.inquirer.com
How a Black history tour kept the story of the President’s House alive after the Trump administration tried to erase it
The National Park Service began restoring slavery exhibits at the President's House on Thursday, but in the last few weeks Philadelphians made sure the story was told despite the bare walls.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
I want the hat! Unfortunately, it's out of stock -- for a preorder???
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
The only thing better than reading about the Supreme Court's tariff decision is reading about the reaction of that man in the White House.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
How devastating.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Whoa.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Indeed. That hair is epic. So is the velvet tunic.
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Reposted by Laura Blanchard
Omg. WTF is Happening? @lalahaenzy.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again. #Pinks #ProudBlue
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Welp, so much for my plan to order some red yarn...
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Awwww...
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
They're both wrong. It's clearly August Derleth.
Photo of a brooding August Derleth with impossibly wavy hair.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
When I'm not doomscrolling, caregiving, preparing for the Flower Show, or protesting, there's always Tolkien. This online read-through of The Hobbit is definitely popcorn-worthy. The sessions are live-streamed on YouTube with recordings available later. www.rosenbach.org/programs/bib...
Photo of an iPad screen with Edward G. Pettit and Dr Sara Brown discussing Chapter Two of The Hobbit, with a bowl of popcorn in the foreground.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
More opportunities to support the restoration of the President's House signage...
Poster of a rally in support of the restoration of signage at the president's house site: February 10, 2026, 3:30 PM, sixth and market Street in Philadelphia.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
My prediction: PMA knows that it has to change or die, and there will perforce continue to be changes.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
"Philadelphia Art Museum" does not flow as smoothly as "Philadelphia Museum of Art." It becomes Philadelphyart Museum. They've kept the redesign but not the rebranding and I am fine with that. The new griffin rocks.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
I signed the petition to restore the interpretive signage at the President's House, where George Washington Washington evaded Pennsylvania's gradual emancipation law. www.change.org/RestoreOurHi...
change.org
Sign the Petition
Tell The Truth: Restore the President’s House Slavery Memorial
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
What if we donated a penny?
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
The weather and the news are both frightful but the holiday cactus doesn't care.
Closeup of a shocking pink Schlumbergera truncata, showing several blooms in various stages of maturity.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Gift link: share.inquirer.com/VgnUJX
share.inquirer.com
Judge chastises Trump administration attorney in hearing over dismantled President’s House exhibits
The city wants the judge to order that no more exhibits be removed and that the already-removed exhibits be protected as the litigation continues.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
The administration's removal of signage about slavery at the President's House in Philadelphia included a panel about the venerable Pennsylvania Abolition Society. Today they issued a statement. paabolition.org/presidents_h...
paabolition.org
Pennsylvania Abolition Society
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Not here...
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
I am stirred up about ICE, Trump's multifarious malefactions, and the attempt to erase George Washington's shenanigans over his enslaved house servants at Independence Park, but Buddy says he has a warm lap and all is well.
Close-up of the tabby cat known as Buddy staring imploringly at me from my lap. "Don't get up!" his green eyes beg me wordlessly. In the background: computer keyboard and other office paraphernalia.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Those who try to erase this particular past are about to learn a lesson of a different sort.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
I think that there are some much better photos out there. I think the Inquirer ran some today in an explainer about what the NPS reviewers objected to.
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Laura Blanchard @lblanchard.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
DEADLINE APPLICATION: January 26, 2026 for Pennsylvania Abolition Society grants. Our gift to the snowbound: something to do between bouts of shoveling. Grab an electronic copy of your 501(c)(3) letter and think about what you might do with another $1,000 or so. Paabolition.org/grants.html
paabolition.org
Pennsylvania Abolition Society
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