iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

And I’ll post Dr Becky’s photos here too since that might be more accessible.

Sexual assault prevention doesn't start with a college orientation talk.
It starts years earlier.
If you're reading about the Cornell sexual assault allegations thinking,
"I don't want that to be my son.
What can I do now?" - this is for you.
→

Here's the bigger thing to understand:
Respecting someone's "no."
Noticing when something isn't right.
Resisting the pull of the group.
Knowing silence means no, not yes.
Kids aren't magically gifted these skills at 18 or when they arrive at college.
The stakes may be higher then, but the practice must start much earlier.
And what could that practice actually look like? Here are 5 places to start...
→

1. Let your kid practice wanting something and
NOT getting it.
Think about what we eventually ask of our kids:
You really, really want something. And the other person - or even just the situation - is giving you information that says: Not OK.
That requires being able to tolerate frustrated desire.

So start by reflecting:
When my son hears "no," does he get practice being upset and tolerating not getting what he wants... or does he learn that if he pushes long enough, someone else's "no" might eventually change?
We often tell ourselves giving in makes life easier. It makes that moment easier. But it sets an unhealthy pattern for later on.
→

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

This is all too common. Semmelweis the easiest analogy but so many others. There were doctors willfully doing autopsies in the morning and then handling births in the afternoon without washing their hands just to “prove” Semmelweis wrong. Sounds very similar to some of what I’m seeing today.

Two panel comic meme. In the first panela happy little human figure reaches out for a yellow balloon. The happy little human figure is labeled “Scientists”. The yellow balloon is labeled “Data and Evidence.”

In the next panel, a large and unwanted pink figure appears behind the “scientists” figure, with his pink arms grabbing around the “scientists” figure’s waist and pulling the “scientists” figure back away from reaching the balloon. The pink figure is labeled “mainstream medicine.” The “scientists” figure is clearly uncomfortable with the pink figure. The “scientists” figure is smiling uneasily and has a bead of sweat on the figure’s brow.

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Red, blue, yellow, green, pink, black and white.

A simple depiction of 6 power ranger action figure characters. Text title over the illustration is “Power Ranger Colors.” Below, one power ranger figure is illustrated in the color costumes for red, blue, yellow, green, pink, black and white.

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

A) No. Seems in 1960 they made it work. B) Even if prices increased, what sort of person are you that you think it is OK for the stuff you buy to be subsidized by the poorest workers who are not being paid a living wage? Utterly disgusting attitude for someone to have against other human beings.

Screenshot of post with text:
“It's Friday so you should know that if the minimum wage had increased at the rate of productivity since 1960, it would be $22.50. Instead, it's $7.25.
That's $15.25 per hour for 60 years that's disappeared from the pockets of low income workers...”
Posted by Joe Sanberg, @JosephNSanberg

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

What??? As far as I know Diana Ross would have first met him when the Jackson Five first appeared on Hollywood Palacin 1968. He would have been about 10, she was around 24. That is super gross. Screenshots below from Hollywood Palace in 1968. The part with the Jackson 5 is on YouTube.

Diana Ross appears against a flashy 70s TV show background next to child Michael Jackson. She is wearing a white halter crop top with white pants, there is a criss-cross strap over her exposed abs. She is a grown woman with a stunning figure. Young Michael Jackson appears beside her, clearly a child. He is wearing a neon green vest over a psychedelic print shirt, with a large 70s style collar.

Michael Jackson sings on TV on Hollywood Palace in 1968. He is very young and is wearing a neon green vest over a psychedelic print shirt, with a large 70s style collar. A microphone is in front of him and his mouth is open as he sings.

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

The one and only word any opposition should understand right now is Accountability. So. There is no nationally organized opposition.

A cartoon depiction of a dead donkey with C marks over its eyes.

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

And I haven’t even gotten into the major fumbles on Covid (now causing billions of economic losses, with Long Covid the top childhood chronic illness, over asthma). Gaza. Trans rights. So many easy wins where they want you to believe they had no power to really do anything.

Pawn shop meme where the pawn shop owner presents ridiculous offers from the pawn shop. Text says: Best I can do is cost cuts on prescription drugs for seniors

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

I was explaining video game ratings systems to my kid and how an 8/10 or 9/10 is probably a really good game. My kid asked what about a 10? And I said 10 ratings don’t normally happen, they are very rare. But then I said “except for maybe Breath of the Wild.” Sure enough.

Screenshot of IGN’s rating summary of Breath of the Wild. The rating is a 10 on a ref background with the title “Masterpiece” and short description “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is evocative, exhilarating, and a masterclass in open-world design.” Review by Jose Otero.

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

I occasionally register as Republican to vote in their primaries and just got this text. 🤮

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

With alt text. Please turn on the setting. It is very easy to copy and paste blocks of text into alt text by clicking the icon that looks like lines in brackets in the lower right hand corner of the image.

Text in photo: Specifically, they remember that for 14 months, the American president has tariffed them, mocked their security concerns, and repeatedly insulted them.
As long ago as January 2020, Trump told several European officials that "if Europe is under attack, we will never come to help you and to support you." In February 2025, he told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that he had no right to expect support either, because "you don't have any cards." Trump ridiculed Canada as the "51st state" and referred to both the present and previous Canadian prime ministers as "governor." He claimed, incorrectly, that allied troops in Afghanistan "stayed a little back, a little off the front lines," causing huge offense to the families of soldiers who died fighting after NATO invoked Article 5 of the organization's treaty, on behalf of the United States, the only time it has done so. He called the British "our once-great ally," after they refused to participate in the initial assault on Iran; when they discussed sending some aircraft carriers to the Persian Gulf conflict earlier this month, he ridiculed the idea on social media: "We don't need people that join Wars after we've already won!"

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

Bringing this bad boy up to the Wild Wings bar and asking them to fill it up. #Reduce #Reuse #Recycle

Images of large plastic buckets, with straws, filled with questionable looking iced beverages. Underneath is the text “A look at Dunkin’s new 48-ounce drink bucket.”

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

I wrote this to Collins staffers in 2019 and had completely forgotten about it.

Text screenshot: An American teenager, Francisco Erwin Galicia--a citizen--was detained for weeks by immigration in squalid conditions. He was denied food. He lost over a pound a day in custody. These conditions are still in place for others in custody today, including children separated from their families.

As a young girl reading the Diary of Anne Frank, I asked myself what I would do if I had lived in a place where they seized my neighbors and put people in camps. Now I know the answer. I would have acted to stop it. I would not have chosen to stay on staff for the Nazi party, collecting a paycheck from the people who perpetuated the horrors and the hate.

The paycheck you collect and the work that you do isn't erased just because the hate isn't in your own heart. You are a cog of the GOP party, with Trump and its border camps and its racism, so long as you work for Senator Collins.

They had a word for it Nazi Germany. There were "Good Germans" who looked the other way, just did their jobs, didn't think too much or cause a fuss. Most of them ended up OK after the war, unless they had to go to Nuremberg.

I'm sure you are a good staffer that makes great jokes about the liberals and that doesn't spend a lot of time thinking about what is going on at the border. Keep up the good work! Senator Collins and the GOP powers really appreciate that there are people like you out there to help them accomplish their atrocities.

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

Thank you so much. Save your spoons. I added alt text.

Flyer on HOW TO TALK TO KIDS
ABOUT ICE. Includes blocks of text as copied below.

WHY THESE
CONVERASTIONS
MATTER
Kids hear things. Without guidance, they feel anxious.
Be present and honest.

WHAT NOT TO SAY
• Don't worry about it.
(Feels dismissive)
• That won't happen to us.
(Create false security)
• Constant News/Replays (Increases anxiety)

WHAT TO SAY INSTEAD
Focus on safety and validation.
• You aren't alone. Look for the helpers-I am one of them.
• It's okay to feel scared. Let's talk about it together.

AGES 3-6
• Focus on comfort
• Stick to routines and offer extra hugs.
• What to say: Some families aren't being treated nicely because of where they were born.
• Reassure them: Remind them they are safe and loved.

AGES 7 TO 11
• Explain the situation: Some families are being separated because of how they came here. That isn't right.
• Open dialogue: Let them ask questions.
• Safety first: Remind them to only discuss this with trusted adults.

AGES 12-18
• Be direct: It is unfair that people are treated differently based on where they are from.
• Listen: Encourage them to share their feelings.
• Empower them: Support them if they want to take positive action

SOURCE: CHILDREN'S NETWORK

Early Risers
Waking up to racial equity in early childhood.

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

This is the “feels like” temps for the week

A weather forecast panel for the week for MN with horrifically cold temperatures. The warmest day has a high of 9°F and a low of -7°F. The coldest day, a high of -29°F and a low of -41°F. The temps are “feels like” and include wind chill.

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

Look, if you wait to get the perfect gun to do the perfect crime, you will just procrastinate and never get all your criming done.

Text over majestic mountains and a night sky:
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
Theodore Roosevelt

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

OK, I see where the writers might be going with this plot point. Obvious and cliche but, eh.

Anton Chekhov, a Russian man who gave advice to young playwrights

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Were these remarks today? Maybe the old gods could show us some love

Meme of a girl holding a red ball, aimed to pelt someone else. The girl is labeled “Apollo” and the ball is labeled “the gift of prophesy [sic]”

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

James Watson was a thief and a racist. May Rosalind Franklin’s name live forever in our memories for her contributions to molecular biology. And may our cultural infatuation with mediocre white men one day be a distant memory.

Photo of New York Times story with headline “James Watson, Co-Discoverer of the Structure of DNA, Is Dead at 97.” An elderly James Watson is pictured above the headline, smiling in a button up shirt and leaning forward with his arms resting on a table or counter.

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

This is the house you can get. You can admire it while you eat your avocado toast. Then eat the house for dessert.

Two small hands put the final decorative touches on a holiday gingerbread house.

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

🫶 I really hope we are seeing the beginning of something great. If you haven’t seen it yet, this was a book dedication from his father to him

For Zohran,

You teach us how to engage the world in difficult times. May you inspire many and blaze a trail!

“It's like a path across the land—it's not there to begin with, but when lots of people go the same way, it comes into being.”

—LU HSUN, "Hometown"

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

I wrote this about border patrol being the gestapo in 2020. If I could see it back then, so could others. Americans were massively failed by so many people, and MSM is near the top of that list. Pretty sure I wrote this before 2020, this is just my earliest screenshot of where I wrote it.

June 2, 2020 9:45 AM
••
Trump cultivated the border patrol early.
Just 1 month after announcing his candidacy, he visited Laredo to speak to border patrol.
If we have to fear a Trump gestapo or seizure of legislative power using a veneer of law enforcement, we should worry about border patrol.

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

The “beautiful family” with this guy

Screenshot of a news story headline:
“Utah father of 6 kills wife in murder-suicide after cryptic Facebook post”
By Rebecca Rosenberg, Fox News
Published June 25, 2024

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

If I was that insecure about my little wiener, I would simply not line up all my GI Joe dolls to give a big speech about how maybe I have a big wiener.

A lot of 31 GI Joe dolls jumbled in a box, some undressed. Found on Google Images.

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

This is the book we had for this topic. I think Pattie Fitzgerald came up with the “tricky people” language that a lot of other books now use. The book is “Super Duper Safety School” by Pattie Fitzgerald. Pattie founded an organization to prevent child sexual abuse.

Cover of the book “Super Duper Safety School: Safety Rules for Kids and Grown Ups” by Pattie Fitzgerald. The cover shows a group of 4 students smiling in front of a school.

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

The most hilarious thing about this is that the patriarchy invented the office job. Like it is one of the biggest symptoms of toxic dysfunction in the white male patriarchy. They live for that shit.

A “young” Michael Scott with hilarious long hair awkwardly shakes the hand of his boss. They both wear ties. Scene is from the TV show The Office.

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

I am canceling my subscription to @theatlantic.com over Daniel Engber’s “Evermasker.” Any publication that allows their writers to admit that truth doesn’t matter doesn’t deserve my subscription. The truth matters to me, whether the writer is working out a personal beef or not. /end

A screenshot of a cancellation of a subscription cancellation for The Atlantic.

Main text:

We're sorry to see you go
You will receive an email confirming your cancellation. We thank you for your time, and hope to welcome you back in the future.
If you have five minutes, please tell us about your experience with The Atlantic by emailing us or taking a survey. Your feedback would be incredibly helpful in our efforts to improve and better meet the needs of our readers.

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

I made this chart two years ago from a news article and Wikipedia. It still enrages me.

Chart showing Percentage in Congress compared to American Adults.

Women
26%
50.5%

Gen Z
0%
10%

Millennial
5%
30%

Gen X
30%
25%

Boomer
58%
30%

Silent
7%
5%

Black
9%
14%

Foreign Born
Immigrant
3%
10%

Indigenous
1%
2%

Latine
9%
17%

Asian
4%
7%

White
78%
60%

LGBTQ
2%
7%

*Trans
0%
1%

Median
Wealth/ Income
>$500,000
$70,000

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Maroon Phoenix @maroonphoenix.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

First author Proal has been digging into viral reservoir theories since before SARS2 entered a human cell. Before Long Covid there was ME/CFS, where a lot of high-profile researchers falsely reassured people that viruses couldn’t do what people saw happening to their own bodies. Good job Dr Proal!

A grassy green field with a woman walking, arms raised in seeming joy. This Louis Pasteur quote is imposed on the picture: “Chance favors the prepared mind.”

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