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Kate Blair

@swampyw1tch.bsky.social
146 followers 267 following 161 posts

Arts admin, writer, potter in Chicago. You can follow my pottery IG if you’re into that: www.instagram.com/kab_pots

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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
It’s a tiny marvel that we live on a planet where water just falls from the sky.
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Even when I’m expecting a rejection from a lit mag, it still hurts. But every rejection also gives me renewed determination. Hopefully that’s the right approach.
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Widows Bay is the perfect rx after a long day. So much laughter, so many details to get lost in
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
This is… really exciting?
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The finished mug btw
Mug with fence and cobweb sgrafitto design painted with a watery blue and bright dots of yellow and orange. The porcelain takes on a wonderful milky texture after being fired.
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
So many fun, sneaky, bonus horrors that come with climate change! My current fave are the invasive mosquito species that bites during the day!
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Reposted by Kate Blair
Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
personally I think we should just take the ai doomers at their word and shut it down if they’re telling the truth, well, good thing we shut it down. If they’re exaggerating, well, they shouldn’t have done that
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Based on my experiences watching mad men I can only assume liberty bibberty came from research that points to “b” sounds lodging themselves in your brain more effectively than any other letter. Name recall above all else, pushed by complete nonsense
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Having grown up in western NY, I always oriented myself on a map using Lake Ontario. Having that piece of my history and the history of that region erased and its name changed so fascists can play power games is unmooring.
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Uneasy because this seems like an image AI shouldn’t know about
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
A spider web strung with tiny globes of water has to be one of the most beautiful sights on earth. And it has looked basically the same for millions of years! I would include a photo of what I’m looking at if my phone was up for the task, but hopefully you all can imagine it instead.
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
It’s Vincent Price (& Corman & Poe) hours
“The pit and the pendulum” title card with a gothic castle on a distant cliff top and the surf crashing on the rocks
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Always such a treat to chat with @jimlaczkowski.net! It was great fun to spend so much time with Holofcener’s films.
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Wasps have been been mysteriously appearing and subsequently dying in my bathroom. Not sure what this portends
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Reposted by Kate Blair
William Shakespeare @shakespeare.lol · 25/08/2026
[Exit Queen.]
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Categories of AI food I’ve observed, and ongoing list: -warts -holes -slimy -eldritch -labyrinthine
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
One of the crazier things about restaurant AI posters is how disgusting and unappetizing the food looks, like it’s made of little warts. And no, I won’t share the example that inspired this skeet to spare you the nausea.
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Camp Miasma is fantastic! An amazing new entry into the dyke/queer/trans canon
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
My anxieties often spiral out of control when I’m lying in bed, awake, but once I’m walking around, coffee in hand, things usually feel manageable. What’s behind this, I wonder
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Ooh this is a good one
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
My St*ncil theory is that he is absolutely desperate for a platform and will embrace any ideology that will give him one. Would not be remotely surprised if he shifted to alt right politics. Has he already? I’ve tried to stop paying attention to him
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
My parents have asked me for a Chemex coffee demo. I’m thrilled and honored and they are about to get probably way more information than they wanted about this!
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
A feel good story for the day:
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
It would be pretty funny for Olive Garden to remove the ID requirement this weak argument is hinging on. They would be folk heroes, just saying
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Waiting for someone, I don’t even know who at this point, to tell me when it’s ok to eat lettuce again
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Amazed that people are walking around rawdogging this Chicago air!! It’s times like these I appreciate having a stockpile of kn95s. Please be safe out there.
Selfie of me wearing my black kn95, gray baseball cap and fave orange striped t-shirt. Haze visible in the background
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Mulholland Drive
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
This is a funny comparison because cars more or less are death machines that seem to grow more dangerous by the year, and are quickly approaching the size of tanks
Resistance to the technology, he said, was
"very much like sitting here saying. 'Well, I believe the horse and the buggy is really where it's at. These cars, they break down, they need gas, there's all kinds of problems with them and pretty soon they'll be making them into tanks, and then they'll be killing people. It's terrible.?"
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Reposted by Kate Blair
the beggars out of here getter @milesklee.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
My privilege to share some lovely stories from the science community about what Sam Neill's timeless performance as Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park meant to them—and why it will continue to inspire kids to chase their own discoveries for years to come.
wired.com
Sam Neill Inspired a Generation of Scientists
The actor, who died at age 78 on Monday, embodied a passionate approach to research and positive masculinity in his role as paleontologist Alan Grant in the 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park.
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Anyone else vaguely concerned Mitch McConnell’s team is finishing up work on his AI hologram replacement
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Reposted by Kate Blair
Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Folks, no one has a RIGHT to higher office. OK? You aren't "canceling" anyone when you decide NOT TO SUPPORT THEIR QUEST FOR MORE POWER. Please let's be SERIOUS. This is not what is meant by "no one is disposable." I'm begging people to focus and use your brains. That man can still make a LIVING.
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Technology used to excite me as a young person. Now I react to almost every new tech development with dread, all the while mourning my addiction to this pocket device that’s so deeply integrated with my life and work I can’t get rid of it
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Perennial issue with HOtD being back - I just want my own dragon so bad. I really think I’d be a responsible dragon mom. Let me adopt!
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Gen AI exists because the companies stole indiscriminately from creatives. How is any creative worker ok with using it? it’s very existence is morally corrupt. Why do we even need additional tiers of argument against a plagiarism machine? That should be enough!
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
I read the AI defense in Yale Review just to make sure the social headlines weren’t misrepresenting it. They’re not. It’s every bit as bad as it appears.
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Seeing sports teams share pride messaging: 😀 Reading the comments: ☹️
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Reposted by Kate Blair
unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 16/06/2026
New: We've been tracking reports of ICE activity across Chicagoland for five weeks. In that time, rapid responders have seen an escalation as feds have abducted dozens, caused at least two car crashes, threatened community members with weapons and flouted state courthouse protections. Read more:
unraveledpress.com
“ICE never really left:” car crashes and courthouse arrests mark spring escalation
Videos show federal agents pointing weapons at bystanders and trying to access state property as rapid response groups have reported at least 80 detainments across Chicagoland in the last five weeks.
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
I was in nyc last week and brought some bagels home to Chicago and I don’t know to explain it but eating them is making me really emotional. I feel held by this sesame bagel
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
In following the story of Riley’s death I’ve encountered the really helpful term of “carbrain” to explain the callous response of drivers to this tragedy, and any accident involving a cyclist
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Walked by Riley O’Neil’s memorial last night. Such a loss for the neighborhood. I didn’t know him personally, but I know people who did. His death has touched all of us here, and Bridgeport continues to grieve.
Night photo of a memorial for Riley built on a bike rack. A photo of him is surrounded by flowers, lit candles, and chalk drawings.
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Reposted by Kate Blair
Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune.com · 10/06/2026
A memorial bike ride and vigil was held for Riley O’Neil, a Chicago Department of Transportation worker who dedicated much of his career to bicycle safety and infrastructure in Chicago.
chicagotribune.com
Riley O’Neil, bicyclist killed in Bridgeport crash, remembered at vigil: ‘People loved him’
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Reposted by Kate Blair
Papa Rides a Bike @paparidesabike.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Another cyclist was just doored in front of Riley O'Neil's memorial on Halsted Street. This happened about one hour ago. The cyclist declined medical treatment from the ambulance and rode away. Unfucking real. You can see the broken car window on the driver's door. #bikeChi
The cracked window on the drivers side of a car that doored a cyclist on Halsted around 2pm on 6/8/26Screenshot of a cyclist in red picking up their Divvy bike from the street next to a car. The driver just doored the cyclist and someone is talking with the driver.
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
A cyclist, Riley O'Neill, was killed in my neighborhood over the weekend. He was doored, then crushed under a truck in the adjacent lane. He should be alive. Yet, now that the news has reached the wider community, the victim-blaming has begun. These comments are predictable, consistent, and alarming
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Reposted by Kate Blair
🇵🇸 Dean Tāne 🇵🇸 @dean-tane.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Repost the Leather Dachshund from Seattle Pride 1991 to be blessed this Pride Month!
A wee Dachshund dog, wearing the finest leather daddy outfit, walking with their owner during a Pride parade in Seattle in 1991.
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Wordle? No, thank you. I keep my mind sharp by memorizing 2FA tokens
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Haven’t posted one of my pots in a while. This is a little pinch pot with feet. I arranged them on there kind of haphazardly and it ended up ensouled
A shino-glazed, pinched bowl in an oblong shape with four turtle-like feet attached at the bottom, giving it the appearance of being somewhat caught mid-scurry
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
I have straight men staying with me this weekend. Should I get these? I want to make sure they feel welcome
A stack of Dude Wipes “flushable wipes” on a shelf at cvs for $13.99 a piece?!
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
I’m with Leah here… people underestimate kids as readers and thinkers, and I feel like I encountered that a lot as a child. I also find it really sinister to cut off these kids from discovering the analog world that predated the digital saturation we live in now.
Is everyone on board?
Not quite. Leah Phillips, a children's and Y.A. literature researcher at Plymouth Marjon University, sees the push to modernize as "inherently not trusting younger readers."
"It's saying, 'We don't think you can handle this;" she said, adding that eighth graders routinely study Shakespeare. "We teach them to read it. Surely, they can apply those same skills beyond the classroom."
"There's no single, universal idea of what kids want," said Jennifer Buehler, a Y.A. literature scholar at Saint Louis University.
"You can't assume all kids will be turned off when they sense the adult behind the book."
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Kate Blair @swampyw1tch.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
If home is where the wifi connects automatically, then Jackalope coffee is home
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