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Tanya Paperny

@tpaperny.bsky.social
95 followers 257 following 108 posts

Writer, editor, DC historian, translator, community builder, artist Queer, white, kid of refugees, Jewish Read my work: Washington City Paper, The Atlantic, Foreign Policy ++ more at tpaperny.com Much love!

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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
listen, i'm an industry outsider, but basically what i gather from this paramount-warner merger is that the new megacorporation is staunchly anti-worker and staunchly pro-israel?? am i wrong??
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
rage-inducing factoid via @730dc.bsky.social via @washingtonsun.com
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
The U.S. Department of Defense has spent more than $49 milion on catering for the National Guard troops who’ve been pacing our streets this past year. That’s more than next year’s entire budget for the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities.
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
use for emails with which you experience insecure attachment styles
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
just ordered a safety handle for the shower, guess my age
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Reposted by Tanya Paperny
Jason Song Quinn (Comms Open) @hulkhoquinn.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Think about Miss Piggy. She lost a best friend and now an ex-lover in matter of 24 hours.
Miss Piggy and Dolly Parton in fancy dresses posing together photo of Tim Curry surrounded by muppets, smiling for a photo. A quote from curry is added “it didn’t go very well. It didn’t survive the shoot. She felt I wasn’t being faithful to her” it’s him discussing his ill fated affair with miss piggy
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
ME: I got a C+ in "Newspaper Production" & that was my second worst grade in high school ALSO ME: I'm a professional writer
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
a background check process for a teaching gig is requesting a copy of my HIGH SCHOOL TRANSCRIPT 🎓 i graduated over TWO DECADES AGO 😂
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
[family dollar] CASHIER: i'm sorry sir, but we don't actually sell generational wealth
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
(sinkhole on the 5000 block of 12th Street, N.E., after a water main break caused the roadway to collapse and a DC Water truck to become trapped)
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Caption contest! (CC @cmzparker5.bsky.social)
sinkhole on the 5000 block of 12th Street, N.E. in washington dc, after a water main break caused the roadway to collapse and a DC Water truck to become trapped.
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Being greeted by all three of these alerts on Saturday was WILD 😓 @capitalweather.com
Screenshot of capital weather gang app showing forecast for silver spring MD showing Tornado Watch, Flood Watch, and Air Quality Alert
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Reposted by Tanya Paperny
Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Looking for local events to mark the 250th anniversary without being a Nazi sympathizer? Check out this list I co-curated @wcp.bsky.social of visual art, performance, panel discussions, and more: washingtoncitypaper.com/article/7882...
washingtoncitypaper.com
The Real Locals’ Calendar of Alternative Events for America’s 250th
There are plenty of local performances, exhibits, and art projects to celebrate the Semiquincentennial instead.
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
If you want to know how smart folks across DC are thinking about this fucked-up time we're all living through: washingtoncitypaper.com/article/7881...
washingtoncitypaper.com
The Real Locals’ Guide to America’s 250th
Big U.S. anniversaries have always been complicated. The Semiquincentennial is no different, but City Paper is here to help you navigate it.
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Looking for local events to mark the 250th anniversary without being a Nazi sympathizer? Check out this list I co-curated @wcp.bsky.social of visual art, performance, panel discussions, and more: washingtoncitypaper.com/article/7882...
washingtoncitypaper.com
The Real Locals’ Calendar of Alternative Events for America’s 250th
There are plenty of local performances, exhibits, and art projects to celebrate the Semiquincentennial instead.
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
This past weekend in DC, the fascists fascist-ed, the climate climate-d, and the fireworks polluted. Here's a list of good stuff to check out in DC that's non-fascist, non-polluting, and pro-Black, pulled together by our very own Natalie Hopkinson: washingtoncitypaper.com/article/7881...
washingtoncitypaper.com
A Guide to Black History, Rebellion, and Creativity in D.C.
For America's 250th, Natalie Hopkinson takes readers on a tour of 19 places that embody the legacy of how freedom actually came to the city.
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Reposted by Tanya Paperny
The Onion @theonion.com · 08/07/2026
TJ Maxx Adds Meat theonion.com/tj-maxx-adds-meat
TJ Maxx Adds Meat
Shoppers Can Now Scour Bargain Bins For Marked-Down Beef, Pork, And More
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
This is precisely the type of important and overlooked history I was getting at with my recent piece washingtoncitypaper.com/article/7881...
washingtoncitypaper.com
The Real Locals’ Guide to America’s 250th
Big U.S. anniversaries have always been complicated. The Semiquincentennial is no different, but City Paper is here to help you navigate it.
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
ah yes, the dulcet tones of late stage gentrification construction
static.klipy.com
Bart Simpson Making Noise with Pan & Spoon
ALT: Bart Simpson Making Noise with Pan & Spoon
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Reposted by Tanya Paperny
Washington City Paper @wcp.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
The Real Locals’ Guide to America’s 250th—stories about the people and places making up a fuller picture of this country’s anniversary. American University professor Natalie Hopkinson and City Paper columnist Tanya Paperny, along with some of Hopkinson’s former students, worked on this series.
washingtoncitypaper.com
The Real Locals’ Guide to America’s 250th
Big U.S. anniversaries have always been complicated. The Semiquincentennial is no different, but City Paper is here to help you navigate it.
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Rest in power Kaleria (or Lera, as I called her). Thank you for helping to bring this book into the world. Writing, editing, and resistance are in my blood in no small part because of you. (Second photo: despite limited mobility, she always had tea and sweets ready for me when I visited 🖤)
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
He'd go on to write many important works, including the famed "Gulag Archipelago." In 1970, Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize, and "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" was specifically mentioned in the award citation. But Solzhenitsyn was too afraid to attend the acceptance event.
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
The book was an instant hit. Solzhenitsyn was labeled an enemy of the state and eventually arrested and deported.
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
The publication broke the silence and offered a sharp indictment of the USSR's GULAG system. Some even believe that his book started a wave that ultimately broke the back of the USSR — people could no longer deny these truths.
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
And so, in 1962, Kaleria helped publish a serialized edition of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” a novel written shortly after his release from a GULAG camp. It was a hugely important moment in Soviet literary history — and history in general.
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
"...From there it was sent to the de-Stalinist Khrushchev, who, despite the objections of some top party members, ultimately authorized its publication with some censorship of the text.”
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
According to Wikipedia, “Tvardovsky was so impressed with this detailed description of life in the labor camps that he submitted the manuscript to the Communist Party Central Committee for approval to publish it..."
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
It was an incredible and important book, they knew, but publishing it was dangerous — Soviet writers were not allowed to refer to the camps. So my grandmother and her colleagues bypassed the official editorial board and sent the manuscript directly to lead publisher Tvardovsky.
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
She was a literary editor at a Soviet magazine called Новый Мир (“New World”), where her team received a novel manuscript based on an author’s real-life experience in the GULAG labor camp system.
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Happy birthday to my paternal grandmother, Калерия Николаевна Озерова, Kaleria Nikolaevna Ozerova, who would have been 108 years old today. Here's a bit about her literary acts of resistance:
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Why are Nirvana shirts trending among Gen-Z and Gen Alpha? I keep seeing them lately.
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
If you are organizing DC-area alternative programming for America's 250th, will you let me know? Think: people's histories, local activism, volunteer opportunities, indigenous and Black stories, anti-fascist events, etc.
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Reposted by Tanya Paperny
Mitch Ryals @mitchryals.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
A frequent scene at 1940s Club Madre: “Odessa would make her grand entrance into her club—mink from ear to ankle. ... [She] would lead an entourage—a trail of about six or seven beautiful ‘yella gals,’ mostly all for sale, followed by a train of lusty, well-heeled ‘E-lite’ gents.”
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Hat tip to editor @mitchryals.bsky.social, photographer @darrow-m.bsky.social, and @dcpubliclibrary.bsky.social for being THE best research supporters!
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
In the 1940s, notorious "underground queen" Odessa Madre ran a nightclub where she dealt in drugs, women, and drink. I got to write about the building, which is now home to D.C.’s only Black-owned LGBTQ+ club. Read today's piece in @wcp.bsky.social: washingtoncitypaper.com/article/7833...
washingtoncitypaper.com
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
The two events I'm attending tomorrow tell you all you need to know about me: "Legacies of the Gulag: Russian Camps Past and Present" with @michaeldavidfox.bsky.social and @vkaramurza.bsky.social and then art making for the @janeese4dc.bsky.social campaign
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
I mean the earnest version of that is: I can’t believe we’re all expected to keep working knowing how heads of state and political and movement leaders have built boys’ networks around their predation.
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Men are out here being so bad, the least we can do is eat chocolate
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
FACT #1: a jar of nutella doesn't last more than 2 days in my house FACT #2: i live alone
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
The United States of America is a pyramid scheme that bankrupts and incarcerates people locally & bombs and annihilates people globally
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
STOP MAKING CRACKERS SO FANCY THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BE A VEHICLE FOR DIP
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
As reported by Urban Turf, a forthcoming DC zoning decision could lead to more alley homes. I think this is a good thing. Here's one unusual DC alley home I wrote about recently: washingtoncitypaper.com/article/7748...
washingtoncitypaper.com
On Places: Repurposing—and Queering—an H Street Corridor Carriage House
Once home to the ENIKAlley Coffeehouse—a refuge and an incubator for Black gay and lesbian artists and activists.
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
this place sucks (generic)
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
I've never meant this more earnestly than I do right now in 2026: HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 😭
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Seeking someone else who is watching the Henry Louis Gates, Jr. @pbs.org special "Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History" and wants to process it with me (ideally, you're either Black or Jewish or both)
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Listen, we're living through peak Patriarchy-and-Misogyny-Rule-the-World Times. Who is sending me gifts and money on Sunday, a.k.a. International Women's Day? My gender is many things, but woman is definitely one of them.
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
listen, i don't mean to make light of any of it. the abuse. the censorship. the deceit. the misogyny. it's just that russian media and government are lying, u.s. media and government are lying, and i don't know where to find verified information, especially after the gutting of the washington post.
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
ah yes, the age-old "russian mogul commits suicide" line, except this time just add in an "associated with epstein files" bit
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
fuck these people (generic)
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Tanya Paperny @tpaperny.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
Listen, I could care less about sportsball, but if you’re white and haven’t seen the Bad Bunny halftime show, just know I’m assuming you’re racist 🤷
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