Deb Merriam

move slow and repair things

I haven't gotten my beta invite yet but plan to use the same handle as everywhere else. Really interested to hear what people think!

Confederacy of Treaty 6 First Nations Grand Chief Joey Pete accused Smith’s government of having “created conditions in Alberta that are unsafe for First Nations Peoples — promoting ignorance and intolerance along with its support for the separatist agenda is leading to outright racism.”

No words to describe the experience of seeing an overhead corona aurora at THE SAME TIME as a total lunar eclipse--this happened last night on our aurora workshop. Crazy experience. The aurora was so bright and the snow glowed green under the blood moon.

Alberta ‘excessively vulnerable’ to foreign interference, experts warn | CBC News Alberta is not ready to deal with the threat of online disinformation coming from foreign actors in a possible referendum campaign on separation this fall, according to national security experts.

Alberta ‘excessively vulnerable’ to foreign interference, experts warn. Referendum on Alberta's independence from Canada could take place in October www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Find out more at nationalnewswatch.com

Study Finds Most U.S. Bike Lanes Are Just Paint — and Placed on the Most Dangerous Roads.
momentummag.com/study-finds-...

Tired of dystopian sci-fi? You might like Solarpunk. A recent literary genre imagines what happens when our climate changes—and so do we.

After decades of political obsession, I now believe the most powerful political strategy is a *positive vision.*

So I joined the solarpunk movement, because a world with clean energy & living wildlife is the *most subversive vision* to our current world on fire

www.motherjones.com/environment/...

The fate of fossil fuel systems in the "mid-transition" I talk with Emily Grubert about the hidden dangers of letting the free market manage the decline of our legacy energy infrastructure.

Today on Volts: for the next few decades, we'll be in the "mid-transition," with clean energy systems growing as FF systems decline. Those FF systems will not decline smoothly -- there will be thresholds, "cliffs," where they suddenly crumble -- so maybe we should, I dunno, plan for it?

Whole new meaning of this cartoon just dropped

You want embarrassing? The story of the current N.S. Art’s cuts as they relate to a major internationally growing cash cow is being featured in the newspaper whose primary audience is CEOs, executive VPs and decision makers.

This is embarrassing on a scale the the proponents did not predict.

Would love to see local Edmonton businesses commit to something similar.

Gulf allies will be eating the humiliation that this war will be for them

Sedgwick’s prescription is “reparative reading,” a theory of more flexible sense-making that can hold truth and provide an antidote to the overwhelming paranoia of our times. While the conventional wisdom states, “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean you don’t have enemies,” Sedgwick turns this formula on its head: “Just because you have enemies doesn’t mean you have to be paranoid.” Or to put it another way, having a direct understanding of systemic oppression (the healthcare system, police violence, the fascist state) does not condemn a person to a categorically paranoid point of view. To practice a worldview more expansive and more open to possibilities than paranoia does not mean you have to deny the reality or gravity of oppression.

Feeling paranoid about stochastic violence and weaponized media? Me too. That's why I can't stop thinking about this incredibly helpful essay by @littlewow.online in @flaminghydra.com about the idea of "reparative reading" as a corrective to the "paranoid style." flaminghydra.com/issue-511/

Quote is from Inanna Publications' preorder link (and presumably the back cover copy?) - find that link and all the other preorder options depending on your location in Joanne's blog post at top of thread

"...For all of their progress in the new society of the ship, a woman can still be ruined by an imprudent attachment. Can Elizabeth and Darcy save Lydia’s reputation, learn to like each other, and avoid being convicted of murder?" #steampunk #reimaginingAusten #BookSky #SmallPress #CanadianAuthors

ICYMI, my sister's SFF adaptation of P&P will be published by Inanna in Sept'26. Living on a generation ship with clockwork machines & greenhouse agriculture alters Regency society and the trajectories of much-beloved characters! No spoilers but a much-beloathed character dies!

That I could as easily have made this comment about the story 3 posts down in my feed about Ben Mulroney sharing video game footage on Global as if it's real? Not reassuring.

Jesus Murphy. Do Canadian laws around libel and political misinformation have any teeth to tackle this kind of garbage? Why not?

!!!!!

A screencap from my blog: at the top, a photo of an open-air kiosk with ORDER HERE in neon. Below that, it says Fiction, Writing, "Aether and Ego pre-ordering", 1 March 2026, joannemerriam, "I'm so excited to see pre-order options pop up across the globe! I keep feeling like" and then a picture of the animated Pinocchio.

Updated my blog with pre-order links! joannemerriam.com/2026/03/01/a...

#AetherAndEgo #PrideAndPrejudice #Austenesque #Austenauts #bookstagram #booksta #books #DSPBposts #booksofinstagram

The furry Slovenian monsters who chase winter away [FREE TO READ] Every year, the weird, Womble-like ‘kurents’ gather in a medieval town in northeast Slovenia for one of the world’s most flamboyant carnivals

The furry Slovenian monsters who chase winter away www.ft.com/content/9fd6...

"Despair is how we lose." #solarpunk

Article by the hippies at (checks notes) the Associated Press and the Financial Post.

Don’t have much to add on the many intl and domestic law issues with the Iran strikes. But I’ve been esp struck by allies circling the wagons to support them. Carney et al want to build a middle powers coalition nominally more wed to the intl rule of law. Now would be a nice time to stand up for it.

Statement by Prime Minister Carney and Minister Anand on the situation in the Middle East Canada’s position remains clear: the Islamic Republic of Iran is the principal source of instability and terror throughout the Middle East, has one of the world’s worst human rights records, and must ...

Canada would have been better off saying nothing. You can detest the regime in Iran without supporting chaos. www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/stat...

In case you’re just waking up, the U.S. has teamed up with Israel overnight to start an illegal war of regime change, apparently on a presidential whim with no involvement of Congress, and they are already committing horrific atrocities.

A broader takeaway I think is nobody should be allowed to be so rich that being told no, or being held accountable, represents such a moral injury to that person's psyche that they feel like their only recourse is to burn the world down.

Rally for Arts Wed March 4th 12:00 pm / Noon @ N.S. Legislature!

Screencap of an email from me to claudiachender@nsmla.ca and claudiachendermla@gmail.com (she replied from the second email), cc'ed to FinanceMinister@novascotia.ca, MIN_CCTH@novascotia.ca, PREMIER@novascotia.ca, advocacy@nsarts.ca. Dear Claudia Chender, MLA, I am writing to add my voice to the many folks bewildered and angry about the Conservative austerity budget just announced. I know you likely agree with me already, but hope that you can sway your Conservative colleagues. Significant cuts to funding for Arts, Culture & Heritage are included. I think it's important to note that there is no fiscally conservative argument for these cuts. Every time anybody studies arts, culture, and heritage funding, they find that it more than pays for itself: for example, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s 2025 report Artworks: The Economic and Social Dividends from Canada’s Arts and Culture Sector found that every $1 invested in the arts generates $29 of economic activity. Arts, Culture & Heritage contributed $2.6 billion in GDP and supported 22,000 jobs in this province in 2023 alone. I urge the government to abandon any cuts to Arts, Culture & Heritage. We can't afford to cut this funding and lose that economic activity. The ripple effect in tourism, hospitality, industry, in the grocery stores and gas stations and restaurants and shops frequented by visitors to Nova Scotia, will be devastating. Cuts to youth-focused arts programming and education will negatively impact our literacy. Especially after the disruptions of Covid, our students don't need to have enrichment opportunities taken away. (Text is too long for alt-text. Will put in replies with the links.)

Shoulder to Shoulder: We Are All Treaty People Nova Scotia Legislature - Kjipuktuk Rally: Tuesday, March 3 - 12:00 pm Meet on Granville Street behind the N.S. Legislature building. Bring your community banners, signs, flags and regalia. Bring your drums, songs and prayers. Together, let's tell Tim Houston to stop selling our futures, and demand that he respect the Treaties, our democratic rights and our community voices!

Oh byes I am pissed. Here's what I wrote to my MLA, the blameless Claudia Chender, and here's where I will be next Tuesday and Wednesday instead of working on my next novel.

Rally images stolen from @ecologyaction.bsky.social and Page 1 Theatre on IG. @timhouston.bsky.social #NSpoli #JesusMurphy

How green is your prompt?

This workshop aims to cut through the hype on both sides of the AI debate to clarify the environmental impact of your work and what you can do about it.

April 2, 2026, 12:00 pm EDT with @jonippolito.net

Register: content.fromthepage.com/april-2026-w...