Anne Elias

@woodsfern

Union organizer, instructional designer, library worker, avid gardener. Weather, nature, abandoned places. Lebanese/Irish-American. Abortion is healthcare. Free: Palestine, Sudan, Congo...

1,369 Following1,152 Followers1,500 Posts

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Anne Elias@woodsfern· Jul 28

I am LIVID reading the proposed permit allowing pollutants to be discharged into the Saline River from the Saline Township data center. The Saline River is our drinking water! Our city already has an aging water treatment plant. Public comments due by August 24. 🚨🚨Important link below! 🚨🚨

Public notice of a draft permit for Related Digital to authorize "increased loading of pollutants to the Saline River which will lower the water quality with respect to certain parameters."

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Jul 16

It's not Ann Arbor Art Fair unless there's some type of climate or local weather disaster. This is terrible. If you are outside for any reason, please protect your lungs (N95 or higher mask). But, today is really a good day to stay inside with windows closed and AC/fan circulating, if possible.

graphic from airnow.gov showing the current AQI as Hazardous 405 in South East Michigan. AQI is worse the closer you get to Detroit.

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Jul 13

This is seasonal affective disorder weather for me. This type of weather is both boring and sensorially overstimulating, and anxiety producing. I’m just trying to get through the unending heat, glaring sun, and no rain, while tempering my irritability.

Weekly forecast for SEnMichigan. 90s, full sun, no rain for the next week.

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Jul 7

On Nolan Wells.

Quote from Roxane Gay: “What kind of friends would leave another friend behind, on a strip of sand with no infrastructure and no phone? May Nolan Wells rest in power and may the friends who failed him or harmed him experience the consequences they deserve.”

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Jun 25

Carville is saying out loud what we've known for so long about the Democratic Party. Good riddance to all of this, and may we continue to build something better. www.mediaite.com/media/news/i...

A screenshot from the article about Carville's meltdown. Text reads "“Lady, I ain’t in the same party as you,” Carville said. “I’m sorry. I’m just not. And I actually do think it’s time for Democrats to talk the ‘s’ word: schism. I really do. Everybody’s always said, ‘No, no. We’re a coalition. We’re a big tent. And there’s just some sh*t I can’t be in the same tent with.”

Carville then insisted that despite winning their Democratic primaries, “these people are not Democrats.” He then suggested that establishment Democrats “negotiate the terms of a schism” with democratic socialists in the party."

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Jun 2

Whenever we're discussing "distinctive collections" in the library, it reminds me of the 1980s Breyer's Viennetta dessert commercials.

A slice of Viennetta frozen dessert in a fancy glass dish from the 80s commercial

Anne Elias@woodsfern· May 25

Pre-Covid, Airborne "immune support supplement" made a killing selling Vitamin C tablets using a commercial showing people getting sick on planes. You know what else protects your immune system? Wearing a mask and not getting sick in the first place (if you know you are sick, please wear a mask!)

A screenshot of a bottle of Airborne tablets "Airborne supplements are marketed as immune boosters capable of preventing colds, but there is no strong scientific evidence to support these claims. While ingredients like vitamin C and zinc may help shorten the duration of a cold, they aren't proven to prevent one."

Anne Elias@woodsfern· May 18

Yes.

Anne Elias@woodsfern· May 16

There’s a house three doors down from us that has free wood pallets, and my adhd brain is like “fuck yes! I can repurpose those!” Partner is not nearly as excited, so I guess it’s going to be me and a rolling chair.

Person solo moving a couch using a rolling chair at the other end.

Anne Elias@woodsfern· May 10

My first Michigan red-breasted grosbeak! I used to see these all the time in NJ. Memory unlocked. Such a happy fellow.

A male rose breasted grosbeak at my hanging birdfeeder. Bird has a black and white back, a white belly with a red chest.

Rose breasted grosbeak at my hanging birdfeeder. Bird has a black and white back, a red white belly with a red chest.

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Apr 28

Without downloading anything new, where are you mentally?

Sleep deprived Blanche from the golden girls staring at egg yolks in a ziplock, saying: “my god, I’m hallucinating. I see little balls of sunshine in a bag.”

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Apr 15

Washtenaw County, keep your weather radios on, and your phones charged tonight. Have your safe area identified and head there if you hear sirens.

Tornado watch in effect for Saline, MI in Washtenaw county until 4am

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Apr 7

Less radicalized? My god. I don't know how you can read this and not feel sick. We must center Iranians in this targeted, genocidal declaration. If he's planning to use nukes, I can only hope some brave soul will thwart that plan. Folks, this isn't about oil. It's about the destruction of humanity.

Trump quote this morning: "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” he wrote. “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?”

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Mar 13

I've lived in 4 different wintry states. Michigan's March is uniquely Smarch weather, what with the sideways sleet.

Homer Simpson standing in front of a calendar that reads Smarch brushing snow off of his coat and looking annoyed.

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Mar 10

Adventures in autoimmune treatment: when one of the insurance company approved drugs that is supposed to help prevent cancer from your disease also has a black box warning that it causes cancer.

Homer Simpson standing on a stack of beer barrels holding a glass of beer saying: "To alcohol! The cause of and solution to, all of life's problems."

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Mar 5

"I don't usually talk to strangers", by Claudia Rankine

Don't Let Me Be Lonely: “I don't usually talk to strangers...”

Play Audio
By Claudia Rankine
I don't usually talk to strangers, but it is four o'clock and I can't get a cab. I need a cab because I have packages, but it's four o'clock and all the cabs are off duty. They are making a shift change. At the bus stop I say, It's hard to get a cab now. The woman standing next to me glances over without turning her head. She faces the street where cab after cab drives by with its light off. She says, as if to anyone, It's hard to live now. I don't respond. Hers is an Operation Iraqi Freedom answer. The war is on and the Department of Homeland Security has decided we have an elevated national-threat level, a code-orange alert. I could say something, but my packages are getting heavier by the minute and besides, what is there to say since rhetorically it's not about our oil under their sand but about freeing Iraqis from Iraqis and Osama is Saddam and Saddam is “that man who tried to kill my father” and the weapons of mass destruction are, well, invisible and Afghanistan is Iraq and Iraq is Syria and we see ourselves only through our own eyes and the British, but not the French, and Germany won't and Turkey won't join us but the coalition is inside Baghdad where the future is the threat the Americans feel they can escape though there is no escaping the Americans because war, this war, is about peace: “The war in Iraq is really about peace. Trying to make the world more peaceful. This victory in Iraq, when it happens, will make the world more peaceful.”

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Jan 26

I'm seeing this profile pic from friends. I know the intention is good, but we need to talk about it. I am mourning the loss of Pretti and Good, horrified by what is happening in Minneapolis. Two people have been publicly murdered by the state, many white people are feeling shocked and horrified.🧵🧵

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Jan 22

Andrea changed my world when I'd see them at Denver performances of Vox Feminista sharing their poetry. I'm so grateful for their voice. I'll watch the Oscars for 'Come See Me In The Good Light' and 'Sinners' (I swear to god if Coogler and Jordan don't win in their respective categories...)

Documentary "Come see me in the good light" is an Academy Award nominee for Documentary Feature Film.

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Jan 13

It's the AI generated people attached to the email for me. Among other @umich.edu schools, Organizational Learning laid off staff last year as part of the DEI and federal cuts, so using GenAI to create a composite of happy diversity is both fitting and deeply depressing.

AI-generated image from a University of Michigan Organizational Learning email that shows a happy diverse group of people celebrating under confetti.

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Dec 31

Start your new year off right. Do not eat green potatoes.

Russet potato I just bought today that is tinged green, meaning it was stored by the store improperly in the light. Green potatoes can make you sick.

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Dec 28

Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't nirvana, soundgarden, pearl jam, or alice in chains.

Cover of the 1996 REM album, New Adventures In Hi-fi. Black and white photo of the desert taken from a moving car, making the landscape and sky slightly blurred.

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Dec 26

The stocking stuffers you receive in your mid 40s hit different (but I did also score a giant bag of dried figs!)

File of Life magnetic medical card with checkbox for DNR.

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Dec 23

I’m tech support for mom while home visiting (no, her old desktop is not compatible with windows 11 🙄), and I just have to call out the advertising on her printer cartridge company. This was a choice. Probably deliberate.

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Dec 21

After spending way too much time reading through this account’s replies, I’m pretty sure it’s an engagement bait bot of some sort. Anyway, they lost me at libertarianism.

@ekklesiagora claiming that an historian is stupid for saying they will not be convinced to use AI, and that anyone doing any research should be utilizing AI. The historian, Lauren MacIver, is saying AI enthusiasts should stay out of their conversations.

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Dec 19

DTE this is insane, and I can only imagine what we'll be paying after the Saline data center us running. 2 people in a small house. Doors/windows aren't drafty. Thermostat: 68 day/64 night. Off-peak hours for laundry/dishwasher. Christmas lights only on for a few hours. We unplug unused things. WTF!

Recent bill for DTE energy reads $229.57

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Dec 17

George Costanza saying "I would drape myself in velvet if it were socially acceptable" changed to Gavin Newsom saying "I would just call myself a republican if it were socially acceptable."

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Dec 7

How to adequately express my rage regarding the autonomy stripped from my community? For her involvement in pushing this deal through, despite *overwhelming* opposition from her constituents, Governor Whitmer should never hold office again. I also have other thoughts on those "good union jobs".

from @distillsocial on instagram, a photo of a man holding a protest sign. The headline reads: The MPSC moving forward on Saline data center. A 12/18 meeting likely will approve the site per a business update for investors published Friday.

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Nov 30

Monday, 12/1, in Saline (Michigan Ave. & Ann Arbor St.), bring a sign, and join us to protest the rush job Saline Township data center being pushed through by DTE, OpenAI, Oracle and many disappointing Michigan elected officials. Grab dinner at Drop Top Pizza while you're here!

Poster for the data center protest: "No secret deals for DTE. No 1.4GW Data Center. No data centers in Saline."

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Nov 24

#bird lovers: can someone help me ID this raptor visitor to my yard? Is it a type of falcon? I only caught a few pics from this angle.

Large gray and white unidentified raptor perched in a Japanese maple tree. Photo taken at close range from behind the bird.

Anne Elias@woodsfern· Nov 17

My partner calls this my “swing away Merrill” ADHD trinity. Hot cider, lions game bourbon, water.