Herr Issyvoo
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whistlersky.bsky.social
Herr Issyvoo
@whistlersky.bsky.social
Teacher, writer, theatre artist, baker - not always in that order. Recently returned to upstate NY roots, and living in Rochester.

En avant.
Today is the birthday of Walt #Whitman - sharing this excellent appreciation of why he remains the most American of poets: "Whitam spent his life attempting something almost impossible, to write democracy, not to explain it, not to defend it, but to write it"

x.com/Pergament_F/...
Sophia Proneikos on X: "On 31 May 1819, Walt Whitman was born, the man who decided that poetry was far too important to be left to rules and far too alive to be confined within rhyme. Whitman was not born in an aristocratic salon. He was born into a large family of a carpenter on Long Island, among https://t.co/bDivbxWMSD" / X
On 31 May 1819, Walt Whitman was born, the man who decided that poetry was far too important to be left to rules and far too alive to be confined within rhyme. Whitman was not born in an aristocratic salon. He was born into a large family of a carpenter on Long Island, among https://t.co/bDivbxWMSD
x.com
May 31, 2026 at 4:27 PM
Watching Scott #Bessent being walked out yet again to front for this regime- and not only is he dripping insincerity and poorly applied #DARVO logic...the man sounds like a walking husk. I swear, there is nothing left of him but a haircut, glasses, and Pepcid AC

x.com/atrupar/stat...
x.com
March 22, 2026 at 6:38 PM
Since I haven't posted any bakes in a looong time: choco-flan bundt cake. Bakes up with devil's food below, and a luscious dulce de leche custard in top.
February 19, 2026 at 2:08 PM
" Love is found in every act of courage—large and small—taken to preserve the country we once knew. You will find it in homes and schools and churches and art. It is there; it has not been squashed.”

#JBPritzger State of the State #Love as a primary American trait, and patriotic responsibility
We're not fighting over policy or political party.

We're fighting over whether we are going to be a civilization rooted in empathy and kindness — or one rooted in cruelty and rage.

What you choose to arm yourself with, love or hate, exposes which side you're fighting on.
February 19, 2026 at 1:14 PM
Astonishing witness and action- in front of the #kennedycenter, artists show how to make an impact

"Wow" is right

#Minneapolis #alexpretti #reneegood
February 18, 2026 at 12:42 PM
New post on Herr Issyvoo: #SAVEACT is designed not to suppress votes, but to safeguard the country from #SuicidalEmpathy

#votersuppression #GadSaad #ChipRoy

michaelwhistler.substack.com/p/suicidal-e...
"Suicidal Empathy" on the floor of Congress
According to some, too many voices don't make for a Democracy
michaelwhistler.substack.com
February 16, 2026 at 2:42 PM
#Minneapolis is teaching us all something about dealing with #ICE. Music in the streets. ICE is not going away- but using song warps the violence narrative. This is for the long haul, and any singer will tell you it is easier to sustain song than shouting

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
The Minneapolis brass band bringing joy amid grief: ‘When people see us playing, it gives them hope’
Brass Solidarity was formed after George Floyd’s murder, and now also marks the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at its weekly meetup
www.theguardian.com
February 15, 2026 at 2:51 PM
A video of Minnesotans singing outside the Hilton where agents are staying. In Minnesota, choral singing is community, devotion, showmanship, and personal commitment. PERFECT that Minneapolis would show up this way in a peaceful protest. Creative collective action.

substack.com/home/post/p-...
“Morons on Parade”
Singing March in Minneapolis Met with Noem-Like Vitriol
substack.com
February 3, 2026 at 12:12 PM
Ah, Patroclus. Because every now and then it pays to remember why the Greeks and the Romans completely obsessed me as a little gayling...
#museums #trojanwar #lgbt
Patroclus 🇬🇷 on an antique fresco from the House of the Tragic Poet in Pompeii 🇮🇹
1st century AD (Napoli National Archaeological Museum, 🇮🇹)
February 1, 2026 at 4:20 PM
My first time in #Minneapolis during a Culture War was 5 years ago. This past week brought me back to that time. New post michaelwhistler.substack.com/p/the-enemy-...
January 25, 2026 at 10:46 PM
Is it me? Or did #bluesky just become interesting again?
January 24, 2026 at 1:54 AM
New post on #substack . In the fall I'll begin working with Rochester Education Justice Initiative to teach a course in #Shakespeare behind the walls on corerctional facilities withing #DOCCS in NYS. This week I started out on that journey

Attica open.substack.com/pub/michaelw...
Attica
Beginning a journey with Rochester Educational Justice Initiative
open.substack.com
July 13, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Thoroughly enjoyed #DemonCopperhead - transporting the Social Realism of Dickens from the workhouses of London to the opium mills of Appalachia. So glad #Kingsolver is using the opportunity to make a meaningful difference in this #epidemic with both direct action and education. Bravo
‘The damage is terrifying’: Barbara Kingsolver on rural America and the recovery home funded by Demon Copperhead. Now she has used royalties from the novel to open a recovery residence. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...
💙📚 #LiteratureSky
July 6, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Well, you can't get more "American" than Superman - and leave it to the British Broadcasting Co to point out the ethical roots of this hero #BBC #Superman #upupandaway
"A head-bashing Superman took no prisoners, made his own law and enforced with his fists. He's essentially a violent socialist."

"He was no super-cop. He was a super-anarchist. If this rowdy and rebellious Superman were introduced today, he'd be hailed as one of the most subversive superheroes."
'He was a violent socialist': How Superman started out as a radical rebel
Returning to cinemas next week, the superhero may be known as the ultimate all-American Mr Nice Guy – but, back in the 1930s, he didn't begin that way.
www.bbc.com
July 6, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Huge crowd at #NoKings #Rochester, lining the streets for miles. Great, fun, peaceful, united action
June 14, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Wow. This is for real: Craigslist ad for seat fillers "attendance perception for an event taking place in Washington DC on June 14th." Red hat will be provided. Pay is in fast food and cryptocurrency - paid for by the LLC which own's 45/47's meme coin

washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/tlg/d/wa...
Seat Fillers Needed - June 14th - Constitution Avenue - DC - talent gigs - craigslist
T-Mellon Events is looking for seat fillers and extras to provide their time for space maximization and attendance perception for an event taking place in Washington DC on June 14th. Extras and Seat.....
washingtondc.craigslist.org
June 14, 2025 at 12:44 AM
These stories are impossible to shut our ears to- and they are being drowned in rhetoric of fear. Thank you Gov #Newsom for centering your comments on the injustices done to the most vulnerable among us. That's true leadership and strength
Newsom: "Speaker Johnson -- his eloquence was elevated when he called to 'tar and feather' the governor of California. Very religious man. I guess that's the spirit. The word of the Lord."
June 13, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Historians and scholars like Heather Cox Richardson, Madeline Albright, Robert Reich have helped me to put the news of today in perspective with movements in the past.

Anne Appelbaum offers this succinct view of the current crisis- well worth the 10 min read

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
This Is What Trump Does When His Revolution Sputters
His military deployment in Los Angeles follows a long, disturbing tradition.
www.theatlantic.com
June 12, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Excellent thread: From flooding the courts, panoptical surveillance, and a tech-bro certainty of human hierarchy, to AI visions of a Thomas Kinkade, Leni Riefenstal, Starship Troopers" utopian future - "if you get enough VC's in the Signal chat together, you'll eventually reinvent feudalism"
A manifesto shared by Joe Lonsdale, who co-founded the surveillance behemoth Palantir with Thiel, implored the administration to “fire people who can’t be fired…Mass deport people who can’t be deported.”
Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale RTd this thread, which says Trump shld act fast & “Fire people who can't be fired. Force them to litigate. Mass deport people who can't be deported. Force them to litigate. Cancel 100s of billions in funding that are not lawful to cancel & force them to litigate.” 1/
June 12, 2025 at 11:06 AM
So this parade is not the first time US presidents have tried to gloss over their impotence with showy theatrics :

Influenced by the pageantry [of a] European visit, President Nixon [requested a] redesign of the WH Secret Service Division’s attire.

thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/trump-birt...
June 11, 2025 at 11:05 AM
#mosaicmonday - putti inside the great dome of St. Peter's Cathedral at the #vatican, designed by #Michelangelo

...proving that, yes indeed, it is worthwhile to climb the hundreds of stairs to go up inside that incredible dome
May 19, 2025 at 12:50 PM
How, exactly, is giving the #UAE access to US #AI technology and microchips putting #AmericaFirst? This trades long term US growth and prosperity for short term, most probably personal, gains for #Trump and cronies

Let the brain drain begin.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
First Thing: Trump agrees deal for UAE to build largest AI campus outside US
Concerns China could access the technology. Plus, James Comey investigated over photo of seashells
www.theguardian.com
May 16, 2025 at 12:38 PM
#mosaicmonday is a thing and I am here for it. #Ravenna was a bucket list goal and this past autumn I was lucky enough to see it. Fabulous, glistening gold, lapis, and emerald green #Byzantine masterworks everywhere. Stunning.
May 12, 2025 at 11:05 AM
THIS is the impact disinfo stories have:

TX Committee on Public Education calls out the lies in HB54 (FURRIES Act) and draws the connection to discrediting and defunding public education

That's the end goal - who it hurt is just cannon fodder for these legislators

youtu.be/sNhQ1bAb9bQ?...
Texas Republicans Put Forth A Bill That Would Ban Furries From Classrooms With No Grounds For Bill
YouTube video by UnCommon Courtesy
youtu.be
May 11, 2025 at 11:52 AM
#Caturday and because Gussie has not been seen much here.
And she appreciates #WilliamMorris.
And she's a good girl

That is reason enough
May 11, 2025 at 12:01 AM