@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

oconnell

@oconnell@texasobserver.social

Genderqueer movement journalist, digital Editor https://texasobserver.social/@TexasObserver. Nominated for 2023 GLAAD Media Award and finalist for 2023 National Magazine Award. Admin for texasobserver.social. Follow my personal account: https://kolektiva.social/@kitoconnell

Avi by Jordan Vonderhaar for TXO.

Email me: oconnell at texasobserver dot org
Get in touch for my Signal.

#LGBTQIA #Extremism #HumanRights

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

oconnell, to random
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

I've been laid off from the @TexasObserver. I'm working on transferring this 'work' account off of the server today, if I'm allowed to do so.

oconnell, to journalism
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

We've some great stories coming your way this week. We're also neck deep in magazine proofing, a moment when everything else slows down just a little bit around here.

oconnell,
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

Also, my long COVID piece got paired up with Jordan Vonderhaar, the photographer who was selected as one of TIME's best of 2023 and I just cannot wait to share how amazing it looks. https://www.texasobserver.org/la-bestia-photos-jordan-vonderhaar/

oconnell, to movies
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

Well it looks like we'll be covering again this year.
We try to take a skeptical lens to this giant, overcommercialized, extremely expensive film, music and tech conference. At the same time, there's gold and diamonds to be found buried among the capitalist dross of the event.

Here's some of our past coverage: https://www.texasobserver.org/tag/sxsw?utm_campaign=mastodon

oconnell, to science
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

Dr Michael Brode, who I interviewed for my upcoming story, was part of a study researching a potential blood test for Long Covid and
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-01-unveil-key-insights-covid.amp

oconnell, to trans
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

Beyond the “culture war”: How to cover issues well in an election year—workshop for journalists offered by the Trans Journalists Association. Feb 7, online class, registration $35

https://members.transjournalists.org/event-5556128

+

oconnell, to Palestine
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

My colleague @gusbova captured this beautiful photo at the rally for in on Sunday. Downtown, near the Capitol:

oconnell, to tea
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

I start most days with a pot of really good loose leaf tea carefully made with the best filtered water in a cast iron tea pot. But those packets of milk tea with the milk powder and sugar already in them, are my dirty secret.

oconnell, to internet
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

I saw someone on the fediblock hashtag claim everyone on kolektiva.social is a 'Russian troll' and... I just... in 2024 we're still doing the "everyone I disagree with politically is a Russian troll?" Disagree with anarchists if you want but this shit is embarrassing.

(Also, remember who usually organizes your street movements, blocks traffic for marches, defends drag queens from nazis, creates mutual aid for the poor... Anarchists among them all.)

oconnell,
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

(Full disclosure: I am @kitoconnell on that server)

oconnell,
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

Also yea there is a reason I maintain a more professional account here on texasobserver.social. It's partly because I know not everyone wants to hang out with anarchist shit posters.

If we are going to survive the next few years, however, we really need to learn to work better with folks across the political spectrum, especially when it's hard.

oconnell, to photography
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

I've a fun, short piece out from the @TexasObserver magazine, about a crew of volunteers that have been going out every week, for about 15 years, to count all the crawling, flying critters they can find.

So far they've identified almost 3,000 species of insect including over 50 bees, 345 flies, and over 500 different beetles. https://www.texasobserver.org/insect-lbj-wildflower-valerie-bugh-austin?utm_campaign=mastodon

(Fab by Paula Levihn-Coon)

oconnell, to random
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

Just turned in the second draft of my Long Covid feature for the magazine. I'm pretty happy with how this has come together but it would probably not have gotten finished without the advice of my editor @gabrielarana. Taking a break tonight then back to the revisions tomorrow.

oconnell,
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

My feature is off to the copy editor today, which is the last step before layout in the magazine. It's my longest story yet for the Observer, with several stories of victims of long and interviews with some leading experts on its treatment. I'm excited to share this sometime in March (but you should join if you really want to get it early).

oconnell, to random
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

Seattle gay bars got raided based on anonymous tips, per this thread. More evidence that it's not just a Texas problem, y'all. None of us are safe till all of us are safe. https://partyon.xyz/@nullagent/111842414361797673

oconnell, to mastodon
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

The edit post function on is actually really useful for journalists and other creators. I can make a toot about my research as a teaser to my upcoming work and then, after lots of people retoot it, edit it later when my article is finally published. Everyone who showed interest by interacting with the toot now gets a notice that my post was updated, with a link to my new article.

oconnell, to science
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

This diagram—with permission, from the Congressional testimony of Ziyad Al-Aly, chief of research and development at the VA St. Louis Health Care System and clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis—really drives home the scope of Long . Brain to skin to kidneys to the circulatory system, there is almost no organ or structure in the body which can't be directly affected by the lasting impact of this disease.

oconnell, (edited ) to news
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

Hot take and apologies to my Swifties, but I don't think a single celebrity should have this much sway over our government. What happens when the equivalent of Taylor Swift endorses a RFK Jr type? https://www.newsweek.com/can-taylor-swift-sway-2024-election-1864474#:~:text=Exclusive%20polling%20conducted%20for%20Newsweek,a%20candidate%20endorsed%20by%20Swift.

(Edit: as usual, folks have interesting stuff to say in the replies ... ⬇️)
(Edit 2: Well, maybe this wasn't my best take.)

oconnell,
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

@Itty53 oh I would definitely worry about them both. Oprah has a horrible track record when it comes to the kinds of folks she lends her support too, and Carlson is a fascist. I don't mean to single out Swift alone.

I don't know how we do it, but I think our relationship to celebrity culture in the US is toxic and should change.

oconnell,
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

@dougiec3 Yes! Celebrity culture is bad for us.

AnarchoNinaWrites, to random
@AnarchoNinaWrites@jorts.horse avatar

Lol, again, who are you libs kidding? You can say whatever you want, literally WHATEVER bullshit strikes your fancy, but you can't change the fact that going all in on genocide, ignoring international court rules, and ASKING the fucking FBI to investigate your own base, is an objectively TERRIBLE campaign strategy.

No amount of scolding and "silence adults are speaking" bullshit is going to change that this is a blunder of truly fucking HISTORIC proportions. This is how you lose to idiot nazis

oconnell,
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

@AnarchoNinaWrites @DebC Meanwhile, the kids: https://www.texasobserver.org/the-biden-administration-is-still-separating-kids-from-their-families/

oconnell,
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

@DeliaChristina People get mad at us for covering this stuff because they say we're accusing both sides of being bad on immigration and its false equivalency. But if "both sides" are genuinely hurting the human rights of migrants and refugees, what are we supposed to do? https://www.texasobserver.org/working-class-perspectives-on-the-migrant-crisis/

oconnell, to queer
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

“Right now, people in are dealing with a lot.”

The laws in our state may be so bad, in fact, that they violate decades worth of international treaties, according to a letter recently sent to the by four major orgs.

My latest article: https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-anti-lgbtq-laws-united-nations-human-rights?utm_campaign=mastodon via @TexasObserver

+

oconnell,
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

@Frances_Larina @TexasObserver I am not a lawyer, and I don't know the details but the Supreme Court has ruled that international treaties often are not applicable in US courts in most cases I think. The hope here is mostly that the UN might pressure the Biden admin to act more to help.

oconnell, to Texas
@oconnell@texasobserver.social avatar

“We must pass a ceasefire resolution. … We must join the growing chorus of voices saying ‘never again’—’never again’ for anyone.”

Great work by my colleague @gusbova, wrapping up efforts to pass a resolution in city councils across : https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-gaza-ceasefire-austin-dallas-houston-san-antonio?utm_campaign=mastodon

@palestine

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • Leos
  • everett
  • magazineikmin
  • thenastyranch
  • Youngstown
  • Durango
  • rosin
  • slotface
  • InstantRegret
  • mdbf
  • PowerRangers
  • kavyap
  • tsrsr
  • DreamBathrooms
  • normalnudes
  • ngwrru68w68
  • hgfsjryuu7
  • cubers
  • GTA5RPClips
  • khanakhh
  • vwfavf
  • ethstaker
  • osvaldo12
  • cisconetworking
  • tester
  • tacticalgear
  • modclub
  • anitta
  • All magazines
    •