I am a tallgrass prairie ecologist specializing in tallgrass prairies in Arkansas. Most of what I do & study about these sensitive ecosystems applies to other ecosystems across Arkansas. Let’s get some terms out of the way first so you can understand where I’m coming from. 🧵
Uh, no. This atheist refuses to teach religion in my science classroom. I will also stand up for the Christians who refuse this brainwashing along with the Pagans, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and nonreligious in Craighead County.
#arpx
#education
Last night, I protested the Moms for Liberty meeting that featured guest speaker Arkansas State Senator Dan Sullivan. He talked about potential education bills, and all I can say is Y I K E S, a thread 🧵
#arpx
So I did a thing today 😎 County justices will be the frontline against censorship of books at Arkansas libraries. Consider running for justice of the peace where you live while you still have time!
#arpx
They came for education, & educators stood up. They came for our library, & librarians stood up. Let's stand up for them at the polls in November & vote out the legislators trying to defund education & our libraries.
#SaveOurLibrary
#arpx
#payAReducators
With this talk of
#podiumgate
, I am just so disgusted from this frivolous spending of taxpayer $. My mom, who passed away in 2017, was disabled and got disability benefits, usually not more than $10k a year. She also never qualified more than $10 (yes, you read that right) in
Teachers deserve better pay here in Arkansas. Teachers are fleeing the profession for horrible work conditions including dealing with an ongoing pandemic, vilification from far-right extremists, & paying out-of-pocket for classroom expenses. Burn-out is high and retention is low.
Y’all. We got 7 Democrats on the ballot as of noon today, the filing deadline, for justice of the peace in Craighead. There are 13 seats. We are challenging more than half of them!!!
My husband is a professor at an Arkansas community college who works multiple jobs and still has to pay for classroom supplies out of pocket.
K-12 teachers and staff and all higher ed faculty and staff deserve raises and better funding. This is about our children’s future.
This was a very long thread, and for that I apologize. But it also goes to show just how complicated this all is. The designation of the Buffalo National River as a national preserve is a BIG DEAL and all viewpoints, especially from ecologists, should be considered.
I grew up poor as hell in the Delta. I survived the Mike Huckabee's school consolidation. I managed to go to college & get multiple degrees (although w/a ton of student debt because... I was poor). I
#SayNoToLEARNS
because less money in my small, rural school would have hurt me.
Gary Harpole is a real estate magnate in Jonesboro and was behind the effort to defund our library because they wouldn’t ban LGBTQ books. SHS appointed him to the A-State Board of Trustees. Makes me wonder with today’s news if there wasn’t some cronyism going on there, too.
Did y'all know I'm a Young Dem (cc:
@YDArkansas
,
@YDARdistrict1
) at my university? I just BARELY make the age cutoff, but us mid-millennials are still young(ish) and can still make a difference in our community! 🥰
The Buffalo National River is under scrutiny right now because of a Walton-backed group pushing for a status change to national preserve, which allows mining of minerals and extraction of fuels and transfer of management to state and local authorities per
@OzarksatLarge
.
Just sitting over here hoping
@timheidecker
takes notice of our campaign 😇 taking my Oscar Fever energy and putting it into knocking a fascist out of the Arkansas State Legislature 🤩
Hello all! I'm not going anywhere. I will be using this account to highlight the hard work we're doing in Craighead County contacting voters, motivating voters to get out to the polls, and news about activism in Jonesboro and Craighead County - and maybe some hot takes 😇
Conway folks fighting against fascism to protect your school district, you've got allies in Jonesboro, we see you. ✊ We can't let our educational institutions, whether public libraries or public schools, be overrun by fascist far-right extremists.
Found in the Ark Dem Gaz this morning. Dude forgot one thing: segregation.
The pure bigotry represented in this one letter is absolutely disgusting.
#arpx
What I hear: "fuck disabled and immunocompromised people" from the highest office in Arkansas. This is systemic genocide of disabled people, and this message tells us that it's okay if we die because we're expendable for political points. This is a disability rights issue.
#arpx
We officially have 5 Democratic JP candidates who have filed as of today with at least one - possibly two - filing in the morning. Craighead is gonna turn blue one way or another, y'all.
I want to again point out that while the Governor’s office is wasting money on $700 ice makers and $20k supposed-podiums, disabled people are out here just barely able to survive with the state’s piddly $10/mo in food stamps.
#arpx
2023 appears to be the year the Arkansas legislature will wage a war on LGBTQIA+ lives, education, truth, and free speech. Democracy is at stake. We've gotta wake up and start organizing NOW to thwart the worst of the worst. This is NOT a drill.
#arpx
What's clear is the Arkansas GOP are out of their minds, wanting to legislate the classroom based on a cultural boogey-man that doesn't exist. Their egos are stroked by far-right hate groups like Moms for Liberty, and they need to be called out on it.
Last year, my friend was attacked in the comments of a
@Region8News
post. Richard Forrister, local bigot that attacked folks for defending our library, sexually assaulted a 16 y/o boy last year, around the time of this comment. Not a drag queen. Not a book. A white dude.
#arpx
There's no reason we couldn't have automatic voter registration when people turn 18. We can expand early voting hours & encourage voting by mail. There's so much we could do to make it easier to vote and encourage community civic participation.
#ChenoaForLiberty
#arpx
@BlueHogReport
Nearly $17k for these toys! That's almost two year's worth of what a disabled person gets in benefits! That could have gone towards keeping people on Medicaid instead of kicking them off, expanding food benefits since there's a food insecurity problem... 🤬
As I told many of my peers yesterday at the organization fair at A-State, there is not a lot of young people representation in the state legislature. I'm an A-State Young Dem AND I'm running for office to change that. Young people are the future, and we deserve a voice.
Allowing development and natural resource extraction from the area could be detrimental to the Buffalo National River’s ecosystem function and services.
I support
@JonesForAR
's plan for teacher salaries and I will continue to advocate for better working conditions for teachers and staff as well as raises they so desperately need. Teachers raises NOW >> tax cuts to the rich.
Y'ALL Dan is MELTING TF DOWN about his opponent who hasn't formally announced yet and LMAO. He's big salty about
#lecterngate
too. He's giving my Erika the same treatment he gave me... I guess it's a rite of passage for SD20
#arpx
cc:
@thetrueshelby
The Craighead County Jonesboro Public Library board meeting is tonight at 5pm. I am on the agenda to speak where I’ll expose the bigoted Moms for Liberty book label scam. It will be live-streamed on
@KLEKFM
’s facebook.
#arpx
#censorship
Sustainability is the balance of social equity, environmental and ecosystem function, and economic function. Sustainability poses the questions, “How well does the human economy and the environment function?” and “How can people equally share economic and environmental function?”
District 20 deserves a Senator who's ready and willing to discuss their stances and not someone who flees at the thought of debate. Why is Dan so afraid to debate a “purple headed freak”?
Dan's made it clear that the Arkansas legislature will attempt to make it illegal for librarians to DO THEIR JOB. Librarians are experts in their field and shouldn't be prosecuted because of this manufactured culture war.
#arpx
#SaveOurLibrary
This morning around 4am, my sweet Boomer - my late mother's dog who was 15 years old - passed away. It is crushing since he was the last remaining part of my mom here on Earth. I'm glad Boomer is no longer suffering; we loved him dearly.
Repealing the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act will destroy careers in education. Will science teachers be fired for teaching scientific fact, like climate change, evolution, and the scientifically accepted age of the earth because some partisan says it's indoctrination?
#arpx
@alexahenning
Actually no, as a disabled person who can’t get disability benefits because I’m married, I actually have no income right now because I can’t work a traditional job. What are y’all doing for disabled people? NOTHING besides kicking us off Medicaid.
It would have to go through Congress to be approved, but ultimately, if designated a national preserve, the SHS admin would be handed the rights to the natural resources in the area.
Building mines for mineral extraction in and of itself is destructive to environmental. Tailings, all the stuff that isn’t the mineral you’re aiming to extract, is usually piled high left to the elements.
Dan Sullivan: "I don't want to defund the library..." (see next tweet)
Also Dan Sullivan: -signs a petition to defund the library-
#arpx
#saveourlibrary
Over the past few days,
@clarketucker
and
@JonesForAR
elevated disabled voices by bringing the awful conditions and lack of funding to light at the Arkansas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Other Democratic electeds and candidates: how will you elevate disabled voices?
Yesterday, my research advisor asked me, “Who defunds a library??” in response to our library being defunded.
“Fascists” is the only appropriate response.
#arpx
#censorship
#fascism
Met the wonderful
@xjelliott
today! When elected to state senate, I will work to keep her legacy going in the legislature. She’s definitely my role model for this campaign 🥰
Hello to all my new followers! I'm a proud redneck emo progressive from Northeast Arkansas pursuing my doctoral degree in environmental science while dabbling in politics and protecting libraries on the side. I'm also a disability rights advocate. Thanks for the follow!
Tonight, I went to our library’s board meeting and noticed a board member on her phone A LOT. (View the board meeting here: ) Follow me on the journey of whether or not I get my FOIA request fulfilled
#arpx
@CDCCLJonesboro
Fifth, they want educators held accountable for what they post on social media, which screams legislative overreach and takes away educators' First Amendment rights.
Saline Co. passed the book-banning resolution last night, but what happened there is straight out of the Craighead bigots' playbook. I keep saying this, but despite even being defunded, Craighead Co. library hasn't removed any books, and this is how did it.
#arpx
#censorship
We don’t know what is in the fracking fluid because it’s considered to be company trade secrets, although there has been testing done by the EPA that shows the chemicals in the fluids is harmful to human health ().
Both the process of mining & piling up tailings can leach harmful heavy metals into the soil & watershed, posing a hazard to all wildlife & humans alike that take advantage of the ecosystem services the Buffalo National River provides –
I’m taking time today to make calls for a fellow Democrat running for State Senate
@LisaForArkansas
to get the word out about voting! Early voting ends 4:30pm Monday at the Washington Co. Courthouse. Election Day is 2/8, open 7:30am - 7:30pm. More info at
Our local anti-LGBTQIA+ book banner extremists need to take a long, hard look at themselves with DHS issuing a terrorism warning bc people like them are killing queer folks. I fear for queer people in Jonesboro & Craighead County. We can’t be silent about the violence any longer.
the things you like to do like hunting, fishing, canoeing. Fracking for natural gas can also contaminate watersheds. When companies frack, they inject a fluid deep in the ground that forces apart rock to get to the gas.
When you ignore or count out progressives, you’re largely counting out young folks and marginalized communities. Progressive policies are popular, and when you focus on “moderates”, you shift the Overton Window further to the right which harms marginalized communities.
Dan Whitfield didn’t prepare for the DPA chair election that was held today because no one nominated him. Congrats to Grant Tennille for being elected for another 4 years. Arkansas needs you!
#arpx
What’s it gonna take to get
@SarahHuckabee
and
@alexahenning
to tell the public what they’re doing to improve the quality of life for disabled Arkansans?
From an ecological perspective – one slice of the sustainability pie – it would be detrimental to change the Buffalo National River’s status, potentially taking the land to a point of no ecologically-sustainable return. Ecosystem function could entirely collapse.
@ShannonNajma
@dunekacke
@WSJ
You should contact
@CDCCLJonesboro
because we are the only thing standing between Moms for Liberty and books being removed. Our library was defunded but we are still fighting to protect this public repository of information from literal fascists.
As an educator, I’m furious at the suggestion to arm teachers. We already are subjected to active shooter training that tells us to fight. We are trained to teach in our specific field, not kill or take down an armed intruder. That’s policy failure. Enough is enough.
EMTs are out here saving lives for barely minimum wage - not a living wage - yet demagogues at the Arkansas State Capitol want to legislate drag queens? Wut?
#arpx
They screwed over teachers re: insurance a few years back. They gutted benefits. The actions of legislators speak volumes: saying teacher pay raises can wait means you’re out of touch and pandering to the richest Arkansans by supporting tax cuts for the rich.
@SarahHuckabee
@KristiNoem
Y’all are so obsessed with genitalia, it really is disgusting. The average Arkansan doesn’t care about your culture wars fights - people are struggling to put food on the table, they’ve been kicked off Medicaid. What are you doing to help the average Arkansan?
I grew up poor. My mom was widowed when I was 4 y/o, and she only had a high school education. At the time, she was a homemaker & depended on my dad's income, so it was a shock when he passed away. She was fortunate enough to get survivor's benefits for me and my sister,
When elected, I will represent all people in my district regardless of their religion, race, socioeconomic and housing status, sex, gender, national origin, age, or anything else. I won’t answer to special interests who want to throw money at me. I am here FOR the people.
Craighead County's signature collection far exceeded the state's min requirement of 6% to have a successful veto referendum w/over 1700 signatures in our county alone.
#SayNoToLearns
Dan Sullivan had his 3rd public meltdown in 12 hours over on fb. He's doing some great advertising for
@EmergeArkansas
and my Emerge sisters. Want to help other Arkansas Progressive women get ready to run against small men like Dan? Donate today to invest in us! Link below! ⬇️
These things can include clean air and water, fertile soil, pollination, and much more. If an ecosystem is heavily damaged, it will degrade very rapidly which means biodiversity and productivity tank. Ecosystem services are severely reduced or eliminated.
The rhetoric SHS et al pushes about WeApOnIzInG FOIA is a joke because they forget about the bullshit they (far-right extremists) pulled on our library in Craighead, bombarding them with constant FOIA requests for their finances because they’re convinced the library is spending
I ran a state senate campaign w/purple hair, tattoos, being disabled & a student, as an openly progressive Democratic Socialist & atheist, only raised $10k, but managed ~39% of the vote in a deep red area that was deemed a conservative safe haven.
If I can do it, you can too.
I oppose any effort to divert public funds away from public schools including vouchers. We shouldn’t defund public education to line the pockets of private entities. That hurts the education of children that will be left behind.
food stamps. The fact that SHS et al is using our money to fund expensive pet projects or buy whatever the hell she wants from her buddies and Amazon makes me sick to my stomach when elderly and disabled people are BARELY surviving. And I do mean barely. $900/mo is not enough to
As ecologists, we study ecosystem function, which is a vital part of sustainability. We measure how well an ecosystem functions based on biodiversity (how diverse an ecosystem is) and primary productivity (how much plant material, or biomass, there is).
This is the best news I've had in years 😭😭😭 This program is funded through National Science Foundation (NSF). When I was in my master's program, I applied twice for funding through NSF and was denied both times. It's so hard to believe that my path lead me here 😭
Dan Sullivan should quit whining about his constituents telling him what to do and support a pay raise for teachers in the coming special session. He was elected to listen to his constituents and represent ALL people, not just the ultra-wealthy.
That’s all there is to it.
#arpx
If you’re not an ecologist, you’re probably more concerned with ecosystem services, which is not the same thing as ecosystem function. Ecosystem function measures the “health” of a given ecosystem, while ecosystem services are the goods and services produced from nature.
I was happy to support our public schools, teachers, and students last night at the
@arkcapes
rally in Jonesboro.
I listened to a story of a disabled teacher being forced out of her profession because of her disability. This shouldn’t be happening.
#arpx
#SayNoToLEARNS
I couldn’t have said it better. My opponent refused a debate at a local radio station because they “lean left”, yet I accepted a debate invitation with the Chamber of Commerce that leans right but you have to pay to get in. Talk about lack of accountability and transparency.
I understand why rural Republican candidates don’t debate—they can’t. They have few policies to help their constituents and a debate would expose that. However, it’s undemocratic to not be available to voters and unwilling to answer questions. I get it, but it’s bad form.
Less & less of the land will provide ecosystem services – hunting, fishing, canoeing, camping – to people not affiliated with a mining company (or a Walton).
While we did not win this race, we sure fought like hell to put Jonesboro on the map for progressive values. Tomorrow, we continue the work of making Jonesboro and Craighead County a better place to live for everyone.
Drove like a bat outta hell to get these to LR in time, and they made it around 3pm! Still so proud of the CraigHeads who did a last minute push this morning. My heart is full regardless of the outcome.
#SayNoToLEARNS
The river’s economic function is currently sustainable and is one of Arkansas’s biggest attractions, as can be seen in the KUAF interview generating over $65 mil in revenue. If the status of the river changes, that may change in favor of mining and natural resources companies.