Magdalena Donea | 🇷🇴 🇬🇷 🏳️‍🌈 ♿️

@maggy.kia.net

1374 Followers 1143 Following

Former refugee. Abolitionist. Old-school net.person. UW MA Cultural Studies. UCSD PhD (in progress) Comm/STS. Surveillance, unbelonging & mediation of displacement. Unprecedentedness and crisis. Critical Data, AI, DH, maps, archives. She/They/Any

Corner of a kitchen with light fixture shown dangling precariously from a crumbling ceiling.

Lena Olin as Sabina in "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" - a brunette long-haired woman in a black bowler hat, dangling earrings and khaki trench coat, looking over her shoulder off-screen.

Portable tool kit branded "EE & TwC Forum: Engineering Excellence * Trustworthy Computing" (Microsoft circa... 2008?)

Redacted (for privacy) email screenshot:

"Dear [---] Residents,

We want to provide you with advance notice of upcoming drone flights that will take place over the [---] Apartment community as part of UC San Diego's 3D Campus Mapping Project.

The project uses drone imagery to create a comprehensive 3D model of campus that supports several campus initiatives, including improved navigation, emergency preparedness, and accessibility efforts.

The scheduled flight dates and times are: [---] Thursday, July 23, 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

The drone will operate approximately 150-200 feet above ground level and will follow planned flight paths designed to minimize disruption to residents and daily activities. We do not anticipate any impacts to parking, pedestrian pathways, or access to buildings."

Evening sky all pink and glowing.

Xena the Warrior Kitty in better days. (A tabby cat belly up on a red blanket- covered armchair)

BlueSky header for Magdalena Donea. Header photo: a street memorial to heroes of the Romanian revolution, photo by yours truly from Bucharest, June 1991.

"Eligibility
The nominee must be a U.S. citizen with a GPA of 3.5 or higher. The nominee may be a naturalized citizen, but supporting documents must be on file. Legal Permanent Residents (Green Card holders) are not eligible."

HER NACREOUS SHELLS: POEMS
Patrick McCuller

A Cybertruck painted "dumpster flat-blue" for some reason.

Completely useless Canvas spam that for some unholy reason is still going out.

*UCSD* Canvas showing a message from the hackers saying, in part: "If any of the schools in the affected list are interested in preventing the release of their data, please consult with a cyber advisor firm and contact us privately at [] to negotiate a settlement. You have till the end of the day by 12 May 2026 before everything is leaked. Instructure still has until EOD 12 May 2026 to contact us."

Part of an email: "How startups and Mastercard build the future of secure fintech. Find out on 4/9!
Find out how you can partner with companies like Mastercard—and what it takes to build and scale global solutions within financial services on April 9.

UC San Diego's Office of Innovation and Commercialization invites you to join this upcoming Meet the VC speaker series on April 9, 2026."

Gas station receipt from San Diego 92122 3/23 showing $6.59/gal price, with text overlay that says "after $0.20/gal grocery discount"

"Here's a quick look at your credit score activity from 19 de febrero de 2026 to 13 de marzo de 2026 that was monitored by CreditWise from Capital One...."

Rutger Hauer as Etienne de Navarre. And Ladyhawke.

Equitable Access Textbook Program Launching Fall 2026
We are excited to announce Triton One, a new equitable access textbook program for UC San Diego students, that will launch Fall Quarter 2026. The program will provide access to required textbooks for undergraduate students at a flat rate of $199 per quarter. Materials in this program will be provided in a digital-first format on Canvas and will be available to students no later than the first day of classes.

Students will be automatically enrolled to ensure they are prepared for the first day of instruction. However, students can opt out of the flat fee by the Friday of week 2 each quarter.

Crates of blue plums on display at a fruit market.

Graph showing how the divorce rate in Maine correlates with the per capita consumption of margarine.

Photograph of a street poster that says "WE CAME HERE TO GET AWAY FROM YOU" pasted on a sidewalk structure.

Cover of UNIX SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION HANDBOOK, 2nd Edition (1995) by Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Scott Seebass & Trent R. Hein.

Screenshot from a document:
"COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES

Welcome to TMC 15: Public Service in America! This core course for UCSD’s Public Service Minor examines public service as a dimension of everyday life, not only as institutional practice but as a form of participation in which people engage one another and work toward social change. You will explore how collective action unfolds across shared social worlds, intersecting sectors, and the infrastructures that shape participation, responsibility, and possibility.

The course engages with both persistent social challenges and contemporary public issues, with particular attention to education, health, justice, and government. Emphasizing the reciprocal relationship between theory and practice, the course will help you develop understanding of ethical, responsive, and community-centered approaches to social change. We will approach public service and changemaking through theoretical, empirical, and reflexive perspectives, with a focus on working with communities through agency-based and collaborative frameworks. Throughout the course, you will connect course concepts to your own experiences and to pressing community challenges, using these connections to clarify how public service practices and strategies for change become meaningful and actionable in everyday contexts."

Book order summary showing "Theory of Water" by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, "Remake the World" by Astra Taylor, "No Straight Road Takes You There" by Rebecca Solnit, and "Teach Truth" by Jesse Hagopian.

A big pot of cranberry sauce on a stove.

DVD cover for State of Grace (1990) feat. Gary Oldman, Sean Penn, Ed Harris.

A hand holding a round black sticker of what might be the US flag in B&W with one stripe in green. The end of the stripes all look like guns. Text caption says "FREEDOM IN ALL CALIBERS" and "TPUSA"

Screenshot of Sarah Kendzior's note on Substack from Nov 10, 2025 (8pm-ish PDT) -

"I've been suspended from BlueSky. I don't know why. I wasn't online much today, and the last things I posted were excerpts from my substack newsletter articles. The suspension followed without explanation.

It seems there's a crackdown. If you enjoy my work and want to make sure you can access it, subscribe! It's free - I would never paywall in times of peril - and voluntary paying subscribers keep it going. It would be great to have your support at this time. Thanks!"

Selfie of brunette woman in a car wearing sunglasses.

Jigsaw puzzle pieces scattered across a black tabletop with other objects at the periphery.

A dune buggy kicking up a monster cloud of red sand behind it, with a grinning cat spliced in as its driver. The caption reads: "actual photo of my cat leaving its litter box."

A posting meme challenge:
“Music Ask
1. A song you like with a color in the title
2. A song you like with a number in the title
3. A song that reminds you of summertime
4. A song that reminds you of someone you would rather forget about
5. A song that needs to be played LOUD
6. A song that makes you want to dance
7. A song to drive to
8. A song about drugs or alcohol
9. A song that makes you happy
10. A song that makes you sad
11. A song that you never get tired of
12. A song from your preteen years
13. One of your favorite 80's songs
14. A song that you would love played at your wedding
15. A song that is a cover by another artist
16. One of your favorite classical songs
17. A song that would sing a duet with on karaoke
18. A song from the year that you were born
19. A song that makes you think about life
20. A song that has many meanings to you
21. A favorite song with a person's name in the title
22. A song that moves you forward
23. A song that you think everybody should listen to
24. A song by a band you wish were still together
25. A song by an artist no longer living
26. A song that makes you want to fall in love
27. A song that breaks your heart
28. A song by an artist with a voice that you love
29. A song that you remember from your childhood
30. A song that reminds you of yourself”

Album cover for Lisa Gerrard and Pieter Bourke's "Duality" (1998)

A flyer for a UCSD Summer Session course on "Data and AI Industries" reads:

Advances in AI and data science raise new and old issues about the role data plays in society. This class examines how data and what has come to be known as "AI" - as technologies and industry practices - transform work, politics and everyday social life. Together, we will learn how institutions (especially cultural industries) collect data, make predictions, and automate labor. We will engage critically with data/AI practices and cultural representations of data/AI, discussing issues like privacy, power, bias, representation, regulation, and labor. We will learn to look critically at hype, sift through real or imagined concerns, consider who should be responsible for solving emerging problems, and explore possible pathways for change in both industry and our wider communities. Students will learn high-level tech concepts, but this class has no programming requirement." (this description borrowed some thematic keywords from related department programming)

An email from my building maintenance that says: "Greetings Magdalena Donea, According to our calculations, your Fix-It service is finished! To jog your memory, this request was for: (in red) toilet is screeching after filling up."

Text screenshot: 'Entitled "GenAI: Content Risk Standards," the rules for chat bots were approved by Meta's legal, public policy and engineering staff, including its chief ethicist, according to the document. Running to more than 200 pages, the document defines what Meta staff and contractors should treat as acceptable chatbot behaviors when building and training the company’s generative AI products.'

Cover of the book "Civil Service" (poems) by Claire Schwartz. The cover is a murky gray background decorated with two ghostly, empty robes.

Meme depicting soldiers in tactical gear and formation with guns drawn, labeled "Software Engineer," "Data Engineer," "Data Analyst," "ML Engineer" and "Data Scientist." Among them is a man in full clown gear with yellow clown shoes on, labeled "Prompt Engineer."

Doctor Who and the Face of Boe

Infographic titled "Futuristic Movie Timeline" featuring a view of the Earth from space and a timeline of when a number of SF films take place.

Screenshot from an e-mail inbox with more than a dozen identical emails from the U.S. Department of Education, subject line "Help Us Prevent Fraud - One-Question Survey. Know When You're Being Scammed."

Results of a "super-personality" test revealing my superpower to be NECROMANCY ("summoning spirits are my forte!") - I am apparently: curious about everything, even the unknown; the spirits don't lie; intelligence is strength; spell-caster, death magic; skeleton army.

Personality traits: I prefer to be by my self; ideas, ideas, ideas; analysis paralysis; imaginative & creative; honest; ughhh I can't wait anymore; insensitive; daydreaming; logical.

My team: shapeshifter, dream walker. My enemies: telescope vision, accelerated healing.

Whiskey ad featuring Harrison Ford in the Highlands, in a kilt, his right foot up on a rock, bottle of whiskey resting on his knee, his opposite hand holding a glass.

Photograph of a walking path through a shopping mall full of tourists and very expensive whiskeys.

Bun with lemongrass and chicken.

Facade of a Vietnamese restaurant in Stirling, Scotland, UK. Open after 6pm (and delicious!)

Escalator downward, sign on the wall proclaiming, "Welcome to Edinburgh"

The cover of a blue book exam book - a thin notebook used to administer in person written exams.

Silhouettes of downtown Seattle skyscrapers, sunset peeking out from under cloud cover and sending dramatic rays of light outward.

A glass bottle with some purple juice at the bottom on a desk in front of messy stacks of some amazing books and a desk lamp.

Screenshot of a post from Teen Vogue announcing Sadie Sink on the cover, with artful photos. A user responds with "Gorgeous and age appropriate"

A UC San Diego campus notice that begins: "OFFICE OF THE CHANCELLOR

April 4, 2025

ALL ACADEMICS, STUDENTS AND STAFF AT UC SAN DIEGO, INCLUDING UC SAN DIEGO HEALTH

Updates on Recent Federal Immigration Actions

This week, the federal government began issuing numerous terminations of student visas for international students across the country. Yesterday, without warning, we received notification that five UC San Diego students had their F-1 visas terminated. The federal government has not explained the reasons behind these terminations. The students have been notified, and we are working directly with them to provide support. In addition, this week, one UC San Diego student was detained at the border, denied entry and deported to their home country. "

White Tesla at a red light, sporting a bumper sticker that says "I BOUGHT THIS BEFORE WE KNEW ELON WAS CRAZY"

Hi [redacted] resident,

The Landscape team has noticed some personal gardening outside the apartments. While it’s great to see the care for the space, potted plants and personal gardens around the buildings can make it difficult for the mowing and irrigation teams to do their work.

To help maintain the area, please remove any potted plants, as these are not permitted around the apartments. Plants not part of the original landscaping plan will be removed by the Landscape team during the upcoming maintenance.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.

A quote from a Forbes email newsletter from 2/21/25: "Walmart shares had their worst day in over a year Thursday, despite robust fourth-quarter results. And the retail giant's heirs lost billions.

The retailer's guidance for this year was weaker than Wall Street expected, causing its stock to plummet 6.5%, and each of Walmart founder Sam Walton's three living children saw more than $6 billion knocked off their net worth.

Walmart, the world's largest company by revenue, cautioned about tariffs. 'We're wired to try and save people money, so that'll be our ultimate goal,' CEO Doug McMillon said."

A person who looks vaguely Jesus-y wide-eyed and boggling at what they see just out of frame below.

screenshot from a mailing, titled (center-top) TRUTH TO POWER. The message says: "These days, there's a lot of nastiness in our politics. You only have to watch the news for a few minutes to see a report about Democrats and Republicans not getting along. But in this time of polarization, I have a story of friendship to share..."

Below the text is a photo of a dog and a cat curled up and napping together.

Sunny vista of a community garden in San Diego.

screenshot from a credit card notice titled "Important Changes to your Account Terms" showing a new Annual Percentage Rate (APR) for Purchases rising to 35.99% after 04/25/25. Plus a new "paper statement fee" of $2.99/month if you want paper statements.