Stephen Geigen-Miller

@stephengm.bsky.social

1793 Followers 1998 Following

I work at the University of Toronto (but speak only for myself). I love the heck out of my two kids and my wife. In between, I write. He/him

A screenshot from the information via my phone's weather app, centered on Toronto. It shows a heat map of southern Ontario and the adjacent Great Lakes and East Coast parts of the U.S. More urgently, the AQI is circled in red and shows a warning of Hazardous and an AQI of 326. It also notes, somewhat redundantly, that conditions for running outdoors are currently poor.
The morning sun rises and shines through smoke over Toronto. The haze is making the sky and sun an end-of-days red.
A picture of me, wearing a face mask for my commute home thanks to the catastrophic air quality in Toronto.
A sign outside a pharmacy shows a picture of a white woman with long brown hair examining a rash on her own hand. The text reads, "Skin Rash? Think Pharmacist. Get an assessment and a prescription on the spot."
A screenshot sharing a quote from Omar El Akkad's book One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, which reads, "It's all fiction. I understand - the novel, the speech within it, maybe the other speech too. But so long as there exists a Western self-conception that demands the appearance of purity at all times. it should be known that what shocks the most isn't the cruelty or indifference. Many people's governments are cruel, many people's governments are indifferent. It's this relentless parachuting of virtue. It's these speeches and statements of eloquently stated concern for human rights and freedom and the demand that those who abuse human rights or withhold freedom be held to account. And it's the way every ideal turns vaporous the moment it threatens to move beyond the confines of the speeches and statements, the moment it threatens even the most frivolous parcel of self-interest, What good are words, severed from anything real?"
A screenshot of a breaking news push notification I received shows a photo of people at the scene of a crashed private jet, which is in flames.
Big paper flowers in all the colors of the Pride Flag hang suspended from the ceiling in the lobby at the poster's workplace at the University of Toronto, as part of an annual Pride Month display.
In a screenshot from the breaking news app on the poster's phone, a headline links to an online news article. Above is a stock photo of people at a beach on a sunny day. Below that is the headline "Toronto weather: Teat warning in effect".
A picture of a McDonald's coffee cup, in close abd from above. The plastic lid is on, with the tab open. The lid looks like a face with eyes wide and mouth open in surprise.
A drone hovers in the air over downtown Toronto
A photo looking out from a balcony across a grey and snowy sky as fresh snow blankets the street and the neighborhood.
The 10 bakers featured on Season 9 of the Great Canadian Baking Show stand in a line, wearing aprons with their names on them, in the tent that is the location for the program.
A photo of the poster, who's wearing furry pointed ears AND a Toronto Blue Jays ball cap, for Halloween.
Using the online form to unsubscribe from Paramount Plus, I selected the "Other" reason, and included the feedback, "I'm disgusted that in a blatant display of currying favor with Trump and his fascist cabal, your parent company has installed Bari Weiss - a racist, far-right propagandist with zero experience in anything to do with real journalism - as the head of CBS news. You're fascists or cowards and you don't get my money for that."
Picture of me, the poster, in the Weisses Rossl in Plauen, Germany, eating a plate of goulash and noodles.
The poster, a middle-aged white man, sits with his son, a young white man with a beard, wearing and rainbow sunglasses, at a bench at Toronto Pride
Cover of the 1984 fantasy novel Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart. The cover is modern but uses a style inspired by classical Chinese art to depict a woman being borne aloft by a flock of birds. The text includes the title, the author's name, and the description, a novel of an Ancient China that never was.
An illustration of a stylized sprig of purple lilac, superimposed over a rectangle in lighter purple, and text in white reading "How do they rise up?" Below the rectangle, in smaller purple text against a white background, are the words, "The Glorious 25th of May" Source: reverse-mermaid, via Tumblr G N U Terry Pratchett
A still photo showing a scene from the Apple+ TV adaptation of Murderbot, with Alexander Skarsgård as the title character in the foreground.
A folding wooden chair sits just off the sidewalk, on a thin patch of mostly dead grass in front of a metal fence, at a Toronto Transit Commission bus stop.
Me, the commenter, a middle-aged white dude with glasses. I'm seated and pointing at my t-shirt, which is black with the words, "YOU WILL HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME" in the colours of the trans flag
A photo of me - the poster - seated. I'm pointing at my t-shirt. It's black, with text the colours if the trans flag which reads "You will have to go through me."
A pigeon stands on the floor of a TTC subway car.
Picture of the poster's arms extended and hands splayed against a background of Florida plant life, with some kind of fronds most prominent.
Illustration by Garth Williams from Charlotte's Web, which shows Charlotte, a small and ordinary seeming spider, using her webs to securely attach her egg sac, which is many times her size, to a weathered board in an old barn.
My comment on the Change dot org petition "Bluesky must enforce its Community Guidelines Equally", which reads: The whole point of Bluesky, the selling point that brought so many of us to it, is that it promised to be a better social media platform that isn't regularly used as a vehicle for harassment and abuse. This is a real test of that commitment, and the only possible decision if we're going to have the Bluesky we were promised is to immediately and permanently ban Singal, who has already violated Bluesky's community guidelines and has made it clear that he plans to continue to do so.
The cover of the table-top role-playing came They Came From Beneath The Sea! A furious, gigantic octopus-like sea monster rises from the depths. It lifts a huge cargo ship in its tentacles. In the foreground, one crew member clings desperately to the prow as others plummet into the creature's maw, or to the sea below.
Cover of the MONSTERHEARTS 2 table-top role-playing game. Against a red moon, three monstrous teenagers stand gazing at the reader. One, at the front, is bestial or vampiric, their long fingernails claws, fangs visible in their snarl, eyes glowing red. To their right is a witchy-looking goth, arms crossed, regarding you with a mysterious and maybe superior stare. On the left, a more nervous-looking teen with glasses, a bandana covering their hair, and a shirt decorated with a unicorn, holds their chain-clad arms over their body protectively. Are they a monster too? Are they an ordinary teen? Is there any difference?
Cover of the Threadbare table-top roleplaying game. Against a background of weatherbeaten cardboard boxes painted to look like buildings, a worse-for-wear teddy bear wearing a cape and clutching a wrench in one hand triumpantly rides a haphazardly-repaired T-Rex. The dinosaur is covered with tape and odd screws and has a can opener instead of one of its arms. In the foreground, broken-down toys including a knight with one arm, a doll with an eyepatch and a mismatched limb, a wrestler with an eggbeater in place of one arm, a saluting toy soldier and a posable wooden doll with its arms raised all stand ready for action.
Cover of the table-top roleplaying game Court of Blades. Against the background of a starlit garden and palace by night, two figures are framed by an intricate wrought-iron gate. Both wear ornate gowns. One, in a white and gold gown highlighted in blue, wears a mask and wears their hair up. They are holding a dagger in one hand. The other, in a blue gown highlighted in gold and white, smiles and wears their long hair down. Their face is uncovered and they hold a mask in their hand. Both figures have a hand concealed. It's not clear if they're embracing, fighting, concealing truth or revealing it - or all of those at once.
Cover of the table-top roleplaying game B.O.A. A snake wearing sunglasses and with an insouciant expression coils around and dangles from a doorknob. Held in the coils of its tail is a lockpick.
Cover of the table-top role-playing game DIE! Two crouching figures do battle with a third, who's wielding fire and surrounded by mystical sigils or eyes. Above them, against the background of a ruined city-scape, a mysterious head looks up, hands outstretched towards a glowing twenty-sided die. Behind it is a ruined cityscape and billowing smoke or magic.
Cover of the TTRPG Back Again From The Broken Land. Four small figures and a pony cross a fantastical landscape, with mountains in the background, and a river, a ruined fortress and the discarded sword and helm of a Titan behind them.
The cast of the 1985 CBS TV series Otherworld, about an American family, the Sterlings, who become trapped in a dystopian parallel world. The characters from left to right are teenaged son Trace (Tony O'Dell), mom June (Gretchen Corbett), younger son Smith (Brandon Crane), dad Hal (Sam Groom) and teenaged daughter Gina (Jonna Lee)
Image shows a black background, with five candles, like those used at a vigil, in alternating blue, pink, white, pink, and blue - the trans flag colors. The text, also in the colors of the trans flag, reads "Transgender Day of Remembrance November 20" Image source was the Evident Change website evidentchange.org
Screenshot of my Facebook status update from November 2, 2016, reading, "America, FYI from Toronto: We lived through the Rob Ford years. Seriously, DON'T elect the incompetent bigot with anger management issues."
A selfie of me, Stephen, a middle-aged white man with short gray hair that's going white, wearing a red shirt.
Cover of the graphic novel THE COWBOY WALLY SHOW, by Kyle Baker.
Cover of the graphic novel BELLE OF THE BALL by Mari Costa
Cover of THE CHROMATIC FANTASY, by H. A.
The cover of the graphic memoir DUCKS: TWO YEARS IN THE OIL SANDS, by Kate Beaton
Cover of the first printing of the graphic novel Hicksville by Dylan Horrocks.
A shelfie from my bookshelf, showing some of my graphic novels, with text reading "One like = One graphic novel recommendation"
Informal wayfinding sign posted on a door in the building where I work, reading "Whorestory This Way", with an arrow, room number, and although I'm not sure why, an icon of an umbrella
View of the mountains from a Salzburg street. This is so typical that Austrians don't even notice it.
The building in Plauen, Germany, where according to city records, my grandfather was born almost 120 years ago.
Sgraffito decorating the courtyard of the Kings of Saxony in Dresden, Germany.
Elevator buttons in a German hotel, with only the numbers -1, 0, 5, 6, 7, 8.
A plaza with a bunch of statues of dead Prussian army guys, on the Mohrenstrasse in Berlin
Picture of a cup of coffee and the German jelly donut called a Berliner, on a café table.
Picture of a 8 1/2 x 11 poster on bright yellow paper reading "THE PEE PEE POO POO MAN, Scotiabank Theatre, September 26th / 7:00 pm" (a picture of a bucket) "Tickets at www.peepeepoopooman.com" Spotted on a downtown Toronto telephone pole.
Bluesky image celebrates 10 million users and notes that I was #979,201 - the first 10%
The cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2.
A frame from the motorcycle slide scene from the movie AKIRA.
A screen capture of a promotional email from Canadian fast food chain Harvey's, with the subject line reading 'I heard you like pickles' with a pickle emoji, followed by 'Open for a big dill'
My son (happy bearded young man on the right, wearing a rainbow neckerchief) and I (happy middle-aged man on the left, in glasses) on the bus en route to Pride.
What appears to be DIY skateboard ramps that someone installed on a stretch of Toronto sidewalk
Pride display in the lobby of my workplace at the University of Toronto, a pattern made up of shirts and other clothes in rows hanging from the ceiling, matching the colors of the Progress Pride flag.
A small poster with cartoony, manga-influenced art depicts a seated character at a laptop, with Y and N in place of their eyes, indicating that they're dead or unconscious but also extremely online (I think?). Surrounding them are three standing figures who are probably from some media that I'm too old to recognize, one in Victorian or steampunk-esque formal wear and sunglasses, one a snowman or clown of some sort, and one cartoony figure in a hoody with a raised eyebrow. Text reads "join the fan fiction club" with a Twitter (?) handle @uoftfanfictionclub Overall, I am in the wrong generation to accurately summarize the content of the poster, sorry.