Hihi! I'm Theodora (she/her) but I usually go by Thea (also she/her). I currently live in Pittsburgh where I use computers sometimes (but I'm increasingly becoming a luddite).
I can't be bothered to find and upload a picture so just imagine the hottest transsexual lesbian possible and that's me : )
Writing:
- A Walk Through My Neighborhood
- On Gendered Socialization - People have been increasing using the phrases "male socialization" and "female socialization". Are these actually useful phrases to categorize ourselves into or are they ways of reperpetuating gender essentialism in more friendly/acceptable language?
- Provable Standard ML Programs in Lean - A subset of Standard ML, including dynamic semantics, is implemented in Lean 4. Using a variety of newly implemented tactics, this allows for writing machine checkable proofs about SML code similarly to how one would on paper.
Personal Things:
- Baking - I'm not very good but at least I haven't made anything truly inedible (yet). Maybe I'll try to get better but then I might get banned because transgenr 😔.
- Walking Around - I usually kinda just aimlessly wander just so that I'm not sitting inside all day but it is relaxing and definitely helps build an internal sense of place and scale that you just don't get from driving/biking, especially if you are just doing that in order to run errands or whatever. Plus, you find fun/interesting little places. I found a "little library" thing but with plants that you could take (not really sure how the library part of that worked but whatever) also a thing with art supplies you could borrow.
- Biking - Usually just ride stationary bike because 1. air conditioning is good 2. am not being observed 3. not dealing with bike infra or cars is nice 3. exercise is better than no exercise probably idk 4. watching movie/tv show/youtube/etc. is fun.
- Programming Languages - I have been using Lean to reason about programming languages and compilers. I have been working on C0deine: a work-in-progress, verified compiler from C0 to WebAssembly as well as a bunch of adjacent Lean packages. For more info on what I am working/have worked on see my projects page.
- Poll Worker - I've been a Majority Inspector of Elections (that means I check for people in the books, hand out ballots, help with scanning, etc.) since the 2024 general primary election.
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Books - I've been trying to read more (aren't we all). Here are
some that I thought were interesting/worth mentioning:
- I really enjoyed Xiran Jay Zhao's Iron Widow and Heavenly Tyrant. I really liked the story but I also appreciated how they personalized the systemic erasure of women in revolutionary movements (e.g. France, Russia, China) and specifically how socialists who are men understand class struggle and the violence of the bourgeois against the proletariat but don't try to or truly understand the violence of men against women under patriarchy. Reading historical discussions about this (e.g. in the Soviet Union, China) is one thing but watching the main character try to navigate it definitely makes it feel more personal and less academic/abstract.
- I thought that Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire was very interesting and feel that I often make connections to it when reading other nerd things (like transfeminist stuff, etc.).
Random Links (in no particular order):
- Ginkgo Collective - Resources for trans stuff specific to pittsbert
- HRT Cafe - Resources about diy hrt as well as homebrewing stuff. Daily reminder to not 100% trust your doctor and that just cause WPATH says it doesn't mean it's accurate.
- QZAP - The Queer Zine Archive Project preserves and distributes queer zines (categorised by year and city).
- Toilet Training (Law and Order in the Bathroom) - A 2003 documentary about "the persistent discrimination, harassment, and violence that people who transgress gender norms face in gender segregated bathrooms" (Sylvia Rivera Law Project).
