"Well, it’s been fun, but I should probably get back to work, checking in on the updates to my most active pages (Transnational Kleptocracy and Vaccine Denial in the United States, Part 16, April 2025–Present)."

Not a particular fan of either of my Senators but they are both a “no” to reopen so yay I guess

Driving from college town (Urbana-Champaign) to college town (Ann Arbor) after a lovely friend visit during the first snow of the season, and finally listening to Sold A Story, about reading education and science and politics. Snow driving and leaving a friend, 0/10, podcast 10/10

I can't believe ~40% of New Yorkers voted for Cuomo... like is 2020 that far in the rearview?

Thinking a lot about gen AI while grading student work, and one of the slightly less consequential but very annoying effects of it is crafting. More and more crochet & cross stitch patterns are AI, eroding quality... new crafters are getting scammed esp since some are not that obvious!

"nazi punks fuck off" "shame"

donate to your local food bank usually money is more cost effective than food Ann Arbor friends: www.foodgatherers.org/get-involved... (i am sad and livid about this entire horrific, preventable situation)

uchicago, with all of its many many flaws, continues to shape the kind of research questions I ask and the kind of scholar I am, so this is pretty bleak www.chronicle.com/article/rese...

Again, I can't stress this enough: Democratic elected officials are not constantly talking about climate change and trans rights. They are constantly talking about "kitchen table issues." Centrist pundits: Do a single fucking content analysis of their campaign speeches and materials, I beg you!

The entire mini season is brilliant, but this podcast episode about Hardin is one of the best I’ve listened to. I learned so much (Yes, the tragedy of the commons author an environmentalist of the ecofascist variety who supported abortion for eugenics reasons) podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

reminder to self- the week an assignment is due when you double your office hours, also build in a 15 minute break so you *don't* have twelve 15 minute meetings back to back. (I am TIRED, and grateful for the meeting that took 10 mins so I can catch my breath)

the cruel thing about academia is the lack of geographical stability (your friends move away and then you move away) but I am visiting @sarahelazab.bsky.social (with her fancy new TT job) soon and I can't wait

i hate it here www.reddit.com/r/publicheal...

I've been thinking about this article for *days* and still can't quite put my finger on what's bugging me about it ourworldindata.org/does-the-new...

that moment when a British newspaper has front page coverage of the biggest day of protest* since the Earth Day protests of 1970 but the biggest US Newspaper does not *let's not fight about counting methodology; the fact that towns in the middle of nowhere had protests is politically important

I didn't catch a picture of it, but I think my favorite sign of the day was "the wrong ICE is melting and the wrong Amazon is burning"

Counting Like A State, The Politics of Failed Policies, and Hacking the Electorate are all in my office, but I’m writing the first pass of my diss intro and what other social science books about data should I own? (I realize this is a niche question…)

today in public health and the federal government, 2025

Grading student writing always takes longer than I expect, especially now that I kinda have to click through citations to make sure they’re not hallucinated. I should definitely apply the old coding rule “how long you think it’ll take” * 3

NHANES was not on my bingo card of data to go (except, I suppose, the square that said "all public health data")

I picked up my dissertation today for the first time since I defended my prospectus in August and wrote like 800 words, but more importantly felt pretty relaxed about it (managing to more or less ignore the ever present dread of studying health and politics right now…) Now dinner and Discworld!

During a military-style raid on a building in Chicago’s South Shore, one resident heard a knock on his door. 

It wasn’t the feds —  it was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for help. He let them hide in his unit for the next 3 days. chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Bleak

“…there are few experienced leaders left at the CDC; some 80% of experienced center leaders were laid off or terminated, or have resigned or retired. Houry was the only permanent career official in the CDC’s office of the director by the time she left; there were 10 political appointees remaining”

WHO?? (this is the only time I get mad about passive voice)

Walking at a park is the best way to take organizing meetings, that is all

I’m a sewage system. I also have a great personality.

AI is great! This is not the first time it's been suggested that I write the opposite of what I mean.

@peoplesfabric.com is so good on so many Chicago topics. A vital part of our information ecosystem and was just exercising First Amendment rights to document government activity and the protests against it (the latter of which also used to be protected by 1A)

Happening now: at the Broadview ICE facility outside Chicago, Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino and other CBP/ICE agents emerge to patrol Beach Street and escort a vehicle out. They ordered people out of the street, walked to the end of it and then back to the fence.

it just lights my fire

I am mildly annoyed we're paying attention to Sunstein again and found the interview less comedic and more infuriating than I expected

a reminder from a friend that I printed and keep in my office

what could go wrong? (e.g. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...)

Data (alone) can’t solve social or health problems but lack of data & the dismantling of surveillance systems certainly doesn’t help

RFKJ directed me to pre-approve, in advance, all ACIP recommendations. He also required me to fire career staff without cause. If I refused either directive I should resign.

Not me panicking because I left my notebook with a bunch of dissertation notes in my APSA hotel room, but thankfully I have a friend still in Vancouver who will rescue it (I owe her one)

I just found a citation I’ve been looking for on and off for MONTHS in a text thread with a friend from April 2024. Note to self: save *everything* to Zotero

As my APSA winds to a close I’m struck by how fortunate I am to be a grad student in such a supportive community of scholars. It’s been so nice to meet with and feel encouraged by mentors old and new. The health politics and policy section rocks

Exploring Chinatown in Vancouver and the Chinatown Storytelling Center is an *excellent* small museum. 10/10 highly recommend

My 4 hour train ride has turned into what’s looking like an 8 hour one (for a pretty tragic reason) but I did meet another phd student who’s doing both 4S and APSA (!) and talked with her for like a hour which was cool

I miss the mountain and I miss Seattle Chinese food

NEWS: House Appropriations Committee Republicans released their spending bill for Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies. The legislation would prohibit taxpayer dollars for any type of gender-affirming care for transgender people. This would include programs like Medicaid

The weather on each side of this Seattle-Bainbridge ferry is pretty different!

I wonder what effect this will have on the (grifty) drop-shipping industry…

Learning about the use of AI in obit writing on legacy.com at 4S… 😯 (Also theorizing legacy.com as a “digital graveyard” that’s financialized and ephemeral)

This 4S panel on the science wars is fascinating… The transition between STS being a threat to science to STS now defending science/the existence of truth

A 6 am east-to-west flight, 2.5 panels and a networking lunch and I’m about to collapse in a heap. Sorry in advance if my 4S panel tomorrow morning expects me to read from a paper/script as I saw today, because I don’t have one! Disciplinary conventions are weird

From the Seattle airport I can now take the light rail either to Lynwood or Angle Lake, neither of which had light rail stations last time I was here! Transit is great! Off to socially study some science at 4S…

I have a Michigan presidential selection town hall on in the background and the shade thrown at the regents and Ono is giving me life. (see also: anti-AI and pro-humanities sentiment)