Maggie Mertens

I am begging politicians to stop selling memoirs and start doing ANYTHING ELSE.

Minnesota Softball Has A Title IX Problem | Defector On May 11, 2023, Ellerie Ulfers was pitching for Washburn High School against district rival Southwest in a varsity softball game in Minneapolis, Minn. The start time had been moved back 15 minutes, t...

What happened to a HUGE Title IX Resolution Agreement that Minneapolis Public Schools entered into last year with the Dept of Ed after all these Trump personnel cuts to the very agency that oversees Title IX cases? I got to dig into that question for @defector.com defector.com/minnesota-so...

this is great (i love bryce harper) AND can you imagine if a woman athlete did this??????????????? she'd be vilified forever.

Thanks to @markarms.bsky.social for the shout out about the fun event @brendanomeara.bsky.social and I did at Elliott Bay Books last week. I wholeheartedly agree that reading books and connecting in real life is an antidote to this awful awful time.

What Feminism Can Teach Us About Animals, and Animals Can Teach Us About Feminism I chat with the authors of FEMINISM IN THE WILD Ambika Kamath and Melina Packer

I interviewed the authors of FEMINISM IN THE WILD about animals, feminism, biology, and how some scientists are pushing back against the insistence on everything fitting a sex binary/hierarchy. Read it if you're hungry for complex, nuanced discussion...
maggiemertens.substack.com/p/what-femin...

Book Bingo Play Book Bingo for adults this summer. Read books in challenge categories. Complete your card and get entered to win prizes.

If you're feeling bad about... everything ... might I suggest going to sign up for / check out your library's summer reading program? My kid just got a whole box of sasquatch themed fun and is sitting on the coach reading AND KCLS has an ADULT SUMMER READING BINGO SHEET. kcls.org/book-bingo/

Is Rusty's brain, actually, my brain, too? Is Rusty's brain... all of our brains?

Restricting public information... always a good sign.

oh yes, exactly. Does not seem like the current system will go well!

Please recall that the WORLD CUP is supposedly happening next year in this country... and the OLYMPICS are coming in 2028.

“Ugh it’s just theatre” yeah that’s like half to two thirds of what politics is, and the Democratic mainstream’s refusal to admit that and feeling that they’re above it has hamstrung them

Thank you so much for coming, @substockman.bsky.social. It was so buoying to be in conversation with these writers I so admire! @manjula.bsky.social, @rahawahaile.bsky.social, @latriagraham.bsky.social, @maggiemertens.bsky.social

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander detained by ICE, his mayoral campaign said The incident followed a series of dramatic confrontations between immigration officials and Democrats opposing President Donald Trump's immigration policies.

“You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens asking for a judicial warrant,” he added.

Lander is then led into an elevator with his hands behind his back as an aide can be heard asking, “Where are you taking the Comptroller of the city of New York?”

www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...

Thanks for reading!

Boston! If you're interested in women's sports books, dang have I got the event for you this Wednesday @portersqbooks.bsky.social Come see me @doclb2.bsky.social @christineyu.bsky.social and Katie Steele talk about our books. Moderated by the brilliant @thefrankiedlc.news

Anyone going to the #FemaleAthleteConference this week? So looking forward to this panel with @laurenfleshman.bsky.social @doclb2.bsky.social @christineyu.bsky.social @katiesteele.bsky.social & @drlesko.bsky.social We'll be panel-ing and selling books Friday morning.

Raising My Sons as WNBA Fans is An Act of Resistance Plus, where I'll be the next couple weeks!

Just overthinking about women's sports again:
maggiemertens.substack.com/p/raising-my...

The Female Athlete Conference

www.femaleathleteconference.com

So looking forward to attending this upcoming conference this week in Boston!

@maggiemertens.bsky.social
@katiesteele.bsky.social @christineyu.bsky.social

See you soon!

I started to dig around on changes to Title IX in November and I’m not going to look away anytime soon, because the fate of one of the biggest advancements in equality laws in our country’s history is worth watching.

To put it bluntly: the way this administration is using Title IX is a huge departure from its previous usages AND it may or may not play out here in WA as it did in Maine (or California) AND this kind of budget uncertainty is likely to have negative impacts on schools across the state.

Title IX federal investigation clashes with WA gender identity laws In a departure from previous cases, the Department of Education publicly announced investigations against Washington and Maine for presumed violations.

Here in WA we've had nondiscrimination laws around gender identity since 06, and state laws explicitly including transgender youth on school sports since 07. But experts told me this isn't just about reinterpreting Title IX's definition, it's also the way they're going about these investigations.

Title IX federal investigation clashes with WA gender identity laws In a departure from previous cases, the Department of Education publicly announced investigations against Washington and Maine for presumed violations.

Officially beginning my writing about Title IX under the Trump 2.0 administration with this piece for @cascadepbs digging into the federal title IX investigation into Washington state www.cascadepbs.org/news/2025/05...

Title IX federal investigation clashes with WA gender identity laws In a departure from previous cases, the Department of Education publicly announced investigations against Washington and Maine for presumed violations.

This is @maggiemertens.bsky.social's first story with us and I couldn't be happier to have her sharp sports brain tackling the Trump administration's Title IX investigation into WA schools
www.cascadepbs.org/news/2025/05...

I would help.

More of this.

I'm always down for a guest lecture ! Can't wait to chat next week!

Women Athletes Are Seizing Their Moment As women’s sports enjoy a boom in popularity, these athletes are seizing the moment—and ensuring that it will continue.

This year’s print edition of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit is on newsstands now, and features not only these 10 badass next gen women athletes, but a real print article by me. So now you can really say you read it for the articles 😜 #siswim25
swimsuit.si.com/swimnews/wom...

lol i'm sure i exaggerated how slow he was, but also i stand by my point!!!

This was mega fun. I may have slandered one of my brothers, but also @zanopticon.bsky.social and @sarahenni.bsky.social were super fun to talk to, so, I don't regret it.

Pope Francis and The Patriarchy The Pope, JD Vance, and Systems of Hierarchy

A couple weeks ago I wrote about why "woke pope" is nice and all and yes, pls keep standing up to the you know whos of the world, but as a lapsed catholic.... another one isn't going to fix the too little too late problem the church has found itself in: maggiemertens.substack.com/p/pope-franc...