Lauren

I've been finding it so so difficult to muster up the energy/focus to read real books while pregnant and the international booker prize longlist is currently ruining my life 🥲 everything looks so good

The U.S. Press Loves To Pretend Widespread Corruption Doesn't Exist Despite widespread U.S. corruption being anything but subtle, its presence consistently remains absent from corporate media narratives surrounding most U.S. dysfunction.

The latest edition of my newsletter is about a subject I've been obsessed with since I was a snot-nosed 20-something telecom beat reporter:

The U.S. press simply refuses to acknowledge that widespread corruption at the hands of unchecked corporate power is THE reason for most U.S. dysfunction.

what if we cancelled classes on the west coast in solidarity with our blizzard comrades

H.A. Brown Elementary School Mural By Skype a Scientist

A week ago I found out that the grant I was confident would fund our spring mural will not, bc we're 2 blocks too deep into Kensington. This STINKS.

This project rocks bc it's community driven, biodiversity-focused (& more! read on!)

We're raising money to make it happen
givebutter.com/KenzoMural

broke: building active learning moments into my lecture because it's good pedagogy

woke: building active learning moments into my lecture because I'm too pregnant to talk that long without chances to catch my breath

Teaching a molecular cloning class is going to be the ultimate do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do. I would never calculate a molar ratio lol who do I think I’m kidding

designing some primers for the molecular cloning class I'm coteaching next quarter, and finally getting to bring this energy to my faculty job

hard to say what’s sweeter, a seattle victory or a pats humiliation

instagram ad from a brand called “elder emo” for a baby onesie that says “there’s a story at the bottom of this bottle”

instagram ad from a brand called “elder emo” for a baby onesie that says “i just want to break you down so badly” with a graphic of building blocks

got my ass 💀

The art of translation and why it matters | The Booker Prizes As Tomb of Sand wins the 2022 International Booker Prize, readers and translators tell Sarah Shaffi how translated literature can help us learn more about ourselves and each other

“There are almost certainly stories we’re missing out on by only reading English-language fiction… The more translated fiction we read, the more our view of the world expands.”

when it’s 2026 and you still need to do your job somehow

insisting on calling every mass day of protest or one-day boycott a "general strike" is not the move. it's good to see people rallying around the cause, it matters, but if you want to be part of a large-scale labor action that shuts down the gears of capital, start by unionizing your workplace!!!

Wikipedia screenshot showing that vampire weekend’s debut album released 18 years ago today (Jan 29, 2008)

this album can vote now

This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program is funded by the National Science Foundation to create "points of entry" for students interested in research. Students apply from across the country to spend 10 weeks in Bozeman, Montana this summer (May 26, 2026 - August 1, 2026). Admitted students are paired with a faculty mentor, who serves as an advisor for a student's summer project. Each student receives a stipend ($7000 for 10 wks). Travel compensation, room, and board are also provided. Our program leverages MSU’s unique microbiology expertise, focusing specifically on microbes living with little or no oxygen (like those in the hot springs of nearby Yellowstone). Low oxygen microbes are essential to human and ecosystem health. They influence (or control) such processes as the breakdown of food in the GI tract, removal of toxins from our bodies and the environment, and production of greenhouse gases. They are also models for understanding the origins of life on this planet, and the potential for life on other planets. A key goal of our program is to recruit students from schools with limited research infrastructure. Being in Montana, a state with a vibrant Native American community, we are particularly interested in applications from students at tribal colleges. However, ANYONE with an interest in microbiology - or biology/science in general - can and should apply. If willing and able, please share/tweet/spread the word far and wide. Applications are due February 14, 2026. Full details can be found through our website http://www.montana.edu/mbi/reu/

Friends, please help spread the word about our microbiology REU program at Montana State University.
www.montana.edu/mbi/reu/

Each student receives a stipend ($7000 for 10 wks). Travel compensation, room, and board are also provided.

Details in the attached pic--Feb 14 deadline
🧫🧪🦠#microsky

i cannot get my university to engage with the question “why do fascists love AI and what do you believe their goals are for universities?”

man it's so cool that to turn off AI slop in gmail you also must turn off, no joke, spellcheck

Just in general, folks, if you see a "leftish" argument-- like "that's ableism/racism/sexism" for an extremely popular and effective protest tactic, guess what! It's not any of those things!

"i was wrong, it's fascism"

interesting, will you be valuing political insights of the people who were right more

"no"

will the atlantic be giving jobs of political commentary and analysis to anybody who was right from the start?

"no"

fascinating! wonder why that is.

U of A team develops new drug that uses copper to fight bacteria TUCSON, Ariz. (KVOA) - Researchers at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson are on the brink of a breakthrough with a new drug that uses copper to

Time line cleanse

www.kvoa.com/news/local/u...

There’s a rally going on in Boston rn and they’re chanting “we’re not cold, we’re not afraid, MN taught us to be brave!” and I might cry

solidarity forever

ICE agent asked why he's taking pictures of a legal observer's car, replies: "Cuz we have a nice little database and now you're considered a domestic terrorist. So have fun with that."

As clergy pray, arrests begin

absolutely worth a read if you need a laugh today

Two Seattle schools shelter in place due to reported ICE activity

Seattle Public Schools warned that ICE agents might be trying to draw out families who intended to bring their children home from school after news of ICE activity.

pour one out for the og

Thankfully we have a sofa bed in a different room because I don’t think we could keep the grandparents away even if we tried haha

this weekend we sold our guest bed and mattress as a first step towards converting the room to a nursery and man it’s really feeling real now 🥹

destroying any goodwill I had earned at my new job by introducing nerds juicy gummy clusters to my fellow teaching faculty