Helen Rottier

The hardest thing about pacing is cutting yourself off when you’re in The Zone™️. “I’ve got such great momentum,” you think. “I’m feeling good, I can do more.”

Wrong. This is wrong. That way lies crash.

Please please read this from the archbishop of Chicago

www.archchicago.org/statement/-/...

statue of Olympic rings in a park plaza.

selfie of Helen, Sabrina, and Moira with the Coca-Cola Polar Bear.

pecan waffle with melty butter and syrup.

In 1996, Atlanta hosted the Olympics, and Helen was born! Our research retreat with partners at Emory was wonderful, and we also saw the World of Coca-Cola, ate at Waffle House, and bonded over long flight delays. 🍑✈️

The year is 1996. Michael Jordan lead the Bulls to a fourth championship. Space Jam came out. And Helen was born! Joseph, Washieka, and I are watching Space Jam to celebrate March and the last night of my 20s! 🏀🎉

Now, again to be clear, I don't know that LLM's are or aren't conscious, ensouled, sentient, whatever language you want to use; but I do know that we should be very suspicious of those who a) make money off of people thinking they are [C,E,S,w/e] & b) try very hard to nudge us into thinking they are

All the wrong people have imposter syndrome.

this is like

the thesis statement of our times

I say it a lot but TBH the entire history of human technology is about accessibility. It's a lot easier and more effective to stick a post in the ground with a hammer than it is with a fist. It's easier to carry water in a jar than in cupped hands.

Disability accommodations are a rare thing that actually trickles down. You like curb cutouts? Auto-opening doors? Jar openers? Ramps? Hand rails? YOU’RE WELCOME

Even as an abled person you use disability accommodations every single day.

Supporting accommodations actually helps everyone.

US Postal Service expects to run out of cash in a year without help from Congress, postmaster says The U.S. Postal Service will run out of cash within a year unless Congress lifts a decades-old cap and allows the agency to borrow more money.

I can't help but to feel they sabotaged the USPS on purpose

wlox.com/app/2026/03/...

They did that long ago when they made the USPS the ONLY government agency that had to pre-fund benefits for 75 years back in the early 2000s. I've never forgotten about that, and I think they only recently repealed that crap.

a public utility does not need to turn a profit. this is intentional.

Forklift driver in a grocery warehouse. He loves talking to my husband who just finished forklift certification at his grocery store job.

Computer programmer (in the 1970s with punched cards) for the state government. He taught us all hexadecimal as kids.

I’m Pepsi, and I’m Actually Okay Before you ask, yes—I’m actually okay. I can feel you hesitating, the way people do when they lower their expectations out of politeness. You ask t...

"I’ve unpacked my rivalry with Coke. I’ve looked at where it started, how it was reinforced, and why I kept measuring myself against a version of myself I was never meant to be. Coke, for the most part, represents nostalgia, but I am not responsible for your nostalgia."

The process is transformative. I remember feeling like a true expert during my defense. That doesn't happen by accident or through shortcuts. Doing the work changes you. It was hard and took time, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Yup. Same here for putting together the reading lists etc etc. Damn, we worked HARD to be scholars! (Not even including the dissertation…) 💪💪💪

Mine were:
1. Bridging Neurodiversity & Disability Studies
2. Methods: Program Evaluation
3. Academic Ableism

And writing them was both incredibly challenging *and* incredibly rewarding. I can’t fathom letting an algorithm do my favorite part of my job - the reading and writing!

okay, Ill bite.
What do you think the point of reading for and writing a literature review is? The process of reading and writing is crucial for THINKING. Your ideas are shaped by all of this, offloading it to gAI, no matter how "good" you think gAI is at it defeats the purpose entirely.

Yes!

There was a moment during my oral exams where I started "arguing" with one of my committee members on a certain historiographical point. They told me later that was *the* moment I passed. It proved I was enough of an expert to disagree with a bigger expert in the field and back it up with evidence.

When someone says „Scientists do not want you to know“ you can dismiss everything from there on. Scientists want you to know. They are desperate that you know. They can’t shut up about what they found out and want you to know.

My PhD program required we prep for quals by compiling a list of fifty relevant texts. (It was literally called the “Fifty-Item List.”) It took months if not years but ultimately served as the basis for the bibliography of my dissertation *because I read all fifty of them*

THE STRUGGLE IS THE POINT. Not struggling for struggle sake, but for learning's sake. Comps are not just about reading, but locating and deciding what to read and why.

It also put me in charge of my research at the very beginning of the process. Gaining that independence and skill set is vital for being able to complete the dissertation. I know a few people who didn't finish because they had trouble with that part.

This reminds me of when I was a PhD candidate during comps (prelims). I was surprised that *I* had to put together all 3 of my reading lists instead of my committee. But then I realized that the act of compiling was an important learning experience.

It was also...fun? I think that's something we don't talk about enough. The process of discovery is very cool.

This is exactly what I thought would happen and it’s just like what the fuck are we even here for then

The fact that Talarico explicitly invokes his Christianity in the context of values like solidarity with the oppressed and resistance to tyranny/empire but it codes as moderate crossover appeal depresses me as a Christian socialist because it really speaks to the ground we've given up

The whole war is peace toolkit just gets ever more useful.

But I don't think it'll sway the Nobel Peace Prize committee.