Catherine Medici, PhD

This Tylenol bs is really, really bad for pregnant people, kids with disabilities, and disabled folks who are or want to be pregnant.

Since providing this historical background in 2018 I experienced pregnancy and maternal care as a person who needs medications to survive AND given birth to a baby with her own complex medical issues. slate.com/technology/2...

Yesterday I used my experience to explain the horror of current reproductive law in America to a baffled international student. I had a c-section at 25 weeks because my organs had started to fail. Women are being denied care for the same thing if it happens any sooner because it’s before viability.

Today we celebrated my daughter’s 4th birthday. She was born at just 25 weeks and barely over a pound. Today she’s full of personality and a kid who insists on having both a special “night-night” bow for her hair and taking her toy cars to bed.

It’s exciting that Omaha/Nebraska is finally making national news for a good reason. Let this be the beginning.

City elections were today and my polling place is a Chevy dealership. For the first time they had at least a dozen disclaimers that “signs posted are due to the election and do not represent the beliefs of our organization.” It’s a bad sign when explicitly neutral voting information requires this.

I found “boring” audiobooks are distracting enough to stop the other thoughts but not so exciting to keep me awake. Started with Middlemarch and lesser known Victorian novels, but expanded to very dry non-fiction. British accents seem to help.

And even those with “bad genes” also may want children and deserve care too. The system is not set up to understand this in the best cases, I frequently confused the high risk OB office because I was the high risk one.

What sources or guides are folks using to share with students (especially international) as we hit the end of semester and summer travel season in the US?

Good to know my Italian is still good enough to follow the address of the new Pope without subtitles/translation.

Letter | Cultures of Care for Pregnant Students As a recent essay notes, it’s not just policies that matter.

One of the first things I asked when I came to my institution was “what are we doing to ensure Title IX protections for pregnancy?” Turns out no one knew they needed to do this. As we have made efforts for change the biggest barrier is still making people aware. www.chronicle.com/blogs/letter...

Ugh, yes. Being immune compromised was enough, adding shortages hoops to jump though to get a banal medication was insult to injury. Let’s not do that again.

Did not realize we scheduled the discussion about critically thinking about where you get your news on Pulitzer Day, but I do love a theme so I’m glad the universe did it for me.

ProPublica Wins Pulitzer Prize for Public Service The award, for exposing the fatal consequences of abortion bans, marks ProPublica’s 8th Pulitzer; investigation into mental health care access is named a Pulitzer finalist.

So humbled that our project, "The Life of the Mother," has won the Pulitzer Prize for public service. Thank you Mayron Hollis and the families of Amber Thurman, Candi Miller, Josseli Barnica, Nevaeh Crain and Porsha Ngumezi for trusting us to tell their stories. www.propublica.org/article/prop...

That’s my thing. All I have heard about my entire life is men’s many problems. Whomst among us has ever had the freedom to ignore men’s problems?!!

All nonsense. Men need socialism and a nap.

“I asked ChatGPT” well I asked the three Fates and the one with the scissors got very agitated when I told her you were using your one precious life thread talking to that cursed thing

A black and white illustration of a pregnant woman sitting on a chair. Another woman is supporting her from behind, while a second woman is sitting in front of her, ready to help deliver the baby.

For centuries, a “gossip” was a woman who attended another woman's delivery. The word was a corruption of “god-sib” or “god-sibling,” meaning “sister in the Lord.” The gossips offered support to mother and midwife. Only later did the term take on a derogatory meaning.

Opinion | What Is Academe’s Problem With Pregnancy? This toxic culture has to change.

My own terrible experience of pregnancy/post-partum in academia despite trying to do everything "right" made me more passionate to support our pregnant and parenting students. I'm glad to see this insightful work of @aliciaandrz.bsky.social out in the world. www.chronicle.com/article/what...

I was answering my 4 year old’s questions about my Venus of Willendorf necklace and she told me that one day she wants to have a statue in a museum and that she needs to help at the museum. Great!
Also, wow is it hard to explain all the meaning in this necklace on the spot and to a small child.

And for the opera folks I got to deep dive into historical fiction and cultural history as a feminist historian. Managed to talk about the American Girl dolls and Outlander.

I did get to talk about the significance of 10 Things I Hate About You, Six (the musical), and feminist romance novels so that was pretty great.

I had not one, but 2 public talks this week. It was a delight to talk about the influence of culture in perceptions of the past and present for Opera Omaha and the student art project Experiences in Femininity.

It's genuinely hard to express to sort of normal not politically plugged in non-lawyers *how* lawless the Trump administration is, and I think that's some part of the problem.

You sound like you're hyperventilating, but it's just a flat description of what is going on.

Librarians are my people, especially when they invite Saeed Jones for their keynote. @theferocity.bsky.social

I’ve given two guest lectures this week and in both I felt like I was definitely the bearer of bad news. Oh sorry to tell you about the significant legal precedents at risk post-Dobbs, like contraceptive access.
And I wasn’t being sarcastic about programs to support women in STEM being shut.

If you think this kind of education and advocacy is important, you can support the chapter of this group in Nebraska. They welcome students from all programs on our campus and broadened to focus reproductive justice. www.greatergoodgivingday.org/campaigns/re...

You know you’re a real nerd when you can id academics in pictures and send messages about misattributed quotes to your friends.

This is pretty much the approach of a family member’s district and the result of leadership. Thankful our experience 2 miles away has been vastly different. This is why voting for school boards matters. It’s about what is valued.

I am just going to use this to explain to my non-humanities/early modern colleagues what our conferences are like.