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Colleen Derkatch

@colleenderkatch.bsky.social
965 followers 343 following 2.3K posts

Professor/grump. Rhetoric of health & medicine. Books: Why Wellness Sells (Johns Hopkins); Bounding Biomedicine (Chicago). Co-Editor, Johns Hopkins Health Humanities (book series)

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Reposted by Colleen Derkatch
Timothy Caulfield @caulfieldtim.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
🚩 "Detox" a huge red flag for bunk. And can be harmful, even deadly... 👇 Drug made from poisonous frog's skin ‘claims first British victim’ following 'detox' ceremony www.lbc.co.uk/article/drug... Collapsed "after taking part in a 'cleansing' ceremony using the drug known as Kambo."
lbc.co.uk
Drug made from poisonous frog's skin ‘claims first British victim’ in 'detox' ceremony | LBC
Wellbeing coach, Kristian Trend, died after using 'Kambo,' a treatment banned in several countries
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Everything is on fire but I wrote a fun thing for @macleans.bsky.social. Come for the stool testing and psychedelics, stay for the ball slapping and urine drinking macleans.ca/society/heal... #wellness #biohacking #masculinity
macleans.ca
Biohacking Isn't Just For Billionaires Anymore - Macleans.ca
The fixation on ultra-masculine virility is changing how men understand their health
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
Calgary councillor on backing down from conspiracy thinking about public health: “We have a growing number of people who want very simple answers to very complex problems.” www.thestar.com/politics/fed...
thestar.com
Fourteen years ago this councillor helped Calgary get rid of fluoride. Now he and his city think they were wrong
Gian-Carlo Carra’s views have evolved since he was a newbie Calgary city councillor voting to stop putting fluoride into the city’s water supply.
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
Putting this on my syllabus
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders? That "rhetoric" ≠ bullshit (and is actually an ancient discipline that studies the production, reception, and circulation of discourse). #teamrhetoric
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
The Headspace meditation app now includes an "empathetic AI companion." What could go wrong? Well, for a start, it could break the very mind at the centre of meditation.... ⬇️ www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/t...
nytimes.com
They Asked an A.I. Chatbot Questions. The Answers Sent Them Spiraling.
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
I will never, ever, ever not be furious that a high ranking research officer at my uni dismissed an important knowledge mobilization project I wanted to propose because “AI could do it.”
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
I’ve been thinking about this for days: “Sometimes I’ll take the abstract or the methods section, because they’re using all this big terminology, and ask, ‘Can you simplify this as if you’re explaining it to a middle schooler?’ And it saves me so much time” www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/2339ca7...
theglobeandmail.com
Some university professors say AI is here to stay, so students should learn how to use it
AI is being embraced in postsecondary schools as a study tool or research assistant
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
Just over a year ago, I posted this smug update on the other site. Two days later, I broke my hand dropping into a skatepark bowl, resulting in surgery, a weird PTSD response that put me on medical leave, and months of physical rehab. 100% would do again. Life is for living. Do something fun today.
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Reposted by Colleen Derkatch
Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
New data finds Americans are more likely to support labor unions over Big Business than at any time in the past 60 years. We are witnessing a historic rebirth of worker power.  If you want a better life for you and your children, join or support a union.
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
We visited one of Toronto's virtual emergency rooms last night and it was BRILLIANT. We had a minor issue that required attention but we would have languished in a physical ER for hours. Instead: -I booked appt at 7:20pm -we saw a nurse practitioner at 8 -all was resolved by 8:15 This is smart care.
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Me, on self-care: “There is always a new diet or beauty routine to follow, a new supplement to take, or a new practitioner to see,” she says. “And if we fail to become ‘well’ despite our efforts, we simply need to try harder or try something else.” www.the-independent.com/life-style/h...
the-independent.com
I spend £8,000 a year on self-love – have I got it all wrong?
Is booking a facial or a massage really self-love, asks Charlotte Cripps, or a costly activity that keeps us looking outwards, striving for perfection and fueling us to compare and despair?
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
Very thoughtful discussion of "AI" in education from @emilymbender.bsky.social starting at 11:36. I will now forever refer to tools such as Chat GPT as "synthetic text-extruding machines." www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...
cbc.ca
© CBC/Radio-Canada 2025. All rights reserved.
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
Meet my friend Oorbee, aka Aunty Skates. We have little skater mom posse in Toronto. We’ve spent Mother’s Day weekend taking over city skate parks because if you don’t make time for fun, fun won’t make time for you www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article...
theglobeandmail.com
The life-changing magic of Gen X moms who don’t give a damn
Gen X moms are living it up in middle age, and couldn’t care less about the expectations society has for them
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Re-upping: What do you think, know, or do about AI in first-year writing courses, #TeamRhetoric and #Writing Studies? Keen on cold takes too.
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
I got shy and deleted my first post about this but it's important: the most unexpected and best benefit of starting skateboarding at 45 is I now spend weekends hanging out in parks across town with other middle aged skateboards. Zuck needs to get out of the house.
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
#TeamRhetoric and #WritingStudies folks, what are your best hot takes about AI and/in required first-year writing courses? Asking as an incoming WPA. #rhetcomp
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
You know what autism study I want to see? How many women in my mom's generation were given buckets of benzos for "neurosis" but were actually probably just autistic.
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Election Day in Canada, part 4: This whole thread. It is perfect.
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Grades are in. Phew.
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Election Day in Canada, part 3: Our system isn't perfect but I love its reassuring blandness.
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Election Day in Canada, part 2: those of us who live in the high Arctic or a remote lighthouse get to vote too. www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/2339ca7...
theglobeandmail.com
What voting in Canada’s High Arctic looks like
Several operations organized by Elections Canada to get ballots to those living in remote regions, including lighthouse keepers
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Election day in Canada, part 1: we vote on paper (most of us). Our votes become tangible—real things we pop into the ballot box ourselves. When my kid cast her first-ever federal ballot, people clapped. www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/2339ca7...
theglobeandmail.com
In praise of a democracy on paper
The use of paper ballots and hand counts for federal elections may be inefficient. But it does display a proper reverence
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
In the rare good-news department, I got an Instagram ad from the Ontario Government late last night promoting measles vaccines. After months of relentless awful news from the US, this official reminder from my own government that vaccines are safe and effective was a balm before sleep.
Image of a man with two small children climbing on his back piggy-back style. They're seated in a living room with a sectional couch and a coffee table with a plant and books on it.Government of Ontario "About measles" information page with a menu that includes links for an overview, symptoms, getting a vaccine, and international travel.Web text under the heading "Getting a vaccine" on Ontario.ca. The first lines are "Vaccination is the most effective way to prevent infection. Children who are fully vaccinated with two doses of the measles vaccine are nearly 100% protected."
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
I'm all for patient empowerment but maybe it's not ideal to upload pathology reports directly to patient portals without an explanation of what findings mean. Especially not at 6:05pm on a holiday Thursday, right as doctors' offices have closed for 3+ days.
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Reposted by Colleen Derkatch
Andrea Love, PhD | Biomedical Scientist @drandrealove.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
Breast cancer diagnoses rose by over 300% between 1973 and 1992. Was there a breast cancer epidemic?! NO. Mammograms were implemented for screening in 1976. PREVALENCE is a function of being able to correctly diagnose something. This is also about autism.
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Reposted by Colleen Derkatch
Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
But the reason why anti-vaxxers & ivermectin pushers & lockdown opponents & lab leakers aren’t publishing in Science or Nature isn’t academic censorship or prestige gatekeeping. It’s because the quality of their scientific work is insufficient to pass peer review.
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Reposted by Colleen Derkatch
Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
FYI to the NIH Director: having your paper rejected because peer reviewers found it lacked scientific merit is not censorship or gatekeeping. It means your work didn’t pass muster & wasn’t up to scientific standards. Expert peer review is what distinguishes a journal from a blog.
https://www.science.org/content/article/trump-administration-targets-academic-journals-attorney-letter-proposed-funding-cuts
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Dying from an oversharing-on-the-internet hangover today but I’m not deleting my v personal thread about RFK’s appalling claims about autism because I’m not letting that eugenicist troll come for me, my family, and everyone whose brain runs on a different operating system.
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
I'm autistic. Somehow I've been married for more than 26 years, paid taxes for 30+ years, and raised an autistic kid who is now studying engineering. I've been a professor for 15 years, a full professor for 2, and have published 2 books. Oh and I can 🚽 just fine. 🧵
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
Everything sucks but The Boss is awake so I'm hanging onto that. www.cbc.ca/player/play/...
cbc.ca
#TheMoment legendary grizzly 'The Boss' came out of hibernation
Wildlife photographer Jason Leo Bantle recounts the moment legendary grizzly bear 'The Boss' was spotted awake and roaming around Banff National Park after emerging from hibernation.
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
Aside: "Talk to other humans. Go outside" is probably the best advice for anyone in just about any situation.
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
This Gen Xer needs a very long nap.
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
Just in: The Canadian Association of University Teachers officially advises academics in Canada against non-essential travel to the US. I'm pulling out of my existing commitments and pausing any new ones. www.caut.ca/latest/2025/...
caut.ca
CAUT advises academics against non-essential travel to the U.S.
Given the rapidly evolving political landscape in the United States and reports of individuals encou
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
A good summary of why I will not be travelling to the US for the foreseeable: “The United States is not a safe place anymore: it is a wild and predatory wilderness, filled with…a brand of cruelty that wasn’t as obvious before. Don’t go.” www.thestar.com/politics/pol...
thestar.com
Bruce Arthur: There’s a terrifying reason to avoid Trump’s America
Staying away from the United States is not just a matter of patriotic principle; it’s a matter of simple safety.
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 12/04/2025
The Autism Discourse right now is so not cool. Even the well-meaning science fans rightly asserting that vaccines don't cause autism are getting it very wrong with autism.
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 12/04/2025
Not all important care delivered in hospitals is "medical." Important new initiative at @sickkidsto.bsky.social www.thestar.com/news/gta/chi...
thestar.com
Children in a SickKids unit weren’t opening up in therapy. How hair products helped these counsellors find a breakthrough
It’s hard “to think about engaging in therapy when you don’t feel good within yourself — not internally, and definitely not externally,” said Latoya Palmer, a SickKids child and youth counsellor.
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
There's nothing I would love more than for my research on wellness, natural health, and alternative medicine to be rendered irrelevant so I can move on to something new but I guess that's not going to happen any time soon.
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Reposted by Colleen Derkatch
Biblioraptor, PhD @biblioraptorphd.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
A colleague found that Blackboard now has an AI autogenerate feature in discussion boards. I am ready to give up y’all
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Truly scandalized that this @nytimes.com obit fails to mention Val’s role in the best movie about scientific research ever made. Yes, I’m talking about Real Genius. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/m...
nytimes.com
Val Kilmer, Film Star Who Played Batman and Jim Morrison, Dies at 65 (Gift Article)
A wide-ranging leading man who earned critical praise, he was known to be charismatic but unpredictable. At one point he dropped out of Hollywood for a decade.
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
I'm a Canadian and not a political rhetorician but, man, do I love a good ol' American filibuster(ish)
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
Legit only use of AI I’m interested in hearing about
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
Want to hear the story of why I'll never serve in an official university admin role again? In addition to the million other reasons, the tipping point was when I was department chair and some genius at my university decided to get rid of all institution-supplied garbage cans in faculty offices. 1/
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
Please note that cement : concrete :: flour : cake. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Is this an argument for *not* publishing in open-access journals?
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Just googled for a link to one of my articles and discovered that AI is now presenting pieces of my argument, my intellectual property, as unattributed, machine-digested facts. I hate this timeline.
AI Overview of results of a search for "Supplements as symbols." The AI-generated overview synthesizes the arguments from a research article as general facts about the topic, such as "The concept of 'supplements as symbols' is often used in arguments agains the regulation of natural health products."
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Colleen Derkatch @colleenderkatch.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
Yes, because there are almost no Americans in faculty positions in Canada lol
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Reposted by Colleen Derkatch
Lauren Bryant-Monk @starvingsoubrette.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
it's a little funny that the biggest story in Canada today is that a man is willfully avoiding the classified information that the government is trying to give him access to, and in America, the story is about the government showing a different man classified information he didn't want to see
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