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Michael Kaufman

@kaufmanwrites.bsky.social
4.8K followers 2K following 4.5K posts

Writer--mysteries, YA and non-fiction. Worked in 50 countries engaging men to support women's rights & positively transform men's lives. Latest: "The Male Ally Handbook" & "Moon Storm Rising" (K Quinn) & "The Last Resort" both with climate change themes

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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
Insects are dying: here are 25 easy and effective ways you can help protect them. Thanks to ‪@tessairini.bsky.social‬ and ‪@pgreenfielduk.bsky.social‬ for this useful article. www.theguardian.com/environment/... #nature #environment #climatechange #eco #green @theguardian.com
theguardian.com
Insects are dying: here are 25 easy and effective ways you can help protect them
From turning out the lights to letting leaves rot, these small steps can create big changes at home or in the wild
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
As a Jewish man I say we need world leaders to take action against Israel's murderous actions in Gaza and the West Bank. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
The turning point that wasn't: the way the world talks about Israel's war has changed. Nothing else has | Nesrine Malik
An air of complicity has prompted new rhetoric from UK and EU leaders. But it won’t redeem them – or change history’s course, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
Not much good news these days, but here is one: Pakistan sends ‘important signal’ of hope in a gloomy world of pushbacks on women’s rights. www.theguardian.com/global-devel... hashtag#womensrights hashtag#Pakistan
lnkd.in
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
We're living in a time of hypernormalization. We "see that governing systems & institutions are broken. [But we] carry on as normal despite systemic dysfunction" but with fear, dread, denial & dissociation. Really interesting article by Adrienne Matei. www.theguardian.com/wellness/ng-...
theguardian.com
Does everything feel broken but weirdly normal? There’s a word for that
Large-scale systems are crumbling, yet daily life continues. The Soviet-era concept of hypernormalization can help when dysfunction is the status quo
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Stephen Burrell @thedailypanda.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Talking about violence against women can make many men feel defensive. Yet as Jackson Katz points out and @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social articulated, it is closely connected to men's violence against other men and against ourselves - and we all gain from helping to end it: nowandmen.net/episode/ever...
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
This is both very cool and one of those times when you say, "Why didn't anyone try this before?" #health #dementia #research #medicine www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
theguardian.com
Scientists use live human brain tissue to speed up hunt for dementia cure
Exclusive: British team exposed live cells to toxic proteins to gather rare insight into how dementia develops
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Leading countries for jailing writers in this order: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Israel, Russia, Turkey, Belarus, Egypt and Myanmar. And growing concern for writers in the US. pen.org/report/freed... #writers @penamerica.bsky.social 🖋️📚💙
pen.org
Freedom to Write Index 2024 - PEN America
The number of writers jailed reached a new high, with at least 375 behind bars in 40 countries during 2024, compared to 339 in 2023.
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Marcie Sundaram @alliterative.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Happy #EnglishLanguageDay! For a look back at the origins of this language, here’s our video on looking for the Earliest English Word: www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Qx... #Etymology #Video #WordNerd #Linguistics #Language #Words #HistoricalLinguistics #LingComm #EnglishLanguage #HistoryOfEnglish
youtube.com
What's the Earliest English Word?
YouTube video by Alliterative
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 22/04/2025
When I took the history reporter job, I told my editor I would never "both sides" the Civil War, Confederates or slavery. I never did. But here, ChatGPT (pic 1) has turned my work (pics 2,3) into whitewashed pablum and put MY FUCKING NAME on it. I am livid, I am shaking. I don't know what to do.
A screenshot from ChatGPT: "Amid the tension that led to the Civil War, Lee was presented with a choice: remain loyal to the to Union, or side with his home state of Virginia and the Confederate cause. His decision to join the South has been interpreted in myriad ways. Some point to his deep ties to Virginia, and his personal conviction that he could not raise arms against his homeland. Others argue it was a reflection of a broader worldview, one that saw slavery as integral to Southern society -- a worldview that Lee never fully rejected despite his many claims of personal discomfort with the institution. A screenshot of my actual WaPo writing on Lee: 
"Lee is sometimes defended as a "man of his times," who, by the standards of the day, could not have concluded that slavery was wrong or that he could choose loyalty to the United States over Virginia. The former claim ignores the millions of Black Americans who were able to divine slavery's evil at that time, not to mention White abolitionists and White Southerners such as Cassius Marcellus Clay, James Birney and Elizabeth Van Lew, who inherited enslaved people and freed them. As for the latter claim it is worth noting that other high-ranking military officers from Virginia remained loyal to the United States, among them generals Winfield Scott and George Thomas."A screenshot of my actual work reading: "And despite what old revisionist history or social media memes claim, Lee owned enslaved people. He drove them hard, and he pursued and punished them when they escaped. He separated families to pay off debts and fought in court to prevent them from being freed."
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
Diversity, equality and inclusion: still a critical issue in Canada and beyond. www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/b4db36e... #DEI #canada #business
theglobeandmail.com
Now is not the time for Canada to walk away from diversity, equity and inclusion
Canadians have many pressing concerns, but research shows they have not lost sight of DEI’s importance in society
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
www.cbc.ca/news/politic... #climate #climatecrisis #green #cities
cbc.ca
Canadian mayors push federal leaders for action on climate, not pipelines | CBC News
Municipal politicians across Canada have written a letter to the five main federal party leaders calling for climate-related actions they say would improve the country's resilience to environmental ca...
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
Universities as truth-tellers: Good piece: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... #universities #columbia #harvard #princeton #freespeech
theguardian.com
Academic freedom in the US is under threat – universities of the world, unite! | Andrew Graham
We cannot be neutral with respect to fake news, misinformation or outright lies, says Andrew Graham, former master of Balliol College, Oxford
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NPR @npr.org · 01/04/2025
With the abrupt shutdown of USAID funding, many clinics, including those serving women in remote areas, have shuttered. Midwives are reporting that mothers and babies are dying as a result.
npr.org
A midwife says of the aid cuts in Afghanistan: 'No one prioritizes women's lives.'
With the abrupt shutdown of USAID funding, many clinics, including those serving women in remote areas, have shuttered. Midwives are reporting that mothers and babies are dying as a result.
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John Dupuis @dupuisj.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
‘Climate of fear’: Montreal doctor says NYU cancelled her presentation www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/art...
ctvnews.ca
‘Climate of fear’: Montreal doctor says NYU cancelled her presentation
A Montreal doctor says her presentation at NYU was abruptly cancelled and believes the university did so out of fear of being pressured by the Donald Trump administration.
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Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
#IdeasAtWork Hoping @mayoroliviachow.ca is able to take part. Kidical Mass Bike Ride for Kids, Families & Everyone! SAT. APRIL 5TH 2 PM - 4 PM Queen's Park, South Lawn h/t @kidicalmassto.bsky.social @greenpeaceca.bsky.social @cycletoronto.bsky.social #ONpoli #TOpoli #VisionZero #BikeTO
Multiple photos of children riding with adults

SAVE OUR BIKE LANES!
PROTECT OUR KIDS!
Kidical Mass Bike Ride for Kids, Families & Everyone!
SAT. APRIL 5TH 2 PM - 4 PM
Queen's Park, South Lawn
Rain Date
SUN. APRIL 13TH
if it rains, the event will happen on April 13 instead.
What to Expect:
• Rally followed by a bike ride around Queen's Park.
• CycleTO marshals will be there to support.
• Decorate your bike, jazz up your helmet, or wear a costume get creative and have fun!
• A slow-paced loop for riders of all ages and abilities.
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Last decade was Earth’s hottest on record as CO2 levels reach an 800,000-year high, UN report says. #climate #green #climatecrisis
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FinnMackay @finnfox.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Great piece, I think worth noting though that LGBTQ rights are not a mere wedge issue but have always been on the agenda for patriarchal agitators because the control & overt performative control of sexuality, gender & reproduction & of course women is a key aim; it's method as well as destination.
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Must read! "The legal frameworks & civil society institutions that protect sexual & gender minorities also safeguard other fundamental democratic freedoms" by @ayosogunro.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/b4db36e... #democracy #LGBTQ #rights
theglobeandmail.com
Democracy’s canary: What anti-LGBTQ politics tell us about our democratic future
Policies that target minority rights are typically a sign of greater democratic decay
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
cbc.ca
ANALYSIS | The U.S. has covertly destabilized nations. With Canada, it's being done in public | CBC News
Former senior Canadian intelligence officials say Canada needs to be on the lookout for campaigns aimed at destabilizing the country amid U.S. President Donald Trump's escalating 51st state threats. T...
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
Brilliant, hopeful, practical: open.spotify.com/episode/2AO0... #maleally #InternationalWomensDay #IWD #DEI #fatherhood #workplace @equimundo.bsky.social
open.spotify.com
How ‘positive masculinity’ can bridge gender gaps - and improve men's and women’s lives at work and home
Meet The Leader · Episode
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Rutgers University Press @rutgersupress.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
Feb 27 is John Steinbeck’s birthday. Steinbeck was student at Salinas High School in 1919 and his story is a thread that runs through Michael Messner’s new book, "The High School". @whistberry.bsky.social  @johnholland@bsky.social #Steinbeck #Booksky #History #Sociology youtu.be/Kvv9dDHlzXI?...
youtu.be
"The High School: Sports, Spirit, and Citizens, 1903-2024" ("John Steinbeck")
YouTube video by Rutgers University Press
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MIT Press @mitpress.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
"Our inherent cognitive biases make us ripe for manipulation and exploitation by those who have an agenda to push, especially if they can discredit all other sources of information."
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu
How Cognitive Bias Can Explain Post-Truth
Our built-in biases help explain our post-truth era, when “alternative facts” replace actual facts, and feelings have more weight than evidence.
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Kent Brockman @johnlscott.bsky.social · 31/12/2024
Any country or organization shooting shit into the earths orbit, need to have a recovery plan… and not simply that it falls to earth and burns up. There’s so much shit up there right now, I have an app that shows what’s up there, it just blows my mind. 1/2 m.jpost.com/science/scie...
m.jpost.com
The Kessler Syndrome: The doom scenario worrying scientists
"The Kessler Syndrome is going to come true," warned John L. Crassidis, a professor of innovation and space debris expert at the University at Buffalo.
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praying mantis @gentlem.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
Thank You, @indianexpress.com 🙏🏾💞🌞🌷💫 #WomensHistoryMonth2025 #WomensDay Spotlight on: #ClaraZetkin #Trailblazer #Leader #Thinker-Communicator
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
Happy International Women's Day! Needed now more than ever. Men, let's stand respectfully by the sides of our sisters in the fight for the rights of women and girls, women's dignity, women's power! #IWD #DEI #equity #women #IWD2025 #women #ally
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Gawain @niawag.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
God I wish we had a head of State who actually did something for people.
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Fantastic! Canada's national childcare program: signed, sealed and being delivered. Families will now have $10/day childcare across the country www.cbc.ca/news/politic... #childcare #children #genderequality #trudeau #canada
cbc.ca
Trudeau announces $37B in child care deals with 11 provinces and territories | CBC News
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government has signed agreements totalling almost $37 billion over five years with 11 provinces and territories that will extend the federal child care space program un...
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Jeremy Springman @jrspringman.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
My grant was one of those terminated. Our team included political and climate scientists using machine learning/language models and a unique corpus of high quality media from developing countries to model the effects of climate change on climate adaptation, political stability, and conflict. (1/2)
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Wayne Martino @waynejm.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
Special Issue: The politics of transgender and nonbinary education, research and praxis: Reflecting on questions of epistemic justice www.tandfonline.com/toc/cdis20/c...
tandfonline.com
Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education
The politics of transgender and nonbinary education, research and praxis: Reflecting on questions of epistemic justice. Volume 45, Issue 5-6 of Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education
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Patrick Reinsborough ❌👑 @giantwhispers.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Support these courageous climate justice activists in their fight against the East African Crude Oil Pipeline. This destructive mega-project is an environmental injustice and a carbon bomb that threatens all our futures. Your donation can help support their organizing! #ClimateSky #StopEACOP 🔌💡
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Tonic in a very difficult time...from a very, very different time when hope and possibility, struggle and change were in the air: Peter Paul and Mary at the Newport Festival in 1963 singing Pete Seeger's "If I Had a Hammer." #hope #music www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXfT...
youtube.com
Peter, Paul and Mary – If I Had A Hammer (Restored) – Festival (1967) – Criterion Collection
YouTube video by eueu
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
On a Toronto transit bus: A Black history month license message plus a notice from the government of Canada: "New to Canada? We provide free settlement services. Visit us today, get informed, get settled!" #migration #immigrants #justice #humanrights
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Paul Macdonald @paulmac.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
bsky.app/profile/paul...
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/f...
theguardian.com
Former NFL player Chris Kluwe arrested after attacking ‘corrupt’ Maga movement
Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe was arrested in California on Tuesday after protesting against what he said was a tribute to the Maga movement
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
theguardian.com
#AltGov: the secret network of federal workers resisting Doge from the inside
Government employees fight the Trump administration’s chaos by organizing and publishing information on Bluesky
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kamimagic @kamimagic.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
NYC congestion pricing revenue goes to the MTA to improve the city's public transit system (subway, bus, & commuter rail, etc). So far, it has generated $48.6mm in revenue, with net $37.5mm operating revenue after expenses. Yet, F47 wants it killed. Hmm #ProudBlue www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/n...
nytimes.com
Congestion Pricing Reduced Traffic. Now It’s Hitting Revenue Goals. (Gift Article)
Revenue figures from the Manhattan tolling plan showed that the program is on track to raise billions for mass transit repairs.
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
Beautiful statement! What compassionate political leaders do: Premier Wab Kinew (who is of First Nations ancestry) on why Manitoba is bringing in two wounded children from Gaza to get medical help: www.tiktok.com/@wabkinew/vi... #politics #leadership #gaza #Canada
tiktok.com
Today we welcomed a Palestinian child and their mother to Manitoba for life-changing medical care. We are responding to the humanitarian crisis by helping this child get the health care they need. Thr...
TikTok video by Wab Kinew
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
Some encouraging environmental news in a very bleak time: www.theguardian.com/environment/... #green #farming #science #environment #sustainable
theguardian.com
UK soil breakthrough could cut farm fertiliser use and advance sustainable agriculture
Research group says discovery could lead to new type of environmentally friendly farming
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Stephen Leahy @stephenleahy.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
Who is next? Conference to “re-lay the foundations of civilization” Featuring House Republican speaker Mike Johnson and UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, plus Vivek Ramaswamy, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright... www.nationalobserver.com/2025/02/17/n...
nationalobserver.com
Leaked guestlist shows oil execs and conservatives from Canada and U.S. gathering at Jordan Peterson's conference
Executives from some of the world’s biggest oil and gas firms are listed as attendees at a conservative conference in London whose keynote speakers include the leader of the Heritage Foundation – the ...
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Paul Macdonald @paulmac.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Anthropogenic Global Warming, Coastal Flooding, Saltwater Intrusion, Land Subsidence, Storm Surge, & Sea Level Rise 🧵 The ocean has risen some 80 mm (over 3") since 2000 (all of that rise is on the ledger of human activities [from Slangen et al 2016]). www.nature.com/articles/ncl...
nature.com
Anthropogenic forcing dominates global mean sea-level rise since 1970 - Nature Climate Change
Analysis of anthropogenic and natural contributions to twentieth-century sea-level rise shows natural contributions dominated in the early years. After 1970, anthropogenic forcing becomes the dominant...
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
Brilliant! What has aid actually done for anyone? www.linkedin.com/feed/update/... #AID #foreignaid @savethechildren.org
linkedin.com
Dante Licona on LinkedIn: What has aid ever done for anyone? Feels like time to repost that great… | 43 comments
What has aid ever done for anyone? Feels like time to repost that great Save the Children UK video from some years back. | 43 comments on LinkedIn
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Bezos immediately went on X/twitter to ask for advice on who should be the next James Bond. Word has it that Trump was the very first to reply, demanding the roll for himself. #jamesBond www.theguardian.com/film/2025/fe...
theguardian.com
James Bond producers give Amazon full creative control of 007
Deal is struck with heirs to film producer Albert ‘Cubby’ Broccoli, long-serving stewards of franchise
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
exactly what we need: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
We are on the road for democracy and justice | Bernie Sanders
What we are fighting for is not ‘utopian’ or unachievable. Trumpism can and must be defeated
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
I'm trying not to do doom posting, but George Monbiot is worth sharing: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
There are many ways Trump could trigger a global collapse. Here’s how to survive if that happens | George Monbiot
It could be wildfires, a pandemic or a financial crisis. The super-rich will flee to their bunkers – the rest of us will have to fend for ourselves, writes columnist George Monbiot
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
This is wonderful--both in itself and in a world that is increasingly going the wrong way. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
cbc.ca
Canada recognizes Aboriginal title over Haida Gwaii in historic agreement | CBC News
The Big Tide Haida Title Lands Agreement affirms that the Haida have Aboriginal title over all of the islands' lands, beds of freshwater bodies, and foreshores to the low-tide mark.
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
I don't think I ever watched this interview--but it seems particularly appropriate now. www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/... #VAW #DEI #parenthood #fathers #equality #feminism
bloomberg.com
Canadian Writer Michael Kaufman on Gender Equality
In this edition of Bloomberg Equality, Michael Kaufman, a Canadian author and theorist, discusses the importance of engaging men and boys to support gender equality, promote engaged fatherhood, and en...
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
On Feb. 14th I try always to give honor to one of the greatest contributors to American democracy in our nation’s history, Frederick Douglass. Born into slavery, Douglass never knew his actual birthdate, and adopted Feb. 14th as the day. His penetrating insights about our country inspire me daily.
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
Saying ‘women’ is not allowed, but ‘men’ and ‘white’ are OK? I’m (not) shocked by Arwa Mahdawi www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... #equality #equity #DEI
theguardian.com
Saying ‘women’ is not allowed, but ‘men’ and ‘white’ are OK? I’m (not) shocked | Arwa Mahdawi
Thanks to Donald Trump’s sweeping executive orders attacking a number of terms, ‘women’ is literally being erased
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
Bob Marley was born today (Feb 6) back in 1945. I'm glad i got to meet him in 1980. I was doing my grad research in Kingston, Jamaica and, in the midst of food shortages, brought for him from Canada a sack of rice & a jug of cooking oil. #music #reggae #Jamaica #BobMarley #birthday
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Michael Kaufman @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
Cool: Certain sounds elicit the same interpretations across languages. Eg: show pictures of a pointy star shape & a puffy cloud shape, & say one is a kiki & one is a bouba, >90% of people worldwide say the pointy thing is the kiki & the puffy cloud is the bouba magazine.utoronto.ca/research-ide...
magazine.utoronto.ca
The Hidden Power of Words - University of Toronto Magazine
How verb tenses, word sounds – even abbreviations – shape perceptions, behaviour and trust in a digital world Read More
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