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Maddie Kerr

@maddie-o-k.bsky.social
66 followers 94 following 30 posts

Sociology PhD student at UC Berkeley (+ Northwestern alum!). Studying the politics of health knowledge, gender, and disability. All yammering is personal.

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Reposted by Maddie Kerr
Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
NEW: In March the White House released an FY27 budget request that zeroed out the National Science Foundation's directorate of Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). For months it was unclear what would happen. Now, with FY26 over, the damage to SBE is coming to light. My reporting:
science.org
‘Complete devastation’: How NSF gutted its social sciences research
Agency body that funds sociology, linguistics, and archaeology studies in U.S. gave 90% fewer new grants this year
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Maddie Kerr @maddie-o-k.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
hot take but in an ideal world, the pdf versions of journal articles would all be in clean, sans serif fonts with single columns and > 1 line spacing. much better for eyes (and the crappy, free text-to-speech app i use) 🙏
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Maddie Kerr @maddie-o-k.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
it’s reached that time of evening where my “note-taking” has devolved into highlighting lines on my pdf and just commenting “#bars”
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Reposted by Maddie Kerr
Verso Books @versobooks.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Out today -- Traumatized by Catherine Liu "Liu makes a compelling case that turning the traumatically personal political is keeping us from addressing the systemic issues that make life in America so hard and—dare I say it—traumatic." -- @helaineolen.bsky.social
versobooks.com
Traumatized
What happens when an idea born of genuine suffering is weaponized as a tool of social control? Traumatized is the story of how shell shock became PTSD, how Oprah turned pain into profit, and how “auth...
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Maddie Kerr @maddie-o-k.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
never been more hashtag grateful to live in a walkable city
a gas station sign showing regular fuel prices at $6.49 per gallon
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Reposted by Maddie Kerr
Cliff PervoSCARY @pervocracy.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
This is a canary resuscitator, which miners would use to revive canaries that had passed out from toxic gas, because ideally not only do you care, you don't even leave the bird behind. just a little mining history and not at all a furious scream
A canary in a sealed box attached to an oxygen tank
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Naomi Klein @naomiaklein.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
"People are really mad and however mad you are, it’s not enough. Because there is something so profound about no longer believing in the future, about seeing no value in our shared home, in the natural world. They’re traitors to creation.” www.theguardian.com/books/2026/s...
theguardian.com
Naomi Klein: ‘Extreme wealth has a deranging effect. It turns you into a supremacist’
She’s tackled neoliberalism and the digital world, now the writer and activist is taking on tech billionaires. She explains how the super-rich are capitalising on climate and financial chaos in pursui...
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Disability Scoop @disabilityscoop.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
A decade-old federal rule designed to increase #employment of people with #disabilities will soon be no more. #LaborDepartment www.disabilityscoop.com/2026/08/31/l...
disabilityscoop.com
Labor Department Rescinds Disability Hiring Mandate
A decade-old federal rule designed to increase employment of people with disabilities will soon be no more.
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Reposted by Maddie Kerr
Joel Pollard @smirkingelf.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Since Google is being an arsehat yet again here is a link to alternatives. cyberinsider.com/google-alter...
cyberinsider.com
Alternatives to Google Products — Regain Privacy in 2026
This Google alternatives guide gives you alternatives to every Google product, including Gmail, search, Youtube, and more.
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Maddie Kerr @maddie-o-k.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Helpful summary of an important sci policy issue! Public comments due Oct 13
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The Spaceshipper 🚀 @thespaceshipper.com · 26/08/2026
RIP Tim Curry 😭
static.klipy.com
Tim Curry: Uncorrupted Space
Alt: Tim Curry: Uncorrupted Space
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Maddie Kerr @maddie-o-k.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
gah, devastated! her influence as an advocate for lgbtq and women’s rights, public health, and education AND as an Appalachian icon can’t be overstated
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Maddie Kerr @maddie-o-k.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
any sociologists have theories on the apparently increasing lack of spatial awareness in foot traffic? i keep narrowly avoiding shoulder checks from horizontal lines of undergrads
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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Finally, this has gone a bit under the radar, so I want to highlight it: The social, behavioral and economic sciences directorate (SBE) has simply ceased to deliver grants to many of its subareas. Any topic not specifically OK'd by the Trump administration is receiving zero new awards.
All of the NSF’s directorates are awarding fewer new grants, but the hardest hit is the social, behavioural and economic sciences (SBE) directorate, which the White House proposed eliminating in its 2027 budget request to Congress. SBE has so far awarded 84 new grants this year, about 11% of its average, mainly in areas of artificial intelligence, cognitive neuroscience and decision-making. Much of its portfolio, such as sociology, archaeology, political science, economics and geography, has received zero new awards. “I don’t think they’ve realized yet that there’s no awards,” one NSF staff member says of researchers in those fields. “That’s going to be clear soon.”
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Maddie Kerr @maddie-o-k.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I know it feels like there’s always a flood of public comments to be filed that may or may not be seriously read, but registering public dissent against these disastrous decisions is a small act we can all do. ❤️
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Maddie Kerr @maddie-o-k.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
i need someone to spray me with a water bottle like a cat every time i open up a new tab while i’m supposed to be reading for work. i have no impulse control when it comes to googling every random question that pops into my head!
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The Conversation U.S. @us.theconversation.com · 25/07/2026
It’s not just that politics could play a bigger role in deciding which scientific research gets funded under proposed Trump administration rules. Researchers say the fine print could disrupt medical studies, waste taxpayer dollars and make it harder to share new discoveries.
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Sociologists for Women in Society (SWS) @socwomen.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
'The Wrong Kind of Girl': Feminists Warn of the Fallout From Supreme Court's Trans Sports Decision
msmagazine.com
'The Wrong Kind of Girl': Feminists Warn of the Fallout From Supreme Court's Trans Sports Decision
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Tuesday, June 30, that states may prohibit transgender students from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity, holding that the Equal…
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Maddie Kerr @maddie-o-k.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
every week, another piece of this country’s disability rights framework gets attacked. i really don’t want to see another tired “think” piece complaining about “too many” accommodations while basic access to public/civic life is being threatened for so many people.
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Maddie Kerr @maddie-o-k.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Right on! The strategies they describe here are seen in so many documented cases of dismissing and misrepresenting certain scientific evidence to achieve predefined policies—climate denialism, vaccine opposition, anti-abortion “care centers”, conversion therapy, etc.
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Phil Plait @philplait.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
I agree. RFK Jr. is openly eugenicist.
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Dan Vergano @danvergano.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Proposed White House regulations could kill thousands of NIH-funded clinical trials, analysis finds www.scientificamerican.com/article/prop... "In any case, I do expect mass grant cancellations at NIH if this new OMB rule is passed. It will be very ugly," said one expert.
scientificamerican.com
Proposed White House regulations could kill 5,000 clinical trials, analysis finds
The Trump administration is mulling new rules that would give political appointees final say on research grants
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Colette Delawalla, PhD @cdelawalla.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
THE OFFICIAL @standupforscience.net GUIDE FOR TALKING TO ANYONE ABOUT THE OMB RULE PROPOSAL!! www.standupforscience.foundation/policy-and-a...
standupforscience.foundation
How To Talk to Anyone About OMB-2026-0034 — Your Site Title
Written By: Colette Delawalla, PhD, CEO
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 06/06/2026
Let's Streisand-effect these people. Here's the editorial that somehow merited calling the cops. Read and share.
diabetesjournals.org
Misguided Brushes of a Pen Continue to Dismantle and Destroy Biomedical Research in the United States: We Can No Longer Afford Complacency and Fear. We Must All Act Now!
The opinions expressed in this editorial are the personal views of the authors (S.E. Kahn, C.A.M. Anderson, J.B. Buse, and E. Selvin) and do not represent
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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 17/05/2026
Wheelchair user Julia Feinberg, who has spinal muscular atrophy, lives independently thanks to the 600 hours of help she gets each month to have someone assist with daily tasks. If Gov. Gavin Newsom gets his way, Feinberg risks losing the care that allows her to live an independent life.
motherjones.com
Newsom's budget shows he's not the resistance leader you think he is
Disabled people on Medicaid-funded home care are often "conditioned to accept crumbs."
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Inside Higher Ed @insidehighered.com · 28/04/2026
Board Ouster Raises Further Concerns About NSF’s Future The White House axed all members of the board overseeing the National Science Foundation Friday, leaving the agency with no board, director or deputy director. It finally provided a reason Monday afternoon. bit.ly/4e7Q9VE
Group of people seated around a round table in a conference setting, depicted in a stylized, orange-themed illustration.
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Maddie Kerr @maddie-o-k.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
I’m excited to share my paper, “Evidence, Expertise, and Exploration: Politics of Knowledge in Gender Therapy,” published in The Sociological Quarterly! For those interested in constructions of expertise, boundary work, conversion therapy, trans studies, etc.: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
Evidence, Expertise, and Exploration: Politics of Knowledge in Gender Therapy
Professional mental health organizations widely embrace gender-affirmative therapy as an approach to supporting transgender (trans) clients in their identities, shifting away from historically path...
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Maddie Kerr @maddie-o-k.bsky.social · 05/10/2025
being a graduate student feels like there are sixty tabs running in my brain at all times but i currently have the processing capacity of a dusty 2008 ipod touch
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The Conversation U.S. @us.theconversation.com · 05/06/2025
A federally funded study on #trans #mentalhealth was abruptly terminated, despite being rated more highly than 96% of competing projects and being over half completed. #Psychology and sexual health professors explain the effects ripple through science and society: buff.ly/eFZCL4H
buff.ly
Our trans health study was terminated by the government – the effects of abrupt NIH grant cuts ripple across science and society
The losses include millions of dollars the NIH has already spent on research that will no longer generate results, and the next generation of scientists whose work has been cut short.
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