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Megan Carolan

@megancarolan.bsky.social
525 followers 384 following 1.3K posts

I work on early childhood policy, I complain about drivers, I share my kids' wit and whimsy, and in between I run a little. Living in Jersey City. Opinions are my own.

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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
NOW is the time to submit your comments about the proposed changes to Head Start Performance Standards which are a huge threat to quality. Not sure where to start? Use our "first draft" letter generator to get started, customize, and submit! www.instituteforchildsuccess.org/head-start-l...
instituteforchildsuccess.org
Head Start Letter Generator - Institute for Child Success
Opening the Head Start Letter Generator… If it does not open, continue to the generator.
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The Peculiarity Shop @peculiarityshop.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
It took me over three months to complete this piece. The hardest part was finding the thimble holder in a pattern that even remotely matched the rest of the chatelaine. Given the vintage and the quantity of sterling on it, it's a $1600 piece, but it is DONE.
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Sharing for my friends in academia - my cousin Dawn Leas is speaking at this (free, virtual) event and this sounds uncomfortably familiar for a lot of you. "Turn Your Disenchantment With Academia Into Soul-Led Livelihood" ivorytowerinnerfire.com/2-summit-reg...
Text and graphic. "Does any of this sound familiar?

You've finally seen behind the curtain and realized that as many things as you love about academia, academia will never love you back.

You’re grieving the identity you built inside academia, but you're not sure who you are outside of it.

You can't see a way out of academia and aren't sure if you want to leave but also you know that you can't keep ignoring your intuition.

You long to do soul-aligned work, but you don’t want to throw away your academic training or abandon your salary, however meager."
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
My family members had not seen or even heard the discourse around the Sweeney "just sports" ad until yesterday's Yankees broadcast Particularly appreciate my mom's rage.
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I've accepted my grays as a color but I was not prepared for how they change the texture or behavior of your hair. Having a bit of an alfalfa moment today.
Close up of white woman with large glasses. Her hair is middle parted with several short gray squiggly hairs sticking up
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Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
New York's governor removes DA in Cornell rape allegations, appoints AG Letitia James to take over www.kiro7.com/news/texts-s...
kiro7.com
New York's governor removes DA in Cornell rape allegations, appoints AG Letitia James to take over
New York’s governor has appointed a special prosecutor to oversee an investigation into a woman’s allegations that she was gang raped at a Cornell University fraternity house, saying she had lost fait...
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
do men understand the extent to which women are ready to burn it all down right now
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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
There is a moment at the very very end of Abdul El-Sayed's podcast with Ezra Klein (book recommendation section) where he talks about the idea of "speaking truth to pain" and this will be staying with me for an extremely long time. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/o...
But there’s also something about truth to pain. We talk a lot about truth to power, but I think it’s actually a lot harder to speak truth to pain. I say that as someone who went to medical school, realizing that in a lot of our politics right now, we’ve got to get a lot better at speaking truth to pain if we’re going to get through some of these challenges that we have.

What does “truth to pain” mean?

It’s one thing to look power in the eye and say: You’re wrong about this. But there’s a way in which pain is very difficult to reason with. Because when somebody is in their pain, they’re in their trauma. They see that pain, and they may not see what’s causing it.

I remember just very explicitly being in a trauma ward with a gunshot wound patient and watching this big guy with his hand on his gunshot wound. All the folks are trying to pull his hand off his pain, that point of his gunshot wound, this clear vulnerability.

And this emergency room doctor had the presence of mind to be like: Everyone, stop. And she looks him in the eyes, and she’s like: I get that really hurts, and I’m so sorry that you’re here. You don’t want to be here. We don’t want you to be here. But if you don’t let us fix this, you could die. So I’m going to take your hand, and I’m going to move it off, OK? Because I need to get there so that you can live.

She was speaking truth to pain. He understands he’s at the hospital, he needs care, but he also doesn’t want anybody to touch the wound. Which is a natural thing. And I think it is a really great metaphor for how we think about a lot of these challenges we talked about today.
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
As grateful as I am that the folks from the FlyDubai flight are home, is it typical that witnesses like this would be sent home from the site of the investigation so quickly? BBC reports one guy replanes in Tel Aviv got sent to the hospital - shouldn't that have been done in Saudia Arabia!?
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
So I have $2,000 sitting in an old 403b that hasn't been invested - whoops. Since this is sort of "found money" for me, I want to focus not just on returns. Can anyone recommend a relatively hands-off investment vehicle that aligns well with #BDS? Likely through a rollover IRA.
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I've never done improv but I have played a lot of pretend with a 5yo so my "yes, and..." muscles are quite developed.
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
""But parents and caregivers are not bundles of services to be optimized, and children don’t need perfectly calibrated childhoods. They need presence. They need imperfect humans who show up consistently." www.instituteforchildsuccess.org/parents-dese...
instituteforchildsuccess.org
Parents Can’t Wait for AI Research to Catch Up with AI Innovation. They Deserve Guidance Now. - Institute for Child Success
AI is moving into homes, schools, and bedtime routines faster than researchers can study. Which means parents are left making short-term decisions with lifelong consequences, often with little guidanc...
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
In a few weeks, I am doing one of the coolest things I've ever done: donating a portion of my liver to someone in need! I am posting for two reasons: 1. To share a bit about living organ donation, and how there's a TON of support for donors 2. To ask for a bit more support where it isn't covered
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 24/09/2026
NEW: Emergency motion asks First Circuit if its decision overturning DHS's third-country removal policy is effective immediately or not. They cite my reporting, and reveal tomorrow's ICE flight to make TCR stops in Central African Republic, Rwanda and Burundi. www.courtlistener.com/docket/72347...
courtlistener.com
Motion (other) – #00108513219 in D.V.D. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (1st Cir., 26-1212) – CourtListener.com
EMERGENCY MOTION to Clarify the Effectiveness of this Court's Decision or, In the Alternative, Confirm the Stay is Lifted or Issue the Mandate filed by Appellees D.V.D., E.F.D., M.M. and O.C.G.. Serve...
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Very much needed @lyz.bsky.social in my inbox today with this. I decided to skip a work event I was very much looking forward to in order to catch up at my desk. The mental peace I will protect by catching up is worth it. And yet- saying no is hard. www.patreon.com/LyzLenz/post...
patreon.com
It’s time to quit when shit is running down your leg | Men Yell at Me
Last week, Australian athlete Joanna Wietrzyk won the Hyrox games in Beijing with diarrhea running down her leg.  Hyrox, if you don’t know,
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 20/09/2026
The Third-Country Removal Tracker has been updated with last week's ICE flights to Costa Rica and Paraguay. Crossing fingers that, with the appeals court decision, this may be the last update for awhile. We'll see. gillianbrockell.com/tracking-all...
gillianbrockell.com
Tracking All of Trump’s Known Third-Country Removals
Trump's ICE has expelled an estimated 23,000 people to countries where they have no ties. Find out where they are going, what happens to them, and who profits.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
My friends with young kids cry real tears whenever Ms. Rachel once again does not fail them. That’s real. And it matters.
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Shana @shanamd.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I am SORRY for sharing something that was posted on the other place, but this is too good.
The future pope at a party with a caption “they don’t know I’m the future pope”
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I've generally been supportive of New Jersey having a temporary disability program that allows for a LOT of different scenarios. But I am BAFFLED to now apply to use it and not be able to submit for a future date. I am told to resubmit the first day I miss work- aka, the day of my surgery.
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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I'm admittedly not an early child development expert but it does seem the ideal scenario for any baby is being collectively raised by a traveling women's professional soccer team
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Shrinking is one of the few shows I do make time for, even if I've got some complaints with it. Michael J Fox coming on board as someone living with Parkinsons will probably destroy me (complimentary). www.yahoo.com/entertainmen...
yahoo.com
Michael J. Fox saw Harrison Ford’s Parkinson’s acting on ‘Shrinking,’ and immediately reached out
Michael J. Fox was so moved by Harrison Ford's Parkinson's portrayal on Shrinking, he demanded a role.
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I would now like Taylor Swift level coverage of any and all of Malala's football Fandom, thank you.
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Action Together New Jersey @atnj.org · 13/09/2026
Northern NJ Flash Flood Warning from the National Weather Center. Don't travel if not absolutely necessaary.
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
One of the stranger things in my personal processing of 9/11 as an adult is that my Brooklyn-raised husband was not here for it, off at college; I, the NJ suburban girl, have the memories of fighter jets and my mom avoiding one route home because we would have seen the smoke.
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
The 25th anniversary of 9/11 has brought out a lot of stories I have never heard. I am absolutely floored by the incredible care providers who evacuated children from the WTC daycare amidst chaos and horror. Chills. slate.com/life/2026/09...
slate.com
When the Planes Hit on 9/11, a World Trade Center Daycare Was in the Middle of Drop-Off. Its Story Hasn’t Been Told Until Now.
The teachers' heroic actions saved 28 young lives.
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I'm here to tell you that 25 years later you absolutely cannot assume that your child's school is doing an age-appropriate job of talking about 9/11. My kindergartener got a (badly designed) coloring page with the Towers on fire.
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Nathan Edwards @grackle.space · 22/09/2025
dudes rock
Tumblr post from every-lemon 
Sep 8

so my spouse is part of a weirdly intense but mostly benign men's workout group that meets at like, 5:30am outside every day, even in winter. they do a lot of burpees and lugging cinder blocks up hills and stuff.
they take turns leading the workouts and tomorrow is his turn. I asked what he was planning. he handed me a sheet of William Carlos William poems from a large stack he'd printed.
I said "what" and he explained, helpfully, "it's a William Carlos William themed workout." I asked what inspired it and he said "l've been planning this for months."
Follow up tumblr post 
every-lemon
Sep 9
it was a smash hit.
a dozen guys showed up (more than usual). spouse brought a red wheelbarrow and they took turns bringing cinder blocks up the hill with it. then they broke up in teams and did a relay with an "icebox" (cooler filled with 40lbs of ice). at the end he opened the cooler to reveal it was full of beach plum lacroix and all the guys cheered. they drank sparkling water as he read 'approach of winter' out loud.
he was home by 6:30am.
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
My 5-year-old lost his second tooth today while at school. His teacher packed it in a ziplock bag and put it in his backpack. That bag however did not make it home so I just had to send an email to aftercare asking if they found a tooth in a sandwich bag today.
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
I just finished 12 weeks of high dose vitamin D supplementation at my doctor's suggestion. Didn't think it was doing much for my energy level but then I spent this 3-day weekend doing several hours of manual labor around my house each day and was able to keep going...so perhaps this IS magic.
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Denali @denali.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
To recap this messes with state human services funding and drains a fund that keeps a lot of childcare operational to privatize this money and transfer it to families that the federal government can pretty much choose in alignment with their larger cultural war as laid out in Project 2025.
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Denali @denali.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
This is an attack on childcare infrastructure. Even if you pay full or partial tuition for childcare services without these dollars your program might have to close its doors. And it's not just daycare. This $ supports aftercare for kids up to age 12 and for older kids with disabilities.
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
For years, the Counting Crows' "August an everything after" has been one of my summer-fall transitional albums. Really thrilled to have Noah Kahan's "End of August" is the mix now too!
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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
This is pretty fucking wild. I had assumed in a worst case scenario he would target blue zip codes and toss ballots based on technicalities but this is even worse than I imagined.
Not only is this system astonishingly untested, USPS has simultaneously implemented an
impracticable zero percent failure rate.
13 When ballots are submitted to USPS in large-volume
batches, if any one ballot in the batch cannot be verified against the Portal, all ballots in that
batch will be rejected. For example, if a state election official brings a batch of 10,000 ballots to
USPS and USPS is unable to match just one of those ballots against the Portal – because, for
example, someone has recently changed their name after marriage or they’ve moved – then
USPS would refuse to mail the remaining 9,999 ballots as well. As the whistleblower notes,
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Denali @denali.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
My daughter and I wrote a comic tonight about a squirrel who dreams of racing cars and then finds a shopping cart that looks like a racecar and believes that he has finally achieved his dream.
Two pages of a mini comic. In the left panel there is a squirrel sitting in a shopping cart that has one of those plastic attachment things with a steering wheel on it. Behind him there is a sign that says Jewel-Osco and at the bottom of the page it says I FOUND A RACECAR. 

In the right panel there is a big display shelf of jars with a sign that says SALE! In the middle of the shelf there is a sign with a picture of a peanut on it that says DELICIOUS PEANUT BUTTER. At the right edge of the panel you can see the cart entering the frame and there's a caption that reads AND THEYRE OFF.
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
This sounds like a good enough reason for me and also we may be able to pick up some Swiftie support based on the number 13 and frankly they can make anything happen.
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
3 loved ones have gone to different ERs for different conditions since yesterday. I don't do well waiting for information and wow do I not do well with that times 3.
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Microplastics Sommelier @leastactionhero.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
RIP to a legend
rob dubbin @robdubbin

MY MAN: (comes home)
ME: (nervous) how was the store
MY MAN: fine
ME: oh thank g-
MY MAN: ran into jolene
ME: oh no
MY MAN: she mentioned you left kind of an intense voicemail

12:50 AM • Jul 29, 2019
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Anita Ridlehoover @anitaanne.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
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Annie E. Casey Foundation @annieecaseyfdn.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
The crisis caused by the lack of a child care infrastructure in the U.S. is costing the country $172 billion in lost earnings, productivity and revenue every single year.
instituteforchildsuccess.org
The Child Care Crisis Costs the U.S. Economy $172 Billion Each Year  - Institute for Child Success
The economic cost of the child care crisis on families and businesses has more than doubled since 2018.
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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 24/08/2026
Proud to announce that New York City has registered a record 4,200 New Yorkers in our doula care program.  Pregnancy and childbirth are life-changing moments. No one should be forced to navigate them alone.
nyc.gov
Mayor Mamdani Expands Access to Doula Care Across NYC as Citywide Initiative Surpasses 4,000 People Served
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
A few weeks ago my husband bought plums and I asked him one day if I could have one. He looked at me surprised and said I didn't have to ask. Listen, buddy. William Carlos Williams prepared me *very* specifically for this stone fruit situation.
Screenshot of poem "this is just to say" from the poetry foundation. The text reads 

"I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold"
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
"“Humanity reminds me of our founding board members who said, ‘Let’s keep the baby in the middle.’ We always want to remember that these young children are behind every statistic that we quote, all the research that we do" www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/l...
greenvilleonline.com
Institute For Child Success Celebrates 'Sweet Sixteen,' Keeping Kids At Center Of Its Work
Born from a conversation around a baby doll, the Institute for Child Success has driven 1.5 billion in aid.
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Incredibly important "in the weeds" reporting via @edweek.org on what's going on with Head Start. I, like many of us, have been so focused on the NPRM - but providers continue to face unprecedented, daily challenges. www.edweek.org/teaching-lea...
edweek.org
Head Start Providers Struggle as Trump Admin. Holds Up Funding Competitions
At least 85 Head Start providers serving more than 39,000 children across 38 states are in limbo.
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Can anyone connect me to #SafeStreets #VizionZero work in Puerto Rico? A friend's loved one was killed by a driver in Ponce - family getting very little support. Supposedly the driver has killed a pedestrian before - no consequences either time. Horrific. www.facebook.com/ElPoncenoNew...
facebook.com
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
A proud moment in the life of a policy wonk: helping your kid write his first comment in response to an NPRM. (Our policy interests are VERY different).
Screenshot of a response to the FAA Notice of Proposed Rulemaking entitled "Enabling Supersonic Overland Flight"
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Waging a month-long battle around medical billing on behalf of my parents and the weirdest thing is that the *medical provider*, not the insurance company, is the bad guy. I don't even know how to process this.
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
My 9yo is a self-proclaimed aviation geek so now I'm gonna have to learn enough about this to keep up with what he's inevitably about to learn on YouTube.
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
I'll be first to admit I'm not an expert in Presidential protection protocols. But holy crap if I later found out I was flying on a plane credibly threatened enough to *remove POTUS from* but they let the rest of the people fly in this moving target. www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-s...
cbsnews.com
Trump secretly switched to different plane in Turkey amid Iran missile threat
Ahead of a flight from Turkey, President Trump secretly left Air Force One and was moved to another plane with the help of a catering truck, according to a source, as the U.S. grappled with a threat f...
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Anyone have a brilliant idea for places that might need lots of pretty-good C batteries? My dad gets new ones *every day* from his medical supply company. So my parents wind up with 60 used-but-still-pretty-good C batteries each month. And no other uses for them. Any ideas?
Battery meter with C battery inside it. Needle is pointing to the low end of "good "
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Megan Carolan @megancarolan.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Been meaning to share this bit my 9yo created, which absolutely cracks me up as a research. K, excitedly: Mom! Do you want a duck? Me, excitedly: Oh sure, that's sounds fun! I'd love to have a duck! K, deadpan: Sorry, it's just a survey. Me: *sad silence*
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