Dr. Cara Berg Powers
@clbergpowers.bsky.social
I post about public education, school integration, cultural theory, media literacy, sex ed, parenting, and random thoughts from my ADHD brain. Proud co-editor of uncoveringpossible.com out now from Vernon Press! DM for discount code!
Saw that Luc Besson has a new movie out and I fell down a rabbit hole about just how young his 1st wife, the "alleged" inspiration for Portman's character in Leon was when they met. Here she is *2 yrs after* they met & allegedly 1 yr before they started dating. Portman's casting video for comparison
November 26, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Saw that Luc Besson has a new movie out and I fell down a rabbit hole about just how young his 1st wife, the "alleged" inspiration for Portman's character in Leon was when they met. Here she is *2 yrs after* they met & allegedly 1 yr before they started dating. Portman's casting video for comparison
Once a board member at my old org made a bourbon pecan pie and I had a young colleague that had never really drank and she literally passed out and slept off the pie on the office couch all afternoon. I genuinely would have assumed any alcohol would have cooked off but not quite so in this case.
I think Pecan Pie is one of those things that is divisive now because it’s just a blob of sugar with nuts on it but to someone 150 years ago who ate shoes it was probably like having 12 orgasms at once
November 26, 2025 at 2:54 AM
Once a board member at my old org made a bourbon pecan pie and I had a young colleague that had never really drank and she literally passed out and slept off the pie on the office couch all afternoon. I genuinely would have assumed any alcohol would have cooked off but not quite so in this case.
I can't choose a specific movie but for the sake of my sanity maybe every single cliffhanger canceled tween show my kid has been heartbroken by? Julie and the Phantoms, Diary of a Future President, Babysitters Club, hell let's do My So Called Life for me while we're at it. Oh and another Marvels.
If you were a despotic president, what movie would you force Hollywood to make? I want to see Quentin's Star Trek movie or maybe Kill Bill Vol 3.
November 26, 2025 at 2:03 AM
I can't choose a specific movie but for the sake of my sanity maybe every single cliffhanger canceled tween show my kid has been heartbroken by? Julie and the Phantoms, Diary of a Future President, Babysitters Club, hell let's do My So Called Life for me while we're at it. Oh and another Marvels.
Planning to incorporate part of my husband's cultural heritage into our stay home meal this week. We do a lot all year to make sure our kid has a solid grounding in her Black and Jewish culture but I've fully dropped the ball on the PA pumpkin roll. Tomorrow I venture to remedy.
November 26, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Planning to incorporate part of my husband's cultural heritage into our stay home meal this week. We do a lot all year to make sure our kid has a solid grounding in her Black and Jewish culture but I've fully dropped the ball on the PA pumpkin roll. Tomorrow I venture to remedy.
Our child only eats containers of cherry tomatoes in one sitting or not at all. So I am making minestrone tomorrow.
November 26, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Our child only eats containers of cherry tomatoes in one sitting or not at all. So I am making minestrone tomorrow.
Reposted by Dr. Cara Berg Powers
The family of Bethany MaGee, the CTA burn victim who was heinously attacked, has launched a GoFundMe with a statement asking for privacy. "She loves living in Chicago, and her gentle spirit makes her a favorite with every pet she meets."
www.gofundme.com/f/support-be...
www.gofundme.com/f/support-be...
Donate to Support Bethany MaGee's Recovery, organized by John MaGee
On November 17, Bethany MaGee was riding a CTA train in Chicago when she was attacked. She… John MaGee needs your support for Support Bethany MaGee's Recovery
www.gofundme.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:08 PM
The family of Bethany MaGee, the CTA burn victim who was heinously attacked, has launched a GoFundMe with a statement asking for privacy. "She loves living in Chicago, and her gentle spirit makes her a favorite with every pet she meets."
www.gofundme.com/f/support-be...
www.gofundme.com/f/support-be...
Reposted by Dr. Cara Berg Powers
Is this cheese grater conscious? Many users feel they're talking to a real person. Scientists say it's time to consider whether they're onto something.
November 25, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Is this cheese grater conscious? Many users feel they're talking to a real person. Scientists say it's time to consider whether they're onto something.
Reposted by Dr. Cara Berg Powers
Listening has become a shibboleth for outsourcing interrogative thought to an arbitrarily decided board of experts who may have as much qualification to speak on a given issue as an actual literal infant.
November 25, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Listening has become a shibboleth for outsourcing interrogative thought to an arbitrarily decided board of experts who may have as much qualification to speak on a given issue as an actual literal infant.
Reposted by Dr. Cara Berg Powers
Related, extremely pedantic pet peeve: the way people use "mutual aid" to mean donating directly to strangers in need, when the term was developed to mean a type of organizing that builds community and power to dismantle capitalism while also helping people survive it.
November 25, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Related, extremely pedantic pet peeve: the way people use "mutual aid" to mean donating directly to strangers in need, when the term was developed to mean a type of organizing that builds community and power to dismantle capitalism while also helping people survive it.
Reposted by Dr. Cara Berg Powers
“Fear does not make our communities safer, but trust does.” — Sen. Liz Miranda explains how ICE activity is making people afraid to speak out about workplace abuses and domestic violence or to seek basic services. #mapoli
November 25, 2025 at 4:52 PM
“Fear does not make our communities safer, but trust does.” — Sen. Liz Miranda explains how ICE activity is making people afraid to speak out about workplace abuses and domestic violence or to seek basic services. #mapoli
Reposted by Dr. Cara Berg Powers
I think it’s time to put this one back out into the ether, friends
Come and learn about how the tropes undergirding anti-Jewish hatred and conspiracy theories as they exist today came to be…
Come and learn about how the tropes undergirding anti-Jewish hatred and conspiracy theories as they exist today came to be…
The Antisemitism Post (tm)
Gotta get the history to know where the tropes live in the discourse today.
www.lifeisasacredtext.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:12 PM
I think it’s time to put this one back out into the ether, friends
Come and learn about how the tropes undergirding anti-Jewish hatred and conspiracy theories as they exist today came to be…
Come and learn about how the tropes undergirding anti-Jewish hatred and conspiracy theories as they exist today came to be…
Reposted by Dr. Cara Berg Powers
Look, we all agree this is amazing. But we used to live comfortable in the understanding that you had to invite Chotiner in, like a vampire.
Now we know that Chotiner might strike at any time, like a velociraptor.
Now we know that Chotiner might strike at any time, like a velociraptor.
my goodness:
Chotiner: who funds this shit
Ben Smith: How dare you ask such a question. Check your facts!
Chotiner: I have now checked my facts. A thread (1/381)
Ben Smith:
Chotiner: who funds this shit
Ben Smith: How dare you ask such a question. Check your facts!
Chotiner: I have now checked my facts. A thread (1/381)
Ben Smith:
a man in a hospital gown with the words i 've made a huge mistake behind him
ALT: a man in a hospital gown with the words i 've made a huge mistake behind him
media.tenor.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Look, we all agree this is amazing. But we used to live comfortable in the understanding that you had to invite Chotiner in, like a vampire.
Now we know that Chotiner might strike at any time, like a velociraptor.
Now we know that Chotiner might strike at any time, like a velociraptor.
Yes.
"My mentor always tells me, 'Kim, dogs don’t bark at parked cars." They’re coming after critical race theory, 1619, intersectionality because these ideas mobilized people. They gave them the language to actually articulate what they were seeing with their own eyes," says Kimberlé Crenshaw.
November 25, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Yes.
What demand?
November 25, 2025 at 1:32 AM
What demand?
One of my earliest memories might be fabricated from the amount of times I've been told the story of my grandmother convincing me to try brussel sprouts by telling me that I would release the cabbage patch doll inside. There was no doll and I threw up, maybe at the thought I'd eaten it accidentally?
yes, hello, I would like to place an order for everyone’s funniest stories of holiday food-related family grudges / drama / chaotic incidents / lore
I feel like we need this
I feel like we need this
November 25, 2025 at 1:29 AM
One of my earliest memories might be fabricated from the amount of times I've been told the story of my grandmother convincing me to try brussel sprouts by telling me that I would release the cabbage patch doll inside. There was no doll and I threw up, maybe at the thought I'd eaten it accidentally?
Ok it has been a relatively stressful season. I don't think we shout out enough the people who help make very stressful things as easy as possible. So grateful for Young's Garage, UMass Pediatric Endocrinology, Readymed on Shrewsbury st and Tufts Animal Hospital. Worcester folks, fyi. Solid folks.
November 24, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Ok it has been a relatively stressful season. I don't think we shout out enough the people who help make very stressful things as easy as possible. So grateful for Young's Garage, UMass Pediatric Endocrinology, Readymed on Shrewsbury st and Tufts Animal Hospital. Worcester folks, fyi. Solid folks.
Reposted by Dr. Cara Berg Powers
May Viola Ford Fletcher’s memory be a blessing to her loved ones & a lesson to us all.
Ms Fletcher did not get the justice for her community that she sought (reparations for Greenwood), and she had nightmares for the rest of her life.
I hope she rests in the peace she never quite found in life.
Ms Fletcher did not get the justice for her community that she sought (reparations for Greenwood), and she had nightmares for the rest of her life.
I hope she rests in the peace she never quite found in life.
Breaking: Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, has died. She was 111 years old
Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, has died
Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, has died. She was 111 years old.
www.whatimreading.net
November 24, 2025 at 9:04 PM
May Viola Ford Fletcher’s memory be a blessing to her loved ones & a lesson to us all.
Ms Fletcher did not get the justice for her community that she sought (reparations for Greenwood), and she had nightmares for the rest of her life.
I hope she rests in the peace she never quite found in life.
Ms Fletcher did not get the justice for her community that she sought (reparations for Greenwood), and she had nightmares for the rest of her life.
I hope she rests in the peace she never quite found in life.
Reposted by Dr. Cara Berg Powers
Moments ago: tenants of the South Shore apartment building that federal immigration agents raided at the end of September held a presser to announce they're forming a tenants union.
They're demanding, among other things, sewage removal and heat and electricity restroration.
More updates TK.
They're demanding, among other things, sewage removal and heat and electricity restroration.
More updates TK.
November 24, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Moments ago: tenants of the South Shore apartment building that federal immigration agents raided at the end of September held a presser to announce they're forming a tenants union.
They're demanding, among other things, sewage removal and heat and electricity restroration.
More updates TK.
They're demanding, among other things, sewage removal and heat and electricity restroration.
More updates TK.
Reposted by Dr. Cara Berg Powers
I ran into an advocate who told me that the 9 men detained from Canal Street last month struggled to find legal representation. Historically, Black immigrants experience disproportionately *more* removals than any other group. Anti-Black racism fuels US immigration in *every* way.
November 24, 2025 at 5:09 PM
I ran into an advocate who told me that the 9 men detained from Canal Street last month struggled to find legal representation. Historically, Black immigrants experience disproportionately *more* removals than any other group. Anti-Black racism fuels US immigration in *every* way.
Reposted by Dr. Cara Berg Powers
in addition to all of his experience, in 2011 someone tried to assassinate kelly's wife, former congresswoman gabby giffords. no way he's cowing to these ass clowns.
Sen. Mark Kelly has released a statement.
"If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable, it won't work. I've given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies..."
"If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable, it won't work. I've given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies..."
November 24, 2025 at 6:54 PM
in addition to all of his experience, in 2011 someone tried to assassinate kelly's wife, former congresswoman gabby giffords. no way he's cowing to these ass clowns.
Letz Rage in Fitchburg is an excellent establishment and they are all ages fyi. We did the kid's 10th birthday party in their paint room and she got a half hour of smashing. Now 12, she's brought friends back for repeat visits.
Rage rooms: demand is surging – and 90% of customers are women
Rage rooms: demand is surging – and 90% of customers are women
Venues designed for people to smash things up safely are seeing an enormous rise in bookings. But why? And what explains the pronounced gender gap?
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Letz Rage in Fitchburg is an excellent establishment and they are all ages fyi. We did the kid's 10th birthday party in their paint room and she got a half hour of smashing. Now 12, she's brought friends back for repeat visits.
Reposted by Dr. Cara Berg Powers
Umbrella rule should apply to this.
November 24, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Umbrella rule should apply to this.
My kid apparently takes "you need to hustle, you're going to miss the bus" to mean, "walk there at a very leisurely pace"
November 24, 2025 at 1:27 PM
My kid apparently takes "you need to hustle, you're going to miss the bus" to mean, "walk there at a very leisurely pace"
Reposted by Dr. Cara Berg Powers
These assignments encourage people to become DIY detectives, exacerbating a boom in conspiracy theories. The “permission structure of doubt” normalises suspicion as a default setting and suggests that another algorithm (like Google’s search) can discover the truth.
By @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social:
By @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social:
AI-Generated Images Are Spreading Paranoia and Misinformation. Can Art Historians Help?
An art historian argues that provenance research—rather than connoisseurship—is our best tool for authentication.
www.artnews.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:06 PM
These assignments encourage people to become DIY detectives, exacerbating a boom in conspiracy theories. The “permission structure of doubt” normalises suspicion as a default setting and suggests that another algorithm (like Google’s search) can discover the truth.
By @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social:
By @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social:
Reposted by Dr. Cara Berg Powers
Yep, one of the biggest drivers of the elite panic around “wokeness” was the increasing prominence of Black people and particularly Black women in their fields and we’re seeing that coalition rewarded with the targeting of Black workers.
Since February, according to my latest analysis, almost 600,000 Black women have been economically sidelined. The November 20, 2025, Jobs Report makes clear this isn’t a blip. It’s a structural crisis. That is not a recovery. It is a redistribution of opportunity.
The exit economy is here. Black Women are paying the highest price | Fortune
This isn’t a blip. It’s a structural crisis. And it's not a recovery, it's a redistribution of opportunity.
fortune.com
November 23, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Yep, one of the biggest drivers of the elite panic around “wokeness” was the increasing prominence of Black people and particularly Black women in their fields and we’re seeing that coalition rewarded with the targeting of Black workers.