Joanna Kempner
@joannakempner.bsky.social
Sociologist and Pet Snoozler. Kid Herder and Hobby Hoarder. Award-winning author focused on gender, health, pain, and stigma. New book: Psychedelic Outlaws about pain patients figuring things out on their own. https://bit.ly/psychedelicoutlaws
Pinned
Psychedelic Outlaws: The Movement Revolutionizing Medicine is out today!
Psychedelic Outlaws tells an epic story of people with cluster headaches—an excruciating disease—and their extraordinary journey to find a treatment.
bit.ly/psychedelico...
www.amazon.com/gp/product/0...
Psychedelic Outlaws tells an epic story of people with cluster headaches—an excruciating disease—and their extraordinary journey to find a treatment.
bit.ly/psychedelico...
www.amazon.com/gp/product/0...
How is it possible to have *such* bad taste in men?
November 22, 2025 at 10:30 PM
How is it possible to have *such* bad taste in men?
Shocked! 😵
When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: Jeffrey E. Epstein.
Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.
Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.
As Summers Sought Clandestine Relationship With Woman He Called a Mentee, Epstein Was His ‘Wing Man’ | News | The Harvard Crimson
When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: convicted sex offender…
www.thecrimson.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:36 AM
Shocked! 😵
I grew up in Bucks County and … I left as soon as I could. 😥
So much great news all around but DAMN! This is the best!!!!
So much great news all around but DAMN! This is the best!!!!
November 5, 2025 at 8:55 AM
I grew up in Bucks County and … I left as soon as I could. 😥
So much great news all around but DAMN! This is the best!!!!
So much great news all around but DAMN! This is the best!!!!
Reposted by Joanna Kempner
JD Vance claims that diversity weakens unions, as people end up distrusting each other and not organizing.
Let me tell you two menswear stories related to this claim. 🧵
Let me tell you two menswear stories related to this claim. 🧵
October 30, 2025 at 8:07 AM
JD Vance claims that diversity weakens unions, as people end up distrusting each other and not organizing.
Let me tell you two menswear stories related to this claim. 🧵
Let me tell you two menswear stories related to this claim. 🧵
I love Bari Weiss’s moral clarity in this comment.
October 7, 2025 at 2:10 AM
I love Bari Weiss’s moral clarity in this comment.
What is “antifascist and transgender writing” that could fit on a bullet?
September 11, 2025 at 7:25 PM
What is “antifascist and transgender writing” that could fit on a bullet?
How I wish I hadn’t spent my career studying this.
1. "'Trusting the experts is not a feature of either a science or democracy," Kennedy said."
It's literally a vital feature of both science and of representative democracy.
I've written a fair bit about trust in expertise as a vital mechanism in the collective epistemology of science.
It's literally a vital feature of both science and of representative democracy.
I've written a fair bit about trust in expertise as a vital mechanism in the collective epistemology of science.
RFK Jr. in interview with Scripps News: ‘Trusting the experts is not science’
HHS Secretary RFK Jr. sat down with Scripps News for a wide-ranging interview, discussing mRNA vaccine funding policy changes and a recent shooting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
www.scrippsnews.com
August 12, 2025 at 12:09 PM
How I wish I hadn’t spent my career studying this.
I shared the shite news from HHS w my kid today.
Its ok. Virology seemed cool but he’ll be great as a psychedelic retreat vibe enhancer.
Its ok. Virology seemed cool but he’ll be great as a psychedelic retreat vibe enhancer.
Dr. Weissman took the time to talk to 9th graders (including mine) who spent a year studying some of what they’re doing. My kid (who barely cared about science in sept) came home from that talk BUZZING!
Defunding science undermines our futures in big and small ways.
Defunding science undermines our futures in big and small ways.
August 6, 2025 at 5:08 AM
I shared the shite news from HHS w my kid today.
Its ok. Virology seemed cool but he’ll be great as a psychedelic retreat vibe enhancer.
Its ok. Virology seemed cool but he’ll be great as a psychedelic retreat vibe enhancer.
Reposted by Joanna Kempner
I am excited to share that vol 51 of the Annual Review of Sociology is now open access. It includes my article on the politics of healthcare and so many great reviews.
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
The Cultural, Definitional, and Institutional Politics of Healthcare | Annual Reviews
This review article examines how politics shape healthcare. In addition to formal law and policy, the politics of healthcare include the larger cultural frameworks that politicize health and illness, ...
www.annualreviews.org
August 1, 2025 at 4:41 AM
I am excited to share that vol 51 of the Annual Review of Sociology is now open access. It includes my article on the politics of healthcare and so many great reviews.
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Thank you, Rabbis. But please, the food must come is urgent.
HAPPENING NOW: a group of New York rabbis are being arrested at a protest outside the Israeli consulate calling for bringing food into Gaza, an end to the war, and return of all hostages
@newjewishnarrative.bsky.social
@newjewishnarrative.bsky.social
July 29, 2025 at 3:39 AM
Thank you, Rabbis. But please, the food must come is urgent.
Reposted by Joanna Kempner
HAPPENING NOW: a group of New York rabbis are being arrested at a protest outside the Israeli consulate calling for bringing food into Gaza, an end to the war, and return of all hostages
@newjewishnarrative.bsky.social
@newjewishnarrative.bsky.social
July 29, 2025 at 2:11 AM
HAPPENING NOW: a group of New York rabbis are being arrested at a protest outside the Israeli consulate calling for bringing food into Gaza, an end to the war, and return of all hostages
@newjewishnarrative.bsky.social
@newjewishnarrative.bsky.social
Reposted by Joanna Kempner
BBC News: Do you think you were a witness to war crimes?
American veteran who worked at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution center: Without question I witnessed war crimes.
American veteran who worked at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution center: Without question I witnessed war crimes.
July 28, 2025 at 1:58 AM
BBC News: Do you think you were a witness to war crimes?
American veteran who worked at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution center: Without question I witnessed war crimes.
American veteran who worked at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution center: Without question I witnessed war crimes.
Americans Largely Disapprove of Attacks on Science and Medicine, Survey Finds
www.rutgers.edu
July 16, 2025 at 11:15 PM
I became a professor bc I didn’t want to work for a corporation. Yea.
hello fellow millennials. how are our Careers That Provide Us With Meaning and Worth going. how's that one playing out, broadly
July 11, 2025 at 6:38 PM
I became a professor bc I didn’t want to work for a corporation. Yea.
Reposted by Joanna Kempner
Reminding myself tonight to focus on what we can do rather than anger at what others won't.
@standhighered.bsky.social has created a toolkit that can help faculty + staff organize on every kind of campus in every part of the country. Join us, spread the word, and let's build our own strength.
@standhighered.bsky.social has created a toolkit that can help faculty + staff organize on every kind of campus in every part of the country. Join us, spread the word, and let's build our own strength.
OK, #academicsky. If we don't stand up now to support Harvard and UVA, we are LOST. Join our faculty-led movement to stand together against this authoritarian takeover of higher ed in the US: www.standtogetherhighered.org. Sign up on homepage.
June 28, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Reminding myself tonight to focus on what we can do rather than anger at what others won't.
@standhighered.bsky.social has created a toolkit that can help faculty + staff organize on every kind of campus in every part of the country. Join us, spread the word, and let's build our own strength.
@standhighered.bsky.social has created a toolkit that can help faculty + staff organize on every kind of campus in every part of the country. Join us, spread the word, and let's build our own strength.
LLMs are exceptional at finding patterns and replicating them. Cognitive work requires an ability to recognize patterns. Understand how to harness an LLM as a tool, rather than a crutch, and you might find it useful.
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
June 19, 2025 at 3:23 PM
LLMs are exceptional at finding patterns and replicating them. Cognitive work requires an ability to recognize patterns. Understand how to harness an LLM as a tool, rather than a crutch, and you might find it useful.
This warms my heart. Really.
Yes they did! And they did the most low effort marching bsky.app/profile/bubb...
I did not edit this, this is the actual parade with the actual music being played.
CINEMATIC
CINEMATIC
June 15, 2025 at 3:08 AM
This warms my heart. Really.
I was 1 of em!
There are nearly 100,000 people at the rally in Philadelphia. #NoKings
June 14, 2025 at 7:06 PM
I was 1 of em!
Reposted by Joanna Kempner
Melissa Hortman, who was assassinated last night, was the Speaker of the Minnesota House in the 2023-2024 session, when Democrats ran the state government.
That means she had a leading role in shepherding the many landmark reforms that Dems adopted in that period—an important legacy. Brief 🧵.
That means she had a leading role in shepherding the many landmark reforms that Dems adopted in that period—an important legacy. Brief 🧵.
June 14, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Melissa Hortman, who was assassinated last night, was the Speaker of the Minnesota House in the 2023-2024 session, when Democrats ran the state government.
That means she had a leading role in shepherding the many landmark reforms that Dems adopted in that period—an important legacy. Brief 🧵.
That means she had a leading role in shepherding the many landmark reforms that Dems adopted in that period—an important legacy. Brief 🧵.
Reposted by Joanna Kempner
My team and I at the Crowd Counting Consortium (@[email protected], Soha Hammam, & Chris Shay) have a new piece out: wagingnonviolence.org/2025/06/amer.... In it, we show that through May 2025, the size and scale of anti-Trump protests have dwarfed those in 2017. 🧵
June 13, 2025 at 2:25 AM
My team and I at the Crowd Counting Consortium (@[email protected], Soha Hammam, & Chris Shay) have a new piece out: wagingnonviolence.org/2025/06/amer.... In it, we show that through May 2025, the size and scale of anti-Trump protests have dwarfed those in 2017. 🧵
Back away from the
my m-dash, people.
my m-dash, people.
The em dash supposedly being a “tell” for AI generated text does sort of give away the game on the enormous amount of work stolen from journalists and news organizations that these things were trained on
For my first @salonnewsroom.bsky.social piece, I wrote about how freaks for the em dash (me, and possibly you) will not stand by and cede our precious punctuation to AI www.salon.com/2025/06/11/a...
June 12, 2025 at 4:29 AM
Back away from the
my m-dash, people.
my m-dash, people.
Reposted by Joanna Kempner
The em dash supposedly being a “tell” for AI generated text does sort of give away the game on the enormous amount of work stolen from journalists and news organizations that these things were trained on
For my first @salonnewsroom.bsky.social piece, I wrote about how freaks for the em dash (me, and possibly you) will not stand by and cede our precious punctuation to AI www.salon.com/2025/06/11/a...
AI can’t have my em dash
Gen Z and AI have pulled a divisive punctuation mark into the spotlight.
www.salon.com
June 12, 2025 at 2:29 AM
The em dash supposedly being a “tell” for AI generated text does sort of give away the game on the enormous amount of work stolen from journalists and news organizations that these things were trained on
Why does this man always look constipated?
June 8, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Why does this man always look constipated?
Reposted by Joanna Kempner
We @protectdemocracy.org have been saying for years “in the modern era, authoritarianism doesn’t come with tanks in the streets. It’s harder to see coming than that.”
Well, we were wrong. Trump’s tanks are here.
We are frogs in the water, and it’s already boiling.
Well, we were wrong. Trump’s tanks are here.
We are frogs in the water, and it’s already boiling.
In preparation for next week’s parade/demonstration, tanks are being moved into Washington, DC today. Unprecedented.
(Photo from a colleague in DC)
(Photo from a colleague in DC)
June 7, 2025 at 3:11 PM
We @protectdemocracy.org have been saying for years “in the modern era, authoritarianism doesn’t come with tanks in the streets. It’s harder to see coming than that.”
Well, we were wrong. Trump’s tanks are here.
We are frogs in the water, and it’s already boiling.
Well, we were wrong. Trump’s tanks are here.
We are frogs in the water, and it’s already boiling.
I liked this article—seemed like it might be useful in the classroom.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/m...
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/m...
A Professor Was Fired for Her Politics. Is That the Future of Academia?
www.nytimes.com
June 7, 2025 at 9:43 PM
I liked this article—seemed like it might be useful in the classroom.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/m...
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/m...