Sara Bubenik
@sarabubenik.bsky.social
Sociology PhD —> research communications director and ACLS Leading Edge Fellow. New(ish) here. Newsletter: [email protected]
Pinned
Sara Bubenik
@sarabubenik.bsky.social
· Apr 18
We need more sociologists
On social research, social change, and the view from the moon
open.substack.com
We need more sociologists, because learning about the challenges we face is the first step towards overcoming them.
I wrote about the critical role sociologists play in our quest for a more equitable future and how anyone can think like a sociologist.
#talkabouthumanities
#talkaboutsocialsciences
I wrote about the critical role sociologists play in our quest for a more equitable future and how anyone can think like a sociologist.
#talkabouthumanities
#talkaboutsocialsciences
Reposted by Sara Bubenik
The essay is wild.
The essay is unpredictable.
The essay can bite.
The essay is unpredictable.
The essay can bite.
This is a WILD essay by the brilliant Felicity James on writing and reading essays in the age of AI
The Wild Essay, Or, the Essayist responds to the University Policy on Generative Artificial Intelligence in Learning, Teaching and Assessment
This is a guide to the essay in the age of AI, when we need it more than ever. How should we encourage our students to read when co-pilot is on hand to read for them? Beset on all sides by summary ...
www.tandfonline.com
August 18, 2026 at 7:15 AM
The essay is wild.
The essay is unpredictable.
The essay can bite.
The essay is unpredictable.
The essay can bite.
Reposted by Sara Bubenik
Michigan has been doing a version of this for decades in their Residential College. I know because I was an undergraduate in the RC in the late 1990s and still look back fondly at the written evaluations on my transcript that stand in place of letter grades.
www.npr.org/2026/08/12/n...
www.npr.org/2026/08/12/n...
University of Michigan won't use letter grades for some freshmen this fall semester
NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Shea Vance of the Chronicle of Higher Education about a University of Michigan plan to forgo letter grades for some freshmen in their fall 2027 semester.
www.npr.org
August 12, 2026 at 12:34 PM
Michigan has been doing a version of this for decades in their Residential College. I know because I was an undergraduate in the RC in the late 1990s and still look back fondly at the written evaluations on my transcript that stand in place of letter grades.
www.npr.org/2026/08/12/n...
www.npr.org/2026/08/12/n...
Reposted by Sara Bubenik
The health, social, & economic disruptions of the pandemic were challenging for each of us & our shared society
Grateful to all who did their best to help us through this historic period
May we one day have more constructive reflection on what we may learn to strengthen our collective way forward
Grateful to all who did their best to help us through this historic period
May we one day have more constructive reflection on what we may learn to strengthen our collective way forward
'I still have nightmares every night' — health workers struggle with PTSD symptoms as coronavirus takes toll
Health care workers are fighting a new battle regarding their mental health and well-being due to Covid-19, as deaths have recently topped 120,000 people.
www.cnbc.com
August 2, 2026 at 4:15 PM
The health, social, & economic disruptions of the pandemic were challenging for each of us & our shared society
Grateful to all who did their best to help us through this historic period
May we one day have more constructive reflection on what we may learn to strengthen our collective way forward
Grateful to all who did their best to help us through this historic period
May we one day have more constructive reflection on what we may learn to strengthen our collective way forward
Reposted by Sara Bubenik
Alright, here's my contribution to the Is-Bluesky-Dying discourse:
Bluesky is a record store
davekarpf.beehiiv.com/p/bluesky-is...
Bluesky is a record store
davekarpf.beehiiv.com/p/bluesky-is...
Bluesky is a record store
(A
davekarpf.beehiiv.com
May 14, 2026 at 4:46 PM
Alright, here's my contribution to the Is-Bluesky-Dying discourse:
Bluesky is a record store
davekarpf.beehiiv.com/p/bluesky-is...
Bluesky is a record store
davekarpf.beehiiv.com/p/bluesky-is...
Reposted by Sara Bubenik
The self-styled "father of fertility" wants to paint himself as a friend to mothers and children. But if you scratch the surface of his new moms dot gov website, you'll see that it's pure propaganda, and that it traffics in White Christian nationalist tropes. 1/🧵
www.ms.now/opinion/moms...
www.ms.now/opinion/moms...
Opinion | Trump’s “Moms.gov” website is short on facts and long on propaganda
The website is aimed at asserting the president’s “pro mom” bona fides while preying on vulnerable women.
www.ms.now
May 12, 2026 at 8:06 PM
The self-styled "father of fertility" wants to paint himself as a friend to mothers and children. But if you scratch the surface of his new moms dot gov website, you'll see that it's pure propaganda, and that it traffics in White Christian nationalist tropes. 1/🧵
www.ms.now/opinion/moms...
www.ms.now/opinion/moms...
Reposted by Sara Bubenik
More & more eligible low-income people are losing SNAP because of H.R. 1’s bureaucratic hurdles, including this mom who has tried for months to get her family’s benefits back while working & caring for 2 young kids. Keep in mind: SNAP benefits average about $6 per person per day.
May 11, 2026 at 1:37 PM
More & more eligible low-income people are losing SNAP because of H.R. 1’s bureaucratic hurdles, including this mom who has tried for months to get her family’s benefits back while working & caring for 2 young kids. Keep in mind: SNAP benefits average about $6 per person per day.
Reposted by Sara Bubenik
If we actually want to appreciate moms, we should be providing free childcare, healthcare, and guaranteed income for stay-at-home parents to put more money in families’ pockets and ensure no SAHP is reliant on a partner for their economic security.
Idk I think that’s better than 15% off a vacuum.
Idk I think that’s better than 15% off a vacuum.
May 10, 2026 at 5:25 PM
If we actually want to appreciate moms, we should be providing free childcare, healthcare, and guaranteed income for stay-at-home parents to put more money in families’ pockets and ensure no SAHP is reliant on a partner for their economic security.
Idk I think that’s better than 15% off a vacuum.
Idk I think that’s better than 15% off a vacuum.
Reposted by Sara Bubenik
Reposted by Sara Bubenik
While the world’s eyes are on fashion’s biggest night, we’re turning ours to the garment, retail, and warehouse workers who keep the industry running.
From true love found on the picket line to a free tailoring school out of a Brooklyn basement — meet the New Yorkers who make it all possible.
From true love found on the picket line to a free tailoring school out of a Brooklyn basement — meet the New Yorkers who make it all possible.
May 5, 2026 at 1:30 AM
While the world’s eyes are on fashion’s biggest night, we’re turning ours to the garment, retail, and warehouse workers who keep the industry running.
From true love found on the picket line to a free tailoring school out of a Brooklyn basement — meet the New Yorkers who make it all possible.
From true love found on the picket line to a free tailoring school out of a Brooklyn basement — meet the New Yorkers who make it all possible.
Reposted by Sara Bubenik
"If you tell people often enough that your product is going to upend their way of life, take their jobs, and very possibly pose an existential threat to humanity, they just might start to believe you," @chaykak.bsky.social writes. www.newyorker.com/culture/infi...
A.I. Has a Message Problem of Its Own Making
A.I. companies are facing hostility and mistrust—and much of the heightened, sometimes histrionic rhetoric about the powers of the technology has come from within the industry.
www.newyorker.com
April 21, 2026 at 2:47 PM
"If you tell people often enough that your product is going to upend their way of life, take their jobs, and very possibly pose an existential threat to humanity, they just might start to believe you," @chaykak.bsky.social writes. www.newyorker.com/culture/infi...
Reposted by Sara Bubenik
We need more sociologists, because learning about the challenges we face is the first step towards overcoming them.
I wrote about the critical role sociologists play in our quest for a more equitable future and how anyone can think like a sociologist.
#talkabouthumanities
#talkaboutsocialsciences
I wrote about the critical role sociologists play in our quest for a more equitable future and how anyone can think like a sociologist.
#talkabouthumanities
#talkaboutsocialsciences
We need more sociologists
On social research, social change, and the view from the moon
open.substack.com
April 18, 2026 at 3:02 AM
We need more sociologists, because learning about the challenges we face is the first step towards overcoming them.
I wrote about the critical role sociologists play in our quest for a more equitable future and how anyone can think like a sociologist.
#talkabouthumanities
#talkaboutsocialsciences
I wrote about the critical role sociologists play in our quest for a more equitable future and how anyone can think like a sociologist.
#talkabouthumanities
#talkaboutsocialsciences
“I don’t know where Renae picked up measles. It’s one of the most contagious viruses that exists…That’s why herd immunity is so important. If there hadn’t been an outbreak when Renae was a baby, I don’t think she would have contracted it. She was eligible for the vaccine just seven months later”
Opinion | Measles Took My Daughter. This Is What I Want Everyone to Know.
www.nytimes.com
April 21, 2026 at 12:33 PM
“I don’t know where Renae picked up measles. It’s one of the most contagious viruses that exists…That’s why herd immunity is so important. If there hadn’t been an outbreak when Renae was a baby, I don’t think she would have contracted it. She was eligible for the vaccine just seven months later”
Reposted by Sara Bubenik
We need more sociologists, because learning about the challenges we face is the first step towards overcoming them.
I wrote about the critical role sociologists play in our quest for a more equitable future and how anyone can think like a sociologist.
#talkabouthumanities
#talkaboutsocialsciences
I wrote about the critical role sociologists play in our quest for a more equitable future and how anyone can think like a sociologist.
#talkabouthumanities
#talkaboutsocialsciences
We need more sociologists
On social research, social change, and the view from the moon
open.substack.com
April 18, 2026 at 3:02 AM
We need more sociologists, because learning about the challenges we face is the first step towards overcoming them.
I wrote about the critical role sociologists play in our quest for a more equitable future and how anyone can think like a sociologist.
#talkabouthumanities
#talkaboutsocialsciences
I wrote about the critical role sociologists play in our quest for a more equitable future and how anyone can think like a sociologist.
#talkabouthumanities
#talkaboutsocialsciences
Reposted by Sara Bubenik
So let’s have universal health care and help people live in dignity.
Sharon Simmons, the DoorDash grandma who was just part of a Trump photo op at the White House, says on Fox News that "no tax on tips" helped her because she couldn't afford her husband's cancer treatments
April 13, 2026 at 8:21 PM
So let’s have universal health care and help people live in dignity.
Reposted by Sara Bubenik
I love it when we refuse to settle for the way things are as the way they have to be. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/n...
Can This Chaotic Brooklyn Plaza Be Car-Free? Mamdani Says Yes.
www.nytimes.com
April 13, 2026 at 10:59 AM
I love it when we refuse to settle for the way things are as the way they have to be. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/n...
Reposted by Sara Bubenik
Every single one of the astronauts who went to the moon and back on Artemis II was educated at a public school.
Thinking of the teachers who poured into Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen tonight. You helped send a kid to the moon!
🌕 💛
Thinking of the teachers who poured into Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen tonight. You helped send a kid to the moon!
🌕 💛
April 11, 2026 at 1:24 AM
Every single one of the astronauts who went to the moon and back on Artemis II was educated at a public school.
Thinking of the teachers who poured into Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen tonight. You helped send a kid to the moon!
🌕 💛
Thinking of the teachers who poured into Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen tonight. You helped send a kid to the moon!
🌕 💛
Reposted by Sara Bubenik
I wrote about the end of
the U.S. Forest Service and the arrogance of trying to kill something like a forest: defector.com/the-trump-ad...
the U.S. Forest Service and the arrogance of trying to kill something like a forest: defector.com/the-trump-ad...
April 9, 2026 at 11:56 PM
I wrote about the end of
the U.S. Forest Service and the arrogance of trying to kill something like a forest: defector.com/the-trump-ad...
the U.S. Forest Service and the arrogance of trying to kill something like a forest: defector.com/the-trump-ad...
Reposted by Sara Bubenik
The fact that nobody seriously believes there is an institution in this country that will check the president—that we’re all just sitting here hoping that he gets distracted and fails to follow through on his genocidal threats—is the most damning indictment of our political system I’ve seen yet.
April 7, 2026 at 5:13 PM
The fact that nobody seriously believes there is an institution in this country that will check the president—that we’re all just sitting here hoping that he gets distracted and fails to follow through on his genocidal threats—is the most damning indictment of our political system I’ve seen yet.
Reposted by Sara Bubenik
With all due respect, it's utterly dismaying to see the leader of the AFT saying that we should embrace AI as a solution to the crisis of overburdened, under-resourced teachers instead of leading the charge against this project to make them do more with less.
No matter how you feel about AI, its use is growing more widespread and it's important that educators understand how they could integrate it as a tool in their classrooms. Hear from three educators who have been experimenting with AI in this American Educator article ⬇️
aft.org/ae/spring202...
aft.org/ae/spring202...
Harnessing the Best of AI
aft.org
April 7, 2026 at 12:41 AM
With all due respect, it's utterly dismaying to see the leader of the AFT saying that we should embrace AI as a solution to the crisis of overburdened, under-resourced teachers instead of leading the charge against this project to make them do more with less.
Reposted by Sara Bubenik
It is astonishing that humans are able to do these things. This is what happens when we act collectively to solve extremely difficult technical problems. (It works with many other kinds of problems, too.)
You can follow Artemis II's encounter with the Moon starting at 1pm EDT. 🧪🔭
plus.nasa.gov
You can follow Artemis II's encounter with the Moon starting at 1pm EDT. 🧪🔭
plus.nasa.gov
April 6, 2026 at 3:08 PM
It is astonishing that humans are able to do these things. This is what happens when we act collectively to solve extremely difficult technical problems. (It works with many other kinds of problems, too.)
You can follow Artemis II's encounter with the Moon starting at 1pm EDT. 🧪🔭
plus.nasa.gov
You can follow Artemis II's encounter with the Moon starting at 1pm EDT. 🧪🔭
plus.nasa.gov
One of many reasons to study soc: refusing to accept our moment as final “threatens fascists, who use fear of change to mobilize followers, pretending…that current arrangements are the only ones possible. Sociology says that’s not how the social world works; what humans have made, they can change.”
..."The notions that difference is a threat, that there exists a golden past that can be returned to, that capitalism and inequality are eternal, all depend on lies."
Writing about sociology in tonight's newsletter and needed this 🔥
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
Writing about sociology in tonight's newsletter and needed this 🔥
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
Why Fascists Hate Sociology (opinion)
The anti-sociology politicians are on to something in grasping the field’s power.
www.insidehighered.com
April 4, 2026 at 10:54 AM
One of many reasons to study soc: refusing to accept our moment as final “threatens fascists, who use fear of change to mobilize followers, pretending…that current arrangements are the only ones possible. Sociology says that’s not how the social world works; what humans have made, they can change.”
Reposted by Sara Bubenik
The horse op-ed is an instant classic. I can't tell you how much joy this piece gives me.
It should be taught in every introductory writing class in no small part because the horse arguments are so compelling. "I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children."
It should be taught in every introductory writing class in no small part because the horse arguments are so compelling. "I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children."
April 3, 2026 at 4:21 PM
The horse op-ed is an instant classic. I can't tell you how much joy this piece gives me.
It should be taught in every introductory writing class in no small part because the horse arguments are so compelling. "I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children."
It should be taught in every introductory writing class in no small part because the horse arguments are so compelling. "I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children."