Miriam Posner
@miriamposner.com
Tired person, fighter. Labor, data, DH, obsolete software, database history, etc. Seeing Like a Supply Chain out from Yale UP in fall 2026. Speaking for myself, not my employer.
Q: Why was 16 afraid of 17?
A: Because 17 eated 19!
—5yo’s joke
A: Because 17 eated 19!
—5yo’s joke
November 16, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Q: Why was 16 afraid of 17?
A: Because 17 eated 19!
—5yo’s joke
A: Because 17 eated 19!
—5yo’s joke
I hear this *constantly* as an “aha! got ya!” and maybe I’ll just start handing out QR codes for this essay.
What, exactly, does this string of words mean? Why does everyone who stands to profit from selling "AI" love to repeat it? And what's the value of slogans that masquerade as history?
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/...
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/...
"The Printing Press Democratized Knowledge": When Slogans Masquerade as History — Sonja Drimmer
The phrase is said so frequently it seems, like the mechanism it celebrates, to mechanically replicate itself. It's become a favorite catchphrase among tech boosters of any sort (see my post on...
sonjadrimmer.com
November 15, 2025 at 5:01 PM
I hear this *constantly* as an “aha! got ya!” and maybe I’ll just start handing out QR codes for this essay.
When I think about how exquisitely careful NEH staff were to be fair, impartial, and rigorous, and how much work people put into grants so small they’re pocket change…I just want to scream.
Fired Scholars and Big Grants to Favored Projects: Inside Trump’s N.E.H.
www.nytimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 4:12 PM
When I think about how exquisitely careful NEH staff were to be fair, impartial, and rigorous, and how much work people put into grants so small they’re pocket change…I just want to scream.
Reposted by Miriam Posner
A community of scholars and workers will fight; you cannot BELIEVE how fast E. Gordon Gee will sell you out.
November 15, 2025 at 2:44 PM
A community of scholars and workers will fight; you cannot BELIEVE how fast E. Gordon Gee will sell you out.
Reposted by Miriam Posner
Struck this morning by how the win wasn’t from the UC system itself pushing back—it was its worker power through *unions* and aligned groups like @aaup.org defending UC interests, even though admin itself wasn’t.
There’s some kind of lesson here
There’s some kind of lesson here
One reason why elite schools (Columbia, Brown, Cornell) caving to Trump’s illegal impoundment and extortion is so galling — a betrayal, really — is that they would have won had they fought. By giving up, they guaranteed every other school will have to fight harder.
Judge bars Trump from immediately cutting funding to the University of California | CNN Politics
The Trump administration cannot immediately cut federal funding to the University of California or issue fines against the school system over claims it allows antisemitism or other forms of discrimina...
www.cnn.com
November 15, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Struck this morning by how the win wasn’t from the UC system itself pushing back—it was its worker power through *unions* and aligned groups like @aaup.org defending UC interests, even though admin itself wasn’t.
There’s some kind of lesson here
There’s some kind of lesson here
Reposted by Miriam Posner
One of the most important lessons you have to learn about what a university "is" is a very vulgar marxist distinction between its *managers* (directly or indirectly appointed by capital and/or state government) and its *labor,* who come to the university out of love and idealism.
November 15, 2025 at 2:41 PM
One of the most important lessons you have to learn about what a university "is" is a very vulgar marxist distinction between its *managers* (directly or indirectly appointed by capital and/or state government) and its *labor,* who come to the university out of love and idealism.
Especially grateful to the brave, steadfast undergraduate students who filed an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit.
Student organization coalition files amicus brief supporting lawsuit against Trump - Daily Bruin
This post was updated Nov. 5 at 1:02 a.m. A coalition of 25 student organizations filed an amicus brief Thursday in support of a lawsuit against President Donald Trump that alleged research funding su...
dailybruin.com
November 15, 2025 at 6:49 AM
Especially grateful to the brave, steadfast undergraduate students who filed an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit.
For your reference: Timeline of UC faculty legal efforts to defend against Trump’s attacks
legal timeline
Timeline of UC faculty legal efforts to defend against Trump’s attacks UCLA Faculty Association June 4. UC Berkeley faculty and staff Neeta Thakur, Ken Alex, Nell Green Nylen, Robert Hirst, Christine...
docs.google.com
November 15, 2025 at 6:44 AM
For your reference: Timeline of UC faculty legal efforts to defend against Trump’s attacks
🎁
Judge Orders Trump Not to Threaten University of California’s Funding
www.nytimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:14 AM
🎁
Reposted by Miriam Posner
we fucking won y’all
not UC - workers and their unions and students standing together
so grateful for time our brilliant colleagues like Veena put into this and for the solidarity of my @ucaft.bsky.social and @uclafa.bsky.social
not UC - workers and their unions and students standing together
so grateful for time our brilliant colleagues like Veena put into this and for the solidarity of my @ucaft.bsky.social and @uclafa.bsky.social
BREAKING: In AAUP et al v. Trump (wall-to-wall union lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful use of TItle VI to reshape the University of California system), the faculty and staff of the UC system WON!!!
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
November 15, 2025 at 1:29 AM
we fucking won y’all
not UC - workers and their unions and students standing together
so grateful for time our brilliant colleagues like Veena put into this and for the solidarity of my @ucaft.bsky.social and @uclafa.bsky.social
not UC - workers and their unions and students standing together
so grateful for time our brilliant colleagues like Veena put into this and for the solidarity of my @ucaft.bsky.social and @uclafa.bsky.social
Tears of relief at these bullet points.
November 15, 2025 at 1:13 AM
Tears of relief at these bullet points.
Listen to Greg!!
All UC faculty should join their local CUCFA and all faculty everywhere should join the AAUP. When we fight, we win, against feckless UC Regents and against a faithless federal government.
November 15, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Listen to Greg!!
Reposted by Miriam Posner
And if you have a union, join that too (I know most UC TT faculty don't). And if you can afford both, do both. AFT membership usually covers AAUP dues too. They're good at different things, and the more tapped in we are to more energy, the better.
November 15, 2025 at 12:52 AM
And if you have a union, join that too (I know most UC TT faculty don't). And if you can afford both, do both. AFT membership usually covers AAUP dues too. They're good at different things, and the more tapped in we are to more energy, the better.
Link to full ruling.
Fed. judge holds that the Trump administration engaged in coercive and retaliatory conduct in violation of the First and Tenth Amendments in its pretextual attacks on the University of California system.
PI granted.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
PI granted.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
November 15, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Link to full ruling.
Here at UCLA you can and should join @uclafa.bsky.social, which is an AAUP affiliate and one of the Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA). If you want to fight, this is how you do it and who you do it with.
Institutions are failing us, including universities that, in principle, ought to be standing up for academic freedom.
Academic friends, if you want to survive this moment, join the AAUP. Help yourself and colleagues at other institutions.
Academic friends, if you want to survive this moment, join the AAUP. Help yourself and colleagues at other institutions.
November 15, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Here at UCLA you can and should join @uclafa.bsky.social, which is an AAUP affiliate and one of the Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA). If you want to fight, this is how you do it and who you do it with.
Reposted by Miriam Posner
PUT SOME RESPECT ON THE UNION AND TEH FACULTY AND STAFF
WE WON. I am *begging* you to take note of who did this. *Not* UCLA admin—they’re still scuttling around behind closed doors, attempting to appease—but FACULTY AND STAFF, led by AAUP.
BREAKING: In AAUP et al v. Trump (wall-to-wall union lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful use of TItle VI to reshape the University of California system), the faculty and staff of the UC system WON!!!
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
November 15, 2025 at 12:23 AM
PUT SOME RESPECT ON THE UNION AND TEH FACULTY AND STAFF
CORRECT
UCLA is *us*: Faculty, students, and staff.
Not administrators.
Not administrators.
November 15, 2025 at 12:07 AM
CORRECT
WE WON. I am *begging* you to take note of who did this. *Not* UCLA admin—they’re still scuttling around behind closed doors, attempting to appease—but FACULTY AND STAFF, led by AAUP.
BREAKING: In AAUP et al v. Trump (wall-to-wall union lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful use of TItle VI to reshape the University of California system), the faculty and staff of the UC system WON!!!
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
November 15, 2025 at 12:01 AM
WE WON. I am *begging* you to take note of who did this. *Not* UCLA admin—they’re still scuttling around behind closed doors, attempting to appease—but FACULTY AND STAFF, led by AAUP.
Reposted by Miriam Posner
They fired all the South Asian American women who were editors at Condé Nast so they could fund Nuzzi's return, and the Times rolled out the red carpet to run a cover story, in between running hit pieces on Mamdani that have led to an extraordinary wave of hatred www.equalitylabs.org/wp-content/u...
www.equalitylabs.org
November 14, 2025 at 6:38 PM
They fired all the South Asian American women who were editors at Condé Nast so they could fund Nuzzi's return, and the Times rolled out the red carpet to run a cover story, in between running hit pieces on Mamdani that have led to an extraordinary wave of hatred www.equalitylabs.org/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Miriam Posner
I am in solidarity with @sbworkersunited.org as they strike for the wages, working conditions, and respect they deserve. Starbucks must put an end to their union busting and negotiate in good faith. #NoContractNoCoffee
As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history.
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
November 13, 2025 at 5:28 PM
I am in solidarity with @sbworkersunited.org as they strike for the wages, working conditions, and respect they deserve. Starbucks must put an end to their union busting and negotiate in good faith. #NoContractNoCoffee
Hadn't seen this 5-minute video at the @computerhistory.bsky.social about the history of databases. Short but gets through flat, hierarchical, network, and relational DBs! www.computerhistory.org/revolution/m...
Computer History Museum
<p>Every hour, every day, digital databases quietly store, cross-reference, and return information on every aspect of our lives. Discover the history of these powerful tools, including one man’s stru...
www.computerhistory.org
November 14, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Hadn't seen this 5-minute video at the @computerhistory.bsky.social about the history of databases. Short but gets through flat, hierarchical, network, and relational DBs! www.computerhistory.org/revolution/m...
Reposted by Miriam Posner
University PRESIDENTS have become isolated and arrogant
(Fixed the headline. The story can stay and amply illustrates the new headline.)
(Fixed the headline. The story can stay and amply illustrates the new headline.)
November 14, 2025 at 3:33 PM
University PRESIDENTS have become isolated and arrogant
(Fixed the headline. The story can stay and amply illustrates the new headline.)
(Fixed the headline. The story can stay and amply illustrates the new headline.)
Love a tranche of emails. A traaaaaaaanche.
November 14, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Love a tranche of emails. A traaaaaaaanche.