Donna A. Patterson
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profpatterson.bsky.social
Donna A. Patterson
@profpatterson.bsky.social
Prof & Chair @ Del State. Texas-born; East Coast-based.
Geopolitics, Africa, Europe, African diaspora, global health, pandemics, Sahel, Horn. Book: http://amzn.to/2xbzdJ1 Fmr: @WilsonCenter, @NewAmerica, @Wellesley

Writing a book on Juneteenth.
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
Extraordinary courage from Ahmed al Ahmed, a Muslim, 43-year-old father of two, who bravely risked his life to save his neighbors celebrating Hanukkah.

Praying for his full & speedy recovery.

And so deeply inspired by his example.
WATCH: Bystander disarms active shooter at Bondi Beach in Sydney
December 14, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
Alexander Stubb, l’influent président finlandais qui sait « ce qu’il faut dire et ne pas dire » à Donald Trump
Alexander Stubb, l’influent président finlandais qui sait « ce qu’il faut dire et ne pas dire » à Donald Trump
Agé de 57 ans, l’ancien premier ministre du pays aux 1 340 kilomètres de frontière avec la Russie a réussi à nouer une relation personnelle avec le président américain sur un terrain de golf. Couplé à une solide expérience diplomatique, cela fait de lui un médiateur informel dans les négociations ukrainiennes.
www.lemonde.fr
December 14, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
It’s so striking when people focus on how horrible they felt it was they were encouraged to stay home when they could in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and not how horrible it felt to see hundreds of thousands of people pass away from COVID-19 in the US and millions around the world.
December 13, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
There are some people who support our work by making a $5 donation, some who support us w/$50 or $1K, and last year we even received a surprise $10k donation. Some support our work by amplifying our campaign or by passing it along to friends. All of these actions help us reach our goal. Thank you! 🙏🏽
Make a gift to Prison Journalism Project now through Dec. 31, and your donation will be tripled up to $15,000. PJP trains incarcerated writers and publishes their work. We are aiming to raise $50,000 by the end of the year. H/t to the 175+ people who have donated so far.
Donate | Prison Journalism Project
Prison Journalism Project is supported by people like you. Support Prison Journalism Project today.
prisonjournalismproject.fundjournalism.org
December 13, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
Part of the Chanukah tradition is to place the light menorah either outside or in a window where outsiders can see it. This is supposed to advertise the miracle of Chanukah. These days, it is also a way of saying, “This is a Jewish home.”

Every year I think about how it is also an act of bravery.
December 14, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
The estimated median net worth of who’s running the country:

House: $1.0M – $1.5M
Senate: $1.7M – $2.5M
Supreme Court: $4M – $6M
White House Cabinet: $15M – $50M
President: $5.1B – $7.1B​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
"Do the rich have too much political power?"

Yes: 80%
No: 8%

YouGov / Dec 8, 2025
December 9, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
Please engage in disability justice.

Listen to the concerns of disabled people who speak out about these programs.

Fight for our right to a dignified life instead of only fighting for a dignified death.
December 9, 2025 at 5:51 AM
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
A woman in Saskatchewan needs surgery for a parathyroid issue and is being offered MAiD instead.

There’s no one in the province who can perform the procedure and the government won’t pay to send her elsewhere.

This is why disability advocates warn about assisted dying
🧵
Sask. woman considers MAID because she can't get needed surgery for rare disease | CBC News
For the past eight years Jolene Van Alstine has suffered from a rare form of parathyroid disease, normocalcemic primary hyperparathryroidism (nPHPT). It causes extreme bone pain.
www.cbc.ca
December 9, 2025 at 5:51 AM
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott donated $7.2 billion this year in her biggest ever giving announcement.

The gifts bring her total philanthropy to $26 billion over the past half decade. bloom.bg/3KHQfHc

📷: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
December 10, 2025 at 3:38 AM
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
Several tourists, kitchen workers killed in fire at nightclub in North Goa's Arpora village.
At least 23 people killed in nightclub fire in India’s Goa
Several tourists, kitchen workers killed in fire at nightclub in North Goa's Arpora village.
bit.ly
December 7, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
I got to know Quinta when we were both working at BuzzFeed and she has always been wonderful, bold and fierce. And kind. She inspired me to think bigger about what I wanted for myself and others. It means so much to her escalate her vision.
December 4, 2025 at 4:10 AM
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
Scientists studied thousands of children born March 2020-May 2021.

Out of 800+ mothers diagnosed with COVID-19, 16.3% of their babies received a neurodevelopmental diagnosis by 3 years old, compared with 9.7% who weren’t exposed to COVID-19 in utero.
Amid Confusing CDC Guidance About Vaccines, Study Highlights New Risk of COVID-19 During Pregnancy
A Harvard study found that the children of women who contracted COVID-19 while pregnant may be at an increased risk for autism and other diagnoses, raising new concerns about the CDC’s decision to sto...
www.propublica.org
November 30, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
Punaises de lit : la Cinémathèque française ferme ses quatre salles à Paris pour un mois
Punaises de lit : la Cinémathèque française ferme ses quatre salles à Paris pour un mois
Cette fermeture intervient « à la suite de nouveaux signalements » et doit permettre de « garantir » aux spectateurs « un environnement parfaitement sûr et confortable », précise l’institution.
www.lemonde.fr
November 28, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
Airbus demande à ses clients d’« arrêter immédiatement les vols » de 6 000 A320, en raison d’un logiciel de commande vulnérable aux radiations solaires
Airbus demande à ses clients d’« arrêter immédiatement les vols » de 6 000 A320, en raison d’un logiciel de commande vulnérable aux radiations solaires
Cela fait suite à un incident survenu aux Etats-Unis le 30 octobre, quand un appareil a soudainement piqué vers le bas sans intervention des pilotes. L’avionneur reconnaît que ces « recommandations entraîneront des perturbations opérationnelles pour les passagers et les clients ».
www.lemonde.fr
November 28, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
A fire that broke out in an apartment building in Hong Kong’s suburban Tai Po district on Nov. 26, and engulfed seven towers, has killed dozens and left hundreds missing. Here's what to know ⤵️
Hong Kong’s Deadly Tower Fires: What We Know So Far
Hong Kong is grappling with a fire that broke out in an apartment building and soon engulfed seven towers, killing at least 44 people with hundreds still missing.
bloom.bg
November 27, 2025 at 5:20 AM
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
In this tough and moving essay, Caroline Kennedy's 35-year-old daughter Tatiana Schlossberg reveals that she is terminally ill with leukemia. She has some choice words about how her cousin Bobby has made the limited time she has left worse. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
A Battle with My Blood
When I was diagnosed with leukemia, my first thought was that this couldn’t be happening to me, to my family.
www.newyorker.com
November 22, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
Two scientists who are fast friends, one Nigerian and one American, have won the MacArthur Foundation's 100&Change competition for their network to catch the next disease with pandemic potential.
$100 million prize goes to dynamic duo aiming to stop next pandemic before it starts
Two scientists who are fast friends, one Nigerian and one American, have won the MacArthur Foundation's 100&Change competition for their network to catch the next disease with pandemic potential.
n.pr
November 22, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
“AI workers said they distrust the models they work on because of a consistent emphasis on rapid turnaround time at the expense of quality.”
Meet the AI workers who tell their friends and family to stay away from AI
When the people making AI seem trustworthy are the ones who trust it the least, it shows that incentives for speed are overtaking safety, experts say
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
Previously: His wife visited him ICE in detention on his 50th birthday. She couldn’t even bring him the card she’d made. They could only speak through a phone, divided by a thick pane of glass. It was one of few times she’d ever seen him cry.
Trump's ICE Arrested a Whistleblower Who Exposed Sexual Assault in Detention. Now, He’s Left the Country.
Douglas Menjivar is a survivor and activist. He’s also married to a U.S. citizen, but he was caught up in the president’s mass deportation agenda anyway.
www.texasobserver.org
November 20, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
Monarch butterfly tracks in today’s NYT.

Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/s...
November 20, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
Hourly Walgreens employees will reportedly no longer receive paid time off for six major holidays, including Thanksgiving and Christmas, after the pharmacy giant was acquired by private equity firm Sycamore Partners
Report: Walgreens cuts hourly workers’ pay for 6 major holidays
The hourly employees will only be paid if they work on those holidays.
www.whio.com
November 17, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
A Brooklyn-based collective, Artists in Resistance (A.I.R.) NYC, is not only committed to hosting COVID-safer art and music events from borough to borough, but also ensuring that anybody can do so for free.
How an Air Purifier Can Make Your Art Event Safer
The Brooklyn collective A.I.R. loans out the devices under the tenet that “illness need not be the price of living in community or participating in the arts.”
hyperallergic.com
November 17, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Reposted by Donna A. Patterson
‘Death remains my intimate shadow partner. It has been with me since birth, always hovering close by. I understand one day we will finally waltz together into the ether. I hope when that time comes, I die with the satisfaction of a life well-lived, unapologetic, joyful, & full of love.’
—Alice Wong
November 15, 2025 at 6:12 AM