Shannon Mattern
@shannonmattern.bsky.social
director of creative research @ the metro ny library council; recently resigned 😱 full professor of media studies, art history + anthropology
architecture, archives, 🎨, cities, 🐕, infrastructure, libraries, 🗺️, sound++
nyc + upstate
wordsinspace.net
architecture, archives, 🎨, cities, 🐕, infrastructure, libraries, 🗺️, sound++
nyc + upstate
wordsinspace.net
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
You know you can always judge a book by its cover. Look at this nice book about bears.
November 16, 2025 at 11:00 PM
You know you can always judge a book by its cover. Look at this nice book about bears.
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
The annoying thing about Larry Summers is that he will not get anywhere near the heat and scrutiny for this as anyone else would for something like listing their pronouns in a syllabus.
November 16, 2025 at 9:30 PM
The annoying thing about Larry Summers is that he will not get anywhere near the heat and scrutiny for this as anyone else would for something like listing their pronouns in a syllabus.
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
I'd go further and say there's a nightmare mirror version of any political issue you'd care to mention. RFK Jr is like this with our food system and environmental illnesses. Terfism is like this with feminist politics. This is why people should read Doppleganger.
Antisemitism is a lot like Qanon child abuse conspiracies in that there’s this real and bad phenomenon and, parallel to that, what can only be described as a large scale mass psychosis about a mostly fictional version of the same phenomenon
November 16, 2025 at 10:23 PM
I'd go further and say there's a nightmare mirror version of any political issue you'd care to mention. RFK Jr is like this with our food system and environmental illnesses. Terfism is like this with feminist politics. This is why people should read Doppleganger.
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
The Epstein emails have damaged Trump beyond repair, because the public has now seen the gross moral rot behind Trump's presidency and the elites who prop it up (and fawned over a convicted sex creep)
Take your money out of AI and into pitchforks. My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/epst...
Take your money out of AI and into pitchforks. My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/epst...
Epstein’s emails are the end of America as they ruined it
If the evil banality of the world's most powerful people exposed in the Epstein emails doesn't cause a revolution, nothing will.
www.inquirer.com
November 16, 2025 at 6:47 PM
The Epstein emails have damaged Trump beyond repair, because the public has now seen the gross moral rot behind Trump's presidency and the elites who prop it up (and fawned over a convicted sex creep)
Take your money out of AI and into pitchforks. My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/epst...
Take your money out of AI and into pitchforks. My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/epst...
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
MTG is an experiment in how little it will take for white voters to ignore red flags they’ve already clocked
November 16, 2025 at 7:21 PM
MTG is an experiment in how little it will take for white voters to ignore red flags they’ve already clocked
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
to appear at #alt.vis 2025: THEORY IS SHAPES
sure "theory figures" are great, but @matthew.wiki, @maryamhed.bsky.social, me, and Carolina Nobre wonder: why always a 2D plane or a flowchart? why not icebergs, horseshoes, Möbius strips, or BLT sandwiches?
arxiv.org/abs/2510.01382
#ieeevis #hci
sure "theory figures" are great, but @matthew.wiki, @maryamhed.bsky.social, me, and Carolina Nobre wonder: why always a 2D plane or a flowchart? why not icebergs, horseshoes, Möbius strips, or BLT sandwiches?
arxiv.org/abs/2510.01382
#ieeevis #hci
October 9, 2025 at 3:03 AM
to appear at #alt.vis 2025: THEORY IS SHAPES
sure "theory figures" are great, but @matthew.wiki, @maryamhed.bsky.social, me, and Carolina Nobre wonder: why always a 2D plane or a flowchart? why not icebergs, horseshoes, Möbius strips, or BLT sandwiches?
arxiv.org/abs/2510.01382
#ieeevis #hci
sure "theory figures" are great, but @matthew.wiki, @maryamhed.bsky.social, me, and Carolina Nobre wonder: why always a 2D plane or a flowchart? why not icebergs, horseshoes, Möbius strips, or BLT sandwiches?
arxiv.org/abs/2510.01382
#ieeevis #hci
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
it is deeply annoying to have worked so hard to understand complex systems and learn so many ways to navigate complexity
and the punchline of everything is: once you map things out you realize you were underestimating the stupidity by an order of magnitude
and the punchline of everything is: once you map things out you realize you were underestimating the stupidity by an order of magnitude
October 15, 2025 at 1:34 AM
it is deeply annoying to have worked so hard to understand complex systems and learn so many ways to navigate complexity
and the punchline of everything is: once you map things out you realize you were underestimating the stupidity by an order of magnitude
and the punchline of everything is: once you map things out you realize you were underestimating the stupidity by an order of magnitude
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
If you are not in academia, you might not know this, but job interviews used to be held at conferences IN HOTEL ROOMS. Women candidates in a hotel room alone with often all-male committees. People sitting on beds! The horror stories I've heard.
I thing I sometimes thing about is that university departments were still doing job interviews in hotel rooms in the mid aughts
November 16, 2025 at 7:42 PM
If you are not in academia, you might not know this, but job interviews used to be held at conferences IN HOTEL ROOMS. Women candidates in a hotel room alone with often all-male committees. People sitting on beds! The horror stories I've heard.
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Zero understanding of how risk pooling and insurance works.
Cassidy: "The president is proposing that we take the $26b that would be going to insurance companies if we just do an extension and give it directly to the American people in which 100% of the money is used for them to purchase healthcare on their own terms. That makes them an informed consumer."
November 16, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Zero understanding of how risk pooling and insurance works.
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Reporter @ilyamarritz.bsky.social and his @bostonglobe.com colleague @hilaryburns.bsky.social speak with university leaders across the country about how they are responding to the Trump administration’s assault on academia. Listen now: https://lnk.to/onthemedia/bluesky
On the Media
The Peabody Award-winning On the Media podcast is your guide to examining how the media sausage is made. Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger examine threats to free speech and government transparency, cast a skeptical eye on media coverage of the week’s big stories and unravel hidden political narratives in everything we read, watch and hear.
lnk.to
November 16, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Reporter @ilyamarritz.bsky.social and his @bostonglobe.com colleague @hilaryburns.bsky.social speak with university leaders across the country about how they are responding to the Trump administration’s assault on academia. Listen now: https://lnk.to/onthemedia/bluesky
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
"That about-face, as much as any action Ms. Bondi has taken this year, demonstrated the near-complete breakdown of the Justice Department’s traditional independence to prosecute cases based on facts and the law, as opposed to presidential fiat."
The rule of law is breaking down in front of us.
The rule of law is breaking down in front of us.
Four months ago, Bondi's DOJ declared that Epstein files warranted no further investigation. But it took Bondi four hours to open an investigation anyway once Trump demanded--and only into Democrats @ericalgj.bsky.social @glennthrush.bsky.social @alanfeuer.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/u...
Justice Department to Investigate Epstein Ties, but Not to Trump
www.nytimes.com
November 16, 2025 at 2:26 AM
"That about-face, as much as any action Ms. Bondi has taken this year, demonstrated the near-complete breakdown of the Justice Department’s traditional independence to prosecute cases based on facts and the law, as opposed to presidential fiat."
The rule of law is breaking down in front of us.
The rule of law is breaking down in front of us.
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Homan to Pope: shut up and dribble
Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Trump’s border czar rebukes US bishops over immigration stance
Tom Homan, a self-described 'lifelong Catholic', has launched a sharp attack on the US Conference of Catholic Bishops after they issued a collective statement raising concerns over the Trump administr...
thecatholicherald.com
November 16, 2025 at 3:29 AM
Homan to Pope: shut up and dribble
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
5 headlines tonight on Charlotte Observer’s homepage:
“Manolo's Bakery closes to protect customers”
“Church members flee as federal agents arrive”
“Super G executive describes agents dragging out teen employee”
“Border Patrol questions people at Walmart”
“Border Patrol sweep sparks fear”
“Manolo's Bakery closes to protect customers”
“Church members flee as federal agents arrive”
“Super G executive describes agents dragging out teen employee”
“Border Patrol questions people at Walmart”
“Border Patrol sweep sparks fear”
November 16, 2025 at 4:25 AM
5 headlines tonight on Charlotte Observer’s homepage:
“Manolo's Bakery closes to protect customers”
“Church members flee as federal agents arrive”
“Super G executive describes agents dragging out teen employee”
“Border Patrol questions people at Walmart”
“Border Patrol sweep sparks fear”
“Manolo's Bakery closes to protect customers”
“Church members flee as federal agents arrive”
“Super G executive describes agents dragging out teen employee”
“Border Patrol questions people at Walmart”
“Border Patrol sweep sparks fear”
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Leading neuroscientists say that ongoing disruptions in federal funding are causing many young scientists in the field to reconsider their career choice — with potentially dire consequences for research into Alzheimer's, autism and other brain disorders.
www.npr.org/sections/sho...
www.npr.org/sections/sho...
As funding falters, young brain scientists rethink careers in research
Research on brain disorders may slow as young neuroscientists struggle to find jobs and research grants.
www.npr.org
November 16, 2025 at 4:23 AM
Leading neuroscientists say that ongoing disruptions in federal funding are causing many young scientists in the field to reconsider their career choice — with potentially dire consequences for research into Alzheimer's, autism and other brain disorders.
www.npr.org/sections/sho...
www.npr.org/sections/sho...
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
They’ve turned the NEH into The Ministry of MAGA Culture. In the name of restoring “merit” to the grant process, they’ve hand picked a bunch of transparently MAGA projects to fund.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/a...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/a...
Fired Scholars and Big Grants to Favored Projects: Inside Trump’s N.E.H.
www.nytimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 12:58 PM
They’ve turned the NEH into The Ministry of MAGA Culture. In the name of restoring “merit” to the grant process, they’ve hand picked a bunch of transparently MAGA projects to fund.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/a...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/a...
"There were spaces to meet (and argue), spaces to organize and plan – and spaces to socialize too... Having different groups sharing the same space provided opportunities for people to learn how to organize together." "Yet now, the left is looking at a very different and less vibrant landscape."...
Radical organizing was once backed up by a network of physical spaces. How can we rebuild them to support the movements we need now? By Rosie Hampton (@rosiehampton.bsky.social)
Where is the left?
Radical organizing was once backed up by a network of physical spaces. How can we rebuild them to support the movements we need now? By Rosie Hampton.
newint.org
November 16, 2025 at 2:19 AM
"There were spaces to meet (and argue), spaces to organize and plan – and spaces to socialize too... Having different groups sharing the same space provided opportunities for people to learn how to organize together." "Yet now, the left is looking at a very different and less vibrant landscape."...
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
It’s been a pleasure working with Lex and everyone in the politics vertical at Teen Vogue. I’m heartbroken that my column, Disability Visibility, is gone. Teen Vogue was one of the few places that published disabled journalists regularly. I just spent the last 2 months working on my next column
I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
November 6, 2025 at 5:28 AM
It’s been a pleasure working with Lex and everyone in the politics vertical at Teen Vogue. I’m heartbroken that my column, Disability Visibility, is gone. Teen Vogue was one of the few places that published disabled journalists regularly. I just spent the last 2 months working on my next column
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Alice Wong, Presente. Thank you for everything.
“Don’t let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.”
November 15, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Alice Wong, Presente. Thank you for everything.
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Trump Denies Writing 36-Volume Comic Titled ‘Don And Jeff: Time Pedophiles https://theonion.com/trump-denies-writing-36-volume-comic-titled-don-and-jeff-time-pedophiles/
November 13, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Trump Denies Writing 36-Volume Comic Titled ‘Don And Jeff: Time Pedophiles https://theonion.com/trump-denies-writing-36-volume-comic-titled-don-and-jeff-time-pedophiles/
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
They rounded a bunch of random Venezuelans with tats and pretended they were in tren de aragua, then started blowing up random Venezuelan boats they claim “carried drugs,” in order to slowly groom their base into supporting a full ground war on Venezuela that was always about oil
November 14, 2025 at 3:31 AM
They rounded a bunch of random Venezuelans with tats and pretended they were in tren de aragua, then started blowing up random Venezuelan boats they claim “carried drugs,” in order to slowly groom their base into supporting a full ground war on Venezuela that was always about oil
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Cat Follows Man Through Apartment Like Racist Walgreens Employee https://theonion.com/cat-follows-man-through-apartment-like-racist-walgreens-employee/
November 14, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Cat Follows Man Through Apartment Like Racist Walgreens Employee https://theonion.com/cat-follows-man-through-apartment-like-racist-walgreens-employee/
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
No one leaving New York City because of Mamdani, say two top real estate CEOs
No one leaving New York City because of Mamdani, say two top real estate CEOs
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's democratic socialist views spark fears companies and capital will flee, but top real estate CEOs say it's not true.
cnb.cx
November 14, 2025 at 4:06 PM
No one leaving New York City because of Mamdani, say two top real estate CEOs
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
i’d be more comfortable with the olivia nuzzi coverage if every story was headlined something like “seduced by a guy who eats roadkill: the story of an extremely stupid lady”
November 14, 2025 at 7:02 PM
i’d be more comfortable with the olivia nuzzi coverage if every story was headlined something like “seduced by a guy who eats roadkill: the story of an extremely stupid lady”
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
I have bad news for you about Democrats and policing *reform*
If these people are ever thrown out of power, I hope we all understand there is no reformist pathway for institutions like this as much as Dems might desperately wish and claim there is.
November 15, 2025 at 11:33 PM
I have bad news for you about Democrats and policing *reform*
Reposted by Shannon Mattern
Some news: tomorrow at 9am, Ted Koppel + CBS Sunday Morning will air a two-part story on the devastating surge of full-time workers being pushed into homelessness.
I'll be interviewed along with two families from There Is No Place for Us. It would mean a lot if you'd watch and help spread the word.
I'll be interviewed along with two families from There Is No Place for Us. It would mean a lot if you'd watch and help spread the word.
November 15, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Some news: tomorrow at 9am, Ted Koppel + CBS Sunday Morning will air a two-part story on the devastating surge of full-time workers being pushed into homelessness.
I'll be interviewed along with two families from There Is No Place for Us. It would mean a lot if you'd watch and help spread the word.
I'll be interviewed along with two families from There Is No Place for Us. It would mean a lot if you'd watch and help spread the word.