Meredith Farkas

@librarianmer.bsky.social

2.2K followers 600 following 890 posts

😷 🏳️‍🌈 🇵🇸 Community college librarian in Portland, OR. Solidarity, unions, slow librarianship, spoonie, autoimmune, still masking, disability justice. Blogging at Information Wants to be Free since 2004. Subscribe: http://meredithfarkas.substack.com .. more

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Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 2d

If anyone knows of great rheumatologists or dermatologist/rheumatologists who specialize in suspected lupus/vasculitis or urticarial vasculitis cases and actually care about their patients and are invested enough to investigate complex cases, let me know. I'm willing to travel far at this point.

Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 2d

I get all the wrong Dx's because my symptoms have evolved, but we now have 10 months of data and two 4-month-long+ flares that looked strikingly similar and 5 skin biopsies. The more data they get, the less they seem focused on diagnosis. It doesn't help that this state has terrible healthcare.

Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 2d

I'm hoping since she's leaving clinical work entirely, maybe she'll feel a little less burned out (it's been obvious) this time around and might be kind enough to consider an actual diagnosis for this nightmare situation. It's been exhausting being dragged from one wrong possibility to the next.

Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 2d

Preparing for my medical appointment tomorrow (yes, Christmas Eve -- it was the only date I could get within 3 months) like others might prepare for a court case. I have so many marked up studies at the ready, though it probably won't do me much good and my rheum is leaving practice next month.

Reposted by Meredith Farkas

Billy Hanlon @bhanlon15.bsky.social · 3d

STAT: Researchers have a moral obligation to push back when their studies are twisted to promote false health claims

Study’s stated aim was to assess possible connection between abnormal clumps of blood clotting proteins, or “microclots,” & long Covid — not vaccines
www.statnews.com/2025/12/22/r...

Researchers have a moral obligation to push back when their studies are twisted to promote false health claims

NewsGuard has collected 1,000 provably false statements in its False Claim Fingerprints database. Many involve misrepresented research.

www.statnews.com

Reposted by Jan W. Mueller, Linda J. Skitka, Rafael H. M. Pereira , and 8 more Jan W. Mueller, Linda J. Skitka, Rafael H. M. Pereira, Jonathan M. Gilligan, Dustin Mulvaney, Brian Keegan, Erin O’Donnell, Meredith Farkas, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Matthias Schmelzer, Dan Immergluck

Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · 5d

The Abundance movement often points to environmental groups as the obstacles to building. But who actually files the lawsuits blocking projects? It’s not environmental groups. It’s been lawyered-up HOAs protecting property values all along. Regulation by litigation is the problem.

Bar chart titled “Who’s Really Blocking California Development?” showing the share of CEQA lawsuits by plaintiff type. HOAs and NIMBY groups account for the majority at 54%. Business and commercial plaintiffs file 20% of cases, government entities 13%, environmental groups 8%, tribal or cultural groups 4%, and labor unions 2%. The chart notes the analysis is based on 1,234 CEQA court opinions from 1973–2025 using CourtListener data, with HOAs/NIMBYs defined as homeowner associations, neighborhood groups, and ad hoc project-opposition groups.

Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 6d

When I was in Reykjavik this summer, all of the parking garages and parking areas for waterfalls, beaches, and other sites did this. I was completely shocked and really felt watched the whole time. Creepy AF.

Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 7d

That must have been the point where they realized she was not Naomi Klein. #doppleganger

Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 7d

You’ll never guess who else experienced ‘racism’ on the job market despite their unimpeachable academic credentials.

Naomi Wolf: I got pretty far along in the hiring process for a wonderful position teaching at a NY state university before a dean in the department told me I couldn’t go any further because I was white.

Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 7d

I needed this tonight! 😂 Thank you!

Reposted by Ben Barr, Rosemary A. Joyce, Lesley A. Hall , and 7 more Ben Barr, Rosemary A. Joyce, Lesley A. Hall, Trevon D. Logan, Julia Lynch, Michael J. Taylor, Sebastian Karcher, Meredith Farkas, Manisha Sinha, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 7d

You’ll never guess who else experienced ‘racism’ on the job market despite their unimpeachable academic credentials.

Reposted by Pamela K. Gilbert, Mark Rice, Ann Bartow , and 1 more Pamela K. Gilbert, Mark Rice, Ann Bartow, Meredith Farkas

Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 7d

One small way to try to re-establish social trust would be to transparently disclose *in this very column* that you hung out with Jeffrey Epstein.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/o...

Opinion | The Epstein Story? Count Me Out.

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Steve Peers, Rosemary A. Joyce, Martin Paul Eve , and 5 more Steve Peers, Rosemary A. Joyce, Martin Paul Eve, Lesley A. Hall, Rebecca M. Bratspies, John Maynard, Meredith Farkas, Nathan P. Kalmoe

The Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · 8d

Travelers bemoan a rise of able-bodied passengers who game the system to skip the lines. on.wsj.com/3N6apva

They Get Wheeled on Flights and Miraculously Walk Off. Praise ‘Jetway Jesus.’

Travelers bemoan a rise of able-bodied passengers who game the system to skip the lines.

on.wsj.com

Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 8d

The struggle is real for librarians who have to find ways to gently suggest to students (without shaming/alienating them) that the problem is not that we can't find the sources they cited, but that the sources don't really exist because they used GenAI to write their paper and bibliography.

chopped unc crisis hotline @milesklee.bsky.social · 8d

Academics and technologists are sounding the alarm about a growing crisis in scholarship as we know it: AI-generated citations of nonexistent papers that have infested real journals. Despite being fake, the sources are widely assumed to be authentic the more they appear in published literature.

AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals

Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.

www.rollingstone.com

Reposted by Meredith Farkas

Tara C. Smith @aetiology.bsky.social · 8d

Nothing Kennedy has done will make us healthier. Like his other interventions, this will lead to more death and more suffering.

Dorit Reiss @doritreiss.bsky.social · 8d

American Academy of Pediatrics loses HHS funding for projects including reducing sudden infant deaths, preventing fetal alcohol syndrome, and more after criticizing RFK Jr. wapo.st/48U8yB2 via @lenasun.bsky.social and Paige Cunningham @washingtonpost.com

American Academy of Pediatrics loses HHS funding after criticizing RFK Jr.

HHS cuts key AAP grants, citing concerns about “identity-based language” and insufficient focus on agency priorities. The organization said the cuts could harm child health.

wapo.st

Reposted by Suzana J. Camargo, John Horgan, Steve Peers , and 12 more Suzana J. Camargo, John Horgan, Steve Peers, Daniel Woolf, Bessma Momani, Martin Kreidl, Timothy Burke, Heather Ellis, Catherine J. Frieman, Juanjo Medina, Judith Freedman, Alessandro Arcangeli, Meredith Farkas, Pádua Fernandes, Bruce Buchan

chopped unc crisis hotline @milesklee.bsky.social · 8d

AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals

Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.

www.rollingstone.com

Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 8d

Had a huge windstorm in our area last night with lots of trees down and in spite of the fact that it's often our neighborhood that loses power when no one else does, we managed to keep power when many in our area lost it this time. VERY grateful to be warm today.

Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 8d

If we are banning cell phones for kids we need to be talking about banning chatbots for boomers
www.persuasion.community/p/my-chatgpt...

Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 9d

bsky.app/profile/effi...

Effin' Birds @effinbirds.com · 10d

A painting of a bird beside the text "all i'm asking for is one bullshit-free day"

Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 9d

I think I'd prefer to pretend I'd never seen this. JFC Qualtrics!! 🤯

Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 9d

Thanks. It's appreciated.

Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 9d

I just feel very helpless being here, not being able to be there for my husband and sister-in-law. And then I feel like a monster that part of me is relieved I didn't have to travel this time of year and spend a lot of time in a hospital while immunocompromised. Just awful all around.

Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 9d

Movies make it seem like you can always tell when someone is going to die and gather the family, but it hasn't been at all like that in my experience. So many "this is it" moments and then they ended up coming home from the hospital. And other times they seem to be getting better and bam.

Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 9d

It's so hard to know at his age if this is the end, or if the doctors will be able to get him stabilized. It's hard from a distance to know when to rush across the country and when to wait and see. My husband missed his mother's death for that reason, so I'm glad he's going now.

Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 9d

My father-in-law is in the ICU and my husband just rushed to Chicago to be with him and support his sister. My son has things he can't miss in school, so we stayed behind. I hate not being there. He's been an important part of my life for 22 years. I can't imagine the world without him.

Reposted by Alan Richardson, Meredith Farkas, Daxton R. Stewart

Mara Wilson @marawilson.bsky.social · 10d

Rob Reiner either made your favorite movie, or made somebody you know’s favorite movie. If you’re a Californian, he’s also part of the reason you or your friends can get married. He has changed more lives for the better than this asshole commenting on him ever did.

Reposted by American Library Association, Meredith Farkas

Molly Knight @mollyknight.bsky.social · 13d

Wrote about the Mets. mollyknight.substack.com/p/mets-front...

Mets front office to Mets fans: drop dead

The free Friday newsletter

mollyknight.substack.com

Meredith Farkas @librarianmer.bsky.social · 14d

Do most school districts do searches for high school principal roles or just constantly (and untransparently) promote other principals or assistant principals working in the district? I'm just wondering if our school district is a depressing outlier or if that's the norm?