Rachel S. Franklin

Rachel Franklin 🦚

@rsfrankl.bsky.social

4.1K followers 1.1K following 550 posts

Population Geographer | Spatial Demographer.
Partial to words like orthogonal + heterodox.
Also very partial to shoes.

rachelfranklin.org + rachelfranklin.substack.com

Videos

Economics 43%

Political science 17%

Posts Replies Media Videos

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Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · Nov 11

Day 10 #30DayMapChallenge (pen and paper) is my feeble back-of-the-envelope attempt to understand the route Billy Joel’s Downeaster Alexa is taking—especially how she can be en route to the Vineyard from Block Island Sound but tonight be Nantucket bound. Makes no sense. #geosky

A bad map of New England geography showing the stops Billy’s Joel’s Downeaster Alexa makes.

Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · 5h

Love it!

Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · 5h

Some days you get the map and other days the map gets you. 😔

#30DayMapChallenge — Day 10 — Air.

Map of Mean PM 2.5 for Massachusetts monitors in November 2025

Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · 14h

Yeah not great but neither is the pressure of a map a day lol...

Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · 17h

No #30DayMapChallenge for Rachel today until she gets all her work done 😞

Reposted by Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Philip Nel, David R. Miller , and 4 more Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Philip Nel, David R. Miller, Rachel S. Franklin, Kate Jackson, David Darmofal, Heather E. Gaya

dan sinker @dansinker.com · 1d

How about we shut down the government for this very popular and specific goal and then, hear me out, we hold out for like a month and a half and then, ok this part is important, after a watershed election where we ran the table, ONLY THEN, fold and don't get the one thing we said we wanted.

Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · 1d

QGIS and super cool data from apur.org!

Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · 1d

It’s a map of the US made out of Kashi cereal.

Turns out Kashi is about as much fun for map-making as it is for eating. Who would have guessed it. Anyway here’s Day 9 (analog) of #30DayMapChallenge

Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you! 🥰

Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · 2d

Nothing like a nice long flight for catching up on #30DayMapChallenge 🤪.

Here's Day 8 — urban — right on time. A map of Paris buildings by age of construction. A real beauty if I do say so myself. 😍

Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · 2d

I'm nothing if not committed to the bit. Late to Day 7 — accessibility — of #30DayMapChallenge because job. Shout out to my preferred mode of transportation (after walking) and to my new home T station, which does NOT have the longest escalator in North American even if it totally feels like it.

Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · 2d

Especially happy with how I wrapped Side 1 up with a banger of a track called "Red herrings on the path to spatial greatness"

Track list for my tortured geographers department talk

Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · 2d

Honestly a talk title I'm so proud of I might have to put it on repeat.

Titles slide that reads "the tortured geographers department"

Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · 3d

Immaculate conception doing a lot of heavy lifting. Miraculous even.

Reposted by Rachel S. Franklin

Adam Rothman enjoys a good sandwich @adamrothman.bsky.social · 3d

Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · 4d

My favorite maps are the ones that take like 3 applications to finish.

Kidding.

Here's my Day 6 ("dimensions") of #30DayMapChallenge: a joy or ridgeline plot of kids in the US in 2020. Thanks @ipums.bsky.social (NHGIS), QGIS, R, Adobe Illustrator, and especially @helenmakesmaps.bsky.social

Map of county-level kid population in 2020 for the US

Reposted by Rachel S. Franklin

Jen Nelles @jen-nelles.bsky.social · 4d

I almost forgot the best thing about November! But it’s not too late to enjoy the #30DayMapChallenge

Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · 9d

Happy #30DayMapChallenge to all those who celebrate!

Day 1 is points and mine is a love letter to all the international undergraduate students who choose the United States for their studies. Thanks for being here!

#30DayMapChallenge2025 #points

Map of international undergraduate students in the US

Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · 4d

Good news is Microsoft Outlook actively trying to help me not ruin my workplace further by removing all my !!!! and other lady language stuff

Danielle Kurtzleben @titonka.bsky.social · 4d

I like to think that I personally ruined the workplace.

Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 4d

many people are saying!

Reposted by Rachel S. Franklin

Danielle Kurtzleben @titonka.bsky.social · 4d

I like to think that I personally ruined the workplace.

Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 4d

many people are saying!

Opinion
interesting times

Did Women Ruin the Workplace?

Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Anna O. Law, Margaret Mitchell , and 9 more Shannon Vallor, Anna O. Law, Margaret Mitchell, Philip Nel, Valerie Mueller, Smith, Mirya R. Holman, Adrian Daub, Jelena Subotić, Rachel S. Franklin, Federica Genovese, Colin Woodard

jesse @jesseltaylor.bsky.social · 4d

the question nobody with a soul is asking, answered by people nobody wants to hear from

NYT

INTERESTING TIMES

Did Women Ruin the Workplace?

And can conservative feminism fix it?
By Ross Douthat and Victoria Chamberlin

Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · 4d

I made it as far as the headline 🤷🏻‍♀️

Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · 4d

Naming no names but someone and some newspaper can fuck right off

Headline reading “did women ruin the workplace”

Reposted by Rachel S. Franklin

Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 5d

The detail on these is gonna get destroyed by the image compression on this app but it was fun to make them, especially putting the subway lines in.

Mamdani Vote Share by Precinct
Subway lines shown in white
Percent
20%
40%
60%
In precincts with at least 20 voters
80%
Kieran Healy / @kjhealy.co

Cuomo Vote Share by Precinct
Subway lines shown in white
Percent
20%
40%
60%
In precincts with at least 20 voters
80%
Kieran Healy /@kjhealy.co

Reposted by Rachel S. Franklin

🦃 Seth Masket 🦃 @smotus.bsky.social · 5d

I think the important lesson is that young men are unreliable

Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · 5d

Day 5 of #30DayMapChallenge is "earth." I did places to get out and, you know, touch grass.

Parks and open space in my new adopted home, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

#30DayMapChallenge2025 #day5

Map of parks and open space in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · 6d

Took me a while but I got there. Day 4 of the #30DayMapChallenge is "my data"—even if Strava makes it super fiddly to extract usable data that is mine, mine, mine.

This is all my runs in and around Cambridge, Massachusetts, since moving here in March. Brighter yellow indicates higher frequency.

Map of all my runs in and around Cambridge since March this year

Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · 6d

Fourth fuel: spite

Per Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 6d

Academia runs on three fuels: caffeine, impostor syndrome, and poorly documented code from 2017

Reposted by Rachel S. Franklin

Per Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 6d

Academia runs on three fuels: caffeine, impostor syndrome, and poorly documented code from 2017

Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · 7d

Thought this was a #30DayMapChallenge entry for polygons at first

Michael Lange @michaellangenyc.bsky.social · 7d

NEW: I predicted the results of the New York City mayoral election BLOCK by BLOCK.

🚨Spoiler Alert🚨 Zohran Mamdani is going to win

2,000,000+ Votes, 120,000+ Blocks, 350 Neighborhoods, 5 Boroughs, 3 Candidates

ONLY 1 PREDICTION:
www.michaellange.nyc/p/predicting...

Predicting Every Block of the 2025 NYC Mayoral Election

Spoiler Alert: Zohran Mamdani is going to win

www.michaellange.nyc

Reposted by Rachel S. Franklin

Michael Lange @michaellangenyc.bsky.social · 7d

Predicting Every Block of the 2025 NYC Mayoral Election

Spoiler Alert: Zohran Mamdani is going to win

www.michaellange.nyc

Rachel Franklin 🦚 @rsfrankl.bsky.social · 7d

Grim up North. But also very opposite-of-grim. Newcastle (decidedly northern & awesome city) has some of the most deprived areas in all England, but also many that are among the least deprived, according to 2025 IMD.

Have I mentioned it's an amazing city?

Day 3 (polygons) of #30DayMapChallenge

Map of Newcastle index of multiple deprivation 2025 at LSOA level

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