Heather Randell
@heatherrandell.bsky.social
Assistant professor in the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota. Sociologist/demographer studying the health impacts of climate change and dams, with a focus on Brazil and East Africa.
https://sites.google.com/umn.edu/heatherrandell
https://sites.google.com/umn.edu/heatherrandell
Kids are great and all, but they sure do make it hard to have hobbies.
November 19, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Kids are great and all, but they sure do make it hard to have hobbies.
I sure do hope students take advantage of this delightful resource.
November 19, 2025 at 3:38 AM
I sure do hope students take advantage of this delightful resource.
I just love this. The University of Minnesota Library has launched book club kits! Students can take out six copies of the same book to read with friends. College kids need this sort of stuff now more than ever. 📚📖💙
libguides.umn.edu/bookclubkits...
libguides.umn.edu/bookclubkits...
November 19, 2025 at 2:43 AM
I just love this. The University of Minnesota Library has launched book club kits! Students can take out six copies of the same book to read with friends. College kids need this sort of stuff now more than ever. 📚📖💙
libguides.umn.edu/bookclubkits...
libguides.umn.edu/bookclubkits...
I moved to Minnesota in June 2023 during a day when the air smelled like a campfire. When I’ve asked longtime Minnesotans about the increasingly severe smoke during our summers, they all say it was never a problem until a few years ago. And wow, this graph has got the receipts.
November 14, 2025 at 9:17 PM
I moved to Minnesota in June 2023 during a day when the air smelled like a campfire. When I’ve asked longtime Minnesotans about the increasingly severe smoke during our summers, they all say it was never a problem until a few years ago. And wow, this graph has got the receipts.
Just a quick reminder that half the country is decidedly NOT inundated with news of the Epstein emails about Trump. I just checked the Fox News website and did not see one article about it on their homepage. Among these gems below there is one Epstein article, but it is about Prince Andrew.
November 13, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Just a quick reminder that half the country is decidedly NOT inundated with news of the Epstein emails about Trump. I just checked the Fox News website and did not see one article about it on their homepage. Among these gems below there is one Epstein article, but it is about Prince Andrew.
And speaking of unmanned, I love this for St. Paul!
November 6, 2025 at 10:57 PM
And speaking of unmanned, I love this for St. Paul!
One day each month—today is the day in fact—is Minnesota Thursdays, where the school district serves food grown from local farms!
November 6, 2025 at 1:17 PM
One day each month—today is the day in fact—is Minnesota Thursdays, where the school district serves food grown from local farms!
We have universal free school breakfast and lunch in Minnesota. Parents may imagine the school lunches from when we were kids—sloppy joes, rectangular pizza—but we’ve come a long way. Below are some examples of Minneapolis Public School meals. ALL kids should have access to food like this.
November 6, 2025 at 12:44 PM
We have universal free school breakfast and lunch in Minnesota. Parents may imagine the school lunches from when we were kids—sloppy joes, rectangular pizza—but we’ve come a long way. Below are some examples of Minneapolis Public School meals. ALL kids should have access to food like this.
I should have known better than to click on this 🤦🏻♀️
“The pathology in our institutions known as wokeness is distinctively feminine and feminized. And that, in a very literal sense, our institutions have gone woke because there are more women in them than there used to be.”
“The pathology in our institutions known as wokeness is distinctively feminine and feminized. And that, in a very literal sense, our institutions have gone woke because there are more women in them than there used to be.”
November 6, 2025 at 12:33 PM
I should have known better than to click on this 🤦🏻♀️
“The pathology in our institutions known as wokeness is distinctively feminine and feminized. And that, in a very literal sense, our institutions have gone woke because there are more women in them than there used to be.”
“The pathology in our institutions known as wokeness is distinctively feminine and feminized. And that, in a very literal sense, our institutions have gone woke because there are more women in them than there used to be.”
Speaking of local, I love my city for many reasons including the fact that Minneapolis Public Schools has a Farm to School Program. Once a month, all the schools serve a healthy meal with locally sourced ingredients. This month’s meal includes local turkey, squash, root veggies, and buckwheat. 🦃🥕🥔🌾
November 4, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Speaking of local, I love my city for many reasons including the fact that Minneapolis Public Schools has a Farm to School Program. Once a month, all the schools serve a healthy meal with locally sourced ingredients. This month’s meal includes local turkey, squash, root veggies, and buckwheat. 🦃🥕🥔🌾
We voted!
Local elections for the win 💙🩵💙
Local elections for the win 💙🩵💙
November 4, 2025 at 3:28 PM
We voted!
Local elections for the win 💙🩵💙
Local elections for the win 💙🩵💙
Scenes from Clarksdale—where Sinners takes place—and elsewhere along the Mississippi Blues Trail. The Delta is a place that more people ought to see and hear for themselves.
November 3, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Scenes from Clarksdale—where Sinners takes place—and elsewhere along the Mississippi Blues Trail. The Delta is a place that more people ought to see and hear for themselves.
Bonsai trees showing off their colors at the Conservatory. I learned there that the art of bonsai was introduced to Japan from China!
November 2, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Bonsai trees showing off their colors at the Conservatory. I learned there that the art of bonsai was introduced to Japan from China!
The very best house on our block
🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃
🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃
November 1, 2025 at 2:02 AM
The very best house on our block
🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃
🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃
The extent of Indigenous land dispossession by the US government is just staggering. The left map shows the shrinking boundaries of the Fort Berthold Reservation from 1852-1910 and the right map shows the 150,000+ acres of remaining reservation land flooded by the Garrison Dam in 1953.
October 31, 2025 at 1:16 PM
The extent of Indigenous land dispossession by the US government is just staggering. The left map shows the shrinking boundaries of the Fort Berthold Reservation from 1852-1910 and the right map shows the 150,000+ acres of remaining reservation land flooded by the Garrison Dam in 1953.
This text accompanied an installation of videos of Native women speaking their languages on their ancestral lands.
The picture below is a still shot from a video of women speaking Lunaápeew on their ancestral homelands in Pennsylvania, a state with no remaining Native land.
The picture below is a still shot from a video of women speaking Lunaápeew on their ancestral homelands in Pennsylvania, a state with no remaining Native land.
October 30, 2025 at 5:10 PM
This text accompanied an installation of videos of Native women speaking their languages on their ancestral lands.
The picture below is a still shot from a video of women speaking Lunaápeew on their ancestral homelands in Pennsylvania, a state with no remaining Native land.
The picture below is a still shot from a video of women speaking Lunaápeew on their ancestral homelands in Pennsylvania, a state with no remaining Native land.
Language is what roots us to our ancestors and land. Language is political.
October 29, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Language is what roots us to our ancestors and land. Language is political.
Twin Cities folks, go check out the new Dyani White Hawk exhibit at the Walker. It is excellent!
October 29, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Twin Cities folks, go check out the new Dyani White Hawk exhibit at the Walker. It is excellent!
A few more snapshots of the Brazilian Amazon.
Te amo Amazônia. 💙💛💚
Te amo Amazônia. 💙💛💚
October 21, 2025 at 2:53 PM
A few more snapshots of the Brazilian Amazon.
Te amo Amazônia. 💙💛💚
Te amo Amazônia. 💙💛💚
A few more animals I came across on my trips to Brazil.
October 18, 2025 at 2:12 PM
A few more animals I came across on my trips to Brazil.
Highlight of my PhD research in the Brazilian Amazon a decade ago:
We were riding our motorcycle on the Transamazon Highway in Brazil and came across a sloth stranded by the road. It climbed onto a stick and then onto our motorcycle. We drove—very slowly—and let it go by a forested area. 🦥
We were riding our motorcycle on the Transamazon Highway in Brazil and came across a sloth stranded by the road. It climbed onto a stick and then onto our motorcycle. We drove—very slowly—and let it go by a forested area. 🦥
October 18, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Highlight of my PhD research in the Brazilian Amazon a decade ago:
We were riding our motorcycle on the Transamazon Highway in Brazil and came across a sloth stranded by the road. It climbed onto a stick and then onto our motorcycle. We drove—very slowly—and let it go by a forested area. 🦥
We were riding our motorcycle on the Transamazon Highway in Brazil and came across a sloth stranded by the road. It climbed onto a stick and then onto our motorcycle. We drove—very slowly—and let it go by a forested area. 🦥
Economists! We’re hiring an assistant professor who focuses on domestic labor or public economics. The Humphrey School is wonderful and Minneapolis is the best city ever in my humble opinion.
More details here:
hr.myu.umn.edu/psc/hrprd/EM...
More details here:
hr.myu.umn.edu/psc/hrprd/EM...
October 14, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Economists! We’re hiring an assistant professor who focuses on domestic labor or public economics. The Humphrey School is wonderful and Minneapolis is the best city ever in my humble opinion.
More details here:
hr.myu.umn.edu/psc/hrprd/EM...
More details here:
hr.myu.umn.edu/psc/hrprd/EM...
We’re watching Hocus Pocus and at one point the kids thwart the witches because daylight savings time ends and it gets light earlier than the witches expected.
I said, “that’s ridiculous, daylight savings never happens on Halloween!”
Guess what, in 1993—the year the movie came out—it did. Wild!
I said, “that’s ridiculous, daylight savings never happens on Halloween!”
Guess what, in 1993—the year the movie came out—it did. Wild!
October 12, 2025 at 9:16 PM
We’re watching Hocus Pocus and at one point the kids thwart the witches because daylight savings time ends and it gets light earlier than the witches expected.
I said, “that’s ridiculous, daylight savings never happens on Halloween!”
Guess what, in 1993—the year the movie came out—it did. Wild!
I said, “that’s ridiculous, daylight savings never happens on Halloween!”
Guess what, in 1993—the year the movie came out—it did. Wild!
THIS is who The NY Times gave a platform to in the above editorial. A billionaire investor who has donated to Trump.
October 10, 2025 at 11:55 AM
THIS is who The NY Times gave a platform to in the above editorial. A billionaire investor who has donated to Trump.
Wow New York Times, publishing this editorial is yet another new low. I cannot even bring myself to click on it out of curiosity.
October 10, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Wow New York Times, publishing this editorial is yet another new low. I cannot even bring myself to click on it out of curiosity.