NEW BOOK RELEASED!
Excited to announce that my NEW BOOK "Sesame Street Around the World: Culture, Politics, and Transnational Organizational Partnerships" has been published and is now available. I'll be giving book talks in person & remotely. Please contact me on LinkedIn to arrange.
And enormous thanks to Fabeha Monir for the most beautiful cover - I could not have imagined anything more perfect. I am so proud that her name is on the back cover of the final printed book.
New Job, New Union, New Horses
I am delighted to announce my appointment to an endowed chair as the Andrew W. Mellon Chair and Professor of Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh. The icing on the cake is that I am also a member of the Union of Pitt Faculty (United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1088-04) alongside my colleagues in the The Staff Union of Pitt, and the Pitt Graduate Student Union. The Pitt Faculty Union enshrined academic freedom into their first contract in 2024, and included anti-bullying and anti-harassment clauses to protect everyone. That is who they are, and I am so proud to join them as a new colleague in this fantastic department at this esteemed university. To be in the USW, which is a primary case in my first book, NAFTA and the Politics of Labor Transnationalism, represents a full circle moment for me. We are all excited to move to a vibrant new city, and to meet new colleagues, friends, and yes, new horses!
Abortion Bans Kill Women.
Nevaeh Crain
Date of Death: October 29, 2023
Nevaeh, an 18-year-old in Texas, died after being refused timely care for her miscarriage. She developed an infection that escalated to sepsis, leading to her death.
Candi Miller
Date of Death: November 12, 2022
Candi, a 41-year-old Georgia mother of three children, was told her pregnancy would kill her because of multiple health conditions. She faced complications while managing an abortion at home, and did not seek medical assistance due to fears over the state's abortion laws. She died as a result.
Amber Thurman
Date of Death: August 19, 2022
A 28-year-old Georgia woman, Amber traveled to North Carolina for abortion medication, however, she later required a dilation and curettage (D&C) which was denied to her. She died of septic shock.
Yeniifer Alvarez-Estrada Glick
Date of Death: July 10, 2022
Yenifer, a 29-year-old mother living in Texas, had a life threatening pregnancy. The Catholic hospital she went to denied her and her family life saving information about abortion which could have saved her life.
Josseli Barnica
Date of Death: September 8, 2021
Josseli, a 28-year-old Texas woman, died from an infection after doctors delayed ending her miscarriage. She died three days after delivering a stillborn fetus.
Our New Research on the Policy Outcomes of Abortion Bans: Strategies for Disseminating Information on Reproductive Health Access
Our research data on the impact of abortion bans is very compelling, showing that a key strategy that social movements and activists, NGOs, and transnational governance institutions such as the World Health Organization (WHO) are using is to post critical information about obtaining abortions (including information about self-managed abortions and protocols) online so that there is equity in access to it. Their resources recommend using a safe and vetted organization such as Plan C to obtain abortions out of state, and to obtain abortion medication. Here is an example from the WHO, as we have found in our research, of the kind of information these organizations and movements are providing as a way of responding to abortion bans:
Callisto Vault available for Sexual Assault Survivors
Many thanks to the Director of Programs and Strategic Engagement for reaching out to send me this:
Callisto is a nonprofit organization and third-party resource that uses technology to empower survivors of sexual violence. The organization exists to address a critical problem - 90% of assaults are committed by repeat offenders and serial offenders assault an average of 6 times before graduating college. Callisto Vault is a suite of tools designed to help survivors of sexual assault engage in collective action and define their own pathways toward healing and justice. We offer two tools within Callisto Vault: the Matching System and Encrypted Record Form.
Enter into the Matching System: Survivors can learn if another person has been harmed by the same offender by entering the offender’s unique identifiers into Callisto’s Matching System. When a “Match” is detected, survivors are able to meet with a Legal Options Counselor who will explain their options and facilitate collective action, while protecting survivor privacy.
Create an Incident Log: Survivors can document the details of their incident in an encrypted and timestampled electronic record form as they decide what to do next.