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Tara McMullin

@taramcmullin.com

I'm a writer and podcaster who explores the future of work through critical theory. Autistic feminist. Wannabe independent scholar. Amateur baker. Podcast & Newsletter: http://whatworks.fyi

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19.11.2023
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Latest posts by Tara McMullin @taramcmullin.com

Preview
a woman in a blue shirt is sitting at a desk in front of an old computer . Alt: A woman with retro hair & a blue blouse sits in front of a giant vintage computer, shaking the disembodied hand that emerges from its monitor.

The 90s kid in me is still shocked that you can order TWO TERABYTES* of storage to your door, and it can arrive less than 24 hours later.

*I know that 2TB isn't even all that much. It's still shocking.

25.02.2026 18:11 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I think it's best for everyone to understand that the unified class project of billionaires right now is to do to white collar workers what globalization and neoliberalism did to blue collar workers.

04.02.2026 19:41 πŸ‘ 12985 πŸ” 3443 πŸ’¬ 235 πŸ“Œ 242

Your dad taught one of my favorite classes at LVC, Religion and Lit. He changed the way I engaged with books.

When The Actual Star caught my eye a couple years back, I flipped it over, read your bio, and immediately got to reading. It felt like a tether to a cherished past. β™₯️

07.01.2026 20:36 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1

Same.

27.12.2025 22:28 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I’m working on a piece on exactly thisβ€”in additional to the biological reality, this is a core principle of feminist theory & epistemology.

27.12.2025 14:47 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

The only thing better than closing out of Zoom for the week is closing out of Zoom for THE YEAR.

16.12.2025 21:39 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
two men are sitting in front of a map and one of them is asking the other if he still believes in time Alt: GIF from Saturday Night Live Weekend Update that reads: You still believe in time?

TFW you're putting together a list of 2025 recommendations and lots of things you want to include you actually read/watched/listened to in 2024

10.12.2025 17:16 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Fracking love this.

09.12.2025 01:01 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Film you’ve seen more than six times. Hard mode: no Stars (Wars nor Trek), LOTR, or Marvel.

08.12.2025 00:51 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I just listened to the latest episode and wondered if this was what you were hinting at! Can’t wait!

03.12.2025 17:20 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you've seen:
1. Dave Matthews Band
2. John Mayer
3. Jennifer Knapp
4. The Chicks
5. Grace Potter

(yes, I am an elder millennial mom…)

27.11.2025 22:39 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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No Good Art Comes From Greed | Defector The packages arrived square and thin and carefully wrapped on Saturday afternoon. There were three of them, but only one was mine. If I could have rejected my package, sent it back from whence it came...

Ever since my daughter got excited about "supporting" Taylor Swift by buying "Taylor's Version" albums, I've wanted to write something like what @mckinneykelsey.bsky.social did so brilliantly here. Spot on. Swift is the embodiment of capitalist realism.

08.10.2025 13:55 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

To me, notifications about IG, TikTok, or texts from friends & parents are the same as notifications about grades.

Except that the notifications about grades feel WAY more high-stakes, at least to my kid.

This can't be healthy.

02.10.2025 13:57 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

My daughter's school instituted a no-phone policy this yearβ€”she loves it. However, the students are on their school-issued iPads all day long. And those iPads deliver push notifications anytime they receive a grade: homework, tests, papers, etc.

This stresses her the F out.

02.10.2025 13:57 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Today I discovered @ceaubin.bsky.social’s pod This Guy Sucked because of a mention on @annehelen.bsky.social’s Culture Study pod.

Put all the millennial scholar podcasts straight into my veins. (Guessing on gen… but you catch my drift!)

04.08.2025 20:49 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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My Summer of Strategic Incompetence Learning not to be so embarrassed by my ignorance and failures.

"I am someone who does what I do pretty well, and does very little else willingly." = My Whole Vibe

Also @katemanne.bsky.social admitting she'd "rather experience growth as a beginner than regression as a more expert practitioner": SAME.

04.08.2025 13:05 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I am grieving the barbarism that is going to unfurl from all this. People are going to die. Livelihoods gone. All to feed a corrupt kleptocracy.

I see every day up close how different it is from the first time around. There are no guardrails. A disaster. I’m sorry we have to live through this.

03.07.2025 20:00 πŸ‘ 100566 πŸ” 21931 πŸ’¬ 3545 πŸ“Œ 931
Screenshot of a black hole of "get off my lawn" search suggestions including: How to keep kids off my driveway, Child trespassing laws, How to keep neighbors kids of my property, Neighbors kids keep playing in my driveway, How to get rid of annoying neighbor kid

Screenshot of a black hole of "get off my lawn" search suggestions including: How to keep kids off my driveway, Child trespassing laws, How to keep neighbors kids of my property, Neighbors kids keep playing in my driveway, How to get rid of annoying neighbor kid

Went looking for the research (I think?) on how playing in a fenced-in area can actually get kids to explore/roam more than in an open area... and the search results for my query were... disheartening 🀣

30.06.2025 20:15 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Trump, Mamdani, and Cluely attention and speculation as primary economic drivers

"Traditional economic theory assumes information flows serve resource allocation. But increasingly, resource allocation serves attention flows. We've moved from an economy where attention supports other forms of value creation to one where attention is the value creation." - @kyla.bsky.social

25.06.2025 15:12 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

My god.

24.06.2025 22:42 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

it’s even more demoralizing when the history you’re repeating is history you were around for the first time

22.06.2025 01:44 πŸ‘ 36678 πŸ” 7762 πŸ’¬ 392 πŸ“Œ 303

Teaching people how to use LLMs is not "upskilling", it's the opposite.

18.06.2025 08:43 πŸ‘ 245 πŸ” 46 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 3
ptotic autisto-mystical withdrawal
@CHRISF0GLE
Crazy how much hate Greta Thunberg gets for simply being autistic and having the correct political opinions on everything
2:18 PM Β· Jun 9, 2025
Β·
3,136
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ptotic autisto-mystical withdrawal @CHRISF0GLE Crazy how much hate Greta Thunberg gets for simply being autistic and having the correct political opinions on everything 2:18 PM Β· Jun 9, 2025 Β· 3,136 Views

It is a BURDEN

09.06.2025 23:23 πŸ‘ 844 πŸ” 109 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 2

The federal government is telling you they cannot afford to house you, feed you, educate you or heal you β€” but that they do have enough resources and scale to criminalize, assault, deport and incarcerate your neighbors simply going to work or taking their kids to graduation.

09.06.2025 14:18 πŸ‘ 4140 πŸ” 1770 πŸ’¬ 45 πŸ“Œ 46
Mockup of Ritz Crisp & Thins Original snack bag

Mockup of Ritz Crisp & Thins Original snack bag

In honor of this week's Maintenance Phase episode on ultra-processed food, I must highly recommend the Ritz Crisp & Thin original chips. They kinda look like diet food... but I don't think they are? Anyhow, they're freaking wonderful.

04.06.2025 18:04 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Listen to from The Feminist Present wherever you get your podcasts!

Listen to @melissafebos.bsky.social on The Feminist Present with @adriandaub.bsky.social and Laura Goode this morning and PHWOOF (in the best way). Brilliant conversation, recommended it immediately to my husband, AND it unlocked part of an essay I was in the middle of!

episodes.fm/1517251918/e...

04.06.2025 14:51 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Disturbing. Fascinating. And I’m absolutely hung up on the AI’s use of the word β€œlie.”

I’ll be thinking about that for the rest of the day, thankuverymuch.

03.06.2025 18:21 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

β€œThe one thing that today ought to define β€˜the left’ is the impulse to denounce the radical insufficiency of managing the given.” β€” Yves Citton, Mythocracy

20.05.2025 09:44 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

β€˜The worker can unionize, go out on strike; mothers are divided from each other in homes, tied to their children by compassionate bonds; our wildcat strikes have most often taken the form of physical or mental breakdown.’

β€”Adrienne Rich

12.05.2025 14:38 πŸ‘ 42 πŸ” 16 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0