Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

I will be interviewing @andrewhartman.bsky.social about his new book MARX IN AMERICA @thenewschool.bsky.social on March 9! Free and open to the public - reg link below!

This looks like a neat event next Tuesday! Come see Natalia Mehlman Petrzela speak at 5:30 pm in Liberal Arts 120 on March 3.

Can’t wait!

Opinion | RFK Jr. and Kid Rock's MAHA manosphere mashup Natalia Mehlman Petrzela: The health secretary and rocker's alpha-male preening won't make anyone healthier

RFK Jr.'s fitness ad with Kid Rock is a collision of MAHA and the manosphere
www.ms.now/opinion/rfk-...

Loved coming on

Opinion | RFK Jr. and Kid Rock's MAHA manosphere mashup Natalia Mehlman Petrzela: The health secretary and rocker's alpha-male preening won't make anyone healthier

OPINION by The New School Professor of History Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

"This stunt is more than just a disgusting distraction; it signals the dark reality of what MAHA — Make America Healthy Again — now unapologetically embraces..."

READ MORE: www.ms.now/opinion/rfk-...

My latest:

A special shout out to NYC bus drivers and postal workers, who don’t get a snow day. ❄️ thank you 🙏🏼

My latest:

Opinion | RFK Jr. and Kid Rock's MAHA manosphere mashup Natalia Mehlman Petrzela: The health secretary and rocker's alpha-male preening won't make anyone healthier

I wrote about the RFK, Jr./Kid Rock video for @msnowreports.bsky.social

www.ms.now/opinion/rfk-...

Opinion | RFK Jr. and Kid Rock's MAHA manosphere mashup Natalia Mehlman Petrzela: The health secretary and rocker's alpha-male preening won't make anyone healthier

I wrote about the RFK, Jr./Kid Rock video for @msnowreports.bsky.social

www.ms.now/opinion/rfk-...

I will be interviewing @andrewhartman.bsky.social about his new book MARX IN AMERICA @thenewschool.bsky.social on March 9! Free and open to the public - reg link below!

There was this tiny subgenre of fitness/gym-themed lightly erotic horror in the 1980s — one classic was called Aerobicide — and the whole RFK/Kid Rock workout/sauna/drink milk spot reminds me of nothing more

Robert Kennedy’s bizarre obsession with ‘natural’ isn’t going to make Americans healthier Historian of fitness Natalia Mehlman Petrzela on why an obese president has a health secretary who moralizes about wellness

And finally, there is a third significant psychological impulse that Trumpism has going for it, and that is the appeal to "naturalism."

Many people have deep suspicion of technologies they don't understand. RFK has weaponized this for Trump, as @nataliapetrzela.bsky.social and I noted:

Everyone is out and about as usual in NYC, but the extra narrow sidewalks due to the snowbanks (and uncollected trash tbh) mean that there is this sweet connection I experienced many times yesterday where otherwise random, rushed ppl make eye contact, smile, and gesture to the other to go first

Woohoo! Curious what does this mean in terms of my experience on the app?

Higher education starts to fight back against attacks on its value and policies The higher education industry has launched several new marketing campaigns in the hope of reclaiming the message about itself in the face of political attacks and public skepticism.

Fascinating: colleges spending marketing money on selling higher ed *in general* rather than trying to attract students to their specific offerings.

Smart. IMO, these should air during highly viewed college sports, engage coaches in this messaging

hechingerreport.org/value-polici...

Higher education starts to fight back against attacks on its value and policies The higher education industry has launched several new marketing campaigns in the hope of reclaiming the message about itself in the face of political attacks and public skepticism.

Fascinating: colleges spending marketing money on selling higher ed *in general* rather than trying to attract students to their specific offerings.

Smart. IMO, these should air during highly viewed college sports, engage coaches in this messaging

hechingerreport.org/value-polici...

One of my most chilling classroom memories is when I asked a full seminar room of (smart! engaged!) undergrads why none of them had voted in a recent election, and one sheepishly said that when everyone on campus seems to have the same politics, there's little motivation to engage

NYC Mayor Mamdani says no traditional school snow day Monday Public school students will either have to attend school in person or via remote learning, he says, and the city will decide by mid-Sunday.

All the reporting is making it look like Mamdani decided snow days = zoom school. No. This is a stupid Covid-era policy that lets this day count as an instructional day for teachers and staff (and students, who will almost surely learn nothing!)

gothamist.com/news/nyc-may...?

Four Scholars Agree, Disagree, and Agree to Disagree on Viewpoint Diversity Is the movement to increase intellectual pluralism a genuine reform effort or a partisan power grab?

Really worth reading on why “viewpoint diversity” may not be the answer, but figuring out a way to cultivate intellectual ferment and rigorous inquiry should be a top priority on all campuses

www.chronicle.com/article/four...

This kid and his father entered via CBP One app. It's just absurd and monumentally unfair for people who availed themselves of lawful channels when they existed by following government processes to suddenly get detained and deported to a third country.

newrepublic.com/article/2056...

Trauma on so many levels here

Here are the signs the Trump administration removed from Independence Park Following last year’s review, every sign has been removed from the President’s House site.

Look at this: @inquirer.com has digitally preserved the interpretative signage removed by NPS, and used annotations to explain what specifically was flagged before removal. This keeps the content publicly accessible (for now) while doing newsworthy reporting
www.inquirer.com/news/philade...

Four Scholars Agree, Disagree, and Agree to Disagree on Viewpoint Diversity Is the movement to increase intellectual pluralism a genuine reform effort or a partisan power grab?

Really worth reading on why “viewpoint diversity” may not be the answer, but figuring out a way to cultivate intellectual ferment and rigorous inquiry should be a top priority on all campuses

www.chronicle.com/article/four...

NYC Mayor Mamdani says no traditional school snow day Monday Public school students will either have to attend school in person or via remote learning, he says, and the city will decide by mid-Sunday.

All the reporting is making it look like Mamdani decided snow days = zoom school. No. This is a stupid Covid-era policy that lets this day count as an instructional day for teachers and staff (and students, who will almost surely learn nothing!)

gothamist.com/news/nyc-may...?

💯💯💯

Fairly, it also IS really explicit. Most hockey parents are not talking about anything that racy, gay or not, on the sidelines at like 8 am on Sunday morning :-)

Robert Kennedy’s bizarre obsession with ‘natural’ isn’t going to make Americans healthier Historian of fitness Natalia Mehlman Petrzela on why an obese president has a health secretary who moralizes about wellness

For more on the fear of the "unnatural," please see this recent podcast episode I did with @nataliapetrzela.bsky.social

I know! I thought that was for sure the tipping point! I’m surprised!