Rachel Poretsky

@rporetsky.bsky.social

1832 Followers 690 Following

Professor in Microbial Ecology, mostly aquatic and wastewater. Public health. Bike/transit enthusiast. LCI. Mom. Vegan. Compact-sized. Brooklyn —> Chicago with lots of stops on the way.

My fellow Bike Walk Oak Park member delivering public comment at a Village Board Meeting wearing a black Rovelo Creative tshirt that reads in white letters “I just wanted to bike my kids to school. Now I spend more time at city hall than at home.”
White mug with a picture of a frog wearing a fedora and green text that says “my tummy hurts and I’m mad at the government.”
Selfie in front of a wastewater surveillance backdrop with the date (July 9-10), location (Madison, WI), and silly poop emojis with binoculars.
My new-to-me Pashley Princess bike in black with a cute wicker basket, parked in from of my wild, native parkway.
Three microbiologists, one of them me, wearing three different Svaha microbiology dresses. One has colorful microbes, one colorful petri dishes, and one blue microbes.
Segway restraint area on the new(ish) midwest Amtrak trains.
Some riders on this morning’s bike bus
Uhh, everything’s under control situation normal
View walking through a lit up sewer with a bright manhole above and projections on the wall that moved like flow.
Danger People (changed from Men) Working Above
Text “SQUID” to 1-833-724-8398 (SCI TEXT) for squid facts. Also, a QR code for an origami squid tutorial.
Me and two smaller humans on bikes. Kids’ faces have been covered with heart eye emojis because I heart them.
A sign that says, “IT’S NOT A CONSPIRACY. YOU JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND IT” being held by a rally attendee under the giant Calder statue.
Me wearing a Python code shirt, standing in front of a supercomputer and next to a sign describing it.
Reflective jackets in the dark, humans invisible
Marcus Nguyen does it all: teaches the CLI, fields questions, and types while everyone is watching with few errors.
View from the back of part of the room as the incomparable Rebecca Wattam enthusiastically closes the day at the workshop.
Vegan for everything: the animals, our water, world hunger, the rainforest, compassion, wildlife, our health, peace, our planet.
A recently repaired boom box
One of my kids addressing the Village Board
View of my feet in the snow with capri pants and sneakers because it’s warm out.
Magnets on my mom’s fridge from almost all the places I studied/trained: Brandeis, Marine Biological Lab, Tulane, University of Georgia, Caltech, and Georgia Tech.
One regular menorah and too itty bitty ones (my kids’) that are lit with birthday candles.
Me on the CTA Christmas train wearing a light-up CTA Christmas train sweater and wearing a Chicago bike themed knit cap.
Flyer promoting the upcoming BV-BRC workshop https://www.bv-brc.org/docs/news/2024/2024-11-25-anl-workshop.html
Giant xmas tree in Chicago’s Union Station decorated with train signs and lights
Photo of the dining car on the Amtrak Floridian
Giant bakfiets cargo bike with a bright yellow raincover
A Facebook memory from 5 years ago of me bundled up with my bakfiets cargo bike in the snow, saying “nothing like a nice bike ride on a lovely fall day… in Chicago”
Kids seen from behind, riding bikes in the street