Dr. Rita Shah

@theritaphd.bsky.social

2597 Followers 929 Following

She/Her(s). Academic. Fulbright Scholar. Book nerd (IG: @TheRitaReads). Weights. Climbing. Photography. Women’s soccer. Random nonsense. I wrote a book: https://tinyurl.com/2p23j48t #CeasefireNow

A screenshot from Merriam Webster of the word “sloppy” as my word for 2026.
In process crocheted iPad case.
Update from Huffington Post that reads: Trump Talks About 'N-Words' In Long Ramble To Troops During a long and subdued ramble about nuclear weapons, Trump referred to "nuclear" as one of two "N-words." "There are two N-words and you can't use either of them. You can't use either of them," he said.
A photo of Three Bags Full and Big Bad Wool by Leonnie Swann with a crocheted sheep in front of both.
A crocheted bookmark that looks like a Palestinian flag.
Leah Litman profiled in the Ann Arbor Observer.
Photo of fb post by national review that reads “much as we did against the mullahs, America has won an unexpected triumph over the seemingly well entrenched forces of government-funded broadcasting.” The post includes a link to an article for which the headline is “the corporation for public broadcasting has been defunded—for now.”
Crocheted gnome with a tea cup for a hat in blue and yellow.
I’m glad people are pushing against attempts to re-segregate but I’m also frustrated. How many times over the years have we pointed out the flaws with existing approaches and weren’t listened to? Maybe if we’d (re)built more robust and actually equitable systems we’d be in a better place to handle this. But here we are instead. And now my only hope is that as everything burns down, we work to built something better (even as I am skeptical that people will put in the work to do so).
She believes cup banner
Short video of crocheted bee wearing a cowboy hat.
Cute little crocheted llama in need of a name
Crocheted sunflowers in a purple pot
a fedex package is opened to reveal a book in Rutgers U Press wrapping paper, which is also unwrapped to reveal a copy of Icons Axed, Freedoms Lost. The last image includes a close up of the book dedication. Music overlay is an exert from DakhaBrakha’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert.
Little purple crocheted flower pot with crocheted dirt sticking out.
A brown hand badly needing a new manicure holding a giant ball of dark purple yarn.
A messy skein.
360 view of a finished Woobles kit that does not look like an elephant
So, I mean, I have some things that I think are just good for people all the time: I think people should read as many books — on paper- as they possibly can. I think that building that form of attention in yourself, even aside from what you learn from the books, <highlighted>building the ability to focus and think for long periods of time, is so valuable <highlighted>. And it is only getting more valuable as TikTok and the internet and A.I. and a million other things train us out of that. <highlighted> As everybody's brain is being adapted to a much more hyperstimulated, short-form world, the ability to think in long form becomes that much more valuable <highlighted>.
Temperature 12 degrees. Feels like -4 degrees.
Crocheted brown Barbie watching tv.
Video of an upside crocheted Palestinian flag in the shape of a sphere.
Me dressed as Gandalf in the woods where they filmed Lothlórien. Naturally.
Photo of Brandi Chastain’s Bay Area Hall of Fame plaque at SFO.
Light brown Barbie wearing a pink dress with black hair/pony tail. Barbie is crocheted.
HuffPost news notification: “it’s terrible” Melania Trump said on Fox News that her husband is “not Hitler,” adding that his supporters only want to see the U.S. “successful.”
Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #596,589!
Close up of goldenrod with a bumblebee buzzing around.
HuffPo news alert: “Trump repeated a vile lie about Haitian immigrants “eating pets” I. Springfield, Ohio. There is no evidence of this claim.”
Book cover of Frog and Toad are Friends.
HuffPo headline: Trumps RNC speech shattered the illusion he’s a changed man—pivoting from “unity” to a parade of lies and attacks. Here’s what he said.
HuffPost news alert that reads “Trump argued to the Supreme Court that his Jan 6, 2021, coup attempt was part of his presidential duties and is therefore immune from prosecution.”
Photo of Serenity, the ship from the tv show Firefly.
Screenshot of the trailer for season 6 of the podcast Scene on Radio.
Photo of Shepherd Book, Mal, Wash, and Zoe from the tv show Firefly.
Your friends are trying to summon you…what items will they need?