Laura Helferstay's Avatar

Laura Helferstay

@jackerstay

✨ Education researcher at UVA | Connecting data + people for impactful learning ✏️ |🌱 Raising the next generation (and a little hell) with anti-fascist values | Mostly lurking - all opinions my own

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Latest posts by Laura Helferstay @jackerstay

Again, this was a foregone conclusion, so schools like UVA that were tripping over themselves to sign up for the Trump gold-colored Star of approval really just wanted to collaborate.

18.02.2026 23:01 πŸ‘ 23 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

this saturday! bring your kids-- we'll have crafts and activities and at least one pokemon encyclopedia πŸ™

18.02.2026 01:09 πŸ‘ 35 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

The concept of communicable disease is incompatible with conservative ideology

16.02.2026 04:25 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Hark upon the gale

16.02.2026 01:52 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

If your feed has gotten quiet about MN, this is a good reminder to keep finding ways to help/donate/amplify.

11.02.2026 03:28 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

There is no fixing this. There is no training nor reform that will mitigate this. #AbolishICE. No funding for DHS. Call/email/contact @markwarner.bsky.social and @kaine.senate.gov (if you can get through bc Kaine seems to make it as difficult as possible). #ICEoutForGood.

01.02.2026 12:25 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I'll take that glimmer of positivity. Way to go, Cville!

28.01.2026 03:30 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Give Online β€” The Haven

Our friends at The Haven just sent a message asking for donations to support over 80 community members who are homeless that The Haven and other partners have placed in hotels during this winter weather. They need to raise $27k. Please consider donating today.
www.thehaven.org/give-online

26.01.2026 19:55 πŸ‘ 37 πŸ” 33 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 12

The biggest risk in this moment is something sociologists call β€œsymbolic compliance.”

That’s when an institution that is violating civil rights gives the public just enough symbolic victories that accountability efforts lose steam before there has been any meaningful change.

26.01.2026 23:35 πŸ‘ 20846 πŸ” 8645 πŸ’¬ 268 πŸ“Œ 714

the children are protesting from inside the camps. i hope they know that we hear them.

25.01.2026 00:30 πŸ‘ 2659 πŸ” 736 πŸ’¬ 12 πŸ“Œ 6

Unless they are stopped, all the worst things that Trump and the Republican Party are going to do are in the future, not the past.

This makes stopping them the highest priority for the future of human life on the planet.

21.01.2026 15:07 πŸ‘ 710 πŸ” 212 πŸ’¬ 16 πŸ“Œ 8

β€œThe Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” β€”George Orwell (1984)

08.01.2026 15:32 πŸ‘ 17666 πŸ” 6623 πŸ’¬ 396 πŸ“Œ 231

No, it was a successful coup. None of the people who led it were punished, and are in fact back in power, rewarded for their efforts to break the system by running it. Donald Trump is currently the dictator he attempted to become 5 years ago, and it’s because nobody treated trying as a crime.

06.01.2026 18:26 πŸ‘ 4661 πŸ” 1264 πŸ’¬ 37 πŸ“Œ 33
UVA Today daily propaganda report, 

headline 
'First Coffee' launches Scott
Beardsley's first full week as
UVA's 10th president

Lede 
Drawing on a tradition from his years as dean of the Darden School of Business, Beardsley hrought "First Coffee" in the Office of the… [image cuts off]

There is an image of president manquΓ© Beardsley talking to notably few others outside the office of the president. All the people in the image appear to be extremely white

UVA Today daily propaganda report, headline 'First Coffee' launches Scott Beardsley's first full week as UVA's 10th president Lede Drawing on a tradition from his years as dean of the Darden School of Business, Beardsley hrought "First Coffee" in the Office of the… [image cuts off] There is an image of president manquΓ© Beardsley talking to notably few others outside the office of the president. All the people in the image appear to be extremely white

know there’s a lot going on but don’t want to lose sight of UVA trying to pass off as legitimate the president that an illegally constituted board appointed with unseemly haste in a farcical process that shut out the entire rest of the community & even in their propaganda they can’t include a POC

06.01.2026 23:14 πŸ‘ 26 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1
Preview
We Are the Bad Guys The swaggering threat to global stability is us.

β€œWhat do we call it when a stronger person decides to rob a weaker person because he can? It is just gangsterism. We are the most dangerous gangsters in the world today. Not in the sense of being charming rogues or alluring antiheroes. We are the bad guys.”

05.01.2026 16:26 πŸ‘ 9381 πŸ” 2445 πŸ’¬ 301 πŸ“Œ 116
This graphic says hands off Venezuela, Raleigh organized by Charlottesville DSA, January 4, one P.M., Charlottesville Federal, Courthouse, 255 West Main St.

This graphic says hands off Venezuela, Raleigh organized by Charlottesville DSA, January 4, one P.M., Charlottesville Federal, Courthouse, 255 West Main St.

Yes, contact your elected representatives ; then join your fellow community members this afternoon, organized by @cvilledsa.bsky.social . #HandsOffVenezuela.

04.01.2026 13:55 πŸ‘ 17 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2

Took my kids' admonitions to heart and severely limited my doom scrolling to start 2026. I see the world did not similarly limit their doom output, however.

04.01.2026 01:42 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Tom is right person for this moment - someone who cares deeply about his constituents and is willing to fight for them

29.12.2025 19:13 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

This guy got a PhD to become a university president.He got a PhD in "Higher Ed Admin" & wrote a diss./book about "non traditional presidents" aka consultant class experts who believe that faculty and students have too much say. Fullest expression of the BOV contempt for UVA &especially faculty.

19.12.2025 21:47 πŸ‘ 69 πŸ” 21 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 1

To my mind, the speed of this search is the definition of *malfeasance.*

It was politics over the health and integrity of the university from beginning to end--from firing President Ryan to now.

The appointees have consistently put the desires of Trump and Youngkin over UVA.

19.12.2025 22:40 πŸ‘ 16 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 2

Spanberger should remove the whole board on day 1.

19.12.2025 20:50 πŸ‘ 29 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 1
Video thumbnail

The Board ignored our staff, faculty, students, and alumni ….everyone whose day-to-day life makes the University what it is.

They also ignored the Governor-Elect and the General Assembly.

19.12.2025 23:25 πŸ‘ 22 πŸ” 9 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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The White House claims the vote to rename the Kennedy Center was β€œunanimous.” That is false. I was muted on the call and denied the opportunity to speak or register my opposition. That is not consensus. That is censorship.

18.12.2025 19:42 πŸ‘ 15192 πŸ” 5748 πŸ’¬ 291 πŸ“Œ 450
Preview
U-Va. board likely to name president Friday amid calls to pause search A vote by the University of Virginia’s board would come after Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger (D) and others urged members to halt the search until she takes office.

The dean of the University of Virginia’s business school has emerged as the top candidate in the search for the flagship’s next president ahead of a board meeting Friday.

19.12.2025 01:15 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 3
Preview
The Americans Who Saw All This Comingβ€”but Were Ignored and Maligned Call them the Cassandras: the peopleβ€”mostly not white and maleβ€”who smelled the fascism all over Trump from jump street. Why were they β€œalarmists,” and how did β€œanti-alarmism” become cool?

those who predicted authoritarianism were both dismissed, & deeply misunderstood, by the media

my latest for @newrepublic.com

newrepublic.com/article/2042...

18.12.2025 11:26 πŸ‘ 2655 πŸ” 1030 πŸ’¬ 179 πŸ“Œ 358
Email reading: Mark your calendars! Summer 2026 registration opens January 1st!

Email reading: Mark your calendars! Summer 2026 registration opens January 1st!

This should be a crime

14.12.2025 18:06 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Just say no!

09.12.2025 02:32 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Based on the number of locals who seemed shocked that there was snow in the forecast today, I feel obligated to report that my 2 for 2 weather app is predicting more wintery stuff in Cville on Friday...

09.12.2025 02:21 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

We also got Jimmy Carters! And I'm so mad that all the Christmas cards got snowflakes without my review.

09.12.2025 02:19 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

No.

09.12.2025 02:18 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0