I don't know how to teach students who hate reading/writing, when reading/writing are the foundations of what I'm supposed to teach. Yes, I engage with audio technologies, digital narratives, cinema, material culture...but it's all forms of reading. I just don't know what they want out of this.
An issue we're seeing at all levels of university is that many students are simply refusing to do *anything*. They aren't reading the syllabus, aren't following assignment guidelines, aren't engaging with material, ignoring deadlines. And this might seem like old news, but it truly has ramped up.
Excuse me while I cry over this incredible discussion of what makes lives grievable with unfortunately still relevant tie-ins to Gaza. I just rewatched the Hunger Games movies last year and now it looks like I have to watch them again! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m...
Yes! The ShakespeaRe-Told adaptation I discuss in the article is one of the most interesting versions of the characters I’ve seen, and I still can’t decide if I like it or not..
Borrowers and Lenders (the journal it’s in) is actually open access so you should just be able to download the PDF through the link! And there is a whole archive of adaptation articles available on their website, which you should definitely check out. Including on Merchant!
Recently turned in a deeply researched draft of a book on What AI Actually Is and reader, this is 100% correct
As Google builds more data centers to support its AI ambitions, the firm said its carbon emissions increased 51% btwn 2019 & 2024. But a new report paints a bleaker picture: In those 5 years, Google's emissions increased 65% & jumped more than 1500% since 2010 www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
It's almost like there's actually really good, solid information, history, and expertise about transgender medicine, including youth health care, out there and the powers and pundits that be--from SCOTUS to The Atlantic--are willfully ignoring it just to push a horrifically cruel agenda.
The bill "provides its most generous tax breaks early on and reserves some of its most painful benefit cuts until after the 2026 midterm elections"
No, that was a lovely comment!! It’s something I strive for, so I really appreciate you mentioning it 🥳
I forgot to share this earlier, but my article "Romancing the Shrew, Redeeming the Tamer: The Taming of the Shrew's Pop-Feminist Paradox" was published in Borrowers and Lenders this Spring.
borrowers-ojs-azsu.tdl.org/borrowers/ar...
What Taming adaptations have stuck with you the most?
I added half a dozen new entries to the Bibliography of Medieval Trans Studies, with a shoutout to @tswingard.bsky.social who added a few things recently as well. (Thank you!!)
There are a ton of great resources on here, many of which are freely accessible.
DeLAURO: Are you planning to break the law by impounding appropriated funds?
RFK Jr: If you appropriate the funds, I'm going to spend them
D: We have! You're cutting the NIH by $18b. Congress appropriated those funds. How can you justify cutting billions from the biomedical research budget?
PhD Timeline xkcd.com/3081
I shall die, but that is all that I shall do for Death;
I am not on his pay-roll.
I will not tell him the whereabout of my friends
nor of my enemies either.
Though he promise me much,
I will not map him the route to any man's door.
- “Conscientious Objector” by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Agatha Trunchbull from Matilda with chocolate on her teeth. Usually her line reads “much too good for children” but “children” has been replaced by “kitties” here
My cat doesn’t understand “this will kill you” so I’ve started turning into the Trunchbull whenever she starts trying to sniff at the chocolate I’m eating
I had a lot of fun talking about Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things with Vanessa Zoltan for this episode!
If you like (or feel ambivalent about) romcoms, check out their latest season! They’ve just started their newest arc on teen films.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
Universal Basic Income saves lives. It is a life-saving policy.
There is no reason to use Gen AI to illustrate anything. There’s excellent clipart you can get very cheaply. A lot of human illustrators will do something very cheaply if they believe in the project and know your funds are limited. Gen AI is created from stolen labor.
"Prompt Engineers" swear they are doing something b/c they had A Thought. But you fools. You bores. You absolute fucking turnips.
The Art isn't the Thought, the Idea. The Art is The Work.
And this isn't some art hoe bullshit, this is about craft.
"You must enjoy the long holidays ... "
#HigherEd #school #teaching #PhdChat #science #medicine #health #research #AcWri #PeerReview #university #humour
I don't know who needs to know this, but Pro Publica has an online thing that will format a letter to your US health insurance company to demand the records behind a claim denial. (which the insurance is then legally required to provide in most cases)
projects.propublica.org/claimfile/
I was told recently that a major reason humanists aren’t in as many upper admin positions is that we’re viewed as annoying progress blockers because we ask inconvenient questions and also because we’re comfortable sitting w ambiguity & discomfort and also don’t rush to the nearest solution as an end
Genocide was coined in 20thC, new word for an old process. But this one is so awful new words are needed: Scholasticide (Karma Nabulsi). Unchilding (Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian). James Elder from UNICEF describes a new category here- fourth degree burns, when no skin is left.
Annual morbidity in the 20th century, before and after vaccines:
Measles:
Before: 530,000, After: 47
Mumps:
Before: 160,000, After: 429
Rubella:
Before: 50,000, After: 3
Diphtheria:
Before: 20,000, After: 2
Smallpox:
Before: 30,000, After: 0
Polio:
Before: 16,000, After: 0
Calico cat sitting on a bed inside a cage that is covered by a blanket.
Took the baby on a trial car run to practice for winter break when we must hit the road to see the fam. She was NOT pleased but the drive through workers were delighted by her, which seemed to soothe her ego a bit.
Every one of us needs to watch this video of NM Rep Melanie Stansbury giving her clear-eyed view of a bill sponsored by JD Vance in the Senate regarding changes the next administration intends to make to the federal workforce
Due to length, I’ve had to break it up into 6 parts
Part One:
A key reason voters don't believe the fascists are fascists is that major media outlets keep normalizing them with cover stories cueing the public they are just like Hollywood celebrities.
Today in "neither our media nor our political system is designed to deal with a far right authoritarian party"
The UN has now formally found Israel's genocide "consistent with genocide", including the use of weaponized starvation.
www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...
“When clouds are seen, wise men put on their cloaks;
When great leaves fall, then winter is at hand;
When the sun sets, who doth not look for night?
Untimely storms makes men expect a dearth.
All may be well, but if God sort it so,
‘Tis more than we deserve or I expect.”
(Richard III, 2.3)
