iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Gwen C. Katz @gwenckatz.bsky.social · 21h

Things Gavin Newsom has vetoed this week: -A ban on secretly recording people with smart glasses -A ban on ICE agents working for the state government -A ban on websites selling your data -A bill giving native tribes more say over water rights -A bill protecting transgender healthcare providers

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Mid Theory Collective @mid-theory.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

For MTC, Abhinav Bhardwaj reviews The Woman Who Climbed Trees, Nepalese author Smriti Ravindra’s debut novel "The Woman Who Climbed Trees." "...a rare work of Nepali English fiction, is interested in what happens when a life remains discernible without yielding to the demand for definition."

mid-theory.com

Queer Altitudes in Smriti Ravindra’s ‘The Woman Who Climbed Trees’

In this nonterrestrial space that is at once a graveyard where lives are exhumed and a park for unrestricted homosociality, bliss abounds. The women in The Woman Who Climbed Trees, Smriti Ravindra’…

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

i of course now who the enemy is here but i do actually care about who can make this comparison for its rhetorical and political efficacy and this white woman who has never lent her pen or public voice to the vulnerable prosecuted student protesters on her campus is most definitely not one of them.

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

it’s so rare i get behind a berkeley bumper sticker 😇

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

for the love of all that’s holy can folks stop reposting that god awful violent AI machine forcing speech on maya angelou. there must be a way to reference it, write about it, rage against it without giving it more air time. have we not read our black feminists writings on the violence of the image?

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

why are people debating some dumb new york crimes list? you know it doesn’t even know how to use an active voice? it’s like debating your elderly cat’s restaurant rating. how would it even know?!

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Mid Theory Collective @mid-theory.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

"The Pitt demonstrates how “the secular” is more than a simple absence or negation of religion; it is an ambivalence about the very idea of religion, which ramifies across discursive idioms of Western modernity." Evan Goldstein on religion and 'The Pitt.'

mid-theory.com

The Prayers and Tears of Dr. Robby

“For the ransom of life is costly and can never suffice, that one should live on forever and never see the Pit.” — Psalm 49:8-9 (New Revised Standard Version) Trying to understand the modern …

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Mid Theory Collective @mid-theory.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

"The human animal, as it appears within Vanjonack’s stories, is a simple creature no matter how many incredible technologies and ecological catastrophes it creates." For MTC, Sam Norcross reviews the hot off the press darkly funny, speculative short story collection OUT OF BODY by Chris Vanjonack

mid-theory.com

Pulp Sci-Fi for the Pre-Apocalypse: A Review of Chris Vanjonack’s ‘Out of Body’

One theory of human consciousness is that it was a mistake. Once upon a time, the theory goes, our evolutionary ancestors developed enough cognition to remember past events and imagine possib…

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

“The office of the Provost is responsible for Dartmouth’s overall academic excellence and integrity.”

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

listen, mister, the last things i need at 6pm on a friday is some janky ass word processor trying to ‘correct’ my comma splice, it’s there for a reason.

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

i know it just sounds like i’m looking for excuses to trash california but the chopped liver at the expensive market hall cannot hold a candle to the $6 pint at any corner deli in new york.

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Tej Nagaraja @tejnagaraja.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

My new book is out this month! “Troop Movements: Labor, Race, and Global Freedom Struggles in America’s World War II” — by Tejasvi Nagaraja Buy it! Get in touch with me — if you have any ideas?: * book review * book-tour event * assigning it to teach * interview or podcast Thanks — Stay tuned!

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Mid Theory Collective @mid-theory.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

School is back in session! For Mixtape # 9 we asked a few of our colleagues what recent academic monographs were on their summer reading list. What insights are they taking into the new academic year? What should we put back on the shelf?

mid-theory.com

Mixtape #9: Recent Monographs of Note

For Mixtape # 9 we asked a few of our colleagues what recent academic monographs were on our summer reading list. What insights are we taking with us into the new academic year? What should we put …

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

imagine my absolute delight when i discovered that brilliant minds of “twenty twelve” and W1A have brought ian fletcher out from retirement to advice BLEEP for 2026 world cup…imagine my sadness to discover it’s not as good and barely has any brits in it.

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I have read this piece when it came out and re-read parts more times since. It’s extraordinary and extraordinary reminder that ‘knowledge’ actually is something sentient beings have.

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

what if you started your morning with hortense spillers? 😎

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

“This is what California can do to you.” i cannot think of a better place to read @mitchtherieau.bsky.social tearing at how everything, and especially love, is desublimated in california than on a flight TO california 🤩 defector.com/the-red-hot-...

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

so long august! in honor of virgo season, i’m trying out a new routine for the month of september: one hour of writing in the morning, every morning for 30 days. maybe you’d want to try it also ✨

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Mid Theory Collective @mid-theory.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

For our latest, Jordan Baldridge review Zayd Ayers Dohrn's semi-autobiographical revolutionary musical 'Revolution(s), which he made in collaboration with RATM frontman, Tom Morello. "Ayers Dohrn collapses the expansive and collective past referenced here by Marx into a specific, personal one."

mid-theory.com

All in the Family: Review of Zayd Ayers Dohrn’s ‘Revolution(s)’

The showrunners claimed to want to spark revolutionary thought and to push audiences to envision bold, fresh radical futures, but got stuck in the most familiar confines possible: home – where pare…

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

i have never once spelled ENLIGHTMENT correct the first time 💅

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

i genuinely feel bereft by the death of the internet, these mfs.

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

PSA: google sucks now. it’s no longer a search engine. but did you know it’s so easy to install duckduckgo and make it your default browser on your chrome app?!

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Mid Theory Collective @mid-theory.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

"In times of strife, we grasp for what we can." Abigail Dahlke & Charlotte Richardson-Deppe reflect on the latter's soft sculpture series 'Death Rattles,' which confronts the tactical aesthetic of the militarized state with the squishy, squeaky, absurd, irreverent repurposing of thrifted materials

mid-theory.com

Death Rattles, Or, Soft Guns for a Dying Empire

When the fascists march with bullet proof vests, show up with inflatable frogs. Charlotte Richardson-Deppe is a queer artist working between performance and soft sculpture. Their work explores the…

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

i feel like i watch the “free churro” episode of bojack horseman at least once a quarter, more in the winter months.

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

every day i like living in the state of california less and less and less.

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

if i were gonna sell out my soul and my people, i don’t know, i might aim hire than a columnist for the atlantic. seems base af

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Deidre Lynch @drbibliomane.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I got tired of waiting for the journalists at @theharvardcrimson.bsky.social to cover this (it IS summer), but this is to say that ALL the staff members in Women & Gender Studies here were laid off last week, on the top of the cutting of 5 lecturer positions in the program last year.+

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

about 5 years ago us customs and immigration services decided that in all of its forms it was gonna get rid of the “middle name” box and just group middle name as part of “first name” now i’ll let you imagine the havoc this continues to wreak in my life.

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

one of the reasons i am excited for @sarahbrouillette.bsky.social book is the fear/feeling i’ve that generative AI will leave world with fewer not more writers, b/c when the backlash inevitably occurs & we return to the myth of the writer as genius/custodian, we all know who will occupy that seat.

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

you can tell truly stupid people are running things because whose grand idea was it that knowledge = summary? frankenstein is the story of a dimwit who accidentally creates a sentient being then freaks out and bounces. okay. that actually tells you nothing about the book. and, that’s also the bible.

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Duke University Press @dukepress.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

In "Content Machines," @sarahbrouillette.bsky.social considers how short-form, platform-based, and social media writing on digital mediums like Wattpad and TikTok has reshaped the modern reading and writing landscape. Read the intro for free now: buff.ly/Tip538L

Cover of Content Machines: Reading and Writing in the Platform Era by Sarah Brouillette. The cover is white with a tablet featuring six colorful digitally drawn images of romance book covers. There are blue thumbs ups and red hearts covering the images. Beneath is written, “Reading and Writing in the Platform Era” in bold. Below this, in lighter text, a summary of Content Machines begins. The title is written vertically in the bottom right parallel to the tablet. The author’s name is directly after in a smaller serif font.

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

sure, you can see christopher nolan’s the odyssey or you can spend the morning re-reading thomas mofolo’a chaka (trans. from sesotho) be reminded of 2008 bollywood historical epic ‘jodhaa akbar’ which you then proceed to watch dubbed in arabic. just saying, there’s also that kind of sunday available

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

i think they thought she had the greatest ass.

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

sometimes i have to spend my saturday afternoons re-doinf references and wrangling zotero and i think to myself, surely this couldn’t have been the easier path than becoming a playwright?!

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Mid Theory Collective @mid-theory.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Thanks to @mitchrmurray.bsky.social for a truly outstanding workshop presentation today and to the 60+ colleagues who attended. The market is bleak but our support & service to one another does not have to be. We will see you in two weeks for the second part of the series. See more at mid-theory.com

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

white men to everyone else: personal experiences don’t matter. stop extrapolating and thinking everything is structural. also white men: when i was 18 i worked part time at home depot, obviously this has given me the necessary qualifications for me to run large federal public works projects.

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

i don’t know, i feel like i’m drowning in a sea of unremarkable men with a lot of sway, dare i say, the world is almost exclusively run by them.

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Mid Theory Collective @mid-theory.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Our second academic job market materials workshop starts this Friday with @mitchrmurray.bsky.social. Sign up here: tinyurl.com/36fvvctv More info on our website: mid-theory.com/mtc-writing-...

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

it’s not always easy for me to remember that when i’m peer reviewing i’m not also acting as the editor. i don’t have to improve the economy of each paragraph and sentence.

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jessamyn @librarian.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful

An aircraft passenger oxygen mask: a drop down passenger mask with air bag and yellow plastic mouth and nose cover, oxygen tube has been cut; Demonstration model used by flight attendant crew for passenger instruction. Has text on the side indicating that it's non-functional.

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

me calling maintaining: i’ve no wifi front desk: okay, you can put it in work order me: it’s july 31, and i don’t have wifi. this is more of an emergency call than work order situation. front desk: oh, okay.

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Jacob Romanow @jakeromanow.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

My article "Provincializing Victorian Studies" is out in the latest PMLA. It's many years in the making—thanks for reading. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

cambridge.org

Provincializing Victorian Studies: A. Native’s Marita among Literary Traditions | PMLA | Cambridge Core

Provincializing Victorian Studies: A. Native’s Marita among Literary Traditions - Volume 141 Issue 2

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Mid Theory Collective @mid-theory.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Emily Coccia pens an anti-eulogy for 'Hacks,' and an ode to the queer fun of making thing, hard and hacky things with others even when, especially when, nothing is guaranteed.

mid-theory.com

An Anti-Eulogy for ‘Hacks’

Because they’re not just writing jokes; they’re writing a years-long love letter to each other. As a rule, Deborah Vance doesn’t do funerals. Neither, it turns out, does Hacks (2021-26), whic…

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

i have to cut 4k words out of an essay. your thoughts and prayers are especially appreciated during this difficult time.

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

okay, fine, i’ll see the odyssey. but the question is should i take the hour-long train to AMC in SF to see it on imax 70mm or walk the 10 minutes to my local theatre and see it in standard screen?!

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Farah Bakaari @bakaari.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't nirvana, soundgarden, pearl jam, or alice in chains.

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