iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 14h

If I buy this one, what does it say about me?

Close up of the label of a bottle of wine, chateau Bourdieu number one 2019.

Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Pro tip- find a companion who will be there when you're having a lovely time, and take a photo. Thanks @msophiej.bsky.social

a man with a bald head and prominent glasses, in a blue button shirt, smiles and sits in an airy restaurant dining room, with floor-to-ceiling windows facing green space.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

The Critical University Studies Seminar is off and running at the Hall Center for the Humanities, University of Kansas!

13 people gather smiling before a projected sign announcing Critical University Studies Seminar opening discussion, Sep. 3, 2026.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The band names on this bill have a rhythm that tickles my brain.

A graphic image of a cassette tape accompanies the text "Replay Lounge presents: Flower Gun, Figure Model, Small Uncle, Notebook. August 27th 6pm-9pm/All ages."

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Voting early, Kansas don't forget to say No meant No.

A man in glasses wears a sticker reading "My vote honors Kenneth Graeber, A vet," and holds a small paper zine titled "DSA Guide to the August 4th election in Lawrence, KS #LFKDSA

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Starting on a long journey home, hope I haven't angered any gods

A deep yellow moon rises over the red roofs of a historic European town, alongside the bank of a river where two ships are docked

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

With a lot of world cup visitors in the states this summer, the timeless topic of American "portion sizes" came up again. I agree that it's a real contrast

A hand holds a bottle of Bavarian helles beer, half-liter size.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Photo by Marike, Szentendre, Hungary

A narrow path of grey cobblestone leads down a tight alley between two white, stucco walls. Well down the path a figure wearing a black backpack steps forward towards daylight.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Something about being near moving water

Trees and buildings on a river shore, glimpsed from beneath an ancient stone bridge

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Academic freedom panel in Regensburg this week.

Poster for a roundtable discussion: "The (In)Dependence of Knowedge? Academic Freedom Today, part of the conference In(ter) dependence: Transitions of Power, Frictions of Freedon, 17-19 June 2026. Leibniz ScienceCampus, Regensburg, Germany.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

When the Germanist in the family brings home a postcard from the archive- Benjamin's note from 1940 that maybe revolution isn't the locomotive of history, but when the people try to pull a handbrake.

A postcard of a handwritten archival note in German. Walter Benjamin: "Marx says that revolutions are the locomotive of world history. But perhaps it is quite otherwise. Perhaps revolutions are an attempt by the passengers on this train – namely, the human race – to activate the emergency brake."

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Reading for work, aestheticized. Yes, a compromise to reduce book luggage

On a round wooden cafe table, a cloth hat, a candle and a silver bowl, a mug of pilsner, and an e-reader

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

30 years since seeing this view for the first time. Lots has changed, some hasn't.

Berlin's Bode Museum and Fernsehturm viewed from a bridge

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

There was a big windstorm the other night and I wonder if that was what took down this grand old chestnut, almost a meter in diameter

Closeup view of splintered white wood from a great fallen tree

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Where I live, fronts are not only on maps

A thick layer of clouds arranged in a sharp line across the dusk sky

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

We have a union. Ratification vote was 92% YES

A postcard depicting the skyline of a university campus in blue silhouette, contrasted with a yellow sky, a button mirroring the same design, both marked with text identifying United Academics of the University of Kansas, UAKU-AFT-AAUP.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

Read the walls to see when you are in a particular kind of place.

A red and yellow passenger train crosses an overpass over car and foot traffic in front of a building with a "1UP" graffiti tag.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Accidental still life after a 12 hr bargaining session

Items dropped haphazardly on top of a dresser: a Timex weekender watch, a UAKU Union pin, a set of keys on a chain connected to an AAUP charm and a mini Opinel knife. An n95 mask. A card case with a Kansas driver's license, and a pen from Schloss Seggau.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

30 years since my first time in Berlin, 3 years since the last time. Soon we will go again, to mourn a loved one who has always been there, and who taught me about keeping a "Koffer in Berlin."

A person in a wool coat with a baby carriage stands on a bridge in front of the Berlin Palast der Republik.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

This one time, we lived in Austin

Two young people wearing casual '90s clothes stand in front of a faux German cottage in a photo print lightened with age.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

A good day to be protesting ICE, led by the strong and beautiful Indigenous college students of our community.

A line of people with their backs turned, several in ribbon skirts, hold up signs protesting repression of migrant people.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

We stopped at the capitol after picketing the board of regents meeting across the street.

About a dozen people hold a banner reading "Fair Contract Now" in front of a mural depicting John Brown and Bloody Kansas.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Our ad in the Sunday paper. Campaign to contact the chancellor at tinyurl.com/writeDoug #UAKU #AFT #AAUP

A half-page ad in a newspaper reads “Lawrence is a union town. Tell KU: Stop Union-Busting! A fair contract for faculty is an investment in our community. Email KU Chancellor Girod today. United Academics of the University of Kansas, AFT, AAUP, AFL-CIO, @weareku, uaku.org.” A QR code leads to https://tinyurl.com/writeDoug to contact the chancellor.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

The second time this month, management canceled a bargaining session, but we show up for each other. That's why it's bigger than a contract. #UAKU @weareku #AFT #AAUP

20-some people of varying ages and genders raise fists and hold signs reading "Fair Contract Now" in a nondescript institutional meeting room.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Minnesota in rebellion against the empire.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Our union rallied then marched to the chancellor's office. Admin didn't like our noise and cancelled today's bargaining. If they think we're going to fold and take a weak contact, they have misunderstood the assignment. #UAKU #AFT #AAUP

A white man in a wool cap, scarf, cost and gloves stands in front of a painting of another white man in a business suit. The first person holds a sign reading "A contract is my respect language."

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

In 1960 MLK gave a lecture at a small college in the middle of Kansas. Tonight people gathered around the same lectern in the same room to hear a restored recording of the speech, challenging us to remain maladjusted to a society bent on injustice.

A wooden lectern in front of a projected slide photograph of Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

cleaning out old electronics took me to a camera, an SD card, and the last look at my childhood home.

A wall of flat flagstones, stained green and overgrown with time

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

2025 is in its last days. 2026 is unwritten.

Bare winter trees before a horizon of brown dormant prairie and greener turf closer to the camera

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

My kiddo and his band made an EP and it rocks bandcamp.com/this_is_an_a...

Rough print of a bone with a nail through it, appearing in an oval frame nailed to a
wall. Block letters read Flatline: Down to the Marrow.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

If you are attending the American Studies Association conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico this week, check out the Ethnography Caucus sessions. In particular, come to our fall meeting on Friday at 3:00 p.m. to get involved in the caucus.

Flower borders above and below text announcing ethnography caucus sessions at the American studies Association 2025, San juan, Puerto Rico. The listed sessions include friday, November 21st, opportunities for funding ethnographic research at 11:30 a.m. in 102b. Ethnography caucus fall meeting at 3:00 p.m. in green one. Saturday November 22nd, can ethnography exist absent DEI? 8:00 a.m. in 2:09b. Mapping Chicana/Mexicana voices in the borderlands at 3:00 p.m. in 102c.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

When building staff and students support your bargaining session.

A flip chart outside a meeting room reads 11/12, 10:00 - 3:00, An injury to one is an injury to all, There is power in a union, and a smiley face.

Marker drawing and letters on a shiny surface, university buildings and the slogan Students Support UAKU

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

I know the one-pint deli container is widely used and appreciated, but I really think I broke some new ground here on storing an open can.

A can of tomatoes open at the top, with a plastic container inverted on it like a cap.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

There are days of great privilege when my work is to read. I am in the academic labor movement not only to save those days for myself but so that anyone who wants them will have at least some of those days in their lifetime.

A small table with two books and a plate of apple slices. The books are how fascism works by Jason Stanley and unsettling by Gilberto Rosas.

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