iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

The fight for DIGGER's reputation is taking place as we speak, and it's easily the most entertaining film discourse of the year.

Photo of DIGGER's Rotten Tomatoes score, which is at 50% with 210 reviews.

450 5

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Guest speaking today on Beauty and the Beast 🌹

Screencap of Belle holding a dandelion in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

040 4

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Love this poem about WALL-E by Michele Rosario, from the latest issue of @rattlepoetry.bsky.social 🤖

Michele Rosario
EVE's Garden

WALL-E found my poem. It was garbage. A wrinkled ball tossed away like so many dreams were tossed in my time. I thought it wasn't worth it. I thought I wasn't worth it. Everyone was too distracted to prove me wrong. My wastebasket overflowed and over the cliff went the building blocks of a landfill called Earth. It was the beginning of his shift, and WALL-E was but making a dent on the mountains left to contain and contract. Then he saw a perfect sphere among the sharp edges of trash. He picked up the paper ball gently, opened his chest. My poem was safely kept between a rubber duck and a Rubik's cube. WALL-E worked all day. At dusk, he closed his cooler and made his way home. Home. A bunker full of trinkets where he revived memories of a world long gone. He took each new item found that day and placed it where it belonged. Then, he worked on my poem, opening the cocoon of my words. He saw scribbles of someone who was and was gone. His robotic voice was a gateway for my thoughts. For an instant, I was alive. He sighed when he was done and read it once more. He twirled around with joy. Then, he went to his fourth wall and made space for me. Next to Shakespeare. Next to The Beatles. Next to a guy named Charlie. Next to The Spice Girls and Edgar Allan Poe. He loved my work like I never did. It took the end of the world to find someone who loved me.

010 1

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

New PFP! I commissioned a cartoon version of myself 💕

2110 11

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

My DisNet presentation has been finalized. We're talking Emoji Blitz 💕

Slide reading "ADAPTING CHARACTERS INTO EMOJI," featuring emoji version of Maleficent, Lizzie McGuire, and Broadway Mufasa.

030 3

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Three years into the genocide, children in Gaza watch The Lion King together 💔

GAZA CITY, GAZA - AUGUST 30: Palestinians, including children, watch a film screening organized by Little Wings Cinema in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City, on August 30, 2026. The initiative provides children with a recreational space amid the difficult conditions and widespread destruction caused by the war between Israel and Hamas. Omar Ashtawy for Getty Images

197 9

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Growing up in a fundamentalist and conservative household, this performance was one of the few signs I had that gender was not fixed. That I didn't have to feel forever trapped by my body. Thank you, sweet sweet transvestite 🏳️‍⚧️💔

Photo showing Frank-N-Furter, Magenta, and Columbia from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

0231 23

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Socialist candidate Angie Nixon just handily won her senate primary in Florida! Even in deep red states, those of us on the left are making our voices clear. We want socialized healthcare, data center moratoriums, and the complete abolition of ICE ✊ Will the Democratic party finally listen?

Results for the Democratic primary for Florida's 2026 special senate election.

022 2

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Kingdom Hearts is officially coming to Disney+ as a television series. It is not a retelling of the games, but a new story developed by Tetsuya Nomura. That means it will likely be incomprehensible to most viewers—including those who have played the games.

Kingdom Hearts: The Series reveal photo from D23.

2163 16

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

KPop Demon Hunters is getting a Criterion edition and it looks so pretty!! 💕

Cover for the Criterion edition of KPOP DEMON HUNTERS.

080 8

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

I was curious and found this from the Blu-ray.com review. It seems the warm tones may have been introduced for the DVD release, but were not the original intention. www.criterionforum.org/review/in-th...

"Supervised by director Kasi Lemmons and director of photography Amy Vincent, this new digital restoration of the director's cut of the film was created in 4K resolution on Lasergraphics Director film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative and a 35mm interpositive". These A/V notes in Criterion's booklet paint an almost inarguable picture, and it's certainly hard to objectively critique this 1080p transfer of Eve's Bayou for those reasons as well as two more: most audiences did not see this film theatrically and DVD-era transfers, which marked its last appearance on home video, frequently leaned on warmer tones that rarely replicated a film's original color palette.

220 2

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

One reason you shouldn't let gen AI run your news ticker is that it might lie about the results of a race. As of now, no major news organization—including AP, New York Times, NBC, & Decision Desk—has called the race for David Crowley or Francesca Hong. Vibe coding leads to misinformation and slop.

Trending

1. Hong loses close race
2. US state primaries voting
3. Favorite childhood book series
4. Ellison threatens to move Paramount out of California
5. Food recalls and outbreak warnings

512024 120

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Not sure what the full context of this is (beyond it being about a class on Catholicism and Pop Culture), so this may or may not be useful. But my dear colleague Marc DiPaolo has done a lot on the subject. Specifically thinking of this volume: www.bloomsbury.com/us/unruly-ca...

Cover of Unruly Catholics from Dante to Madonna: Faith, Heresy, and Politics in Cultural Studies, edited by Marc DiPaolo.

120 2

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

NBC calls the primary for Abdul El-Sayed! The results may look close. But remember, Stevens had over $60 million in establishment and corporate support. This is a crystal clear indication that Democratic voters, even in swing states, support socialized healthcare and firmly oppose genocide ✊

NBC News projection showing Abdul El-Sayed as the winner of the 2026 Michigan Democratic Primary.

1125 12

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Our biggest disagreement comes in this paragraph. I argue that the film does not treat the killing of the suitors, blinding of Polyphemus, & so on as moral. Instead, I think it wants us to view Odysseus as morally hollow, even in scenes where he at first seems like a traditional Hollywood hero.

In Nolan’s Odyssey, slaughtering people with the help of trickery, technology and weapons is presented as bad when the Greeks are killing the Trojans, who have violated xenia, but good when Odysseus is killing the suitors, who have violated xenia. Taking something ostensibly abandoned by Odysseus and his comrades is natural and forgivable when the Trojans lay claim to the horse, but unnatural and unforgivable when the suitors lay claim to Odysseus’ palace, food, wine and wife. Strangers in Ithaca are to be treated with gracious kindness, as possible gods in disguise; but strangers in foreign lands are usually monstrous, to be blinded, robbed and slaughtered. Defying the gods is noble and brave when Odysseus blinds Polyphemus, son of Poseidon; it’s stupid and greedy when Eurylochus eats the Cattle of the Sun. Deception is bad when Odysseus tricks Sinon or the suitors trick Telemachus, but good when Telemachus and Odysseus trick the suitors. Sharing is good, and Odysseus is seen taking his place at an oar alongside his men; but one-man rule is also unambiguously good, and those who challenge monarchy or autocracy, or try to eat more than their allotted portion, are either evil (the suitors) or foolish (Eurylochus). Either way, they have to die. It is bad to fight and kill to accumulate wealth, as Agamemnon does; it is good to fight and kill to preserve the wealth that you have already acquired (even if by war). Any one of these moral contradictions could make for an interesting and generative theme in a movie, but Nolan lets the fragments of an incomplete set of big ideas spin around in the epic whirlpool, with no plank of solid, specific human experience to which we might cling.

111 1

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

So everyone is aware, this is not an account acting in good faith. You can disregard and block them.

Bsky post from bobby--shaftoe.bsky.social reading: Did you now? Why don't you ask vivek how he feels about little tranny girls competing in girls sports? Does he have an opinion? What was it Acton actually said about this issue?

030 3

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Post two movies from one director to show their range: Robert Stevenson

030 3

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

TEXAS TECH CENSORSHIP UPDATE— The AAUP has officially filed suit against Brendon Creighton and his associates for abridging first and fourteenth amendment rights. The attempt by MAGA to erase marginalized folks from academia must end. Lawsuit filed in El Paso.

TEXAS AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF
UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS-AMERICAN
FEDERATION OF TEACHERS and the
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF
UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS,
Plaintiffs,
v.
BRANDON CREIGHTON in his official
capacity as Chancellor of the Texas Tech
University System, and ARCILIA ACOSTA,
CODY CAMPBELL, CLAY CASH, TIM
CULP, SHELLEY SWEATT, DOUG
MCREAKEN, DON SINCLAIR, DUSTIN
WOMBLE, and RACHEL MCLELLAND, in
their official capacities as members of the
Texas Tech University System Board of
Regents,
Defendants.

1235 23

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Regarding the Platner story today, here's a list of national politicians and groups for whom "has a Nazi tattoo" was not a dealbreaker. Hopefully, they take rape more seriously.

Executive branch officials

Robert Reich, former U.S. secretary of labor (1993–1997)
Nirav D. Shah, former principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2023–2025) and 2026 gubernatorial candidate

U.S. senators
Ruben Gallego, Arizona (2025–present)
Kirsten Gillibrand, New York (2010–present) (previously endorsed Mills)
Martin Heinrich, New Mexico (2013–present)
Bernie Sanders, Vermont (2007–present) (Independent)
Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts (2013–present)
Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader (2017–2021, 2025–present) from New York (1999–present) (previously endorsed Mills)
Tina Smith, Minnesota (2018–present)

U.S. representatives
Ro Khanna, CA-17 (2017–present)

Organizations
College Democrats of America
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (previously endorsed Mills)
End Citizens United
Gen-Z for Change
Maine Democratic Socialists of America
Maine People's Alliance
Our Revolution
Progressive Change Campaign Committee
Progressive Victory
Showing Up for Racial Justice
Sierra Club
Track AIPAC
Track Oil PACs
Voters of Tomorrow
VoteVets

Political parties
Working Families Party

131 3

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

See you at @disnet.bsky.social #4, babes. I'll be talking about mobile games ✨

Dear Jennessa Hester,

Thank you for submitting an abstract to the Disney, Culture and Society Research Network’s fourth annual conference – “Let Us Tell An Old Story Anew”: Revising / Reinventing / Reimagining Disney.

We are pleased to inform you that your presentation/panel submission, "Playing with Pictures: Reimagining Iconic Characters in Disney Emoji Blitz" has been accepted. Congratulations!

190 9

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

New article out now, and just in time for Pride! I'm reading Disney's wishing star through the lens of transgender studies. I specifically analyze Pinocchio, The Princess and the Frog, and Wish 💫 Read it here: muse.jhu.edu/pub/27/artic...

Image promoting the article "We Are Star Stuff: Transgender Cinema and Disney’s Wishing Star" by Jennessa Hester.

1183 18

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

She is a socialist: www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/01/out-...

Like fellow progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who you mentioned earlier, you were a bartender in your early 20s after college at George Washington University in D.C. What else do you have in common with AOC, and what sets you apart? I don’t think you’ve called yourself a Democratic Socialist.

Oh, I have plenty. I’m a Democratic Socialist.

030 3

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Disclosure Day is one of the most offensive films Spielberg has ever made. It argues that if those in the majority saw aliens suffering, they would come to their aid. We know this is untrue because we see the relentless cruelty with which those very people treat marginalized folks right now.

Poster for DISCLOSURE DAY by Steven Spielberg.

10388 38

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

They're erecting a tarp so you can't see Trump's name being removed from the Kennedy Center. Fascists want you to witness every cruel act they do to others. It feeds the hate of their base. But they know embarrassment skewers their "tough guy" facade, so they will do everything to hide the shame.

A tarp being raised in front of the Kennedy Center, so you can't see Donald Trump's name being removed from the building.

This is how fascist cowards act when they don't want you to see how humiliating and embarrassing and fragile the MAGA movement actually is.

131 3

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

He's doing as well as you would expect, lmao

Screenshot of Maximillian Dood reacting to the Tifa in Street Fighter 6 reveal.

012 2

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

If you check their replies on the bad site, they are outright saying all that.

Jedrzej Burkat

If my supervisor didn’t bother to read a work we co-authored I would take that as a negligence. So if you can’t read so many papers, then maybe don’t put your name on them?

Luca Ambrogioni

No, not just reas. Read it carefully line by line, even the trivial parts, with 100% attention.

If your supervisor did that, you would honestly not be needed in the project whatsoever.

You guys live in fantasy land

150 5

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Rest in peace, Juniper. Eventually, this world will be better. Eventually, we will make it better. 💔

Photo of Juniper Blessing holding a dog, with the text "Juniper Blessing Deserved to Grow Up."

041 4

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Yesterday, the Texas Tech Faculty Senate passed a resolution condemning Chancellor Brandon Creighton and his moves to censor teaching and research at the university. 🧵 of the full resolution. Professors are standing and fighting ✊

Photo by The Daily Toreador depicting "Against Censorship" buttons made to protest censorship at Texas Tech University.

13524 35

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

As best as I can tell, the other university administrators have all tacitly accepted the new bigotries and are enforcing them because "that's their job". Yes, in the style of Arendt's banality of evil. This is how bigotry gains power over a society.

Cover of Hannah Arendt's EICHMANN IN JERUSALEM: A REPORT ON THE BANALITY OF EVIL.

150 5

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

This week, I will officially graduate and earn my doctorate from Texas Tech—but I will not be walking the stage. Why? The university's unending assault on trans folks like me. 🧵 on all the bigotry

Image by REDACTED RAIDERS showing a page of typed text. All words are blacked out except "if you are reading this, it wasn't approved."

64822 48

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

I did, Blunty. The hundreds of reacts give the game away.

Steam reviews for SLAY THE SPIRE 2 demonstrating anger about Anita Sarkeesian.

100 1

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

The school is also banning official medical material, including the American Medical Association's documentation on "Best practices for sex and gender diversity in medical education." It's not like the AMA has relevance to a school that doubles as a hospital, right?

Official seal of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.

115228 152

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

First off, much of the Greek canon has been struck from the curriculum. This includes The Odyssey and The Iliad (by Homer), Republic (by Plato), and basically everything by Sappho. I wonder if Nolan's Odyssey adaptation will be banned from film studies courses once it's released?

Promo trailer for The Odyssey by Christopher Nolan.

719527 195

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Texas Tech is starting to reveal which texts are banned under its new prohibition against "Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity" research. Among them are six books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Galatians. 🧵 of other banned works. Yes, this is real.

Image of the Holy Bible with chains locked around it.

37566292 566

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Billy Jack feels like a perfect VHS movie

030 3

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Likewise, the very blue Fairfax county. Republicans (no) are just barely behind their numbers from the 2025 gubernatorial election. Democrats (yes) had nearly 70,000 less voters turn out this year.

Fairfax county voting results in the 2025 gubernatorial election.

Fairfax county voting results in the 2026 redistricting election.

1151 15

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

As just one example, the very red Pulaski county. Republicans (no) increased turnout by around 600 votes. Democrats (yes) lost about 1000 votes.

Pulaski county voting results in the 2025 gubernatorial election.

Pulaski county voting results in the 2026 redistricting election.

1131 13

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Republicans understood that this was an existential election for the party. After all, the map almost entirely writes the GOP out of power in the House of Representatives. If the votes shake out as expected in November, MAGA will only have one Virginia representative.

Map of Virginia before and after the 2026 redistricting election.

115130 151

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

It may not look like it at first, since the finally tally appears rather close at a surface glance. However, tonight's redistricting results were a CATASTROPHIC loss for Republicans and the fascist movement. 🧵

Map of Virginia showing the results of the April 21, 2026 redistricting election.

114238 142

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

So incredibly grateful to have new poems featured in the tenth anniversary issue of petrichor, alongside some of my poetry heroes like CAConrad! 💕 Please check out the wonderful issue here: petrichormag.com/petrichor-30...

082 8

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

For years, @eldiagram.bsky.social has been my dream journal, and I finally published with them! I have two new poems in the latest issue and I’m so, so, so happy about it 💕 This is an excerpt from the first piece, inspired by Zelda trading quests. Read here: thediagram.com/26_1/hester....

I

Knives are the currency
of young boys

and father, forever
the salesman, hands you
a Walmart sack stuffed with whittlers
all folded into cheap
nylon fiber handles, blades
concealed by visions
of eagles screeching

of does at calm unaware
how soon their skin will split
from the stinging touch
of clearance bin steel.

(keep / trade)

4307 30

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

Saw this elsewhere online and couldn't help but think of your many threads on The Pitt fandom being very normal about the show

Gold star with the following words on it:

"I survived The Pitt season 2 without being weird about the main character's mental health struggles"

130 3

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

A movie couple that would definitely have a podcast

London Tipton and Maddie Fitzpatrick from THE SUITE LIFE OF ZACK AND CODY.

041 4

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

The state legislator who directly attacked me and my work, on multiple occasions, is now taking credit for TTU's horrible new anti-queer policies. The MAGA project is to forcibly expand bigotry into every facet of your life.

Brian Harrison
@brianeharrison

You’re welcome, Texas!

From San Antonio Live: Rep. Brian Harrison, publicly demanded action. Within days, the university fired Professor McCoul, removed the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and a department head, and faced intense pressure from Gov. Greg Abbott and conservative leaders. President Mark Welsh ultimately resigned on Sept. 18, 2025, after regents gave him an ultimatum. The episode prompted multiple Texas university systems — including TTUS — to launch their own course audits to ensure compliance with state law and avoid similar political blowback

1104 10

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Fareed Ben-Youssef's recent book might be useful here, and any modern Batman film would be an apt choice. paw.princeton.edu/new-books/no...

Cover of NO JURISDICTION by Fareed Ben-Youssef.

140 4

Dr. Jennessa Hester 🍒 @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

"Ignorant" in this case just means "knows about the Nazi tattoo," I guess.

Photo of Graham Platner where his Nazi tattoo is clearly visible.

111 1