iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Huge kudos. This is heir-to-Frank-Rich-level media criticism.

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Lol. Never re-fight the last battle

Their carcasses went in the soup

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Team Talarico @teamtalaricohq.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

It's 90 degrees today, and I just made preemptive soup, to will the gods to bring fall to Austin tomorrow. Is this what Roman generals did before war?

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Reposted by Douglas Boin

James Talarico: False claims got millions of views — and this is an example of what I call the ‘rage economy.’ Billionaires who own these platforms get rich, we get angry, and nobody’s life gets better. Conspiracy theories don’t put food on the table, put gas in the tank, or improve our communities.

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Reposted by Douglas Boin

American Historical Association @historians.org · 13/10/2026

The AHA is pleased to announce the winners of its 2026 prizes, which honor exceptional books, distinguished teaching and mentoring in the classroom, public history, and other historical projects. Congratulations to the 2026 awardees! #AHAPerspectives

historians.org

American Historical Association Announces 2026 Prize Winners – AHA

The American Historical Association is pleased to announce the winners of its 2026 prizes.

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Talarico being called queer for being religious, in Texas, is a totally new level of nonsense

Before National Coming Out Day comes to an end, I just want to say to every struggling gay bi lesbian trans queer follower I have: I know it will sound trite, but it does get better. Life will reward you for what you're going through right now. Find your people. Don't give up.

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And how many "manifestos," seriously, is classics gonna release every year now? I can't keep up. And some writers have multiple manifestos, which is, like, against the whole idea!

Thinking of Agrippa, which obviously gets a Conclave bump. But what is it about the whole classical myth retelling complex that is hooking readers? "Stories told from other povs"? History does that too...

Open for all. Why do you think made-up works of ancient history attract a bigger book audience than (sourced / documented / "real"?) ancient history?

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Someone I very much respect is posting about a convo they got into on the other site. And you know what? I left it--smack in the middle of "having to sell books"--because my dignity means more than any shameless bottomline

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Buying literary memorabilia will never mask the black hole of huckster dilettantism that motivates some people to write about classical antiquity. This is my Texan Stoic take

Kerry Howley @kerryhowley.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Reposted by Douglas Boin

If your kids are in school they’re constantly being prompted to “relate” to some text… listen to Anne

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Douglas Boin @dougboin.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Seriously, east coast folks would be so much better reading @texasobserver.org @texastribune.org or even @texasmonthly.bsky.social if they want a picture of what's going on

Douglas Boin @dougboin.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Thanks for posting! Hadn't seen this essay, and its recognition, from the jury's commendation, sounds incredibly well deserved. Eager to read!

Douglas Boin @dougboin.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Agreed. After sabbatical, I'm going back to requiring physical books. No more questions about how to properly cite a source from a pageless e-edition

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Douglas Boin @dougboin.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I read Italian newspapers (because, obviously.) And wouldn't you know the foreign press cuts right to the core of our country's failings. Headline at the reputable La Stampa: "In 2024 there were more than 8,000 rape allegations filed at US universities."

Douglas Boin @dougboin.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I read Maaza's Shadow King during my last sabbatical: immensely enjoyable, mythical storytelling, and yet unlike anything I'd encountered. This news is so well-deserved.

Douglas Boin @dougboin.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

TV reviews of 50-year-old shows? Gives me hope that my own books might still, someday, be reviewed

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Douglas Boin @dougboin.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Roman consuls had the provinces to exploit financially after their year in office. America has TV.

Douglas Boin @dougboin.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

You just check for the green bars, which means magical powers still charged. Red bars = drained.

Douglas Boin @dougboin.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

"Moved ethical lines." So glad I don't pay for that paper anymore

Douglas Boin @dougboin.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Every time I go home to visit mom, I remember how phenomenally gorgeous the mosaic, tile, and glass work is at the old library, now Chicago Cultural Center. The sentiments about reading and knowledge are never lost on me, either

Douglas Boin @dougboin.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Mary Cassatt's vision of an artistic community still inspires: "no juries no medals no awards." Show @artinstitutechi.bsky.social

John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Reposted by Douglas Boin

Hear! Hear! I read the Times. I'm glad the Times exists. If the Times were an object, I'd sometimes want to throw it out the window, but this impulse would be less strong or frequent if we had alternatives to the Times that mattered as much as the Times.

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Douglas Boin @dougboin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Grandparents are the new weather. (I forget which teacher taught me this: "Don't start a story with the weather! Not the sun in the plaza. Not the rain. Not the cool stones.") An easy, trite and overplayed lead.

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Douglas Boin @dougboin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Theft of intellectual property was baked into the model. Why on earth would the models act like anything other than a shameless relentless looter?

Douglas Boin @dougboin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I don't mean to be a killjoy. But a 10,000 word+ article on ethics, morality, AI and religion that skips over "Thou shall not steal," from a religion reporter, no less, is capitalist head-in-sand flag waving for an industry that deserves immediate regulation

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Douglas Boin @dougboin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Ugh. 4-6 tonight. Every forehand was out. Somedays it just doesn't work.

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Paxton, Trailing Talarico in Polls, Tacks Toward the Center in Texas

The national press truly doesn't grasp how good Gina Hinojosa has been at retail politics in our state. And the more they fixate on Talarico (big fan!) the more the miss the story. There's a two prong Democratic front going on down here www.nytimes.com/live/2026/09...

nytimes.com

I think there's something truly noble in championing causes from which you yourself do not immediately benefit but which can help others

What drew me to Clodia's story was that, even in a world where women couldn't vote, she fought to change the structural parts of her system that she knew needed repair (drawing fair voting districts, for example, enfranchising families of freed slaves).

Otherwise, taken to its extreme, you simply get a picture, a lá Gruen, of the republic as a yearbook of insufferable overachievers--fighting year in year out for honors--when, in fact, power was important not for its own sake but because large segments of the populus felt (justly) disenfranchised

You can't really detect this unless you shift the p.o.v.

The through line of the Roman Republic is not "Big men fight for fame and glory" but "Institutions fail everyone" and "People felt powerless to stop wealth."

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Perpetuating the idea that the Roman republic was exclusively a man's world misses the whole point of how power and law worked in their society, to silence debate and stifle reform. How the Republic collapsed is not and cannot truly be a single-gendered story

Douglas Boin @dougboin.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

That's nice of you to say. I appreciate it. I think that's all she could ask for, too