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Mark Fitzpatrick

@fitzorhowl.bsky.social
435 followers 1.9K following 286 posts

Family, books, travel, sports, punk/punk-adjacent music, culture, academics, and politics. He/him Bay Stater. UMass-Amherst alum.

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Reposted by Mark Fitzpatrick
Anthony Michael Kreis @anthonymkreis.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
First Monday in October. The Supreme Court returns.
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alexis simpson is confused by display name changes @amutepiggy.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
do NOT take an iced coffee to a job interview!!! qualified candidates bring a cooler of gatorade to dump on the interviewer
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Benjamin Balthaser @blbalthaser.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I have no idea if Mamdani could have realistically arrested Netanyahu. However the level of global institutional failure - in the US, UN, Interpol - that is necessary so that we are depending on a newly elected American mayor to save int’l law and democracy is staggering
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Benjamin Balthaser @blbalthaser.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
In claiming the left needs to embrace economic issues and appeal to conservative values of patriotism and the family, the report does not embrace class politics over culture wars, it just embraces one side of the war over another
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
"U.S. News has repeatedly adapted when public criticism has threatened the authority of its rankings. There is no principled reason academic freedom should remain outside that framework, given the magnitude of what is happening in the United States today. " www.aaup.org/if-us-news-a...
aaup.org
If U.S. News Also Ranked Courage
A measure of academic freedom could make college rankings more reflective of the conditions under which education occurs.
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Davor Mondom @dmondom.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Judith Butler will get you closer to comprehending latter-day American foreign policy than Kenneth Waltz
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
We have 9 ballot questions this year. We just got the pamphlet in the mail. I'm all for citizen ballots but man, I feel like I need to bring in the book in to vote! gazettenet.com/2026/09/13/g...
gazettenet.com
Galvin defends ballot questions as a 'safety valve' amid reform push - Daily Hampshire Gazette
BOSTON — As lawmakers weigh reforms to the ballot question process, the state’s top election official called it a “safety valve for democracy,” and said “you might change some of the procedures, but y...
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Will have to give these a read. thanks @dukepress.bsky.social read.dukeupress.edu/journals/pag...
read.dukeupress.edu
Twenty-Five Years in a Post-9/11 World | Journals Gateway | Duke University Press
Twenty-Five Years in a Post-9/11 World | Journals Gateway | Duke University Press Twenty-Five Years in a Post-9/11 World Date Published: 9/9/2026 Twenty-five years after September 11, 2...
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
My wife shared with me these poll findings from @umasspoll.bsky.social www.umass.edu/news/article...
umass.edu
UMass Amherst Poll Finds Cracks in GOP’s MAGA Base, as Many Democrats Shun DSA Label while Embracing its Policies | UMass Amherst
The new poll also asked when—if ever—America was truly at “its greatest.”
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Finally finished season 2 of Severance. It took a while to finish due to life stuff but I thought it was good.
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
and she told me to write it in on YouTube to comment and I was too scared to do that and I ended up being right it was Dover. I could have been YouTube famous!
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I was watching the Steve Kornacki cam on NBC News for the NH primary and Kornacki asked a trivia question to the Youtube audience on where in NH did Bill Clinton in 1992 give a speech about second chances. And I said out loud to Heather "I bet it was Dover NH"
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Reposted by Mark Fitzpatrick
Marc Aidinoff @maidino.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
I am strangely optimistic that AI offers a framework to build the state we want. I argue in @dissentmag.bsky.social that progressives must not dismiss the energy and opportunity produced by technology’s productive amnesia to reimagine the state and society. dissentmagazine.org/article/ai-u...
dissentmagazine.org
Can the Welfare State Survive AI? - Dissent Magazine
The U.S. welfare state was built in moments when technical innovation collided with political reality. It can still offer the infrastructure for social protection under an economy reconfigured by AI.
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
jacobin.com/2026/09/fuku...
jacobin.com
Francis Fukuyama: The American Right Has Gone Off the Deep End
Francis Fukuyama tells Jacobin that decades of suspicion of the state, from both the Left and the Right, helped produce America’s current crisis.
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
When Fukuyama started talking about West Coast Straussians vs East Coast Straussians I was like (oh yeah, don't be started). I don't even know what the latest debate concerning Hasan Piker is all about! Made me think about political positions studying other political positions
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I found the interview interesting too because it made me think of the strategy of studying the Right. I'm clearly not on the Right but I read about it more than say debates in democratic socialist circles.
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Francis Fukuyama was interviewed in Jacobin....interesting. finally got around to reading the interview. Obviously Francis Fukuyama has a LOT to answer for but if you still believe in his relevance, he had some thoughts on the current political climate with some relevancy.
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Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof @evanbernick.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
An underappreciated way in which the Simpsons was prescient is that it predicted the trajectory of many open world games
Virtual reality yard work simulator
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Very proud of UMass football last night. they beat Rutgers and it helped snap UMass' 16 game losing streak. Quarterback Pop Watson is from Springfield, Massachusetts too so that rocks. Go UMass!
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Never thought I would see Francis Fukuyama interviewed in Jacobin. Haven't read it yet but seems like it might be interesting
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Sorry Danilyn
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
This quote from the Darilyn Rutherford book I am reading made me think a ton " Political theory and [political] philosophy have something to say about the uneasy relationship between sovereignty and audience. But in some respects, ethnography and works of fiction...capture this relationship best."
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Going to start reading this book tonight by professor Danilyn Rutherfood. I liked the use of Thomas Hobbes political theory in the introduction to what is ultimately a socio-cultural anthropology book press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
press.uchicago.edu
Laughing at Leviathan
For West Papua and its people, the promise of sovereignty has never been realized, despite a long and fraught struggle for independence from Indonesia. In Laughing at Leviathan, Danilyn Rutherford exa...
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I made a Subvert profile. I hope to discover new music on this service too! www.subvert.fm/@fitzorhowl
subvert.fm
@fitzorhowl - Subvert
I hate music, it's got too many notes
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
This is an incredible album by Mopar Stars moparstars.bandcamp.com/album/offici...
moparstars.bandcamp.com
Official Researchers Of The NJ Devil, by Mopar Stars
11 track album
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Reposted by Mark Fitzpatrick
Grumpy Philosopher @stevecooke.org · 30/07/2026
Embarrassing stupidity aside, I can't help noting that, regardless of what Americans think, there isn't a single far-left person on that list. Such a strange country.
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Long Odds are a Ohio band and this new album from them off Clean Demon Records is so good. long-odds.bandcamp.com/album/the-dr...
long-odds.bandcamp.com
the dry land, by long odds
8 track album
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
www.berghahnbooks.com/title/Plende...
berghahnbooks.com
The Everyday Politics of Food Co-ops: Care, Aid and Community in Austerity Britain | Berghahn Books
Independent Publishing since 1994
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
I thought it provided wonderful discussions on co-ops, mutual aid, and the Commons in this age of austerity and COVID-19. Though some British terms tripped me up, I thought it was a good book
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Finished "The Everyday Politics of Food Co-ops: Care, Aid and Community in Austerity Britain" (2025) by Celia Plender (University of Exeter). I put this book down almost half a year ago but finally returned to it and finished it.
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Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Genuinely bizarre that Douthat would give up the cushiest job in journalism, where management clearly loves him, to join a newsroom whose defining attributes are its internal dysfunction and the constant stream of embarrassing leaks from disgruntled staffers.
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
I had such good times playing Halo with my friends. www.polygon.com/patch-notes-...
polygon.com
Halo invented Xbox, and that was just for starters
Bungie's masterpiece has been remade again, but no game ever needed it less
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I think having kids as stakeholders to national policy and industry conversations is a great idea
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I mean I don't know what my life would be like if during my teen years I didn't use Napster messaging, Live journal, or Myspace. I interacted with so many people from different geographies and backgrounds that it helped me grow beyond the physical limitations of school or neighborhoods.
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I really struggle with this. Like the article states, social media is very toxic to kids. On the other hand, I fully agree that without social media, a generation of kids, especially from marginalized backgrounds, would have no connection. www.wired.com/story/bannin...
wired.com
Banning Social Media for Kids Is a Bad Idea
The risks are real. But banning children from the internet could create new problems without solving the ones that really matter.
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Had a good discussion about this on another social media space of mine.
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I want to go to a cafe and read a book very badly right now
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Senator Ed Markey @markey.senate.gov · 23/07/2026
Trump’s Big Ugly Bill has stripped SNAP from 4 million people. Families shouldn’t be forced to choose between putting food on the table and paying the bills. We must reverse these cruel cuts—in the richest country in the world, no one should go hungry.
Che Washington Post
1.5 million children lost food aid since last July, analysis says
Nationwide, an estimated 4 million people have been kicked off SNAP since the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill, the report finds.
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Though I must admit, I am a little uncomfortable with this idea. Still want to give it a shot by reading it myself, but definitely have some initial issues
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
I want to read Samuel Moyn's "Gerontocracy in America: How the Old Are Hoarding Power and Wealth—and What to Do About It". Dissent has an interview with him. Though I I must admit I am voting for an 80 year old in the primary this year (Senator Ed Markey) dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...
dissentmagazine.org
Know Your Enemy: Gerontocracy in America - Dissent Magazine
Matt and Sam talk to Matt Dinan about Leo Strauss's 1953 book, Natural Right and History.
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Rolling Stone @rollingstone.com · 19/07/2026
L7 bassist Jennifer Finch has died at 59 following a battle with brain cancer. www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...
rollingstone.com
Jennifer Finch, L7 Bassist, Dead at 59
Jennifer Finch, the longtime bassist for influential rock group L7, has died at age 59.
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
I want to go back on this website again for news, politics, academic and intellectual stuff, but man micro-blogging is so overwhelming sometimes
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Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
RFK Jr. is a eugenicist. Plain and simple. He's ignorant of science and medicine and lives in a conspiracy-addled world of his own mind. He's is destroying American public health and biomedicine.
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
listen hun if you can't handle the Washington Post editorial board at their the Texas gerrymander "freakout" is "not a threat to democracy" you don't deserve them at their "Virginia plunges America deeper into the gerrymandering abyss"
screenshot of WashPo editorial board August 20 2025 "The Texas Gerrymander freakout
What's happening in the Lone Star State is not a threat to democracy" screenshot of April 21 Wash PO editorial board: "Virginia plunges America deeper into the gerrymandering abyss
The redistricting scheme was always a power grab by Democrats. Voters went along with it."
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Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
I am broken-hearted at the terrible news that my alma mater, @hampshirecollege.bsky.social, after 56 yrs, is closing. Its death is a victory for conformism, for corporatism, for higher education's dull love of hierarchy & status. It's a grievous defeat for imagination & experimentation.
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The Boston Globe @bostonglobe.com · 14/04/2026
Breaking news: Hampshire College, the liberal arts university in Amherst, announced that it would close after nearly six decades.
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‘Heartbreaking reality’: Hampshire College announces transition to closure - The Boston Globe
The announcement marks the end of another tumultuous chapter in the ongoing saga of the liberal arts school.
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
www.bostonglobe.com/2026/04/14/m...
bostonglobe.com
Hampshire College announces transition to closure - The Boston Globe
The announcement marks the end of another tumultuous chapter in the ongoing saga of the liberal arts school.
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Getting local reports that Hampshire College in Amherst, MA is closing.
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AdequateEmily @adequateemily.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
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Mark Fitzpatrick @fitzorhowl.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Jennifer has been my friend for well over a decade. Please consider donating. Fuck cancer
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