iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 10h

My aunt is so damn cool. She left a corporate job about 10 yrs ago because she wanted to help people grow their own food. She started a business from scratch and now wins federal grants to build gardens in schools and communities, and grows culturally diverse foods to match student demographics and

freshstartfoodgardens.com

Fresh Start Food Gardens

raised bed installation, maintenance and garden education

28914 89

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 10h

freshstartfoodgardens.com

Fresh Start Food Gardens

raised bed installation, maintenance and garden education

28914 89

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 10h

She just fucking rocks. Women are amazing.

0120 12

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 10h

She puts all of herself into this business, all of her money, and still finds time to listen to my lectures and raise her two kids and take incredible care of my grandfather and write postcards for voters and run fundraisers in town and organize meal rotations for busy moms who need a week off &&&

1160 16

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 10h

Promotes learning about other cultures, cooking, agriculture, sustainability, and regional food histories. It's so fucking cool. Every time I think about it, I'm just so damn proud to be related to someone so loving and badass. She has a girl empowerment project too, and god she's so cool.

1160 16

Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy

Who You Gonna CAll? (-ison Wyss) @allisonwyss.bsky.social · 16/10/2026

We're the culture who said that instead of dealing with guns, we should teach kids to hide under their desks. Instead of dealing with rape, we'll teach girls not to walk alone or leave a drink unattended. We always treat evil as something to teach about instead of shut down. AI is the same.

12611 26

Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy

Sarah J. Jackson @sjjphd.bsky.social · 12h

This is my colleague and she is a wonderful, smart person who also happens to be a preeminent expert on freedom of expression.

673309691 3.3K

Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy

DESIGN THINKING! Comic @designthinking.lol · 15h

Ysabel Yates'... I mean Cookie Monster's superb takedown of why GenAI in the workplace sucks.

322021769 2K

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 16/10/2026

Easily a minor Van Gogh. Easily. I'd just stare at it for hours. Every Van Gogh I've seen in person has made me feel more human than any other thing on this planet, and I want that accessible at all times (but maybe housed at my local library so others can enjoy it too (but I get a key to go 24/7))

1131 13

Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

I love this answer so much because it gets at the heart of what humanities scholars do and what's so threatening to authoritarians about it: Criticism is not inherently a negative. Criticism is looking at something to understand the parts of it and form deeper opinions about it with appreciation.

211334 113

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

211334 113

Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy

Barbara Waxer 🌈 @barbara-waxer.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

When Grammy-winning musician Rhiannon Giddens begins playing “Old Corn Liquor,” a traditional Black American folk tune, acclaimed Chinese pipa virtuoso Wu Man recognizes similarities to Chinese pentatonic music and spontaneously joins in. The joy on their faces says it all.

282148354828 14.8K

Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy

Wagatwe Wanjuki @wagatwe.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

can't take "LLMs are people" discourse seriously when we haven't even convinced everyone that all people are people.

38133753841 13.4K

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 16/10/2026

There's a house we pass on walks through the neighborhood that has a poetry box they change weekly to offer some art in the fresh air for the passer-by, and I am grateful for it.

A pink box with a window on it attached to a tree trunk in the foreground. A house and yard in the background. In the window of the box is a poem:

For a student who used AI to write a paper by Joseph Fasano

Now I let it fall back
In the grasses.
I hear you. I know
This life is hard now.
I know your days are precious
On this earth.
But what are you trying
To be free of?
The living? The miraculous
Task of it?
Love is for the ones who love the work

06314 63

Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy

Jamison Foser @jamisonfoser.bsky.social · 16/10/2026

"shouldn't be this hard" is an all-encompassing, feel-it-in-your-bones summary of modern American life -- of difficulties big and small, existential and annoying -- that should be at the core of every Democratic candidate's message for years to come.

71523338 1.5K

Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

As James Baldwin wrote so beautifully: "I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually." That's patriotic love. Healthy, I formed criticism with the goal of understanding and improving.

06115 61

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

06115 61

Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

Criticism is being engaged and interested enough to really understand something and say "what if we looked at it like this?" Or "what if this was different about it?" Or "what if we applied this to something else?" And that skill translates to building a functioning, healthy democratic society.

1416 41

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

1416 41

Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy

Ben Railton @americanstudier.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

Fantastic thread! I'll just add that this is exactly why Baldwin's quote was the epigraph for my book on the history of American patriotism.

bloomsbury.com

Of Thee I Sing

When we talk about patriotism in America, we tend to mean one form: the version captured in shared celebrations like the national anthem and the Pledge of Alleg…

191 9

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

As a constituent of yours @warren.senate.gov & @repauchincloss.bsky.social, I'm most worried that every Congressperson hasn't immediately been posting about Ilhan Omar to make a very loud public stand against the government's targeting of her and also about your plans to fight this.

032 3

Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy

Ben Railton @americanstudier.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

That nostalgia has remained with us for the five decades since, but, as I argue in the next post in my American Housewives blog series, has also been complicated & challenged by cultural works like a pair of fascinating, distinct turn of the 21C films: Pleasantville (1998) & Far From Heaven (2002)!

blackwhiteandread.com

October 14, 2026: American Housewives: Pleasantville and Far from Heaven – Black and White and Read All Over

On two distinct ways to revisit and revise cultural portrayals of the 1950s. Yesterday’s post focused on cultural works from the 1950s, which is certainly where many of our enduring stereotypes of hou...

112 2

Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy

Ben Railton @americanstudier.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

As @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social talked about in yesterday's awesome lecture (recording available at the link above), the 70s saw a significant rise in nostalgia for the 50s--on a variety of levels, including the teen & car culture nostalgia of Grease; but also for domestic ideals such as the housewife.

112 2

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

I think you should probably hold your tongue before speaking on something you don't have all the info on. My talk was ON marginal ideas - Tradwives (the ones in those extremist horrors and our world) are also marginal and tools of the same misogynistic far right legacy. The talk is freely available

110 1

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

It was! If you go to that link, there's a section about the livestream and recording information

110 1

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

FYI this went really well!!! (except for the facts that I was sweating PROFUSELY and I'm getting over a flu-turned-touch-of-pneumonia so my voice was going by the end 🤷‍♀️)

092 9

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

They were amazing! Great audience too

030 3

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Thank you so much! I hope you got to watch and found it interesting!

010 1

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Fun class! It will allegedly be recorded by the library, yes

010 1

Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Every story I read about AI "companions" makes me deeply sad and feel like I'm the insane one. There is a serious, serious problem with our social landscape that people consider chatbots friends, confidantes, and lovers. It's a social, cultural, economic, political PROBLEM. Reignite social lives.

theguardian.com

‘Unfinished business’: the people who want their AI chatbots to ‘live on’ after they die

Humans bonded to AI companions are contemplating ways to keep their bots going – often in defiance of companies’ terms and services

1247 24

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

theguardian.com

‘Unfinished business’: the people who want their AI chatbots to ‘live on’ after they die

Humans bonded to AI companions are contemplating ways to keep their bots going – often in defiance of companies’ terms and services

1247 24

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Well that's awfully simplistic, un-nuanced, ahistorical thinking. Does "no one" include Phyllis Schlafly?

310 3

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

This talk on Tradwives and cultural texts is streaming tonight 6:30 Eastern if you're interested!

1147 14

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Interesting connection! I don't mention that one but I can see the vision there

110 1

Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy

Ben Railton @americanstudier.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

This evening at 6:30ET! Will also be recorded (available at the same link below), so you’ve got no excuse for not checking out this excellent & timely talk. 🗃️

0116 11

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Yessss I love that so much! We desperately need more of this kind of human connection

140 4

Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy

Jo VanEvery @jovanevery.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Or go for a walk. Take the same route every day. Nod to the people you see regularly. Work up to saying hello. Interact With their dogs. I’ve met so many neighbours this way. I don’t know many people’s names but we do chat sometimes now. And some have got me involved in other things.

181 8

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Don't accept their excuses for you of being overworked and too tired or things being too expensive to get out of the house. It is REJUVENATING to spend an hour volunteering your time and it's free and it's social and it's the exact opposite of the isolation and loneliness that they want for you.

1133 13

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Go force some community. Volunteer. Make your neighbors muffins. Call (yes, CALL - our text-based communications are enabling this psychosis) your friends. Go to the cinema. Get out of the damn house. Sit on a bench in public with loved ones and without a phone. Resist this profitable loneliness.

1100 10

Dr. Vaughn Joy @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

I'm giving a talk tomorrow night on Tradwives and weaponized nostalgia in our pop culture of the last 50 years through an unlikely trilogy of feminist horror texts: The Stepford Wives (1972), The Handmaid's Tale (1985), and Yesteryear (2026). It's streaming for free if you're interested!

54319 43

Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy

Ben Railton @americanstudier.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Leading up to a weekend tribute to @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social's awesome recent & ongoing work on cultural housewives, retrofuturist nostalgia, & much more. Check out the livestream of her talk tomorrow evening at the West Hartford Public Library! westhartford.librarymarket.com/event/west-h...

westhartford.librarymarket.com

From Stepford to Yesteryear Ranch: A Cultural History (NWL & Virtual) | West Hartford Library

Events calendar for West Hartford Libraries

132 3

Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy

Ben Railton @americanstudier.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

So for the first post in my American Housewives blog series, on characters from a trio of late 19C novels who embody but also challenge & complicate stereotypes--Edna Pontellier in The Awakening, Mrs. Norval in Who Would Have Thought It?, & Olivia Carteret in The Marrow of Tradition!

blackwhiteandread.com

October 12, 2026: American Housewives: 19th Century Novels – Black and White and Read All Over

On two interestingly stereotypical characters at distinct places on the sympathy spectrum, and a secret third thing. I haven’t conducted a poll or anything, but I would wager that the most famous lite...

173 7

Reposted by Dr. Vaughn Joy

Ben Railton @americanstudier.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

75 years ago this week, I Love Lucy premiered on CBS. For the 70th anniversary I blogged about why the show was as comfortably familiar yet just as badass & groundbreaking as its titular star, & I stand by those arguments for sure. + americanstudier.blogspot.com/2021/10/octo...

americanstudier.blogspot.com

October 15, 2021: SitcomStudying: Why We Love Lucy

[ October 15 th marks the 70 th anniversary of I Love Lucy ’s debut . So this week I’ll AmericanStudy Lucyyyyyyyyyyyy and other sitcoms—sh...

34216 42