iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

on one hand of the platforming debate is yeah, we don’t love giving fanatic demagogues and white nationalists a megaphone. on the other hand, there eventually might be a trial in the hague, so…

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

each time, and handful of kids say things like “I have a C because I’ve been slacking.” And that’s literally not true—they just didn’t do as well on a test or quiz or something, and have time to improve. preventing students from globalizing negative feedback is extremely important.

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

one of the most valuable things about students writing emails home about their progress in class (thanks @heymrsbond.com): recognizing when students are incorrectly internalizing the wrong narrative about themselves, and immediately being able to step in and say, “no, you are working hard enough.”

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

doing some AP test review with my Lang students & came up with a new term: boyfriend answer (n): something that might look appealing at first glance, but ultimately turns out to be wrong

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

when I began teaching I started to look around and think “wow, y’all are really just making things up as you go, huh?” and it turns out that’s true for literally every single organization I’ve ever interacted with as an adult.

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

the way in which (many, not all) universities are capitulating to politics instead of standing on the business of academic integrity, rigor, and critical thinking make me really question their value beyond just an expensive job certification. having a mission should be existential for them.

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

how about “the floor will eventually find the ceiling and throw it in the guillotine”

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

we should be judging schools (in part) by their ability to be a strong learning organization for teachers, admin, and families. the level of student learning is often reflected in the level of adult learning

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

so many elected officials are still so bad at responding to this stuff. focus on the impact on real people. focus on moral clarity and uncompromising values. this just sounds like an annoying hall monitor, and is a huge part of why dems lose elections.

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

what % of accounts here are bots? because it seems high

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

wife: what do you want for Christmas? me: I want you to argue with me like we’re in the 2015 facebook comments

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

nice to see some offense for a change

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

Dems have completely ceded this ground because they think guns are a settled issue in favor of GOP. I think any parent who sends kids to school wants better, and I am uncompromising on this.

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

There are nuances, and I’m okay with gun ownership, but I’m talking about building a political project that believes it’s possible to eliminate virtually all mass casualty gun violence (and now, political assassinations). If you don’t believe that’s possible, okay. That’s what elections are for.

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

I’ve been having these debates since I was in middle school. My father was a state trooper, and is an independent firearms dealer. There is literally no “anti gun control” argument I haven’t heard before and think is dumb.

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

again, I’m not going to debate 2A policy with anyone on the internet. I literally want to see dems do to guns what the GOP did to abortion, except nationally. fundamentally dismantle jurisprudence, re legislate, and criminalize. all rights are negotiable through elections.

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

both of these are tragic outliers to otherwise empirically verified findings around the effects of effective gun legislation. I have a family member that was on campus during VA tech, btw. by your logic, since some people will die of lung cancer anyways, we shouldn’t regulate cigarettes.

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

fantastic. I encourage you to start with the belief that it’s possible in this country to cut mass casualty gun violence events by >99%. then find legislative solutions from there.

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

I’m literally a rhetoric teacher, so no it’s not a lie. I don’t really have time to engage with you on this if your goal is just to nitpick and argue. That’s not mine. Candidates should be clear about what they would restrict, yes, but it’s not “taking away rights.” It’s ensuring the right to life.

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

I’d use different words, but yes you’re coming around to the point I originally tried to make. In addition to a whole host of community based preventative measures, I 100% want to use elections to restrict access to mass casualty weapons, and want to see candidates lean into that.

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

Again, I don’t care about the opinions of anyone (or their shallow understanding of rights & process) who doesn’t believe it’s possible to eliminate school shootings through legislation. It sounds like you don’t, and I’m not trying to persuade you. I want to win elections in these grounds.

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

I do own quite a few different kinds of firearms, and have grown up with them my entire life. My view is that assault weapons are too accessible, and we can do a lot more to make them inaccessible, along with high capacity mags and bump stocks.

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

I would much rather be publicly outspoken about the constitutionality of a FAWB, and remind anyone else who sees my posts that despite an exhausting period of congressional neglect and dereliction of duty, if the politics change then the law can change.

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

More importantly, the point I’m making is about changing the politics and then the law. If a somehow FAWB passed the senate, I think it would be upheld. SCOTUS isn’t a legislative body, and “gun rights” are interpretative.

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

The FAWB that sunset in 2004 was also constitutional, and despite it being in effect for a short amount of time, multiple studies affirm that it both prevented mass casualty events and those same events spiked immediately after it sunset. A FAWB is required to stop school shootings.

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

if we can restrict people from buying tanks without infringing on gun rights, we can do more to stop school shootings is my point.

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

“the people” in a representative democracy doesn’t immediately mean every citizen. DAs in court represent “the people,” but you can’t just walk in and prosecute a crime whenever you want. a lot of the pro 2A rhetoric is tired, hacked, and completely self assured in ways it doesn’t deserve to be.

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

honestly I don’t really care about anybody’s opinion on gun rights who isn’t an elected official. but I will say that I don’t find the examples you gave inconsistent at all. I’m commenting on the rhetoric around a belief that eliminating school shootings is actually possible.

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

I really want to see those in favor of eliminating school shootings (and other American gun violence) fight more offensively on constitutional grounds. The first clause of 2A is “A well regulated Militia…” The founders enshrined legislative gun control, and we’ve completely ceded this ground.

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

I’ve got a 3 month old, so my recording time with @marcusluther.bsky.social & @thebrokencopier.bsky.social has been very interrupted as of late, but eventually this is a conversation I think a lot of teachers & professors would find compelling (and hopefully supportive)

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

i’m watching my family members post AI slop with the same energy their boomer parents had for email forwards in the early aughts and thinking it’s very funny that this will cause our economy to collapse

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

also, I like it more the longer I do it, because it turns out being really good at something is also enjoyable

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

Would love to discuss this with you. For me there are also a lot of quality of life factors, meaningful purpose, and I’m at a school that pays well. But I have friends in academia who have told me enough to know I want no part of it (despite really, really wanting to be a prof once upon a time)

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

honestly I feel a little bad being so blunt about this, because I know profs are under a lot of different (and unfair) stressors than K12 teachers. adjuncts are also paid poverty wages. I get all this, but we should be able to have a real conversation about what feels like a massive disconnect

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

I’m sure a number of kids at every college are disengaged and don’t do any work, but this has always been true. what colleges have contextualized this with hard numbers? have they even tried to figure out why? or are we just going to run with anecdotal systemic panic?

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

also, I literally do not believe the OP, because I know the level of work my students are used to when they go to college. the number of alumni who come back SO excited to talk about their reading, their majors, and all the work they’re excited about doing is sky high.

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

i still think kids should go to college, and that ultimately it can be very important for a kid’s future, but I’m SO tired of the pearl clutching and whining from academics about this stuff. nobody bats an eye when we say the K12 system is “failing” but colleges? no, too precious. can’t be them.

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

the social contract of the value of a degree has been broken for a long time, and colleges have defined rigor and prestige through false scarcity and the exclusivity of their name rather than taking seriously their responsibilities to their students

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

colleges have terrible pedagogy, and professors are not incentivized to be good teachers. some are interested in the craft, but I’m so tired of takes like this from academia that completely refuse to look in the mirror and ask why students aren’t engaged

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

why aren’t groceries FSA eligible? isn’t diet like, the absolute most important thing when it comes to healthcare costs?

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

is it just teachers who have to say “I noticed” before giving even the mildest critical feedback? I’ve stopped doing this & instead say things like “we need to get better at” (especially with students) because it’s more direct and communicates that I’m confident in my feedback AND their ability

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Reposted by Jim Mayers

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 05/11/2025

ah, perhaps instead of pumping millions into endless factional infighting Dem donors could invest in making local Dem organizations genuine civic spaces that can reach people during and between elections

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Jim Mayers @jimmayers.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

if he does his merch, we do AOC-Zohran ‘28 merch

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