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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald)

@jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social
1.4K followers 707 following 101 posts

Associate prof of English. Author of "How the News Feels: The Empathic Power of Literary Journalists". Teaching and writing nonfiction, mostly. Bylines: NYT, Boston Globe, Atlantic, etc. Let’s talk about restoring local journalism. jonathandfitzgerald.com

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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
My latest in @wbur.org @cogwbur.bsky.social!
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
I could not be more proud to share that The Swampscott Tides, the local news startup I've been involved with since last year, was named startup of the year at the 2025 Nonprofit News Awards by @inn.org! inn.org/about/our-wo...
inn.org
Startup of the Year
Honors a young organization (operating for less than three years) for establishing strong support of their journalism throughout the community and the
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
In my latest at @cogwbur.bsky.social, I discuss @ksetiya.bsky.social’s book “Midlife” and wonder whether I’m having a midlife crisis. www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/...
wbur.org
Zen and the art of midlife maintenance
Jonathan D. Fitzgerald is not having a midlife crisis. At least, that's what he thought — then he read MIT philosophy professor Kieran Setiya's book, "Midlife,” and started looking at this stage of li...
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Ryan Cordell @ryancordell.org · 07/08/2025
It’s literally *years* overdue—both the pandemic & team members going & *getting jobs and stuff* delayed the multigraph so, so much But I just sent a draft of the final chapter for our Viral Texts Project book to the press! There will be much yet to do—but hitting send on that email was incredible
manifold.umn.edu
Going the Rounds | University of Minnesota Press Manifold
<style> .rt {color: #ffb71e; font-weight:bold;} </style> _Going the Rounds_ brings together literary, historical, and computational criticism to illuminate the extent, content, and character of infor...
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
I never stopped believing!
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
My latest at @mashable.com... mashable.com/article/coll...
mashable.com
I'm a college writing professor. How I think students should use AI this fall
Commentary: Young people will be more prepared if they practice working with AI, rather than swearing it off altogether.
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Like many of you I have *a lot* of thoughts about AI in relation to teaching writing. Here's the beginning of a longer conversation... mashable.com/article/how-...
mashable.com
I'm a college writing professor. Here's what AI still can't do
Commentary: By facing AI head-on, my students and I can work on the real point of writing, which is to help you think.
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Mashable [Unofficial] @mashable.com.web.brid.gy · 20/05/2025
mashable.com
Im a college professor. My advice to young people who feel hooked on tech
My students balk at a tech-free classroom – but then they love it. Here's what we’ve learned together.
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Great question. I make exceptions for accommodations, of course. Students have been good about using laptops for the parts of class that they need to given their accommodation and then putting them away again.
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
My latest at @mashable.com mashable.com/article/a-pr...
mashable.com
I'm a college professor. My advice to young people who feel hooked on tech
Commentary: My students balk at a tech-free classroom – but then they love it. Here's what we’ve learned together.
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
Beginning today, I’ll be writing about education and AI for @mashable.com. Here’s my first essay… mashable.com/article/how-...
mashable.com
I'm a college writing professor. Here's what AI still can't do
Commentary: By facing AI head-on, my students and I can work on the real point of writing, which is to help you think.
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
I wrote a thing for a local newspaper about the importance of focusing on local matters amidst the chaos of These Troubling Times™ itemlive.com/2025/02/19/f...
itemlive.com
Fitzgerald: In an age of revolution, look to ‘the near, the low, the common’
Jonathan D. Fitzgerald A few days ago, in my college friends group chat, I sent a screenshot from Google Maps showing that the Gulf of Mexico had been transformed overnight into the Gulf of America, p...
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Over on my Substack, I’ve launched a series called “Stories of Belief,” based on a course I used to teach that focused on spiritual autobiography. This week, I discuss the essay “My Mother’s Bible” by Walter Kirn. Read along! open.substack.com/pub/inprog/p...
open.substack.com
Stories of Belief: "My Mother's Bible" by Walter Kirn
This week, we read Walter Kirn's essay about meeting his mother through the story of the Fall
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 26/12/2024
This headline misrepresents the argument. The author provides valuable context but concludes, “We can, and should, be able to ask these questions while being clear there are very real problems...“ To suggest that there’s nothing to worry about obscures these very real problems identified within.
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 26/12/2024
Since this misguided argument describing the 90s as all “socially conscious” and what followed as a time of “irony” is making the rounds, I get to unleash my ready-made response from @theatlantic.com, back in 2012: www.theatlantic.com/entertainmen...
theatlantic.com
Sincerity, Not Irony, Is Our Age's Ethos
A recent hipster-hating New York Times column got our pop-cultural moment exactly backwards.
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Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
I open up new issue of Literary Journalism Studies &whaddya know, there's a splendid review of my book THE UNDERTOW, by Jonathan Fitzgerald, in which he makes a key distinction about empathy for the devil: "*feeling with* but never *believing with.*" s35767.pcdn.co/wp-content/u...
s35767.pcdn.co
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
New in the @literaryjournalism.bsky.social newsletter, an excerpt from "Mediating the Real: Self-Reflection in Recent American Reportage" by @paggaepigg.bsky.social. ialjs.org/excerpt-medi...
ialjs.org
Excerpt: Mediating the Real: Self-Reflection in Recent American Reportage by Pascal Sigg - IALJS: The International Association for Literary Journalism Studies
The following is an excerpt from the introduction of Pascal Sigg’s book Mediating the Real: Self-Reflection in Recent American Reportage (Transcript Publishing, 2024). Authors who would like to promot...
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
Here’s an end-of-year playlist from @cogwbur.bsky.social featuring my pick, “Rings Around My Father’s Eyes” by The War on Drugs, to accompany my piece from the summer about Newport Folk Fest. www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/...
wbur.org
Time travel with us: The Cog 2024 playlist
In 2024, 27 Cog essays featured music. The right song, even just a few notes, can take us back in time to another version of ourselves. These songs are the soundtrack to this year's stories.
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
I never hear anyone talking about Handsome Boy! So good!
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
I just got a marketing email from Sears and it led to full on Obi Wan moment: “Sears. Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long, long time.” *looks off wistfully*
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
Ah, thanks for looking into it. This was on my personal account, but perhaps the problem is most easily solved by using the institution account. I definitely don't remember opting in for my personal account and I do find the persistent nudge to get Gemini's help a bit distracting!
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
Thanks! I tried this one, but all it is doing is turning off the storing of Gemini activity. I'm thinking Gemini is pretty permanently baked in to Docs now.
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
Has anybody figured out how to turn off Gemini in Google Docs? I've been searching and striking out.
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
I agree with this premise, but the platforms work to make it difficult to link off-site, right?
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
Who are the best TikTok journalists out there? I downloaded the app for the first time (hi, I’m old) and do not find it user friendly for searching out journalists to follow. Help an elder millennial, would you?
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
Also in the latest issue of Literary Journalism Studies (@literaryjournalism.bsky.social), a review of my book “How the News Feels!” I’m so grateful and I just love this: “Fitzgerald models the ethics of care for both his subjects and his subject.” s35767.pcdn.co/wp-content/u...
s35767.pcdn.co
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
My review of “The Undertow” by @jeffsharlet.bsky.social is out now in the latest issue of Literary Journalism Studies @literaryjournalism.bsky.social. “How the Extreme becomes the Ordinary” s35767.pcdn.co/wp-content/u...
s35767.pcdn.co
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maya cade @mayascade.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
my thoughts on AI are intertwined to two essential truths: -i don’t cite or trust an amaglation of unsourced claims. -no thought, claim, truth, history can be told from a fixed, “neutral” point. an acknowledged author is a contract of trust between reader and writer.
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IALJS - International Association of Literary Journalism Studies @literaryjournalism.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
Call for Papers! The Nineteenth International Conference for Literary Journalism Studies (IALJS-19) - theme: “Literary Journalism and the Tides of History” - will be held May 28-30, 2025, at Marist College, Poughkeepsie, New York... on the banks of the mighty Hudson River ialjs.org/conference-i...
ialjs.org
Conference Updates - IALJS: The International Association for Literary Journalism Studies
The Nineteenth International Conference for Literary Journalism Studies (IALJS-19), “Literary Journalism and the Tides of History,” will be held May 28-30, 2025, at Marist College, Poughkeepsie, New Y...
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Professor Amanda Sturgill @drsturg.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
Thoughtful editorial by @eliothiggins.bsky.social about the causes of and cures for bad information online. [Gift link] www.nytimes.com/2024/12/06/s...
nytimes.com
Education Is Key to Fighting Disinformation on Social Media (Gift Article)
In our interconnected modern world, education is critical in the fight against disinformation.
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
The stupidest thing about this move — and there’s a lot of stupid here — is the perpetuation of the myth that AI is unbiased. Like the pure machine can correct for humanity’s failings.
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
Incidentally, if he is confirmed I -- six years sober -- will probably start drinking again. (Kidding, of course)
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Dude. Ka. Woah.
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Listen to Craig
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
I echo Dan’s sentiment and if you’re looking to get in on the ground floor of a local nonprofit news source, might I recommend Swampscott Tides? swampscotttides.org/donate/
swampscotttides.org
Donate - Swampscott Tides
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Dan Kennedy @dankennedy.net · 03/12/2024
On this #GivingTuesday, I donated to two news nonprofits on whose advisory boards I serve: @cwbeacon.bsky.social and the Local Journalism Project, which helps support The Provincetown Independent, a for-profit public benefit corporation. Please support #LocalNews in your community.
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Help a local news startup get off the ground! I'm on the board of Swampscott Tides, an independent online local news source that we're hoping will launch early next year. This Giving Tuesday, we're asking for your support to help us get started reporting the news. Thanks! swampscotttides.org/donate/
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
I’m not mad at more video in digital news, but I’ll never not find vertical video grating
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Ah, Cyber Monday, one of the last reminders of a bygone time when everything on the internet was “cyber.” I miss those halcyon days!
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Eryk Salvaggio @eryk.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
I am collecting examples of the most thoughtful writing about generative AI published in 2024. What’s yours? They can be insightful for commentary, smart critique, or just because it shifted the conversation. I’ll post some of mine below as I go through them. #criticalAI
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Frankenstein is hot right now… inprog.substack.com/p/frankenste...
inprog.substack.com
Frankenstein AI
Mary Shelley's monster is an apt metaphor for AI, but maybe not how you'd think
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
I know the feeling! Good luck!
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 01/12/2024
Wow, Kate! I missed this huge news the first time around. Congratulations!
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Sarah Kendzior @sarahkendzior.bsky.social · 01/12/2024
"I don't want to be influenced: I want to be informed." sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/intermission
sarahkendzior.substack.com
Intermission
Tired of the Trump Show? Time to change the way you watch.
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 01/12/2024
Got my first “subscribe to see EVERYTHING” follow. We’re really growing up fast over here.
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
This is my favorite takeaway from this great piece: “I’m rebuilding my RSS reader so at least I have to scan the headlines myself.” More good stuff here: www.niemanlab.org/2024/11/im-a...
niemanlab.org
I’m a journalist and I’m changing the way I read news. This is how.
Sometimes it's healthy to do something you love less, and differently.
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
I used clearsky.app to see what lists/starter packs I’m on, and I learned that I’m on a block list that someone created for people who follow other people who have been identified as republicans. I’m not worried about it, but, I mean, that’s kind of awful criteria for blocking someone, right?
clearsky.app
ClearSky
ClearSky
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
Most people would watch and think, I can’t believe those guys got to play on that field, but I watched and thought, so cool that the AV kids got to broadcast from the booth!
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
Just watched a livestream of my town’s high school football team play their Thanksgiving game at Fenway Park and it made me nostalgic for my days as…an AV kid.
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Fitz (Jonathan D. Fitzgerald) @jonathanfitzgerald.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
Love this: “Readerly ‘flow’ allows for a submersion in another way of being, an expansion of possibilities and consciousness…to abandon deep reading is to jettison something intrinsic, precious, and singular.” lithub.com/in-praise-of...
lithub.com
In Praise of Print: Why Reading Remains Essential in an Era of Epistemological Collapse
When the witty and wry English fantasy novelist Terry Pratchett interviewed Bill Gates for GQ in 1995, only 39% of Americans had access to a home computer. According to the Pew Research Center, the…
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