Reposted by liz polchaFuturology @futurologypod.bsky.social · 19/09/2026"The future of digital technologies is analog." N. Katherine Hayles, posthumanist scholar, on what biology has over machines. Full episode here: youtu.be/rryjPdKMxO4 022
Reposted by liz polchaPrisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 13/09/2026"The Free Library of Philadelphia said it had its biggest summer in years after a huge participation boost in its reading program and other engagement activities." Philly needs to adequately fund its libraries and pay library workers much better. www.phillyvoice.com/free-library...phillyvoice.comWhy the Free Library says it just had its busiest summer in a decadeNew weekend hours and special programming helped attendance for lectures, clubs and activities jump 57% in a year, officials say. 010729
liz polcha @lpolcha.bsky.social · 01/09/2026Drexel is closing the Academy of Natural Sciences museum, which is the oldest natural history museum in the country. It is unclear what exactly will happen to the collections or how they will be accessible to the public, if at all. It also is unclear who will lose their jobs in this process. 100
Reposted by liz polchaKaren Gregory @karengregory.bsky.social · 17/08/2026Exactly this. You need more people. And you need to teach writing (and by extension reading) through your research topics. But this is precisely the labour fight we're losing (or maybe have lost already). 04514
Reposted by liz polchaAsheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 15/08/2026Absolutely vile framing from the @nytimes.com. Why doesn’t this leave behind hard questions for the media that hounded him? Or the global right-wing that gleefully turned a local matter into an international incident? 864567833
liz polcha @lpolcha.bsky.social · 11/08/2026This fall I'm teaching Literature and Science & our central novel is Jeff VanderMeer's Annihilation. We are going to spend some time at the Academy of Natural Sciences looking at field journals and talking about colonialism and botany - somehow I have the most success teaching this class via horror 000
Reposted by liz polchathe moon report 🌖 @seachanger.bsky.social · 03/08/2026the relentlessness of the AI headlines and data center fights starts to feel chaotic and difficult to hold cohesively in my mind UNTIL i listen to another interview with Karen Hao, and then I feel clear and get my talking points back in order www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/...cbc.caWhy we should 'fight like hell' against Big AI | CBC RadioTech journalist Karen Hao, who once worked in Silicon Valley as an engineer, is sounding the alarm on holding AI giants accountable. She argues people need to push back against massive companies that ... 1154
Reposted by liz polchaMolly Crabapple @mollycrabapple.bsky.social · 30/07/202699% of the time, when someone accuses you of selective outrage, it’s a way of politically demobilizing you and shutting you up “Why are you angry about data centers instead of fast fashion” isn’t about making you care about fast fashion. It’s about shutting you up about data centers And visa versa 6046421183
liz polcha @lpolcha.bsky.social · 28/07/2026I find it even more delightful that Wilson’s review is making people so angry. I want more brutal reviews of big budget Hollywood misogynist movies. there’s something very Philadelphia about her review that has no platitudes or polite wording, like fuck your movie. A Boston area prof would never 000
Reposted by liz polchaAlex Brown 🇵🇸 (they/them) @bookjockeyalex.bsky.social · 28/07/2026*whispers* you know we can do this cultural debate about art thing all the time, right? Websites and news organizations used to have culture critics on staff whose entire job was writing about books, movies, and TV. People read them and then discussed them. We have the technology to do this again. 242572553
Reposted by liz polchaHeather Froehlich @heatherfro.bsky.social · 27/07/2026Since I hear it is almost time to start thinking about the fall semester (I know! whisper it!) I wrote you an article to help you think about what you are actually hoping to do with your in-class digital assignments and what their futures will be www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....tandfonline.comAgainst cultural heritage wastelandsThe twin scholarly booms of the 2010s, digital humanities and public humanities, introduced a relatively accessbile suite of platforms for managing digital and digitised content. Sudden interest in... 01912
liz polcha @lpolcha.bsky.social · 27/07/2026LRB should give Emily Wilson a movie review column. This was the most satisfying review I've read in a long time, as a fellow hater of Hollywood uncomplicated man movies. 0122
Reposted by liz polchaÉlika Ortega @elikaortega.bsky.social · 18/07/2026Delighted to share that Binding Media has won the 2026 N. Katherine Hayles Award for Criticism of Electronic Literature! So honored to received this particular award because Hayles' work taught me to think about the weird literary works I've always been interested in. @stanfordpress.bsky.social 2713829
liz polcha @lpolcha.bsky.social · 15/07/2026The Trump-supported National Parks Service workers put up their racist, anti-black placards in the middle of the night, when they knew the city would be distracted by a prominent baseball game. Did they also wear white robes and hoods while they did it?share.inquirer.comSlavery exhibits at the President’s House have been swapped for the Trump administration’s versionThe change at the President's House happened overnight, allowing the government to switch out the displays and shut down the television screens while avoiding public scrutiny during the takedown. 120
Reposted by liz polchaElise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 04/06/2026I’m delighted to join @lpolcha.bsky.social at @freelibrary.bsky.social to discuss @insurrecthistory.bsky.social on July 9! Join us if you’re in Philly! libwww.freelibrary.org/calendar/eve...libwww.freelibrary.orgEvents: Decolonizing Early America with Insurrect!Insurrect! is an online publication devoted to anti-colonial frameworks and critiques of racial capitalism in Early American Studies. Editors Polcha and Mitchell join us in the Education, Philosophy, ... 041
Reposted by liz polchaalina pleskova @alinapleskova.bsky.social · 22/05/2026i know ppl can feel overwhelmed or unsure about the veracity of GFMs; not sure what to say there bc i don't recognize a reality in which people who are trying to stay alive are fake/scammers, but included the testimonial from my friend to affirm that this is, sadly, real & this family needs our help 021
Reposted by liz polchaalina pleskova @alinapleskova.bsky.social · 22/05/2026from my friend: "I got to meet his dad over a video call last week. They are really kind people. They've made it this far, but it's getting harder given the War on Iran made all costs skyrocket" 131
Reposted by liz polchaalina pleskova @alinapleskova.bsky.social · 22/05/2026a dear friend here in Philly is organizing support for Waseem, a 24 y/o in 🇵🇸 who is trying to keep his multigenerational household of 12 family members alive. please boost widely & donate if you're able!! www.gofundme.com/f/hope-and-h...gofundme.comDonate to Hope and Help for Waseem’s Family, organized by Egina ManachovaMy name is Waseem, and I am a student trying with all my strength to keep my family … Egina Manachova needs your support for Hope and Help for Waseem’s Family 163
Reposted by liz polchaTressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 22/05/2026I’ve said it before and will say it a few more times. When Trump 2.0 came for accreditation I knew we had crossed into a different era of white reclamation. Precise, focused, stealth. Anyway, you probably don’t want these reforms. 2682310
Reposted by liz polchaNEH Union - AFGE L3403 @nehafge3403.bsky.social · 13/05/2026A reminder that two-thirds of National Endowment for the Humanities staff were laid off last year from their *career* positions, and most divisions and programs were eliminated. None of which had to happen except by the inconceivable choices of a few in control. #NEH 02316
Reposted by liz polchaRyan Cordell @ryancordell.org · 11/05/2026Anyone who claims to know, in the present, what this moment will have meant to history is selling something Silicon Valley may think they’re speedrunning the next Industrial Revolution when in fact they’re speedrunning right through to the next labor movement 39414
Reposted by liz polchaLauren Klein @laurenfklein.bsky.social · 08/05/2026Atlanta-based job seekers! My department, Data & Decision Sciences, is hiring an undergrad program coordinator. This would be a great job for someone who wants to work directly with students and is interested in data science pedagogy. LMK if you plan to apply! staff-emory.icims.com/jobs/165242/...staff-emory.icims.comCareers | Emory University | Atlanta GA 11411
Reposted by liz polchaJames Vincent @jjvincent.bsky.social · 09/05/2026brilliant lecture from Lorraine Daston on the development of rules/paradigms — from ancient measures, to medieval rulebooks, to logarithmic tables and Babbage's algorithms youtu.be/pqoSMWnWTwA?... (it's a precursor to her 2022 book which I must read)youtu.beLorraine Daston: "Algorithms Before Computers: Patterns, Recipes, and Rules"YouTube video by Simpson Center 0174
Reposted by liz polchaJoseph Rezek @rezekjoe.bsky.social · 08/05/2026Breaking NEWS!! Federal judge rules DOGE illegally terminated NEH grants last year in a summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs AHA, ACLA, and MLA, and orders the restoration of 1400 terminated grants 171460468
Reposted by liz polchaHannah Alpert-Abrams @halperta.bsky.social · 07/05/2026Grateful to reporter Matt Hartman for telling this story about changes in leadership at NEH. The firing of 22 out of 26 board members, including all members appointed by past presidents, is nothing short of a coup at an agency where the board reviews and votes on every single grant application. 45446
Reposted by liz polchaThiago Krause @thiagokrause.bsky.social · 04/05/2026It's awesome when you finally read a book that you knew it was going to be great, and it is just as good as you expected it to be. Isadora Mota's "Freedom Horizon" is definitely one of those. Extraordinary archival research to recover Black resistance from 1848 to 1870 and many wonderful stories! 411739
liz polcha @lpolcha.bsky.social · 29/04/2026I learned yesterday that my book is officially “in press” with a publication date of April 2027 🥳📚 040
Reposted by liz polchaAsheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 27/04/2026If you're willing and able to help out Hampshire workers who are suddenly facing job loss, there's a fundraiser: www.helphampshireworkers.comhelphampshireworkers.comHelp Hampshire Workers | Support Hampshire Workers TodaySupport Hampshire College staff and faculty facing job loss with emergency relief funds for essential needs. Contributions and support help provide immediate assistance during this critical time. 01411
Reposted by liz polchaInsurrect! Radical Thinking in Early American Studies @insurrecthistory.bsky.social · 16/04/2026🔥HOT OFF THE PRESS🔥 “'Grammar of Resistance': Carnival as Political Counter-Narration in Grenada" by Sasha C. Wells Please Share! www.insurrecthistory.com/archives/gra...insurrecthistory.com“Grammar of Resistance”: Carnival as Political Counter-Narration in Grenada — INSURRECT!“While characters like Jab-Jab are used as marketing devices, carnival in Grenada illustrates how Black cultural performance can function as a response to colonial and post-colonial oppression. Althou... 012
liz polcha @lpolcha.bsky.social · 16/04/2026I'm co-teaching a gendered monsters class this term with Jakeya Caruthers, and for our "Witches" unit we had a pretty epic pairing of Richard Godbeer's edition of the Salem witch trial transcripts, Robert Egger's 2016 The VVitch, Maryse Condé's I, Tituba, and Kasi Lemmon's 1997 Eve's Bayou 🧹🧹🧹🧹 042
Reposted by liz polchaIgnacio Gallup-Diaz @igallupd.bsky.social · 15/04/2026We will be discussing @lpolcha.bsky.social’s boffo article “Voyeur in the Torrid Zone” in Maroon Communities this morning 🤓 131
Reposted by liz polchaJeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 07/04/2026there's still so much fecundity and enduring beauty in the nonhuman world. let's preserve and treasure it. 13940149
liz polcha @lpolcha.bsky.social · 03/04/2026Looking forward to ASECS in Philly next week, where I will be talking about the beloved Philadelphia abolitionist Benjamin Lay, his use of botanical dye to splatter fake blood on enslavers, and abolition ecologies 🩸🩸🩸🩸 041
Reposted by liz polchaShannan Clark @shannanclark.bsky.social · 24/03/2026Contract faculty at NYU are currently on strike for a fair first contract after 16 months of management's bad-faith stonewalling in negotiations. Please consider contributing to their strike fund if you can.gofund.meDonate to Support NYU Contract Faculty on Strike!, organized by John Simeonidis JrPlease donate to support NYU Contract Faculty on strike! After a year a… John Simeonidis Jr needs your support for Support NYU Contract Faculty on Strike! 023
Reposted by liz polchaAshley D. Farmer @drashleydfarmer.bsky.social · 19/03/2026The Cokie Roberts Fellowship jump-started my research for my next book. It supports women's history archival research, the kind of scholarship we really need right now. They are accepting applications for the next cycle by April 15. archivesfoundation.org/cokie-robert...archivesfoundation.orgCokie Roberts Fellowship for Women’s History - National Archives FoundationIn November 2019, the National Archives Foundation launched a new research fund to honor Cokie Roberts, who shed light on […] 04219
Reposted by liz polchaElizabeth Maddock Dillon @emdillon.bsky.social · 18/03/2026New post up on sugar cane burning in Florida and the fertilizer to bomb pipeline. It's a little scary. Ok, very scary.open.substack.comMy Brief Career as a Spring Break BomberFlorida, Fertilizer, and Fires Everywhere 4104
Reposted by liz polchaKarin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 17/03/2026An important thing to know about these civics/ western civ centers. They have faculty lines and are hiring historians - regularly without any input from or even knowledge of their history departments. 37427
Reposted by liz polchaJulia Métraux @juliametraux.bsky.social · 14/03/2026The rise of online vibrant events in early Covid offered a lot of hope for disabled/chronically ill people who have access issues attending IRL events (including going into a flare later). Anti-Zoom reactive sentiment pushed a lot of people into being more isolated again. 8853249
Reposted by liz polchaRoger Schonfeld @rschon.bsky.social · 13/03/2026Job opening here at ITHAKA's JSTOR: Digital Collections Curator, Reveal Digital, focusing on important cultural, social, and political histories, especially those that have been dispersed, under-described, or difficult to access at scale. Full job description: www.ithaka.org/job/46724530...ithaka.orgDigital Collections Curator - ITHAKAITHAKA’s mission is to expand access to knowledge and education around the world. Our services — JSTOR, Portico, and Ithaka S+R — enable people everywhere to learn, to grow, and to overcome barriers t... 02232
liz polcha @lpolcha.bsky.social · 13/03/2026I'm wrapping up a very teaching-heavy winter quarter, and I have to say that the most successful thing I did this term in the classroom was requiring students to submit weekly handwritten notes on our readings and class discussion (with an accommodations option for students who can't write by hand) 011
Reposted by liz polchaLori Emerson @loriemerson.net · 12/03/2026slightly updated list of concerns CU system-wide students, faculty, and staff have with the CU-Chat GPT that's slated to roll out this summer. please share, please support in any way you can. docs.google.com/document/d/1...docs.google.comTalking Points on CU-ChatGPTTalking Points on CU-ChatGPT On December 15, 2025 the CU System signed a one year contract with Open AI for $2.1 million, with plans to launch a system-wide ChatGPT Edu access for faculty, staff, and ... 164
Reposted by liz polchaJessica Valenti @jessicavalenti.bsky.social · 12/03/2026404 Media is doing some of the most important journalism in the country right now bsky.app/profile/404m... 929774
liz polcha @lpolcha.bsky.social · 09/03/2026this is a crucial part of the NEH doge story that the NYT leaves out 043
Reposted by liz polchaNEH Union - AFGE L3403 @nehafge3403.bsky.social · 08/03/2026🧵 up and down if you want to understand what happened to the civil servants at the National Endowment for the Humanities who worked every day to uphold the Constitution (hint: it's the same thing that happened to your grants). #NEH 12510
liz polcha @lpolcha.bsky.social · 08/03/2026There are more important things to post about right now, but: if anyone has a real version of that device from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind that erases bad memories, I could use it to erase the horrific new Wuthering Heights film adaptation from my brain. It’s like Temu released a movie 130
Reposted by liz polchaJoseph Rezek @rezekjoe.bsky.social · 07/03/2026These asshole twerps with no brains or education from DOGE really did use ChatGPT to find NEH grants to terminate ILLEGALLY - ruining hundreds lives and destroying hundreds of the greatest humanities projects and partnerships of our time. I’m overwhelmed with rage and anger all over again. 121061422
Reposted by liz polchaKarin Fischer @karinfischer.bsky.social · 07/03/2026NEW: The bad news about international-student enrollments at American colleges just got worse. An exclusive @chronicle.com analysis of just-released State Department data shows new visa issuances in the summer of 2025 dropped by more than a third. www.chronicle.com/article/the-...chronicle.comThe Drop in International Students Last Year Was Worse Than We ThoughtVisa issuances nosedived 36 percent, possibly reflecting weakening global interest in studying in the United States. 13290189
liz polcha @lpolcha.bsky.social · 05/03/2026Drexel sent out an email last week to all NTT faculty announcing an expedited review of NTT contracts, which proposes to cut all contracts down to 1 year or 3 years max for senior lecturers. This is a unilateral topdown scrapping of policy faculty fought to implement & that was only approved in 2023 121
Reposted by liz polchaKaren Gregory @karengregory.bsky.social · 05/03/2026One vision of the university sees no faculty at all, just revolving door of the seamless provision of managed services and tuition fees. Another, shares this vision by having all faculty permanently on strike. 0131