iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I voted today, & here's my sticker. I cd hear an elderly voter get upset bec she cdn't color in the bubbles, so a Dem judge & a Rep judge teamed up. One filled the bubbles & the other watched to make sure it went right, & as I overheard, I teared up w admiration for democracy in action. #Voting

A sticker showing a voter holding up a sign that says "I VOTED."

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Delighted to see this new review of The Literature of Extreme Poverty in the Great Depression from Dan Colson (in the Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association), who thoroughly gets what the book tries to do. global.oup.com/academic/pro... (The book is online at many academic libraries.)

Image of an excerpt from the review, including these words: a methodological masterclass filled with stunning close readings

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

#SilentSunday is a thing on Mastodon, and it would be nice to see it take flight on #Bluesky On Sundays, post an image you took of something quiet and calm. Add Alt text and the hashtag #SilentSunday

A green prairie speckled with flowers, white Queen Anne’s lace and yellow cone flowers, beneath a line of dark green trees at the horizon under a dramatic sky of gray-blue clouds.

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

What is an edited book chapter that you would like to see reach more readers? #celebratebookchapter “Braided Relations: Toward a History of Nineteenth-Century American Indian Women’s Poetry.” A History of Nineteenth-Century American Women’s Poetry. Ed. Jennifer Putzi & Alexandra Socarides.

Opening page of the chapter, beginning: "Perhaps the first thing that needs saying about nineteenth-century poetry by American Indian women from within the boundaries of what is now the United States is both the least and the most interesting thing to say: that it is there. Except for the relatively recent and still-emerging discussions
of the poetry (and other writings) of Jane Johnston Schoolcraft,
Olivia Ward Bush, and Ann Plato, poetry by nineteenth-century American Indian women has received almost no scholarly attention and almost never shows up in the classroom. This essay identifies all the known poems by nineteenth-century American Indian women and reads them both as individual poems and collectively, as a related group of
poems."

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

My 2nd published crime-fiction story is the lead story in the new Black Cat Weekly. blackcatweekly.com Aspiring crime novelists at a NYC writers’ conference pitch their manuscripts to a literary agent & then discover that the agent might not be on the up & up. #CrimeFiction #Writing #Booksky #MSWL

Magazine cover. At the top it says Black Cat Weekly, with a black cat at the top left. Below that is a drawing of a smiling Uncle Same surrounded by fire crackers, in orange against a black background. The central text says “Featuring ‘Pitchapalooza” by Robert Parker. At the bottom, the text says Stories by Hal Charles, James E. Gunn, Mike Adamson, Noel M. Loomis, Matthew Rouse, Ron Miller, Frank L. Packard, Michael Bracken, Margaret St. Clair, James Patrick Focarile.

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

I voted in the primary election. If you're eligible, I hope you'll vote too. #Voting #Elections #Citizenship

An oval sticker, wider horizontally and narrower vertically. Over the top it says "I voted" in white capital letters on a blue background, and beneath that it shows an American flag.

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Recently, I went to see the Elizabeth Catlett exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago. Here is Catlett’s woodcut of Phillis Wheatley, based on the famous frontispiece to Wheatley’s book of poems. #Poetry #Chicago #Boston #Wheatley

Phillis Wheatley in a black and white woodcut. She sits at a writing desk, facing right, a quill in her left hand over a blank piece of paper, her chin in her right hand, and her eyes looking up contemplatively beneath her cap. Above her, as if representing her thoughts, three Black women are chained together hand and foot.

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

If you're at the Modern Language Association convention, you might stop by the Oxford University Press booth and check out my new book, The Literature of Extreme Poverty in the Great Depression. Isn't that a great cover? #MLA26

Cover of The Literature of Extreme Poverty in the Great Depression, showing a black-and-white photo by Dorothea Lange of hungry men standing in a Depression breadline, especially one man nearly facing the camera and wearing a disheveled hat and coat and holding a battered tin cup above his clasped hands.

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

To think that there are people in the world who would do this to other people . . . To think that millions of people would choose anyone who would do this to lead them . . .

A horrible line up in the infamous Salvadoran prison, nearly naked men all with shaved heads and all forced into a crouch with their head down and unseen faces to the floor, lined up like sardines or bodies on a slave ship while armed guards in black masks look down at them.

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

I guess I should use the occasion of Trump’s ruthless & callous Gatsby party last night to share news of my latest article: “Wealthy White Whining: The Great Depression in the Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald,” in the latest issue of Studies in American Fiction. #Gatsby #Fitzgerald #Trump

Trump at his Gatsby party in the middle of a crowd of celebrants dressed up like characters from the extravagant party in Fitzgerald's roaring twenties.

The opening page of the article "Wealthy White Whining: The Great Depression in the Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald."

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

Thousand came out for the #NoKings protest today in Champaign-Urbana. The sign on the left says: "Mike Johnson, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, Susan Collins . . . GOP. HE GRABBED US BY THESE PUSSIES."

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

Champaign-Urbana showed up with thousands of people for today's #NoKings protest.

A blue inflatable insect and a pale turquoise inflatable elephant wave to two small children carrying an American flag.

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Sure, I know that Zohran Mamdani is super popular and showing up everywhere, but I didn’t expect to see him on the back of my morning cereal box. @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social #ZohranMamdani #Mamdani #NewYork #NewYorkCity

The back of a bite-size shredded wheat box with a picture of a smiling boy and a smiling man who looks uncannily like Zohran Mamdani.

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

Devastated to learn of the death of Brian McHale, my good friend for over 50 years, from metastatic melanoma. Here are some of Brian’s books. His many articles and books leave a great legacy, but not as great as his friendship. RIP.

The following books written by Brian McHale: Postmodernist Fiction, Constructing Postmodernism, The Obligation toward the Difficult Whole: Postmodernist Long Poems, and The Cambridge Introduction to Postmodernism, plus two books he co-edited: Teaching Narrative Theory and Postmodern Literature.

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Great satire of the New York Times' coverage of Mamdani. If you go to mamdanitimes.com and click on "Publish Another," you see a series of satirical fake NYT headlines expressing inane NY Times-style doubt about Mamdani—and you can send in your own. Don't miss it.

A fake New York Times headline that says "Mamdani's Economic Message Failed to Move These Trump Voters in Rural Tennessee Diner," with a "Publish Another" button just below.

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

Proof! Why does proof always look more beautiful than the published work? This article on Fitzgerald in the next Studies in Amer Fiction is a spinoff from my new book, The Literature of Extreme Poverty in the Great Depression (online for free at many univ libraries): global.oup.com/academic/pro...

The top half of the first page of proof for an article called "Wealthy White Whining: The Great Depression in the Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald."

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

It’s time for journalists, “journalists,” & pundits to put a moratorium on the word “deal,” which they have turned into a tool for sanewashing & ventriloquizing Trump & institutionalizing his transactional narcissism & vanity. #Trump #Tariffs #LawFirms #Universities #Congress

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

Clematis. From searching online, I believe these are Clematis florida, also known as Asian virginsbower, passion flower clematis, and Asian clematis. #Bloomscrolling

A closeup of white flowers with 8 pointed petals.

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

Marc Elias on US journalism's feeble resistance to Trump: #Journalism #Trump #Democracy

Too long, but here's an abridged version:

The White House Correspondents' Dinner showed how diminished the legacy media has become. Trump has mocked them, dictated their access and replaced them with right-wing outlets. He even pressured them to cancel their entertainment while his administration largely boycotted the event.

Trump came into office attacking the media and has never stopped. Yet, in his keynote address, the head of the Correspondents’ Association went out of his way to say that the media are not “the opposition.”

Since Trump’s reelection, we have seen a steady decline of legacy media and a rapid growth of independent outlets. The public is tired of media treating politics and democracy like a sporting event with two equally meritorious sides, media produced by people who fail to view themselves as avowedly pro-democracy, and in opposition to those trying to destroy it. Legacy media isn’t declining because people no longer value news; it’s because they value it more than ever.

I have no interest in sitting with people who believe their job is to stay neutral while the administration deports two-year-old American citizens. I do not want to share cocktails and canapés with those who will not stand full-throated against attacks on law firms, universities, nonprofit organizations and, yes—media institutions.

I did not start Democracy Docket in 2020 to attend parties. I founded it to reject false neutrality and be unapologetically pro-democracy.

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Who would have thought that the court that gave Trump immunity would dilly dally over whether he can shred the Constitution? As a sign at a rally last week said: "They're eating the checks. They're eating the balances."

On the right of this cartoon, a man is stretched out on a rack for torture. Chains hold his legs to the bottom of the rack, while a pulley stretches his arms up at the top. To the left, the black-robed justices of the US Supreme Court discuss the law, while Chief Justice Roberts turns aside and says to the man getting tortured: “Please be patient while we discuss the relative meanings of ‘facilitate’ and ‘effectuate.’”

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

The rampant normalizing of Trump's whacko and destructive behavior is indescribably dangerous.

A cartoon depicting a voter going along with all the dangerous things Trump has done over the years but then saying he's gone too far when it comes to tanking the stock market.

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Today is the 100th anniversary of the publication of The Great Gatsby. #Gatsby

The original cover of The Great Gatsby, showing two eyes and a pair of red lips hovering in a fairly dark and bright blue sky above the bright lights of a city, with the title words at the top in yellow and F. Scott Fitzgerald at the bottom in white.

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

The magnolia has awoken! (I like to joke that every Faulkner scholar needs a magnolia.) #Bloomscrolling #Spring #Magnolia #Faulkner

Pink magnolia blossoms, leaning up and to the right.

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

Idaho teacher told to remove sign saying "Everyone is welcome here" because it shows hands of various colors Officials said "it was not the message that was at issue, but rather the hands of different skin tones." www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/e... #Racism #Education

Sign saying "Everyone is welcome here" in all capital letters. Beneath the sign is a series of hands of various colors. Each hand has a red heart on it.

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

If you want to tell Chuck Schumer what he needs to do, you can write him here: www.schumer.senate.gov/contact

Photo of Chuck Schumer wearing a suit, tie, and funny multi-color striped socks as he sits back in a big brown leather sofa chair and looks like he can't get out of it.

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

Tim Miller gets it, while JD betrays human decency & flunks the empathy test, again. JD, did nobody at Yale teach you about dangling participles? It was so kind of those Ukraine supporters to take your daughter for a walk, but you don’t need to make her sound like a dog. @thebulwark.bsky.social

Post from JD Vance that says “Today while walking my 3 year old daughter a group of “Slava Ukraini” protesters followed us around and shouted as my daughter grew increasingly anxious and scared.”

Response in a post from Tim Miller: “Dozens are dead in Ukraine because you stopped giving them the intelligence that protected the country from bombs so you can probably handle some yelling in a free country boss.”

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

I'm joining my local demo today to Stand Up for Science. I hope you'll join yours! standupforscience.org #StandUpForScience

Red, white, and blue flyer advertising Stand Up for Science, showing the Statue of Liberty lifting her flaming torch.

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

See that sculpture behind Trump & Musk? That’s Winston Churchill, & Trump put it there. And see this photo of Churchill at the White House in WWII? He’s not wearing a suit. 1/2 #Trump #Zelenskyy #Ukraine

Zelenskyy, Trump, and Vance arguing in the White House Oval Office in front of a bust of Winston Churchill.

Winston Churchill walking in front of the White House during World War II, with film cameras behind him.

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Walking along an old railroad bed rebuilt into a walking trail, came across this beautiful and strangely spherical nest, about 5 feet above the ground. It looks like a vase. #Walking #Birds

A nest about the size of a big grapefruit, sitting in narrow, leafless tree limbs against a background of prairie grasses beneath a blue sky.

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

University press release on my new book: news.illinois.edu/new-book-sho... #Booksky #AmericanLiterature #Fiction #Poetry #Poverty

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

For many years, I’ve had a beautiful copy of the first map of the United States, made in 1784 in French, from the Newberry Library, hanging on my wall. I face it every day as I sit at my desk. As you can see in this closeup photo, it says “GOLFE DU MEXIQUE.” #Maps #GulfOfMexico #Mexico

Sepia map with names of Native peoples in French in what is now Mississippi, Alabama, west Georgia, north Florida, and Tennessee.

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

Today is pub day for my new book, The Literature of Extreme Poverty in the Great Depression. Available for free at many academic libraries. Until Feb 6 the 1st chapter is free here academic.oup.com/book/59025/c... For more abt the book, see global.oup.com/academic/pro... #Booksky #litcult 1/2

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

I wrote my senators & my representative in the Congress to urge them to stand up for democracy &—for the senators—to reject these grotesquely unqualified appointees. Please join me. Here are the links to write senators & representatives www.senate.gov/senators/ind... www.house.gov/representati...

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Painter Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Salish and Kootenai) dies at 85. RIP. www.artnews.com/art-news/new...

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith's painting titled "I See Red: Indian Map," from 1992, a painted map of the US covered with a variety of colors, textures, and words, including red and maroon paint and many specifically Native American words and images.

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

News flash: My new book, The Literature of Extreme Poverty in the Great Depression, due out Jan 31, is now available online for free at most academic libraries, & until Feb 6 Chapter 1 is free online for everyone. For links to the free Chapter 1 & a purchase discount, see the next post. #Books 1/2

Cover image of The Literature of Extreme Poverty in the Great Depression, showing a black-and-white photo by Dorothea Lange of hungry men standing in a Depression breadline, especially one man nearly facing the camera and wearing a disheveled hat and coat and holding a battered tin cup above his clasped hands.

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Robert Dale Parker @robertdaleparker.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

Watch for my next book: The Literature of Extreme Poverty in the Great Depression, due out January 31, 2025. Readers who have access to academic libraries will usually have free electronic access. global.oup.com/academic/pro...

Cover image of The Literature of Extreme Poverty in the Great Depression, centered on a black-and-white closeup photo by Dorothea Lange of a man waiting in a Depression breadline wearing a battered hat and a hand-me-down, oversized, battered coat and leaning onto a fence rail with his hands clasped together in front of a battered tin cup, with behind him a crowd of other run-down, hatted men. Along the right margin of the photo appears the title of the book in tan capital letters.

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