iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Has Dropbox been absolute shit for anyone else? Like taking forever to sync pretty small files.

Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Just had to verify my age for this stupid app because of Texas age verification laws, which are really laws to give more data to companies rather than to protect people

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Unfortunately, the whole internet didn't go down and I still have an inbox. But it's down to 20 emails!

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

So my inbox is still below 30 ... but if this Canvas hack is any indicator, maybe i won't have inboxes at all in a few weeks?

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

For the first time in 4 months, my inbox is below 20 emails... But not for long, I'm sure.

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Absolutely love that my healthcare provider refuses to email me bills because they can't recognize my email address, but they have no problem emailing me with a late notice.

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

I just want to say that I've been using @dreamhost.bsky.social for over 15 years (I think actually 18 years), and it's become nearly unusable. If they don't resolve my issues, will probably lose 20+ years of content

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

Inbox down to 13 for the first time in a LONG time. I've been extra grumpy the last few months, but maybe March and April is when I catch up and feel less overwhelmed.

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

I should say that, obviously, this is a product/effect of neoliberal publishing and all our work being outsourced/owned by these publishing agencies, but that's "obviously": Our work becomes less our own and ALSO harder to do because of corporate infrastructures

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Hey all these journals using "ScholarOne Manuscripts": Is it really necessary to have a different login for each journal? Having 5 different logins to the same site is kinda confusing.

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Don't understand why presses do hardcovers. Price is too high for both individuals & libraries. Just do the paperback from start. A no-duh move. Best presses in my field (e.g. Colorado UP) understand this. (This you, Routledge & SUNY Press: stop with stupid hardcover w/ then paperback a year later)

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

I wish that EPSN understood that North Carolina baby blue on a white background is not really readable #accessibility

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

I really wish MLA/MAPS would fix their login issues. It took me like 30 minutes to log into my department account today, and it takes nearly that long EVERY TIME because they have 3+ logins instead of just one. JFC

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

I don't have concrete data on this, but it feels like in 50% of the online meetings I have with someone using bluetooth headphones that there's a problem with their audio. I hate them. (them = bluetooth headphones, not the people)

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Reposted by Michael J. Faris

Joshua Barsczewski @joshuabarsczewski.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

Print copies of Adequate: Rewriting the Logics of Success in Rhetoric and Composition, edited by @timothyoleksiak.bsky.social and me, came in the mail today! Thanks to @upcolorado.bsky.social for publishing it!

Front Cover of the book Adequate: Rewriting the Logics of Success in Rhetoric and Composition, edited by Timothy Oleksiak and Joshua Barsczewski. Cover art by Nafís White. Piece is entitled Oculus (Black, Brown, Navy, Teal) and consists of braided hair woven into a pattern.

Back cover text: Barsczewski and Oleksiak collect chapters that tell stories, build theories, and make cases for what a healthy academic life looks like. Acknowledging that the academy will always take as much as you give, this collection gives readers material for imagining their own "adequacy" barometers. This is essential reading for graduate students and early career faculty as they seek to build sustainable careers.”
—Holly Hassel, Michigan Technological University

“These excellent contributions illuminate how, for so many of us, the dream of a dignified, well-remunerated academic position is just out of reach. Instead, our working lives are mostly shaped by austerity, contingency, overwork, and underpayment. Adequate dares to name these conditions, calling attention to the innumerable falsehoods and broken promises of the neoliberal university, and articulates a powerful new vision of academic labor.”
—James Rushing Daniel, Seton Hall University

Adequate: Rewriting the Logics of Success in Rhetoric and Composition proposes a fresh approach to teaching rhetoric and composition—a field awash with unrealistic labor expectations and untenable and often unattainable requirements for both the educator and the educated—that takes “success” and “failure” out of the equation and advocates for the concept of adequacy over that of perfection.

Adequate reimagines what the concept of adequacy holds for the future of academic work. An invaluable resource for scholars, graduate students, and advanced undergraduate students in the rhetoric and composition field, this volume covers the realities of teaching rhetoric and composition in the modern college environment, as well as potential paths forward for educators in need of a better work-life balance.

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

And why on earth would the federal government want a list of Jewish employees... www.nytimes.com/2026/01/20/u...

nytimes.com

Penn Calls Government’s Demand for Lists of Jewish Staff ‘Disconcerting’

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

I finally got my inbox below 15. Goal is 0 before winter break

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

Finally got my inbox below 30 again... it won't last long.

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

Finally got back down to 30 after a crazy September and start to October...

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Finally got my inbox below 30. woot!

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

Fall 2025 is already killing me. Got my inbox down to 53 messages, the lowest its been in a few weeks, but higher than normal.

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

Carolyn Miller in the recent RSQ: "I will just question whether it’s helpful to think of rhetoric as having “methodologies.” Does this language engage in a kind of science-envy? Isn’t rhetoric, as a discipline, rather a set of questions, a habit of mind, an interpretive vocabulary?"

tandfonline.com

Rhetoric of Science: Reflections on the History and Future of the Field: A Dialogue with Carolyn R. Miller, Celeste M. Condit, and Lisa Keränen: Rhetoric Society Quarterly: Vol 55 , No 3 - Get Access

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

You know Routledge/T&F editing is crap when I'm excitedly reading a new article and I keep getting distracted by the copyediting errors instead of engaging with the authors' ideas.

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Due to travel and then being sick today, my inbox hit 90+ emails today, which is anxiety inducing! Got it down to 45 after a few hours...

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

.@dropbox.com I'm a Mac OS user and haven't even updated to the newest Mac OS yet, and your syncing has become incredibly slow and unreliable. It takes hours to sync just a few MB files, and I've had to quit and restart Dropbox and force quit Finder just to get things to sync. Can you fix your app?

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

Is Bluesky glitching for others? I tried the browser version before mobile, and there’s no compose button available 🤷

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

USPS received a package for me, delivered to Lubbock, and instead of delivering it to me, sent it to New Mexico. I just wrote feedback: “Uh, WTF?” Odds I actually receive it?

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Goddammit I have become too Type A to have any friends.

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

wrote my first Blog post in a long-ass time last night, on problems with accuracy of institutional (and field-wide) data: michaeljfaris.com/blog/2025/05...

michaeljfaris.com

The problems with the accuracy of institutional data | A Collage of Citations

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

One thing I really appreciate about TTU is that promotion dossiers for non-tenure-line faculty don't require external reviewers. Requiring that would be stupid, because external reviewers can't actually review their teaching, just what the institution and faculty member writes about teaching.

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Starbucks in the SUB is the worst. They put black coffee in the drink queue so that you have to wait 15+ minutes for a drink they could hand you in 30 seconds

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Not sure how, but as fascism rises, I'm managing to keep up with my email? inbox is at 9.

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

This song came on the radio, and I'm brought back to my childhood, reminded of big hair, youthful love, and hay seed plow boys: "She's In Love With the Boy" by Trisha Yearwood: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUFO...

youtube.com

Trisha Yearwood - She's In Love With The Boy (Official Music Video)

YouTube video by TrishaYearwoodVEVO

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

While I'm pissy: Why is it that I go through 1 provider (Covenant) and get 4-5 medical bills rather than just 1? Why not do your job & send a single bill that is easy to follow and pay? Here's what should happen: 1) medical experience, 2) 1 bill from the place I went to (not 4 different bills).

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

If these academic conferences continue with their uses of digital apps for programs, I'm gonna stop attending altogether. A dozen apps with a dozen logins and none of them are useful. What a waste of organization's money and my time. (Especially when my name is misspelled. WTF)

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

"What explains the connection between Hooters waitresses and young gay men? Perhaps these women ... see kindred spirits in the boys who aren’t quite “right.” Or maybe it’s simpler: a waitress’s knack for reading a room, turned tender for those who need it most." www.nytimes.com/2025/03/23/o...

nytimes.com

Opinion | How Hooters Became a Refuge for Young Gay Men

Many fathers and grandfathers take their gay sons to the bar. It’s become a place of refuge — and how that happened is a curious story.

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Reposted by Michael J. Faris

dell cameron @dell.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

NEW: An internal email obtained by WIRED from a threat intelligence team monitoring US Treasury systems advised labeling DOGE operatives an "insider threat," adding that it recommended suspending their access "immediately." | www.wired.com/story/treasu...

Vittoria Elliott Leah Feiger
Feb 7, 2025 2:47 PM
A US Treasury Threat Intelligence Analysis Designates DOGE Staff as ‘Insider Threat’
An internal email reviewed by WIRED calls DOGE staff's access to federal payments systems “the single biggest insider threat risk the Bureau of the Fiscal Service has ever faced.”

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

Facebook messenger is the worst. Heads up: you message me there, my response is either to ignore it or to respond that you should email me.

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Reposted by Michael J. Faris

John Green @johngreensbluesky.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

We worked for months with USAID to build an $85,000,000 project to end TB in two regions of the Philippines. The project is funded by private money, the Philippine government, and matching USAID funds. It could provide a blueprint for eliminating TB worldwide--except it's...not happening.

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Your 40s: you’re using the bathroom, see a big blue spot and assume automatically you got a bruise you don’t remember getting. Turns out it’s lint from your jeans. Always assuming your body is falling apart

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Inbox less than 15 for the first time of 2025!

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

I dreamt last night that I was on some sort of super heros team. I think my skill was axe and hammer throwing, because I carried these 3-foot axes and hammers with me. But the best part of the dream was that I was dating a fellow hero on the team, Ariana Grande

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

It's hard enough to find time to nominate folks for awards. Stop adding extra stuff that no one would think of for nomination requirements (e.g., RSA asking for a 35-page excerpt from a dissertation chapter — just ask for the whole dissertation).

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Michael J. Faris @sisypheantask.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Bartender asked me how I pronounced Notre Dame. "Like how I would say it usually, or how I would say it to a snob?" I asked. She wanted authentic.

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