Abigail Modaff
@abigailmodaff.bsky.social
American historian working on a book about women’s book clubs. All posts my own, not my employer’s.
Reposted by Abigail Modaff
And once there is fear in the hearts of all Americans - what next?
The idea that Trump plans to now run Venezuela should strike fear in the hearts of all Americans. The American people have seen this before and paid the devastating price.
January 3, 2026 at 6:35 PM
And once there is fear in the hearts of all Americans - what next?
Reposted by Abigail Modaff
Hate it when I wake up in a wider gyre than the one I went to sleep in
January 3, 2026 at 3:47 PM
Hate it when I wake up in a wider gyre than the one I went to sleep in
Reposted by Abigail Modaff
Entering our Too Lazy to Manufacture Consent era
I feel like I haven’t even been properly lied to about the purposes of this war
January 3, 2026 at 1:44 PM
Entering our Too Lazy to Manufacture Consent era
Reposted by Abigail Modaff
I wrote about Grok's CSAM problem and how journalists keep fumbling the story
www.readtpa.com/p/grok-cant-...
www.readtpa.com/p/grok-cant-...
Grok Can't Apologize. Grok Isn't Sentient. So Why Do Headlines Keep Saying It Did?
Elon Musk’s chatbot has been “undressing” women and children in public. Journalists are letting xAI off the hook by pretending the bot is responsible.
www.readtpa.com
January 2, 2026 at 5:58 PM
I wrote about Grok's CSAM problem and how journalists keep fumbling the story
www.readtpa.com/p/grok-cant-...
www.readtpa.com/p/grok-cant-...
Reposted by Abigail Modaff
The reason this Harvard history professor decided he was done with one of the best and most privileged jobs in the world was, in his own words, because he was forced to lecture in a mask during peak Covid.
I’m not making this up.
I’m not making this up.
December 31, 2025 at 12:22 AM
The reason this Harvard history professor decided he was done with one of the best and most privileged jobs in the world was, in his own words, because he was forced to lecture in a mask during peak Covid.
I’m not making this up.
I’m not making this up.
Watching MNBA and turns out, Ja Morant…pretty good
December 31, 2025 at 3:52 AM
Watching MNBA and turns out, Ja Morant…pretty good
Reposted by Abigail Modaff
I said chatgpt doesn't have a soul and got put on this list
December 30, 2025 at 6:54 PM
I said chatgpt doesn't have a soul and got put on this list
Reposted by Abigail Modaff
this looks like wildlife photography lol
“Our side has been trained by Donald Trump to never apologize and to never admit when you’re wrong.” Read the inside story of how Marjorie Taylor Greene went from zealous Trump cheerleader to his loudest Republican critic: nyti.ms/3Lbzi88
December 29, 2025 at 3:03 PM
this looks like wildlife photography lol
Reposted by Abigail Modaff
everyone knows that Starbucks workers are on strike and until there's a contract, don't buy anything there, right?!?!
After 45 days on ULP strike, you've got to get center joy! But don't let our dance moves fool you: we're serious about this strike. You can find us on the line until Starbucks stops union busting and settles a fair union contract.
paydayreport.com/starbucks-un...
paydayreport.com/starbucks-un...
Starbucks Union Keeps it Dancing on the Picket Line
On Saturday, with Pittsburgh bracing for an arctic blast, forty baristas gathered for a picket line in front of the Bloomfield Starbucks to complete the first month of their strike. They stayed warm w...
paydayreport.com
December 28, 2025 at 3:14 PM
everyone knows that Starbucks workers are on strike and until there's a contract, don't buy anything there, right?!?!
Reposted by Abigail Modaff
I mean this in the kindest way: this could be solved by creating meaningful connections with your peers/colleagues. I have a writing group and a thinking group and plenty of people to text or call with questions, and it doesn’t require draining the earth of resources or stealing work.
If you use it as a dialogic thinking space where you externalities thought and use it to hold, reshape, question, extent, perturb your thinking. Just like a good teacher or mentor could, except you need to set and guide the interaction style.
December 27, 2025 at 11:43 PM
I mean this in the kindest way: this could be solved by creating meaningful connections with your peers/colleagues. I have a writing group and a thinking group and plenty of people to text or call with questions, and it doesn’t require draining the earth of resources or stealing work.
Reposted by Abigail Modaff
If someone says to you, "what are you doing about students' use of AI?" ask them, "do you think that this should be my problem? How good do you think my response can be? Should it not be up to legislators & administrators to defend against a commercial industry's attack on your child's education?"
December 24, 2025 at 7:47 PM
If someone says to you, "what are you doing about students' use of AI?" ask them, "do you think that this should be my problem? How good do you think my response can be? Should it not be up to legislators & administrators to defend against a commercial industry's attack on your child's education?"
Reposted by Abigail Modaff
Amazing how little changed during the era of peak woke, yet we still got the woke panic.
December 25, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Amazing how little changed during the era of peak woke, yet we still got the woke panic.
Reposted by Abigail Modaff
Experimental evidence that students are more likely to contest grades when they are delivered by an evaluator with a female-sounding name.
"These findings suggest that women in evaluative positions face disproportionate resistance when delivering negative assessments."
"These findings suggest that women in evaluative positions face disproportionate resistance when delivering negative assessments."
December 24, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Experimental evidence that students are more likely to contest grades when they are delivered by an evaluator with a female-sounding name.
"These findings suggest that women in evaluative positions face disproportionate resistance when delivering negative assessments."
"These findings suggest that women in evaluative positions face disproportionate resistance when delivering negative assessments."
Reposted by Abigail Modaff
A small (personal) example of this book’s intellectual dishonesty:
My father-in-law is reading In Covid’s Wake, and excitedly told me he found a passage where I’m quoted. The quote in question is me saying the FBI worked to censor speech on social media.
Huh? When did I say that?!
My father-in-law is reading In Covid’s Wake, and excitedly told me he found a passage where I’m quoted. The quote in question is me saying the FBI worked to censor speech on social media.
Huh? When did I say that?!
December 24, 2025 at 7:00 PM
A small (personal) example of this book’s intellectual dishonesty:
My father-in-law is reading In Covid’s Wake, and excitedly told me he found a passage where I’m quoted. The quote in question is me saying the FBI worked to censor speech on social media.
Huh? When did I say that?!
My father-in-law is reading In Covid’s Wake, and excitedly told me he found a passage where I’m quoted. The quote in question is me saying the FBI worked to censor speech on social media.
Huh? When did I say that?!
Reposted by Abigail Modaff
Reposted by Abigail Modaff
The act of writing is *thinking*. If you do not allow yourself to think thoughts that feel wrong, you will never get a feel for what feels *right*.
December 24, 2025 at 4:01 AM
The act of writing is *thinking*. If you do not allow yourself to think thoughts that feel wrong, you will never get a feel for what feels *right*.
Reposted by Abigail Modaff
The point of writing crap is not that you should barf out anything.
It's that you should be aware as you are writing it what the flaws are, and you need to get through it the first time, because the act of doing so informs you what is wrong.
It's that you should be aware as you are writing it what the flaws are, and you need to get through it the first time, because the act of doing so informs you what is wrong.
December 24, 2025 at 3:59 AM
The point of writing crap is not that you should barf out anything.
It's that you should be aware as you are writing it what the flaws are, and you need to get through it the first time, because the act of doing so informs you what is wrong.
It's that you should be aware as you are writing it what the flaws are, and you need to get through it the first time, because the act of doing so informs you what is wrong.
Reposted by Abigail Modaff
The act of writing the crap is IMPORTANT. I struggled with it because I knew something needed to be there. Something important. Something that would establish (A, B, C, and D).
I did not have the right form. I did not have the right set up. I did not have the right tension in place before hand.
I did not have the right form. I did not have the right set up. I did not have the right tension in place before hand.
December 24, 2025 at 3:56 AM
The act of writing the crap is IMPORTANT. I struggled with it because I knew something needed to be there. Something important. Something that would establish (A, B, C, and D).
I did not have the right form. I did not have the right set up. I did not have the right tension in place before hand.
I did not have the right form. I did not have the right set up. I did not have the right tension in place before hand.
Reposted by Abigail Modaff
Just a thing about this: a common statement in writing is that you can fix crap, but you can't fix a blank page.
I have heard AI apologists claim that this is why it's fine to generate a first draft.
Now, to be clear, fuck this.
But also: an AI draft is a fucking blank page.
I have heard AI apologists claim that this is why it's fine to generate a first draft.
Now, to be clear, fuck this.
But also: an AI draft is a fucking blank page.
I know I don’t talk about writing much. It is because I am writing so slowly.
But I want you to know that I am taking a part of this story that absolutely sucked and took me months to produce four of the worst chapters I have ever written and in the edit I figured out how to fix it.
But I want you to know that I am taking a part of this story that absolutely sucked and took me months to produce four of the worst chapters I have ever written and in the edit I figured out how to fix it.
December 24, 2025 at 3:55 AM
Just a thing about this: a common statement in writing is that you can fix crap, but you can't fix a blank page.
I have heard AI apologists claim that this is why it's fine to generate a first draft.
Now, to be clear, fuck this.
But also: an AI draft is a fucking blank page.
I have heard AI apologists claim that this is why it's fine to generate a first draft.
Now, to be clear, fuck this.
But also: an AI draft is a fucking blank page.
Reposted by Abigail Modaff
A husband and father of five with no criminal record is being detained by ICE after building a life in Houston for 25 years.
Truly, our neighbors’ families are being ripped apart, writes the Editorial Board.
www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/edit...
Truly, our neighbors’ families are being ripped apart, writes the Editorial Board.
www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/edit...
Luis grew deep roots in Houston. Can his family stop his deportation?
This is the third part in a series about a handyman with no criminal record arrested by masked government agents on Bellaire and detained by ICE.
www.houstonchronicle.com
December 22, 2025 at 4:28 PM
A husband and father of five with no criminal record is being detained by ICE after building a life in Houston for 25 years.
Truly, our neighbors’ families are being ripped apart, writes the Editorial Board.
www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/edit...
Truly, our neighbors’ families are being ripped apart, writes the Editorial Board.
www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/edit...
Reposted by Abigail Modaff
a big part of the issue surrounding the use of chatgpt/LLMs in academic research comes down to process vs. product. a lot of us know that the process of doing research matters because that's where intellectual work is done; but some "academics" and lots of techies only care about a fast product
December 21, 2025 at 2:49 PM
a big part of the issue surrounding the use of chatgpt/LLMs in academic research comes down to process vs. product. a lot of us know that the process of doing research matters because that's where intellectual work is done; but some "academics" and lots of techies only care about a fast product
Reposted by Abigail Modaff
We have long-established technologies for getting a quick glimpse - abstracts for articles, tables of contents and intros for books. This is a solved problem.
Moreover LLM summaries routinely get it wrong! They take a title etc. and backfill from CW thereby missing whatever is new.
Moreover LLM summaries routinely get it wrong! They take a title etc. and backfill from CW thereby missing whatever is new.
December 21, 2025 at 4:52 AM
We have long-established technologies for getting a quick glimpse - abstracts for articles, tables of contents and intros for books. This is a solved problem.
Moreover LLM summaries routinely get it wrong! They take a title etc. and backfill from CW thereby missing whatever is new.
Moreover LLM summaries routinely get it wrong! They take a title etc. and backfill from CW thereby missing whatever is new.
Reposted by Abigail Modaff
We did this whole thing a few years ago where we taught all the men about why this is but they said we took it too far because there might be some accountability (but there wasnt?) and now here we are
Tonight on @pbsnews.org David Brooks asked why if 20 men were mentioned as having sexually abused women in reports to the FBI why had they not been indicted
Sir, any woman in America could answer that question for you
Sir, any woman in America could answer that question for you
December 20, 2025 at 1:53 AM
We did this whole thing a few years ago where we taught all the men about why this is but they said we took it too far because there might be some accountability (but there wasnt?) and now here we are