Brandi K. Adams
@bkadams.bsky.social
I am an Assistant Professor of English Literature at Arizona State University who works on book history, premodern critical race studies and early modern English drama. I spend a lot of time with Barnabe, an adorable dog. These posts are my opinion.
Reposted by Brandi K. Adams
Haven't received as many contributions as usual for this year's lists--could be many things, but one aspect is surely that our ability to get this in front of people is much diminished. If you know folks whose stuff should be on here, please suggest it! contingentmagazine.org/yearly-pub-l...
Publications by Non-Tenure-Track Historians
Since we began publishing in 2019, Contingent has published end-of-year lists of books and articles by non-tenure-track historians released in the past calendar year. To submit something for inclusion...
contingentmagazine.org
November 24, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Haven't received as many contributions as usual for this year's lists--could be many things, but one aspect is surely that our ability to get this in front of people is much diminished. If you know folks whose stuff should be on here, please suggest it! contingentmagazine.org/yearly-pub-l...
No.
OpenAI needs to raise at least $207bn by 2030 so it can continue to lose money, HSBC estimates on.ft.com/4ij0yh8
OpenAI needs to raise at least $207bn by 2030 so it can continue to lose money, HSBC estimates
A burning platform
on.ft.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:28 PM
No.
Reposted by Brandi K. Adams
one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.
November 25, 2025 at 4:15 PM
one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.
I don’t want anyone to call these people ‘kids.’ The majority of them are over 30. Many are over 40. The face of this group are young, but the main workers and architects are certainly not.
UPDATE: We've added 5 more staffers to our DOGE tracker, taking the total to 114.
This is everyone who we've confirmed has worked for DOGE ⤵️
This is everyone who we've confirmed has worked for DOGE ⤵️
Elon Musk’s Demolition Crew
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has been unleashed on federal agencies. ProPublica is attempting to document who is working with him and what they are doing.
projects.propublica.org
November 23, 2025 at 4:59 PM
I don’t want anyone to call these people ‘kids.’ The majority of them are over 30. Many are over 40. The face of this group are young, but the main workers and architects are certainly not.
Reposted by Brandi K. Adams
cursed medieval andalite stede @ghostalservice.bsky.social
(walters museum MS w.88 folio 115v)
(walters museum MS w.88 folio 115v)
November 22, 2025 at 1:34 PM
cursed medieval andalite stede @ghostalservice.bsky.social
(walters museum MS w.88 folio 115v)
(walters museum MS w.88 folio 115v)
This is a very specific request for y’all. Does anyone have a current photo of a ginkgo tree that has changed color to yellow for fall? When I lived in Cambridge and Boston there were so many pretty ones. Now that I live in Phoenix, I don’t get to see this transformation. I miss those trees!
November 22, 2025 at 4:06 AM
This is a very specific request for y’all. Does anyone have a current photo of a ginkgo tree that has changed color to yellow for fall? When I lived in Cambridge and Boston there were so many pretty ones. Now that I live in Phoenix, I don’t get to see this transformation. I miss those trees!
Looks at the camera in English professor…
Looks like LLMs are *very* vulnerable to attack via poetic allusion: "curated poetic prompts yielded high attack-success rates (ASR), with some providers exceeding 90% ..."
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
November 20, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Looks at the camera in English professor…
Reposted by Brandi K. Adams
Art school problems
November 19, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Art school problems
Reposted by Brandi K. Adams
When Scott Enderle <https://pricelab.sas.upenn.edu/news/jonathan-scott-enderle-1979-2021> and I were building the Shakespeare Census, one of the first things he insisted on was making it open and easily adaptable for others. I'm so pleased to his hard work on that part of the project bearing fruit.
Pleased to announce the Wheatley Census is ready for 1.0 public release! As detailed a census as possible (right now) of the first six editions - those printed in the 18th century - of Phillis Wheatley’s Poems on Various Subjects, is available here: www.wheatleycensus.org.
Wheatley Census
www.wheatleycensus.org
November 17, 2025 at 4:48 PM
When Scott Enderle <https://pricelab.sas.upenn.edu/news/jonathan-scott-enderle-1979-2021> and I were building the Shakespeare Census, one of the first things he insisted on was making it open and easily adaptable for others. I'm so pleased to his hard work on that part of the project bearing fruit.
I wonder if these folks are using classical scholars and readers much in the way early modern aristocracy could employ scholars. See ‘How Gabriel Harvey read his Livy’ by Jardine and Grafton. Prometheus was eventually freed by Heracles in Hesiod’s Theogony, y’all.
I had a great conversation about this phenomenon with some sociologists at ASA once. A colleague took me to task for failing to see how they KNOW the reference. They aren’t misreading literary references — they are wielding them to demonstrate their power to shape our ethics.
The fact that he named it Project Prometheus is priceless.
November 17, 2025 at 2:33 PM
I wonder if these folks are using classical scholars and readers much in the way early modern aristocracy could employ scholars. See ‘How Gabriel Harvey read his Livy’ by Jardine and Grafton. Prometheus was eventually freed by Heracles in Hesiod’s Theogony, y’all.
Reposted by Brandi K. Adams
ON STRIKE AGAIN BECAUSE THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH REFUSES TO RULE OUT COMPULSORY REDUNDANCIES!
November 17, 2025 at 9:19 AM
ON STRIKE AGAIN BECAUSE THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH REFUSES TO RULE OUT COMPULSORY REDUNDANCIES!
Reposted by Brandi K. Adams
Libraries purchase books. When you see a book at the library, it isn’t “free”
the library bought it.
which in turn means that the community bought it.
In other words, library books are not lost sales for authors and publishers; they’re positive sales. Active sales. Those are bought.
the library bought it.
which in turn means that the community bought it.
In other words, library books are not lost sales for authors and publishers; they’re positive sales. Active sales. Those are bought.
November 15, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Libraries purchase books. When you see a book at the library, it isn’t “free”
the library bought it.
which in turn means that the community bought it.
In other words, library books are not lost sales for authors and publishers; they’re positive sales. Active sales. Those are bought.
the library bought it.
which in turn means that the community bought it.
In other words, library books are not lost sales for authors and publishers; they’re positive sales. Active sales. Those are bought.
Sonja’s so right. Which printing press? What kind of knowledge? For which people? Also, do people understand how much labor was involved in a printing books?
What, exactly, does this string of words mean? Why does everyone who stands to profit from selling "AI" love to repeat it? And what's the value of slogans that masquerade as history?
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/...
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/...
"The Printing Press Democratized Knowledge": When Slogans Masquerade as History — Sonja Drimmer
The phrase is said so frequently it seems, like the mechanism it celebrates, to mechanically replicate itself. It's become a favorite catchphrase among tech boosters of any sort (see my post on...
sonjadrimmer.com
November 15, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Sonja’s so right. Which printing press? What kind of knowledge? For which people? Also, do people understand how much labor was involved in a printing books?
Reposted by Brandi K. Adams
bringing this statement over from Alice’s Twitter. it appears the below was Alice’s last post before passing. I am heartbroken
November 15, 2025 at 2:37 PM
bringing this statement over from Alice’s Twitter. it appears the below was Alice’s last post before passing. I am heartbroken
Reposted by Brandi K. Adams
happy bday Mexican nun/writer Juana Inés de la Cruz, b1648, nicknamed Phoenix of America
"I don't study to know more, but to ignore less."
I do not set store by treasures or riches;
and therefore it always brings me more joy
only to fix riches in my intellect
and never my intellect fix on riches.
"I don't study to know more, but to ignore less."
I do not set store by treasures or riches;
and therefore it always brings me more joy
only to fix riches in my intellect
and never my intellect fix on riches.
November 12, 2025 at 12:51 PM
happy bday Mexican nun/writer Juana Inés de la Cruz, b1648, nicknamed Phoenix of America
"I don't study to know more, but to ignore less."
I do not set store by treasures or riches;
and therefore it always brings me more joy
only to fix riches in my intellect
and never my intellect fix on riches.
"I don't study to know more, but to ignore less."
I do not set store by treasures or riches;
and therefore it always brings me more joy
only to fix riches in my intellect
and never my intellect fix on riches.
Reposted by Brandi K. Adams
Keep the college essay.
You don't have to fulfill the prophecy that the college essay is dead because some jaded dudes in the Atlantic, New Yorker, and NYT told you so two years ago.
It's OK. You can keep the essay.
You don't have to fulfill the prophecy that the college essay is dead because some jaded dudes in the Atlantic, New Yorker, and NYT told you so two years ago.
It's OK. You can keep the essay.
November 14, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Keep the college essay.
You don't have to fulfill the prophecy that the college essay is dead because some jaded dudes in the Atlantic, New Yorker, and NYT told you so two years ago.
It's OK. You can keep the essay.
You don't have to fulfill the prophecy that the college essay is dead because some jaded dudes in the Atlantic, New Yorker, and NYT told you so two years ago.
It's OK. You can keep the essay.
Reposted by Brandi K. Adams
Does anyone out there visit the Clark library and if so would you be prepared to take a single photo for me ( of an almanac title page) ? #earlymodern
November 13, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Does anyone out there visit the Clark library and if so would you be prepared to take a single photo for me ( of an almanac title page) ? #earlymodern
I studied abroad at Lancaster and it was an absolutely fantastic experience. The cuts happening all over the world in higher education are just awful.
'The prospect of hundreds of job cuts at Lancaster University could damage the city's economy, students have warned.'
'Could'? Surely 'will'.
'Could'? Surely 'will'.
Fears Lancaster University job cuts would hit city's businesses
Lancaster University is seeking to cut 400 full-time posts as part of efforts to save £30m.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 3:54 PM
I studied abroad at Lancaster and it was an absolutely fantastic experience. The cuts happening all over the world in higher education are just awful.
What is race or gender ideology in this case? (It’s so weird when people try to ban things using words they don’t understand. )
The Texas A&M University System will vote on Thursday on whether to prohibit faculty at its 11 universities from teaching “race or gender ideology” unless those lessons are pre-approved by each campus president or a delegate.
Texas A&M to vote on banning “race and gender ideology”
The proposal appears to mark the first time a Texas university system offers definitions of what kind of instruction related to race and gender should not be permitted.
www.texastribune.org
November 12, 2025 at 5:57 PM
What is race or gender ideology in this case? (It’s so weird when people try to ban things using words they don’t understand. )
Looks directly into the camera. COME ON.
November 11, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Looks directly into the camera. COME ON.
Reposted by Brandi K. Adams
Today is the OFFICIAL publication day for TEXTILE SHAKESPEARE! Please indulge me: I want to say a little (perhaps rather a lot) about it and share my acknowledgements - and a discount code! Appropriately,🧵1/10
November 11, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Today is the OFFICIAL publication day for TEXTILE SHAKESPEARE! Please indulge me: I want to say a little (perhaps rather a lot) about it and share my acknowledgements - and a discount code! Appropriately,🧵1/10
Reposted by Brandi K. Adams
Unfortunately still true bsky.app/profile/adam...
American politics makes a lot more sense when you realize that the GOP is afraid of pissing off the GOP base, and the Dems are afraid of pissing off the GOP base, but neither party is afraid of pissing off the Dem base.
November 10, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Unfortunately still true bsky.app/profile/adam...
Reposted by Brandi K. Adams
Her husband told her that detainees at Broadview had to get up at 5am to get in line for one bathroom. He often peed himself. One time he had to wait until 2pm to use the bathroom. You could only use the bathroom once a day. He said the agents would beat you if you used the bathroom on yourself.
November 7, 2025 at 3:08 AM
Her husband told her that detainees at Broadview had to get up at 5am to get in line for one bathroom. He often peed himself. One time he had to wait until 2pm to use the bathroom. You could only use the bathroom once a day. He said the agents would beat you if you used the bathroom on yourself.
Reposted by Brandi K. Adams
The pun timer was activated and you only had six minutes to get in
November 6, 2025 at 7:37 PM
The pun timer was activated and you only had six minutes to get in
Reposted by Brandi K. Adams
I so appreciate the opportunity to write about the legacies of Marxist feminism in this special cluster in PMLA. Thanks to James, Charlotte and Donna for inviting me. It's a theory essay that ends with a poem.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Marxist Feminism in Flight | PMLA | Cambridge Core
Marxist Feminism in Flight - Volume 140 Issue 3
www.cambridge.org
October 29, 2025 at 8:55 PM
I so appreciate the opportunity to write about the legacies of Marxist feminism in this special cluster in PMLA. Thanks to James, Charlotte and Donna for inviting me. It's a theory essay that ends with a poem.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...