Dave Mazella
@davemazella.bsky.social
eighteenth-century scholar in Heatstroke, TX. let's see how this goes.
Book: Making of Modern Cynicism, now in paperback from UVA press: https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/2793/
Book: Making of Modern Cynicism, now in paperback from UVA press: https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/2793/
Pinned
Dave Mazella
@davemazella.bsky.social
· Oct 25
The Making of Modern Cynicism
<div><p>Once describing a life of exile, self-denial, physical rigor, and mastery of one’s desires, cynicism now describes a life of political quietis
www.upress.virginia.edu
My book on ancient and modern cynicism, The Making of Modern Cynicism (2007, UVA press), is now available again in paperback!
Because cynicism never goes out of fashion.
www.upress.virginia.edu/title/2793/
Because cynicism never goes out of fashion.
www.upress.virginia.edu/title/2793/
Reposted by Dave Mazella
hi i bet you need to hear Hüsker Dü performing the Mary Tyler Moore song live in 1985 today
Love Is All Around
YouTube video by Husker Du - Topic
www.youtube.com
November 27, 2025 at 12:50 AM
hi i bet you need to hear Hüsker Dü performing the Mary Tyler Moore song live in 1985 today
Reposted by Dave Mazella
ICYMI AAUP is starting a PAC news.bgov.com/bloomberg-go...
Professors Launch PAC to Fight Back Against Trump’s Attacks
The American Association of University Professors, a union whose members are fighting policies from the Trump administration and GOP Congress, launched a PAC this week to spend in federal elections.
news.bgov.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:28 PM
ICYMI AAUP is starting a PAC news.bgov.com/bloomberg-go...
Reposted by Dave Mazella
Excited to prep for oral history grad class next semester as an Assistant professor!
What are some of y’all’s favorite articles on oral history, testimonios, autohistorias, and the interviewing process? #oralhistory #publichistory
What are some of y’all’s favorite articles on oral history, testimonios, autohistorias, and the interviewing process? #oralhistory #publichistory
November 27, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Excited to prep for oral history grad class next semester as an Assistant professor!
What are some of y’all’s favorite articles on oral history, testimonios, autohistorias, and the interviewing process? #oralhistory #publichistory
What are some of y’all’s favorite articles on oral history, testimonios, autohistorias, and the interviewing process? #oralhistory #publichistory
Reposted by Dave Mazella
You know what we won't need once handwriting recognition software has done its thing? Archivists, curators, conservators, catalogers, codicologists, or paleographers. We won't need archives either. We won't need diplomatics, editorial theory, book or media history, or material culture studies 🗃️🧵
November 26, 2025 at 10:12 PM
You know what we won't need once handwriting recognition software has done its thing? Archivists, curators, conservators, catalogers, codicologists, or paleographers. We won't need archives either. We won't need diplomatics, editorial theory, book or media history, or material culture studies 🗃️🧵
Reposted by Dave Mazella
Support is building within the labor, academic and Palestine solidarity movements for a history professor at Texas State University who, shortly after receiving tenure, was fired after he made comments in his private capacity at a socialist conference www.labornotes.org/blogs/2025/1...
Texas College Teacher Fired for Free Speech | Labor Notes
www.labornotes.org
November 26, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Support is building within the labor, academic and Palestine solidarity movements for a history professor at Texas State University who, shortly after receiving tenure, was fired after he made comments in his private capacity at a socialist conference www.labornotes.org/blogs/2025/1...
Reposted by Dave Mazella
A little treat on my day off, because I deserve it 💚
November 26, 2025 at 9:05 PM
A little treat on my day off, because I deserve it 💚
Reposted by Dave Mazella
Lots of people sharing this clip because it's funny and cathartic but I also genuinely believe it's important.
We have to win the narrative battle between "I live in a corrupt society and that's just how it is" and "I live in a corrupt society and we are going to defeat and humiliate these ghouls."
We have to win the narrative battle between "I live in a corrupt society and that's just how it is" and "I live in a corrupt society and we are going to defeat and humiliate these ghouls."
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
November 26, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Lots of people sharing this clip because it's funny and cathartic but I also genuinely believe it's important.
We have to win the narrative battle between "I live in a corrupt society and that's just how it is" and "I live in a corrupt society and we are going to defeat and humiliate these ghouls."
We have to win the narrative battle between "I live in a corrupt society and that's just how it is" and "I live in a corrupt society and we are going to defeat and humiliate these ghouls."
Reposted by Dave Mazella
A prominent Texas Republican is running for Railroad Commission in order to fight the "Islamic invasion." He's vying for a seat vacated by a former commissioner, who is now running for Texas Comptroller on a vow to protect girls' sports.
The latest on Texas' (increasingly Islamophobic) primaries:
The latest on Texas' (increasingly Islamophobic) primaries:
What Does the Railroad Commision Have to Do With “Radical Islam”? Everything, One Candidate Says
Tarrant County GOP chair Bo French, known for his incendiary online presence, recently tendered his resignation to seek a position on the regulatory body that oversees the oil-and-gas industry.
www.texasmonthly.com
November 26, 2025 at 6:37 PM
A prominent Texas Republican is running for Railroad Commission in order to fight the "Islamic invasion." He's vying for a seat vacated by a former commissioner, who is now running for Texas Comptroller on a vow to protect girls' sports.
The latest on Texas' (increasingly Islamophobic) primaries:
The latest on Texas' (increasingly Islamophobic) primaries:
This has become the standard interpretation
#Google blurbs RF Brissenden's 'Virtue in Distress'. 'Coco Crocodile is rehearsing her song & Billie the Pig has a dance to perfect & all in time for the evening show! But the Fox Clowns are in a muddle & Magician has made his assistant vanish, COMPLETELY!" Is that #Clarissa or Sade? #18thcentury
November 26, 2025 at 6:54 PM
This has become the standard interpretation
Reposted by Dave Mazella
wild that this happened within 24 hours of bolsanaro going to prison. will be a timeless textbook example of what works to save a democracy and what doesn’t
Breaking News: The last pending criminal prosecution against President Trump was dismissed by a judge in Georgia, effectively ending efforts to hold Trump criminally responsible for attempts to overturn the 2020 election. trib.al/EnJu57H
November 26, 2025 at 4:51 PM
wild that this happened within 24 hours of bolsanaro going to prison. will be a timeless textbook example of what works to save a democracy and what doesn’t
Reposted by Dave Mazella
This essay by @johannawinant.bsky.social is beautiful on what can happen in the classroom, and on the importance of *argument* to literary studies. I especially like how she writes about helping students to "believe in their own significance"
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
The Claims of Close Reading - Boston Review
Literary studies have been starved by austerity, but their core methodology remains radical.
www.bostonreview.net
November 26, 2025 at 4:47 PM
This essay by @johannawinant.bsky.social is beautiful on what can happen in the classroom, and on the importance of *argument* to literary studies. I especially like how she writes about helping students to "believe in their own significance"
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
Reposted by Dave Mazella
The average medieval peasant could not buy a gas station delta 9 gummy and watch “Scooter Fail Compilation 5” on YouTube, which makes it difficult to compare GDP across time
November 26, 2025 at 5:03 AM
The average medieval peasant could not buy a gas station delta 9 gummy and watch “Scooter Fail Compilation 5” on YouTube, which makes it difficult to compare GDP across time
Reposted by Dave Mazella
"Universities must resist the temptation to reduce the library to a digital archive and study space and ensure that these structures remain spaces for rigorous research, critical reading, intellectual discovery and knowledge creation, rather than just digital repositories or study halls."
"...what I am witnessing is the unfortunate proletarianization of the library profession, with access to tenure increasingly restricted and librarians being treated as peripheral to the academic mission."
Lots to think about. Read more: www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
Lots to think about. Read more: www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
What’s gained, what’s lost in the evolving university library
What’s gained, what’s lost.
www.insidehighered.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:13 PM
"Universities must resist the temptation to reduce the library to a digital archive and study space and ensure that these structures remain spaces for rigorous research, critical reading, intellectual discovery and knowledge creation, rather than just digital repositories or study halls."
This snooping + impunity sounds like police are super sovereign citizens
Police have access to massive surveillance networks that track the public whether they are suspects or not. That means probably for every 1 officer caught using the system to harass or spy on people they have feuds with, ex's, activists, journalists, there are probably 100 more we don't know about.
Georgia police chief charged with using license plate readers to stalk and harass people
A police chief in suburban Atlanta has been arrested on charges of using the city's license plate cameras to stalk and harass people.
apnews.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:36 PM
This snooping + impunity sounds like police are super sovereign citizens
Reposted by Dave Mazella
My diagnosis of why elite institutions fail at resistance.
November 26, 2025 at 12:06 PM
My diagnosis of why elite institutions fail at resistance.
the best sci-fi movie whose name you can’t remember
Get in, losers, we're remaking Five Million Years to Earth.
If you were a despotic president, what movie would you force Hollywood to make? I want to see Quentin's Star Trek movie or maybe Kill Bill Vol 3.
November 26, 2025 at 4:01 AM
the best sci-fi movie whose name you can’t remember
Reposted by Dave Mazella
"in 2029, the companies taking part will be investigated, have their assets liquidated, their executives held criminally liable for each violation of Americans' privacy, and then their private assets seized too."
NEW: ICE has torn up its $180M cap on a proposed immigrant-tracking program and is now guaranteeing private surveillance firms at least $7.5M each, with potential payouts reaching $281M per vendor. The change signals a shift from “pilot” to full-scale outsourcing of street-level investigative work.
ICE Offers Up to $280 Million to Immigrant-Tracking ‘Bounty Hunter’ Firms
Immigration and Customs Enforcement lifted a $180 million cap on a proposed immigrant-tracking program while guaranteeing multimillion-dollar payouts for private surveillance firms.
www.wired.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:15 PM
"in 2029, the companies taking part will be investigated, have their assets liquidated, their executives held criminally liable for each violation of Americans' privacy, and then their private assets seized too."
Reposted by Dave Mazella
TODAY'S COMIC: Old Bones
November 25, 2025 at 6:00 PM
TODAY'S COMIC: Old Bones
Reposted by Dave Mazella
Nearly-perfect printed and handwritten text recognition is the most consequential technical contribution to the study of human culture of the last fifteen years, and it's not even close.
It fundamentally changes our (both lay and expert) relationship with the written past.
It fundamentally changes our (both lay and expert) relationship with the written past.
New issue of my newsletter: "The Writing Is on the Wall for Handwriting Recognition" — One of the hardest problems in digital humanities has finally been solved, and it's a good use of AI newsletter.dancohen.org/archive/the-...
The Writing Is on the Wall for Handwriting Recognition
One of the hardest problems in digital humanities has finally been solved
newsletter.dancohen.org
November 25, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Nearly-perfect printed and handwritten text recognition is the most consequential technical contribution to the study of human culture of the last fifteen years, and it's not even close.
It fundamentally changes our (both lay and expert) relationship with the written past.
It fundamentally changes our (both lay and expert) relationship with the written past.
Reposted by Dave Mazella
In another @foreignaffairs.com piece, @justinscasey.bsky.social compare current wave of "reactionary populism" to the rise of international fascism in the later 1920s and 1930s. Here we argue that the genie isn't going back into the bottle, and pro-democracy forces need to adjust to that reality. /🧵
The Vexing Rise of the Transnational Right
Lessons from interwar Europe.
www.foreignaffairs.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:46 PM
In another @foreignaffairs.com piece, @justinscasey.bsky.social compare current wave of "reactionary populism" to the rise of international fascism in the later 1920s and 1930s. Here we argue that the genie isn't going back into the bottle, and pro-democracy forces need to adjust to that reality. /🧵
one of the worst decisions @houstonchronicle.com ever made was platforming Mattress Mack, election denier & all around putz
Mattress Mack slept outside without a mattress to raise funds for the youth shelter Covenant House Texas. Here's what he's been thinking about since. bit.ly/44voubn
November 25, 2025 at 5:25 PM
one of the worst decisions @houstonchronicle.com ever made was platforming Mattress Mack, election denier & all around putz
Reposted by Dave Mazella
Reposted by Dave Mazella
Within @aaup.org, there's a lot of advocacy chapters who wonder what power they have without a CBA. We're here to say it doesn't matter. Organizing is organizing is organizing. You want the contract but if you act like a union then you're a union. I call this The Newsies Principle.
November 25, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Within @aaup.org, there's a lot of advocacy chapters who wonder what power they have without a CBA. We're here to say it doesn't matter. Organizing is organizing is organizing. You want the contract but if you act like a union then you're a union. I call this The Newsies Principle.
Reposted by Dave Mazella
We @uam-umd.bsky.social won. Faculty packed town halls, talked to their colleagues and collected hundreds of petition signatures. Now UMD is coughing up $8.75m, during a deficit, to fund faculty whose research is under attack. Not enough, but a helluva thing for a union the state calls illegal.
$8.75M Investment Supports ‘Research Resilience’… | Maryland Today
UMD, MPower Funds Combine to Help Preserve Institutional Capabilities, Lab Operations and More
today.umd.edu
November 25, 2025 at 2:32 PM
We @uam-umd.bsky.social won. Faculty packed town halls, talked to their colleagues and collected hundreds of petition signatures. Now UMD is coughing up $8.75m, during a deficit, to fund faculty whose research is under attack. Not enough, but a helluva thing for a union the state calls illegal.
Reposted by Dave Mazella
New Publication Alert
Palmer, Russell, et al. "A Roundtable Discussion of Transnational Crusoe, Illustration and Reading History, 1719–1722." ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews (2025): 1-14.
#danieldefoe #defoe #18thCentury #C18th #18thC
Palmer, Russell, et al. "A Roundtable Discussion of Transnational Crusoe, Illustration and Reading History, 1719–1722." ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews (2025): 1-14.
#danieldefoe #defoe #18thCentury #C18th #18thC
A Roundtable Discussion of Transnational Crusoe, Illustration and Reading History, 1719–1722
Published in ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews (Ahead of Print, 2025)
doi.org
November 24, 2025 at 3:47 PM
New Publication Alert
Palmer, Russell, et al. "A Roundtable Discussion of Transnational Crusoe, Illustration and Reading History, 1719–1722." ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews (2025): 1-14.
#danieldefoe #defoe #18thCentury #C18th #18thC
Palmer, Russell, et al. "A Roundtable Discussion of Transnational Crusoe, Illustration and Reading History, 1719–1722." ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews (2025): 1-14.
#danieldefoe #defoe #18thCentury #C18th #18thC