Jessica Roberson
@jroberson.bsky.social
Associate professor of English @ MSMU Los Angeles - Romanticism, book history, maker culture, literary tourism & disability. Views my own.
Reposted by Jessica Roberson
Friends, please join us in supporting work of the Society for Disability Studies during this pivotal time - for humanity, for bolder ways of knowing. For decades, SDS has fostered alternative systems of knowledge and activism - including disability justice. Ex. A: @disstudies.bsky.social Quarterly
Support Disability Studies Quarterly!
Trusted institutions are crumbling around the globe, seemingly all at once.
In the wake of rising authoritarianism and eugenic thought, we want to ensure that intellectual spaces platforming disabled perspectives remain strong.
#GivingTuesday #DisabilityStudies
Trusted institutions are crumbling around the globe, seemingly all at once.
In the wake of rising authoritarianism and eugenic thought, we want to ensure that intellectual spaces platforming disabled perspectives remain strong.
#GivingTuesday #DisabilityStudies
December 2, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Friends, please join us in supporting work of the Society for Disability Studies during this pivotal time - for humanity, for bolder ways of knowing. For decades, SDS has fostered alternative systems of knowledge and activism - including disability justice. Ex. A: @disstudies.bsky.social Quarterly
Reposted by Jessica Roberson
We need to be able to see that the line "accommodations have gone too far" is an expression of the ableist notion that disabled students do not belong in higher ed. Its fundamentally an anxiety about the fact that disabled students get an "advantage" over abled students.
December 2, 2025 at 6:05 PM
We need to be able to see that the line "accommodations have gone too far" is an expression of the ableist notion that disabled students do not belong in higher ed. Its fundamentally an anxiety about the fact that disabled students get an "advantage" over abled students.
Reposted by Jessica Roberson
Apparently Guillermo Del Toro has ruined Frankenstein by… being relatively faithful to the source material.
Oh my.
Oh my.
September 2, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Apparently Guillermo Del Toro has ruined Frankenstein by… being relatively faithful to the source material.
Oh my.
Oh my.
Reposted by Jessica Roberson
This is a really, really important story, which is why I provided a gift link. Many people, when they think of higher education, think of elite universities. But most higher education is nonselective (i.e., they admit everyone), and a lot of it is community colleges.
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/m...
August 4, 2025 at 2:01 PM
This is a really, really important story, which is why I provided a gift link. Many people, when they think of higher education, think of elite universities. But most higher education is nonselective (i.e., they admit everyone), and a lot of it is community colleges.
Reposted by Jessica Roberson
Mary Shelley doesn't get enough credit for not only anticipating the silver-spooned narcissist techbro who recklessly creates technology without thinking through the consequences, but also for knowing that said techbro would be an absolutely terrible father.
May 17, 2024 at 6:09 PM
Mary Shelley doesn't get enough credit for not only anticipating the silver-spooned narcissist techbro who recklessly creates technology without thinking through the consequences, but also for knowing that said techbro would be an absolutely terrible father.
I just wrote 'Welcome to Sugar Daddies*'. buttondown.com/sugardaddies... (Chatting #T1diabetes and romance novels)
Welcome to Sugar Daddies*
Happy Disability Pride month! Welcome to the first issue of Sugar Daddies*, a newsletter where I hope to look more deeply into the narrative use of Type 1...
buttondown.com
July 31, 2025 at 9:19 PM
I just wrote 'Welcome to Sugar Daddies*'. buttondown.com/sugardaddies... (Chatting #T1diabetes and romance novels)
Reposted by Jessica Roberson
This.
It makes my heart hurt.
What an absolute betrayal.
Teaching is grounded on trust.
It makes my heart hurt.
What an absolute betrayal.
Teaching is grounded on trust.
This is so far over the line I don't even know where to begin.
Trying to get students -- your own students -- expelled or deported because of political activism?
Jesus, I won't even punch down at random college students on *social media*
Trying to get students -- your own students -- expelled or deported because of political activism?
Jesus, I won't even punch down at random college students on *social media*
@jsweetli.bsky.social highlights some of the college professors who are trying to get students deported for pro-Palestine activism: www.dropsitenews.com/p/documentin...
July 28, 2025 at 12:46 AM
This.
It makes my heart hurt.
What an absolute betrayal.
Teaching is grounded on trust.
It makes my heart hurt.
What an absolute betrayal.
Teaching is grounded on trust.
Reposted by Jessica Roberson
The (Ed) Tech Industry has made citizens believe that the problem with education is reading, thinking, and writing when the problem with education is austerity.
Reading, thinking, and writing are not the problems to be solved. Austerity is.
Reading, thinking, and writing are not the problems to be solved. Austerity is.
July 24, 2025 at 1:44 PM
The (Ed) Tech Industry has made citizens believe that the problem with education is reading, thinking, and writing when the problem with education is austerity.
Reading, thinking, and writing are not the problems to be solved. Austerity is.
Reading, thinking, and writing are not the problems to be solved. Austerity is.
Reposted by Jessica Roberson
Friendly reminder that Instructure, parent company of Canvas, is owned by KKR, a private equity firm that purchased it for $4.8 billion last November.
“…faculty members will be able to click an icon that connects them with various AI features…, like a grading tool, a discussion-post summarizer… Canvas’s parent company, Instructure, is also in partnership w/ OpenAI… so instructors can use generative-AI technology as part of their assignments.”
Instructors Will Now See AI Throughout a Widely Used Course Software
New features integrated into Canvas include a grading assistant, a discussion-post summarizer, and even a way to pair assignments with generative AI tools.
www.chronicle.com
July 23, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Friendly reminder that Instructure, parent company of Canvas, is owned by KKR, a private equity firm that purchased it for $4.8 billion last November.
Second date with my now-husband was at the Museum of Jurassic Technology! A weird wonder - please help them if you can.
You Are Getting... Generous!
Go support LA's Museum of Jurassic Technology (which was just on fire!!) and get deeply odd swag like this levitating lenticular homunculus (?).
Read about the museum and fire here: lawrenceweschler.substack.com/p/july-17-20...
Donate/join here: www.mjtgiftshop.org
Go support LA's Museum of Jurassic Technology (which was just on fire!!) and get deeply odd swag like this levitating lenticular homunculus (?).
Read about the museum and fire here: lawrenceweschler.substack.com/p/july-17-20...
Donate/join here: www.mjtgiftshop.org
July 23, 2025 at 3:07 AM
Second date with my now-husband was at the Museum of Jurassic Technology! A weird wonder - please help them if you can.
For anyone else interested in disability and the modern romance novel surge, I'm starting a little side project this #DisabilityPrideMonth - a newsletter I'm calling Sugar Daddies* exploring the representation of #Type1Diabetes in romance. Folks can subscribe here: buttondown.com/sugardaddies
Sugar Daddies*
Sugar Daddies* (gender inclusive) is a newsletter musing on the uses and abuses of Type 1 Diabetes in romance novels from an English professor with T1D. Follow along as I explore how chronic illness a...
buttondown.com
July 17, 2025 at 9:07 PM
For anyone else interested in disability and the modern romance novel surge, I'm starting a little side project this #DisabilityPrideMonth - a newsletter I'm calling Sugar Daddies* exploring the representation of #Type1Diabetes in romance. Folks can subscribe here: buttondown.com/sugardaddies
Reposted by Jessica Roberson
“You’ve got more languages students setting up successful start-ups than you do maths graduates, and the same number of history students setting up start-ups as engineers, so there’s a bit of myth busting that needs to go on.”
www.ft.com/content/3162...
www.ft.com/content/3162...
Universities in England at risk of long-term decline, says British Academy
Outgoing president Dame Julia Black calls on ministers to overhaul their ‘confused’ approach to higher education
www.ft.com
July 15, 2025 at 8:42 AM
“You’ve got more languages students setting up successful start-ups than you do maths graduates, and the same number of history students setting up start-ups as engineers, so there’s a bit of myth busting that needs to go on.”
www.ft.com/content/3162...
www.ft.com/content/3162...
Reposted by Jessica Roberson
you've heard about the college kids who can't do anything without ChatGPT's help—but what about the students who oppose generative A.I. for myriad reasons and refuse to rely on it as a shortcut? well, I found and spoke with a few of them here: slate.com/life/2025/07...
What It’s Like to Be a Student Who Hates ChatGPT
“Everyone is using it”—almost everyone.
slate.com
July 15, 2025 at 4:06 PM
you've heard about the college kids who can't do anything without ChatGPT's help—but what about the students who oppose generative A.I. for myriad reasons and refuse to rely on it as a shortcut? well, I found and spoke with a few of them here: slate.com/life/2025/07...
Reposted by Jessica Roberson
Some places will have to start rationing water - to enable AI slop.
"A data center like Meta’s, which was completed last year, typically guzzles around 500,000 gallons of water a day. New data centers [will] require millions of gallons of water a day"
Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/t...
"A data center like Meta’s, which was completed last year, typically guzzles around 500,000 gallons of water a day. New data centers [will] require millions of gallons of water a day"
Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/t...
Their Water Taps Ran Dry When Meta Built Next Door
www.nytimes.com
July 14, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Some places will have to start rationing water - to enable AI slop.
"A data center like Meta’s, which was completed last year, typically guzzles around 500,000 gallons of water a day. New data centers [will] require millions of gallons of water a day"
Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/t...
"A data center like Meta’s, which was completed last year, typically guzzles around 500,000 gallons of water a day. New data centers [will] require millions of gallons of water a day"
Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/t...
Reposted by Jessica Roberson
Hunh, someone titling their creation ‘Prometheus’, tip o my tongue, feel like I’ve heard that befor—oh, right, there it is
July 14, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Hunh, someone titling their creation ‘Prometheus’, tip o my tongue, feel like I’ve heard that befor—oh, right, there it is
Reposted by Jessica Roberson
July is #DisabilityPrideMonth! Pick your next reads from our 2025 reading list—and bookmark it for year-round recommendations from indie presses and lit mags: www.clmp.org/news/a-readi...
A Reading List for Disability Pride Month 2025 - Community of Literary Magazines and Presses
We asked the many independent literary presses and magazines that make up our membership to share with us some of the literature they recommend reading in honor of Disability Pride Month, observed…
www.clmp.org
July 1, 2025 at 10:20 PM
July is #DisabilityPrideMonth! Pick your next reads from our 2025 reading list—and bookmark it for year-round recommendations from indie presses and lit mags: www.clmp.org/news/a-readi...
Reposted by Jessica Roberson
In 1626, a Cambridge fishwife sliced open a cod, only to find a gelatinous, half-dissolved manuscript inside. It was published the next year under the name "Vox Piscis or, the Bookfish." At this point, why not get your news from inside a dead fish? #earlymodern #bookfish archive.org/details/bim_...
March 1, 2025 at 5:08 PM
In 1626, a Cambridge fishwife sliced open a cod, only to find a gelatinous, half-dissolved manuscript inside. It was published the next year under the name "Vox Piscis or, the Bookfish." At this point, why not get your news from inside a dead fish? #earlymodern #bookfish archive.org/details/bim_...
Reposted by Jessica Roberson
CalRBS is happy to share our Summer 2025 course listings are published! We are dedicated to providing the knowledge and skills required by collectors and professionals studying for and working in all aspects of GLAM fields. #rarebooks #specialcollections #libraries #bibliograophy
December 12, 2024 at 3:16 AM
CalRBS is happy to share our Summer 2025 course listings are published! We are dedicated to providing the knowledge and skills required by collectors and professionals studying for and working in all aspects of GLAM fields. #rarebooks #specialcollections #libraries #bibliograophy
Reposted by Jessica Roberson
Second snack-sized digital pedagogy event coming up! Mark calendars for Friday, April 4th from 1:00-2:00PM EST for a session "On Making" featuring @amandalicastro.bsky.social and @jajrk.bsky.social. Free and open to the public. Registration and more info here - cal.lib.virginia.edu/event/14229798
Snack-Sized Digital Pedagogy: Jajwalya Karajgikar and Amanda Licastro
It’s important to maintain a balanced teaching diet! This free and open-to-the-public zoom series on digital pedagogy features paired lightning talks introducing teaching topics, i...
cal.lib.virginia.edu
February 27, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Second snack-sized digital pedagogy event coming up! Mark calendars for Friday, April 4th from 1:00-2:00PM EST for a session "On Making" featuring @amandalicastro.bsky.social and @jajrk.bsky.social. Free and open to the public. Registration and more info here - cal.lib.virginia.edu/event/14229798
Reposted by Jessica Roberson
This is just the beginning. Cis people, contact your reps. Do not fucking reply to my trans ass right now to tell me why you can't or won't do this one goddamned thing for trans people, just contact your Representative.
Nancy Mace has introduced a federal bathroom ban which would ban trans people from bathrooms in DCA and Dulles airports, national park bathrooms, museum bathrooms, and all federal building bathrooms.
November 20, 2024 at 10:36 PM
This is just the beginning. Cis people, contact your reps. Do not fucking reply to my trans ass right now to tell me why you can't or won't do this one goddamned thing for trans people, just contact your Representative.
Reposted by Jessica Roberson
When insulin was first patented in 1923, the discoverers declined to put their names on it as they felt that insulin belonged to the public.
101 years later, insulin is inaccessible to thousands of Americans because of price gouging by near-monopoly private insurance corporations and their PBMs.
101 years later, insulin is inaccessible to thousands of Americans because of price gouging by near-monopoly private insurance corporations and their PBMs.
BREAKING: CVS Health, UnitedHealth Group and Cigna are suing the Federal Trade Commission, claiming that the agency going after drug middlemen over high insulin prices is unconstitutional.
November 20, 2024 at 10:03 PM
When insulin was first patented in 1923, the discoverers declined to put their names on it as they felt that insulin belonged to the public.
101 years later, insulin is inaccessible to thousands of Americans because of price gouging by near-monopoly private insurance corporations and their PBMs.
101 years later, insulin is inaccessible to thousands of Americans because of price gouging by near-monopoly private insurance corporations and their PBMs.
Reposted by Jessica Roberson
As a person who can be forgetful but who also wants to uphold disability justice whenever I can, I wanted to share how you can change your settings so that Bluesky won’t allow you to post until all your images have alt text. Alt text doesn’t have to be a big ordeal!
November 17, 2024 at 4:02 PM
As a person who can be forgetful but who also wants to uphold disability justice whenever I can, I wanted to share how you can change your settings so that Bluesky won’t allow you to post until all your images have alt text. Alt text doesn’t have to be a big ordeal!
Reposted by Jessica Roberson
A new open-access journal, Public Humanities, has launched. I'm proud to have a piece in the inaugural "Manifesto" issue, on "The Necessity of Public Writing." I hope academo-friends will read, circulate, propose, and submit. doi.org/10.1017/pub....
November 15, 2024 at 4:36 PM
A new open-access journal, Public Humanities, has launched. I'm proud to have a piece in the inaugural "Manifesto" issue, on "The Necessity of Public Writing." I hope academo-friends will read, circulate, propose, and submit. doi.org/10.1017/pub....
Set up an impromptu 'Little Free Zine Library' using my office door's defunct old-school mailbox. If anyone has resources for diverse printable zines to stock it with I would love links!
November 12, 2024 at 5:36 PM
Set up an impromptu 'Little Free Zine Library' using my office door's defunct old-school mailbox. If anyone has resources for diverse printable zines to stock it with I would love links!
Reposted by Jessica Roberson
Hey new users— we’ve been trying to build a strong culture of expecting alt text. Take it from me, because I’ve heard from them: there are blind people on this app and they appreciate being included. You can also turn on a setting that prevents you from posting images without it, if you forget
November 11, 2024 at 4:20 AM
Hey new users— we’ve been trying to build a strong culture of expecting alt text. Take it from me, because I’ve heard from them: there are blind people on this app and they appreciate being included. You can also turn on a setting that prevents you from posting images without it, if you forget