Amy Pistone
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apistone.bsky.social
Amy Pistone
@apistone.bsky.social
1.9K followers 2.9K following 290 posts
Classicist who works on agonistic things (tragedy, sports, drinking games), professor, enthusiast of sports and trash pop culture, feminist, dog owner

She/her
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apistone.bsky.social
Absolute s-tier hating here to write an obituary for a bad person that you know will outlive you so that you can make sure they don't get the hagiography treatment once they're gone. And hoo boy, Watson's racism sure needs to be mentioned in the same breath as co-discovering DNA's structure
brittanytrang.com Brittany Trang @brittanytrang.com · 3d
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.

Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."

Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:12 AM
apistone.bsky.social
Always super fun to get to chat with you, @antiquitypod.bsky.social!!
October 27, 2025 at 5:19 AM
Reposted by Amy Pistone
antiquitypod.bsky.social
New website, new podcast episode and new post at the site! Our friend @apistone.bsky.social stopped by for a wide-ranging talk about higher ed, ancient Greek drinking habits and Odysseus. I hope you enjoy it!
classicalantiquitypod.com/2025/10/25/s...
Sidequest 26 – Drinking in Ancient Greece with Dr. Amy Pistone
Our friend Amy Pistone returns to the podcast to educate us on drinking habits in Ancient Greece. During this episode, we’ll hear about the current climate in higher education and discuss the…
classicalantiquitypod.com
October 25, 2025 at 3:05 PM
apistone.bsky.social
Y'all, my colleagues are so fun! Last week classics, history, and religious studies celebrated the start of spooky season with a historical seance

We played the ghosts of Sappho and Julius Caesar and joined our colleagues, Stalin, Teddy Roosevelt, Saint Lucy, Maggie Fox, and Otto von Bismark.
October 27, 2025 at 5:12 AM
apistone.bsky.social
😍😍😍😍
harpua.bsky.social Bulldog @harpua.bsky.social · 20d
Ursula Le Guin's 1999 letter to Michael Powell, the owner of Powell's Books in Portland. Powell's workers unionized in 2000 and have faced some union-busting measures since, but were the first contract in ILWU Local 5.
Ursula Le Guin letter to the owner of Powell's Books in 1999 where she says it would be an honor to know that it's a union shop.
October 22, 2025 at 10:47 PM
apistone.bsky.social
Yet again, the cursed monkey paw strikes classicists who idly wished for more contemporary relevance . . .

www.npr.org/2025/10/16/n...
President Trump envisions D.C. arch to mark 250th anniversary of U.S.
On Wednesday, the president showcased models for a grand new monument to be added to the gateway of the National Mall: a large, neoclassical arch topped with eagles and a gilded, winged figure.
www.npr.org
October 16, 2025 at 10:14 PM
apistone.bsky.social
GO BEAAAAARRRSSSSS!!
rincewind.run Micah @rincewind.run · Oct 4
my wife is a Cal fan and apparently this week they’re putting a “59” on their football helmets to honor the 59 Nobel laureates tied to Cal in order to flex on Duke

this is maybe my favorite dunk anyone has ever done on Duke
October 5, 2025 at 2:50 AM
apistone.bsky.social
Minoan octopus fit, courtesy of @greekmythcomix.bsky.social!
Picture of me reading at a podium with a sweater with a Minoan octopus design on it in black figure style
October 4, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Reposted by Amy Pistone
ellenleephd.bsky.social
As Hoo-dith Butler always says, gender is perfor-molt-ive
October 3, 2025 at 10:14 PM
apistone.bsky.social
Today is Gonzaga's Homerathon (ft. Virgil)! Sorry in advance for all the Aeneid content that I'm going to be churning out today, since I have 12ish hours of marinating in the Aeneid and I need SOMEWHERE to share all my dumbest, weirdest reflections...
Selfie of me wearing a shirt with a black figure pot print and my colleague, Dave Oosterhuis, wearing a Mundus Sine Caesaribus shirt
October 3, 2025 at 6:41 PM
apistone.bsky.social
😂
merriam-webster.com Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · Oct 1
We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.
October 1, 2025 at 4:07 PM
apistone.bsky.social
Very excited to be part of a panel talk-back after a screening of this documentary tomorrow -- this will be an exciting opportunity to have a conversation among Classics, Religious Studies, and our LGBTQ+ center!
September 16, 2025 at 1:26 AM
apistone.bsky.social
My review of @sarahebond.bsky.social's latest book, Strike, just came out in the Classical Journal! It was a pleasure to read and review and I really hope everyone will check it out!
CJ-Online -- 2025.09.02 Strike: Labor, Unions, and Resistance in the Roman Empire. By SARAH E. BOND. Yale University Press, 2025. Pp. 272. Hardcover, $35.00. ISBN 978-0-300-27314-4. Reviewed by Amy Pistone, Gonzaga University (pistone@gonzaga.edu) Bond offers a compelling historical account and a provocative claim: the histories we tell about labor organizing ought to start earlier than the medieval guild system or the industrial revolution. Her argument is persuasive and she effectively balances careful historical analysis with invitations to draw connections between ancient and modern labor, a theme well served by her strategic use of modern terminology. For example, Bond’s decision to describe manual laborers as “essential workers” (37) is at once jarring in its apparent anachronism and also very effective at prompting the reader to consider parallels between ancient craftspeople and modern workers during the COVID-19 crisis. With Strike, Bond carries the banner for unapologetically political scholarly analysis. In a way, critical engagement with this book—a book which will inevitably receive criticism in some circles for politicizing ancient history (horribile dictu!)—forces the reader to grapple with whether apolitical history is possible, particularly on topics like labor and collective action. A great strength of this work is Bond’s transparency about the methodological challenges of a history like this: the dearth of sources and elite biases in the sources that do survive. Bond is transparent and regularly returns to the question of how to deal with scant and fragmentary sources. Further questions arise with mythohistorical sources and determining what we can learn about material realities from legends about an imagined past. Rather than debate the historicity of, say, Livy’s account of the Struggle of the Orders, she instead highlights how we can excavate Livy for a sense of what Romans might have considered the “imaginable types of popular resistance and collective action” (22). Ultimately, articulating and expanding “the imaginable” is precisely the role that Strike plays more generally, asking us to reconsider how we interpret ancient sources and to cultivate more capacious historical imaginations. Scholars of the ancient world will know that we constantly imagine what the past might look like when we connect the dots of incomplete sources. Often, contemporary political circumstances narrow our sense of the possible or we unconsciously replicate the lines of inquiry found in the scholarship that shaped us. What Bond offers in this work is a welcome invitation to dream a little bigger. To be clear, she also offers a detailed examination of Roman history through the lens of labor, and it would be an injustice to her to elide the thorough yet accessible scholarship just because this reviewer wants to wax poetic about historical imaginations. Strike is organized into seven chapters (plus an introduction and conclusion) that are mostly chronological in their treatment of Roman history, though each period is also approached through thematic lenses. The first chapter deals with early Roman history and offers a reading of stories found in sources like Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus that is attentive to class conflict. Chapter Two looks at the Late Re… Chapter Three, on the fall of the Republic, takes freedom of assembly as its theme. We see how elite anxieties and suspicions about large assemblies are balanced against the realization (most notably, by Caesar) that large groups of lower-class people could also be an effective source of power. Chapter Four develops these themes, looking at how Augustus co-opted and promoted associations that benefited him, even as associations of entertainers and religious groups found themselves in more tenuous positions across the Empire. Chapter Five, about the Imperial Period, focuses on the ongoing power negotiations between workers and the state, particularly in Asia Minor where associations often flourished and work stoppages among coloni were frequent. Chapter Six focuses on Late Antiquity, the rising problem of compulsory labor, and an increase in surveillance, all done under the guise of “anticorruption.” I found that some of her interpretations, including the effect of reforms around coinage, lacked the evidence to be completely persuasive, but her speculations raise interesting questions about the evidence that does exist. Finally, as an avid sports fan, I devoured the final chapter’s analysis of athletic factions and the role the arena and spectacles play in mediating social and political relationships. Space precludes thorough treatment of all the themes of this book. Bond offers an accessible survey of Roman history that decenters the upper classes and instead looks for the experience of both free and enslaved labor within the changing political landscape of the Roman Empire. I see so much potential to use this book in a classroom context, where it would serve as a helpful tool for introducing source criticism, historiography, methodologies for engaging with fragmentary sources, and the uses and limits of comparisons between the ancient and modern world. The open, readable style makes this book suitable for advanced high school students, classics majors and non…
September 15, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Reposted by Amy Pistone
ellenleephd.bsky.social
YESSS
AI policy for Speculum: The use of generative AI to write any part of an article’s text or notes or to generate ideas is strictly prohibited. AI cannot be considered an author of submitted works, as AI tools cannot take ethical or legal responsibility for their output or enter into legal agreements. If prohibited AI use is discovered even after an article has been accepted, the article will not be published and the offense will be treated as plagiarism. Authors must fully disclose and cite their use of any content created by AI tools in their manuscripts at the time of submission. This includes data, images, figures, or any other type of content. Authors must accept full responsibility for the accuracy, originality, and citation of content created using generative AI systems, including factual and citation accuracy. Software that assists with grammar, spelling, or translation of your own words is not considered generative AI and doesn’t require disclosure.
September 2, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Reposted by Amy Pistone
duniagamemaster.bsky.social
It's Minnesota State Fair time! It's time for Minnesotan folk art! Here, for example, is Saturn Devouring His Corn, in the seed art category!
August 25, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by Amy Pistone
timothysnyder.bsky.social
This is horrible. Attacks on the humanities are another way to destroy our future. Now is when we need the humanities the most.
sarasilverstein.bsky.social Sara Silverstein @sarasilverstein.bsky.social · Aug 22
Arabic Studies, Holocaust Studies, Russian, Eastern European & Eurasian Studies, Religion, & more—decimating the humanities destroys our ability to understand the world, act in it, and envision a future. Blue states are complicit in this destruction of scholarship and teaching
@uoregon.bsky.social
"I've now been allowed and asked to share more details about what's going down at the University of Oregon, which involves imminent announcement of firings, among others, of tenure-track and tenured faculty. Given the units impacted (see below), please share this with your professional networks in related disciplines and start getting ready to put pressure (or begin putting pressure already) on the University of Oregon upper admin to abandon this alleged plan before they finalize it. It appears that, with no prior consultations, the departments of Religion and Classics (two separate units), and the programs in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, German & Scandinavian, Judaic Studies, Arabic Studies, and Holocaust Studies (the latter five all parts of a previously- consolidated mega unit called the Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages) are facing imminent announcement of elimination (expected the week of Sept 7), with layoffs of pre-tenure, tenured, and career faculty in these units. The reason given is "financial exigency" -- upper administrations of several universities across the country (and in blue states like Oregon also) appear to be giddy to use the context of Trump attacks on higher ed to dismantle the humanities. Faculty at OU won a faculty union not long ago; this may be, in part, a retaliation for that, l've been told. The union is working with AAUP, etc.; my understanding is that the maximum spotlight is needed at this point."
August 23, 2025 at 7:44 PM
apistone.bsky.social
Um EXCUSE ME???
One of the most notable tools is the AI grader agent, which Grammarly says can provide feedback based on uploaded course details and “publicly available” information about the instructor. The bot can give tailored writing recommendations and estimate what grade the paper will receive in its current state, helping students make improvements prior to submission.
August 20, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Reposted by Amy Pistone
perrybaconjr.bsky.social
Yes. Once you start seeing this (Institution X probably wanted do this conservative thing anyway but now can blame it on Trump), it's everywhere. It's not capitulation, it's agreement. "We can stop doing this thing we started doing from 2014-2020 because of woke/progressive/anti-racist pressure."
August 15, 2025 at 12:45 PM
apistone.bsky.social
THIS IS PERFECT I WILL BUY 200 ITEMS OF CLOTHING FOR A TEAM THAT ISN'T EVEN MY TEAM AS SOON AS I HAVE THE OPTION
August 9, 2025 at 11:53 PM
apistone.bsky.social
Well that escalated quickly
Selfie of me with an absolute armload of books outside the bookstore
August 7, 2025 at 8:25 PM
apistone.bsky.social
Tomorrow! Join me and @ellenleephd.bsky.social for an animated conversation with great people!
womensclasscaucus.bsky.social Women's Classical Caucus @womensclasscaucus.bsky.social · Jul 21
The WCC invites you to the workshop, An AI Workshop for People Who Hate AI, facilitated by @ellenleephd.bsky.social and @apistone.bsky.social

Thursday, August 7, 2025 - 1-3 PM ET
Register here! www.wccclassics.org/events/wcc-p...
An AI Workshop for People Who Hate AI A Women’s Classical Caucus pedagogy workshop Have you been reluctant to learn much about AI? Do you find it to be an unethical tool with catastrophic environmental impacts, a plagiarism machine with a disregard for intellectual property, and an active hindrance to deep learning? Same! Join Dr. Amy Pistone and Dr. Ellen Lee for a workshop about managing the role of AI in the classroom and facilitating meaningful learning in a world of ChatGPT and other AI tools that are often seen as ways to avoid the challenging and time-consuming process of engaging with difficult material. Thursday, August 7, 2025, 1pm ET (on Zoom) Register now! www.wccclassics.org/events
August 6, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Reposted by Amy Pistone
ellenleephd.bsky.social
Our AI Workshop for People Who Hate AI is tomorrow!!! I promise @apistone.bsky.social and I won't spend *too much* time ranting about the AHA's new guidelines. Don't forget to register! #TeachAncient
womensclasscaucus.bsky.social Women's Classical Caucus @womensclasscaucus.bsky.social · Jul 21
The WCC invites you to the workshop, An AI Workshop for People Who Hate AI, facilitated by @ellenleephd.bsky.social and @apistone.bsky.social

Thursday, August 7, 2025 - 1-3 PM ET
Register here! www.wccclassics.org/events/wcc-p...
An AI Workshop for People Who Hate AI A Women’s Classical Caucus pedagogy workshop Have you been reluctant to learn much about AI? Do you find it to be an unethical tool with catastrophic environmental impacts, a plagiarism machine with a disregard for intellectual property, and an active hindrance to deep learning? Same! Join Dr. Amy Pistone and Dr. Ellen Lee for a workshop about managing the role of AI in the classroom and facilitating meaningful learning in a world of ChatGPT and other AI tools that are often seen as ways to avoid the challenging and time-consuming process of engaging with difficult material. Thursday, August 7, 2025, 1pm ET (on Zoom) Register now! www.wccclassics.org/events
August 6, 2025 at 3:25 PM
apistone.bsky.social
Y'ALL, ZOE IS A DOCTOR NOW!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎈🎈🎉🎉🎈🎉🎊🎊🎊🎉🎉
archaeadne.bsky.social Dr. Zoé Elise Thomas @archaeadne.bsky.social · Jul 30
Seven years, one lawsuit, one global pandemic, and many many good and bad days later, I’m happy to share that I passed my dissertation defense (with revisions), and will be joining the faculty at Millsaps College in a few short weeks as a visiting assistant professor! 🎉
July 30, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Reposted by Amy Pistone
amchristensen.bsky.social
Re last re-skeet. Anyone have a rec for a good undergrad reading on use (pros and cons) of reconstructions in teaching ancient cultures? Preferably Greek/Roman but anything would be great.

Been thinking more about this since I started teaching video games and antiquity purse.
July 29, 2025 at 5:03 PM