Matthew Ferrence
@canappalachia.bsky.social
Author of *I Hate It Here, Please Vote For Me* from WVU Press. Also *Appalachia North* and *All-American Redneck.* Jazz also happens.
Take your pick for a 60 mile trip in rural PA: walk it or take public transport. Same diff.
November 16, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Take your pick for a 60 mile trip in rural PA: walk it or take public transport. Same diff.
It has taken me a full year after the *publication* of my last book (so, closer to 1.5 yrs after revisions were done) to recover my writing muscles enough to start again. Don’t know if that’s laziness, new interests, middle age, day job issues, or appropriate cycles of fallow restfulness.
November 8, 2025 at 3:13 PM
It has taken me a full year after the *publication* of my last book (so, closer to 1.5 yrs after revisions were done) to recover my writing muscles enough to start again. Don’t know if that’s laziness, new interests, middle age, day job issues, or appropriate cycles of fallow restfulness.
Morning oversimplification: more or less every "rule" of writing reduces to "make good sentences and it will work."
October 9, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Morning oversimplification: more or less every "rule" of writing reduces to "make good sentences and it will work."
Reposted by Matthew Ferrence
We should collectively put Ed tech out of business
October 8, 2025 at 10:03 PM
We should collectively put Ed tech out of business
I do enjoy when an office messes up your appointment time, and then acts like you're the biggest a#@+-$ in the world when you show up at the time they told you to show up.
October 3, 2025 at 2:00 PM
I do enjoy when an office messes up your appointment time, and then acts like you're the biggest a#@+-$ in the world when you show up at the time they told you to show up.
Looks like pizza on the lawn, but is a cool fungi #ganoderma #mushroom
September 23, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Looks like pizza on the lawn, but is a cool fungi #ganoderma #mushroom
Reposted by Matthew Ferrence
made a giant mushroom
September 22, 2025 at 12:38 AM
made a giant mushroom
Just, y'know, thinking about how physical media like paper books are stable artifacts that can't be deleted or changed mysteriously overnight. And can be shared easily in non data-tracked ways. And are also fun and enjoyable to simply hold.
September 18, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Just, y'know, thinking about how physical media like paper books are stable artifacts that can't be deleted or changed mysteriously overnight. And can be shared easily in non data-tracked ways. And are also fun and enjoyable to simply hold.
Pre-semester thoughts on AI, freedom, and the human self ,as the tech is being deployed to wipe out the most human of activities (creativity, deep thinking) in the service of mechanistic profit-mongering.
TL;DR f* AI
TL;DR f* AI
August 19, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Pre-semester thoughts on AI, freedom, and the human self ,as the tech is being deployed to wipe out the most human of activities (creativity, deep thinking) in the service of mechanistic profit-mongering.
TL;DR f* AI
TL;DR f* AI
Late summer sound in Northern Appalachia.
August 17, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Late summer sound in Northern Appalachia.
A few years ago I - a rural person - threw caution to the wind and took the DC metro alone, late at night. It was wild. I walked to the station. Got on the train. Road it to where I wanted to go. Then I got off and walked to my hotel. Wild, I tell you.
August 15, 2025 at 4:04 AM
A few years ago I - a rural person - threw caution to the wind and took the DC metro alone, late at night. It was wild. I walked to the station. Got on the train. Road it to where I wanted to go. Then I got off and walked to my hotel. Wild, I tell you.
Reposted by Matthew Ferrence
I Hate It Here, Please Vote For Me received a wonderful review in the Appalachian Journal!!
Ferrence’s experience and commentary on the current polarizing political landscape feels particularly relevant, and Josh Howard agrees. Read the rest in the Summer 2025 issue.
#politics #politicalbook #gop
Ferrence’s experience and commentary on the current polarizing political landscape feels particularly relevant, and Josh Howard agrees. Read the rest in the Summer 2025 issue.
#politics #politicalbook #gop
August 11, 2025 at 4:06 PM
I Hate It Here, Please Vote For Me received a wonderful review in the Appalachian Journal!!
Ferrence’s experience and commentary on the current polarizing political landscape feels particularly relevant, and Josh Howard agrees. Read the rest in the Summer 2025 issue.
#politics #politicalbook #gop
Ferrence’s experience and commentary on the current polarizing political landscape feels particularly relevant, and Josh Howard agrees. Read the rest in the Summer 2025 issue.
#politics #politicalbook #gop
Reposted by Matthew Ferrence
🗃️ Submission to “Student AI use is inevitable so let’s lean into it” BY HISTORIANS is confounding. Thought we all knew about contingency: nothing is inevitable, the past, present, or future. AI is not a foregone conclusion. As present day historical actors, we can make choices, incl not using AI.
August 5, 2025 at 6:48 PM
🗃️ Submission to “Student AI use is inevitable so let’s lean into it” BY HISTORIANS is confounding. Thought we all knew about contingency: nothing is inevitable, the past, present, or future. AI is not a foregone conclusion. As present day historical actors, we can make choices, incl not using AI.
And now, creepy emails dropping book specifics with that uncanny AI twang, “just to thank me” for writing my last one. And, oh, if I’m interested they could send me a marketing plan to boost my online presence.
July 25, 2025 at 12:07 PM
And now, creepy emails dropping book specifics with that uncanny AI twang, “just to thank me” for writing my last one. And, oh, if I’m interested they could send me a marketing plan to boost my online presence.
Reposted by Matthew Ferrence
Canvas just became one of the most powerful surveillance, IP theft, & data monetization tools in the world.
OpenAI bought a user-base locked in to long-term contracts.
But they can’t make us use their trashware.
Boycott. Luddify. Open source.
Don’t let them have your work or your students.
OpenAI bought a user-base locked in to long-term contracts.
But they can’t make us use their trashware.
Boycott. Luddify. Open source.
Don’t let them have your work or your students.
July 24, 2025 at 1:24 AM
Canvas just became one of the most powerful surveillance, IP theft, & data monetization tools in the world.
OpenAI bought a user-base locked in to long-term contracts.
But they can’t make us use their trashware.
Boycott. Luddify. Open source.
Don’t let them have your work or your students.
OpenAI bought a user-base locked in to long-term contracts.
But they can’t make us use their trashware.
Boycott. Luddify. Open source.
Don’t let them have your work or your students.
Pitching a think piece: I mean, yeah, it looks bad, but you gotta remember Obama wore a tan suit once
July 23, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Pitching a think piece: I mean, yeah, it looks bad, but you gotta remember Obama wore a tan suit once
Reposted by Matthew Ferrence
Zoë Gadegbeku presented at the African Book Festival in Berlin this past weekend!
She sat on various panels and read from Blue Futures, Break Open, which was released In March!
A few clips from her presentations can be viewed on our Instagram.
Congratulations Zoë!! 🌊🌊
She sat on various panels and read from Blue Futures, Break Open, which was released In March!
A few clips from her presentations can be viewed on our Instagram.
Congratulations Zoë!! 🌊🌊
July 23, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Zoë Gadegbeku presented at the African Book Festival in Berlin this past weekend!
She sat on various panels and read from Blue Futures, Break Open, which was released In March!
A few clips from her presentations can be viewed on our Instagram.
Congratulations Zoë!! 🌊🌊
She sat on various panels and read from Blue Futures, Break Open, which was released In March!
A few clips from her presentations can be viewed on our Instagram.
Congratulations Zoë!! 🌊🌊
Reposted by Matthew Ferrence
Crime Ink: Iconic—our new queer crime fiction anthology—is packed with stories inspired by legends like Baldwin, Wilde & Rapinoe. Blurbs from S.A. Cosby, Megan Abbott, & Lisa Gardner. Want an ARC? Msg me! Preorder: johncope.squarespace.com/order-crime-... #CrimeInk #QueerCrimeFiction
July 10, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Crime Ink: Iconic—our new queer crime fiction anthology—is packed with stories inspired by legends like Baldwin, Wilde & Rapinoe. Blurbs from S.A. Cosby, Megan Abbott, & Lisa Gardner. Want an ARC? Msg me! Preorder: johncope.squarespace.com/order-crime-... #CrimeInk #QueerCrimeFiction
On jetting sewers and the BBB's promises to rural America: observer.co.uk/news/opinion...
I live where the Rust Belt meets Appalachia and fear yet ...
In north-west Pennsylvania, the Maga agenda puts lives and livelihoods at risk
observer.co.uk
July 6, 2025 at 1:58 PM
On jetting sewers and the BBB's promises to rural America: observer.co.uk/news/opinion...
Reposted by Matthew Ferrence
Considering the books we publish are actively being stolen to train LLMs, I think we technically count as helping AI and should still get our $25k lol
Really hard to say what the worst part of this NEA grant termination letter is (sent at 10pm on a Friday!) but I think it's finding out the federal government's priority for arts funds is now "fostering AI competency" rather than funding literature.
May 3, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Considering the books we publish are actively being stolen to train LLMs, I think we technically count as helping AI and should still get our $25k lol
Reposted by Matthew Ferrence
Many of the same American Catholics who complain that we are under persecution at the hands of "woke" secular powers are now silent or even chuckling along as the president makes a mockery of the death of the pope and the coming conclave.
May 3, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Many of the same American Catholics who complain that we are under persecution at the hands of "woke" secular powers are now silent or even chuckling along as the president makes a mockery of the death of the pope and the coming conclave.