Cara Marta Messina
@caramartamessina.com
💖Assistant prof of English
💜fan studies & digital rhetoric
💙keeper of Team Rhetoric feed
💖Alliance for Refusing Generative AI Discord https://discord.gg/fPpdr2fkBp
💜writing a book on fanfiction
💙”your silence will not protect you “
💜fan studies & digital rhetoric
💙keeper of Team Rhetoric feed
💖Alliance for Refusing Generative AI Discord https://discord.gg/fPpdr2fkBp
💜writing a book on fanfiction
💙”your silence will not protect you “
Pinned
Cara Marta Messina
@caramartamessina.com
· Nov 11
Team Rhetoric & Composition Bluesky Feed
Find all the rhetoric, composition, and writing studies scholars in the vast blue sky. Fill out the form to be added to the feed. And make sure to follow the Team Rhetoric feed to see what everyone is...
bit.ly
Join the Team Rhetoric feed! Like and pin it to your main feeds. And fill out this form to be added to the feed: bit.ly/bsky-rhetoric
Find the Rhetoric & Writing Studies starter pack by @katjathieme.bsky.social at go.bsky.app/SCyxbJN
Find the Rhetoric & Writing Studies starter pack by @katjathieme.bsky.social at go.bsky.app/SCyxbJN
Reposted by Cara Marta Messina
I mean we are absolutely in a place now where the only solution to this information disorder is for everyone to constantly evaluate the source of information. Never trust a chatbot, but also don't believe a video unless you know and trust where it comes from.
Unfortunately... that's a lot of work.
Unfortunately... that's a lot of work.
December 5, 2025 at 11:18 PM
I mean we are absolutely in a place now where the only solution to this information disorder is for everyone to constantly evaluate the source of information. Never trust a chatbot, but also don't believe a video unless you know and trust where it comes from.
Unfortunately... that's a lot of work.
Unfortunately... that's a lot of work.
Reposted by Cara Marta Messina
Here's the reality this example illustrates:
It's not even just about people blindly trusting what ChatGPT tells them. LLMs are poisoning the entire information ecosystem. You can't even necessarily trust that the citations in a published paper are real (or a search engine's descriptions of them).
It's not even just about people blindly trusting what ChatGPT tells them. LLMs are poisoning the entire information ecosystem. You can't even necessarily trust that the citations in a published paper are real (or a search engine's descriptions of them).
December 5, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Here's the reality this example illustrates:
It's not even just about people blindly trusting what ChatGPT tells them. LLMs are poisoning the entire information ecosystem. You can't even necessarily trust that the citations in a published paper are real (or a search engine's descriptions of them).
It's not even just about people blindly trusting what ChatGPT tells them. LLMs are poisoning the entire information ecosystem. You can't even necessarily trust that the citations in a published paper are real (or a search engine's descriptions of them).
Reposted by Cara Marta Messina
“School officials have created a Microsoft Copilot prompt to review course descriptions with an eye toward avoiding ‘advocacy-oriented or prescriptive terms.’”
Terms: “dismantling, decolonizing, interrogating, challenging, centering, combating, liberation, resistance, activism, justice oriented”
Terms: “dismantling, decolonizing, interrogating, challenging, centering, combating, liberation, resistance, activism, justice oriented”
To Root Out Wokeness in the Course Catalog, This Texas University Is Turning to AI
“The AI was upset with my use of the phrase ‘women's rights movement.’”
www.texasmonthly.com
December 6, 2025 at 2:42 PM
“School officials have created a Microsoft Copilot prompt to review course descriptions with an eye toward avoiding ‘advocacy-oriented or prescriptive terms.’”
Terms: “dismantling, decolonizing, interrogating, challenging, centering, combating, liberation, resistance, activism, justice oriented”
Terms: “dismantling, decolonizing, interrogating, challenging, centering, combating, liberation, resistance, activism, justice oriented”
Reposted by Cara Marta Messina
I ended up drafting an email that didn't really lean on research specific to grade school education, but expressed my concerns in the most basic terms.
I removed the personal details and have shared it as a template here for folks who might find it useful:
bit.ly/TeacherEmail...
I removed the personal details and have shared it as a template here for folks who might find it useful:
bit.ly/TeacherEmail...
![Dear [TEACHER],
I want to make sure we're on the same page for the rest of the year, because I was surprised and disappointed to hear that you uploaded student projects to ChatGPT.
We have always found [SCHOOL] to be a place that encourages students to express themselves creatively, to be responsible and aware of how their actions affect others, and to be intellectually honest – doing their own work, rather than copying from others.
I know ChatGPT has been heavily marketed as an educational tool, but everything about it is the opposite of those values. AI tools are built by training models on stolen work. They have huge and terrible environmental costs, because their data centers generate enormous amounts of pollution and are cooled with drinking water. They're also incredibly dangerous: tools like ChatGPT have taught children how to start fires and even encouraged them to commit suicide.
And in a classroom setting, it teaches students that a machine can express their ideas better than they can. I told [ CHILD ] I was interested in seeing what they had to draw, and my heart sank when they told me "but I can't draw that pretty." Children deserve to draw what they imagine.
These environmental, ethical, and pedagogical concerns are why I don't want [ CHILD ] to use AI tools (or for you to use them on their behalf). For the same reasons, I respectfully ask that you stop using them in your classroom.
If you do plan to use AI this year, please send home a permission slip requesting consent. There are important privacy concerns when you upload student work into a for-profit service like ChatGPT.
Thank you,
[ PARENT ]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:c2xl6zaxo623jzbjb43urymd/bafkreiesldew7oebm4hg2gymd4cftvwmrpbdw6m7eil2buiphw7db4ror4@jpeg)
December 2, 2025 at 4:39 PM
I ended up drafting an email that didn't really lean on research specific to grade school education, but expressed my concerns in the most basic terms.
I removed the personal details and have shared it as a template here for folks who might find it useful:
bit.ly/TeacherEmail...
I removed the personal details and have shared it as a template here for folks who might find it useful:
bit.ly/TeacherEmail...
Reposted by Cara Marta Messina
"the issue isn’t that we need more 'boy-friendly' reforms. It’s that boys are socialized to compete only with boys and to read girls’ success as illegitimate or emasculating. The result is dissonance, resentment, and disengagement for boys—and hostile climates for girls."
time.com/7335723/auto...
time.com/7335723/auto...
The Real Way Schools are Failing Boys
“If we really want boys to succeed, we need to ensure that they know how to both beat—and lose— to girls."
time.com
December 2, 2025 at 11:21 AM
"the issue isn’t that we need more 'boy-friendly' reforms. It’s that boys are socialized to compete only with boys and to read girls’ success as illegitimate or emasculating. The result is dissonance, resentment, and disengagement for boys—and hostile climates for girls."
time.com/7335723/auto...
time.com/7335723/auto...
Reposted by Cara Marta Messina
I'm so unbelievably proud to be part of this committee and able to contribute to this work on responding to GenAI in college writing classrooms.
The CCCC Special Committee on Generative AI in College Composition & Writing Studies is pleased to share two docs that have been in the works since this past summer:
Academic Integrity, Plagiarism, & Generative AI: Guidelines for Postsecondary Writing Teachers docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Academic Integrity, Plagiarism, & Generative AI: Guidelines for Postsecondary Writing Teachers docs.google.com/document/d/1...
December 1, 2025 at 9:00 PM
I'm so unbelievably proud to be part of this committee and able to contribute to this work on responding to GenAI in college writing classrooms.
Reposted by Cara Marta Messina
The CCCC Special Committee on Generative AI in College Composition & Writing Studies is pleased to share two docs that have been in the works since this past summer:
Academic Integrity, Plagiarism, & Generative AI: Guidelines for Postsecondary Writing Teachers docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Academic Integrity, Plagiarism, & Generative AI: Guidelines for Postsecondary Writing Teachers docs.google.com/document/d/1...
December 1, 2025 at 8:55 PM
The CCCC Special Committee on Generative AI in College Composition & Writing Studies is pleased to share two docs that have been in the works since this past summer:
Academic Integrity, Plagiarism, & Generative AI: Guidelines for Postsecondary Writing Teachers docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Academic Integrity, Plagiarism, & Generative AI: Guidelines for Postsecondary Writing Teachers docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Reposted by Cara Marta Messina
This is just my opinion, but I don't think departments need to change their strategy for reading or grading student work.
Departments need a strategy for responding to harassment and attacks.
Departments need a strategy for responding to harassment and attacks.
December 1, 2025 at 8:23 PM
This is just my opinion, but I don't think departments need to change their strategy for reading or grading student work.
Departments need a strategy for responding to harassment and attacks.
Departments need a strategy for responding to harassment and attacks.
Reposted by Cara Marta Messina
Regret to report that there has been another good linkedin post
November 22, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Regret to report that there has been another good linkedin post
Reposted by Cara Marta Messina
A little belatedly sharing this piece that I published in @chronicle.com 's Opinion Forum (sorry full text is paywalled)
www.chronicle.com/article/how-...
www.chronicle.com/article/how-...
November 20, 2025 at 12:46 AM
A little belatedly sharing this piece that I published in @chronicle.com 's Opinion Forum (sorry full text is paywalled)
www.chronicle.com/article/how-...
www.chronicle.com/article/how-...
An incredible, must-read piece! “Whether end products created by AI hold legitimate creative value is, in our view, irrelevant here; our concern is with systems of power and their relationship to fan cultures.”
November 19, 2025 at 2:41 PM
An incredible, must-read piece! “Whether end products created by AI hold legitimate creative value is, in our view, irrelevant here; our concern is with systems of power and their relationship to fan cultures.”
Reposted by Cara Marta Messina
No surprise: “AI peer reviewers recommend the acceptance of unsound papers created entirely by AI more than 80% of the time, a new study has found.”
Surprise: the article still tries to spin it positive for “human-AI collaboration.”
People, please draw the correct conclusion.
Surprise: the article still tries to spin it positive for “human-AI collaboration.”
People, please draw the correct conclusion.
AI peer reviewers are fine with AI-fabricated papers
Study finds artificial intelligence reviewers accept AI-generated scientific studies 4 out of 5 times
cen.acs.org
November 14, 2025 at 12:23 AM
No surprise: “AI peer reviewers recommend the acceptance of unsound papers created entirely by AI more than 80% of the time, a new study has found.”
Surprise: the article still tries to spin it positive for “human-AI collaboration.”
People, please draw the correct conclusion.
Surprise: the article still tries to spin it positive for “human-AI collaboration.”
People, please draw the correct conclusion.
Reposted by Cara Marta Messina
A new post on Refusing GenAI in Writing Studies from @jsanofranchini.bsky.social, @rcmeg.bsky.social, and me: "A Year of Refusal"
refusinggenai.wordpress.com/2025/11/12/a...
refusinggenai.wordpress.com/2025/11/12/a...
A Year of Refusal
Maggie Fernandes, University of ArkansasMegan McIntyre, University of ArkansasJennifer Sano-Franchini, West Virginia University Photo by Francis Glenn Marciano on Pexels.com It’s been about a year …
refusinggenai.wordpress.com
November 12, 2025 at 4:56 PM
A new post on Refusing GenAI in Writing Studies from @jsanofranchini.bsky.social, @rcmeg.bsky.social, and me: "A Year of Refusal"
refusinggenai.wordpress.com/2025/11/12/a...
refusinggenai.wordpress.com/2025/11/12/a...
Reposted by Cara Marta Messina
As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history.
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
November 13, 2025 at 11:33 AM
As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history.
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
It’s so weird that social media will be like a 30 year blip in human history.
November 9, 2025 at 3:54 AM
It’s so weird that social media will be like a 30 year blip in human history.
Reposted by Cara Marta Messina
I miss MySpace. We took it for granted.
November 9, 2025 at 1:36 AM
I miss MySpace. We took it for granted.
Reposted by Cara Marta Messina
Panera’s moderately caffeinated lemonade was loosely associated with 2 deaths before it was taken off market.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
I fully believe in the corporate death penalty and believe we would be a better world if OpenAI lost its corporate charter and was forcibly dissolved.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
ChatGPT encouraged college graduate to commit suicide, family claims in lawsuit against OpenAI | CNN
A 23-year-old man killed himself in Texas after ChatGPT ‘goaded’ him to commit suicide, his family says in a lawsuit.
www.cnn.com
November 7, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Panera’s moderately caffeinated lemonade was loosely associated with 2 deaths before it was taken off market.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
Reposted by Cara Marta Messina
Zohran at the rally for trans youth on february 8 ❣️ he was polling single digits.
June 25, 2025 at 4:51 AM
Zohran at the rally for trans youth on february 8 ❣️ he was polling single digits.
Reposted by Cara Marta Messina
Major win in Arlington County Public Schools, with pro-trans Moe Bryant dominating the election. Arlington County Public Schools has made headlines for defying the Trump admin on trans kids in bathrooms.
November 5, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Major win in Arlington County Public Schools, with pro-trans Moe Bryant dominating the election. Arlington County Public Schools has made headlines for defying the Trump admin on trans kids in bathrooms.
Reposted by Cara Marta Messina
yesterday I listened to some undergraduate writing tutors present some research on AI in the writing center and I was especially struck by this slide:
October 26, 2025 at 12:05 PM
yesterday I listened to some undergraduate writing tutors present some research on AI in the writing center and I was especially struck by this slide:
Reposted by Cara Marta Messina
...so it's an MLM? That sounds about right.
“Prompt parties,” gatherings of women over cheese and wine to chat about how ChatGPT can help them, are emerging as the next-generation of Tupperware party in San Francisco.
Wine, Cheese and ChatGPT: Ladies’ Night in San Francisco
www.nytimes.com
October 20, 2025 at 10:01 PM
...so it's an MLM? That sounds about right.
Reposted by Cara Marta Messina
Today's AWS outage, which affected a range of websites and applications—from Signal to Fortnite to key UK government services—reveals the dangers of relying on a handful of Big Tech firms, write Article 19's Corinne Cath and Don Le. These are not glitches; they are democratic failures, they say.
Amazon Cloud Outage Reveals Democratic Deficit in Relying on Big Tech | TechPolicy.Press
The AWS outage demonstrates the need for a fundamental shift in how we think about digital infrastructure, write Corinne Cath and Don Le.
www.techpolicy.press
October 20, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Today's AWS outage, which affected a range of websites and applications—from Signal to Fortnite to key UK government services—reveals the dangers of relying on a handful of Big Tech firms, write Article 19's Corinne Cath and Don Le. These are not glitches; they are democratic failures, they say.
Reposted by Cara Marta Messina
🐸 - KH
October 13, 2025 at 11:47 AM
🐸 - KH
Reposted by Cara Marta Messina
People *without* executive dysfunction are finding that using chatgpt buries them under multitasking: they have to expend more effort and attention in more tasks to check that it hasn't outputted *absolute fucking nonsense*
May 26, 2025 at 8:09 AM
People *without* executive dysfunction are finding that using chatgpt buries them under multitasking: they have to expend more effort and attention in more tasks to check that it hasn't outputted *absolute fucking nonsense*
Reposted by Cara Marta Messina
ideally, the only places i want to be in AI are spaces for resistance, refusal and community organising
in reality, i find myself in spaces where AI governance, regulatory or institutional/scientific decisions are made where either i my input is paid lip service or entirely ignored
in reality, i find myself in spaces where AI governance, regulatory or institutional/scientific decisions are made where either i my input is paid lip service or entirely ignored
October 7, 2025 at 5:37 PM
ideally, the only places i want to be in AI are spaces for resistance, refusal and community organising
in reality, i find myself in spaces where AI governance, regulatory or institutional/scientific decisions are made where either i my input is paid lip service or entirely ignored
in reality, i find myself in spaces where AI governance, regulatory or institutional/scientific decisions are made where either i my input is paid lip service or entirely ignored