Jeffrey Insko
@jeffreyinsko.bsky.social
Editor, the Norton Library Edition of Moby-Dick (out now!). Writing about oil, infrastructure, extraction, environment, Line 5. Loves every dog.
Once more on the actual anniversary. Toward an environmental history of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. thecurrentowdm.substack.com/p/disaster-o...
Disaster on Gichigami
What if the most famous disaster on Lake Superior never really ended?
thecurrentowdm.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Once more on the actual anniversary. Toward an environmental history of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. thecurrentowdm.substack.com/p/disaster-o...
this looks great!
Tomorrow (Monday, Nov 10) the tables are turned: I’m the guest on the Greenhouse #envhum book talk to discuss Ghosts Behind Glass with @finnarne.me & guest host @medievalpenguin.bsky.social
Join us online for the discussion! 4pm CET/3pm GMT/10am EST
newnatures.org/greenhouse/e...
Join us online for the discussion! 4pm CET/3pm GMT/10am EST
newnatures.org/greenhouse/e...
November 9, 2025 at 11:45 PM
this looks great!
This magnificently deranged project is the perfect kind of argument for why the humanities matter.
Last year, I reviewed every single NBA City Edition hat. I have something special planned for later this month when the new editions drop (watch this space!), but, when I saw New Era release these HARDWOOD CLASSICS hats, I knew I could not stay silent. So, as a prelude, here goes HAT CRITICISM:
🧵
🧵
Ok, it's a new day, it's a blue sky, I want to find a very specific niche of the internet. I love hoops, I love hats, and I love writing criticism. I'm going to review all thirty of the 2024-2025 NBA City Edition New Era fitted hats that dropped today. Here goes nothing... 1/x
November 8, 2025 at 10:49 PM
This magnificently deranged project is the perfect kind of argument for why the humanities matter.
I wrote a significant chunk of my first book at a Chicago Public Library, an amazing public space where people could read books and newspapers, access the internet, or just keep warm for a while on a cold day. This is appalling.
CPL is an absolute palace to the people and these proposed cuts are abominable. Artificial austerity. Chicago folks, read this, check the links to bug the mayor and your alders—this can be fought and won.
The People Want to Read: on the massive budget cuts proposed for Chicago Public Library. What's at stake and what you can do, whether or not you live in Chicago.
buttondown.com/wellsourced/...
buttondown.com/wellsourced/...
November 8, 2025 at 10:25 PM
I wrote a significant chunk of my first book at a Chicago Public Library, an amazing public space where people could read books and newspapers, access the internet, or just keep warm for a while on a cold day. This is appalling.
Reposted by Jeffrey Insko
@johnubacon.bsky.social ‘s book on the Edmund Fitzgerald is pretty engaging but loses the plot @jeffreyinsko.bsky.social catches: the ship was part of a whole infrastructure of crazy, ecocidal, midcentury extraction the likes of which we seem to be returning.
open.substack.com/pub/thecurre...
open.substack.com/pub/thecurre...
Disaster on Gichigami
What if the most famous disaster on Lake Superior never really ended?
open.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:01 PM
@johnubacon.bsky.social ‘s book on the Edmund Fitzgerald is pretty engaging but loses the plot @jeffreyinsko.bsky.social catches: the ship was part of a whole infrastructure of crazy, ecocidal, midcentury extraction the likes of which we seem to be returning.
open.substack.com/pub/thecurre...
open.substack.com/pub/thecurre...
proof that Frederick Douglass read Moby-Dick
November 8, 2025 at 4:02 PM
proof that Frederick Douglass read Moby-Dick
Every anniversary the same old story of the Edmund Fitzgerald gets rehearsed. I tried to take a few steps toward an environmental history of that wreck.
Disaster on Gichigami
What if the most famous disaster on Lake Superior never really ended?
thecurrentowdm.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Every anniversary the same old story of the Edmund Fitzgerald gets rehearsed. I tried to take a few steps toward an environmental history of that wreck.
There is a certain ratio of followers to following that I simply can’t abide.
November 7, 2025 at 2:46 AM
There is a certain ratio of followers to following that I simply can’t abide.
Coming up in a couple of weeks, the latest on the Line 5 fight. I'll be on the panel with some amazing folks I admire. Please register.
We’re taking the fight against Enbridge’s Line 5 Nationwide on Nov. 18th! You won’t want to miss the opportunity to hear from the folks behind the scenes and on the ground pushing for removal and discontinuation of Enbridge’s Line 5.
RSVP: secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/-AJYKA8dStwN7kyLRWAaYQ
RSVP: secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/-AJYKA8dStwN7kyLRWAaYQ
November 5, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Coming up in a couple of weeks, the latest on the Line 5 fight. I'll be on the panel with some amazing folks I admire. Please register.
Murph is a chameleon
November 5, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Murph is a chameleon
The Onion is hilarious!
November 5, 2025 at 12:02 AM
The Onion is hilarious!
hard day for Murph today what with all the asking for food constantly and so forth
November 3, 2025 at 11:33 PM
hard day for Murph today what with all the asking for food constantly and so forth
This!!
...Also, what percentage of the AI and data center demand is being used for genuinely important functions (life-saving medical, scientific, or efficiency practices) and what percentage of the energy use is powering slop videos and bad Google search responses? I worry it is 10% valuable 90% junk,
November 3, 2025 at 4:17 PM
This!!
Murphy does not understand the time change
November 2, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Murphy does not understand the time change
I haven’t watched a baseball game in years. Batters wear a lot more protective gear than they used to.
November 2, 2025 at 2:30 AM
I haven’t watched a baseball game in years. Batters wear a lot more protective gear than they used to.
Okay, so, here's the sort of query that used to work great at that other place, like, ten years ago:
best trade nonfiction books of the past five or so years about climate/environment/energy, etc. For example Vaillant's Fire Weather, Egan's The Devil's Element. Thanks!
best trade nonfiction books of the past five or so years about climate/environment/energy, etc. For example Vaillant's Fire Weather, Egan's The Devil's Element. Thanks!
November 1, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Okay, so, here's the sort of query that used to work great at that other place, like, ten years ago:
best trade nonfiction books of the past five or so years about climate/environment/energy, etc. For example Vaillant's Fire Weather, Egan's The Devil's Element. Thanks!
best trade nonfiction books of the past five or so years about climate/environment/energy, etc. For example Vaillant's Fire Weather, Egan's The Devil's Element. Thanks!
looking pretty autumnal here in Michigan
November 1, 2025 at 4:43 PM
looking pretty autumnal here in Michigan
In light of the US Army Corps of Engineers' illegal decision to grant Enbridge its permit to reroute Line 5 in Wisconsin, it's worth revisiting this from last spring.
Déjà vu
Whose Voice Gets Heard—And Whose Gets Hijacked? When 1920s legislators show more moral clarity than today’s, we’re going backwards.
thecurrentowdm.substack.com
October 31, 2025 at 2:16 PM
In light of the US Army Corps of Engineers' illegal decision to grant Enbridge its permit to reroute Line 5 in Wisconsin, it's worth revisiting this from last spring.
This is a fabulous and important essay.
"In the end, generative AI might be a blip in tech history, over-promising and under-delivering until finally the cash runs out. But it seems it’s arrived just in time to shove universities over a cliff edge they’d already walked themselves up to."
"In the end, generative AI might be a blip in tech history, over-promising and under-delivering until finally the cash runs out. But it seems it’s arrived just in time to shove universities over a cliff edge they’d already walked themselves up to."
Wrote a thing on the hot summer of uni AI adoption for @defector.com
A huge thanks to @nathankhensley.bsky.social and @anniemcc.bsky.social. @brandyjensen.bsky.social is a legend. And anything smart in hear is thanks to hours of discussion, texting, and draft reading by @smosment.bsky.social
A huge thanks to @nathankhensley.bsky.social and @anniemcc.bsky.social. @brandyjensen.bsky.social is a legend. And anything smart in hear is thanks to hours of discussion, texting, and draft reading by @smosment.bsky.social
Higher Ed’s Rush To Adopt AI Is About So Much More Than AI | Defector
If you don’t work at a university or have college-age kids, you may have missed the flurry of news stories and social media banter about AI adoption in higher ed, stories which have snowballed into th...
defector.com
October 23, 2025 at 10:57 PM
This is a fabulous and important essay.
"In the end, generative AI might be a blip in tech history, over-promising and under-delivering until finally the cash runs out. But it seems it’s arrived just in time to shove universities over a cliff edge they’d already walked themselves up to."
"In the end, generative AI might be a blip in tech history, over-promising and under-delivering until finally the cash runs out. But it seems it’s arrived just in time to shove universities over a cliff edge they’d already walked themselves up to."
Reposted by Jeffrey Insko
Wrote a thing on the hot summer of uni AI adoption for @defector.com
A huge thanks to @nathankhensley.bsky.social and @anniemcc.bsky.social. @brandyjensen.bsky.social is a legend. And anything smart in hear is thanks to hours of discussion, texting, and draft reading by @smosment.bsky.social
A huge thanks to @nathankhensley.bsky.social and @anniemcc.bsky.social. @brandyjensen.bsky.social is a legend. And anything smart in hear is thanks to hours of discussion, texting, and draft reading by @smosment.bsky.social
Higher Ed’s Rush To Adopt AI Is About So Much More Than AI | Defector
If you don’t work at a university or have college-age kids, you may have missed the flurry of news stories and social media banter about AI adoption in higher ed, stories which have snowballed into th...
defector.com
October 23, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Wrote a thing on the hot summer of uni AI adoption for @defector.com
A huge thanks to @nathankhensley.bsky.social and @anniemcc.bsky.social. @brandyjensen.bsky.social is a legend. And anything smart in hear is thanks to hours of discussion, texting, and draft reading by @smosment.bsky.social
A huge thanks to @nathankhensley.bsky.social and @anniemcc.bsky.social. @brandyjensen.bsky.social is a legend. And anything smart in hear is thanks to hours of discussion, texting, and draft reading by @smosment.bsky.social
cool how universities have just given up entirely on the whole higher education thing
October 22, 2025 at 3:04 AM
cool how universities have just given up entirely on the whole higher education thing
Reposted by Jeffrey Insko
Belatedly discovering and bookmarking—and you should too. Honestly the best writing is of the “I had this thing I really needed to say for A WHILE” variety. So excited to read!
I joke that it took me twenty years to figure out how to get this off my chest about Herman Melville, starting from my first encounter as an undergrad in 2005. But it kind of did. So thrilled that this essay has a home at J19: Project MUSE - Melville's Idea of a Wife muse.jhu.edu/article/970112
Project MUSE - Melville's Idea of a Wife
muse.jhu.edu
October 18, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Belatedly discovering and bookmarking—and you should too. Honestly the best writing is of the “I had this thing I really needed to say for A WHILE” variety. So excited to read!
since KISS is in the news, I just want to remind everybody that in 1975 they performed at the Homecoming of the small northern Michigan town of Cadillac
October 17, 2025 at 4:42 PM
since KISS is in the news, I just want to remind everybody that in 1975 they performed at the Homecoming of the small northern Michigan town of Cadillac
too bad all the dupes in higher ed falling for the AI grift aren't very likely to read this
not to brag, but I think I nailed it, in 2013 thenewinquiry.com/blog/the-moo... (a lot of folks did, but, you know, this was what I wrote)
October 16, 2025 at 7:52 PM
too bad all the dupes in higher ed falling for the AI grift aren't very likely to read this
Reposted by Jeffrey Insko
