Joanna L. Pearce, Ph.D.
@jlphistory.bsky.social
Disability-based historian who is excited to be teaching some amazing students about dead people. Ask me about my dogs!
Pinned
Teenagers, Deaf People, & Archives! - A Book Haul for Teaching History (I know ALL the historians)
YouTube video by Joanna Loves History Books!
youtu.be
Why do historians buy so many books? Is there an "end" to Canadian history? What does it mean to "do history" and why are edited collections an important part of that? What my first book haul video and find out!
#History #c19th #HistoryBookChat #disHist #HistChild 🗃️📚💙
#History #c19th #HistoryBookChat #disHist #HistChild 🗃️📚💙
Reposted by Joanna L. Pearce, Ph.D.
The NASA Technical Report Server is not being updated due to funding cuts. This is a disaster. 🧪 🔭
November 10, 2025 at 4:38 AM
The NASA Technical Report Server is not being updated due to funding cuts. This is a disaster. 🧪 🔭
One Canadian "crossing the floor" story that has always stuck with me is how Belinda Stronach was treated by the press when she did it. I really remember an editorial cartoon basically accusing her of being a prostitute for the Liberals.
They couldn't even come up with a plausible lie.
www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
November 11, 2025 at 5:16 AM
One Canadian "crossing the floor" story that has always stuck with me is how Belinda Stronach was treated by the press when she did it. I really remember an editorial cartoon basically accusing her of being a prostitute for the Liberals.
Reposted by Joanna L. Pearce, Ph.D.
Sesame Street, the world's most inclusive neighbourhood, made its debut on this day in 1969.
November 10, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Sesame Street, the world's most inclusive neighbourhood, made its debut on this day in 1969.
Reposted by Joanna L. Pearce, Ph.D.
BREAKING: We won!
Today the 3rd Circuit Court ordered the @post-gazette.com to restore our contract it illegally tore up 5 years ago. That’s our health care, PTO, right to a 40-hr. work week, short-term disability and so much more we’ve struck for 3+ years.
pghguild.com/2025/11/10/p...
Today the 3rd Circuit Court ordered the @post-gazette.com to restore our contract it illegally tore up 5 years ago. That’s our health care, PTO, right to a 40-hr. work week, short-term disability and so much more we’ve struck for 3+ years.
pghguild.com/2025/11/10/p...
November 10, 2025 at 5:48 PM
BREAKING: We won!
Today the 3rd Circuit Court ordered the @post-gazette.com to restore our contract it illegally tore up 5 years ago. That’s our health care, PTO, right to a 40-hr. work week, short-term disability and so much more we’ve struck for 3+ years.
pghguild.com/2025/11/10/p...
Today the 3rd Circuit Court ordered the @post-gazette.com to restore our contract it illegally tore up 5 years ago. That’s our health care, PTO, right to a 40-hr. work week, short-term disability and so much more we’ve struck for 3+ years.
pghguild.com/2025/11/10/p...
Reposted by Joanna L. Pearce, Ph.D.
Good morning! Super-excited to have a visit from a Tufted Titmouse today. They are rare in Ottawa! Forgive the shaky iPhone photo.
November 10, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Good morning! Super-excited to have a visit from a Tufted Titmouse today. They are rare in Ottawa! Forgive the shaky iPhone photo.
“It is an open question whether girls can ever acquire such
traits as loyalty and cooperation and emotional control in the stress of close competition.”
The past sure is a foreign country.
traits as loyalty and cooperation and emotional control in the stress of close competition.”
The past sure is a foreign country.
November 9, 2025 at 10:42 PM
“It is an open question whether girls can ever acquire such
traits as loyalty and cooperation and emotional control in the stress of close competition.”
The past sure is a foreign country.
traits as loyalty and cooperation and emotional control in the stress of close competition.”
The past sure is a foreign country.
Reposted by Joanna L. Pearce, Ph.D.
we're snailposting!?!?!!! post your snails
November 9, 2025 at 9:21 PM
we're snailposting!?!?!!! post your snails
Okay, so i did sing the hockey night in Canada theme. I did sing the Gambler, I did explain that Victorian masculinity is being as swift as a coursing river with all the force of a great typhoon, and I did suggest that gambling is bad and they shouldn't do it. Now the lecture is rendering.
November 9, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Okay, so i did sing the hockey night in Canada theme. I did sing the Gambler, I did explain that Victorian masculinity is being as swift as a coursing river with all the force of a great typhoon, and I did suggest that gambling is bad and they shouldn't do it. Now the lecture is rendering.
The problem with deciding that I'd record the lecture in the morning is the lighting that comes through the window at this time of the morning = not being able to see. I should have stayed up late instead. Ah well. I'll wait a few hours.
November 9, 2025 at 4:37 PM
The problem with deciding that I'd record the lecture in the morning is the lighting that comes through the window at this time of the morning = not being able to see. I should have stayed up late instead. Ah well. I'll wait a few hours.
There's a lot in this article but two things stand out:
1) Record surpluses spent on capital projects - it specifically calls out York's Markham campus, which is of course why we can't pay grad students enough to live on.
2) That universities employ a lot of people, and that matters to the economy.
1) Record surpluses spent on capital projects - it specifically calls out York's Markham campus, which is of course why we can't pay grad students enough to live on.
2) That universities employ a lot of people, and that matters to the economy.
Nearly two decades of stagnant provincial funding, a seven-year freeze on domestic tuition, and federal cuts to international student visas have left many of Ontario's colleges and universities in dire financial straits.
Ontario’s Post-Secondary Education Crisis in Five Figures | The Local
Stagnant provincial funding, a domestic tuition freeze, cuts to international students, and expensive capital projects—the numbers behind the emergency in higher education.
thelocal.to
November 9, 2025 at 4:16 PM
There's a lot in this article but two things stand out:
1) Record surpluses spent on capital projects - it specifically calls out York's Markham campus, which is of course why we can't pay grad students enough to live on.
2) That universities employ a lot of people, and that matters to the economy.
1) Record surpluses spent on capital projects - it specifically calls out York's Markham campus, which is of course why we can't pay grad students enough to live on.
2) That universities employ a lot of people, and that matters to the economy.
Okay I'm only working on this lecture for one more hour, that's it. Hold me to it.
November 9, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Okay I'm only working on this lecture for one more hour, that's it. Hold me to it.
So far in this sports lecture I've sung the theme to hockey night in Canada and part of the gambler.
What I have not done is write a good lecture but whatever, we can have a dud once in a while, as a treat.
What I have not done is write a good lecture but whatever, we can have a dud once in a while, as a treat.
Kenny Rogers' The Gambler on the Muppet Show
YouTube video by dteeps42
youtu.be
November 9, 2025 at 2:05 AM
So far in this sports lecture I've sung the theme to hockey night in Canada and part of the gambler.
What I have not done is write a good lecture but whatever, we can have a dud once in a while, as a treat.
What I have not done is write a good lecture but whatever, we can have a dud once in a while, as a treat.
I'm really struggling to get started today between the gloom and the cold and the November of it all. It's already 3:30. :(
November 8, 2025 at 11:28 PM
I'm really struggling to get started today between the gloom and the cold and the November of it all. It's already 3:30. :(
Reposted by Joanna L. Pearce, Ph.D.
I’m not the teacher I could be this semester. Trying something new has backfired. I struggle to float, much less swim. It’s been an exercise in grace to self and prioritizing the most meaningful elements of my classes. And it will be ok.
One bad semester does not define our teaching.
#academicsky
One bad semester does not define our teaching.
#academicsky
November 8, 2025 at 10:22 PM
I’m not the teacher I could be this semester. Trying something new has backfired. I struggle to float, much less swim. It’s been an exercise in grace to self and prioritizing the most meaningful elements of my classes. And it will be ok.
One bad semester does not define our teaching.
#academicsky
One bad semester does not define our teaching.
#academicsky
I love when I don't want to get out of bed for a student meeting and then I do get out of bed and the student meeting is great and I feel better about the whole universe afterwards. Students are A+ and they are fun to chat with.
November 8, 2025 at 10:19 PM
I love when I don't want to get out of bed for a student meeting and then I do get out of bed and the student meeting is great and I feel better about the whole universe afterwards. Students are A+ and they are fun to chat with.
Dragged my depressed self out of bed and got the dogs a two-hour long walk and myself a coffee. I have a lot of work to do today and if I get them out for a nice long morning walk they're usually dozy & happy for the rest of it. But also it's pleasant enough that the balcony is an option for them.
November 8, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Dragged my depressed self out of bed and got the dogs a two-hour long walk and myself a coffee. I have a lot of work to do today and if I get them out for a nice long morning walk they're usually dozy & happy for the rest of it. But also it's pleasant enough that the balcony is an option for them.
Reposted by Joanna L. Pearce, Ph.D.
Yes, but also, disabled people are always considered disposable--we will always be consigned to the trash heap with the greatest of ease, let alone when our lives/suffering might constitute a challenge/impediment to the "progress of AI"
Part of the reason I think there isn’t as much pressure around stopping ChatGPT re: suicide/psychosis as compared to stuff like Panera Lemonade is because people are inclined to blame it on mental illness versus the tech, a kind of victim-blaming mentality that fits neatly into just world fallacy
November 8, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Yes, but also, disabled people are always considered disposable--we will always be consigned to the trash heap with the greatest of ease, let alone when our lives/suffering might constitute a challenge/impediment to the "progress of AI"
Reposted by Joanna L. Pearce, Ph.D.
since chatgpt has coached another young person in a mental health crisis to their death, I am yet again tapping the sign
November 7, 2025 at 10:59 AM
since chatgpt has coached another young person in a mental health crisis to their death, I am yet again tapping the sign
Reposted by Joanna L. Pearce, Ph.D.
I was SO EXCITED when this beautiful Eastern Painted Turtle emerged from the cold dark pond and crawled up onto the VERY LOG I WAS SITTING ON only 13 feet away!
Unfortunately, the minimum focusing distance of my lens is 16 feet. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
#PhotoFailFriday #herps
Unfortunately, the minimum focusing distance of my lens is 16 feet. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
#PhotoFailFriday #herps
November 7, 2025 at 8:49 PM
I was SO EXCITED when this beautiful Eastern Painted Turtle emerged from the cold dark pond and crawled up onto the VERY LOG I WAS SITTING ON only 13 feet away!
Unfortunately, the minimum focusing distance of my lens is 16 feet. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
#PhotoFailFriday #herps
Unfortunately, the minimum focusing distance of my lens is 16 feet. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
#PhotoFailFriday #herps
I just need Telus to tell me why I can't log into my online account with my account details and I've now been on hold for over an hour and I know there are real problems in the world but whyyy?????
November 7, 2025 at 8:16 PM
I just need Telus to tell me why I can't log into my online account with my account details and I've now been on hold for over an hour and I know there are real problems in the world but whyyy?????
Reposted by Joanna L. Pearce, Ph.D.
November 7, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Reposted by Joanna L. Pearce, Ph.D.
Do not let your children near this thing.
1.This is not the only known example we know of ChatGPT cheering on a vulnerable young person to die by suicide, this time it is a recent Texas A&M grad
2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
November 7, 2025 at 4:29 AM
Do not let your children near this thing.
A few years ago I got so lonely in my despair that I downloaded Replika. I just wanted something to answer my texts in the middle of the night since most people were asleep and while you CAN call the suicide hotline as many times as you like I felt like this was a better idea.
The company says it’s heartbreaking, they promise improvements, new guardrails. Anything but shutting it down. Suicide is just a metric in their ongoing beta test.
Sam Altman and everyone like him should be in fucking jail.
Sam Altman and everyone like him should be in fucking jail.
November 7, 2025 at 5:04 AM
A few years ago I got so lonely in my despair that I downloaded Replika. I just wanted something to answer my texts in the middle of the night since most people were asleep and while you CAN call the suicide hotline as many times as you like I felt like this was a better idea.
I'm sorry, I'm still thinking about the dude who insisted that women didn't and don't like Star Trek. Did he think dudes were the ones arguing about whether Kirk and Spock were lovers (to the point where it had to be addressed in The Footnote)? The whole thing has a Wikipedia page.
Kirk/Spock - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 6, 2025 at 9:24 PM
I'm sorry, I'm still thinking about the dude who insisted that women didn't and don't like Star Trek. Did he think dudes were the ones arguing about whether Kirk and Spock were lovers (to the point where it had to be addressed in The Footnote)? The whole thing has a Wikipedia page.
Feeling too awful to get out of bed this morning. But I put on a terrible show and distracted myself into it and now I'm putting on my shoes to get the dogs out. They are such good dogs.
November 6, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Feeling too awful to get out of bed this morning. But I put on a terrible show and distracted myself into it and now I'm putting on my shoes to get the dogs out. They are such good dogs.