Michael J. Faris
@sisypheantask.bsky.social
Antisocial homo. English dept chair, Texas Tech. New media scholar who is increasingly cranky about social media. Views my own
Finally got back down to 30 after a crazy September and start to October...
Finally got my inbox below 30. woot!
October 6, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Finally got back down to 30 after a crazy September and start to October...
Finally got my inbox below 30. woot!
September 2, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Finally got my inbox below 30. woot!
Fall 2025 is already killing me. Got my inbox down to 53 messages, the lowest its been in a few weeks, but higher than normal.
August 22, 2025 at 1:46 AM
Fall 2025 is already killing me. Got my inbox down to 53 messages, the lowest its been in a few weeks, but higher than normal.
Carolyn Miller in the recent RSQ: "I will just question whether it’s helpful to think of rhetoric as having “methodologies.” Does this language engage in a kind of science-envy? Isn’t rhetoric, as a discipline, rather a set of questions, a habit of mind, an interpretive vocabulary?"
Rhetoric of Science: Reflections on the History and Future of the Field: A Dialogue with Carolyn R. Miller, Celeste M. Condit, and Lisa Keränen: Rhetoric Society Quarterly: Vol 55 , No 3 - Get Access
www.tandfonline.com
August 17, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Carolyn Miller in the recent RSQ: "I will just question whether it’s helpful to think of rhetoric as having “methodologies.” Does this language engage in a kind of science-envy? Isn’t rhetoric, as a discipline, rather a set of questions, a habit of mind, an interpretive vocabulary?"
You know Routledge/T&F editing is crap when I'm excitedly reading a new article and I keep getting distracted by the copyediting errors instead of engaging with the authors' ideas.
August 6, 2025 at 12:25 AM
You know Routledge/T&F editing is crap when I'm excitedly reading a new article and I keep getting distracted by the copyediting errors instead of engaging with the authors' ideas.
Due to travel and then being sick today, my inbox hit 90+ emails today, which is anxiety inducing! Got it down to 45 after a few hours...
August 6, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Due to travel and then being sick today, my inbox hit 90+ emails today, which is anxiety inducing! Got it down to 45 after a few hours...
.@dropbox.com I'm a Mac OS user and haven't even updated to the newest Mac OS yet, and your syncing has become incredibly slow and unreliable. It takes hours to sync just a few MB files, and I've had to quit and restart Dropbox and force quit Finder just to get things to sync. Can you fix your app?
July 3, 2025 at 1:55 AM
.@dropbox.com I'm a Mac OS user and haven't even updated to the newest Mac OS yet, and your syncing has become incredibly slow and unreliable. It takes hours to sync just a few MB files, and I've had to quit and restart Dropbox and force quit Finder just to get things to sync. Can you fix your app?
Is Bluesky glitching for others? I tried the browser version before mobile, and there’s no compose button available 🤷
June 24, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Is Bluesky glitching for others? I tried the browser version before mobile, and there’s no compose button available 🤷
USPS received a package for me, delivered to Lubbock, and instead of delivering it to me, sent it to New Mexico. I just wrote feedback: “Uh, WTF?”
Odds I actually receive it?
Odds I actually receive it?
June 24, 2025 at 1:52 AM
USPS received a package for me, delivered to Lubbock, and instead of delivering it to me, sent it to New Mexico. I just wrote feedback: “Uh, WTF?”
Odds I actually receive it?
Odds I actually receive it?
Goddammit I have become too Type A to have any friends.
June 3, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Goddammit I have become too Type A to have any friends.
wrote my first Blog post in a long-ass time last night, on problems with accuracy of institutional (and field-wide) data: michaeljfaris.com/blog/2025/05...
The problems with the accuracy of institutional data | A Collage of Citations
michaeljfaris.com
June 1, 2025 at 4:25 PM
wrote my first Blog post in a long-ass time last night, on problems with accuracy of institutional (and field-wide) data: michaeljfaris.com/blog/2025/05...
One thing I really appreciate about TTU is that promotion dossiers for non-tenure-line faculty don't require external reviewers. Requiring that would be stupid, because external reviewers can't actually review their teaching, just what the institution and faculty member writes about teaching.
May 30, 2025 at 1:36 AM
One thing I really appreciate about TTU is that promotion dossiers for non-tenure-line faculty don't require external reviewers. Requiring that would be stupid, because external reviewers can't actually review their teaching, just what the institution and faculty member writes about teaching.
Starbucks in the SUB is the worst. They put black coffee in the drink queue so that you have to wait 15+ minutes for a drink they could hand you in 30 seconds
April 22, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Starbucks in the SUB is the worst. They put black coffee in the drink queue so that you have to wait 15+ minutes for a drink they could hand you in 30 seconds
Not sure how, but as fascism rises, I'm managing to keep up with my email? inbox is at 9.
April 7, 2025 at 1:09 AM
Not sure how, but as fascism rises, I'm managing to keep up with my email? inbox is at 9.
Inbox down to 13. Miracle.
April 4, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Inbox down to 13. Miracle.
This song came on the radio, and I'm brought back to my childhood, reminded of big hair, youthful love, and hay seed plow boys:
"She's In Love With the Boy" by Trisha Yearwood: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUFO...
"She's In Love With the Boy" by Trisha Yearwood: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUFO...
Trisha Yearwood - She's In Love With The Boy (Official Music Video)
YouTube video by TrishaYearwoodVEVO
www.youtube.com
April 1, 2025 at 1:27 AM
This song came on the radio, and I'm brought back to my childhood, reminded of big hair, youthful love, and hay seed plow boys:
"She's In Love With the Boy" by Trisha Yearwood: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUFO...
"She's In Love With the Boy" by Trisha Yearwood: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUFO...
While I'm pissy: Why is it that I go through 1 provider (Covenant) and get 4-5 medical bills rather than just 1? Why not do your job & send a single bill that is easy to follow and pay? Here's what should happen: 1) medical experience, 2) 1 bill from the place I went to (not 4 different bills).
April 1, 2025 at 12:38 AM
While I'm pissy: Why is it that I go through 1 provider (Covenant) and get 4-5 medical bills rather than just 1? Why not do your job & send a single bill that is easy to follow and pay? Here's what should happen: 1) medical experience, 2) 1 bill from the place I went to (not 4 different bills).
If these academic conferences continue with their uses of digital apps for programs, I'm gonna stop attending altogether. A dozen apps with a dozen logins and none of them are useful. What a waste of organization's money and my time. (Especially when my name is misspelled. WTF)
April 1, 2025 at 12:25 AM
If these academic conferences continue with their uses of digital apps for programs, I'm gonna stop attending altogether. A dozen apps with a dozen logins and none of them are useful. What a waste of organization's money and my time. (Especially when my name is misspelled. WTF)
"What explains the connection between Hooters waitresses and young gay men? Perhaps these women ... see kindred spirits in the boys who aren’t quite “right.” Or maybe it’s simpler: a waitress’s knack for reading a room, turned tender for those who need it most."
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/23/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/23/o...
Opinion | How Hooters Became a Refuge for Young Gay Men
Many fathers and grandfathers take their gay sons to the bar. It’s become a place of refuge — and how that happened is a curious story.
www.nytimes.com
March 24, 2025 at 1:06 AM
"What explains the connection between Hooters waitresses and young gay men? Perhaps these women ... see kindred spirits in the boys who aren’t quite “right.” Or maybe it’s simpler: a waitress’s knack for reading a room, turned tender for those who need it most."
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/23/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/23/o...
Reposted by Michael J. Faris
NEW: An internal email obtained by WIRED from a threat intelligence team monitoring US Treasury systems advised labeling DOGE operatives an "insider threat," adding that it recommended suspending their access "immediately."
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www.wired.com/story/treasu...
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www.wired.com/story/treasu...
February 7, 2025 at 7:57 PM
NEW: An internal email obtained by WIRED from a threat intelligence team monitoring US Treasury systems advised labeling DOGE operatives an "insider threat," adding that it recommended suspending their access "immediately."
|
www.wired.com/story/treasu...
|
www.wired.com/story/treasu...
Facebook messenger is the worst. Heads up: you message me there, my response is either to ignore it or to respond that you should email me.
February 7, 2025 at 2:02 AM
Facebook messenger is the worst. Heads up: you message me there, my response is either to ignore it or to respond that you should email me.
Reposted by Michael J. Faris
We worked for months with USAID to build an $85,000,000 project to end TB in two regions of the Philippines.
The project is funded by private money, the Philippine government, and matching USAID funds.
It could provide a blueprint for eliminating TB worldwide--except it's...not happening.
The project is funded by private money, the Philippine government, and matching USAID funds.
It could provide a blueprint for eliminating TB worldwide--except it's...not happening.
February 3, 2025 at 10:13 PM
We worked for months with USAID to build an $85,000,000 project to end TB in two regions of the Philippines.
The project is funded by private money, the Philippine government, and matching USAID funds.
It could provide a blueprint for eliminating TB worldwide--except it's...not happening.
The project is funded by private money, the Philippine government, and matching USAID funds.
It could provide a blueprint for eliminating TB worldwide--except it's...not happening.
Your 40s: you’re using the bathroom, see a big blue spot and assume automatically you got a bruise you don’t remember getting. Turns out it’s lint from your jeans. Always assuming your body is falling apart
February 4, 2025 at 2:20 AM
Your 40s: you’re using the bathroom, see a big blue spot and assume automatically you got a bruise you don’t remember getting. Turns out it’s lint from your jeans. Always assuming your body is falling apart