Rebecca AND|OR Speas
@speasyspice.bsky.social
Public historian and archivist. MA, NCSU ‘24. MSLS, UNC SILS ‘26. Theatremaker, printmaker, podcaster, and indie bookseller. Leftist Southern Harpy. Cheerwine connoisseur. She/her. 🌾📚✨
Reposted by Rebecca AND|OR Speas
Old Soviet joke:
Why do ICE agents travel in groups of three?
One can read, one can write, and the third keeps an eye on the two intellectuals
Why do ICE agents travel in groups of three?
One can read, one can write, and the third keeps an eye on the two intellectuals
New ICE recruiting methods have resulted in half of this group of absolute winners failing AN OPEN BOOK TEST
October 23, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Old Soviet joke:
Why do ICE agents travel in groups of three?
One can read, one can write, and the third keeps an eye on the two intellectuals
Why do ICE agents travel in groups of three?
One can read, one can write, and the third keeps an eye on the two intellectuals
just another day at the office
October 24, 2025 at 6:45 PM
just another day at the office
Reposted by Rebecca AND|OR Speas
![Can you put into words what that purpose is? You and the frog have really become icons of this protest.
There’s been a nice overall whimsy that has shown up. The frog is amazing. We had a bunch of other inflatable people here last night, too. I saw people playing Twister the other day.
What they rely on is fear. So by coming out in an absurdist manner, it speaks to them, to some extent, that we’re actually not that afraid.
It also dismantles their narrative a little bit. When they try to describe this situation as “war-torn,” it becomes much harder to take them seriously when they have to post a video saying [U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security] Kristi Noem is up on the balcony staring over the Antifa Army and it’s, like, eight journalists and five protesters and one of them is in a chicken suit.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:lzlqyldh7nfc34pfffvd24ko/bafkreiap6asa64jdjb2vlv4c2sdritjrntsibvsv7baj6o4cgwcfgsjeny@jpeg)
October 10, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Reposted by Rebecca AND|OR Speas
LAUREN BACALL: you just put your lips together and blow
HUMPHREY BOGART: *holding nintendo cartridge* i know how to get it to work lauren
HUMPHREY BOGART: *holding nintendo cartridge* i know how to get it to work lauren
February 27, 2025 at 6:11 PM
LAUREN BACALL: you just put your lips together and blow
HUMPHREY BOGART: *holding nintendo cartridge* i know how to get it to work lauren
HUMPHREY BOGART: *holding nintendo cartridge* i know how to get it to work lauren
I often think about that sliver of time between the rise of the internet and the emergence of cloud storage where we all just had really cute USB flash drives that we carried around everywhere. Mine was a dinosaur whose head peeled back for the USB plug and it absolutely ruled. I miss it.
September 28, 2025 at 8:00 PM
I often think about that sliver of time between the rise of the internet and the emergence of cloud storage where we all just had really cute USB flash drives that we carried around everywhere. Mine was a dinosaur whose head peeled back for the USB plug and it absolutely ruled. I miss it.
Reposted by Rebecca AND|OR Speas
Getting dick punched by Ohtani. Peak baseball.
September 5, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Getting dick punched by Ohtani. Peak baseball.
Reposted by Rebecca AND|OR Speas
And thus the work proceeds
August 15, 2025 at 2:47 AM
And thus the work proceeds
Reposted by Rebecca AND|OR Speas
Colleges don’t know what the hell they’re talking about when they say they’re training students for careers in AI, but this is it. Figuring out how to tweak every form of human activity or interaction to bend toward the algorithmic capabilities of a shitty guess machine. Sounds like a great career.
How is the SEO industry responding to the AI-driven collapse in Google traffic? By pivoting to "GEO," and thinking up ways to influence, trick, or introduce bias into chatbots — and, of course, by using AI themselves nymag.com/intelligence...
August 6, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Colleges don’t know what the hell they’re talking about when they say they’re training students for careers in AI, but this is it. Figuring out how to tweak every form of human activity or interaction to bend toward the algorithmic capabilities of a shitty guess machine. Sounds like a great career.
Reposted by Rebecca AND|OR Speas
is the History profession "in freefall" because of the proliferation of misinformation amid an academic profession that too-frequently locks itself in ivory towers while leaving the application of history to contemporary affairs to amateurs and know-nothings, or is it another thing?
It’s not just famous ‘resistance historians’ in the Ivies who are doing this kind of work; I know historians of reproductive health and indigenous historians doing this (valuable) work. Are they supposed to stop applying their expertise to the world they live in because History is in free fall?Why?
The history profession is in free fall, but its members can write liberal briefs that are cited in dissents to conservative decisions. Doesn’t seem like a great deal all told.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/u...
August 7, 2025 at 12:29 PM
is the History profession "in freefall" because of the proliferation of misinformation amid an academic profession that too-frequently locks itself in ivory towers while leaving the application of history to contemporary affairs to amateurs and know-nothings, or is it another thing?
I genuinely had hoped I’d wake up and realize that whole “AHA lies down like a wilting Victorian heroine in front of the guzzling maw of AI” thing was a fever dream brought on by an undigested bit of beef or a blot of mustard, BUT ALAS—
August 7, 2025 at 1:52 AM
I genuinely had hoped I’d wake up and realize that whole “AHA lies down like a wilting Victorian heroine in front of the guzzling maw of AI” thing was a fever dream brought on by an undigested bit of beef or a blot of mustard, BUT ALAS—
What’s even more fucked up is that three of these AI committee members live and work in Texas, whose AI datacenters use nearly 50 billion gallons of water a year while people are told to cut back on showers and conserve water IN THE MIDDLE OF A MASSIVE DROUGHT
www.newsweek.com/texas-data-c...
www.newsweek.com/texas-data-c...
August 6, 2025 at 4:07 AM
What’s even more fucked up is that three of these AI committee members live and work in Texas, whose AI datacenters use nearly 50 billion gallons of water a year while people are told to cut back on showers and conserve water IN THE MIDDLE OF A MASSIVE DROUGHT
www.newsweek.com/texas-data-c...
www.newsweek.com/texas-data-c...
Reposted by Rebecca AND|OR Speas
Infinitely better than any Civil War reenactment
On this Chairteenth, we celebrate the good folks of Montgomery, especially our guy AquaMayne. Special shout out to the folks who, within 72 hours, recreated this in their apartment complex. A COMMUNITY!! 💀
August 6, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Infinitely better than any Civil War reenactment
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Every rich person is going to tell *you* how great AI teaching is while sending *their* kids to the kind of schooling the Ancient Greeks would recognize. I just wish everyone would think about why that is.
I think we’re on the cusp of mass attempts to automate teaching, and I also think it is going to be a massive wasteful failure in ways that will make the “learning loss” of the pandemic look like a speed bump next to a mountain.
August 5, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Every rich person is going to tell *you* how great AI teaching is while sending *their* kids to the kind of schooling the Ancient Greeks would recognize. I just wish everyone would think about why that is.
Reposted by Rebecca AND|OR Speas
If I have to explain to you why it's a bad idea to use a machine that makes shit up 15-80% of the time AND destroys the environment AND contributes to rising fascism and genocide AND puts brilliant skillful creatives out of work by stealing their work, then we're already speaking different languages
August 6, 2025 at 1:01 AM
If I have to explain to you why it's a bad idea to use a machine that makes shit up 15-80% of the time AND destroys the environment AND contributes to rising fascism and genocide AND puts brilliant skillful creatives out of work by stealing their work, then we're already speaking different languages
This is the most myopic, spineless, and embarrassing stance that the AHA could possibly have taken. I am livid. The AHA should be ashamed of themselves.
The AHA has published Guiding Principles for Artificial Intelligence in History Education, offering a disciplinary approach to AI that focuses on the specific needs and challenges of history educators. 🗃️
Guiding Principles for Artificial Intelligence in History Education
These 14 foundational principles are meant to assist educators and administrators in crafting AI policies suited to local circumstances and the specific needs of students.
www.historians.org
August 6, 2025 at 2:00 AM
This is the most myopic, spineless, and embarrassing stance that the AHA could possibly have taken. I am livid. The AHA should be ashamed of themselves.
Reposted by Rebecca AND|OR Speas
*Norman Rockwell guy standing meme* I don't think we actually should spare a few prayers for Lefty as well as Pancho. I think we all know where he got that bread and he did NOT have to do what he did. Never snitch.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoKv...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoKv...
Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson - Pancho and Lefty (Video)
YouTube video by MerleHaggardVEVO
www.youtube.com
June 19, 2025 at 2:33 AM
*Norman Rockwell guy standing meme* I don't think we actually should spare a few prayers for Lefty as well as Pancho. I think we all know where he got that bread and he did NOT have to do what he did. Never snitch.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoKv...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoKv...
PSA to authors doing an event or signing with an independent bookstore:
Don’t talk about Amazon. Don’t mention that your book is a Kindle deal. Don’t talk about your Audible exclusive. Don’t tell a humorous anecdote about ordering shit from fucking Amazon. ESPECIALLY DON’T DO IT AT YOUR GD EVENT.
Don’t talk about Amazon. Don’t mention that your book is a Kindle deal. Don’t talk about your Audible exclusive. Don’t tell a humorous anecdote about ordering shit from fucking Amazon. ESPECIALLY DON’T DO IT AT YOUR GD EVENT.
May 14, 2025 at 11:15 PM
PSA to authors doing an event or signing with an independent bookstore:
Don’t talk about Amazon. Don’t mention that your book is a Kindle deal. Don’t talk about your Audible exclusive. Don’t tell a humorous anecdote about ordering shit from fucking Amazon. ESPECIALLY DON’T DO IT AT YOUR GD EVENT.
Don’t talk about Amazon. Don’t mention that your book is a Kindle deal. Don’t talk about your Audible exclusive. Don’t tell a humorous anecdote about ordering shit from fucking Amazon. ESPECIALLY DON’T DO IT AT YOUR GD EVENT.
semester’s done, let’s get FUCKED UP
May 11, 2025 at 3:27 PM
semester’s done, let’s get FUCKED UP
Reposted by Rebecca AND|OR Speas
UPDATE: white smoke has *also* been spotted in the city center of Avignon,,, bad news folks!!!
May 8, 2025 at 4:22 PM
UPDATE: white smoke has *also* been spotted in the city center of Avignon,,, bad news folks!!!
Reposted by Rebecca AND|OR Speas
v excited for Conclave: II Pope II Pure-ious
May 7, 2025 at 4:53 PM
v excited for Conclave: II Pope II Pure-ious
I graduated a semester earlier than the rest of my Public History cohort, but we spent today taking some group grad pics and I got to meet one of their family dogs
Lyza says Happy May Day, Happy Beltane, and wiggle more butts
Lyza says Happy May Day, Happy Beltane, and wiggle more butts
May 2, 2025 at 1:42 AM
I graduated a semester earlier than the rest of my Public History cohort, but we spent today taking some group grad pics and I got to meet one of their family dogs
Lyza says Happy May Day, Happy Beltane, and wiggle more butts
Lyza says Happy May Day, Happy Beltane, and wiggle more butts
Reposted by Rebecca AND|OR Speas
BREAKING: Judge Richard Leon, a George W. Bush appointee, issues a TRO blocking the Trump administration from "dissolv[ing]" the Institute of Museum and Library Services, placing any more employees on administrative leave, or terminating any grants in the coming days.
![UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, et al.,
Plaintiffs,
^
KEITH SONDERLING, Acting Director,
Institute of Museum and Library Services, et al.,
Defendants.
Civil Case No. 25-1050 (RJL)
MEMORANDUM ORDER
May 1, 2025 [Dkt. #13]
This matter initially came before the Court on plaintiff American Library
Association's ("ALA") and plaintiff American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO's ("AFSCME") motion for a preliminary injunction ("PT"). See Pls.' PI Mot. [Dkt, #13]; Pls.' Mem. in Supp. of PI Mot. ("Pls.' PI Mem.") [Dkt. #13-11.
Plaintiffs sought a decision on the PI by May 4, 2025, as defendants intend to execute a
"mass termination of [Institute of Museum and Library Services] staff' on that day. Pls
PI Mot. at 1.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:36eqtmzysqf7wsslczw4uxcd/bafkreig5evcrfkwsw2usse2xvhf66zcug76ufhuzui3smou5ycmjh5hf4m@jpeg)
May 2, 2025 at 1:28 AM
BREAKING: Judge Richard Leon, a George W. Bush appointee, issues a TRO blocking the Trump administration from "dissolv[ing]" the Institute of Museum and Library Services, placing any more employees on administrative leave, or terminating any grants in the coming days.
I’m a professional, I once led a workshop on chalkboard signs at a regional publishing conference
May 2, 2025 at 12:15 AM
I’m a professional, I once led a workshop on chalkboard signs at a regional publishing conference