Steph Brown
@stephjayb.bsky.social
Author | Watching Women: Militant Suffragists Write the British Surveillance State (2024)
Assoc Prof of English in Tucson | Surveillance | C20/21 Caribbean and British Lit | GWS
rock scrambler | hawk enthusiast | she/her
Assoc Prof of English in Tucson | Surveillance | C20/21 Caribbean and British Lit | GWS
rock scrambler | hawk enthusiast | she/her
Pinned
Steph Brown
@stephjayb.bsky.social
· Jan 6
New on Print Plus: Stephanie J. Brown writes on the deployment of images that depict and enact surveillant mechanisms in her article, "Suffrage Journalism against State Brutality: Surveillance Art in Votes for Women and The Suffragette, 1910–1914": modernismmodernity.org/articles/bro...
Wrote about some of the visuals in suffrage newspapers (1910-1914) as surveillance art the aimed at conveying state brutality for Modernism/modernity (@mmodernity.bsky.social). It came out on Print+ over the holiday! 1/
modernismmodernity.org/articles/bro...
modernismmodernity.org/articles/bro...
Reposted by Steph Brown
AI does not enhance “efficiency.” AI is a permission structure for a totalizing regime of austerity and labor immiseration.
“We plan to hire an AI rewrite specialist to ingest the reporting by Hannah and others and use AI to convert it into stories.”
The editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer said it will use AI to ‘write’ its articles.
www.cleveland.com/news/2025/10...
The editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer said it will use AI to ‘write’ its articles.
www.cleveland.com/news/2025/10...
February 16, 2026 at 2:20 PM
AI does not enhance “efficiency.” AI is a permission structure for a totalizing regime of austerity and labor immiseration.
Reposted by Steph Brown
appalling theft of public funds as corporate welfare for the kleptoplagiarism cognitive decapacitating machine
My employer, Univ. Colorado will pay OpenAI $2M/year under the banner of “equity”. That’s 54 full scholarships / year. Plus, our IT will be able to read our chatGPT logs, and our chats can be requested under public records law. No thanks. Surveillance is not equity
www.axios.com/local/boulde...
www.axios.com/local/boulde...
CU signs $2M OpenAI deal for ChatGPT access
Students and faculty will gain access to ChatGPT Edu starting in March under a three-year deal.
www.axios.com
February 14, 2026 at 10:09 PM
appalling theft of public funds as corporate welfare for the kleptoplagiarism cognitive decapacitating machine
Reposted by Steph Brown
The University of Arizona @douglassday.bsky.social celebration has an AMAZING cake from Allyn Haynes Catering. We may not be able to cut into it... #DouglassDay
February 13, 2026 at 5:12 PM
The University of Arizona @douglassday.bsky.social celebration has an AMAZING cake from Allyn Haynes Catering. We may not be able to cut into it... #DouglassDay
I'm SO pleased that my book has won the 2025 Surveillance&Society (@survstudiesnet.bsky.social) Book Prize!
They call it "masterful and provocative," and a colleague is threatening to have that printed on a shirt, bc I also won the "best colleagues" lottery.
ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/su...
They call it "masterful and provocative," and a colleague is threatening to have that printed on a shirt, bc I also won the "best colleagues" lottery.
ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/su...
Winner of the 2025 SSN Book Prize
| Surveillance & Society
ojs.library.queensu.ca
February 10, 2026 at 4:12 PM
I'm SO pleased that my book has won the 2025 Surveillance&Society (@survstudiesnet.bsky.social) Book Prize!
They call it "masterful and provocative," and a colleague is threatening to have that printed on a shirt, bc I also won the "best colleagues" lottery.
ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/su...
They call it "masterful and provocative," and a colleague is threatening to have that printed on a shirt, bc I also won the "best colleagues" lottery.
ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/su...
A while ago bought a box of sugar cubes and the box referenced their three-centuries-long company history and of all the things you can put in your promo copy wow would that not be the one I would choose.
There are some great threads going about how awful sugar plantations were.
I just want to add something as a historical romance author: every time you see someone adding a sugar cube to tea in a historical romance, think of those threads and the blood-soaked cost of the sugar.
I just want to add something as a historical romance author: every time you see someone adding a sugar cube to tea in a historical romance, think of those threads and the blood-soaked cost of the sugar.
February 9, 2026 at 10:07 PM
A while ago bought a box of sugar cubes and the box referenced their three-centuries-long company history and of all the things you can put in your promo copy wow would that not be the one I would choose.
Also: the female co-workers who try to discipline you out of this, as if maybe no one has ever tried to socialize you to be properly feminine.
Like, if my Mom and the nuns couldn't strong arm me into doing conventional femininity in my teens, what makes you think you're going to succeed now?
Like, if my Mom and the nuns couldn't strong arm me into doing conventional femininity in my teens, what makes you think you're going to succeed now?
The single most annoying thing about being in male-dominated career spaces is that I am a direct person and my directness is frequently misread as hostile while theirs is just… normal conversational practice?
Also they complain about me when I speak more directly after I have tried to resolve the issue cordially many times.
February 9, 2026 at 4:02 PM
Also: the female co-workers who try to discipline you out of this, as if maybe no one has ever tried to socialize you to be properly feminine.
Like, if my Mom and the nuns couldn't strong arm me into doing conventional femininity in my teens, what makes you think you're going to succeed now?
Like, if my Mom and the nuns couldn't strong arm me into doing conventional femininity in my teens, what makes you think you're going to succeed now?
Reposted by Steph Brown
Defund the CIA and use the money to make more Muppet retellings of classic literature
production of The Muppet Show should not be dependent on petty vulgarities like “ratings” or “revenue.” it should be preserved as a vital function of american culture. it should have a taxpayer-funded budget rivaling the CIA
February 7, 2026 at 12:43 AM
Defund the CIA and use the money to make more Muppet retellings of classic literature
Reposted by Steph Brown
DID YOU KNOW?
If you have Delta Sky Miles, you can donate them to help a kidnapped-and-released person fly home!
They are set free on the streets of El Paso or another Texas town with no phone, no money, nothing at all. Your miles can get them back to their loved ones!
If you have Delta Sky Miles, you can donate them to help a kidnapped-and-released person fly home!
They are set free on the streets of El Paso or another Texas town with no phone, no money, nothing at all. Your miles can get them back to their loved ones!
Donate Your Miles — Stand With Minnesota
Donate your Delta Skymiles to get people home from Texas
www.standwithminnesota.com
February 6, 2026 at 3:39 AM
DID YOU KNOW?
If you have Delta Sky Miles, you can donate them to help a kidnapped-and-released person fly home!
They are set free on the streets of El Paso or another Texas town with no phone, no money, nothing at all. Your miles can get them back to their loved ones!
If you have Delta Sky Miles, you can donate them to help a kidnapped-and-released person fly home!
They are set free on the streets of El Paso or another Texas town with no phone, no money, nothing at all. Your miles can get them back to their loved ones!
It is going to be huge! And @ubisurv.net's piece, which manages to be both encyclopedic *and* pointed about these post-9/11 thought currents and how they show up in 2000s sci-fi, is a great one.
Part of what's going to be a huge, diverse and amazing special issue on Literature and Surveillance, edited by Steph Brown. I am so looking forward to this one!
February 2, 2026 at 7:53 PM
It is going to be huge! And @ubisurv.net's piece, which manages to be both encyclopedic *and* pointed about these post-9/11 thought currents and how they show up in 2000s sci-fi, is a great one.
Reposted by Steph Brown
Anyone can sign this; I think everyone should.
The CSU/OpenAI contract is set to expire June 30, 2026.
Sign this petition: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/cancel-chatgpt-edu-invest-in-humans/ for the CSU NOT to renew the contract and to use the savings to protect jobs at CSU campuses facing layoffs.
Sign this petition: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/cancel-chatgpt-edu-invest-in-humans/ for the CSU NOT to renew the contract and to use the savings to protect jobs at CSU campuses facing layoffs.
February 1, 2026 at 1:53 PM
Anyone can sign this; I think everyone should.
Reposted by Steph Brown
The people who push the EdTech, Apps, and Test Prep do not want us to solve the problem they’ve created. These outcomes are not an accident or a side effect. They are the intention.
Setting aside elementary curriculum & instruction for the moment, we've known for decades much of what it takes to encourage reading in and out of school by secondary students regardless of gender, and instead of doing this, we've plied them with edtech, apps, test prep, and devices they carry 24/7.
Why Boys Are Behind in Reading at Every Age
www.nytimes.com
February 1, 2026 at 2:23 PM
The people who push the EdTech, Apps, and Test Prep do not want us to solve the problem they’ve created. These outcomes are not an accident or a side effect. They are the intention.
Nothing against @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social's novel Absolution, but the "ABSOLUTION FOR YOU" button on his website absolutely made me hope for something weirder and more eschatological upon clicking than just being routed to the book's purchase page.
February 1, 2026 at 4:42 AM
Nothing against @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social's novel Absolution, but the "ABSOLUTION FOR YOU" button on his website absolutely made me hope for something weirder and more eschatological upon clicking than just being routed to the book's purchase page.
Some of my worst teaching resulted from assuming my students were the kind of student I'd been.
(Taking a college class once I was a faculty member and knowing from the start that I was probably going to get a B really helped me understand my students a bit better.)
(Taking a college class once I was a faculty member and knowing from the start that I was probably going to get a B really helped me understand my students a bit better.)
But perennially, a challenge of college teaching is that you can’t just rely on what would have reached you bc you by virtue of becoming a professor in your subject were an atypical student.
January 31, 2026 at 4:27 PM
Some of my worst teaching resulted from assuming my students were the kind of student I'd been.
(Taking a college class once I was a faculty member and knowing from the start that I was probably going to get a B really helped me understand my students a bit better.)
(Taking a college class once I was a faculty member and knowing from the start that I was probably going to get a B really helped me understand my students a bit better.)
Reposted by Steph Brown
It's clear the increased ICE/CBP funding under Trump is being used primarily as a tool of repression, not as a means of law enforcement, and that's all the more reason why Democrats should use this opportunity—while the public hates ICE and the GOP is on the defensive—to eviscerate both agencies.
ICE used facial recognition software on a MN resident who was trailing agents in her car. Three days later she received an email from DHS saying her Global Entry and TSA travel privileges had been revoked. No explanation was provided.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/t...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/t...
How ICE Already Knows Who Minneapolis Protesters Are
www.nytimes.com
January 30, 2026 at 8:01 PM
It's clear the increased ICE/CBP funding under Trump is being used primarily as a tool of repression, not as a means of law enforcement, and that's all the more reason why Democrats should use this opportunity—while the public hates ICE and the GOP is on the defensive—to eviscerate both agencies.
Reposted by Steph Brown
when "AI" is forced on universities, the reason is corporate welfare for no-use-case tech, the reason is cognitive decapacitation of the populace, AND the reason is mining mining mining data for the surveillance state
The government is using technology to identify protestors, and then using that information to track and intimidate them. The people using the devices are wearing masks, but we know the companies creating the technology.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/t...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/t...
January 30, 2026 at 3:21 PM
when "AI" is forced on universities, the reason is corporate welfare for no-use-case tech, the reason is cognitive decapacitation of the populace, AND the reason is mining mining mining data for the surveillance state
So many nicely parsed distinctions when clarity (moral and grammatical) suggests "Zero funding for ICE or DHS."
The New Democrats & the Progressive Caucus just put out a joint statement with a list of demands for immigration enforcement reforms... 2 things on this:
1-the New Dems are to the left of Schumer on this
2-nothing about clawing back the $175 billion in OBBBA funding for ICE
1-the New Dems are to the left of Schumer on this
2-nothing about clawing back the $175 billion in OBBBA funding for ICE
January 30, 2026 at 3:57 AM
So many nicely parsed distinctions when clarity (moral and grammatical) suggests "Zero funding for ICE or DHS."
Reposted by Steph Brown
Hey yall still looking for some writers and/or academics to contribute to a global queer anthology/textbook. I’m going to outline the book soon and put possible contributors on my list for the publisher. If interested I can DM you my email. Still sparse on non-North American peeps. Please share!
January 29, 2026 at 11:39 PM
Hey yall still looking for some writers and/or academics to contribute to a global queer anthology/textbook. I’m going to outline the book soon and put possible contributors on my list for the publisher. If interested I can DM you my email. Still sparse on non-North American peeps. Please share!
Reposted by Steph Brown
There really seems to be a lot of kayfabe happening right now. Trump is pretending to de-escalate to placate Dems so they don't demand reform, and Dems are making up fake reforms so they can pretend like they made changes while they vote to fund DHS.
January 29, 2026 at 1:26 PM
There really seems to be a lot of kayfabe happening right now. Trump is pretending to de-escalate to placate Dems so they don't demand reform, and Dems are making up fake reforms so they can pretend like they made changes while they vote to fund DHS.
Reposted by Steph Brown
Just so we are clear. Haitians are currently in the United States legally.
They are not here illegally.
Trump is revoking their legal status Feb. 3, and then, according to reports, immediately sending ICE in to Springfield and Columbus, Ohio, to target them.
They are not here illegally.
Trump is revoking their legal status Feb. 3, and then, according to reports, immediately sending ICE in to Springfield and Columbus, Ohio, to target them.
Thousands of Haitians living in Ohio legally will lose their temporary protected status next week unless a federal court blocks it. ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/01/28/t...
'The folks are fearful.' Haitians living in Ohio may soon lose temporary protected status • Ohio Capital Journal
Thousands of Haitians living in Ohio will lose their temporary protected status next week unless a federal court blocks it.
ohiocapitaljournal.com
January 28, 2026 at 3:47 PM
Just so we are clear. Haitians are currently in the United States legally.
They are not here illegally.
Trump is revoking their legal status Feb. 3, and then, according to reports, immediately sending ICE in to Springfield and Columbus, Ohio, to target them.
They are not here illegally.
Trump is revoking their legal status Feb. 3, and then, according to reports, immediately sending ICE in to Springfield and Columbus, Ohio, to target them.
Reposted by Steph Brown
Some academic publishing contract advice: make sure your contract specifies 1. a qualified human copyeditor will copyedit on the MS; 2. a qualified human proofreader will proofread the MS; 3. that production must have a proper system for version control (!).
January 28, 2026 at 3:27 PM
Some academic publishing contract advice: make sure your contract specifies 1. a qualified human copyeditor will copyedit on the MS; 2. a qualified human proofreader will proofread the MS; 3. that production must have a proper system for version control (!).
Reposted by Steph Brown
A lot more people should know about the bravery Marimar Martinez displayed in the midst of Chicago’s occupation and the murder of two observers in MSP. They tried to kill her, shooting her 5 times, and it’s a miracle she’s alive to push for transparency like this after being persecuted by the DOJ.
The woman who survived five gunshots from a Border Patrol agent in Chicago, only to be criminally charged and then cleared, now wants a judge’s permission to share records showing how the feds respond when agents use deadly force.
@chicago.suntimes.com story: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
@chicago.suntimes.com story: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
Woman shot by Border Patrol in Chicago asks judge to let her release evidence
Marimar Martinez is blocked from releasing evidence in her case by what's known as a "protective order." Though standard, her attorney says it's “become an albatross” around her neck and “keeps the en...
chicago.suntimes.com
January 26, 2026 at 11:27 PM
A lot more people should know about the bravery Marimar Martinez displayed in the midst of Chicago’s occupation and the murder of two observers in MSP. They tried to kill her, shooting her 5 times, and it’s a miracle she’s alive to push for transparency like this after being persecuted by the DOJ.
Reposted by Steph Brown
Feels like society’s really broken down in the US in a way that’s deeply traumatic.
But also there are college students knocking on doors asking for shovels (they’re not well-prepared) and helping trapped motorists by shoveling and pushing out cars. Up to 24 of them now, wandering streets together
But also there are college students knocking on doors asking for shovels (they’re not well-prepared) and helping trapped motorists by shoveling and pushing out cars. Up to 24 of them now, wandering streets together
January 25, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Feels like society’s really broken down in the US in a way that’s deeply traumatic.
But also there are college students knocking on doors asking for shovels (they’re not well-prepared) and helping trapped motorists by shoveling and pushing out cars. Up to 24 of them now, wandering streets together
But also there are college students knocking on doors asking for shovels (they’re not well-prepared) and helping trapped motorists by shoveling and pushing out cars. Up to 24 of them now, wandering streets together
Reposted by Steph Brown
you should not share a post that's a screenshot without a link to a news item. you should not share a post that's a video or picture without some kind of sourcing. we're in a new bad era and these are now basic practices.
... also photogs and journos gotta eat so share their work.
... also photogs and journos gotta eat so share their work.
January 26, 2026 at 3:04 PM
you should not share a post that's a screenshot without a link to a news item. you should not share a post that's a video or picture without some kind of sourcing. we're in a new bad era and these are now basic practices.
... also photogs and journos gotta eat so share their work.
... also photogs and journos gotta eat so share their work.