Thomas Conner, PhD
@thesonginmyhead.bsky.social
Media studies and news-media. Practice: writing, editing, news judgment. Theory: holograms, media, hauntings, oh my. 👻 Ex-music critic, forever gardener. he/him/his
Great read about the power of close reading (adaptable to a surprising variety of contexts!): www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
The Claims of Close Reading - Boston Review
Literary studies have been starved by austerity, but their core methodology remains radical.
www.bostonreview.net
December 2, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Great read about the power of close reading (adaptable to a surprising variety of contexts!): www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
Nobody puts Piggy in the corner
November 19, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Nobody puts Piggy in the corner
Started 'Katabasis,' laughing thru the tears, feels like the most thorough parody of academia since 'Moo'! "Good jobs were vanishingly rare in academia. Alice very much wanted one. She wouldn’t know what to do with herself otherwise. She had trained her entire life to do this one thing ...” #preach
November 18, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Started 'Katabasis,' laughing thru the tears, feels like the most thorough parody of academia since 'Moo'! "Good jobs were vanishingly rare in academia. Alice very much wanted one. She wouldn’t know what to do with herself otherwise. She had trained her entire life to do this one thing ...” #preach
Pondering the state of expertise and credentials vs. social impact and change through the lens of ‘The Lowdown’ and whatever the hell a “truthstorian” is: thepickup.com/whats-a-trut...
What’s A Truthstorian, Anyway? - The Pickup
Lee Roy Chapman didn’t fit the typical mold of a historian or a journalist. Good.
thepickup.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Pondering the state of expertise and credentials vs. social impact and change through the lens of ‘The Lowdown’ and whatever the hell a “truthstorian” is: thepickup.com/whats-a-trut...
Such fun presenting today at the @hauntedfutures.bsky.social conference, hosted by the film & screen folks at U College Cork. Our panel explored liminal spaces, fictional architecture, and my own work on digital apparitions — oh my! Best to the whole haunted bunch!
November 13, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Such fun presenting today at the @hauntedfutures.bsky.social conference, hosted by the film & screen folks at U College Cork. Our panel explored liminal spaces, fictional architecture, and my own work on digital apparitions — oh my! Best to the whole haunted bunch!
Important that this analysis connects student news orgs to media literacy overall.
The Enduring Value of Student Newspapers - JSTOR Daily
More than curiosities, college papers are unique pedagogical tools that help undergraduates achieve media literacy.
daily.jstor.org
November 12, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Important that this analysis connects student news orgs to media literacy overall.
I feel like baking them all a very gay cake
The US Supreme Court has acted like it's one of Kim Davis's many husbands and kicked the "Marriage is Sacred, Y'all!!!" hypocrite to the curb. Glory!
November 10, 2025 at 6:30 PM
I feel like baking them all a very gay cake
Reposted by Thomas Conner, PhD
The New York Times quickly sending out Douthat to argue that Mamdani’s victory doesn’t really matter is so predictable it borders on self-parody.
Remember, folks: Every time the Right wins an election, it’s an undeniable expression of the will of the people. If a lefty wins, it’s just a blip.
Remember, folks: Every time the Right wins an election, it’s an undeniable expression of the will of the people. If a lefty wins, it’s just a blip.
Opinion | Mamdani’s Victory Is Less Significant Than You Think
www.nytimes.com
November 5, 2025 at 5:27 PM
The New York Times quickly sending out Douthat to argue that Mamdani’s victory doesn’t really matter is so predictable it borders on self-parody.
Remember, folks: Every time the Right wins an election, it’s an undeniable expression of the will of the people. If a lefty wins, it’s just a blip.
Remember, folks: Every time the Right wins an election, it’s an undeniable expression of the will of the people. If a lefty wins, it’s just a blip.
ChatGPT's co-opting of my beloved em dash is really bothering me. "The dash is a time-honored and exceedingly normal tool for constructing sentences! ... we think and speak in thoughts, which interrupt and introduce and complicate one another in a neat little dance ..."
With the Em Dash, A.I. Embraces a Fading Tradition
www.nytimes.com
October 16, 2025 at 5:19 PM
ChatGPT's co-opting of my beloved em dash is really bothering me. "The dash is a time-honored and exceedingly normal tool for constructing sentences! ... we think and speak in thoughts, which interrupt and introduce and complicate one another in a neat little dance ..."
"But #GenXers face a long future of precarity, debt, and climate catastrophe, as millennials do; some of us just lived, for a while, in a mental atmosphere not yet shaped by this knowledge. This, perhaps, was a privilege, if only in the way that a fool’s paradise is better than none at all."
Thank God Throwing Muses’ Kristin Hersh still gives a shit
The singer has loads of artistic integrity in a world that often doesn’t care.
theoutline.com
October 10, 2025 at 7:57 PM
"But #GenXers face a long future of precarity, debt, and climate catastrophe, as millennials do; some of us just lived, for a while, in a mental atmosphere not yet shaped by this knowledge. This, perhaps, was a privilege, if only in the way that a fool’s paradise is better than none at all."
As October dawns, I'm quite excited to be booked for the Haunted Futures (@hauntedfutures.bsky.social) conference next month. Digital ghosts & media specters & archival wraiths, oh my!
October 8, 2025 at 8:53 PM
As October dawns, I'm quite excited to be booked for the Haunted Futures (@hauntedfutures.bsky.social) conference next month. Digital ghosts & media specters & archival wraiths, oh my!
In the Midwest? Like this lovely new midtempo #TaylorSwift album (particularly "Opalite")? You'd probably really dig Lissie ...
Lissie | Official Site
My new album 'Carving Canyons' is out now - listen now!
lissie.com
October 8, 2025 at 6:03 PM
In the Midwest? Like this lovely new midtempo #TaylorSwift album (particularly "Opalite")? You'd probably really dig Lissie ...
Nice to see #ZachBryan tap into some of his Okie protest-folk roots. Where's everybody else?
MAGA Loses Its Collective Mind Over New Country Song Bashing ICE
Zach Bryan has some “bad news” for Republicans.
newrepublic.com
October 8, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Nice to see #ZachBryan tap into some of his Okie protest-folk roots. Where's everybody else?
“A key finding is that 52% of all autocratization episodes become U-Turns, which increases to 73% when focusing on the last 30 years. The vast majority of U-Turns (90%) lead to restored or even improved levels of democracy.” #turnthebeataround
When autocratization is reversed: episodes of U-Turns since 1900
The world is in a “wave of autocratization.” Yet, recent events in Brazil, the Maldives, and Zambia demonstrate that autocratization can be halted and reversed. This article introduces “U-Turn” as ...
www.tandfonline.com
September 29, 2025 at 5:31 PM
“A key finding is that 52% of all autocratization episodes become U-Turns, which increases to 73% when focusing on the last 30 years. The vast majority of U-Turns (90%) lead to restored or even improved levels of democracy.” #turnthebeataround
Wow! #WoodyGuthrie and especially Marjorie are dancing a jig today!
Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time
One of the most devastating diseases finally has a treatment that can slow its progression and transform lives, tearful doctors tell BBC.
www.bbc.com
September 25, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Wow! #WoodyGuthrie and especially Marjorie are dancing a jig today!
When I was a boy, it was candy cigarettes
OpenAI Is Building a Teen-Friendly Version of ChatGPT
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said protecting teens is a balance between safety, privacy and freedom.
www.cnet.com
September 17, 2025 at 6:55 PM
When I was a boy, it was candy cigarettes
Reposted by Thomas Conner, PhD
Make it make sense.
The free speech activist who built a list of professors he worked to get fired for their speech must be celebrated for his support of free speech, and anyone who quotes his speech accurately in context will be fired and/or face state punishment by the champions of free speech, do I have that right?
September 15, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Make it make sense.
Clerk at the drugstore today, out of the blue: “Are you a professor?” Yup, why? “You just have that energy. I bet you’re good.” Thanks, tell a search committee! #academicchatter
September 10, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Clerk at the drugstore today, out of the blue: “Are you a professor?” Yup, why? “You just have that energy. I bet you’re good.” Thanks, tell a search committee! #academicchatter
If someone had only told me at a much younger age that #buddhism is basically nothing but numbered to-do lists, I’d be levitating by now
September 2, 2025 at 9:31 PM
If someone had only told me at a much younger age that #buddhism is basically nothing but numbered to-do lists, I’d be levitating by now
"Well, there are certain sections of [Chicago], Major, that I wouldn't advise you to try to invade ..." #Casablanca
August 24, 2025 at 5:51 PM
"Well, there are certain sections of [Chicago], Major, that I wouldn't advise you to try to invade ..." #Casablanca
Reposted by Thomas Conner, PhD
'It's so cool that cities are like "pweeease only turn your AC on if you're actively dying and don't go below 79" while the Al nobody asked for is slurping up the power grid to make 1 image of a girl with 5 tits' – @LaurenKayes
August 11, 2025 at 3:41 PM
'It's so cool that cities are like "pweeease only turn your AC on if you're actively dying and don't go below 79" while the Al nobody asked for is slurping up the power grid to make 1 image of a girl with 5 tits' – @LaurenKayes
"I've never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure." -Clarence Darrow
James Dobson is dead, was a monster: defector.com/james-dobson...
James Dobson Is Dead, Was A Monster | Defector
James Dobson was a nasty dude. He liked to beat children and dogs with a belt and to rain misery and punishment on the vulnerable; we know all of this about him because he said as much in public,…
defector.com
August 22, 2025 at 2:02 PM
"I've never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure." -Clarence Darrow
I fully support the deployment of #hologram police officers in D.C. — like these in Seoul ...
South Korea Is Using Holographic Cops to Fight Crime
Every night between 7 and 10 p.m. in Seoul’s Judong No. 3 Park, full-size holographic cops flicker to life.
www.vice.com
August 21, 2025 at 6:44 PM
I fully support the deployment of #hologram police officers in D.C. — like these in Seoul ...
The occasional glimmer of goodness in Oklahoma government www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/o...
Opinion | I’m a Red-State Mayor Who Knows the Value of Diversity
www.nytimes.com
August 20, 2025 at 10:14 PM
The occasional glimmer of goodness in Oklahoma government www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/o...