Patrick Fessenbecker
@pfessenbecker.bsky.social
Teaching writing and ethics to engineers, writing a book on George Eliot.
Huh, give it another read, maybe? That's not how I would paraphrase the argument. I'd call this the key passage:
November 10, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Huh, give it another read, maybe? That's not how I would paraphrase the argument. I'd call this the key passage:
Okay this labeler is incredible
November 2, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Okay this labeler is incredible
For my Bobby costume, may daughter made me a Huntr/x tshirt
November 2, 2025 at 12:56 AM
For my Bobby costume, may daughter made me a Huntr/x tshirt
Can i say something without everyone getting mad at me
October 31, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Can i say something without everyone getting mad at me
Never change, University of Chicago humanities faculty: who would you even be without the irrational confidence that humanities PhDs will all work out well in the end for the recipients?
October 31, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Never change, University of Chicago humanities faculty: who would you even be without the irrational confidence that humanities PhDs will all work out well in the end for the recipients?
what the fuck is this
October 31, 2025 at 4:47 PM
what the fuck is this
"the relationship between the signifier and the signified may perhaps by surpassed, or at any rate best expressed, by the tense dialectic between the dumpling and the taco, each of which contain the other by containing a stuffing in each concrete instance."
Me entering my Derridean phase
Me entering my Derridean phase
October 29, 2025 at 2:49 PM
"the relationship between the signifier and the signified may perhaps by surpassed, or at any rate best expressed, by the tense dialectic between the dumpling and the taco, each of which contain the other by containing a stuffing in each concrete instance."
Me entering my Derridean phase
Me entering my Derridean phase
Excuse me did you say post your pumpkins?
October 29, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Excuse me did you say post your pumpkins?
It is such a crystallization and indictment of contemporary criticism that someone would see Winnie the Pooh and think "ah, what a subtle portrayal of autism" and not, you know, joy at being alive.
October 23, 2025 at 9:26 AM
It is such a crystallization and indictment of contemporary criticism that someone would see Winnie the Pooh and think "ah, what a subtle portrayal of autism" and not, you know, joy at being alive.
This woman murdered her husband, so of course she's in jail, but honestly it seems like she's really building a new life and new community?
September 26, 2025 at 2:34 PM
This woman murdered her husband, so of course she's in jail, but honestly it seems like she's really building a new life and new community?
Reading the article, i was ready for this to be dystopian, but it actually seems like it's good for everybody.
September 26, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Reading the article, i was ready for this to be dystopian, but it actually seems like it's good for everybody.
I gotta say I’m not here for this dooming. I just gave a bunch of engineers a handwritten in class reading quiz and it was totally fine.
September 22, 2025 at 7:30 PM
I gotta say I’m not here for this dooming. I just gave a bunch of engineers a handwritten in class reading quiz and it was totally fine.
I mean, when Plato told the story, he understood that sexual desire was at the center of it.
I don't think every fantasy, not even realist fantasy, has to have elaborate presentations of sex. Life is long and the world is large.
But it is *striking* to have this be the major theme without sex.
I don't think every fantasy, not even realist fantasy, has to have elaborate presentations of sex. Life is long and the world is large.
But it is *striking* to have this be the major theme without sex.
September 22, 2025 at 3:37 AM
I mean, when Plato told the story, he understood that sexual desire was at the center of it.
I don't think every fantasy, not even realist fantasy, has to have elaborate presentations of sex. Life is long and the world is large.
But it is *striking* to have this be the major theme without sex.
I don't think every fantasy, not even realist fantasy, has to have elaborate presentations of sex. Life is long and the world is large.
But it is *striking* to have this be the major theme without sex.
You’ve heard of a “sand box,” but are you midwestern enough to have a
September 20, 2025 at 11:21 PM
You’ve heard of a “sand box,” but are you midwestern enough to have a
I don't know anything about his bio, but I'm sure you're right. That said, this strikes me as a pretty brave thing to say with Kash Patel standing right behind you.
September 12, 2025 at 8:13 PM
I don't know anything about his bio, but I'm sure you're right. That said, this strikes me as a pretty brave thing to say with Kash Patel standing right behind you.
staring in awe at this paragraph: yes, undoubtedly the reason Bluesky isn't available in Mississippi is that no one there has a degree, thank you Nate Silver
September 5, 2025 at 3:29 PM
staring in awe at this paragraph: yes, undoubtedly the reason Bluesky isn't available in Mississippi is that no one there has a degree, thank you Nate Silver
There's a giant riot of unpaid veterans that's broken up by a cavalry charge. Eighteen people die (yes, this was a simpler time, when eighteen dead people were a tragedy and not a fraction of fraction of the daily interstate death toll) and a bunch are injured.
September 1, 2025 at 4:31 AM
There's a giant riot of unpaid veterans that's broken up by a cavalry charge. Eighteen people die (yes, this was a simpler time, when eighteen dead people were a tragedy and not a fraction of fraction of the daily interstate death toll) and a bunch are injured.
And with this latest update, it sure looks like Bluesky is building the infrastructure for a supportive community
July 8, 2025 at 4:47 PM
And with this latest update, it sure looks like Bluesky is building the infrastructure for a supportive community
This essay is written in a pretty mournful tone, but if you get into the details it seems like actually college writing teachers are figuring out how to deal with ChatGPT?
1. More in-class writing
2. More drafting/revising
3. Higher standards
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
1. More in-class writing
2. More drafting/revising
3. Higher standards
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
July 8, 2025 at 4:03 PM
This essay is written in a pretty mournful tone, but if you get into the details it seems like actually college writing teachers are figuring out how to deal with ChatGPT?
1. More in-class writing
2. More drafting/revising
3. Higher standards
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
1. More in-class writing
2. More drafting/revising
3. Higher standards
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
In case anyone was wondering how the local facebook group is going
July 8, 2025 at 3:59 PM
In case anyone was wondering how the local facebook group is going
Love the defaults in the new fine tuning! a lot of attention to the real juice of the site:
July 8, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Love the defaults in the new fine tuning! a lot of attention to the real juice of the site:
I appreciate the impulse behind this policy but maybe not the right way to handle it?
July 8, 2025 at 2:19 AM
I appreciate the impulse behind this policy but maybe not the right way to handle it?
Imagine quoting an *undergrad* as an expert in a story like this:
July 5, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Imagine quoting an *undergrad* as an expert in a story like this:
Suspicious of anyone who brags about talking with Carville daily, and that the details of the messaging mattered more than the new media strategy hinted at in this low blow. If this was how Trump won, then maybe that's what mattered, not how she described her relationship to Joe Biden?
June 30, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Suspicious of anyone who brags about talking with Carville daily, and that the details of the messaging mattered more than the new media strategy hinted at in this low blow. If this was how Trump won, then maybe that's what mattered, not how she described her relationship to Joe Biden?
That is a surprising way to describe "optimistic": a majority (52%, apparently) of weekly users of AI tools do not think it will increase student engagement. and it looks like a robust 76% of weekly users think it will impair student critical thinking skills.
June 30, 2025 at 3:58 AM
That is a surprising way to describe "optimistic": a majority (52%, apparently) of weekly users of AI tools do not think it will increase student engagement. and it looks like a robust 76% of weekly users think it will impair student critical thinking skills.