Greg O'Brien
@profobrien.bsky.social
Historian. I research and teach about the Native South and environmental history. Opinions/posts mine. Belgian and craft beer fan. Anti fascist. ☮️
https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9780803296909/the-native-south
https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9780803296909/the-native-south
Pinned
Reposted by Greg O'Brien
“History shows us that the right to literacy came at a heavy cost…those oppressed recognized that literacy is liberation. To my students & to anyone who might listen, I say: Don’t surrender to AI your ability to read, write & think when others once risked their lives & died for the freedom to do so”
I Set A Trap To Catch My Students Cheating With AI. The Results Were Shocking.
"Students are not just undermining their ability to learn, but to someday lead."
www.huffpost.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:26 AM
“History shows us that the right to literacy came at a heavy cost…those oppressed recognized that literacy is liberation. To my students & to anyone who might listen, I say: Don’t surrender to AI your ability to read, write & think when others once risked their lives & died for the freedom to do so”
Reposted by Greg O'Brien
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Reposted by Greg O'Brien
“Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers will immediately leave his role as an instructor at Harvard while the University investigates his ties to child sex trafficker Jeffrey E. Epstein.
“His co-teachers will complete the remaining three class sessions of the courses he has been teaching”
“His co-teachers will complete the remaining three class sessions of the courses he has been teaching”
Summers Will Not Finish Semester of Teaching as Harvard Investigates Epstein Ties | News | The Harvard Crimson
Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers will immediately leave his role as an instructor at Harvard while the University investigates his ties to child sex trafficker Jeffrey E. Epstein.
www.thecrimson.com
November 20, 2025 at 1:38 AM
“Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers will immediately leave his role as an instructor at Harvard while the University investigates his ties to child sex trafficker Jeffrey E. Epstein.
“His co-teachers will complete the remaining three class sessions of the courses he has been teaching”
“His co-teachers will complete the remaining three class sessions of the courses he has been teaching”
Reposted by Greg O'Brien
Happy Holidays from the University of Nebraska Press! Great books make great gifts, so until December 31, 2025, our entire catalog is available for 50% OFF.
Holiday Sale
Happy Holidays from the University of Nebraska Press! Great books make great gifts, so for the rest of the year, until December 31, 2025, our entire catalog is available for 50% OFF. This sale includes over 4,000 books, so there’s something for everyone. Just enter 6HLW25 in the promotion code field of your shopping cart and click Add Promotion Code when making your purchase. Shop Now!
unpblog.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Happy Holidays from the University of Nebraska Press! Great books make great gifts, so until December 31, 2025, our entire catalog is available for 50% OFF.
Reposted by Greg O'Brien
Read this. All of it. "The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded the MBCI [Mississippi Choctaws] a grant in 2020. The grant was a significant boost to the project. However, as the department was nearing completion of the dictionary, the Trump administration terminated the award."
The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians received a grant for its Choctaw Dictionary project in 2020. However, as the department was nearing completion of the dictionary, the Trump administration terminated the award.
buff.ly/5ApEvre
buff.ly/5ApEvre
Mississippi Choctaw Dictionary Project Helps Preserve Language
The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians’ Choctaw Dictionary Project is designed to help teach the language and encourage more daily use.
www.mississippifreepress.org
November 17, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Read this. All of it. "The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded the MBCI [Mississippi Choctaws] a grant in 2020. The grant was a significant boost to the project. However, as the department was nearing completion of the dictionary, the Trump administration terminated the award."
I audibly muttered "ugh" with a start date in the 1750s. I fear the first night rush to get to 1776 without sufficiently focusing on 1774-1775 also suggests an old-school "glorious cause" will shape the remainder.
Of course, it is ultimately Ken Burns's decision as to what kind of story he wants to tell and I suspect no one, who knows his work, will be surprised by his choices, but this feels like a missed opportunity. The traditional stops from the Seven Years' War to 1776 comes packaged with a feeling...
November 17, 2025 at 12:44 PM
I audibly muttered "ugh" with a start date in the 1750s. I fear the first night rush to get to 1776 without sufficiently focusing on 1774-1775 also suggests an old-school "glorious cause" will shape the remainder.
Reposted by Greg O'Brien
“While the AI industry claims its models can “think,” “reason,” and “learn,” their supposed achievements rest on marketing hype and stolen intellectual labor. In reality, AI erodes academic freedom, weakens critical reading, and subordinates the pursuit of knowledge to corporate interests.”
AI Is Hollowing Out Higher Education
Olivia Guest & Iris van Rooij urge teachers and scholars to reject tools that commodify learning, deskill students, and promote illiteracy.
www.project-syndicate.org
November 15, 2025 at 5:24 PM
“While the AI industry claims its models can “think,” “reason,” and “learn,” their supposed achievements rest on marketing hype and stolen intellectual labor. In reality, AI erodes academic freedom, weakens critical reading, and subordinates the pursuit of knowledge to corporate interests.”
Reposted by Greg O'Brien
Former University of Virginia President Jim Ryan is speaking out about his resignation under pressure from the federal government.
https://www.29news.com/2025/11/15/uva-faculty-senate-calls-rector-vice-rector-resign-immediately/
https://www.29news.com/2025/11/15/uva-faculty-senate-calls-rector-vice-rector-resign-immediately/
UVA Faculty Senate calls for Rector, Vice Rector to resign immediately
On Friday afternoon, faculty senators voted 41-17-2 to pass a resolution calling for the immediate resignation of Rector Rachel Sheridan and Vice Rector Porter Wilkinson.
www.29news.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:13 AM
Former University of Virginia President Jim Ryan is speaking out about his resignation under pressure from the federal government.
https://www.29news.com/2025/11/15/uva-faculty-senate-calls-rector-vice-rector-resign-immediately/
https://www.29news.com/2025/11/15/uva-faculty-senate-calls-rector-vice-rector-resign-immediately/
Fight back against the change in the Agricultural bill sneaked into the reopening craptastic legislation
hempsupporter.com
hempsupporter.com
U.S. Hemp Roundtable
We are the nation’s leading hemp business advocacy organization paving the way for the advancement of the hemp and CBD industries through education and action.
hempsupporter.com
November 14, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Fight back against the change in the Agricultural bill sneaked into the reopening craptastic legislation
hempsupporter.com
hempsupporter.com
Reposted by Greg O'Brien
Glenn Youngkin inadvertently cajoled former UVA President Jim Ryan to go public with what really happened behind the scenes leading to his forced resignation in June, and it doesn’t look good on the governor or his MAGA appointees to the UVA Board of Visitors.
augustafreepress.com/news/jim-rya...
augustafreepress.com/news/jim-rya...
Jim Ryan tells all on his forced resignation
Glenn Youngkin inadvertently cajoled former UVA President Jim Ryan to go public with what happened behind the scenes leading to his resignation in June.
augustafreepress.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Glenn Youngkin inadvertently cajoled former UVA President Jim Ryan to go public with what really happened behind the scenes leading to his forced resignation in June, and it doesn’t look good on the governor or his MAGA appointees to the UVA Board of Visitors.
augustafreepress.com/news/jim-rya...
augustafreepress.com/news/jim-rya...
Reposted by Greg O'Brien
my takeaway from this letter is that glenn youngkin, rector sheridan and their flunkies on the board are deeply dishonest people who are engaged, with the trump administration, in a mob-style shakedown against the university of virginia
Former UVA president Jim Ryan, who resigned over the summer due to pressure from the Trump Administration, just shared this 12-page letter with the Faculty Senate, detailing his experience with the Board of Visitors and DOJ.
It's a surreal--and troubling--read.
drive.google.com/file/d/1Is6x...
It's a surreal--and troubling--read.
drive.google.com/file/d/1Is6x...
November 14, 2025 at 2:47 PM
my takeaway from this letter is that glenn youngkin, rector sheridan and their flunkies on the board are deeply dishonest people who are engaged, with the trump administration, in a mob-style shakedown against the university of virginia
Reposted by Greg O'Brien
I’m back.
substack.com/@sarahkendzi...
substack.com/@sarahkendzi...
November 14, 2025 at 1:48 PM
I’m back.
substack.com/@sarahkendzi...
substack.com/@sarahkendzi...
Reposted by Greg O'Brien
If you have to get permission to teach in your area of expertise from people who are definitionally not qualified to adjudicate your expertise then you are no longer working at a university.
You’re working at a state propaganda factory.
You’re working at a state propaganda factory.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Texas A&M adopts policy requiring professors to get OK from school president to discuss certain race and gender issues.
November 13, 2025 at 11:48 PM
If you have to get permission to teach in your area of expertise from people who are definitionally not qualified to adjudicate your expertise then you are no longer working at a university.
You’re working at a state propaganda factory.
You’re working at a state propaganda factory.
And state employees stuck with no raises while they raised our health insurance costs.
Yesterday, Pennsylvania Governor @joshshapiropa.bsky.social signed their state's budget into law.
That leaves North Carolina as the only state in the entire nation without an operating budget.
Our Republican legislature, unable to decide amongst themselves, just quit and went home.
That leaves North Carolina as the only state in the entire nation without an operating budget.
Our Republican legislature, unable to decide amongst themselves, just quit and went home.
November 13, 2025 at 1:05 PM
And state employees stuck with no raises while they raised our health insurance costs.
Reposted by Greg O'Brien
This has gotten lost: Abigail Spanberger won big after vowing to RESCIND Glenn Youngkin's executive order directing local cooperation with ICE and voting AGAINST the anti-immigrant Laken Riley Act. Yet she gained bigly with working class.
New piece laying this out:
newrepublic.com/article/2030...
New piece laying this out:
newrepublic.com/article/2030...
November 12, 2025 at 6:49 PM
This has gotten lost: Abigail Spanberger won big after vowing to RESCIND Glenn Youngkin's executive order directing local cooperation with ICE and voting AGAINST the anti-immigrant Laken Riley Act. Yet she gained bigly with working class.
New piece laying this out:
newrepublic.com/article/2030...
New piece laying this out:
newrepublic.com/article/2030...
Reposted by Greg O'Brien
If releasing the Epstein files would end your presidency, then your presidency must end. It’s that simple.
November 12, 2025 at 8:42 PM
If releasing the Epstein files would end your presidency, then your presidency must end. It’s that simple.
Not sure why one of the most incisive observers and critics of modern American life has been suspended from Bluesky, but it is clearly mistaken and needs to be fixed.
substack.com/@sarahkendzior?
substack.com/@sarahkendzior?
Sarah Kendzior | Substack
Author of THEY KNEW, HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT, THE VIEW FROM FLYOVER COUNTRY and THE LAST AMERICAN ROAD TRIP.
substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Not sure why one of the most incisive observers and critics of modern American life has been suspended from Bluesky, but it is clearly mistaken and needs to be fixed.
substack.com/@sarahkendzior?
substack.com/@sarahkendzior?
Reposted by Greg O'Brien
In the Feb 2022 blitzkrieg Russia quickly occupied 120,000 km² of Ukraine in just one month at a cost of 17,500 casualties.
Since March 2022, Russia lost 48,000 km² and suffered over 1,100,000 casualties.
Russia will be defeated so long as the West arms & funds Ukraine.
Since March 2022, Russia lost 48,000 km² and suffered over 1,100,000 casualties.
Russia will be defeated so long as the West arms & funds Ukraine.
November 11, 2025 at 9:44 AM
In the Feb 2022 blitzkrieg Russia quickly occupied 120,000 km² of Ukraine in just one month at a cost of 17,500 casualties.
Since March 2022, Russia lost 48,000 km² and suffered over 1,100,000 casualties.
Russia will be defeated so long as the West arms & funds Ukraine.
Since March 2022, Russia lost 48,000 km² and suffered over 1,100,000 casualties.
Russia will be defeated so long as the West arms & funds Ukraine.
Reposted by Greg O'Brien
UNC-Chapel Hill's chancellor says the university will not sign on to a higher education compact from the Trump administration.
www.wunc.org/education/20...
www.wunc.org/education/20...
After faculty raise concerns, UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor says university will not sign Trump's higher ed compact
Lee Roberts called the "preferential treatment" proposal a clear infringement on academic freedom.
www.wunc.org
November 10, 2025 at 9:28 PM
UNC-Chapel Hill's chancellor says the university will not sign on to a higher education compact from the Trump administration.
www.wunc.org/education/20...
www.wunc.org/education/20...
Reposted by Greg O'Brien
‘After environmental regulations were finally enforced and leaded gas phased out, crime in general plunged and the so-called “golden age of serial killers” came to an abrupt end.’
James Lasdun on Caroline Fraser’s exploration of the links between pollution and murder.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
James Lasdun on Caroline Fraser’s exploration of the links between pollution and murder.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
James Lasdun · American Berserk: Serial Killers in Seattle
For a period beginning in the 1960s and ending around the turn of this century, the preferred form of the homicidally...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 9, 2025 at 12:50 PM
‘After environmental regulations were finally enforced and leaded gas phased out, crime in general plunged and the so-called “golden age of serial killers” came to an abrupt end.’
James Lasdun on Caroline Fraser’s exploration of the links between pollution and murder.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
James Lasdun on Caroline Fraser’s exploration of the links between pollution and murder.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
So proud of Jewel and this project!
The C. Vann Woodward Award for the best dissertation written on Southern history in the preceding year is awarded to Jewel Parker #2025SHA
November 6, 2025 at 9:28 PM
So proud of Jewel and this project!
Reposted by Greg O'Brien
me at the end of class: here's a little speculative exercises; imagine you wake up from cryosleep in 2085. what's the kind of tech-society r/ship you'd like to see around you?
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
November 6, 2025 at 6:32 AM
me at the end of class: here's a little speculative exercises; imagine you wake up from cryosleep in 2085. what's the kind of tech-society r/ship you'd like to see around you?
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
Good news from my long-ago place of residence
BREAKING: Democrat Johnny DuPree has flipped a Republican-held Mississippi Senate district in a special election.
DuPree was previously the mayor of Hattiesburg.
His win imperils the Mississippi Senate GOP's narrow supermajority.
www.mississippifreepress.org/democrat-joh...
DuPree was previously the mayor of Hattiesburg.
His win imperils the Mississippi Senate GOP's narrow supermajority.
www.mississippifreepress.org/democrat-joh...
Democrat Johnny DuPree Flips Republican-Held Mississippi Senate District in Forrest County
Johnny DuPree, a Democrat who served as the mayor of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, for 16 years, has flipped a Republican-held Mississippi Senate seat.
www.mississippifreepress.org
November 5, 2025 at 6:14 AM
Good news from my long-ago place of residence
Reposted by Greg O'Brien
“What keeps us going, ultimately, is our love for each other, and our refusal to bow our heads, to accept the verdict, however all-powerful it seems. It’s what ordinary people have to do. You have to love each other. You have to defend each other. You have to fight.” —Mike Davis
November 5, 2025 at 3:50 AM
“What keeps us going, ultimately, is our love for each other, and our refusal to bow our heads, to accept the verdict, however all-powerful it seems. It’s what ordinary people have to do. You have to love each other. You have to defend each other. You have to fight.” —Mike Davis