Adam Kotlarczyk
@thekaycheck.bsky.social
Dad. Reader. Writer. Teacher. Coach. Ph.D. Gamer. '85 Bears aficionado. All-Around Nerd. Chaotic Good. Views are my own and not affiliated with any institution.
Reposted by Adam Kotlarczyk
I remember students complaining about hand cramps when I was proctoring finals as a TA thirty years ago.
And uh, you’re not supposed to “like” the final exam.
And uh, you’re not supposed to “like” the final exam.
Does anyone else bristle at this framing? WSJ says blue books are “torturing” students with hand cramps, and “nobody likes them.”
Listen, students have been outsourcing everything to AI and cheating their way through college. Blue books should be celebrated as a return to authentic human learning.
Listen, students have been outsourcing everything to AI and cheating their way through college. Blue books should be celebrated as a return to authentic human learning.
They Were Every Student’s Worst Nightmare. Now Blue Books Are Back.
Cheating with ChatGPT has become a huge problem for colleges. The solution is painfully old-school.
www.wsj.com
December 24, 2025 at 4:35 PM
I remember students complaining about hand cramps when I was proctoring finals as a TA thirty years ago.
And uh, you’re not supposed to “like” the final exam.
And uh, you’re not supposed to “like” the final exam.
Reposted by Adam Kotlarczyk
Really looking forward to tonight. We follow the Icelandic tradition of Jólabókaflóð, literally 'Christmas book flood'. Rather than watching regrettable repeats on TV, you give each other a book and then settle down with a nice hot chocolate to read them. It's fab! 📚
adventures.is/blog/iceland...
adventures.is/blog/iceland...
Iceland Christmas Eve Tradition | Arctic Adventures
Discover Jólabókaflóð: Iceland's unique Christmas tradition of book gifting. Learn about its history and how it reflects Iceland's love for reading!
adventures.is
December 24, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Really looking forward to tonight. We follow the Icelandic tradition of Jólabókaflóð, literally 'Christmas book flood'. Rather than watching regrettable repeats on TV, you give each other a book and then settle down with a nice hot chocolate to read them. It's fab! 📚
adventures.is/blog/iceland...
adventures.is/blog/iceland...
Reposted by Adam Kotlarczyk
To report 2.7% inflation for November, the Trump Admin excluded data on food, housing, electricity, clothing, medical care, and most other categories.
In fact, only 3 of more than 20 price categories were included in the calculations, making the report meaningless.
Actual inflation is much higher.
In fact, only 3 of more than 20 price categories were included in the calculations, making the report meaningless.
Actual inflation is much higher.
December 20, 2025 at 3:09 PM
To report 2.7% inflation for November, the Trump Admin excluded data on food, housing, electricity, clothing, medical care, and most other categories.
In fact, only 3 of more than 20 price categories were included in the calculations, making the report meaningless.
Actual inflation is much higher.
In fact, only 3 of more than 20 price categories were included in the calculations, making the report meaningless.
Actual inflation is much higher.
Reposted by Adam Kotlarczyk
Back when I was writing regularly about baseball, circa 2012, I crunched the numbers & the likelihood of becoming a tenure-track professor in one of the MLA disciplines was almost precisely the same as getting from a college baseball team to a MLB roster.
Nothing has gotten easier since then.
Nothing has gotten easier since then.
Becoming a tenured professor is a bit like becoming an NBA forward or a successful recording artist. (Or a novelist or a working fine artist or a pediatric cardiologist.) The supply is massively greater than the demand, and everyone is excellent. This is a hedge fund of yourself, not a career goal.
December 19, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Back when I was writing regularly about baseball, circa 2012, I crunched the numbers & the likelihood of becoming a tenure-track professor in one of the MLA disciplines was almost precisely the same as getting from a college baseball team to a MLB roster.
Nothing has gotten easier since then.
Nothing has gotten easier since then.
I taught a documentary film class for several years and we always ended the semester - usually right around this time of year - on a light note with Rob Reiner's mockumentary This is Spinal Tap. He was a kind, creative, and brilliant steward of culture and humanity. A terrible loss.
December 15, 2025 at 5:45 PM
I taught a documentary film class for several years and we always ended the semester - usually right around this time of year - on a light note with Rob Reiner's mockumentary This is Spinal Tap. He was a kind, creative, and brilliant steward of culture and humanity. A terrible loss.
Reposted by Adam Kotlarczyk
I would like to say that pretty much every immigrant in this country is more of an American than anyone doing Trump’s bidding
December 14, 2025 at 9:45 PM
I would like to say that pretty much every immigrant in this country is more of an American than anyone doing Trump’s bidding
Reposted by Adam Kotlarczyk
“.. The problem isn’t that grocery prices are high .. the problem is that nobody is giving the president credit for all the good things happening in the make-believe world he inhabits.”
@rexhuppke.bsky.social
www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...
@rexhuppke.bsky.social
www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...
December 14, 2025 at 4:40 PM
“.. The problem isn’t that grocery prices are high .. the problem is that nobody is giving the president credit for all the good things happening in the make-believe world he inhabits.”
@rexhuppke.bsky.social
www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...
@rexhuppke.bsky.social
www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...
Reposted by Adam Kotlarczyk
I would like the phrase and concept of "common decency" to make a comeback
December 10, 2025 at 3:30 PM
I would like the phrase and concept of "common decency" to make a comeback
Name your fave Tom Hanks film.
December 9, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Name your fave Tom Hanks film.
Movie you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Stars (Wars nor Trek), LOTR, or Marvel, Disney Animated or Pixar.
December 8, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Movie you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Stars (Wars nor Trek), LOTR, or Marvel, Disney Animated or Pixar.
I just worry that, by presenting it to a man who is ordering the murders of helpless foreign civilians in international waters as he siccs a masked, unaccountable secret police force on his own citizens, the illustrious prestige and venerable legacy of the fifa peace prize may be tarnished.
December 6, 2025 at 1:55 PM
I just worry that, by presenting it to a man who is ordering the murders of helpless foreign civilians in international waters as he siccs a masked, unaccountable secret police force on his own citizens, the illustrious prestige and venerable legacy of the fifa peace prize may be tarnished.
Reposted by Adam Kotlarczyk
Trump fell asleep during Nessun Dorma, an italian opera song which translates to "none shall sleep."
December 5, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Trump fell asleep during Nessun Dorma, an italian opera song which translates to "none shall sleep."
Reposted by Adam Kotlarczyk
I bet if you blow the dust of the DEPARTMENT OF WAR sign it’d reveal the word CRIMES right after that
November 29, 2025 at 1:41 AM
I bet if you blow the dust of the DEPARTMENT OF WAR sign it’d reveal the word CRIMES right after that
Reposted by Adam Kotlarczyk
I wrote an essay for @bostonreview.bsky.social about what I learned about close reading when I taught at West Virginia University
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
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
November 26, 2025 at 3:14 PM
I wrote an essay for @bostonreview.bsky.social about what I learned about close reading when I taught at West Virginia University
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
Reposted by Adam Kotlarczyk
Let’s see if one single pundit who said there was some great realignment of American sentiment with this last election, based on what they saw on the Nazi-owned platform overrun by foreign actors, offers any retractions or corrections for their gullibility.
It’s hilarious and revelatory that a bunch of giant MAGA/America First X accounts are actually based in Eastern Europe and Nigeria.
Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Actors
A new feature on Elon Musk’s X has given deeper insight into the online “America First” movement.
www.thedailybeast.com
November 23, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Let’s see if one single pundit who said there was some great realignment of American sentiment with this last election, based on what they saw on the Nazi-owned platform overrun by foreign actors, offers any retractions or corrections for their gullibility.
Reposted by Adam Kotlarczyk
Before the midterms of 1866, President Andrew Johnson called his congressional opponents traitors and said they should be hanged.
Voters were so profoundly moved by his words... that they gave his opponents a supermajority in Congress, and the nation got the Fourteenth Amendment.
Voters were so profoundly moved by his words... that they gave his opponents a supermajority in Congress, and the nation got the Fourteenth Amendment.
November 20, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Before the midterms of 1866, President Andrew Johnson called his congressional opponents traitors and said they should be hanged.
Voters were so profoundly moved by his words... that they gave his opponents a supermajority in Congress, and the nation got the Fourteenth Amendment.
Voters were so profoundly moved by his words... that they gave his opponents a supermajority in Congress, and the nation got the Fourteenth Amendment.
Reposted by Adam Kotlarczyk
Grades are not accountability. Grades are a quantitative mystification of the qualitative. Letter grades were developed to create the illusion of rationalization in an industrial society & then, as now, exaggerate the potential for automating assessment & other labor by educators.
If high schools and elite colleges are holding students and teachers accountable for AP test results, you have a strong incentive to fix this problem.
November 19, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Grades are not accountability. Grades are a quantitative mystification of the qualitative. Letter grades were developed to create the illusion of rationalization in an industrial society & then, as now, exaggerate the potential for automating assessment & other labor by educators.
In the current era, The Plague by Camus would have to be on top, then maybe Jesmyn Ward's Sing, Unburied, Sing
alright let’s get something more pleasant going. what two books would you leave out on your coffee table so a reporter can mention you have them. doesn’t matter if you’ve read them. for me it’s Pale Fire (which I did read) and Ulysses (got like 15% of the way in)
November 15, 2025 at 1:29 PM
In the current era, The Plague by Camus would have to be on top, then maybe Jesmyn Ward's Sing, Unburied, Sing
Reposted by Adam Kotlarczyk
Millions of Democratic voters on Tuesday: Fight these guys. Fight them.
Senate Democrats: We heard you loud and clear and we will give in
Senate Democrats: We heard you loud and clear and we will give in
November 9, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Millions of Democratic voters on Tuesday: Fight these guys. Fight them.
Senate Democrats: We heard you loud and clear and we will give in
Senate Democrats: We heard you loud and clear and we will give in
Reposted by Adam Kotlarczyk
Pierrot, by Jean-Antoine Watteau, 1718-19, 📸 by @andyharnik
November 7, 2025 at 5:27 AM
Pierrot, by Jean-Antoine Watteau, 1718-19, 📸 by @andyharnik
Reposted by Adam Kotlarczyk
Of course I'm worried about socialism. I mean, just imagine if Mamdani one day becomes President and nationalizes industry, imposes historic tax hikes, goes after the media, builds a secret national police force, militarizes the country, and sends people to camps.
November 5, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Of course I'm worried about socialism. I mean, just imagine if Mamdani one day becomes President and nationalizes industry, imposes historic tax hikes, goes after the media, builds a secret national police force, militarizes the country, and sends people to camps.
Reposted by Adam Kotlarczyk
Did Knee-Jerk Contrarianism Ruin the New York Times?
November 6, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Did Knee-Jerk Contrarianism Ruin the New York Times?
Reposted by Adam Kotlarczyk
I do think yesterday’s results reinforced the dynamic that while much of the American leadership class is chickenshit, most of the electorate is not
November 5, 2025 at 1:36 PM
I do think yesterday’s results reinforced the dynamic that while much of the American leadership class is chickenshit, most of the electorate is not
Reposted by Adam Kotlarczyk
if you worked for teen vogue, in any capacity, i want you to know that your work inspired me and made a difference in the world. it really did.
November 3, 2025 at 10:01 PM
if you worked for teen vogue, in any capacity, i want you to know that your work inspired me and made a difference in the world. it really did.
Reposted by Adam Kotlarczyk
Dick Cheney did more than anyone else to build up expansive and destructive executive branch powers in the wake of 9/11; he lived to see another president turn those same powers against his own daughter.
He should be a warning sign to the GOP today but too many of them are in the cult.
He should be a warning sign to the GOP today but too many of them are in the cult.
November 4, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Dick Cheney did more than anyone else to build up expansive and destructive executive branch powers in the wake of 9/11; he lived to see another president turn those same powers against his own daughter.
He should be a warning sign to the GOP today but too many of them are in the cult.
He should be a warning sign to the GOP today but too many of them are in the cult.