Melissa Wrapp
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wrappitup.bsky.social
Melissa Wrapp
@wrappitup.bsky.social
oc catholic worker • anthro prof, csulb • thinking about housing, money, design, and alternatives
Reposted by Melissa Wrapp
“Where everything else felt exhausted, the classroom was overflowing, plentiful. All we needed was a poem, a few hours each week, and trust in what we could do, in what we did do, together.”

@johannawinant.bsky.social on the real power of close reading in a growing age of austerity:
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 3:12 PM
Reposted by Melissa Wrapp
AI always calling your ideas “fantastic” can feel inauthentic, but what are sycophancy’s deeper harms? We find that in the common use case of seeking AI advice on interpersonal situations—specifically conflicts—sycophancy makes people feel more right & less willing to apologize.
October 3, 2025 at 10:53 PM
"The untold billions firehosed by investors into its development; the water-guzzling data centers draining the parched exurbs of Phoenix and Dallas; the yeti-size carbon footprint of the sector as a whole — and for what? A cankerous glut of racist memes and cardboard essays."
September 19, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Reposted by Melissa Wrapp
Bear all of this in mind when someone starts parroting in your direction all the utopian and progressive-buzzword-laden talk about AI’s potentials. I’m looking at you, fellow academics.
May 10, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Reposted by Melissa Wrapp
"Rent spiked by 20 percent in Los Angeles County after wildfires ravaged the area, according to a Washington Post analysis of listings data from RentCast, a property analytics service, raising alarms of price gouging in the midst of a housing crisis."

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Rent rose by 20 percent across L.A. County after fires. That’s illegal.
Rent for single-family homes across Los Angeles County rose by almost 25 percent, and even more in certain areas, according to a Washington Post analysis.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 26, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Reposted by Melissa Wrapp
"Any attempt to encourage people to treat AI systems with respect should be understood as an attempt to make people defer to corporate interests." Julien Crockett interviews Ted Chiang about the dangers of AI. lareviewofbooks.org/article/life...
Life Is More Than an Engineering Problem | Los Angeles Review of Books
Julien Crockett speaks with Ted Chiang about the search for a perfect language, the state of AI, and the future direction of technology.
lareviewofbooks.org
January 22, 2025 at 12:28 AM