Karen Davis

A tiny bud vase with a few flowers sits atop a stack of books in an office.

(2/2) ... and their impatience with unstructured time. One brought some outside back in for me, and while I don't generally approve of picking the landscaping, I will enjoy this bouquet for as long as it lasts.

We're studying Jenny Odell's How to Do Nothing, and today I sent my students outside to find an unfamiliar place and do nothing but notice, with all of their senses, for 25 minutes. They returned to talk about roly-polies, budding trees, the smell of wet, their fear of unfamiliar places, (1/2)

Holy shit. Video posted by President Bukele’s team on X shows the moments before his press conference with Trump in which Trump tells him: “We want to do homegrown criminals next. You gotta build about five more places.”

(h/t @titonka.bsky.social @michelekelemen.bsky.social)

This is horrifying and should, in any reasonable world, lead to immediate impeachment. On a hot mic, before the media arrived, starting around 7:15 on the time index, Trump tells Bukele he is going to start sending "homegrown criminals" to El Salvadoran gulags. This is fascism.

#AcademicSky Who's got research on reading/interacting with text on paper v. digitally?

(This old philosopher wants to resist forced paperlessness in the classroom but might just be grouchy, not right.)

If you're trying to find your way in these times and want to take action, don't forget that @prisonculture.bsky.social and I wrote a book for you. ❤️

It's cool, not stressed, just sent an email demanding "copier for the paper." I'm definitely not hanging on so tenuously these little things are sending me. Not me. 😅

(Disclaimer: I KNOW they're having a worse day.) But it is not a great day when I have to email some truly great candidates to tell them they won't be moving on to an on-campus interview. I would like to hire them all, please.

Gov. Abbott: "College professors have increasingly pushed woke agendas,” Abbott said. “They have too much influence over who is hired to educate our kids. We need legislation that prohibits professors from having any say over employment decisions.” 😳

I didn't think I had that ADHD thing of trying new things with reckless confidence, but then my therapist pointed out I'm teaching two classes this semester I've never taught before. Their syllabi include 4 books I've never read and 4 I haven't read since undergrad. So that feels like it counts. 😬

I have a wackadoo (lovingly) student who calls me "Wizard Davis" (addresses emails this way too!), and I've taken to signing my emails to them "Best, The Wizard." 😜

Anyway, something about invoking that fraud (-- of Oz, of course) feels appropriate to my level of imposter syndrome.

hey everyone -- mr. musk says the arm of the executive branch dedicated to spending the money CONGRESS HAS SAID BY LAW NEEDS TO BE SPENT is "criminal"

this is how you say "i'm doing a coup." you call everything lawful criminal in a bid for establishing legitimacy around yourself

It's so important to know how batshit this is.

The neoliberal American right has spent 35 years enthusiastically devolving public services to contracted social service agencies. We have consistently been told that these private services are better and more efficient.

RT to save for use in my Philosophy of Law course...

Infographic that says in 2023, 70% of police killings began with officers responding to a suspected non-violent situation or a case where no crime had been reported.

Police contact of any kind is not innocuous: most police killings start with officers responding to a suspected non-violent situation or a case where no crime has been reported.

https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2024/12/19/policing_survey_2022/

To our students and to ourselves! Thanks for the share.

What if Sartre's café waiter is just Autistic.

Ah yes. It's Six Separate Emails from the Same Student Since 11pm Last Night season.

Christmas party season at a Catholic university is intense. But this whole semester has been intense. 😫 So I welcome having three days this week (3!!) when I'm expected to knock off early and drink wine at work.

Academics! If your uni or dept has a standardized maximum percentage of a final grade that can be determined by attendance/participation, I want to hear about it. Thanks!

Oo!!

Reading Jenny Odell's _How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy_ in my Philosophy for Self Care class. Today's the day I sent them outside to just listen and notice. One of my favorite teaching days.

💯

I agree you can have that even if you haven't established a care-leads model first. Just cite some people and get on with what you really want to say.

*with the caveat that I'm only on the edges of your discipline. [some emoji that indicates support and deference]

I'll second "probably?". It does not seem obvious to me that care leads and cure follows, nor where "treat" falls in that model.

An image showing what I describe

Fun fact: If someone quotes a post of yours in a way that is unwelcome (as is commonplace on Twitter/X) there is a tool to combat the unwanted attention. Simply click the three dot menu on the quote post & click "Detach quote". This removes your post from their quote post. Useful to know, do share!

Experienced my first Ethics Bowl this weekend, as a judge. I'm surprised at how thoughtful & collaborative it turned out to be. I feared it would be reductive& debate-y. Nope. Good structure. I wouldn't mind getting more involved. Well done, Ethics Bowl peeps. (You already knew. Now I've caught up.)

It was a real hit at my dept meeting today, so I'll repeat it here... Advice I got my first year teaching that I still use on the reg: Most students are not like you. Remind yourself often.

Rude.