Some of my friends are discussing why Harrison Ford is still playing Indiana Jones but honestly, having an 80-year-old professor not retire is like the most accurate part of the franchise
So I’ve had 4 or 5 job interviews where someone said they were going to take/use something I did during a teaching demo (tools, phrasing on my syllabus, activities, etc) and then I didn’t get the job.
Can you all stop doing this?
One of those people literally asked if they could “steal” my activity after my demo like that was their question, and what am I supposed to say to that as a precariously employed person trying to get a permanent position?
More and more people—in tech companies, consultancies, regulators, universities, among others—are saying this and proving it to be true: AI does very bad work and creates more labor for humans.
I’m writing a monograph that (if published) will only be read by a few people.
My history content on TikTok has 3 million likes.
I don’t pretend my social media work is scholarship—but the content public facing scholars produce can impact fields in other meaningful ways.
So anyways, this is what happens to a bust of Augustus when you put it through a makeup app on your phone.
I’m thinking I’ll do Vespasian next.
#classicstwitter
#whathaveidone
*Me, inside a place that says "no food or drink" sitting on a bench, shaking uncontrollably, and chugging juice to treat a low blood sugar and trying very hard not to pass out*
Them: "I wish I got to eat and drink anywhere. You're lucky."
#disabledcompliments
To answer some questions:
-More ghosting than mansplaining, but both happened
-One time it was all a guy talked to me about which was cute until it turned out we had nothing in common
-I married a fellow grad student who is now a Latin teacher
@dee_of_e
Last year a student wasn’t happy that they couldn’t google the answers to my open-note quizzes (not bc they weren’t allowed to use it but because Google either didn’t know the answer or gave the wrong answer, and they had to use course material for answers).
I wish academics could spend more time writing fiction. Look at Tolkien and Eco, their scholarship was groundbreaking but their fiction was so impactful we really should think of it as a form of public humanities.
Look, either we can have a conference in January or we can have a conference in Chicago, but we really really really need to stop having conferences in January in Chicago.
I blocked the Rome is fake account but what really gets to me is the sliver of truth they’re working with, specifically that Rome (like every empire) was comprised of multiple indigenous groups. I work on this in my research on triumphal parades. They’re of course saying 🧵
Things I did as a TA that AI can’t do:
- Accompanied a student to mental health services
- Let a student work in my office bc it helped them be productive
-Assist the profs with emergencies during class
-Tell interested undergrads what grad school is like
👋 everyone!
I’d like to point out that the curls framing Crowley’s face resembles 1st cent. Roman women’s hairstyles more than men’s. It’s a beautiful gender-fluid look!
See for ex. this bust of Caligula’s sister Livia Drusilla
@GoodOmensPrime
@neilhimself
#goodomens
@drmuig
I have to mute this because there are way too many responses and I need a break, but thanks for all your suggestions, and if you’re on the job market take a look at what some advice is here!
Happy to share that I’ll be joining Wilmington College in Ohio as an Assistant Professor in World History!
I am really looking forward to joining this wonderful community (and also experiencing seasons after years in SoCal🍂).
@WilmingtonColl
After several years on the job market, I gotta say….
Your candidates are tired. We are so tired. Please don’t make us do a teaching demo after 5pm. If you want a job talk, please let us do a standard job talk. Please don’t say you’re taking our materials & then not hire us.
Honestly disappointed that they didn’t go super traditional with the Olympics opening ceremony.
They ought to have paraded a 30-foot golden phallus to make it **actually** Dionysian.
Caligula is daring in his choice of pink, Instagram worthy brows and sparky purple gloss. His contouring is on point. Black heart contacts complete this absolutely savage look
#classicstwitter
#romanemperorswithflair
Original pic from
@metmuseum
It just hit me that I’ve written an entire dissertation.
Is it messy?
-Yes.
Does it need edits and another section or two?
-Also yes.
But there it is. An intro, 7 chapters, a conclusion.
Sitting in my computer like it’s not the culmination of 10 years of my life.
I have a lot of people telling me copyright which sounds good but I have no idea how to copyright things— if it costs money I can’t afford it. Is that a process I have to do with every new assignment? Syllabi have to include institutional items, how do I work around that?
When I told my husband I booked a weekend getaway with a friend so we could write our ridiculous romance novel did he:
A. Scoff
B. Say “that’s nice”
C. Grab me by both shoulders, look me dead in the eye and say “come back with your novel…or on it” like I’m a Spartan warrior
@girly_to
The problem is you often have to supply syllabi you’ve used, teaching evals from students, and then do a demo that aligns with what you supplied so you can’t really avoid going into detail
And last of his dynasty, we have Nero, wearing a dark maroon matte lip that says “I don’t care if you’re my mom!” and a bold eyeliner to show that his mood is extra.
He likes going overboard with highlighter.
Broke: students should read x-pages/day
Woke: how much we assign varies based on level, material, and what we want our students to get out of the course
Bespoke: Students should listen to a bard recite a book of the Iliad every night in Ancient Greek, the way Homer intended
Not saying Latin curses are real.
But I *am* noting that it suddenly and unexpectedly hailed in San Diego right when my Latin class was translating Dido’s invocation of Hecate, which was absolutely bizarre timing.
I’d like to go to a gym that is 100% dedicated to fantasy/nerd fitness. Like a gym with sword fighting and archery lessons and like equipment that’s like, ok it’s a treadmill but there’s a video of orcs chasing you and you have to outrun them.
Where can I find that?
I’d love for a film to villainize Constantine for once, like he is a true mastermind manipulator who murdered his wife and had mommy issues, a perfect villain
In Ancient Rome, the Kalends of April was a day for women to worship Venus, which included taking a bath and getting high on opium.
(This isn’t an April Fools’ Day joke, this is from Ovid’s Fasti, et al.)
Let’s actually do them in order. Next up we have Tiberius. For his cheeks and lips we went with a hot pink, so on trend right now & perfect for Capri.
His lavender brows & colored contacts give a subtle hint of toga purpurea
#classicstwitter
How many tenure track history jobs were there this year?
How many schools slashed budgets and relied on underpaid & uninsured adjuncts to teach introductory History courses?
How many high school history teachers had to work 2 extra jobs to make rent?
My dissertation is actually a dissertation on Ancient elephants, masqueraded as a dissertation on the Roman Triumph and Roman/Persian relations
🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘👑
Otho is bringing his thicc boi energy to the next level, with red lips that SLAY. He opts for the thickest false lashies he can find, in order to absolutely outdo Galba.
#prettyprinceps
#classicstwitter
#romanhistory
Unlike his predecessors, Claudius opts not to go for false lashies as they get in the way of reading scrolls, but he absolutely kills it with a thick layer of Rococo blush
Rome was later invented like a blanket term to describe these various groups, when what happened is far more interesting than this conspiracy theory. Roman sources help us trace how indigenous groups changed over time, such as the rise of the political power
Vespasian’s look is a daring rejection of the Julio-Claudian pink boi brand, adopting a shimmery turquoise lip and full-on blue eyeshadow that says, “follow me into battle boiis!”
#prettyprinceps
#ClassicsMemes
Does anyone have recs for a book set in ancient times but not featuring actual historical characters?
Thinking The Name of the Rose but in a period before like 500 CE (specific time/place don’t matter)
Galba opts not to cover his wrinkles, thinking they make him look distinguished and he doesn’t really care to hide his age.
He does decide on gloss with a hint of color, but mostly for the moisturizer.
False lashies are for HIM.
Fun fact: I just learned that the school capped my World Mythology course at 119 (in spite of a big waitlist) and it would have to count it as teaching 3 courses if I had 120+ students. Students are interested in premodern subjects but admin limits it.
Bizarre take by the AHA today claiming that the low number of jobs in premodern fields is due to students not wanting to take ancient history.
Everywhere I've taught or attended, ancient history courses fill up. Undergraduates love ancient history. Demand is not a problem.
while we can easily “disprove” this conspiracy theory, the damage even in disproving this theory could expand to other legitimate work if people aren’t careful in how they’re engaging with this discourse.
If you want to understand not only how the Roman Republic functioned, but also how it changed over time, H.I. Flower, Roman Republics.
This is a discussion of change (as opposed to a strict description of procedure, for which A. Lintott, Constitution of the Roman Republic). 6/
Being in your 30’s as a Classics postdoc is wild bc like half of your friends are having kids and the other half of your friends are discussing cosmetic procedures, and meanwhile I’m wearing my pajamas all day translating Latin like a nerd
of the Blemmyes in Africa, the merging of Germanic tribes, the expanse of ancient trade networks all the way to the Maldives (in Ammianus), etc. And working on ancient indigenous history is important for our better understanding of the diversity of the ancient world. However,
Holy Roman Emperor and Internet Boyfriend Trajan owns 5,000 different brushes from Sephora and knows the names & uses of every single one. His followers love👏him👏! His YouTube makeup channel has the highest number of subscribers
#classicsmemes
#prettyprinceps
I really hope that Twitter over the next few years doesn’t fully collapse but goes through a period of “Crisis” where a new CEO buys it out every few months, only to end with Twitter divided into 2 apps, one of which will continue for another 1,000 years.
theory narrative will do to the field. This is the same person who said Alexander the Great was a trans man, which is not only uncorroborated by ancient evidence, but threatens the legitimacy of actual work on ancient trans history in public discourse. All this is to say that
I really wish scholars appreciated how much effort goes into actual public-facing work.
I’m out there, engaging with people, trying to make *your* scholarship/field look valuable to those who don’t trust or like you, and who also will vote to defund you/your field.
The BM thing is honestly kinda funny to me bc from personal experience the best way to get a guy in a bar to stop talking to you is to say you’re getting your PhD in Classical Philology
“Scholars who work on the ancient world need to be more open-minded about history and open to other interpretations.”
“Oh definitely! That’s exactly why I am working on women & ancient econo—”
“NOT LIKE THAT!”
@EhlersDanlosgrl
As a disabled person who sometimes needs straws, I really want to start an environmental group for disabled voices...since environmentalism leaves us out and there are solutions and narratives that aren’t ableist.
with this conspiracy theory nonsense, the significance of ancient indigenous histories is now overshadowed in public discourse. Instead, ancient indigenous histories gets swept into something easily disproven, and thus I have to wonder what kind of further damage this conspiracy
You ever have that thing where after going through a tense/stressful period for like 5 years your body and brain actually collapse and all you can do is sit in a comfy chair and stare out the window with your document open to the thing you should be writing?