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Mitch R. Murray @mitchrmurray.bsky.social · Aug 5

I used to hate our janky Blackboard LMS so much, and admittedly appreciated Canvas's interface at my old job, but now... feeling grateful for not having to smoothen things for my sects

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Mitch R. Murray @mitchrmurray.bsky.social · Jul 31

Formatting a forthcoming essay on how its bad for higher ed out here, which I wrote in, uh, 2023

Mitch R. Murray @mitchrmurray.bsky.social · Jul 29

Higher-order thinking?

Mitch R. Murray @mitchrmurray.bsky.social · Jul 21

Love that you got this rolling. I'm always trying to refine prompts, find new possibilities, and trying to find ways to AI proof them

Mitch R. Murray @mitchrmurray.bsky.social · Jul 21

Write about both to make a coherent argument the two help illuminate. Sometimes the results are obvious (like, we read H.G. Wells for class, so you get essays from the students who read Huxley in high school). But then you also get, like, Kim Stanley Robinson and Disco Elysium!

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Mitch R. Murray @mitchrmurray.bsky.social · Jul 21

Explain a key critical concept from one of our secondary texts (essays, book chapters, etc.) and use it as a lens to interpret a primary text (novel, poem, song, etc.) from class. The primary text you choose must help you correctly and lucidly explain a challenging concept from the critical text.

Harvard Explores New Center for Conservative Scholarship Amid Trump Attacks

Mitch R. Murray @mitchrmurray.bsky.social · Jul 21

I've gotten good BookToks too: Select a text from class and make a BookTok that can convince new readers to read it while also explaining a theory you’ve learned in class. Your video must fit the genre of BookToks, even as you bring an academic twist to it.

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Mitch R. Murray @mitchrmurray.bsky.social · Jul 21

What text from class has sparked the most interest for you? Why did it have this effect on you? What is the biggest idea it has allowed you to generate? Set the scene for how you came to this idea, immerse your reader in the evolution of your thinking, and tell us why this idea is important.

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Mitch R. Murray @mitchrmurray.bsky.social · Jul 21

... your habits, approaches to literary and cultural texts, your evolving skillset, etc. Be concrete: use textual analysis and explain how specific texts have specifically shaped your thinking. (Just saying that you appreciate literature more now won’t be satisfactory.)

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Mitch R. Murray @mitchrmurray.bsky.social · Jul 21

Consider all your literary education prior to class. What dispositions, attitudes, biases did you have, toward or against, literature upon enrolling in LITR 2110? How have those changed significantly? Consider not only the course materials, but also...

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Mitch R. Murray @mitchrmurray.bsky.social · Jul 21

Some of better work responded to: Synthesize a text from class with another artwork with which you have recently engaged deeply on your own. It could be a novel, story, poem, comic, film, album, or video game. Your texts must convey an idea more strongly together than either can alone.

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Mitch R. Murray @mitchrmurray.bsky.social · Jul 21

I also give out a list of prompts at the beginning of the semester. Students can respond to any one of them at any point in the semester. They do 3 medium-length responses, and students select one of those to polish and rework into an essay or un-essay that synthesizes with new texts and sources

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Mitch R. Murray @mitchrmurray.bsky.social · Jul 11

Doesn't Harvard already have a Center for Conservative Scholarship? I think it's called "Harvard"

The Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · Jul 11

Exclusive: Harvard leaders have discussed creating a center for conservative scholarship as the school fights the Trump administration’s accusations that it is too liberal.

The Ivy League school has discussed an effort to ‘support viewpoint diversity’ with potential donors. Harvard says the initiative ‘will not be partisan.’

on.wsj.com

call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu

Mitch R. Murray @mitchrmurray.bsky.social · Jun 25

Deadline extended! TEACHING 21st CENTURY LITERATURE calls for short essays of avid, teching-oriented criticism. CFP:
call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/04/...

cfp | call for papers

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Mitch R. Murray @mitchrmurray.bsky.social · Jun 23

Gave a talk at Siena College the other day on 1930s sci-fi fandom's anti-fascism, tech broligarchs, and the salience of Marxism to contemporary science fiction. This gave me a chance to form some thoughts on recent archival work, and I'm happy to share it here: www.mitchrmurray.com/blog-2-1/sci...

Science (Fiction) in the Capital — Dr. Mitch R. Murray

Siena College, 19 June 2025

www.mitchrmurray.com

Mitch R. Murray @mitchrmurray.bsky.social · Jun 14

Before the eldritch terrors of our current moment, I reviewed @katemarshall.bsky.social's Novels by Aliens on how eldritch terror is, uh, realism. Up now at ALH: academic.oup.com/alh/article/...

Mitch R. Murray @mitchrmurray.bsky.social · May 7

Even though it was a forgone conclusion, turns out it still sucks to receive the NEH rejection!

Disney Trap House, Or: Atlanta’s Atlanta

Mitch R. Murray @mitchrmurray.bsky.social · May 5

If you ever wanted to read about Donald Glover's "Atlanta," trap, and the Hollywood Dystopia that is Atlanta, then have I got the essay for you: asapjournal.com/feature/disn...

“A Grotesque Disneyland” When recalling the infamous Atlanta child murders of 1979–81, James Baldwin described the city as “a kind of grotesque Disneyland.” This unwholesome carnival arose from a fascination with “Black death,” which “has never before elicited so much attention.

asapjournal.com

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Mitch R. Murray @mitchrmurray.bsky.social · May 4

Men, what's stopping you from speaking to God in AI form and tapping into the ancient archive of the creation of the universe?

People Are Losing Loved Ones to AI-Fueled Spiritual Fantasies

Marriages and families are falling apart as people are sucked into fantasy worlds of spiritual prophecy by AI tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT

www.rollingstone.com

call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu

Mitch R. Murray @mitchrmurray.bsky.social · May 1

Open call for chapters for edited collection TEACHING TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY LITERATURE: call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/04/...

cfp | call for papers

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Mitch R. Murray @mitchrmurray.bsky.social · Apr 29

CFP in brief:

I'm editing a book titled TEACHING TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY LITERATURE.

It features 3000-word essays of avid, teaching-focused criticism. Each contrib. selects one key C21 text that, in their institutional context, teaches exceedingly well.

Email or DM for details/to pitch!

Mitch R. Murray @mitchrmurray.bsky.social · Mar 8

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Mitch R. Murray @mitchrmurray.bsky.social · Mar 6

What?