Dr Abigail Fine
@onceuponafine.bsky.social
PhD in Comp Lit, MA in History. Fairy tales, material culture, (fast) fashion, gender, children’s literature. Special interest in fairy godmothers and American Girl brand.
Reposted by Dr Abigail Fine
The U.S. has successfully convinced its people that “the humanities are frivolous and STEM is Important and Real” is basically a law of nature: this is absolute nonsense that we should stop putting up with.
January 28, 2026 at 1:35 AM
The U.S. has successfully convinced its people that “the humanities are frivolous and STEM is Important and Real” is basically a law of nature: this is absolute nonsense that we should stop putting up with.
Reposted by Dr Abigail Fine
One day, if we are lucky, the erasure of American history will itself be remembered as a shameful chapter in American history
January 23, 2026 at 1:30 AM
One day, if we are lucky, the erasure of American history will itself be remembered as a shameful chapter in American history
Reposted by Dr Abigail Fine
Now that the White House is using AI to edit photos of their political opponents to create fascist propaganda I’m wondering if anyone could have seen this use of AI coming. Okay I’m hearing lots of people did and they were forced to watch corporations smother the masses with the technology anyways
January 22, 2026 at 11:55 PM
Now that the White House is using AI to edit photos of their political opponents to create fascist propaganda I’m wondering if anyone could have seen this use of AI coming. Okay I’m hearing lots of people did and they were forced to watch corporations smother the masses with the technology anyways
Reposted by Dr Abigail Fine
I've talked to people on the ground about the strike here tomorrow, and the single thing everyone brings up is just how shockingly wide the support for the strike is. Businesses that no one would have expected to support it are doing so.
National media should really be covering the fact thay every major school, museum, and arts institution in the Twin Cities, and hundreds of local businesses are closed tomorrow to protest federal occupation.
Nothing like this at this scale has happened anywhere in America anytime in living memory.
Nothing like this at this scale has happened anywhere in America anytime in living memory.
January 23, 2026 at 12:15 AM
I've talked to people on the ground about the strike here tomorrow, and the single thing everyone brings up is just how shockingly wide the support for the strike is. Businesses that no one would have expected to support it are doing so.
Reposted by Dr Abigail Fine
Seen today in Center City Philadelphia
January 23, 2026 at 12:13 AM
Seen today in Center City Philadelphia
Reposted by Dr Abigail Fine
Reposted by Dr Abigail Fine
![My friends check in from time to time.
Text: I got rubber-bulleted by ICE just on my way back from work. Ouch.
Text: Hey I'm gonna observe tomorrow at the protest. I'll text every hour, and if you don't hear from me, please call [number] and give them my identifying information. I'd probably be at the Whipple. Okay?
Text: They knocked on my door, but I'm okay.
I demanded a signed judicial warrant, and they couldn’t provide one, so they left.
I’m worried all the time.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cb6uhto6bwvcx4anaq55konv/bafkreiejn4yr42v63dgduydsv6fnjqqci2yfdwj6sishctyicaqfyrcouy@jpeg)
January 19, 2026 at 3:03 AM
Reposted by Dr Abigail Fine
It’s funny how Wikipedia used to seem relatively unreliable, because it was written by regular people instead of encyclopedia experts, and now it seems relatively reliable, because it’s written by regular people instead of glib CliffsNotes robots
wikipedia turns 25 today! the last unenshittified major website! backbone of online info! triumph of humanity! powered by urge of unpaid randos to correct each other! somehow mostly reliable! "good thing wikipedia works in practice, because it sure doesn't work in theory" - old wiki adage
January 15, 2026 at 3:21 PM
It’s funny how Wikipedia used to seem relatively unreliable, because it was written by regular people instead of encyclopedia experts, and now it seems relatively reliable, because it’s written by regular people instead of glib CliffsNotes robots
Reposted by Dr Abigail Fine
Your regular reminder that there is no legal path from martial law to suspending elections in this country.
That doesn't mean there is no path. It just means that we need to reject the framing that the federal government has any legal authority to cease elections.
That doesn't mean there is no path. It just means that we need to reject the framing that the federal government has any legal authority to cease elections.
January 15, 2026 at 3:29 PM
Your regular reminder that there is no legal path from martial law to suspending elections in this country.
That doesn't mean there is no path. It just means that we need to reject the framing that the federal government has any legal authority to cease elections.
That doesn't mean there is no path. It just means that we need to reject the framing that the federal government has any legal authority to cease elections.
Reposted by Dr Abigail Fine
ICE keeps saying the people protesting it are being paid without any evidence, but we have receipts showing that the people *defending* ICE are absolutely being paid.
And yet we only hear lies about the former on cable news.
And yet we only hear lies about the former on cable news.
relevant to the debate over whether we should keep funding DHS without reforms and accountability for how out of control their spending is
January 15, 2026 at 4:28 PM
ICE keeps saying the people protesting it are being paid without any evidence, but we have receipts showing that the people *defending* ICE are absolutely being paid.
And yet we only hear lies about the former on cable news.
And yet we only hear lies about the former on cable news.
Reposted by Dr Abigail Fine
Reposted by Dr Abigail Fine
They're going to *throw out* one-of-a-kind NASA archives?!
Not even a year since the Inauguration & we're already at the 2nd-time-as-farce version of the burning of the Library of Alexandria.
Not even a year since the Inauguration & we're already at the 2nd-time-as-farce version of the burning of the Library of Alexandria.
December 31, 2025 at 7:55 PM
They're going to *throw out* one-of-a-kind NASA archives?!
Not even a year since the Inauguration & we're already at the 2nd-time-as-farce version of the burning of the Library of Alexandria.
Not even a year since the Inauguration & we're already at the 2nd-time-as-farce version of the burning of the Library of Alexandria.
Need a Yuletide treat? Check out this new episode of Historical Friction (@historicalfriction.bsky.social) on The Muppet Christmas Carol! Hosted by me, @aaprocter.bsky.social, and @helenvmurray.bsky.social!
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
Podcast Episode · Historical Friction · 12/22/2025 · 56m
podcasts.apple.com
December 22, 2025 at 4:21 AM
Need a Yuletide treat? Check out this new episode of Historical Friction (@historicalfriction.bsky.social) on The Muppet Christmas Carol! Hosted by me, @aaprocter.bsky.social, and @helenvmurray.bsky.social!
Reposted by Dr Abigail Fine
Remember how I said I have it written into my foreign-language contracts that my work has to be translated by an actual human? This shit is why.
Those book translations are gonna suck. They'll save money putting out books that are going to be painful to read. That's not a great long-term strategy.
Those book translations are gonna suck. They'll save money putting out books that are going to be painful to read. That's not a great long-term strategy.
French publishing house Harlequin decided to use AI translation instead of human translations.
All their freelance translators (some of whom had been working with Harlequin for +30y!!!) were told they would no longer receive work from Harlequin
All their freelance translators (some of whom had been working with Harlequin for +30y!!!) were told they would no longer receive work from Harlequin
December 18, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Remember how I said I have it written into my foreign-language contracts that my work has to be translated by an actual human? This shit is why.
Those book translations are gonna suck. They'll save money putting out books that are going to be painful to read. That's not a great long-term strategy.
Those book translations are gonna suck. They'll save money putting out books that are going to be painful to read. That's not a great long-term strategy.
Reposted by Dr Abigail Fine
Collective failure to repudiate Trumpism is how we got here. Throwing trans folks under the bus is how we got here. Denying the fact that healthcare is a human right is how we got here.
I don’t know what else to say. We are not getting through to enough people for some reason.
I don’t know what else to say. We are not getting through to enough people for some reason.
December 18, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Collective failure to repudiate Trumpism is how we got here. Throwing trans folks under the bus is how we got here. Denying the fact that healthcare is a human right is how we got here.
I don’t know what else to say. We are not getting through to enough people for some reason.
I don’t know what else to say. We are not getting through to enough people for some reason.
Reposted by Dr Abigail Fine
This entire weekend
December 15, 2025 at 3:58 AM
This entire weekend
Reposted by Dr Abigail Fine
The 'ai' fraud is a uniquely dangerous accelerationist scam because its harms begin right now and extend indefinitely:
• in the short term, it fucks up your immediate work, needs, safety,and erodes trust in any image or text
• creative people are instantly impacted as workers &victims of plagiarism
• in the short term, it fucks up your immediate work, needs, safety,and erodes trust in any image or text
• creative people are instantly impacted as workers &victims of plagiarism
November 26, 2024 at 6:18 PM
The 'ai' fraud is a uniquely dangerous accelerationist scam because its harms begin right now and extend indefinitely:
• in the short term, it fucks up your immediate work, needs, safety,and erodes trust in any image or text
• creative people are instantly impacted as workers &victims of plagiarism
• in the short term, it fucks up your immediate work, needs, safety,and erodes trust in any image or text
• creative people are instantly impacted as workers &victims of plagiarism
Reposted by Dr Abigail Fine
All of this thread.
We cannot turn whole universities into AI development centers. This is a commercial and political obsession, not education or skill-development.
We cannot turn whole universities into AI development centers. This is a commercial and political obsession, not education or skill-development.
It's hard to overstate how impossible this demand is from Purdue's administration to implement these AI requirements by next fall. We are nowhere close to understanding what AI proficiency means or what it looks like in education.
www.forbes.com/sites/michae...
www.forbes.com/sites/michae...
December 14, 2025 at 2:36 PM
All of this thread.
We cannot turn whole universities into AI development centers. This is a commercial and political obsession, not education or skill-development.
We cannot turn whole universities into AI development centers. This is a commercial and political obsession, not education or skill-development.
Reposted by Dr Abigail Fine
I’m just a simple country historian w/o a law degree, but it’s more than a ‘long standing tradition’ when its IN THE CONSTITUTION
The Supreme Court will ultimately decide whether to uphold the longstanding principle that grants citizenship to the children of non-citizens born in the U.S., following a legal challenge by the Trump administration. n.pr/48E1oko
Supreme Court agrees to hear arguments in birthright citizenship challenge
The Supreme Court will ultimately decide whether to uphold the longstanding principle that grants citizenship to the children of non-citizens born in the U.S., following a legal challenge by the Trump administration.
n.pr
December 6, 2025 at 3:49 PM
I’m just a simple country historian w/o a law degree, but it’s more than a ‘long standing tradition’ when its IN THE CONSTITUTION
Reposted by Dr Abigail Fine
After the recent joy of Hard Boiled in a packed theater it hit me that one of the tragedies of capitalism’s manifestation of our tech age is that on top of imprisoning us in gilded cages disconnected from shared reality, they are transforming communal experience into an expensive, uncommon novelty.
James Gunn says theatrical releases are “incredibly important” for DC after the Warner Bros & Netflix merger news
“The communal theatrical experience is something that is incredibly important & remarkably well suited to our big spectacle films”
(Source: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...)
“The communal theatrical experience is something that is incredibly important & remarkably well suited to our big spectacle films”
(Source: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...)
December 6, 2025 at 4:26 PM
After the recent joy of Hard Boiled in a packed theater it hit me that one of the tragedies of capitalism’s manifestation of our tech age is that on top of imprisoning us in gilded cages disconnected from shared reality, they are transforming communal experience into an expensive, uncommon novelty.
Reposted by Dr Abigail Fine
be the bitch doing something yourself that you want to see in the world
there’s a scene in the new documentary where Elizabeth Taylor is talking about the stigma of AIDS and how she got involved in the movement and it’s fucking everything
December 1, 2025 at 8:54 PM
be the bitch doing something yourself that you want to see in the world
What could be better for a family-oriented holiday? An episode on the ultimate parent-child relationship: Frankenstein! Put on those headphones and listen to our first new podcast episode in three years! Or leave those headphones off and share the episode with the fam! Quality time!
Historical Resurrection! Frankenstein (2025)
Podcast Episode · Historical Friction · 11/22/2025 · 1h 19m
podcasts.apple.com
November 27, 2025 at 2:57 AM
What could be better for a family-oriented holiday? An episode on the ultimate parent-child relationship: Frankenstein! Put on those headphones and listen to our first new podcast episode in three years! Or leave those headphones off and share the episode with the fam! Quality time!