Shaun Nowicki
@shaun-now.bsky.social
UCSB Graduate Student in English (Focus in Early Modern Literature) | Board Member of the Public Domain Players
Reposted by Shaun Nowicki
You see it play out identically in fandom, because fandom is the playroom in the church of capitalism.
December 14, 2025 at 9:48 PM
You see it play out identically in fandom, because fandom is the playroom in the church of capitalism.
Reposted by Shaun Nowicki
'Face of the Moon.' (1797) John Russell was the finest British pastel artist of his time. One of his sitters, the astronomer William Herschel encouraged him to buy a telescope, and with this he produced a number of remarkable pastel drawings of the moon.
November 17, 2025 at 10:14 PM
'Face of the Moon.' (1797) John Russell was the finest British pastel artist of his time. One of his sitters, the astronomer William Herschel encouraged him to buy a telescope, and with this he produced a number of remarkable pastel drawings of the moon.
Reposted by Shaun Nowicki
NEW: Pope Leo XIV will share a meal this Sunday with Alessia Nobile and four fellow transgender Catholic activists, during the Vatican’s Jubilee of the Poor — marking the most significant public encounter shared between a pope and the trans community.
NEW: Transgender Activists to Dine with Pope Leo XIV during Sunday's Jubilee for the Poor
Papal luncheon with trans advocate Alessia Nobile set for Sunday at Vatican’s Jubilee of the Poor, highlighting a legacy of outreach and hopes for continued inclusion.
open.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 1:05 AM
NEW: Pope Leo XIV will share a meal this Sunday with Alessia Nobile and four fellow transgender Catholic activists, during the Vatican’s Jubilee of the Poor — marking the most significant public encounter shared between a pope and the trans community.
Reposted by Shaun Nowicki
I know a lot of people are already spreading this info, but hoping to spread it a little further: donating to a food bank, food pantry, or food distribution mutual aid group is really important right now, as TFG and the fucking GOP are shutting down snap benefits on November 1. I'll link to a few
October 29, 2025 at 2:16 PM
I know a lot of people are already spreading this info, but hoping to spread it a little further: donating to a food bank, food pantry, or food distribution mutual aid group is really important right now, as TFG and the fucking GOP are shutting down snap benefits on November 1. I'll link to a few
Reposted by Shaun Nowicki
Sorry, I’m still thinking about this. Did you know that, when taking an English literature class, the job of the college student is to NOT to read and think about the books on the reading list. But to pound out a very generic essay on James Joyce. And well, ChatGPT, does it better.
Roose: "I used to think the most important question for people to ask themselves was, 'Is AI smarter than me?' Now I think it's 'Is AI more interesting than me?' In the same way a chatbot is good at writing a generic essay about Joyce it's going to be able to replace median performers at many jobs."
October 28, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Sorry, I’m still thinking about this. Did you know that, when taking an English literature class, the job of the college student is to NOT to read and think about the books on the reading list. But to pound out a very generic essay on James Joyce. And well, ChatGPT, does it better.
Reposted by Shaun Nowicki
I cannot tell you how many tech journalists at prominent media organizations do not understand this
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
October 27, 2025 at 3:32 PM
I cannot tell you how many tech journalists at prominent media organizations do not understand this
Reposted by Shaun Nowicki
Oh, you like baseball huh?
Well, we’re going to sit here while you smoke this whole pack of baseball and THEN we’ll see how you feel.
Well, we’re going to sit here while you smoke this whole pack of baseball and THEN we’ll see how you feel.
October 28, 2025 at 6:04 AM
Oh, you like baseball huh?
Well, we’re going to sit here while you smoke this whole pack of baseball and THEN we’ll see how you feel.
Well, we’re going to sit here while you smoke this whole pack of baseball and THEN we’ll see how you feel.
Reposted by Shaun Nowicki
at this point, you should be able to substitute any base runner with a horse
October 28, 2025 at 5:58 AM
at this point, you should be able to substitute any base runner with a horse
Reposted by Shaun Nowicki
I wish they said explicitly that there's $5 billion in emergency reserves they're refusing to use instead they're happy to let people - mostly children, the disabled, and elderly, starve.
US Department of Agriculture says no food aid benefits will be issued next month reut.rs/3WohHMk
US Department of Agriculture says no food aid benefits will be issued next month
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Saturday that food benefits under one of the country's biggest social assistance programs will not be issued next month amid the ongoing federal government shutdown.
reut.rs
October 26, 2025 at 6:00 PM
I wish they said explicitly that there's $5 billion in emergency reserves they're refusing to use instead they're happy to let people - mostly children, the disabled, and elderly, starve.
Reposted by Shaun Nowicki
finally finished making a short and dirty guide to middle english, a language that i famously do not like. hopefully my students appreciate my tables!
October 21, 2025 at 12:20 AM
finally finished making a short and dirty guide to middle english, a language that i famously do not like. hopefully my students appreciate my tables!
Reposted by Shaun Nowicki
As you may have noticed, white supremacists want to stop the influx of hardworking young people (aka immigration) while somehow forcing white women to have lots more babies to compensate, but they refuse to make having kids more affordable and less arduous an experience.
RFK Jr: "When my uncle was president, the fertility rate in this country was 3.5%. Today it is 1.6%. The replacement rate -- in other words the amount of fertility you need to keep your population even -- is 2.1%. We are below replacement. That is a national security threat to our country."
October 16, 2025 at 9:46 PM
As you may have noticed, white supremacists want to stop the influx of hardworking young people (aka immigration) while somehow forcing white women to have lots more babies to compensate, but they refuse to make having kids more affordable and less arduous an experience.
Reposted by Shaun Nowicki
If I had explain American history in one sentence, I could do worse than "John Brown was hung for treason, but Robert E. Lee was not."
John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry began on this day in 1859.
October 16, 2025 at 11:29 PM
If I had explain American history in one sentence, I could do worse than "John Brown was hung for treason, but Robert E. Lee was not."
Reposted by Shaun Nowicki
My controversial opinion is that expecting horror to scare you does a disservice to the huge swath of things under the umbrella of horror that are dark in tone, macabre, or otherwise Gothic.
In this essay, I wil-
In this essay, I wil-
October 3, 2025 at 7:44 PM
My controversial opinion is that expecting horror to scare you does a disservice to the huge swath of things under the umbrella of horror that are dark in tone, macabre, or otherwise Gothic.
In this essay, I wil-
In this essay, I wil-
Reposted by Shaun Nowicki
Reposted by Shaun Nowicki
On one hand, reducing car use reduces urban pollution.
But on the other, everyone likes it and cities become more livable
But on the other, everyone likes it and cities become more livable
August 30, 2025 at 12:43 AM
On one hand, reducing car use reduces urban pollution.
But on the other, everyone likes it and cities become more livable
But on the other, everyone likes it and cities become more livable
Reposted by Shaun Nowicki
seconding every word of this. we have gone backwards. and us in the various queer scenes need to remember we are *not* immune to this shit either.
lastoneout.tumblr.com/post/7911909...
lastoneout.tumblr.com/post/7911909...
August 28, 2025 at 9:23 PM
seconding every word of this. we have gone backwards. and us in the various queer scenes need to remember we are *not* immune to this shit either.
lastoneout.tumblr.com/post/7911909...
lastoneout.tumblr.com/post/7911909...
Reposted by Shaun Nowicki
"I use AI because I want to draw but drawing's hard." I'm not entitled to be an astronaut or a sculptor or a math professor or a decathlete simply because I feel like being one and learning to do it is hard and maybe, for me, impossible. Dem's da fuckin' breaks!
August 17, 2025 at 4:14 PM
"I use AI because I want to draw but drawing's hard." I'm not entitled to be an astronaut or a sculptor or a math professor or a decathlete simply because I feel like being one and learning to do it is hard and maybe, for me, impossible. Dem's da fuckin' breaks!
Reposted by Shaun Nowicki
one of the great tragedies of our age is how many people are willing to view AI as magic because they don't understand how it functions but unwilling to exhibit any humility at all towards more important things they understand even less (like the climate or medicine)
the program is tokenizing inputs into vectors, then doing matrix multiplication to probabilistically compute which token should follow those tokens.
as usual, you are mystified by systems beyond your understanding and come to a bad conclusion (coincidentally the one you know will get you yelled at)
as usual, you are mystified by systems beyond your understanding and come to a bad conclusion (coincidentally the one you know will get you yelled at)
August 9, 2025 at 9:18 PM
one of the great tragedies of our age is how many people are willing to view AI as magic because they don't understand how it functions but unwilling to exhibit any humility at all towards more important things they understand even less (like the climate or medicine)
Reposted by Shaun Nowicki
Setting aside the ethical and environmental concerns of AI, I'm really offended by a bunch of elite dudes telling us our minds aren't good enough when they've had to steal everything human minds have created to create their pretend mind and it doesn't even work right!
July 26, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Setting aside the ethical and environmental concerns of AI, I'm really offended by a bunch of elite dudes telling us our minds aren't good enough when they've had to steal everything human minds have created to create their pretend mind and it doesn't even work right!
Reposted by Shaun Nowicki
Excited to have a new article out in Renaissance Drama! This one traces how early modern clowns relied on disability imitation. So much familiar clowning activity appropriates disabled performance, behavior, or positionality that the distinction between "artificial" and "natural" fools is tricky.
July 21, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Excited to have a new article out in Renaissance Drama! This one traces how early modern clowns relied on disability imitation. So much familiar clowning activity appropriates disabled performance, behavior, or positionality that the distinction between "artificial" and "natural" fools is tricky.
Reposted by Shaun Nowicki
Naming and shaming Klan members was how the good people of Buffalo drove the Klan out of their town in the 1920s.
“Doxxing” racist terrorists is good and it works!
“Doxxing” racist terrorists is good and it works!
For what it's worth, this is precisely the reason the Klan wore hoods when they terrorized communities and disappeared unfavored minorities.
Historically, it wasn't called doxxing it was just recognizing a fascist community member.
Historically, it wasn't called doxxing it was just recognizing a fascist community member.
A land of contrasts
July 9, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Naming and shaming Klan members was how the good people of Buffalo drove the Klan out of their town in the 1920s.
“Doxxing” racist terrorists is good and it works!
“Doxxing” racist terrorists is good and it works!
Reposted by Shaun Nowicki
Keep. Fucking. Fighting.
With the awful news from the last couple hours, this post from the political optimism subreddit helped to break through a bit of the despair fog. Repubs know this is political suicide, ICE's support is crumbling despite the budget increase, and there's a myriad of ways to fight back. Keep strong.
July 4, 2025 at 1:45 AM
Keep. Fucking. Fighting.
Reposted by Shaun Nowicki
Posting to announce:
1. My visa for my postdoc in Swansea has officially been approved!
2. Alice Equestri’s Shaping Intellectual Disabilities in Early Modern Culture, to which I contributed a chapter, is out now! edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-shaping...
1. My visa for my postdoc in Swansea has officially been approved!
2. Alice Equestri’s Shaping Intellectual Disabilities in Early Modern Culture, to which I contributed a chapter, is out now! edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-shaping...
Shaping Intellectual Disabilities in Early Modern Culture
Shaping Intellectual Disabilities in Early Modern Culture
edinburghuniversitypress.com
July 1, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Posting to announce:
1. My visa for my postdoc in Swansea has officially been approved!
2. Alice Equestri’s Shaping Intellectual Disabilities in Early Modern Culture, to which I contributed a chapter, is out now! edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-shaping...
1. My visa for my postdoc in Swansea has officially been approved!
2. Alice Equestri’s Shaping Intellectual Disabilities in Early Modern Culture, to which I contributed a chapter, is out now! edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-shaping...