My latest in @wbur.org @cogwbur.bsky.social!

I could not be more proud to share that The Swampscott Tides, the local news startup I've been involved with since last year, was named startup of the year at the 2025 Nonprofit News Awards by @inn.org! inn.org/about/our-wo...

Zen and the art of midlife maintenance Jonathan D. Fitzgerald is not having a midlife crisis. At least, that's what he thought — then he read MIT philosophy professor Kieran Setiya's book, "Midlife,” and started looking at this stage of li...

In my latest at @cogwbur.bsky.social, I discuss @ksetiya.bsky.social’s book “Midlife” and wonder whether I’m having a midlife crisis. www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/...

Going the Rounds | University of Minnesota Press Manifold <style> .rt {color: #ffb71e; font-weight:bold;} </style> _Going the Rounds_ brings together literary, historical, and computational criticism to illuminate the extent, content, and character of infor...

It’s literally *years* overdue—both the pandemic & team members going & *getting jobs and stuff* delayed the multigraph so, so much

But I just sent a draft of the final chapter for our Viral Texts Project book to the press!

There will be much yet to do—but hitting send on that email was incredible

I never stopped believing!

I'm a college writing professor. How I think students should use AI this fall Commentary: Young people will be more prepared if they practice working with AI, rather than swearing it off altogether.

My latest at @mashable.com... mashable.com/article/coll...

I'm a college writing professor. Here's what AI still can't do Commentary: By facing AI head-on, my students and I can work on the real point of writing, which is to help you think.

Like many of you I have *a lot* of thoughts about AI in relation to teaching writing. Here's the beginning of a longer conversation... mashable.com/article/how-...

Great question. I make exceptions for accommodations, of course. Students have been good about using laptops for the parts of class that they need to given their accommodation and then putting them away again.

I'm a college professor. My advice to young people who feel hooked on tech Commentary: My students balk at a tech-free classroom – but then they love it. Here's what we’ve learned together.

My latest at @mashable.com mashable.com/article/a-pr...

I'm a college writing professor. Here's what AI still can't do Commentary: By facing AI head-on, my students and I can work on the real point of writing, which is to help you think.

Beginning today, I’ll be writing about education and AI for @mashable.com. Here’s my first essay… mashable.com/article/how-...

Fitzgerald: In an age of revolution, look to ‘the near, the low, the common’ Jonathan D. Fitzgerald A few days ago, in my college friends group chat, I sent a screenshot from Google Maps showing that the Gulf of Mexico had been transformed overnight into the Gulf of America, p...

I wrote a thing for a local newspaper about the importance of focusing on local matters amidst the chaos of These Troubling Times™ itemlive.com/2025/02/19/f...

Stories of Belief: "My Mother's Bible" by Walter Kirn This week, we read Walter Kirn's essay about meeting his mother through the story of the Fall

Over on my Substack, I’ve launched a series called “Stories of Belief,” based on a course I used to teach that focused on spiritual autobiography. This week, I discuss the essay “My Mother’s Bible” by Walter Kirn. Read along! open.substack.com/pub/inprog/p...

This headline misrepresents the argument. The author provides valuable context but concludes, “We can, and should, be able to ask these questions while being clear there are very real problems...“ To suggest that there’s nothing to worry about obscures these very real problems identified within.

Since this misguided argument describing the 90s as all “socially conscious” and what followed as a time of “irony” is making the rounds, I get to unleash my ready-made response from @theatlantic.com, back in 2012: www.theatlantic.com/entertainmen...

I open up new issue of Literary Journalism Studies &whaddya know, there's a splendid review of my book THE UNDERTOW, by Jonathan Fitzgerald, in which he makes a key distinction about empathy for the devil: "*feeling with* but never *believing with.*" s35767.pcdn.co/wp-content/u...

Excerpt: Mediating the Real: Self-Reflection in Recent American Reportage by Pascal Sigg - IALJS: The International Association for Literary Journalism Studies The following is an excerpt from the introduction of Pascal Sigg’s book Mediating the Real: Self-Reflection in Recent American Reportage (Transcript Publishing, 2024). Authors who would like to promot...

New in the @literaryjournalism.bsky.social newsletter, an excerpt from "Mediating the Real: Self-Reflection in Recent American Reportage" by @paggaepigg.bsky.social. ialjs.org/excerpt-medi...

Time travel with us: The Cog 2024 playlist In 2024, 27 Cog essays featured music. The right song, even just a few notes, can take us back in time to another version of ourselves. These songs are the soundtrack to this year's stories.

Here’s an end-of-year playlist from @cogwbur.bsky.social featuring my pick, “Rings Around My Father’s Eyes” by The War on Drugs, to accompany my piece from the summer about Newport Folk Fest. www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/...

I never hear anyone talking about Handsome Boy! So good!

I just got a marketing email from Sears and it led to full on Obi Wan moment: “Sears. Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long, long time.” *looks off wistfully*

Ah, thanks for looking into it. This was on my personal account, but perhaps the problem is most easily solved by using the institution account. I definitely don't remember opting in for my personal account and I do find the persistent nudge to get Gemini's help a bit distracting!

Thanks! I tried this one, but all it is doing is turning off the storing of Gemini activity. I'm thinking Gemini is pretty permanently baked in to Docs now.

Has anybody figured out how to turn off Gemini in Google Docs? I've been searching and striking out.

I agree with this premise, but the platforms work to make it difficult to link off-site, right?

Who are the best TikTok journalists out there? I downloaded the app for the first time (hi, I’m old) and do not find it user friendly for searching out journalists to follow. Help an elder millennial, would you?

Also in the latest issue of Literary Journalism Studies (@literaryjournalism.bsky.social), a review of my book “How the News Feels!” I’m so grateful and I just love this: “Fitzgerald models the ethics of care for both his subjects and his subject.”

s35767.pcdn.co/wp-content/u...

My review of “The Undertow” by @jeffsharlet.bsky.social is out now in the latest issue of Literary Journalism Studies @literaryjournalism.bsky.social. “How the Extreme becomes the Ordinary” s35767.pcdn.co/wp-content/u...

my thoughts on AI are intertwined to two essential truths:

-i don’t cite or trust an amaglation of unsourced claims.
-no thought, claim, truth, history can be told from a fixed, “neutral” point. an acknowledged author is a contract of trust between reader and writer.

Conference Updates - IALJS: The International Association for Literary Journalism Studies The Nineteenth International Conference for Literary Journalism Studies (IALJS-19), “Literary Journalism and the Tides of History,” will be held May 28-30, 2025, at Marist College, Poughkeepsie, New Y...

Call for Papers!

The Nineteenth International Conference for Literary Journalism Studies (IALJS-19) - theme: “Literary Journalism and the Tides of History” - will be held May 28-30, 2025, at Marist College, Poughkeepsie, New York... on the banks of the mighty Hudson River
ialjs.org/conference-i...

Education Is Key to Fighting Disinformation on Social Media (Gift Article) In our interconnected modern world, education is critical in the fight against disinformation.

Thoughtful editorial by @eliothiggins.bsky.social about the causes of and cures for bad information online. [Gift link] www.nytimes.com/2024/12/06/s...