Kevin Spencer
@kevinspencer.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of English at Wenzhou-Kean University. First-generation college graduate. Writing on the American influence on and inheritance of French existentialism. 경기도 안산, 浙江温州, Alberta. Typos are a given
https://wku.edu.cn/faculty/kevin-spencer/
https://wku.edu.cn/faculty/kevin-spencer/
Any LLM humanities researchers measure the percentage of gloom in Hardy?
September 19, 2026 at 11:29 PM
Any LLM humanities researchers measure the percentage of gloom in Hardy?
It’s actually pretty amazing how many academic literacy critics are unable to articulate why they like literature.
August 23, 2026 at 1:53 PM
It’s actually pretty amazing how many academic literacy critics are unable to articulate why they like literature.
On the road to the Global K-Culture conference now. Presenting on how the drama Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha (2021) inherits Cavellian Perfectionism.
Conference on Global K-Culture in Korea. No conference fee. Room and board will be provided for free!
call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/04/...
call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/04/...
cfp | call for papers
call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu
August 19, 2026 at 5:21 AM
On the road to the Global K-Culture conference now. Presenting on how the drama Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha (2021) inherits Cavellian Perfectionism.
Reposted by Kevin Spencer
They should invent a course managment system that requires requires empty labor, feeds student anxiety, and is susceptible to ransoms.
May 8, 2026 at 1:34 PM
They should invent a course managment system that requires requires empty labor, feeds student anxiety, and is susceptible to ransoms.
For the second time in less than a year, I find myself thinking that you should try to live your life in such a way that people don’t feel the need to justify denouncing you immediately after you die.
July 12, 2026 at 12:39 PM
For the second time in less than a year, I find myself thinking that you should try to live your life in such a way that people don’t feel the need to justify denouncing you immediately after you die.
E. D. Hirsch is still alive! Reading The Aims of Interpretation now and it's wonderful.
July 9, 2026 at 10:49 PM
E. D. Hirsch is still alive! Reading The Aims of Interpretation now and it's wonderful.
How that 3rd Argentina goal feels
Not Like This
ALT: Not Like This
static.klipy.com
July 4, 2026 at 12:34 AM
How that 3rd Argentina goal feels
Day 2 of the Stanley Cavell at 100 conference in Rome. Paola Marrati gave a great talk on Baldwin and Cavell.
June 9, 2026 at 7:15 PM
Day 2 of the Stanley Cavell at 100 conference in Rome. Paola Marrati gave a great talk on Baldwin and Cavell.
I landed in Rome for the Cavell at 100 Conference, and first thing I see is the Pope’s plane. Pretty cool.
➡️ El papa León XIV ha partido este sábado rumbo a España desde el aeropuerto de Fiumicino (Roma) a bordo del avión de la compañía Ita Airways que aterrizará a las 10.30 (08.30 GMT) en Madrid, según hora prevista.
June 6, 2026 at 12:02 PM
I landed in Rome for the Cavell at 100 Conference, and first thing I see is the Pope’s plane. Pretty cool.
I asked ChatGPT to draft an email refusing a hypothetical request to do a make-up exam because a student overslept.
One ground of refusal was to be the unreasonable expectation of additional labor, phrased as a teachable moment about labor dignity.
It refused 25 times and called me "ideological"!
One ground of refusal was to be the unreasonable expectation of additional labor, phrased as a teachable moment about labor dignity.
It refused 25 times and called me "ideological"!
June 5, 2026 at 12:38 AM
I asked ChatGPT to draft an email refusing a hypothetical request to do a make-up exam because a student overslept.
One ground of refusal was to be the unreasonable expectation of additional labor, phrased as a teachable moment about labor dignity.
It refused 25 times and called me "ideological"!
One ground of refusal was to be the unreasonable expectation of additional labor, phrased as a teachable moment about labor dignity.
It refused 25 times and called me "ideological"!
Anybody try getting students to keep a folder with all the sources they wanna cite?
Aside from the humiliation of checking up on adults, is there a down side to this plan?
Aside from the humiliation of checking up on adults, is there a down side to this plan?
June 3, 2026 at 11:32 AM
Anybody try getting students to keep a folder with all the sources they wanna cite?
Aside from the humiliation of checking up on adults, is there a down side to this plan?
Aside from the humiliation of checking up on adults, is there a down side to this plan?
We need a Marshall McLuhan to explain why we got oatmilk and generative AI at roughly the same moment in human history.
May 29, 2026 at 1:16 AM
We need a Marshall McLuhan to explain why we got oatmilk and generative AI at roughly the same moment in human history.
Wenzhou has some distinct rhythms. For 10 days in the fall, you smell Osmanthus. You get a dry, cold, meat-drying breeze for a few weeks in December-January.
Now it's late May. Bayberries are in season for a month, and in the evening you hear the drums of dragon boat rowers. Zongzi are everywhere.
Now it's late May. Bayberries are in season for a month, and in the evening you hear the drums of dragon boat rowers. Zongzi are everywhere.
May 28, 2026 at 12:15 PM
Wenzhou has some distinct rhythms. For 10 days in the fall, you smell Osmanthus. You get a dry, cold, meat-drying breeze for a few weeks in December-January.
Now it's late May. Bayberries are in season for a month, and in the evening you hear the drums of dragon boat rowers. Zongzi are everywhere.
Now it's late May. Bayberries are in season for a month, and in the evening you hear the drums of dragon boat rowers. Zongzi are everywhere.
Crystal clear example of why the humanities are vital.
Starbucks in Korea launched an ad campaign that makes light of the brutal government crackdown of the pro-democracy movement.
Somehow this terrible idea made it through layers of approval.
www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...
Starbucks in Korea launched an ad campaign that makes light of the brutal government crackdown of the pro-democracy movement.
Somehow this terrible idea made it through layers of approval.
www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...
www.reuters.com
May 22, 2026 at 11:49 PM
Crystal clear example of why the humanities are vital.
Starbucks in Korea launched an ad campaign that makes light of the brutal government crackdown of the pro-democracy movement.
Somehow this terrible idea made it through layers of approval.
www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...
Starbucks in Korea launched an ad campaign that makes light of the brutal government crackdown of the pro-democracy movement.
Somehow this terrible idea made it through layers of approval.
www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...
Robotics and AI are developing quickly.
Twenty years, I wouldn’t have believed it if someone told me a plausible way of dying in my 60s was being shot by a robot because I openly laughed at its dance mistakes.
Twenty years, I wouldn’t have believed it if someone told me a plausible way of dying in my 60s was being shot by a robot because I openly laughed at its dance mistakes.
May 22, 2026 at 1:59 PM
Robotics and AI are developing quickly.
Twenty years, I wouldn’t have believed it if someone told me a plausible way of dying in my 60s was being shot by a robot because I openly laughed at its dance mistakes.
Twenty years, I wouldn’t have believed it if someone told me a plausible way of dying in my 60s was being shot by a robot because I openly laughed at its dance mistakes.
Trying to explain the concept of a phone book to someone under 25 must be how it felt to explain the widespread use of asbestos and CFCs.
May 9, 2026 at 7:19 AM
Trying to explain the concept of a phone book to someone under 25 must be how it felt to explain the widespread use of asbestos and CFCs.
They should invent a course managment system that requires requires empty labor, feeds student anxiety, and is susceptible to ransoms.
May 8, 2026 at 1:34 PM
They should invent a course managment system that requires requires empty labor, feeds student anxiety, and is susceptible to ransoms.
Post-structuralists: “Literary critics hate this one simple trick.”
The trick: “What the narrative stages, in the end, is the condition of literature itself.”
The trick: “What the narrative stages, in the end, is the condition of literature itself.”
May 2, 2026 at 11:35 AM
Post-structuralists: “Literary critics hate this one simple trick.”
The trick: “What the narrative stages, in the end, is the condition of literature itself.”
The trick: “What the narrative stages, in the end, is the condition of literature itself.”
Conference on Global K-Culture in Korea. No conference fee. Room and board will be provided for free!
call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/04/...
call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/04/...
cfp | call for papers
call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu
April 27, 2026 at 11:25 PM
Conference on Global K-Culture in Korea. No conference fee. Room and board will be provided for free!
call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/04/...
call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/04/...
Very lucky to have avoided educators who tried to "meet me where I was." The last thing a 19-year-old needs is a professor who tries to elevate my Xbox habit into an intellectual calling.
April 23, 2026 at 10:40 PM
Very lucky to have avoided educators who tried to "meet me where I was." The last thing a 19-year-old needs is a professor who tries to elevate my Xbox habit into an intellectual calling.
I just ordered a bottle of scotch online, and it was at my door within 10 minutes. China is wild.
April 17, 2026 at 9:28 AM
I just ordered a bottle of scotch online, and it was at my door within 10 minutes. China is wild.
Who are the great female assholes in literature?
Characters or authors. Any time; any place.
Characters or authors. Any time; any place.
April 10, 2026 at 1:19 AM
Who are the great female assholes in literature?
Characters or authors. Any time; any place.
Characters or authors. Any time; any place.
Check out the newest issue of
@fantastic-journal.bsky.social
featurng my little review of Ashley Lawson's On Edge: Gender and Genre in the Work of Shirley Jackson, Patricia Highsmith, and Leigh Brackett (Ohio State UP 2024).
muse.jhu.edu/issue/56627
@fantastic-journal.bsky.social
featurng my little review of Ashley Lawson's On Edge: Gender and Genre in the Work of Shirley Jackson, Patricia Highsmith, and Leigh Brackett (Ohio State UP 2024).
muse.jhu.edu/issue/56627
Project MUSE - Studies in the Fantastic-Number 20, Winter/Spring 2026
muse.jhu.edu
April 2, 2026 at 11:29 PM
Check out the newest issue of
@fantastic-journal.bsky.social
featurng my little review of Ashley Lawson's On Edge: Gender and Genre in the Work of Shirley Jackson, Patricia Highsmith, and Leigh Brackett (Ohio State UP 2024).
muse.jhu.edu/issue/56627
@fantastic-journal.bsky.social
featurng my little review of Ashley Lawson's On Edge: Gender and Genre in the Work of Shirley Jackson, Patricia Highsmith, and Leigh Brackett (Ohio State UP 2024).
muse.jhu.edu/issue/56627
Just explained the concept “cat lady” to my seven-year old. She cannot understand why that’s meant to be pejorative.
October 25, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Just explained the concept “cat lady” to my seven-year old. She cannot understand why that’s meant to be pejorative.