Thinking about the Supreme Court decision: When people say, x is a distraction, I like to tell people: actually none of it is. What we're witnessing is a wholesale totalitarian effort to reshape society in ways that benefit Trump, the oligarchy, and those who wish to espouse that.

One thing about this White House Correspondents Dinner nonsense: It's not simply lying. It's eroding notions of trust and truth. But the same people who erode that trust are surprised that fewer and fewer people trust them on anything, either. Those go hand in hand.

This morning, New York City's chancellor withdrew a proposal for an AI-driven high school ahead of our PEP (read: school board) meeting. Ed-tech shouldn't be driving the conversation about education or technology. Students, educators, and communities should. GenAI is not inevitable.

When I say research and sociology have been helpful in understanding the world around me, I mean that when ICE came knocking at my door this morning, I was already prepared for the specter. The panopticon has been part of our lived experience before the academy bestowed the PhD on me.

For years, we kept being told they were in favor of small government and deregulation. With AI, they're demonstrating maximum government and regulation of everything.

All I’m saying is: If you’re an artist, writer, musician, or anyone doing good work involving the mind and heart, I couldn’t be more proud of you. The fact that people want to create and grow things despite and because of the times we’re living in is cause for celebration.

I wish more people who researched teachers actually treated them as intellectual equals as opposed to separate objects for basic analysis. It says a lot about how we treat teachers, but also what we think of our work with children more generally.

With the cost of all the bombs dropped on schools and places of worship across the world, we could better invest in the lives of every human being on the planet. We don't have to accept the status quo of war. I promise you.

The best academics are also some of the most generous with their knowledge. When they say some people are walking libraries, I mean I could sit there and just listen to them build worlds right in front of me. Even the ones that seem "untouchable" share without hesitation. We should be so fortunate.

One reason Trump feels comfortable attacking the Pope is that leaders of faith-based spaces conflated wealthy for piety and exceptionalism for their audience. Ironically, greed is among the first sins named in Christianity. But exceptionalism trumps integrity for too many people. A mess.

Another year, another academic conference where it felt like the bibliography of my dissertation came to life. It was nice going to @aeraedresearch.bsky.social if only because it's the one space I can reliably see all my faves at once. But I never get to see *everyone* I want to see.

Did this man just say an "entire civilization will die tonight?" Note to the country: maybe don't give the nuclear codes to someone who Republicans will immediately say "Don't take him so seriously!" as he keeps tapping the buttons.

I love how my people on here are really nerding out over Artemis II. Even the nonsense at the White House can't stop the mirth, and that's saying something.

As we're getting closer to a collective technological mistrust, it's great that more people are starting to see the value of arts and humanities. Strong writing, music, art, and photography. From a sociological perspective, trust is shifting to actual human beings. Our saving grace. We got us.

The United States has normalized firing teachers and librarians for the simple act of defending students' and communities' right to learn. This country has normalized this behavior, but we must remain discomforted and agitated by this.

— @thejosevilson.com

People, please. I'm not doing a Substack. This isn't a diss to those who use it, but I'm only on there to read my homies. Here are the things I've appreciated about my WordPress self-hosted journey:

What does a dead whale have to do with controversy in New York City schools? Read on as I explore the concept of dignity and the CEC 3 incident. Let me know what you think.

I'm officially putting in my application to be Zohran Mamdani's anger translator. Here's another reason:

Working on this piece about the CEC 3 incident, anti-Blackness, and New York City. It's a struggle, so I might have to watch some dark battle raps to get my linguistic repertoire where it needs to be. Until then, I appreciate people checking out my remodeled website. Thanks! thejosevilson.com

Update: I finished my rough manuscript. Yes, it's as satisfying as you think it is. Come November, there'll be a second solo book with my name on it.

As happy as I am to read this news, my call remains clear: Free all the kids. We're happy for those who've been released, but justice requires that our whole system change. Free them all.

Post-Oscars, I've already seen a few people make fun of different people's speech impediments and I hate it for us. Imagine making it to the peak of your profession while the world doesn't accommodate for how you present. Maybe Coogler and others don't see it, but the rest of us do. Do better.

I’ve never seen a coalition quite like the one that was rooting for Venezuela to win. To say the US has a real image issue is to put it mildly.

I love how the people I follow on here are like, "Yeah, we're Americans and we don't want USA to win the World Baseball Classic either. Because *that* man will be insufferable if they do." And I love that for me.

Between DR vs. US, the Oscars (hoping Sinners does well), and the Knicks vs. Warriors, my attention is much too divided. March isn't supposed to be this vibrant, but here we are, with vibes.

Some of you learned the wrong lessons from 9/11. While the majority of New Yorkers chose compassion and empathy, too many people (including from outside of NYC) have chosen bigotry, xenophobia, and racism. Maybe the Mayor and First Lady don’t see it, but the rest of us may. Do better.

They can't win with the "marketplace of ideas," so they're trying to shrink the number of possible ideas to only theirs through suppressive means. That's what's meant by techno-fascism.

They have money for war, but won’t feed the poor x 11000000000.

The Grammarly conversation goes back to what's still troubling me about AI: Why is the effort to shove AI down our throats stronger than the will to let people use their intellect to create? Transferring our critical thinking skills to a computer for profit is a losing proposition for all of us.

Putting the final touches on this teaching math book and I have questions: What topic in math made you mad? Or, if you found it easy, who made it easy and what did they do?

Teaching at the higher ed level, I'm so grateful to have taught middle schoolers for 15 years. At every level, our students deserve a level of empathy and grace that the world isn't offering. I can feel some of my students needing to be seen. That alone motivates the hidden curriculum in my work.

The people who shame Black voters for not voting are the same people who shame Black voters when systems suppress their votes. People then expect the same people who've been excluded from full democracy to show up for democracy time and again. America has to do better.

These are the people judging whether teachers are professionals.

This is an important point. Whenever we demand more funding for education, the #1 rebuttal is "How are you going to pay for it?" If we had the same bottomless budget for our schools that our war machine does, we'd never ask these questions.

When I was a teenager, I was rapping 2Pac's line "There's war in the streets and there's war in the Middle East" Y'all. 30 years later and we're still doing this. I, for one, am ready for a new bar for the world to rap.

I feel like I’m not doing “content creation” as much as I’m providing a review of the education I’ve received and liberating the knowledge for everyone else. That’s why I’m doing more of it in so many different ways.

On the one end, this is atrocious. On the other, it’s symbolic of the type of education America has been getting over the last decade or so. Maybe it’s not the type of learning children deserve, but certainly the type America has offered too often.

They tell us that only they understand why our money went to bombing another school of people. They tell us they’re defending our freedoms and way of life as they simultaneously strip freedoms and dissolve our way of life. For people who’ve never known peace, we know what this is not that.

So … I got to ask @mayor.nyc.gov Zohran Mamdani about his top five favorite rappers! But also, today’s the deadline for 3K/PreK. Spread the word!

If you've been following me for a while, you should know what I'm gonna say next. It's not a charm offensive. It's strategy. The last mayor cozied up to the president with only results that benefited him. This mayor's administration has found ways to deftly maneuver this era. Just peep.

The incident where a professor made a racist comment about a Black student and their school? That's my district. Allyson Friedman's comments are symptomatic of longstanding anti-Black racism in the nation's largest public school district. Liberalism isn't the same as anti-racism.

This thread reminds me that much of academia treats their scholarship as thought experiments as opposed to working with fully human beings. Larry Summers' charge to get Claudine Gay fired reminds me lots of what junior scholars and doc students would say about senior scholars. To put it mildly.

I love how Rep. Green always stands on business. Why do these people always assume fear and obedience from people who’ve been fighting their whole lives?

I didn't watch the State of the Union because I see it here and elsewhere. This country's a mess, but I believe we have a critical mass of people who want to make it much better. For real this time.

Recently, I took a page from @anildash.com and thought about the ways teachers use AI for their work but skeptical about whether students should use it. I listened to educators in various contexts for this one. Thoughts? Let me know. www.newamerica.org/education-po...

Funny because I finally watched Sinners this past weekend and really, this BAFTA situation is answered well by the film's major themes.

I love how every time you ask a "government spending" guy about what *we* should cut, he always trips over who he'd have to sacrifice to see his beloved vision of austerity come true. Our investment in government affects real human beings. We should act like it.

At least on this site, people aren't freaking out because Mayor Zohran Mamdani wants to pay people money for shoveling snow. Is my feed working? I hope so.

Me and @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social are about to make this rap video right quick. My IG will be lit. 😆