Get Ready for Douglass Day 2026! Fresh newsletter out today. - Preview event on Feb 6 - New teaching resources - Swag (trading cards are back!) open.substack.com/pub/douglass... And there's still plenty of time to register for Douglass Day 2026. All Rights for All!

Moment of Zen

We're horrified & outraged: Immigration agents have once again committed cold-blooded murder of a public observer who posed no threat to them. This time, they've executed a fellow nurse, Alex Pretti. We demand justice and accountability. Abolish ICE, now! https://bit.ly/4big77u

ICU nurses took care of Ady around the clock during his final week of life. They lined the hallway, crying, during the walk of honor to the operating room for organ donation. Alex Pretti went from caring for people in the ICU to caring for people on the streets of Minneapolis, where he was murdered.

Hi, has anyone else noticed that ECCO ... doesn't work anymore? I'm searching for titles I know exist, that I have consulted before, and getting nothing.

I’ve been hanging out with a 3-year-old lately and it’s amazing how in a few short years your brain can forget about things like a massive tantrum because it isn’t currently “84 o’clock in the morning.”

On this day, the hallowed birthday of COMMON SENSE, by Thomas Paine, I present to you some lesser known quotations (and some blockbusters) -- to help us understand what he hated about kings, and what he loved about the people. “It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies.”

This is, in part, the argument of The Book of Improvement—especially the second post in the thread, that assuming improvement is automatic displaces work toward communal betterment. Just received my copy edited files this morning!

$5.99 glue gun was the winning Christmas present as 9-year-old spent the afternoon turning all the cardboard boxes into a village for his train set.

Christmas #caturday

Honored to be in conversation with such an incredible group of scholars

I know everyone is celebrating a certain author’s 250th birthday but it’s also MY 41st so let’s focus on the living, shall we?

Well, England, it’s been fun, but I gotta get back to California: land of sunshine, big cars, not pronouncing the Ls in “tortilla,” and functional tumble dryers.

I’m running for Congress because we need leaders who will fight, not fold. I recognize this moment, and I’m ready to meet it. #FightDontFold #LanderForNYC #LanderForCongress

The best semester @cecs-york.bsky.social in York, can’t believe it’s almost over

Wasn’t planning to write today (other than LORs), then saw this and set aside 45 minutes. 343 words! #acadecawriteathon

What Seth said

My first talk to come with a souvenir

Oh, I’ve missed you

Oh, this hurts. What a light to go out. The final words of Alice’s farewell message: “Don’t let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.”

Our message to Andrew Cuomo was loud & clear in June. It’s louder & clearer tonight.

Part 2!

Deadline extended to Dec. 1!

Today is the second anniversary of Ady's death. Carl said, "I can't believe it's been two years. So much has happened, but it feels like just a year." We miss him every day. While we're in York for the fall, Ady's caregiver Izamar set up this beautiful ofrenda for him at our house in Santa Barbara.

*Highly* recommend a tour of the Palace of Knossos narrated entirely by a Greek-mythology-obsessed 9-year-old. We got way more detail than the other tour groups.

OMG (yes that’s the Acropolis)

Pilgrimage to see the Difference Engine at the London Science Museum (9-year-old mostly unimpressed)

WSECS proposals due Nov. 1! Come spend Presidents' Day weekend in sunny Santa Maria, CA, or present remotely. This year's theme is "Eighteenth-Century Collaborations." www.wsecs.org/upcoming-eve...

Looking forward to this!

Great! While we’re it, let’s go back to state funding of the UC that would make tuition free.

[clears throat]...I have another book coming out in the near future if you'd like to read a bit about LYRIC LOGIC, there are some very generous blurbs over at @columbiaup.bsky.social (my thanks to Marjorie Levinson, Oren Izenberg, Theo Davis, Nan Z. Da, and also @philipleventhal.bsky.social)

'Ilaheva Tuaone and I are still seeking panelists for our ASECS roundtable, "The Unwritten Word: Alternative Texts, Epistemologies, and Ontologies." Full description here: asecs.org/sessions2026/ Please get in touch with any questions!

Such an honor to work on this one, on so many levels-- it's a special project, and going to be a beautiful, incredibly thoughtful book.

I'm so happy to finally share this news. This book is about how the past 9 years changed my ideas about family, community, and care, and how those ideas fit into a long history. Huge thanks to my agent @carolineeisenmann.bsky.social, who held my hand through much angst, and to my editor Abby Mohr.

Lander does this shit when he's not even running for anything. The realest possible one

I just spoke to NYC Comptroller Brad Lander as he left police custody following his arrest at immigration court. Here’s what he said:

I’ll never forget Jimmy Kimmel tearing up while talking with Ady about how they both hoped their children would remember them. Horrible that he has been silenced. www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/20...

Excited to have a new thematic review in the SEL omnibus!

I did it. I just sent the revised manuscript of The Book of Improvement to the press. This was such a productive (still painful) revision process: the reader reports were so engaged and incisive. Reader 2 gave me a run for my money but we worked it out. TOC and first paragraph below!

Does your library have a Pacific View Room? It should.

Today in the 90s are back: children learning the Macarena at camp

Personally, I consume 200 to 300 milligrams of caffeine a day because I’m addicted to caffeine.

Progress on book revisions measured in the number of half-drunk cans of Le Croix scattered around the house

I really appreciate that my publisher requires alt text for all images. But I'll appreciate it a bit more once I have finished writing the alt text for 50+ figures and tables.

Someday I will stop writing about Austen's defense of the novel in Northanger Abbey, but today is not that day.

Me: I don’t want my new headshots to be too girly. I am a Serious Academic. Also me: PINK WALL

We loved recording this episode with Brad Lander! We talked everything from the media attacks on Zohran Mamdani, how ranked choice voting created an opportunity for the progressives and left to defeat Andrew Cuomo, and how shocked he was to get arrested by ICE agents. youtu.be/cSIJBednlpU?...

Canadian Rockies 😍

Just finished my epilogue (like this minute) and it's pure free-association. Topics covered, in order: my college years, my tattoo, the form of the chapter, the prosperity gospel, quantification, the Apple Watch, wellness, Poog, journaling, novel reading, men not reading novels, bibliotherapy 1/2

9-year-old made his bed (unprompted) like this before leaving for camp and 🥹