It's that time.

Redwood Tree 😌

I am sad that I didn't enjoy the thing I was looking forward to because enjoying things is so much fun and being disappointed is boring and predictable.

Rainbow!

"If readers are surprised that controversial titles such as Curato’s Flamer, Kobabe’s Gender Queer, and Thomas’s The Hate U Give aren’t on that list, it’s because they’ve been excised by their foes: “commonly banned books from past years simply aren’t available in many school libraries anymore."

Reminding myself that Mark Carney doesn't read his bluesky mentions and my yelling at him here about Canada Post is a waste of my time. I could write a letter.

It's pouring rain and my day involves multiple student meetings, sorting out my next lecture (it's about the history of movies! The reading is about children literally dying in a fire.), and possibly grading a bunch of things, but first coffee & a book about witch trials.

Inside you there are two kittens.

Tumblr told me they're cancelling Thursday this week. Just wanted to give everyone else a head's up. Remember that Tumblr is very reliable unless you want to search for absolutely anything.

Happy National Black Dog Day to our sweetie pie, Miss Maggie Mae, who is currently telling me that I've worked WAY too long today and it's time to PLAY

Present me is so grateful for this tasty lunch I packed last night. Gosh, past me sure is nice. I'm sure this is not a lesson I will retain.

Look, I know everything is terrible but there's a new dictionary coming out and the knitters got scishow to take down the terrible "knitting wasn't useful until physics" video. So I got a sweet to celebrate.

New words dropping in November

Getting through these dark times by listening to the episodes of Knowledge Fight in which lawyers really upset Alex Jones.

Future me should appreciate my meal prep and cleaning. She should buy me a present.

I finally caught up enough on all of my work that tonight I'm able to meal prep and do some dull household tasks. Still not done unpacking but right now my apartment smells amazing and i have more shelving.

If you've done in-person research at any of the following presidential libraries in the last 8 months, can you please follow me/contact me—soon—for a story I'm working on (can be off the record)? Hoover FDR Truman Eisenhower JFK LBJ Ford Carter And either way, can you please share this request? 🙏

Does anyone actually get a newspaper delivered anymore? I mean, other than my mother who is a statistical outlier and should not be counted. I'm thinking of returning to the world of newspapers but I don't even know where to buy one anymore.

I don't know what this flower is but it's pretty!

“And it’s unfortunate that this government has colluded and gave permission to these industry actors without our informed consent. That’s another law, the free informed prior consent you’re sidestepping, and all of your agreements.” - Michelle Paul, who lives on the Gold River Reserve

Anyone want to watch a short video of Footnote and Index sniffing in the woods? They are very intense puppies.

I'm having another one of those days where I absolutely know why I'm feeling awful but it's so unfair. My students were 100% on today, so great, really trying, got more of them talking in my first-year course, it was great. I wish I could turn into goo and soak into the earth. It sounds nice.

I wish I was cool enough to be on reading rainbow! Alas. But look! Reading Rainbow! Mychal! I'm so happy!

Canada has the lowest debt to GDP and smallest deficit in the G7. There's no "precipice". PBO head is an idiot. So, let's stop using him as an excuse to clap mindlessly for Carney's Canada Post workforce reduction cuts, which interfered in contract negotiations and caused a strike.

Good morning. It's raining. I have cute boots. I'm teaching about autobiographies of disabled people in the 19th century and then about enslaved people in New France in the 18th century. The point is cute boots.

Y'all, I think deciding to still be awake at 1 am was a mistake. I'm so tired.

books should automatically come with time to read them

I love these dogs so much.

Look, the world is an absolute mess but we’re still growing and celebrating 1200 lb pumpkins. While there are still preposterously huge gourds, I believe there is still hope

I had forgotten the fun bit where my father reminds me that my brother has a much more important job than I do. He is in the military band. 🙃 I just teach.

"Hi mom, we're going to be late for Sunday dinner because Footnote has a sock in her mouth and Index wants it and neither will move until this is sorted."

Theory : my students are brilliant and I don't need to teach them tomorrow. They can teach themselves. Thoughts?

Why do velociraptors make bad pets? Because they're all dead

I'm so tired that it's taken me many minutes to realize this isn't a book written by Ms. Codex, meant to be read in 2030. I don't know what I thought she was doing in France.

Puppies and I joined @yarnsalad.bsky.social for an adventure!

It's 3:30 in the morning here and I am so tired but good morning Ontario I hope you had a good sleep. I am going to bed.

I just found out that BFF Emmy's partner didn't know Charlie Kirk died and hadn't heard about Kimmel and I have never wanted in my life to be more like him. He doesn't even know what a groyper is.

American friends, if you were going to sum up your civil war with one slide for a Canadian audience, what would you put on it? We're talking about the change in minstrel shows pre- and post- and it occurs to me my students might know nothing about the war. And I'm tired. So far I have this:

I'm very sad but people telling me how cute my dogs are helps with my sadness.

I just want you all to know that the dogs went for a nice long walk (7.5k today), they are both sprawled out on the balcony, and they book look so content. Index has taken over the bed out there and is about to doze off. Footnote is looking out at the world. It's good to be a puppy.

I'm taking the tiny demon children on a different walk than usual and they're both acting like they've never sniffed a sniff before. Just excited at every new smell.

I have a very full day today with student meetings, lecture recordings, email. But I don't want to wake up.

I'm in a bad mood for no good reason. My student meetings were good, the dogs have been delightful, I had a treat. But I am so grumpy and I hate everything. >:(

"Karrandjas said it feels like a "waste" not to use Canada Post's nationwide community network to expand its services, rather than reduce them, at a time when the country's population is aging." As @cataranea.bsky.social pointed out, the mail is a service that costs us each $25/year. That's cheap.

Canada Post “lost” 1 billion dollars last year? How about, “it cost Canadians 1 billion dollars to have a national postal service” which works out to costing about $25 a year per person (population of Canada in 2024 = 40 million). Seems like a pretty reasonable cost to me.

I've decided that maybe a fun reading challenge will get me to read all those books I hauled across the country and put on the shelves. The challenge is fiction but I own far more non-fiction so I'm creatively interpreting it. The history of witchcraft trials book I've interpreted as "gothic."

I struggled to get out of my depression nest but i managed to get the dogs out for their morning walk. It's very nice outside.

Knitting in the dark while listening to the moon seems appropriate.

Hoping to find an etsy witch to solve some problems.

The argument that "but grammar is hard" is so absurd. Grammar rules are all made up.