I used to focus on what classical music the #olympics figure skaters chose for their programs - but this year they appear to have entered Wagner's Siegfried himself in competition. (I kid, I kid. I know this is Ilia Malinin, the top American man. The visuals, though.)

What proportion of your beautiful Canvas page is actually used by students? For more than downloading files and getting deadline reminders?

My huge aha moment a last year was that I was spending TONS of time on the LMS all to support ... students who weren't coming to class in the first place. I stopped spending the time on Blackboard and started spending it on writing new lectures and giving more feedback instead.

These are the same weirdos who think women who don't change their surnames when they get married should be stoned

And let me add: I never encountered an LMS until I started teaching after grad school. Coincidentally, I never anticipated how much of my job would be providing tech support to students for the various apps and tools that I'm now required to use

That famously rapid thing that happened super quickly, the fall of Rome

this week's Last Week Tonight is gonna be lit

So I think everyone knows what Chuck E. Cheese is but for non-parents who don't know what LifeTouch is, it's the company that for decades has had a near-monopoly on school pictures.

The next History of Liturgy Seminar is in London @ihr.bsky.social on Monday 16 Feb 17.30. The award-winning @drkrisztinailko.bsky.social on The Augustinian Friars & their Liturgical Cult of Saint Augustine. In-person (chat! drinks! people!) or online: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... #medievalsky

Personally I would choose Bangor over literally any American university in a heartbeat, especially if it meant I finally got to learn Welsh properly

Woman who's emigrated to Dubai for the schools and the sun wants to defund a Welsh university.

This reminds me of how two separate supervisors at temporary jobs at two entirely different universities told me they were hesitant about offering me a permanent contract because they were worried I would leave for a tenure-track position somewhere else. I'm really not sure what planet they were on

"I wish I could offer stable employment, I really do—you know I do! But the kids these days just hate it, you know? I heard they call it 'precariting' on Tiktok. That’s what I heard. Anyhow my hands are tied!!!"

R1: No we're not hiring on the tenure track because our peers aren't hiring on the tenure track R1: Our peers aren't hiring on the tenure track because we aren't hiring on the tenure track R1: wtf our grad students aren't getting hired on the tenure track R1: No one could know how this happened

will probably delete this because it's embarrassing, but I can't express how profoundly stressful and disturbing it is to be surveilled by your students, especially if you've ever been stalked. knowing your employer will do nothing to help or protect you from harassment is just beyond the pale.

Here, my colleague Petra Rivera-Rideau and Vanessa Diaz, co-authors of P FKN R, directly address all of the pop music pundits who thought Benitobowl wasn't political. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/o...

The base registration fee for the Leeds International Medieval Congress is now up to 347 GBP (= 475 USD or 399 EUR). That just gets you in, & doesn't include meals or anything else. I only attended last year because I was lucky to get into a Leverhulme-sponsored panel. This is unsustainable.

If you're ever tempted by the idea that "the Middle Ages were soooo violent" just remember that no one in William Wallace's (c. 1270–1305) army had to worry about modifying their bagpipes so they could play through TEAR GAS

All the reports showing it either decreases productivity or increases workload or both aside, ethics of incorporating The Great Plagiarist Bot into a university curriculum aside, destroying the planet aside: students do not know enough about anything to even use genAI for its theoretical potential.

I don't want drafts, I just want to be able to report abuse of queer theory

Watching people on this website realize in real time that dismantling universities is a decades-long racist, misogynist project is wild. Welcome, but wild.

I just read a piece in an academic journal in which a tenured professor conflated critical theory in the Marxist tradition with Soviet Marxism-Leninism. Sometimes the call is coming from inside the house.

this is true

I get that the point is to pretend that neither Green Day or Bad Bunny were being political because every major outlet is afraid of the "showing up in a Truth Social screenshot" industrial complex, but its impossible to ignore the overt political sentiment present in both the pre and half time shows

Every study shows that being in a jail or prison, no matter how "nice" or whatever, shortens your lifespan. It does. So the government is taking years off the lives of people, including children, when it opts to put them in jail. www.propublica.org/article/life...

CALL FOR PITCHES @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience. We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not. Details below!

Bad Bunny’s performance began in the plantation, featured broken electric poles, and ended by centering a hemispheric understanding of “América”—among many other things—and some Anglo journalists are like “his performance wasn’t political.” This is why we need to be telling our stories.

Maybe we could let the people who actually study music and culture take the lead on this discourse idk

I actually did see a big account on here saying that Benito Bowl wasn’t political *enough* for their taste. That was the same line some extremely online people were running with about Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show last year. It was absurd then and it’s absurd now.

lfg

For the Interept, I reported from Uganda about the effects of USAID cuts on LGBTQ people, HIV prevention activists and sex workers—and tried to tell the story from the POV of these important but criminalized communities. Please read and share. theintercept.com/2026/02/09/t...

I am once again asking the media to acquire some media literacy skills

Evergreen post

THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH A HISTORY MAJOR

this is musicology

not Señorita Gagita, im screaming

From the bestskeeting author of the Bluesky-famous six-week Bad Bunny 101 comes this essential close reading of the halftime show! 🧵

We gotta start teaching geography in schools again

just saw my first Waymo in person. do not like

One thing you will learn very quickly as a musicologist is that even practicing musicians have no fucking clue what the lyrics are

Terrified Conservatives Lose Ability To Speak English After Exposure To Bad Bunny Performance https://theonion.com/terrified-conservatives-lose-ability-to-speak-english-after-exposure-to-bad-bunny-performance-dios-mio-cry-millions-of-panicking-republicans/

I have been wearing a red knit hat all month in solidarity. (Thread.)

Debí tirar más flechas

Bad bunnies from long ago www.bl.uk/stories/blog...

oh my god

How I imagine the sophistication of my research. How I present my research.

My hot take – Oscar the Grouch is an archivist, with a focus on ephemera and social histories. Grumpy, yes, but he's also devoted to ensuring preservation and community access. A truly passionate steward of monster cultural heritage. open.spotify.com/track/2brIWd...

You know how I keep saying that every damn skill and capacity is needed in this moment??? What do you know how to do that can serve in this critical time??

I'm a maker of "indie" music, and I've always loved pop culture. I continue to listen to new pop acts as much as possible, so that I know. No one exists in a vacuum and it's fascinating to see influences going back and forth between pop and indie. It's there, denying it is hypocritical and dull.