I explained Melanie Klein's good breast/bad breast, infantile terror, and depressive position to my tantruming 8yo in the car this morning and it calmed her down immediately. So anybody who says psychoanalysis doesn't work is just doing it wrong.

More ND postdoc opportunities! The Initiative on Race and Resilience (IRR) invites applications for a two-year postdoctoral fellowship focusing on multiracial democracy. See below for detail and link to apply apply.interfolio.com/164233

Very nice new postdoctoral gigs just posted at ND! $75K + research funds, low teaching. This year they're running it in Art, Art History, & Design; Film, Television, & Theatre; Sociology; History; German, Slavic, & Eurasian Studies; and the Medieval Institute. alresources.nd.edu/resources/pr...

Ok, as a mindfulness and anti-paralysis practice I'm going to call my senators about one issue per day. Today, Hegseth. Monday, health (WHO + NIH + RFK). Tuesday, immigration. I know this would be more effective if broadly coordinated. Who is coordinating well?

You might say 2024 was a bit of a disappointing year. But some of its best series were ABOUT disappointment in impressive, jarringly healthy ways. I wrote about the year in TV for @newrepublic.com — thanks for reading, friends! newrepublic.com/article/1882...

I'm very pleased to be able to announce that Political Disappointment has received honorable mention for the MLA's James Russell Lowell Prize! www.mla.org/Resources/Ca...

Contemporaries is (are?) in the midst of painful separation from Xitter, which was for years our main way of sharing clusters and podcasts, so in the interregnum we really appreciate any kind of signal boost for the amazing work we platform. We’re now on 20 episodes of Pod45 and 60+ essay clusters!

It took me a LONG time to edit this episode (combo of technical and hurricane reasons, which I guess are ultimately the same) but I think it was worth the wait – such a smart conversation. Thanks to our suspiciously great guests and to @franciscondine.bsky.social for being the host with the most.

What's so "standard" about jazz standards? This Tues (Nov 19) Daphne Brooks talks with Brian Kane about his book Hearing Double: Jazz, Ontology, Auditory Culture (OUP), 5:30 pm ET in the Popular Music Books online series. For info on how to join us: iaspm-us.wildapricot.org/Popular-Musi...

All of you who were not on Bluesky in July 2023 sadly missed the best post the site has ever seen, which I hereby repost again for the benefit of all.

Hi, everybody. I write and teach about US literature, music, sound, feminism and cultural history. I recently wrote a book on political disappointment that you might be interested in right now. www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...

OK, I'll try to be active here again. It seems worth a shot.

🚨 NEW ORDINARY UNHAPPINESS 🚨 we talk with the wonderful @thesaramarcus.bsky.social about her book Political Disappointment and disappointment as "an untimely desire" that can sustain survival and fuel creativity. plus: campaign songs, our youthful political letdowns, and more!

If you're in Philly for MLA or live there—or even are passing through for whatever reason—please come to this party celebrating recent books by Peter Coviello, Jonathan Leal, and yours truly! Friday Jan. 5, 4-6 PM, Fergie's Pub (1214 Samson). We'll probably be upstairs.

Announcing a free special issue in Journal of Popular Music Studies on podcasting and gender edited by @kategalloway.bsky.social, Morgan Bimm, and me. Big thanks to our authors and to @kgoldschmitt.bsky.social , @ehphd.bsky.social, & @ericdharvey.bsky.social! Link: online.ucpress.edu/jpms/issue/3...

Hear me out: a tech tool that lets you beep any library book checked out to you, so you can find it on your shelves when it's due or recalled. Like beeping your parked car or calling your lost phone. Or a teeny GPS tracker so you can map its location. I'm waiting.

Chicago friends/acquaintances/everybody: Come to my book event on Monday, Nov. 6, at the Seminary Co-op Bookstore! I'll be talking with Pete Coviello about political disappointment. www.semcoop.com/event/sara-m...

I'm coming east this week and next to talk with some wonderful people about political disappointment, transcriptions, sound, intergenerational coalition, and more. Please come on out if you're nearby.

We @atpost45.bsky.social have a cluster for you on John Keene. Edited by Brittney Michelle Edmonds, the cluster features Phillip Brian Harper, Margo Natalie Crawford, @kqandrews.bsky.social, @bamenke.bsky.social, Yogita Goyal, Matt Brim, Tyrone S. Palmer, & Fred Moten. post45.org/contemporaries

Do not go gentle into that good night

This Tuesday, Sept. 19, I'll be doing an event for Political Disappointment in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with Aida Levy-Hussen, at the Literati bookstore. It's at 6:30. If you have people in A2 or Detroit, please send them over. If you yourself are a person in A2 or Detroit, please come on by.

Oh cool, I wonder what kinds of records the UAW will start making. Industrial noise, probably.

The video of this @thesaramarcus.bsky.social Popular Music Books session is up now on YouTube. If you missed it, don't miss it! (Phrased for maximum evocation of a mysterious sense of loss, apropos to the subject.) youtu.be/AI3o4vaSRf8?...

The Popular Music Books online series returns Tues, Sept 12, 5 pm est! Sara Marcus @thesaramarcus.bsky.social will discuss her new book POLITICAL DISAPPOINTMENT - aka why progressives can't get no satisfaction - w/ Sonnet Retman. Details & full calendar here: iaspm-us.wildapricot.org/Popular-Musi...

The great Sonnet Retman and I are kicking off the Popular Music Books in Process series tomorrow at 5 PM ET on Zoom, talking about the sounds of political disappointment! Click here for instructions on how to get the Zoom link. iaspm-us.wildapricot.org/Popular-Musi...

If you've been following the crisis at WVU, where I'm an assistant prof of English, you may know that 1. I, along with many colleagues, will find out next month if we'll be laid off in May 2. WVU's lawyer said they're reading profs' social media. Hi.

Hi Bluesky, another exciting t-t opening here: pls help us publicize before the 11/1 deadline. As @saulnoamz.bsky.social has mentioned, Comp Lit is looking for a scholar of media history/theory/archaeology who works on non-anglophone cultural traditions: academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/12720

The comparison he draws is to environmental harm of pollution to plants and animals which has the intended effect of treating a woman's body like a public park

Half-baked thought: maybe now all humanities professional orgs should have watchdog/activist committees to keep an eye on major assaults by legislatures, boards of trustees, etc.? a necessary shift, culturally? both for ready activism & for easy rallying nodes for orgs to communicate & band together

11 years ago, having attained a ripe old age we shan't mention here, I entered a PhD program. Despite the cruelty and caprice, and due to random luck & kind support, academia has allowed me to do the intellectual/creative work I couldn't figure out any other way to do. I really hope we can save it.

Mark Gavin, Associate Provost: [email protected] Lou Slimak, Associate Provost: [email protected] Paul Kreider, Vice Provost: [email protected] Tracy Morris, Associate Provost: [email protected] Evan Widders: Associate Provost: [email protected]

In addition to President Gee, please consider writing to the Provost, Maryanne Reed as well as Maryanne Reed, Provost & VP of Academic Affairs: [email protected] Mark Gavin, Associate Provost: [email protected] Associate Provost: [email protected] and

Thanks to the Majority Report show and host @emmavigeland.bsky.social for the great discussion today! My interview starts about 20 minutes in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUi1IGjepIY&ab_channel=TheMajorityReportw%2FSamSeder

Hello all--would love your help in advertising a t-t position in Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies at my institution, which is looking for a scholar working on gender in the global South. JUST authorized & an early deadline: 15 Sept! https://academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/12619

I have a great time talking with RJ Eskow yesterday for his TV show, The Zero Hour. And lo and behold, it's streaming on YouTube right now! https://youtube.com/watch?v=BRcGprDO_uU…

A whole week later and I still giggle every time I think of this.

Especially this, very much this: "how to extricate friendship, power, community, and news" from one another

I very much recommend this thread from @scottbot.bsky.social on our moment of social-network portaging and scrambling.

How long after finishing grad school is an academic expected to remove advisors' names from their CV? I'm 5 years post-PhD and my dissertation now lives as a book, so it seems like it's probably time. But I'm still hooked on gratefully acknowledging lineage...

Today I'm feeling very grateful to @thenation.com and Lynne Feeley for this extraordinarily generous, sympathetic, and in-depth review of Political Disappointment. Nobody has ever called my close readings "dazzling" before! (At least not that I know of.)

Welcome to the jungle We’ve got a lot of trees We’ve got anything you want, honey As long as it is trees

It was great talking to Ari Brostoff for Jewish Currents about disappointment vs disavowal, Jewish grieving for the Temple & the '60s, Benjamin, and Du Bois, always Du Bois. https://jewishcurrents.org/a-century-of-disappointment

When your undergrads apply to PhD programs, do you advise them to email faculty they'd like to work w/, & if so, what do they ask these professors *for*? I sent notes when I applied, but I can't remember what I asked for--advice; a "sure I'd work w/ you if, etc."; ...? or is it purely a heads-up?

So gang, what am I supposed to do here again? Just post the same things I post The Other Place?

I wrote a book about political disappointment, sound, literature, transcription, and solidarity. It's called POLITICAL DISAPPOINTMENT and it came out at the end of May. https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674248656