Peak BlueSky: you see a random downthread comment and you think they're talking about a senior academic you probably know, but it turns out they're talking about Henry VIII.

I will add the following: our students lack the research skills required to audit an LLM essay for errors. They don’t arrive on campus with these skills; we teach it to them over four long years. So throwing freshmen in the deep end and saying “swim your way to a shore of rectitude” is folly.

Welcome to ASU @platanoclassics.bsky.social! “Dan-el Padilla Peralta is in the vanguard of scholars working to ensure that the complexities of the past are not flattened in service to the monochrome myths of our day,” said Jeffrey Cohen, dean of humanities at ASU. news.asu.edu/b/20251112-d...

One day I'm going to write a very serious article about the podcast "The Worst Idea of All Time" in which two NZ comedians watch and review the same bad movie over and over. I truly believe it's one of the most exciting and interesting critical experiments out there.

"Out on the worldwide web, signed language is routinely co-opted by non-deaf social media influencers for clout, so much so that fake ASL taught on TikTok has begun to infiltrate real-world communities, emboldening e-learners to approach deaf people only to sign gibberish or curse words."

I'm so excited that this piece is out!! I've always found fandom roleplaying to be weirdly under-discussed (in media, academia) considering how much crossover there is w/ fic spaces. And @mossheadlives.bsky.social took an initial sort of explainer draft to such a beautiful essay in the end—read it!

I have been WAITING for a journalist to write this story. I specialize in manuscripts produced in England between 1300 and 1500. If this had occurred in the midst of writing my dissertation or first book, it would have exploded my career.

It should be absolutely clear to everyone at this point that "DEI" in the language of this administration means "anything that reveals or criticizes the racist structures and histories in which we [the federal government] are invested."

How was the hipstere knighte moost grievouslye woundid? Wore the chainmail bifor it was coole.

Really appreciate this statement from ACLS director Joy Connolly about federal attempts to suppress certain scholarly fields, including gender & sexuality studies. Love to see scholarship funding bodies speak up in explicit and pointed ways about their ideals. www.acls.org/news/speakin....

In an ideal world, the next Director General of the BBC would scrap the BBC's dedicated News channel, replace all of BBC News's political correspondents, and commission a load of new scripted drama and comedy along with a set of brand new music-orientated shows.-

I've been promoted to Associate Professor! (this is not tenure at Harvard, which tenures at full.) Yay!

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: Conference on "Early Modern Asexualities," in person at Victoria College at the University of Toronto (and streamed online), January 5-7, 2026. Get previews of chapters in the collection edited by myself, @catherineclifford.bsky.social, and @omaraphd.bsky.social. 💜🤍🌪️🖤 1/

Congratulations New York!

This morning I overheard my 5 (nearly 6) year old child reading aloud to himself an I Can Read book about the Green Lantern with such a reverential tone, and it was so magical. Reading is incredible and now he can access all the absurd superhero lore in the world, and I'm so happy for him.

My book is now available open access on project muse, with OAPen launch coming soon. Hard copies should start going out this week (if they have not already): you can get yours for 50% off with code SAR50.

Here we go ✊

Go Jays!

The MFA Boston is doing good work. www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/29/m...

A pleasingly autumnal little guy. #origami design by Mio Tsugawa.

Great story and important history from the National Army Museum in today's @theguardian.com - a newly acquired portrait shines a light on a Black veteran of Waterloo, one of several Black soldiers honoured for their service in the Napoleonic wars. www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Recommending David Townsend's The Ram in the Thicket. A really well written, rich historical novel about Julian of Norwich, in and out of the world, watching a threat to her family loom when Margery Kempe comes to town and lights a fire... it's really good.

Deadline extended! You have until Monday October 20th to put in an abstract! #queerbibliography #transbookhistory @bibsoc.bsky.social @bibsocamer.bsky.social @obs1922.bsky.social @transbookhistory.bsky.social @thetransfemininereview.com @sharpnews.bsky.social @royalhistsoc.org

It's true: I wrote a book. And what's more, the book is done and soon you'll be able to own a copy. And what's more more, if you want a hard copy you can order one for 50% off now, with the code SAR50. And if you want it digitally, it'll be open access! www.arc-humanities.org/978180270163...

a) an English degree does not prevent you from getting and doing a [scare quote] real job [scare quote] b) there are things, goals, and values in the world other than money but also c) last year the publishing industry's estimated worth to the UK economy was ELEVEN BILLION QUID.

Love: A RaceB4Race Symposium is now open for registration! What does it mean to love in a time of turmoil, and what can the premodern world teach us about this? How do we negotiate loving a being, a nation, a profession that fails to love us back? na.eventscloud.com/raceb4race-l...

"The innkeeper's daughter I seduced was so affected by her childbed agonies that she has taken passage on a ship and left our child in my care!" "Jamaica?" Etc

#Pamela I don't know why more novels don't have their characters frequently request to read the novel they are in and then say how good it is, how wise, how likely to be on the NYT bestseller list, etc

#Pamela this book's attitude to marriage is so inconsistent and bizarre. I don't know why this shocked me the most so far, but Pamela agreeing that Mr B should "give Mrs Jewkes to John" and mandate between his servants a clearly unsuitable marriage really got me. It's so immoral and heartless.

A friend notified me of the existence of this perfect Pamela fanfic. archiveofourown.org/works/41702337

Pamela update: volume 2 makes the bold choice to have zero action and to spend pages and pages of Pamela and B harping on about her condition, virtue, clothes, and wedding date, while occasionally a Foreboding appears. It's so boring, but the hope remains that something bad will happen.

I'm now reading Pamela with a sort of queasy horror. Mr B just read her poem about being imprisoned by him to the ladies in their company to great applause.

Paperback of Trans and Genderqueer Subjects is apparently on sale #MedievalSky www.routledge.com/Trans-and-Ge...

if you're thinking about coming to do a #fanstudies PhD with me, here's your chance to learn more.

When I’m accused of “technopessimism“ I counter that I’m not “pessimistic about technology“; I am opposed to the economic, political, and social project of upward wealth transfer that “AI” is being leveraged to bring about. If that phrasing is useful to others, then go ahead and use it.

Just came back from a delightful visit to MIT Distinctive Collections, where my fanfiction seminar group looked at a collection of fanzines from the 1970s! They had Spockanalia 1, and a full run of a Dragonriders of Pern fanzine that had spun off from a Star Wars group.

I'm in volume 2 of Pamela and am riveted by the book's apparent total heel turn and the nauseating scenes where Pamela and her father weep with gratitude for their blessings as this gaslighting s*head treats them with basic but patronizing decency and respect.

The way that Pamela folds over itself periodically, where Mr B[ooby] is reading chunks of the novel at a pace behind the reader, is so weird and dizzying.

Pamela just said that she is the "tennis ball of fortune" and I'm absolutely smitten

A thing I'm finding stunning about Pamela is how successfully it shows that the natural result of a moral fixation on virginity is pornography, and it performs both genres successfully at the same time. It's so commercially viable. The man was a genius.

The same pieces that are written as "people are dating A.I. boyfriends!" can still be written as "people are getting very into chatbot gaming and many are turning away from dating; why are they doing that and what can we learn from it, and how do we keep them safe?"

Delighted to announce (ugh, can't believe I'm saying that) that Alon Lischinsky and my bibliography of Trans Media Studies is out with Oxford Bibliographies! It's basically the equivalent of a compilation tape - key works, deep cuts and things we like www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/docu...

I was fascinated to see today "Worth Fighting For" by Jesse Q. Sutanto in @lovestruckbooks.bsky.social - it's a Mulan AU set in the contemporary business world, part of a series of Disney-based adult romance novels, printed by Disney Hyperion. Disney commissioning and printing its own fanfiction!

Calling all Folklore people! Come be my colleague! If anyone knows of people that might be interested, please share widely. lsu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/LSU/job/0260...

Steve Silberman is so pissed about this Tylenol bullshit that he's screaming from the afterlife he didn't even believe in. Increased rates of autism are due to testing, a broadened definition, and greater awareness. It's not vaccines. It's not Tylenol. It's like his work never happened.

If you’re in the Boston area this Wednesday I’d love for you to come on out! This talk is free and open to the public. as.tufts.edu/art-architec...

@dorothyk98.bsky.social just emailed you - can I get a link to attend your talk later remotely? I'm registered in person and there's no details about the hybrid option.

A while ago, Lincoln Geraghty, @acafanmom.bsky.social, @memorieschild.bsky.social & myself did a special issue on “The Past, Present & Future of Fan Fiction”. This is now being reprinted in book format, & available for download for free #FanStudies www.mdpi.com/books/reprin...

David Townsend's novel about Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich has arrived! I can't wait to read it! I take full credit for the author bio; "for God's sake mention your cat, David" I said. www.amazon.com/Ram-Thicket-...

I'm reading Pamela for the first time. Blimey it's harrowing. She cries a lot, doesn't she? I'm reduced to inner screeching, "GET OUT OF THE HOUSE, PAMELA!"