Somehow managed to finish grades with minimal mistakes. Need a major reboot.

So much grading to do and no extension on grading deadlines following canvas outage.

So I know the instructure hacking is a very bad thing that highlights our dependence on software but right now I feel like I got a snow day!

My favorite time of my semester--watching all of my student food podcasts and cooking demo videos for their cookbook projects.

These monsters are trying to steal the future by trying to hobble the minds of America’s kids

This is a long shot, but Ohio Wesleyan's (Delaware, OH) history dept is looking for adjunct teachers for Fall 2026 to teach two in person classes: Introduction to medieval history and an upper level class on the Black Death. Please let me know if you might be interested!

in a very good mood

Two of my students chose this as their pop culture item of the week to connect to class themes. They did well! (That's turning out to be the most successful assignment from this experimental class)

at least it is nice enough to sit outside today while I grade

Today, the emperor penguin has moved from Near Threatened to Endangered on the @sscmarine.bsky.social IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 🛰️ Satellite images suggest that the population declined by 10% between 2009 and 2018 alone, equating to more than 20,000 adult penguins. Thread:

We are tiny. A handful of humans were 238,000 miles away from home, looked back, and beheld the world. We all need to pause, and look at the earth, and see that it is good.

The new lunar flyby photos need to spur us to reconsider how small, fragile, and finite our world is. Let them serve as a catalyst for new efforts at world peace (or at least deescalation of war) and for the survival of our beautiful, wonderful world.

I am not one of those who believes that history repeats, but consider the following from Herodotus: the Oracle at Delphi told the fabulously wealthy King Croesus that if he invaded Persia he would "destroy a great empire." Croesus invaded and lost--the empire he destroyed was his own.

#Artemis II - We have the first image from yesterdays Lunar flyby captured by the crew on Orion EARTHSET. April 6, 2026. Humanity, from the other side. First photo from the far side of the Moon. Captured from Orion as Earth dips beyond the lunar horizon. 🚀🌕🌍

From the experimental class trenches. This week's advanced skill was focused on improving reading. Task read daily for 15 mins. Student reflection "Reading a physical book in a quiet space felt more like an escape than an assignment, especially since I got to pick any book I wanted."

Heading back home after a really fantastic @aseh.bsky.social

Excited for the upcoming @aseh.bsky.social conference! It's in Kansas City. It's better than a magic lantern show!

I have a chapter in this volume: "Portable Penguins? On the History of Penguin Eggs"

Join us online on Monday 23 March for @brycchancarey.bsky.social discussing The Unnatural Trade: Slavery, Abolition, and Environmental Writing, 1650-1807 (Yale UP 2024) in @greenhouseuis.net #envhum book talk series. Starts 4pm CET, 3pm GMT, 10am EST newnatures.org/greenhouse/e... #ecocrit

Spring is the season of GERMINATION and we’re ready for new ideas to take root. 🌱 Submit your work now for our Spring issue! We’re looking for fresh perspectives and research that helps new conversations grow. Our spring deadline is March 31st for peer reviewed research. g-ehr.com/submit/

60 undergraduate writing responses on the Columbian Exchange and food history. Some of them really are excellent, but my eyes are crossing.

Update from experimental class--students do NOT read directions. It is frustrating. But I have noticed a shift in my feedback away from mechanics towards talking more about the medieval world. So that's a win.

I might actually have a problem. I'm sitting in panera working and they are playing an Adele song that I admittedly have not heard because I'm a cultural heathen, and I REALLY thought the line was “should I give up or should I just keep chasing penguins”

And William Dampier may be the first written account of Galapagos penguins, from a 1684 visit on the ship "Buccaneer's Delight".

About one week into my experimental class and the jury is definitely still out.

I have real sympathy for college students right now. It is so hard for me to focus on grading and class prep with *everything* right now. But onward we must, somehow.

I have an essay on penguin eggs in this forthcoming book edited by @farsouthhistory.bsky.social and Ximena Senatore www.berghahnbooks.com/title/McCahe...

🎉 Huge news for BHL: The Field Museum is taking over the hosting of BHL’s website, servers & infrastructure, ensuring long-term stability and access for its 63+ million pages of open biodiversity literature. Learn more: blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2026/02/tran... #BHLTransition #ILoveBHL 🌍 📚 🧪

Reviewing a book is one of the best and most fun service opportunities available! Check out the awesome books available from H-Environment! #envhist #envhum #envtech #conservation #sustainability #envjustice #ecocrit #envphil #plantstudies #animalstudies #nature docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Anyway, if you want more people being people but in a bad sense (I guess kind of like this), my podcast episode of @americanmedieval.bsky.social is up, I had the best time talking to Matt about my work: pca.st/c5go3lb1

I had a very exhausting but important week. Lots of academic hosting, which brings me joy but wears me out. So today I have stayed home to watch the Olympics, grade papers, and just be still.

MN you are heroes

Summer jobs: NASA History Internship. "The NASA History Office is offering internships at several NASA centers this summer. Be sure to submit your application before the deadline on February 27." 🔭 #History #HistSTM #STS #Internship

This is giving “Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane”

Had a very full week. Watching the Olympics now, rooting for my cousin Molly Solomon who is the executive producer for NBC's Olympic coverage: www.nytimes.com/athletic/701...

Abolish DHS. If you can imagine a world before Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, you can imagine a world without the Department of Homeland Security. My latest at @startribune.com. (gift link)

DHS has shot 12 people during immigration enforcement operations since September:

Just encountered an 1829 description of Deception Island, "as horrid, dreary and wretched a place as the imagination can conceive" with "myriads of millions of penguins."

Every Democratic member of Congress should be on a plane to Minneapolis right now to join the people protesting in the streets. Federal elected officials should physically place themselves between the public and these dangerous thugs sent to terrorize this American city.

Needing a bit of a reminder that sometimes things do get better

We owe an incredible debt to the Minnesotans who are on the streets protesting and documenting what is happening.

We must stop funding DHS.

BREAKING: Trump’s thugs just shot and killed a man in Minneapolis. Eyewitnesses are describing it as an execution. We cannot keep living like this and people can’t keep dying like this. Stop funding DHS. Impeach Kristi Noem. Hold these agents accountable.

From this moment forward (and before, but clearly now): -If you work for ICE. -If you vote for money for ICE. You are complicit. This is the gestapo. You're on the wrong side. You can't pretend not to know.

On the execution in Minnesota: Obviously, the individuals involved should be held accountable. But responsibility goes to the top of ICE and CBP, and DHS. Their appropriations come up next week in the senate. Not a cent for DHS without pulling ICE and CBP off the streets, in MN and everywhere else.

I just spoke with the White House after another horrific shooting by federal agents this morning. Minnesota has had it. This is sickening. The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.

Star Tribune is reporting this as well now, multiple shots in the chest.