Heritage Open Days 2025 are from 12 - 21 Sept. The Anna Sewell House where Black Beauty's author was born is open to the public. Jarrolds, the novel's publisher, is also offering a History Tour. The book changed attitudes to horse welfare.

Re #MeanjinJournal, a letter from myself and some of my colleagues to The University of Melbourne. #Meanjin is such an important part of Australia's literary ecosystem and losing it would be culturally and industrially devastating. #AusLit #AustralianWriters #Publishing #Unimelb

How did my class on identifying audiences for digital content become a history lesson on Melbourne's Queer clubbing scene between 2000-2012?

I am reading Replace Me by Amber Husain (2021, Peninsula Press) and 1) it is more prescient now than it was when it was published, good golly. 2) I love the term "fantasies of self-reconstruction" that she coins to describe Bulgakov's book The Heart of a Dog. Can y'all recommend similar reads?

I am back in front of a lecture hall! I have no sleep, no caffeine and all the vyvanse. Buckle up for Legal Issues in Arts and Media #PUBL90014 #HowToPourTheTeaNotSpillIt #AcademicSelfie

It's been a while so here's the #AcademicSelfie. I am back at work & loving it. My classes for s2 are prepped. Dragon is in childcare, I got a lil nap, the midwinter sun is shining, there's a new @benaaronflynn.bsky.social book, I am off to meet a friend for lunch & do some work in a beer garden.

I am finally back at work post parental leave. I thought I should pull out books from the Home Library that I will need in the Office Library. /1 #Law #BookNerd

We have a crawler. #Dragon #MotherOfDragon

I am cleaning, looking after Dragon and listening to Triple J's Hottest 100 from 1998 and I hated it at the time but the Sunscreen Song has stood the test of time. youtu.be/sTJ7AzBIJoI?... #music #90s #nostalgia

I'm just a queer theory scholar begging sports journalists to consider what they have written before hitting publish

This new book by @uolpress.bsky.social is nothing short but a monumental achievement on Latin American #liberationtheology! Among the most interesting (English) surveys in recent years! The chapter on Fals Borda by Díaz-Arévalo @sheffielduni.bsky.social is a gem. Foreword by M. Zechmeister at UCA.

The Lost Medieval Library Found in a Romanian Church www.medievalists.net/2024/11/lost... HT @michaelrnelson.bsky.social

Yesterday I joyfully attended the ceremonial sitting for Elizabeth Bennett J at the Federal Court of Australia. Her Honour (that feels so weird) is one of my favourite people; she builds communities of love and mutual support, and integrity is at the core of her being. We are so proud of you, Liz.

One of the things to know about edtech is that many, many people involved in it have no experience teaching, and particularly not at the grade level the intervention is designed to target. They’re tech guys who think tech is Very Hard and teaching is a skill-free avocation for ladies.

Learning to parent has consumed my attention for the last 4 months. I've not had more than 3 hours consecutive sleep since I last took Valium (a month ago?). I want to connect with other academic parents in #Melbourne who are also dealing with this learning curve. How do we brain and parent? HMU

Can confirm that ROSÉ'S song APT is the new Baby Shark. Thanks be to Apollo and St Cecilia. #MotherOfDragon

#ThingsI'llTellMyDaughter : Red lipstick obscures a variety of ills including the impact of teething and sleep regression.

MIT has a set of books labelled "Open Access" but it's a little clunky to find them on the MIT Press site, and so I've gone ahead and mirrored 400+ of them here: archive.org/details/mit_...

The last 2 months have been A lot. I am delighted to have Dragon in my life. I have housing security (ie: a mortgage) for the first time since I was 10. I am still coming to terms with having secure work, including being able to take 9 months of parental leave. This is all great. The best thing? 1/

Just had a magnificent idea I'm going to re-read the whole of @benaaronovitch.bsky.social Rivers of London series in the chronological order laid out on his website 💙📚 #BookSky #ReadingChallenge #RiversOfLondon #AmReading www.bigbeardedbookseller.com/2024/11/30/r...

This weekend has been a slow one. We moved into our own house last week, and are still unpacking but we got rid of the landlord beige on the walls, have a functioning TV, bookshelves and art are going up. The Dragon is having a sleep regression but we are getting there.

Let's talk about how to report on right-wingers without amplifying their hateful rhetoric. Far-right extremists count on YOU to spread their messages for them. Here's a thread of resources. 1) The Oxygen of Amplification: Better Practices for Reporting on Extremists, Antagonists, and Manipulators

After hearing all of Trumps appointments,I'm awaiting the news that Kid Rock has been put in charge of arts and culture.

Something *really* telling about open ai calling artists “abusers” for trying to set up boundaries to protect our work.

In this house we communicate explicitly. #MôthùrIHūngerrrr #Cwtch

We're following Stephen King's lead; Midnight Pals is now deactivated on Twitter. But good news, you can follow us here on Blue Sky, which you're presumably doing if you're reading this message!

This is The Modern Goth Tarot that I wrote the instruction book for Watch out for Monday as there is going to be a giveaway for a deck of this, for more details: uk.bookshop.org/a/140/978183...

How do you face fascism? I like Orwell's version: ground yourself in direct and immediate experience, trust your senses, find some joy, turn back to face the fascists and tell truths to combat the lies.

My current mindset with the baby is "If she's screaming, she's breathing." I am also going to apply this approach to my research and writing. (I am ok for a given value of ok, where the "given" is *gestures at the world, angry side eyes the US*, just being dramatic. As is the Dragon.)

"To people from Central Africa, the okapi had been known for millennia. But to the British, it did not exist until Europeans could see it—or at least its corpse. Even then, African facts were far less appealing than European 'discoveries.'” 🗃️

Yes, improving access is vital + we also need to ensure that these creative industries currently dominated by the upper middle-class pay enough to grant financial security to those from working-class backgrounds. It's not enough to just get people through the door, they need to be able to stay there

I've been offline for a while because I made a human. Online I will refer to her as Dragon, but she does have a lovely Welsh name (named for the author of Y Gododdin and also for a Welsh Labour politician renound for his oratory skills and for founding the NHS). Like her namesakes, she can roar.

Two bits of news this morning folks. The first is that #Pratchat is now on #YouTube! It’s turned into a major podcast platform, especially now Google Podcasts is shutting down. If that’s how you like to listen to audio, every episode is up there now.

Oof. This morning's reading is calling me in. Gotta lift my game.

YES 👇

This sums it up perfectly. It’s not a conversation.

When nerds are packing up to move house.

Hey Nerds! I'm on the search for examples for my class on the history of books and reading: what are your fave pop-up books? They don't have to be for kids.

I know Keanu Reeves and China Miéville are teaming up for a book this year, but may I also propose that @benaaronovitch.bsky.social have a chat with @deathbybadger.bsky.social because I think Nightingale needs to call on his old mate, Henry Sotheran. Maybe leave the car at home...

I am cackling. Also, truth.

28 Days Later, but as well as fighting Zombies you haven't had access to venlafaxine for a month because 🎶apocalypse🎶. #IYKYK #MentalHealthMatters

#AcademicFitCheck can best be described as "How French people feel when they are told they need to go to work in August".

Applications for the Linda Hall Library's 2024-25 #fellowships are due Jan. 19, 2024--one month from today! Learn more about residential & virtual fellowship opportunities & register for our online Jan. 5 info session: www.lindahall.org/research/lin... #histmed #histsci #histSTM #histtech 🗃️📜

I loved co-authoring this piece, which pays tribute to former Chilean President Salvador Allende’s international law of solidarity, with my dear friend & comrade Valeria Vázquez Guevara! cil.nus.edu.sg/blogs/salvad...

Discourse around misinformation doesn't always line up w/ our research team's findings re: how falsehoods actually spread in online spaces. Here, I provide a more nuanced view, describing the problem of misinformation as one of collective sensemaking gone awry: www.cip.uw.edu/2023/12/06/r...

Celebrating the new job with takeaway, bubbles, and my Beloved (not pictured, as he is an offline person).

I said yes! 🍾💍🥂 If Camilla can do it, so can I. #SidePieceHustle I am stoked to join a research & teaching team I adore and respect. Publishing is the most supportive and collegiate team I have worked with. I have made wonderful friends in my time here, and I can't wait to contribute more.

Breaking News: The Supreme Court said on Monday that it had issued an ethics code for the justices after months of increasing pressure to adopt one following a series of revelations about undisclosed property deals and gifts.

So far 42 is feeling rather good.