Somehow I wound up with a day with zero meetings and zero teaching. So nice to be able to focus on catching up on writing.

Woohoo! Paper accepted to MPSA! This will be good motivation to finish it. It’s like mostly done but I’ve been ignoring that last 20% to get it over the line. Also looks like I’ll be discussant on two interesting panels, so that’s fun. See you all in Chicago!

Submit your #APSA2026 proposals by January 14 for the 122nd Annual Meeting & Exhibition, September 3–6, held in Boston, MA, exploring “Democracy Under Threat: How to Understand, Protect, and Rebuild.” Submission deadline: January 14, 2026. 📄 Submit here: buff.ly/PYyBksl

Elena Gambino’s “Research as Waystation in the Midcentury Homophile Movement” shows how homophile organizations reshaped the homosexuality narrative, turning audiences from passive observers into active participants. Read it here: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/... #QueerStudies #PoliSky

Tomorrow at noon! Join APSA’s Careers Diversity Committee for Advising and Mentoring Political Science PhDs for Careers Beyond the Academy, a virtual discussion on challenges #polisci #faculty & #graduateadvisors face when advising doctoral students for careers beyond the academy. buff.ly/cnx2otv

Present me would like have words with past me and explain why we cannot keep agreeing to do all the things. Future me would like some downtime soon.

Last chance to apply! APSA’s Diversity Fellowship Program awards $5,000 to support future political science scholars applying to political science PhDs for Fall 2026 admission. Learn more about the #APSADFP program and application eligibility: buff.ly/ihLR0Lv #polisky

Join us today for a training webinar on how you can be a more effective advocate for political science, feat. Wendy Naus, Exec. Dir. of of COSSA & moderated by Ben Goodrich of APSA. Guiding Principles for Advocating for Political Science 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM ET Registration: Free buff.ly/7K8Yb8W

Graduate seminar did a deep dive on Thomas Paine’s Common Sense yesterday. At the line, “in America the law is king,” they (14 students from 6 countries) burst out laughing. I've been doing this for 35 years and this is the first time that was a laugh line.

Love this!!

notice the general mood of the timeline? how everyone is in a good mood and there’s a lot less misery and dooming? how there’s a lot of “we’re going to beat these assholes”? anyway that’s why these events are important

I really need to teach him the difference between indoor toys and outdoor toys. He loves his sticks but they make such a mess.

What books are we using to teach courses on the Supreme Court as an institution? So not con law but like… wtf goes on up there?

Not publishing the book I want to use for my class until February — a month after my class starts — is not helpful, Cambridge University Press. Not helpful.

Maybe 115 (ish) house plants is, in fact, a few too many. Thankfully I’m having a friend help build a few more shelves. So I can either spread these out a bit or maybe get more. But not toooo many more.

The Trump admin’s offer to give preferential treatment to institutions that toe the party line reeks of bribery in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological agenda. This is corruption. Adherence to ‘loyalty oaths’ would usher in a new era of thought policing in American higher education.

I often say that conservatives want to repeal the various Civil Rights Act but it’s probably more accurate to say they want to overturn the Reconstruction amendments.

Opening October 1st! Apply for the APSA Graduate Student Member Support Grant! Applications open 10/1 at 8:00 a.m. ET, and close 10/8 at 5:00 p.m. ET. Lottery-based selection; #graduatestudent members only! 🔗 Apply Here: buff.ly/ns0mhC7 🔗 More details: buff.ly/97gcQJb

Took the puppy hiking for the first time this week. He was too excited to bother with pictures.

I would love for a single democrat to reckon with the fact that conservatives are not in fact motivated by reasonable concerns. They are — just as they were with ‘concerns’ over blacks and gays and numerous other minorities over the last five decades — motivated by bigotry.

Not really an overstatement to say that the test of a free society is whether or not comedians can make fun of the country's leader on TV without repurcussions.

Had a great time at @apsa.bsky.social in Vancouver! Looking forward to seeing everyone next year in my homeland of Boston!

Caucus Meeting! Tonight at 6:30! Pan Pacific Oceanview 2! LGBT reception to follow!! Then probably off to the gayborhood.

Are you at @apsa.bsky.social ? Don’t forget to come to the Caucus business meeting today at 6:30 and then the reception after!

Looking forward to seeing everyone at @apsa.bsky.social this week!

Putting all the events and things I need to do for @apsa.bsky.social in my calendar and I remain firmly convinced that 8am panels should be illegal, especially the day after the @sexualityandpol.bsky.social / @apsa-lgbtq.bsky.social joint reception because you KNOW that's going to be a late night.

Note to self: Before volunteering to be on a roundtable, confirm that said roundtable is not at 8am.

Why is the assumption always that people want to land in research universities? I specifically wanted to be in a teaching focused position. I'm sick of hearing about research universities like they're a synonym for academia.

I also really love the various bills across several states that define drag thusly: "“Drag performer” means a male or female performer who adopts a flamboyant or parodic feminine or masculine persona with glamorous or exaggerated costumes and makeup."

Reviewing some anti-LGBT/anti-drag bills for the project I'm working on with @melissamichelson.bsky.social and... Wow. SB 937 from Oklahoma. Most of the bill is arguing that LGBTQ identity is a religion and thus recognizing it in schools violates the establishment clause... This is wild.

Hardest thing about going back to work this semester is definitely listening to my puppy cry every time I leave the house without him. 😭 I mean look at that face. So hard to see him sad and lonely.

Still really confused about how classes start next week. Didn’t summer just start?

The point of journalism is to tell people the truth! If the population and political leaders are panicking about something that isn't happening, your job as a reporter is to loudly debunk it — not plead with the other party to join the panic.

Proposed Bluebook rule: if you are citing a work with which you strongly disagree in consecutive footnotes, the second footnote should use "Idiot" instead of "Id." Purely as a hypothetical example: ¹ Aᴅʀɪᴀɴ Vᴇʀᴍᴇᴜʟᴇ, Tʜᴇ Cᴏɴsᴛɪᴛᴜᴛɪᴏɴ ᴀs Sʏsᴛᴇᴍ 2-3 (2011). ² Idiot at 4.

None of this AI shit would be happening if you all had posted this on Facebook like we told you to

Finally got my copy of my book!! Aaaah!!!

I’m guessing my application fees from college are outside the statute of limitations… but I wish these plaintiffs all the luck in the world.

It's publication day! Teaching LGBTQ Politics is now available from SUNY Press and all your fine book retailers (I'm assuming). You can also get it at Amazon, where the Kindle version is currently $38.

🌈🤩 @pspolisci.bsky.social has a new special issue on #LGBTQ politics full of insightful and innovative content! www.cambridge.org/core/journal... @polisky.bsky.social

My lil guy was such a good boy at the vet. He got a star and everything.

Politics Should be a Drag. New work from me & @efkjr.bsky.social & @brianharrison.bsky.social #PoliSky www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Happy birthday to me! New publication out! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

I am no constitutional scholar, but I can't help but feel that "the President gets to dictate what every university can teach and what every television station should broadcast" is closer to what the founding fathers were worried about when it comes to free speech than trigger warnings on syllabi.

Trump has settled on the perfect way to end the Epstein scandal: have Merrick Garland pretend to investigate it.

The book comes out next month! You can preorder now from SUNY or that other place that sells books on the internet. sunypress.edu/Books/T/Teac...

What a way to end the work week. My chapter in @efkjr.bsky.social Cravens, & Mayo-Adam Teaching LGBTQ Politics is now out. You can get your copy here: sunypress.edu/Books/T/Teac...

So excited to have this wonderful collection out with a chapter of mine! It’s on why I started doing more school centric material and some of the history and whatnot. the rest of the collection is fantastic. I think only @efkjr.bsky.social is on Bluesky for me to thank.

Submitted page proofs today! This article started as a comment I left myself on a different project asking if I should expand on a point. I decided I needed to expand. And then that turned into a separate 4000 word article. So I think I was right. I did need to expand a bit.

Buckle in for some @apsa.bsky.social Grad Status Committee updates! First up: you can finally sign up for our newsletter updates without being an APSA member! We send around 3-5 emails per year with PDFs of job postings, upcoming workshops, and $ opportunities. connect.apsanet.org/graduate/new...

In other news… everyone say hello to the best puppy in the world. We’ve been together for 24hrs and I couldn’t be happier.