Someday I want whatever chemical reaction happens in Haewon's brain every time she covers a Beyoncé song. #NMIXX

I do not want to make light of how dangerous this moment is, as I am genuinely frightened that Trump’s rhetoric is going to get Ilhan Omar killed. That said, there is something profoundly heartening about watching her walk purposefully toward her assailant, refusing to flinch.

I have often worried that I am desensitized to violence, especially state-sanctioned gun violence. The visceral, embodied experience of watching this latest execution proves otherwise. Realizing this feels less like relief and more like an obligation to stay attentive and be unwilling to look away.

He was doing what many have been saying white men should be doing. He went outside to observe, he documented, he put his body on the line to protect another person and for this he was murdered by the gatekeepers of the fascist regime.

Sayre: "My background is in international humanitarian response in conflict zones in Yemen, Haiti, Syria, Iraq, and Ukraine. What I've seen here is what I've seen there. A powerful entity violently and intentionally terrorizing people."

My nervous system cannot take this. Watching militarized, masked men assault protesters while another person is executed by federally sanctioned thugs is not “news”—it is trauma. This is not a glitch in the system. This *is* the system: state violence, protected by impunity, carried out in public.

U_Chae, live. Basically in my neighborhood. So glad she came to STL. Thank you, @korkstl.bsky.social! #UChae #Kpop #KpopSTL

Officially in my “photocard but make it citations” era. #KpopStudies #Transmedia #AcademicSky

After months of digital collaboration, I finally got to chat with @nayoungbishoff.bsky.social live—and she is every bit as brilliant, cool, and lovely as you would expect. Huge thanks to her for organizing such a fascinating panel on global musical adaptations earlier today! #MLA26

For those at #MLA26: I am participating in a virtual roundtable on “Global Musical Adaptations” with @nayoungbishoff.bsky.social at 3:30 PM (EST), with remarks on “Fairy Queens and K-Pop Dreams: A Midsummer Night’s Dream and its Contemporary Afterlives.” Join us! mla.confex.com/mla/2026/mee...

Proud of my kids for showing up, standing out, and refusing silence—even in the rain. In a moment amplified by the killing of Renee Good, they chose visibility, solidarity, and care over ICE and its reign of terror. Photo shared by @stlpublicradio.bsky.social.

📘 PUBLICATION DAY 📘 My edited collection, Critical Approaches to Transmedia Storytelling in K-Pop, is now available for individual purchase and library acquisition via @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social. So grateful to the contributors who made this project possible! #Kpop #Transmedia #MediaStudies

Even granting every bad decision made by a handful of twenty-somethings and their families, it is still unsettling to watch people cheer on HYBE. Corporate power does not need a fandom, y'all.

Less than two weeks until *Critical Approaches to Transmedia Storytelling in K-Pop* is out—and I just hit “send” on the follow-up volume, *The Cultural Politics of Transmedia Storytelling in K-Pop.* Editing overlapping collections was intense, but 2026 is the year of transmedia scholarship in K-pop.

My edited collection *Critical Approaches to Transmedia Storytelling in K-Pop* is out soon (January 8!) with @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social and available for pre-order now: rebrand.ly/kpop-stories. This volume grew out of years of thinking with (and teaching) K-pop storyworlds. #CriticalKPop

I had the privilege of teaching Paige during her first year at #WashU, and her work ethic in class certainly matches what is described here. Super proud of her! #VicariousBragging

When I stepped away from higher education about five years ago, I had no real sense of what it might mean to be a scholar working in a K–12 world. I knew the move was right for me and my family, but I was not sure whether I would even keep writing.

Really looking forward to this book!

Excited to share that *Critical Approaches to Transmedia Storytelling in K-Pop* is now available for pre-order from @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social! This collection brings together an international group of scholars explores how K-pop reimagines narrative across media. www.bloomsbury.com/us/critical-...

Behold the gatekeeper of productivity. She allows no edits to pass. It seems my plan to review page proofs has been thwarted.

My sister and her family attend the church in Michigan that was shot up and burned down today. Thankfully, they are safe—but deeply shaken. I’m struggling to hold it together myself, just two weeks after experiencing my own active shooter scare.

A little late in posting, but my daughter and I had such a great time at the #VIVIZ concert in Kansas City! It was wonderful to step away from work for a night and enjoy K-pop live. Next up: #ARTMS in St. Louis this November!

I figured this was coming, but the #PurpleKiss news still hits hard. Their debut MV remains one of my all-time favorites, and I am not sure we will ever see another track quite like "Sweet Juice."

Can we please stop calling certain words “GPT words”? They show up because LLMs were (unethically) trained on REAL WRITERS using ACTUAL LANGUAGE—including em dashes—that serve legitimate functions. These stochastic parrots do not get to claim ownership of the written word.

Editing is fun—until citation formatting comes for your soul.

Me: "I can definitely fit more clothes into this load." Also me: "Why are my clothes always so wrinkled?"

Looking for a comics-focused read for #Pride? Sequential Scholars has put together a thoughtful thread on my 2017 article in *Inks* about asexual representation in visual narratives and canonical orientations in #comics. Give it a look!

Thrilled to contribute a short essay to the My So-Called Life cluster in @atpost45.bsky.social! My piece reflects on Rickie Vasquez's iconic dance scene, the affective politics of Brownness, and the persistence of racial and sexual hierarchies. Check it out! #MySoCalledLife #Post45

Stop preserving plantations as relics. Start investigating them as crime scenes.

It turns out my prose style is basically just a long string of "not X, but Y" sentences. Parallelisms all the way down. Sigh.

I love editing, but I hate editing my own work.

Made it through another birthday yesterday. I really think we need a cool German word that captures the essence of the "birthday blues" but sounds way cooler. In other words, something a little more Weltschmerz and a little less Eeyore.

What I miss most about higher education is geeking out over colleagues’ research. Thankfully, the incredible work coming in for my edited collection is scratching that itch. Just read a chapter so compelling I had to make a detailed table to map out my thoughts—always a sign of great scholarship.

Elementary school principals going where university presidents fear to tread...

Delighted to discover that my 2017 article on asexuality in comics, which I distinctly remember writing myself, was apparently authored by AI. Who knew ChatGPT was ghostwriting for me five years before it existed?

I have not slept much, but I taught three great classes today, hosted our first K-Pop Club meeting since spring break, and coached my first JV soccer game (the girls won!). Trying to live the fullest life I can right now in the face of *gestures toward everything.*

#TransDayOfVisibility #TDOV

Thoughts before bed: Joy will not solve systemic injustice, but I still believe it is a vital form of resistance. It cannot replace activism or organizing, of course, but I am committed to making space for it—and sharing it with others whenever I can. Those small moments allow us to breathe.

I am BEYOND excited for this sub-unit debut. My bias, my bias-wrecker, and what looks like an amazing concept. GAHHHHHH. #Billlie #MoonSua #Siyoon

HeeJin performing "ViViD" for the first time outside of Korea was exactly the right energy to kick off an amazing concert last night. So good. #ARTMS #LunarTheory

Let's do this! #ARTMS #LunarTheory

😡😡😡😡😡

Sigh...

Coaching soccer is weirdly helping me to cope with the state of the world right now. There is something healing about watching a group of amazing young women work together as a team—while having way too much fun in the process. Small moments of joy matter so much right now.

OMG. World tour announcement for #BIBI! So much for that extra money I was making by coaching soccer this season.

The dancers who work with #ChungHa are always excellent.

Don't read the news right before bed. Don't read the news right before bed. Don't read the news right before bed. Don't read the news right before bed. Don't read the news right before bed. Oops.

I have once again taken the scenic route—23,000 words for a 7,000-word project. Now to slash and burn until something coherent remains. Brevity is *clearly* my strong suit.

My friend @nayoungbishoff.bsky.social is once again showing off her scholarly expertise with this entry in The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Global Shakespeare. I love seeing K-pop studies appearing in such diverse academic collections—and seeing the brilliant @thekpopprof.bsky.social in the citations!