A perfect storm of digital library holds has resulted in my having thirteen (13) books checked out. I feel so rich and so underwater!!

I’ve attended a lot of sessions at #sblaar this year but the most surprising thing I’ve learned is that they play Kendrick Lamar at the after-hours parties. (And there’s a dance floor.)

NK Jemisin’s short story about the city of Um-Helat is the most impactful things I’ve read this year. It gave me hope, it took that hope away, and then it gave me courage. You can read “The Ones Who Stay and Fight” for free here: www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-...

Wow! Brilliant for writers!

This whole section really.

I'm currently toying with adding a "no thanks" section to my dissertation acknowledgments, in which I refuse to thank the partner who dumped me, the dog that died, and the crappy jobs that I held throughout the dissertation process.

It’s just not good for my body image to hear, “Erin is just so wide”— or for my sense of self to hear, “Erin could cause real damage”

I wish there were a way to enter "my own dissertation" to my book logging app. I keep rereading that thing to edit it, and it doesn't even earn me any points

Distinctly bizarre for this coffee shop in Colonial Williamsburg to be playing Ethel Cain

Hate to be that guy but as a student of languages, I not only know but have decently frequently used the word “loanword” #connections

A major part of editing other people's work is phrasing comments so that you're being encouraging, like a coach, instead of coming off pedantic, controlling, or dismissive. So I always go back and edit everything I wrote after I edit everything you wrote-- adds to the work but I love my clients!

Dissertation work feat. my favorite study buddy (and my advisor @wilgafney.bsky.social's fabulous Womanist Midrash Vol. II)

Some people can’t make it to a protest today, so here’s a script to call your representative. I am a constituent calling to let _____ know that Donald Trump threatened to jail protestors today in a violation of the first amendment. I would like my elected representatives to take action to stop…

Other activities you can do in all your free time not shopping today! -delete your am*zon prime account (or look up when it expires and set a calendar event to cancel it the day before) -export your goodreads account to the am*zon-free site @thestorygraph.com -call your congresspeople. make demands.

Me eating chocolate: But what we really need is a... an M&Momenon! A what? An M&Momenon! You're welcome, Mars, Inc.

We would not know Bishop Marianne Budde if the church did not ordain women or gay folk. Consider the prophets your church has discarded. #Narthex

Actively trying to deconstruct how much of my overwhelming fear and worry right now is due to a lingering sense of American exceptionalism. This has happened in so many places. Of course it could happen here. America is not exceptional. But the propaganda runs deep.

Today: On how all the normalizing is about (in part) fear of facing the grief & loss that this moment demands. But people have been up against harder, and faced it down. This is new terrain, but we can do this. It's time for you to become the leader you seek. We must figure this out together.

I have fallen, quite by accident, into a lovely Buddhist practice. But sometimes I find it difficult to understand the teachings; for example, this quote from Thich Nhat Hanh: "Mindfulness of mind in mind is the mind experiencing mindfulness of the mind in the mind."

Thrilling to be brokenhearted in 2025. In the old days the only breakup songs they had were Silver Spring and Un-Break My Heart, but now we have RAGE bangers: -Poison Poison by Renee Rapp -What is this Feeling from Wicked -Conceited by Lola Young -Karma by Chappell -DENIAL IS A RIVER by Doechii...

Like for real spot the difference from this cider shirt or the oldest woven garment in the world, from fourth millennium BCE Egypt

Tell me why I spent all day yesterday and all day today researching ancient Egyptian linen clothing, which was apparently often white and sometimes pleated, and then this pops up as my first ad on insta?

I always swore I wouldn't be one of those people whose footnotes have paragraphs but here we are.

If technology is so advanced, why hasn't Google figured out that I have never, not once, wanted the NIV or Good News translation? It's. Every. Time.

Found a place in my dissertation draft where I argued for a "threefold" meaning to something, followed by only two arguments. No idea what the third was meant to be. So.... I guess it's "twofold" now #amwriting

Woke up to a text to myself, from myself, containing an idea for a transition in my dissertation. It was a damn good suggestion. But I do not remember waking up to write and send it!

"One of my teachers at Columbia was Joseph Brodsky...and he said 'look,' he said, 'you Americans, you are so naïve. You think evil is going to come into your houses wearing big black boots. It doesn’t come like that. Look at the language. It begins in the language.'"

LMAAAAOOOOOO

I tend to think all philosophers are from the 18th century or before, so it's always surprising when, say, Edward Said references Jerry Falwell.

Proofing a paper on desert mothers, and the author has accidentally transposed "aesthetic" for "ascetic" and the results, as you can imagine, are quite comical.

I fully intend to put "Shoutout to everyone who's ever surreptitiously uploaded a pdf of a chapter of an obscure book to Al Gore's internet" in my dissertation acknowledgments

You know it's going to be a good day researching ancient politics when the Sea Peoples have been mentioned twice and you're not even done with your second cup of tea

Trying to study Egyptian influence on Syro-Palestine in the Bronze Age but this cutie has me positively swooning. Where are you going looking so cute, Šuppiluliuma??

Cons: got dumped, had to flee Texas, ongoing heartbreak rage etc Pros: TX car insurance is so outrageously overpriced that my new policy is fully half the cost now (in VA)

Me: “i always get that hobbit who played Rudy mixed up with the guy who was married to the my favorite murder lady’s friend” Them: 👁️👄👁️

Wasn’t gonna see Wicked because i believed Jeanette McCurdy when she told us about Ms. Grande, who continues to be problematic all around, but watching a black woman break past the mainstream and into the stratosphere? Oh I’m sat for Cynthia Erivo.

Welcome to BSky new friends! Follow me if you want jokes about academia/teaching/PhD, pictures of my cute dog, and existential dread about the future of democracy. Also, if you need an editor or indexing for your next book or article, hit me up!

Teaching is so funny because papers are due TODAY and in my inbox are two emails: Student A: I've submitted my paper but it ran a little long is that ok and also can you check over it and make sure it's okay? Student B: Do you have any advice for where to start for this paper?

I’m not congratulating Richard Hays in coming to the decision he has. I’m glad he’s arrived, but he did it decades too late. His theology has contributed to countless deaths and suffering in the interim. So, I’m glad. But I’m not throwing a party.

Part of my job is teaching students how to use library resources and let me just tell you, the gen zs have no idea how to use Al Gore's regular internet. If it ain't an app, they're lost.

Sure sex is great but have you ever desperately needed a book or article and the library results come back "full text online"?

I think at the heart of the Kate Middleton fanaticism is the relief of knowing that we can surveil government back.

Spent 45 minutes tracking down a weird form of an Aramaic adjective only for it to have no meaningful bearing on my argument. #amwriting

Captain's log from Week 2 of teaching: I love teaching!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wanting to give a few youtube videos interspersed with readings for my Bible course, but I'm actually concerned it's unethical to do so, given how many pro-Israel/anti-Palestine ads are on even some academic videos.... Anyone have thoughts?

Getting set up as an adjunct for the first time, and I just googled "how to call someone's extension."

Today in Rare Fun Moments in Editing Work, I'm trying to figure out how to index "Megan Thee Stallion." Megan Thee Stallion, Stallion, Megan Thee, or Thee Stallion, Megan? (Hire me for all your copy-editing, indexing, and citation needs!!)

Really underestimated how many of these New Testament papers on the haustafeln would refer to ointments. (slave/salve mix-ups lol)

Nothing makes me feel stupider than transliteration. One minute I'm passionately arguing for a translation of the Hebrew and the next minute i'm googling, "how to make e with downward carrot on top mac word"

You know it's gonna be a good day when you're already knee-deep in a Loeb by 10:30 am