Huh. You'd think a comprehensive 6 episode audio investigation of youth gender medicine by a major US newspaper would include at least one interview with a trans young person or their parent.

EMILY DICKINSON, JEDI KNIGHT Not so clumsy, nor so random - As a blaster - in its rage More elegant - the weapon More civilized - the age

This May 4th, I’m very happy to launch the CFP for a major scholarly conference on Star Wars, which will take place at Durham University in 2027. Please share widely across your networks and indeed to anyone who might be interested! starwarsat50.webspace.durham.ac.uk

My new poem "The best part of Rocky Horror is when the makeup starts to run" is live at Gulf Stream! gulfstreamlitmag.com/2026/05/01/t...

this shit is despicable. “what’s your legal name” is pretty easily verifiable so the only reason to do this in a primary is to out her. fuck you, frank liberati.

That’s quite a chart www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

using the reconstruction amendments to erase “the blood spilt” in the civil rights movement is a desecration, and a vile, disgusting act that will stain our nation until it is reversed and debts paid. bsky.app/profile/thet...

Mask off

We must understand that the Voting Rights Act was not merely about ensuring Black Americans rights, it was about democratizing America. This ruling is not just a decimation of Black rights and Black Americans’ ability to have representation, it is a fatal blow to multiracial democracy.

I am inspired by many of my colleagues fighting the good fight here in Texas, but wrote this for the rest of y'all: www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

Boss makes a dollar I make a dime So I bon-bon On company time

William S. Hart burns the place to the ground as the antihero of HELL'S HINGES (1916). There is a notion that westerns started spangly and grew grittier as time passed but that was not the case and Hart's vision of the west was the most biblically violent of the very grim and gritty 1910s.

Pink Link BotW version

Super useful new details about the legal fight between Disney and DeSantis over "Don't Say Gay." For more information about the moral and activist fight, see my scholarly chapter about the period:

'Hazbin Hotel' has been greenlit for a fifth and final season on Prime Video, capping a landmark run that redefined what independently produced, digital-native animation can achieve. www.cartoonbrew.com/series/hazbi...

Scholar George Lakoff argues quite compellingly that when Richard Nixon told the country "I am not a crook," he actually reinforced the widespread belief that he was a crook. Nixon resigned a year after that statement because, you know, he was a crook. Anyway, here's 60 Minutes.

Super useful new details about the legal fight between Disney and DeSantis over "Don't Say Gay." For more information about the moral and activist fight, see my scholarly chapter about the period:

Scholar George Lakoff argues quite compellingly that when Richard Nixon told the country "I am not a crook," he actually reinforced the widespread belief that he was a crook. Nixon resigned a year after that statement because, you know, he was a crook. Anyway, here's 60 Minutes.

Fun fact: @brittrclark.bsky.social and I wrote an article about the response to the 2016 Ghostbusters here: doi.org/10.1111/jacc... (I’m happy to share a copy for those without access). The article was so good, it even pissed off a reviewer who rejected it in the first place! #Ghostbusters #HATM

indie game marketing is untenable right now, bro allegedly took a shot at the president and it got him 22 concurrents

For years, @eldiagram.bsky.social has been my dream journal, and I finally published with them! I have two new poems in the latest issue and I’m so, so, so happy about it 💕 This is an excerpt from the first piece, inspired by Zelda trading quests. Read here: thediagram.com/26_1/hester....

So incredibly grateful to have new poems featured in the tenth anniversary issue of petrichor, alongside some of my poetry heroes like CAConrad! 💕 Please check out the wonderful issue here: petrichormag.com/petrichor-30...

1) Education is not just "content" you can subscribe to. 2) This is theft of labor, likeness, and privileged materials—even if ASU somehow shoved a clause somewhere that makes it "legal." 3) AI is a class issue. It is being used exclusively so the wealthy can extract more out of workers.

1) Education is not just "content" you can subscribe to. 2) This is theft of labor, likeness, and privileged materials—even if ASU somehow shoved a clause somewhere that makes it "legal." 3) AI is a class issue. It is being used exclusively so the wealthy can extract more out of workers.

The state legislator who directly attacked me and my work, on multiple occasions, is now taking credit for TTU's horrible new anti-queer policies. The MAGA project is to forcibly expand bigotry into every facet of your life.

Texas Tech is expanding its prohibition on "gender and sexual orientation" topics to include faculty research and student theses and dissertations. Our chancellor wants to censor the truth because he knows it topples the hateful ideology of MAGA. Knowledge is power, so they plan to destroy it.

This is not new; it’s only escalated. It was creeping into the university system when I took early retirement 2012. Biology colleague ordered 4 years ago not to use words “evolution” and discuss genetics in his classes. He left, too. “Something is rotten in Texas.”

The problem is not that older faculty are sticking around - it’s that they are not being replaced. The argument of this piece is quite pernicious as it substitutes a class war btw workers and a neoliberal administration w an age war btw different ranks of workers

This should be read in the context of canceling a game set in Reconstruction for being "controversial". This is fasc-washing bullshit.

It may not look like it at first, since the finally tally appears rather close at a surface glance. However, tonight's redistricting results were a CATASTROPHIC loss for Republicans and the fascist movement. 🧵

Really great 🧵, especially the part about, despite the win, Dems needing to learn how to be better at combating right-wing disinformation. Because, man they threw SO MANY LIES at this one!

Transphobia is state terror www.advocate.com/politics/nat...

This is my state, and there wer soooooo many votes not flyers. I got a little confused on the first one, but wasnt new to these tactics and did some research online. ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH. I saw way more vote no signs, and then weeks later, a few votes yes. The msging was week and slow imo

Required when you quit your article 1 job but refuse to leave office, allowing swampy corruption and lawlessness

It may not look like it at first, since the finally tally appears rather close at a surface glance. However, tonight's redistricting results were a CATASTROPHIC loss for Republicans and the fascist movement. 🧵

So incredibly grateful to have new poems featured in the tenth anniversary issue of petrichor, alongside some of my poetry heroes like CAConrad! 💕 Please check out the wonderful issue here: petrichormag.com/petrichor-30...

"Even when we try to do the same thing over and over, variations naturally occur. That’s the magic of being human," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social writes in episode 1497 of The Slowdown. Read "Intaglio" by Emma Aylor and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/4vF387t

If you liked this week's disinfo as narrative paper, you might like this earlier paper about the moral panic about Drag Queen Story Hour and how anti-trans narratives recreate older anti-queer narratives, which, we argue, is why they are so successful. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... [Paywalled]

An AI-free OS for an AI-free product line with a written guarantee from Apple not to insert AI into users’ devices at a later date.

share a GIF from a western you love

So so thrilled to announce the first installation of the ALOCASIA Summer Creative Writing Workshop Series, led in May by Ashely Adams! RSVP on Eventbrite to reserve your free ticket! www.eventbrite.com/e/1987567638...

Yep. I’m having a hell of a time getting a documentary photo project about this topic published. Either the publishers think it’s unimportant and low brow or they’re too afraid of the content because it’s too revealing about culture and they don’t know how to deal with that.

god help me my 8yo watched the entirety of seven samurai and says he wants to study film one day

There is an idea that capitalism won in Europe on its virtues alone that belies the soft power exerted by American media (especially Disney) as propaganda. I could make the case that our present focus on STEM is also a direct outgrowth of Disney (Man in Space / Our Friend the Atom) as well.

This is how many folks treat Disney Studies—the literal Mickey Mouse degrees—right now. Popular media is one of the most powerful and influential forces on the planet, yet it is so often viewed as unimportant. You can't understand how the world works unless you understand how Mickey Mouse works.

Maya Angelou on the joys of being edited

love a new issue of @eldiagram.bsky.social, love a new @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social piece or two!

This 🧵 reminds me of Sobchack's argument about the visual functions of special effects in midcentury sf films. Bigger budget, color sf "familiarizes" the alien, because it visualizes it in a way that reveals how artificial it is. This is their appeal: to grasp, understand, and control the unknown.

For years, @eldiagram.bsky.social has been my dream journal, and I finally published with them! I have two new poems in the latest issue and I’m so, so, so happy about it 💕 This is an excerpt from the first piece, inspired by Zelda trading quests. Read here: thediagram.com/26_1/hester....

So grateful to have two new poems featured in this issue! Please go read this fantastic bunch of work 😊