Nostr notes by Carrie Shanafelt

It is so hard to find it with the original theatrical soundtrack.

2026-10-27T03:48:26Z

In reply to nevent1q…rp36
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It is so hard to find it with the original theatrical soundtrack.

Betty Gilpin is giving a truly unhinged performance for the ages ...

2026-10-15T02:46:35Z

Betty Gilpin is giving a truly unhinged performance for the ages on season 2 of The Lowdown.

We find out all the time that sociological analysis has just ...

2026-09-15T16:04:33Z

In reply to nevent1q…y5xt
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We find out all the time that sociological analysis has just never looked at particular large groups of people, like the recent studies that found out bisexuals are assaulted by partners way way more than other sexual orientations. But this is, like, lonely women aren't interesting because there's nothing funny or sexy or motherly or politically relevant about them to men. (Lonely women can be all these things! I have met them!)

Men's loneliness is interesting because it is, what, ironic, ...

2026-09-15T15:59:43Z

In reply to nevent1q…jyh3
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Men's loneliness is interesting because it is, what, ironic, given their relative social, legal, and economic liberties? Or we write about lonely men because in a way we have decided it is OK to mock or criticize them in a way that would be cruel if done to a lonely woman?

Are we presuming that women are only lonely due to circumstances outside their control while men choose freely to be lonely? Can women ever be jerks, or careerist, or entitled and resentful?

Can women ever be studied?

As someone who teaches men, I am of course interested in and ...

2026-09-15T15:54:36Z

As someone who teaches men, I am of course interested in and concerned about male loneliness. But having been at many points of my life a lonely woman, I am always shocked by sentences like this from Jeremy Gordon's review of Jon Ronson's The Castle.

So men are more interesting because they are more entitled? Lonely women go to dark places but they're less likely to... be interesting in their darkness for some reason we can't put our finger on?
https://www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/09/jon-ronson-castle-book-review/688586/?gift

I was going to say BBQ apron, but then I remembered all the ...

2026-08-31T16:07:40Z

In reply to nevent1q…2ekt
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I was going to say BBQ apron, but then I remembered all the mornings at my in-laws' when I've been drinking coffee from the "Namaste in bed" mug and the internal groaning is an engine that gives me strength for the day.

Today is the 10-year anniversary of when I met @npub1wny…50er , ...

2026-08-31T13:26:12Z

Today is the 10-year anniversary of when I met mxtiffanyleigh (npub1wny…50er) , who has been the only person I have ever been in a long-term relationship with, the only romantic partner I've ever lived with, the only person I've ever wanted to marry. I didn't think I wanted or needed any of that before 10 years ago. Every day of my life is filled with laughter and comfort and endless conversation, tiny surprises and shared joys, in a home and community we love. It's a good life together.

Ooh, The Shining! ...

2026-08-26T19:12:24Z

In reply to nevent1q…ywv6
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Ooh, The Shining!

Frankly, I err on the side of, we cannot keep raging about ...

2026-08-26T17:03:18Z

In reply to nevent1q…dt9j
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Frankly, I err on the side of, we cannot keep raging about students taking courses in the order they want to take them, so we really just have to have an intro to every major concept and method in courses at every level. Occasionally if most of a class has done, say, intro poetics with me, I'll do an extracurricular meter meeting with those who haven't. The course just has to serve everyone wherever they are on that path.

Totally--this has been a problem in every program I've taught ...

2026-08-26T16:58:37Z

In reply to nevent1q…fs4n
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Totally--this has been a problem in every program I've taught in. We have been talking about whether and how to make the methods/theory course a hard prereq, and it's just really hard to do when you're also trying to lower barriers to access. And a lot of students from other majors love taking our electives, so we can't have a bunch of prereqs or methodological expectations *and* have pre-meds in Victorian medical humanities or whatever.

Yes--I totally think you have to learn to see it as playing your ...

2026-08-26T16:27:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…pzc8
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Yes--I totally think you have to learn to see it as playing your hits for a new audience, or you go nuts. About 75% of the teaching complaints I hear seem to stem from the delusion that every class of students is conspiring with all your previous students to say the same ignorant things. It's not a conspiracy! You haven't taught them yet!

For everyone about to start teaching classes for the fall, try to ...

2026-08-26T16:05:48Z

For everyone about to start teaching classes for the fall, try to keep in mind that they are *different* students. (We have to remind ourselves or else we become hysterical.)
https://youtu.be/8AeCo3AD1cM

Yes, I think that romanticization is a huge problem--especially ...

2026-08-17T13:33:12Z

In reply to nevent1q…sz2h
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Yes, I think that romanticization is a huge problem--especially using suicide as a fictional plot point for dramatic effect. Responsible reporting would include acknowledgment that the entire community needs to mourn and take stock together. One of the deaths I am thinking of was a military veteran with severe PTSD, reported as if the PTSD was a terminal disease and not a condition in which his community totally failed to support him, as he tried to tell them.

Too often I fear that families and communities won't say that ...

2026-08-17T12:36:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…matc
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Too often I fear that families and communities won't say that someone took their own life because they refuse to hear questions about what we could do to love each other better. HP just came out as bisexual this year--the most likely sexual orientation to endure partner abuse and self-harm. Isn't that something we need to be aware of, as bisexuals and people who love bisexuals? Why are communities leaving loved ones to the wolves of despair and refusing to reflect on it?

I am not suggesting that the public or even friends are owed ...

2026-08-17T12:30:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…6pn3
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I am not suggesting that the public or even friends are owed anything. But as I think the tragic case of Dr. Jason Arday makes clear, it is important to see that the people we share this world with are in despair, that there are consequences to hounding or isolating people, and to rendering them hopeless. I don't want to know grisly details, but in cases when people have communicated that this life did not give them enough comfort or security, we should reflect on that.

For some reason, 2026 seems to be the year that everyone just ...

2026-08-17T12:26:02Z

For some reason, 2026 seems to be the year that everyone just stopped reporting causes of death when it might be from self-harm, and it is starting to feel like society-wide gaslighting. We lost a friend earlier this year, no cause or conditions named, as if he disappeared. Universities are just saying, sad news, this community member is gone. Hayden Panettiere is one of several causeless young losses of life I have seen this year. Is it just taboo now to say it?

Such a sweet movie!

2026-08-16T02:40:43Z

In reply to nevent1q…f9yn
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Such a sweet movie!

I find polls a little annoying when the person is obviously ...

2026-08-01T15:20:17Z

In reply to nevent1q…vz0v
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I find polls a little annoying when the person is obviously fishing for a particular answer (do you choose my favorite thing or that dumb normy thing) so the results are useless because no one would take the poll to say "Me, I'm a dumb normy." But polls that engender conversation are great. And Michele Feltman Strider (npub1er6…wprr) 's poll stories are so so fun. There are a million great ways to use polls here.

I saw this post one minute after saying something about Sparks to ...

2026-07-31T03:44:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…q8cc
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I saw this post one minute after saying something about Sparks to my partner. I summoned it!

In my surprise, I forgot to tell her that I had a turtle when I ...

2026-07-26T16:00:22Z

In reply to nevent1q…7agh
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In my surprise, I forgot to tell her that I had a turtle when I was 4 named Joaquín Andújar. But it is probably good I didn't, since he escaped into the wild. My parents did not think a turtle could outrun a child, but they are pretty fast when they are motivated.

She tried several times, but he seemed to feel a bit shy. He was ...

2026-07-26T15:53:47Z

In reply to nevent1q…tddt
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She tried several times, but he seemed to feel a bit shy. He was listening to her intensely. She had brought him to the park in a spot where there are usually dozens of turtles on the branches in the pond so he could see them, but the invasive water chestnut overgrowth may have moved them elsewhere.

It felt a little like a dream, but that is how Saturday in Van Cortlandt Park always feels.

I am still processing that this really happened. Yesterday my ...

2026-07-26T15:50:04Z

I am still processing that this really happened. Yesterday my spouse and I came across a young woman and her mother with an open pet backpack, and we saw she had a large red-eared slider turtle on her lap. We waved, and she asked me if I wanted to hold him. He was surprisingly light, with a lovely oiled shell, strong legs, and a long neck, bright eyes staring at me. She had been raising him for 20 years, and said she could teach him our names. "Teach," she said, then "Carrie. Where is Carrie?"

Sorry, I thought I had avoided them! cwed

2026-07-23T13:32:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…r8z0
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Sorry, I thought I had avoided them! cwed

Each time I played with different beginning stats, and I have ...

2026-07-23T13:09:52Z

In reply to nevent1q…eq8a
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Each time I played with different beginning stats, and I have tried to make very different decisions, but I do find it hard to be something I am totally not (racist, into drugs, cruel). This last time I finished the game with Cuno as a companion, which was new for me. I also held off as long as I could in pursuing the endgame so I could follow every open loop I could.

After we discussed it here a few weeks ago, i played it a third ...

2026-07-22T22:37:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…6dak
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After we discussed it here a few weeks ago, i played it a third time.

I bought a new bra and in order to get a discount I signed up for ...

2026-07-09T16:14:08Z

I bought a new bra and in order to get a discount I signed up for the mailing list, which of course means that every day since I received the bra, I've gotten these increasingly invasive emails asking how it felt today.

Did you notice it feels different this time?
Should be just about molded to your shape now.
Hot day today, good day for that bra, huh?
You gotta wear it three times before you decide, OK?

Mildly creepily entertaining but today, unsubscribe.

It's the only video game that is as fun to watch someone else ...

2026-07-05T16:49:49Z

In reply to nevent1q…ttsc
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It's the only video game that is as fun to watch someone else play as it is to play oneself!

yesss (rubs hands)

2026-07-05T14:55:43Z

In reply to nevent1q…s3qd
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yesss (rubs hands)

Video game blorbos are a big category for me.

2026-07-05T14:47:16Z

In reply to nevent1q…7yth
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Video game blorbos are a big category for me.

If you are still there, let me recommend the ramen at Nishida ...

2026-06-22T15:14:14Z

In reply to nevent1q…q7f7
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If you are still there, let me recommend the ramen at Nishida Shōten nearby!

Tiny baby bunny: ENHANCE ...

2026-06-14T19:58:58Z

Tiny baby bunny: ENHANCE

I've been using Penzeys for 25 years. They're very fresh, ...

2026-06-13T14:58:58Z

In reply to nevent1q…kxw4
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I've been using Penzeys for 25 years. They're very fresh, high-quality spices, second only to buying the most expensive spices from specific regional importers. You may know them from their very anti-Republican marketing; that was a long time coming. They used to have a cooking magazine called One in which they would interview real American families, including immigrant, queer, incarcerated, disabled people, etc. about cooking and food and the blowback from hateful customers radicalized them.

Penzeys is giving away $20 worth of Mexican vanilla with purchase ...

2026-06-13T14:54:26Z

Penzeys is giving away $20 worth of Mexican vanilla with purchase if you use the code BROKE at checkout, and there are several other free or cheap spices--$1 small vanilla sugar, free "Outrage of Love" seasoning blend, smoked paprika for $2, etc.
https://www.penzeys.com

Today one of my students asked me why I hate AI writing/art so ...

2026-05-12T02:16:06Z

Today one of my students asked me why I hate AI writing/art so much, and I said, "Imagine if someone told you they were going to give you the best food in the world, and they went around to all the best restaurants in the world, and then put it in a blender and handed you a straw. Or all the most beautiful colors, whizzed together, so you can only use one color. That's how I feel about AI as art."
"Oh, so it's... brown."
"It's just brown."

I haven't seen a post of this here with alt text, and I ...

2026-04-05T18:10:47Z

I haven't seen a post of this here with alt text, and I promise that those using a screen reader also need to experience this thing of great beauty from the print Onion that comes to our apartment.

I know this feeling. Getting tenure after working for nothing ...

2026-03-21T23:29:14Z

In reply to nevent1q…c248
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I know this feeling. Getting tenure after working for nothing else for 20 years turned out to be more like stepping on a rake than climbing a ladder.

In the Haupt Conservatory inside the Haupt Conservatory, I just ...

2026-01-03T15:32:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…eh9h
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In the Haupt Conservatory inside the Haupt Conservatory, I just assume there is a tiny Haupt Conservatory within which is a microscopic Haupt Conservatory.

Holiday Train Show!! At the NY Botanical Garden! ...

2026-01-03T03:05:26Z

Holiday Train Show!! At the NY Botanical Garden!

Two of the 12 students in my 18th-century novels class showed up ...

2025-12-09T00:51:17Z

Two of the 12 students in my 18th-century novels class showed up today with copies of Penguin's Frances Burney's Evelina, sold as Evelina, with covers labeled Evelina, but every page inside is Trollope's The Duke's Children. What a mystery! Was this the futile last-day-at-work protest of a Penguin printer? FWIW, both students read quite deep into Trollope, wondering the whole time when this Evelina chick was going to show.

I have a Blu-Ray, but I really don't watch it; I just keep my ...

2025-12-08T03:43:59Z

In reply to nevent1q…scfc
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I have a Blu-Ray, but I really don't watch it; I just keep my eyes peeled for announcements that someone in NYC is screening it. The new 4K print is outstanding!

I teach film, so this is way too easy--I watch lots of movies ...

2025-12-08T02:59:35Z

In reply to nevent1q…23zv
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I teach film, so this is way too easy--I watch lots of movies repeatedly, but, to pick one: https://64.media.tumblr.com/42c294723c5629fdf2fc02c13c92fda7/tumblr_n4kfe72gpQ1rdfgw4o1_500.gifv

I realize not everyone has access to a perfect black cat at all ...

2025-11-29T16:35:35Z

I realize not everyone has access to a perfect black cat at all times, so here is Camilla to brighten your #Caturday
#CatsOfMastodon

If billionaires aren't taxed more and don't spend their ...

2025-11-05T02:56:22Z

If billionaires aren't taxed more and don't spend their money here, but do most of their polluting here, why would we want to live anywhere near them? I am a billionaire NIMBY. If you like them so much, you take them into your neighborhoods and find out what they're like.

Nostr event nevent1qqswt6v3epcflrflh96t5wrg6rj56uw3tv3ayvg24hd4e3ra4csv07czyrxxz2jmpjav9afva90whursexmc5z5sx6a73l7lffrjkucflw8nxk5un4t

2025-11-03T23:24:10Z

The moon is looking good tonight.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader was my favorite of the series, and ...

2025-11-03T17:42:08Z

In reply to nevent1q…ksx4
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Voyage of the Dawn Treader was my favorite of the series, and later I wondered if I had some latent sadism in me! The bit about Lucy hearing what her friends say about her behind her back is brutal as well.

When I was a kid, I liked how it treated kids with moral ...

2025-11-03T17:30:13Z

In reply to nevent1q…8m0k
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When I was a kid, I liked how it treated kids with moral seriousness, as people whose actions matter. But I think it hindered me from feeling I could be playful, exploratory, etc. Edmund is basically convicted of treason at, what, 8 years old, and sentenced to a gruesome public torture and execution? I'm teaching it in a college course on literature for children, and my students are sort of enjoying the amoral imaginative freedom of earlier books--despite being religiously observant.

Did you read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as a child? Do ...

2025-11-03T17:04:14Z

Did you read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as a child? Do you think it had a positive or negative effect on your emotional life? Feel free to say why in a comment!

Two girls enjoying a #Caturday night in ...

2025-10-26T01:55:33Z

Two girls enjoying a #Caturday night in

It's been too long since our Boardgame Rehoming ceremony. ...

2025-10-13T23:33:06Z

It's been too long since our Boardgame Rehoming ceremony. Let's get to it!

The games we are giving away are listed in this Google Sheet. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gk0PEoxL3u7HxAv6I_3qhe2IJQhQManLEwlGSDgdwUQ/edit?usp=sharing

If you live in the 48 contiguous US states, we will send you 3-6ish games (depending on sizes) for the cost of USPS shipping plus a little for shipping materials.

If you live in NYC, you can come get them from our apartment. (We can't hand-deliver them to everyone.)

Claim 3-6 games by responding to this thread with your choices.

Over the weekend, I wrote to the nearly 200 members of ...

2025-10-05T14:51:33Z

Over the weekend, I wrote to the nearly 200 members of c18.masto.host who joined us in 2022-2024 and then stopped logging in over a year ago. I've gotten several emails back saying that after committing to Bluesky, social media as a whole came to feel like a bad idea. It is my hope that keeping the lights on here and providing a space where we can have meaningful, fun, interesting conversations can help us rebuild community here. (Please support your local instance!)

As a former "gifted" elementary school student, I'm ...

2025-10-03T18:31:35Z

As a former "gifted" elementary school student, I'm 100% in favor of Mamdani's proposal to end the gifted programs in early public education. When you're separating 6 and 7yo's and saying "These kids are special and high-achieving," you are selecting almost entirely for kids with learning support at home, and allocating extra resources to them, while draining resources from the kids with less support.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/nyregion/mamdani-schools-gifted-and-talented-program.html

My in-laws do not know not to send us flowers. Yes, there are the ...

2025-09-21T05:12:41Z

My in-laws do not know not to send us flowers. Yes, there are the normal concerns about cat-friendly plants and so forth, but the biggest problem is that Dolores is obsessed with them. She gets so excited around them that she has to be supervised. #CatsOfMastodon

If I want to time-travel to everything I was thinking about in ...

2025-09-14T22:51:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…h5q3
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If I want to time-travel to everything I was thinking about in 1997, I put on this album.

When you text a domestic violence survivor who you haven't ...

2025-09-11T14:12:31Z

When you text a domestic violence survivor who you haven't talked to in several years, please consider saying your name in the text message in case you aren't in their contacts anymore and don't want to cause fear and distress! That would be great! Thanks!!

Paper proposals are due October 15 for our Slavery and Abolition ...

2025-09-02T15:20:16Z

Paper proposals are due October 15 for our Slavery and Abolition in Eighteenth-Century Philosophy workshop at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia! Aminah Hasan-Birdwell and I are so excited about this event next May 13-15, and we are in the process of securing travel support for participants. https://forms.gle/f9UkAQPeBuU8TWsp8
#Philosophy #slavery #18thcentury

On a walk in the park today, I was musing to myself how great it ...

2025-09-01T23:04:36Z

On a walk in the park today, I was musing to myself how great it is to watch even really little kids in NYC with enough room to just take off into a field, like this two-year-old, windmilling his arms as he... oh my God, he isn't stopping--does anyone see--oh wow, six relatives now in pursuit as he tears away toward the forest. Big sis has him by the hair! Then--pop! he's off again, angling toward a hole into the deep woods, his arms spinning and every woman he knows at full tilt...

Fully half of the academic jobs in my field this year require me ...

2025-08-30T04:18:44Z

Fully half of the academic jobs in my field this year require me to prove that I have joined and am active in a local church and I am begging Christians to please chill out. It is a job. I am not applying to be your cousin.

It's wild that when this happened to me at the (notoriously ...

2025-07-15T21:35:56Z

In reply to nevent1q…a0tn
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It's wild that when this happened to me at the (notoriously difficult!!) Chinese consulate, I had to get out of line, but they had an inkjet printer so my visa application went through. At the DMV, when I didn't have enough ridiculous documents, they just sent me home without a RealID and gave up.

If AI on Pixel was actually a valuable service, it would cost ...

2025-07-12T02:52:16Z

In reply to nevent1q…ume6
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If AI on Pixel was actually a valuable service, it would cost money. You would have to opt in.

I replaced my beloved Pixel 7 with a Nothing 3a today. I ...

2025-07-12T02:51:16Z

I replaced my beloved Pixel 7 with a Nothing 3a today. I couldn't handle the weekly updates bragging about how AI will now control every part of my life. Nothing's AI tools seem to be tools--in their own toolbox, built to do specific things if you use them. But overall, it is pretty great to have a phone that incentivizes putting it face down and walking away from it.

Next May 13-15, 2026, Prof. Aminah Hasan-Birdwell and I will be ...

2025-07-02T16:56:35Z

Next May 13-15, 2026, Prof. Aminah Hasan-Birdwell and I will be hosting a workshop on Slavery and Abolition in 18th-Century Philosophy at Emory U. in Atlanta, Georgia. https://forms.gle/wTC7DqNgHQE3dpT58 We expect to have about 15-20 participants, and we are seeking funding for travel support for participants who need it. There will be a remote option for those who need it as well (the US being what it is). Please share this with colleagues who may be interested! #Philosophy

So we have a clear pipeline problem in the study of writing about ...

2025-06-27T14:12:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…xvsg
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So we have a clear pipeline problem in the study of writing about slavery. English departments and history departments are far more advanced than philosophers because they've had a few generations of concentrated study, and there have been excellent secondary works on the topic for almost 100 years. But philosophy is still very resistant, as a discipline, to treating 18th-c writing about slavery, especially by self-emancipated people, as philosophy.

When I was an undergraduate and graduate student, slavery was not ...

2025-06-27T14:08:41Z

In reply to nevent1q…dn5k
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When I was an undergraduate and graduate student, slavery was not a topic you could study in philosophy. I took several courses on Black literature in the English department, but anything from before the 19th century was folklore--because we were focused on creative writing, not theoretical argument. Rigid disciplinary boundaries are unnatural to the eighteenth century in general, but for African diaspora writers, they erase almost everyone.

I'm two weeks into the Institute on slavery and early modern ...

2025-06-27T14:01:44Z

I'm two weeks into the Institute on slavery and early modern philosophy that was supposed to be funded by the NEH in DC but is instead an unpaid association of scholars getting on Zoom to discuss readings every day and share our expertise and analysis with one another. There are grad students as well as long-tenured philosophers, a few historians and English professors, many for whom this topic has never been offered to them as an academic course of study, and some who are already in the field.

OMG CNBC is shitting their pants about this, looking absolutely ...

2025-06-25T15:48:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…t09v
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OMG CNBC is shitting their pants about this, looking absolutely gutted. 100% of the blame is going onto voters for not thinking about the perspective of billionaires. Citi Bank rep crying about how so many people are thinking of fleeing the city and now they'll have to. One of the hosts asks, but are those rich people fleeing high taxes or poorer people who can't afford to live here? Citi guy says, ominously, "I guess we'll find out." (Spoiler: most NYC res are not actually billionaires.)

The only people who don't get it, who don't see the ...

2025-06-25T15:22:47Z

In reply to nevent1q…radd
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The only people who don't get it, who don't see the connection between, say, open and lifeguarded public pools and lower street crime, are people who would never get in a public pool, or would never sit on a subway next to someone who uses a public pool. People who don't see that having childcare and enough food prevents crime are people who have never had hungry kids, have never worried about having hungry kids. They only think about the crimes they'd do themselves (weird sadistic shit).

New Yorkers, as voters, understand this better than most US ...

2025-06-25T15:17:57Z

In reply to nevent1q…7v2u
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New Yorkers, as voters, understand this better than most US residents because we live in public. We share space together all the time, in our apartment buildings, in parks, on the street, on transit. None of us wants to be victimized or terrorized, and none of us wants our loved ones to be in danger. We tend to be pretty nice to each other, because we've all been on the receiving end of someone else being nice. More resources for everyone make being fair and kind easier to accomplish.

And what does it say about Democrats that they no longer ...

2025-06-25T15:15:02Z

In reply to nevent1q…c4j4
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And what does it say about Democrats that they no longer understand someone who says you fight crime by making people's lives survivable? That doesn't even register anymore? You don't *eradicate* crime 100%, but it's crucial to remember that most people don't get involved in crime because they're evil sadistic maniacs. That's just the billionaires, who never face consequences! Most people who do crime do it because they can't afford to live or thrive otherwise.

I don't like making predictions and I don't claim to have ...

2025-06-25T15:09:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…j9kl
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I don't like making predictions and I don't claim to have special insight, but one true thing I can tell you for certain is that Eric Adams is as likely to be mayor of NYC next year as Curtis Sliwa is. Now would be a really good time for Dem centrists to figure out how to tolerate the people with the ideas and communication skills to win elections with sincerity and progressive policy and not just lefty-looking stunts followed by cowardice.

Harris could have won the presidency except for a lot of actual ...

2025-06-25T15:05:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…67nt
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Harris could have won the presidency except for a lot of actual racism and misogyny on one hand and this centrist undermining on the other. The party is obsessed with disciplining candidates into their talking points and cutting them off from all the minoritized people who together make up a solid majority. In Mamdani's case, you've got people on TV suggesting he will lose to Eric Adams or turn the city into a hellhole. You've got one chance at not making a fool of yourself on this!

Today the DNC is cranking up their concern trolling machine in ...

2025-06-25T14:57:25Z

Today the DNC is cranking up their concern trolling machine in the name of Islamophobia, refusing to take responsibility for putting their weight behind a billionaire-funded sex pest who hasn't lived in NYC since the 20th century for mayor. We've seen them do it for racism, misogyny, antisemitism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, ableism--anything rather than admit that candidates with obligations to fascists and billionaires aren't inspiring or motivational.

NYC-area cat people! One of my best friends is going through an ...

2025-06-12T16:49:40Z

NYC-area cat people! One of my best friends is going through an incredibly stressful time caretaking for a severely ill parent and is hoping to re-home her two lovely hilarious tabby cat brothers, Sal and Pablo. They're neutered, nine years old, perfectly healthy, handsome, active, and kittenish. They love to play and cuddle and greet guests eagerly. My friend, in upper Manhattan, is rarely able to be home with them and knows they need cuddles and company.

When I saw they were adding AI-generated ads, on top of the past ...

2025-05-15T00:38:35Z

In reply to nevent1q…82c6
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When I saw they were adding AI-generated ads, on top of the past few years of largely-dogshit original content, I remembered to check how much I'm paying for it. $25 a month? For garbage whose style guide is "you can scroll on your phone the whole time this is on in the background and not miss a thing"? Because of this crap I have to teach film students how to look at the screen while watching. Some of them cannot do it; they've never actually watched a movie.

Sometime in the past year, we just stopped using Netflix for ...

2025-05-15T00:34:09Z

Sometime in the past year, we just stopped using Netflix for anything. We watched GBBO in the fall, and the weirdly interim season of Squid Game, and then... nothing until the threat of removing Bandersnatch this week made us finally watch it. It makes me sad as someone for whom the DVD mailing envelopes were sanity and joy during a difficult stretch of my life--late school, visiting professorships. I loved watching commentaries and getting rare gems in my mailbox.

On this last day of the spring semester, I can't get out of ...

2025-05-07T14:16:41Z

On this last day of the spring semester, I can't get out of my head the WSJ video essay about the University of Austin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQBFhvr9cTQ

Between this and the NYMag article about ChatGPT, it seems clear that universities have done an extremely poor job at explaining what college teaches or why. It's not a debate club for teens who have read two op-eds on each topic. It's not a social club for rich kids with some useless hoops to jump through. It can be life-changing, brain-altering. 1/

Aaaand of course we got the email today that DOGE has illegally ...

2025-04-04T21:07:25Z

In reply to nevent1q…yjar
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Aaaand of course we got the email today that DOGE has illegally defunded us.

I would be a lot more excited to announce today that I have been ...

2025-04-02T13:38:57Z

I would be a lot more excited to announce today that I have been accepted to participate in the NEH's Slavery and Early Modern Philosophy institute at Georgetown University this summer, but it also comes at a time when the NEH and all its staff are under Sauron's eye at DOGE.

If you are in the US, please take a moment to contact your representatives in defense of the (incredibly cheap and effective) work that the NEH supports. https://p2a.co/1gzPVYl

Just a reminder that I am the philosophy reviews editor for the ...

2025-03-11T17:37:25Z

Just a reminder that I am the philosophy reviews editor for the Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies. I get a lot of requests from authors to find reviewers for their books, so if you would like to be on my radar, please let me know.

Even better, if you work in philosophy or religious studies and you would like to propose a review essay about a recent book in 18th-c phil to me, please get in touch! I do make efforts to ensure our reviewers get physical books whenever possible.

#Philosophy

"We noticed that you paused on the shocking and potentially ...

2025-03-10T18:39:55Z

In reply to nevent1q…7ez2
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"We noticed that you paused on the shocking and potentially criminal image we showed you! Here's 400,000 of them! You'll never see anything else ever again!"

Freaks me right out.

2025-03-10T18:34:00Z

In reply to nevent1q…2qky
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Freaks me right out.

One of the many reasons I deleted my Facebook was that the reels ...

2025-03-10T18:29:13Z

In reply to nevent1q…cnse
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One of the many reasons I deleted my Facebook was that the reels thing they were pushing did this to my feed in a way that got really creepy. First it was pushing gymnastics videos, and I watched one. Cool gymnastics thing! So the algorithm then seemed to think I was into teen-girl-creeping content and, the more I studiously avoided and blocked reels, the more insistently they got pushed at me. It's like a pedo-seeking missile.

At my new job, I found myself this week telling a story about a ...

2025-03-07T13:23:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…lntp
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At my new job, I found myself this week telling a story about a class I took in college about methods of resonating one's voice in the body, one of the hardest classes I took in school, that required hours of stretching and meditation and constant practice. My students were floored. This was offered at my nerdy engineering school? Yes! And one of my classmates became quite famous, as an actor they love. College in the 90s was about trying a language, doing a semester of ceramics, broadening.

But worst, she continuously contrasted "honors students and ...

2025-03-07T13:20:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…n9jy
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But worst, she continuously contrasted "honors students and Hispanic immigrants," insisting that national statistics tell us that Hispanic immigrants don't study literature or philosophy "because they have to work for a living." She said this in front of our student department assistant, a Spanish and English double major honors student, and a DREAM Act beneficiary from Venezuela, and one of the most brilliant undergrads I've ever taught, with dozens of job prospects.

The provost who oversaw the first generation of cuts was so ...

2025-03-07T13:15:59Z

In reply to nevent1q…jjqg
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The provost who oversaw the first generation of cuts was so clearly ignorant about what literature and philosophy study is that we invited her to a meeting with humanities faculty. She said, "I'm from England so I haven't taken history or literature since I was 13. I knew I would be a scientist." But she wasn't a scientist. She was the provost of a major American university. She cited her son's fear of foreign languages her justification for letting our language programs die out.

I am extremely proud of the work my colleagues and I did to offer ...

2025-03-07T13:11:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…z53d
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I am extremely proud of the work my colleagues and I did to offer a meaningful education and opportunities for students who would have done anything for learning. Even in the midst of a poisonously racist and anti-academic culture, students in classes would have measured up to anyone's undergraduates. They were so hungry to learn that they created clubs to learn everything the administration took away as courses. They didn't need credits; they needed to learn everything they could.

I knew it would happen. The year I was hired (2015) they cut ...

2025-03-07T13:07:41Z

In reply to nevent1q…l38v
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I knew it would happen. The year I was hired (2015) they cut several foreign language majors (which our students often studied with a desire to become language teachers). Several majors became minors. Faculties that used to be 10 or 20 on a campus dwindled to 1 or 2, as death, harassment, and overwork took out the rest. I sat on search committees that hired excited junior scholars who quit the academy altogether within a few years, jaded and frustrated.

Just heard that at the university where I was tenured in ...

2025-03-07T13:01:39Z

Just heard that at the university where I was tenured in Philosophy and Literature, there is no longer philosophy or literature. Fairleigh Dickinson University is cancelling these majors:

Art
Chemistry
Creative Writing
Entrepreneurship
Environmental Studies
Fine Arts
Government and Law
History
Literature
Management
Marine Biology
Mathematics
Philosophy
Social Studies
Sociology
Theater Arts

I'm showing The Last of the Mohicans in class next week, in ...

2025-03-07T01:19:30Z

I'm showing The Last of the Mohicans in class next week, in lieu of the even more problematic novel, but honestly, the rhododendron pulls me out of it every time. Why are the upstate New York woods chock full of rhododendron in 1757???

Can you think of another film in which the botany errors distract you?

Ooh same. If all my friends are boosting the same thing it can be ...

2025-02-16T14:41:55Z

In reply to nevent1q…98eg
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Ooh same. If all my friends are boosting the same thing it can be a lot. But I don't think there is a way here to track if you have or haven't seen something, and the means of doing that seems potentially very bad.

When people do that, I just turn off their boosts. My timeline is ...

2025-02-16T14:27:23Z

In reply to nevent1q…kr4a
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When people do that, I just turn off their boosts. My timeline is a lot happier without the boost-spamming, and usually people who self-boost all the time don't boost much worth seeing in general.

I wrote a whole book about this, so I won't repeat myself, ...

2025-02-04T16:31:23Z

In reply to nevent1q…66pa
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I wrote a whole book about this, so I won't repeat myself, but this is probably just a point on which we disagree. The wisdom of Hume and Kant won't be killed off by me or Lu-Adler or anyone else.

I'm not one to critique morality. I critique racism as ...

2025-02-04T16:25:23Z

In reply to nevent1q…h285
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I'm not one to critique morality. I critique racism as producing bad philosophy. Racists are not thinking well or clearly about human beings. It isn't ad hominem to indicate incorrect and oppressive thinking. It's not like the critique is of something Kant said to a friend once--it's to his philosophical writing, which is incorrect on race.

I, for one, am rather tired of the sanctification of certain ...

2025-02-04T16:17:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…xpau
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I, for one, am rather tired of the sanctification of certain figures as impervious to interrogation--see the incredibly vicious responses to anyone discussing Hume or Kant's racism. We should question everything! But *everything*, though, without swaddling certain figures in cloaks of innocence they themselves never asked for.

To me, "question everything" seems like a gentler version ...

2025-02-04T16:13:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…gaea
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To me, "question everything" seems like a gentler version of Marx's "ruthless criticism of all that exists" and the whole arc of critical theory that springs from Marx--which I think most academic philosophers (in the US especially) are generally hostile to.

One of my independent study students (in a group of four) has ...

2025-01-29T19:20:22Z

One of my independent study students (in a group of four) has said a few times, "This is the only class I've ever had that feels like what I thought college was supposed to be like."

It keeps ringing in my head because it's something I hear from professors all the time, that the thing we're doing doesn't often feel like the thing we thought being a professor would feel like, which we all suspect of being the usual case somewhere else. 1/5

Last night, one of my students thought he had read a specific ...

2025-01-28T18:02:09Z

Last night, one of my students thought he had read a specific poem by a poet we're about to read, but I didn't recognize his description of the content of the poem. So he opens up Google and types in the poet's name and the topic, and it just spat out a fabricated poem in her style. This is what's really unnerving--"AI" is not adding value to a search service that works; it's flooding the search results with so much crap that you can't even verify a date or the existence of a text anymore.

Our weekly gaming group, begun with far-flung pals during the ...

2025-01-26T18:14:03Z

Our weekly gaming group, begun with far-flung pals during the pandemic, got to have brunch together at the same table for six today. We finished by eating a six-pack of pineapple cakes that Chunshek :HomestarRunning: (npub16vc…j4r6) sent me and so gratified by the physical presence of friends who are all meeting at least one other person in our group for the first time.

It's here, it's here! I've been waiting since last ...

2025-01-24T15:33:45Z

It's here, it's here! I've been waiting since last summer to share this special issue of the Journal of Modern Philosophy on Imperialism, Racism, and Slavery in the Modern Period, guest edited by Julie Walsh and John Harfouch. https://jmphil.org/issue/318/info/

My article, "Ottobah Cugoano on British Slavery, National Debt, and Speculative Finance" is here. https://jmphil.org/article/id/2500/ But don't just read mine--so much exicting work here.

JMPhil is an open-source journal--no credentials needed. #philosophy

I put onion slices in the hot oil before I put the batter in so ...

2024-12-31T23:38:05Z

In reply to nevent1q…vg3w
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I put onion slices in the hot oil before I put the batter in so it caramelizes under it!

We're gonna need all the help we can get. Happy new year!! ...

2024-12-31T23:28:10Z

We're gonna need all the help we can get. Happy new year!!