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Daniel Leonard

@danielleonard.bsky.social
491 followers 133 following 475 posts

English PhD: animals & self in 20/21C lit Tennis, jazz, jokes Ultrarunner, puppeteer, poet he/him

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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
When the tooth fairy dies, will all of our teeth reappear under our current pillows? Or will each tooth reappear under the pillow we originally placed it under? Or, if the magic dies with her, will her estate executor have to track us down individually to return them?
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Simply having a wonderful Christmas slime
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
language sensitivity guide: don't say: "Hydrox" do say: "Oreo" don't say: "Hyrox" do say: "hybrid obstacle race" don't say: "Hyrax" do say: "shrew-mouse" don't say: "Horcrux" do say: "phylactery"
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
as Ezekiel foretold
screenshot from university website: "Center for Centers"
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
There's a saying in puppetry: You can make any show you like, as long as you call it Cinderella.
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Paul F. Tompkins @pftompkins.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Lincoln! In The Bardo
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Two boxing gloves way, way up @strongbadnofoolin.bsky.social
today's New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle, spelling out the majestic DOUBLEDEUCE
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
How has the For Dummies book series spent 35 years releasing over 2,500 volumes without a single one on ventriloquism?
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
celeb spoofs for an animated bird movie: characters: Charlize Heron Owl Pacino Steven Seagull Emu Philips Raven-Symoné Jay Pharoah cameos: Sheryl Crow Tony Hawk director: Brad Bird
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Sarah Nolen packs a punch, and so does her show Judy Punches Back—featured in today's New York Times! www.nytimes.com/2026/08/12/t...
nytimes.com
A Puppet Festival That Asks, What if Judy Punched Back? (Gift Article)
The International Puppet Fringe Festival brings dozens of shows, films, exhibits and workshops to the Lower East Side. This year, the focus is on women.
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Since I started tracking runs 11 years ago, I've climbed about 3/4 of the way to the International Space Station. I hope they've got snacks.
screenshot from Strava, with the final number highlighted:
All-Time	
Activities	1,491
Distance	15,754.1 mi
Time	2,945h 12m
Elev Gain	1,000,798 ft
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
@samueltwain.bsky.social potentially of interest: trustnodelogic.com/songstructur...
trustnodelogic.com
The Architecture of the Three-Minute Song
How CD-era verse-chorus-bridge songwriting gave way to front-loaded, algorithm-tuned arrangements built for streaming. An interactive structural analysis by JRAY.
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
via pbfcomics.com
A Perry Bible Fellowship comic.
Panel 1: Ancient warriors draw back in surprise at the mouth of a cave. From within the cave, a giant peers out with a single eye.
Panel 2: The warriors flee. As they now face the viewer, we can see that the soldiers are all cyclops. The giant stands outside the cave, revealing that he is a human with two eyes; the second eye was formerly obscured by the outer wall of the cave. At his feet stand some sheep.
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
early to bread early to rise makes a bran spelty malty and wise
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Mertz vs. Mets
[Wikipedia screenshot:] An avid New York Yankees fan, Frawley had it written into his I Love Lucy contract that he did not have to work during the World Series if the Yankees were playing. The Yankees were in every World Series during that time except for 1954 and 1959. He did not appear in two episodes of the show as a result.
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EMILY WILSON @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
No professional accomplishment has ever made me happier than this. theonion.com/translator-o...
theonion.com
Translator Of Original ‘Minions’ Epic Poem Slams ‘Sexless, Bloodless’ Film Adaptation
PHILADELPHIA—In a 4,500-word essay published in Harper’s Magazine, Emily Wilson, known for her popular translation of the Minions epic poem, blasted the latest film Thursday as a “sexless, bloodless” ...
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Gather ye robots while ye may, our drones are still a-flying;
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
In a world... where be is finale of seem One man has what it takes to whip concupiscent curds He is THE EMPEROR OF ICE-CREAM
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
My pitch: "skeets" --> "bleets"
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
personal favorite Odyssey adaptation
Cover of Dr. Seuss's picture book I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew. In the illustration, a light brown bearish creature perches precariously atop a turquoise one-wheeled cart pulled by a yellow humped Seussian draft animal through a lumpy pink landscape.
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
William Carlos Watterson (not made by me)
Modified Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. Edits in brackets.

Panel 1: Susie Derkins wipes away a tear. "*Sniff* That stupid [William] Why does he [steal my breakfast] for no reason? It's just mean.

Panel 2: Susie folds her arms. "I wish I had a hundred [plum]s. THEN I wouldn't care. I'd say, "Who needs YOU, [William]? I've got a hundred other [plum]s!"

Panel 3: Susie holds her hands on her hips defiantly. "Then my hundred [plum]s and I would go do something fun, and leave [William] all alone! Ha!"

Panel 4: Susie sits crosslegged and rolls her eyes. "...And as long as I'm dreaming, I'd like a [wheelbarrow]"
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
found his dorm
I'm wearing long-distance running gear, including a white shirt with many rust-colored stains, a blue hydration vest, a blue-green cooling tie around my neck, and a straw cowboy hat. I'm standing next to a mailbox topped with a homemade (handpainted, presumably wooden) rendering of Snoopy as Joe Cool. He's wearing a red sweater with his name on it, big round sunglasses, and a winning grin. Behind us lies a neighborhood with a road, grass, and trees.
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Crocodilian 1: We're dispersin', person. Crocodilian 2: Be resumin', human.
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Twinkle twinkle Ringo Starr How I wonder what you are
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
ESPN just called the frontrunner in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest women's division "the Simone Biles of bile"
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
youtube.com
My home in three words
YouTube video by John Satterwhite
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
howdy
I face the camera. I am wearing a straw cowboy hat, sunglasses, a cooling scarf with tropical blue-green print, and a blue running vest. Behind me on the left, a longhorned steer also faces the camera. He is mostly white, with light brown patches around his eyes. His horns are very long. Behind him are two more steers: one with short horns scratching its belly, and one with long, dark horns (but less long than the first one) mostly obscured by my large hat. On my right is the road. Above us all is the sky, blue with sparse white clouds. The landscape is mostly flat green fields with a few darker green trees, which look round and wide due to their many leaves.
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another morgan @mheslin.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
imagining a grizzled hardboiled detective saying this while gripping some guy's lapels at a shady bar
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
when the world has a rule they don't teach you in school that's a more when they say it's unwise how you singularize that's a more
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
No Longer In Search Of: Lost Time Now In Search Of: a 500+ page novel to begin at the beach in two weeks Help a brother out!
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
I propose a reasonable middle ground on AI in education. We can minimize risks by being mindful of them as our schools embrace the incredible benefits of Asbestos Insulation.
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
What do you call a soused mouse house? A squeakeasy
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
I remember being taught to use some kind of digital typewriter. Its screen showed one line of text at a time. We wrote stories and saved them to the device. Now we waste children's time and minds training for an AI future corporate sponsors insist is inevitable. Same scam, different culprits.
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
I felt a great disturbance in the Force... as if dozens of university library books suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear someone has graduated.
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
I suggest porting all curricular activity from Canvas to Bluesky
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
inside U there are two vowels that's the long and short of it
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
His za is on the Sbarro
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
proposal to rename animals after sins: pride = peacock greed = seagull lust = dolphin envy = chimp gluttony = locust wrath = wolverine sloth = sloth
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
tax week = new hardcovers week
Three hardcover books, laid side by side on a tabletop:
1) Postbop Jazz in the 1960s: The Compositions of Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, & Chick Corea, by Keith Waters (bright blue cover with sheet music background)
2) Egg Marks the Spot: A Skunk and Badger Story, by Amy Timberlake, with pictures by Jon Klassen (deep green cover with illustration of Skunk and Badger in hiking gear atop a forested hill)
3) Into the Weeds, by Lydia Davis (white cover with photo of author sitting on a couch looking into the camera)
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Forget Target.
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RM @dorsalstream.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
The horse op-ed is an instant classic. I can't tell you how much joy this piece gives me. It should be taught in every introductory writing class in no small part because the horse arguments are so compelling. "I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children."
I Work Very Hard, And I Would Like To Try Cake

By A Horse

Hello. I am a horse. I work very hard at my job of being a horse. When humans say move the heavy thing, I move the heavy thing. When humans sit on top of me and pull on my head, I carry them where they want to go. The main food the humans give me is hay and oats. But I am thinking it would be nice to have a different food.

I am thinking I would like to try cake.

Yes, yes. Cake. I know all about it. When humans eat cake, it is in glad times. It is the food for a celebration, such as when a woman becomes 47. I have seen cake on the Fourth of July. When humans have a cake, they stand around it and clap hands and smile and say happy birthday at each other. Sometimes there are beautiful markings on a cake, such as balloons or a pink shape.

Sometimes the top of a cake is on fire and a boy must blow on the fire with mouth wind. This is the scariest cake. I do not want this kind. But I will eat any other cake. Any cake that is not the fire cake that tries to kill the boy.

Please understand: I do not get money for doing work. I do not get to go inside the house. All I am either doing my horse job or standing in my pen or eating food off the floor. I always do these things. But I have never once gotten cake and I would like it very much.

I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children. I am more helpful to the farm. Children do not move the heavy things like me or let anyone ride on them. And yet they get cake. Maybe the humans will realize this. Maybe they will say, "You  know who deserves cake? That horse. That horse whose back we are always on."

Every day I dream about what it will be like if I get to eat cake. Here is what will happen. First, I will walk to the cake and putt my nose at it like hrrfff to make and stomping my hooves to make sure it is not a snake. Then I will trot in a circle to show that I am a horse and I am large. After that, I will nuzzle the cake to …
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
If you are inhibited playing with the toys you have now, you will not play differently with new toys. —Kenny Werner, 'Effortless Mastery'
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
wow
youtube.com
The Street (harp solo) : Station I. Jesus is condemned to death
YouTube video by Parker Ramsay - Topic
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
the Men's Skeleton competition isn't what I hoped
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
mid-snowstorm romp
red lights shine on a T train pulling away in thick snow, viewed from a bridgean inviting lamp glows along a snow-covered road on a hill with pine treesmy feet buried in snowmy eyes peer from snow gear in a snowy forest
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
family plot
Cemetery with sign reading, "NOTICE: CHILDREN NOT PERMITTED IN CEMETARY [sic] WITHOUT AN ADULT." Behind the sign are two very old-looking headstones labeled FATHER and MOTHER, among others. It's early January in Pennsylvania: green-brown grass and leafless trees.
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
sitcom about the surviving son of the pharaoh who drowned in the Parting of the Red Sea: Suddenly Suzerain
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Please! Mr. Leonard was my father. Call me DOCTOR Leonard. After 8.5 years, many courses taken and taught, and a 380-page, 100,000-word dissertation, I passed my dissertation defense. I'll graduate from Boston University with a PhD in English literature. Will also answer to Dr. Lit Nerd.
Photo of me with three members of my dissertation defense committee. Left to right: Anna Henchman, in a pink cardigan; me in a burgundy suit; Jonathan Foltz in a gray blazer and turtleneck; and Carrie Preston in a red dress. All smiling.Me sitting in a throne-like chair at The Publick House in Brookline. Burgundy suit, navy tie with white dots. I'm posing proudly, with humorously regal stiffness.Me in a thronelike chair at a bar, surrounded by nine people: a handful of longtime classmates/coworkers/D&D co-adventurers, my partner Sarah, and my best friend couple Max and Ashley, who traveled all the way from Philadelphia to celebrate with me for the weekend.Full title page of dissertation. Text copied below:

BOSTON UNIVERSITY

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES





Dissertation





CONTINUOUS CREATURES: THE RELATIONAL ANIMAL
IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN LITERATURE




by




DANIEL LEONARD

B.A., Wheaton College, 2011
M.A., Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2012
M.F.A., Boston University, 2016
M.A., Boston University, 2018






Submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

2026
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
gig economy
Screen of an industrial printer displaying various settings for print density, paper size, and zoom. In larger print, the message: Ready to accept another job.
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Daniel Leonard @danielleonard.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
One last all-nighter, for old times' sake.
Cropped screenshot of a document. It reads:
Dissertation
CONTINUOUS CREATURES: THE RELATIONAL ANIMAL IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN LITERATURE
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