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Jen Herman 🌪️

@jukebarosh.bsky.social
706 followers 178 following 1.2K posts

Mostly Bacillus | unpublished data | hypotheses | wild ideas | sand-outta-box | who wants 2 bet? | 🧠🔥🐳 | Zinc ♡ | No one important | www.hermanlab.com |

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Reposted by Jen Herman 🌪️
Center for Phage Technology @phagetechnology.bsky.social · 17h
The CPT's own @jasonjgill.bsky.social was interviewed in Wired magazine about a new class of retron-like reverse transcriptases reported by Anthropic last week. These enzymes were identified in our 2021 paper on the MarsHill-like jumbo phages infecting S. aureus. www.wired.com/story/anthro...
wired.com
Anthropic Says It Discovered a Crispr-Like System. Now What?
“The experiments are still in the queue. The PR is already live,” says one expert.
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Jen Herman 🌪️ @jukebarosh.bsky.social · 16h
Just put it in an ice bucket in the sink so you don't crack the sink & pipes & give the building manager night terrors. Happy haunting
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Vivek Mutalik @vivekmutalik.bsky.social · 22h
In our brand new 🥳 review, @hemaa-selvakumar.bsky.social & team pull a scattered literature in phage biology into a coherent framework for scaling up to engineering complex communities. We poured our hearts into this to share challenges & future opportunities for the nextGen!
Next generation application space with systematic characterization of phage-host interaction landscapes.
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Jen Herman 🌪️ @jukebarosh.bsky.social · 20h
A trackable metric... I'd like credit for my time! We have different (and incompatible!) logons for the college and university. I'd bet a donut multifactor cross adds up to at least one WEEK/yr.
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Molecular Microbiology @molmicrounihoh.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Nuclear cGAS inhibits stimulation-induced inflammatory gene transcription via HDAC1: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... #cGAMP @pnas.org
pnas.org
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
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Jen Herman 🌪️ @jukebarosh.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Reading more closely - I would expect that the inability to make cfu in this case does not = lysis/death, at least for the case of OverExpression. I It's more like OE creates zombies that still have a chance to mutate & return to a reproductive state.
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Jen Herman 🌪️ @jukebarosh.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
AI and Education – Report of MIT’s Ad Hoc Committee on AI Use in Teaching, Learning, and Research Training share.google/B6yUKbSvcvzn... Read the whole thing. Has reduced the unease & uncertainty exactly 0%
share.google
AI and Education – Report of MIT’s Ad Hoc Committee on AI Use in Teaching, Learning, and Research Training
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Jen Herman 🌪️ @jukebarosh.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Ever feel rotten about not living near the grandparents of your kids? I have not had much choice, but feel like they have missed out on a lot (both)
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Jörg Stülke @joergstuelke.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Identification of a novel RNA-modifying enzyme! RlmS! #SubtiWiki www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pnas.org
Activity-based profiling of bacterial RNA-modifying enzymes reveals species-specific 5-methyluridine modification in Bacillus subtilis 23S rRNA | PNAS
RNA modifications play an important role in biological processes. Mapping the diversity of RNA chemistry and studying the biological function of in...
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Reposted by Jen Herman 🌪️
Craig Kaplan @triggerloop.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
It is the case. The Biosketch has a certification so that happens when you generate the document. They updated the current certification to expire Sept 26. So you need new one
Action needed — Regenerate SciENcv documents before upcoming NIH and other federal submissions

The Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) has become aware of time-sensitive issues affecting SciENcv generated documents.

SciENcv updated the digital certificate used to sign Biosketch and Current & Pending (Other) Support (CPOS) documents without notification. The old certificate expires Saturday, September 26, 2026. Documents downloaded from SciENcv before that date may fail validation in eRA Commons and generate errors that delay or block submission.

This certificate change affects applications and RPPRs to NIH, AHRQ, CDC, NIOSH, FDA, and VA submitted on or after September 26, whether they are submitted in PERIS™ MyFunding/System-to-System, ASSIST, or Grants.gov Workspace. Because SciENcv is also used to prepare Biosketch and CPOS documents for NSF, DOE, NASA, and USDA proposals, investigators with imminent submissions to those agencies are encouraged to regenerate their documents as a precaution.

What to do

Investigators should log back into SciENcv and regenerate their Biosketch and CPOS documents. When 'Download PDF' is selected, SciENcv will prompt the investigator to certify. The new PDFs should replace any older versions in in-progress applications.

October 5 R01 deadline

Any in-progress application that already includes Biosketch or CPOS documents will need those documents regenerated and replaced this coming week.
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Reposted by Jen Herman 🌪️
Vaughn Cooper @vscooper.micropopbio.org · 25/09/2026
FYI to everyone submitting this October NIH cycle You need to re-certify your ScienCV AFTER Sept 26 (tomorrow) for your application or it may not be accepted. Great timing!
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Reposted by Jen Herman 🌪️
Anthony Vecchiarelli @cellforganized.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Applications are now being accepted for the 2027 Bacterial Cell Biology & Development GRC, June 6–11! GRS will be on June 5-6, 2027 We’ll likely be oversubscribed, so please apply early!
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Caroline Bartman @cbartman.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Ok what is the most death metal biology term? Cytokine storm? Programmed death 1? Executioner caspase? Other?
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Craig Kaplan @triggerloop.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is so awesome
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Reposted by Jen Herman 🌪️
Erin Hotchkiss @fluvialbenthos.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
We (Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech) are #hiring TWO tenure-track Molecular Microbiology professors! Review of applications starts 1 Nov. I'm happy to answer questions about the department, VT, life in Blacksburg, etc.! More info / to apply: jobs.apply.vt.edu/jobs/assista... 🧪👩‍🔬🦠 #academicjobs
jobs.apply.vt.edu
Assistant/Associate Professor - Blacksburg, Virginia, United States
Job Description The Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Science at Virginia Tech seeks applicants for two (2) tenure-track research and teaching positions at the Assistant/Associate ...
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Doug Kojetin @dougkojetin.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Apply today to be my colleague at Vanderbilt in the Department of Biochemistry! 
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Titus Brown @titus.idyll.org · 23/09/2026
Assistant Professor of Food Microbiology position here at UC Davis (tenure track) - apply by Dec 1, 2026!
recruit.ucdavis.edu
Assistant Professor of Food Microbiology
University of California, Davis is hiring. Apply now!
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Jen Herman 🌪️ @jukebarosh.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Just collapsed a box & cat is looking at me like I'm both all-powerful & evil
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Jen Herman 🌪️ @jukebarosh.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I have so many questions. Like what happens to the organism's aging & mutation rate and will this one day help me survive living in Texas???
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Reposted by Jen Herman 🌪️
Vaughn Cooper @vscooper.micropopbio.org · 23/09/2026
Fantastic, comprehensive, useful review if you care about RNA modifications in bacteria: @asm.org @csdetweiler.bsky.social journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
journals.asm.org
Compendium of RNA modifications for bacterial stress adaptation | Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews
SUMMARYRNA modifications in the tRNA, rRNA, and mRNA constitute a widespread layer of post-transcriptional gene regulation, commonly known as the epitranscriptome. In bacteria, tRNA and rRNA modificat...
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Richard Lenski @relenski.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
"Philosophy of Biology: The power of theory in the life sciences" elifesciences.org/articles/112... @zdblount.bsky.social shared this thought-provoking paper with the lab group.
elifesciences.org
Philosophy of Biology: The power of theory in the life sciences
Theory can help address cell and molecular biology’s major challenges, particularly those arising from large omics datasets.
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John Greally @greally.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Tim Bestor has left us. This obituary captures him well — you always had to be at your intellectual peak with him, while his trainees always spoke highly of their experiences. He made a massive contribution to epigenetics, a giant in our field. www.genetics.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/memoria...
genetics.cuimc.columbia.edu
In memoriam of Professor Timothy H. Bestor
In memoriam: Professor Timothy H. Bestor 1952-2026
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Jen Herman 🌪️ @jukebarosh.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Realizing I'm wearing the same clothes for 15 yrs: this is why one should never buy clothes that are *in* style. My thinking is they never go out of style, except in the event (gasp) they ever become fashionable Unlikely b/c according to sources, I dress like it is the 1930's. Bite me, sources
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Petra Levin @redrockcity.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
4 years (!) in the making, in this review Jade Wang and I detail the fundamental processes underlying growth, the cell autonomous nature of homeostatic control, and the contribution of stochasticity to both. TL;DR Bacteria are more like teenagers than you think. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Bacterial growth rate in populations and single cells - Nature Microbiology
In this Perspective, Levin and Wang give a brief history of bacterial growth rate and discuss how it is connected to nutrient availability and macromolecule synthesis, with a focus on (p)ppGpp as a ce...
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Martin Pacesa @martinpacesa.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
ʙɪɴᴅᴄʀᴀꜰᴛ2 is out, and we're not waiting for the paper. The full code drops today, free for academic and industry use. We're releasing it early so you can start designing right now, and bring its full power to the current Adaptyv competition. github.com/PacesaLab/Bi...
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Craig Kaplan @triggerloop.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Please comment on this- they are trying to interfere with vaccines in so many ways
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Reposted by Jen Herman 🌪️
Stephen Curry @scurry.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Very much enjoyed @mjrobbins.com conversation-paced rant about the supposed threat of so-called superintelligent AI. martinrobbins.substack.com/p/the-ai-apo...
Screenshot from linked article reads: 

Civilisation is the gearbox for the engines of our minds; human intelligence is its attribute. The scale of that intelligence is not governed by the person or entity with the highest IQ. You can't make a car that goes at 3000mph by just putting a rocket in it. I'm not sure it's possible to be superintelligent. To me it's like saying you're going to make the ocean superwet by pouring more water into it.
Rationalists desperately wish this wasn't the case, because it means the promise of the Al priesthood, the promise of a world where being smart and thinking better magically solves all your problems - could lead you to the gates of heaven itself! - is a lie: that the world isn't changed by thinkers, but doers. That's why every contrived thought experiment that involves an AI triggering the end of humanity involves, ultimately, human beings doing something incredible stupid with real stuff, like shipping a super-virus to an angry teenager or firing a nuclear arsenal. The boring risks of human agency that we already face today.
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Vivek Mutalik @vivekmutalik.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Preprint here: Please let us know if we have missed any references to cite. This is like looking at past 60 years of work with a small window. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Genome-wide characterization of host factors involved in single-stranded RNA and DNA phage infection pathways
Single stranded RNA (ssRNA) and single stranded DNA (ssDNA) bacteriophages represent a key component of the global virome, yet the host genetic networks supporting their infection cycles remain poorly...
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Reposted by Jen Herman 🌪️
Vivek Mutalik @vivekmutalik.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Some of the smallest 😎 viruses on Earth are all around us. Three or four genes 😍 each, in nearly every environment. We keep finding thousands by sequencing, yet don't know who they infect, can't easily isolate them, or even how the few we have infect a cell. Our new preprint takes this on 🧵👇
Schematics of how single strand RNA and DNA phages infect bacteria with F-pilus
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Reposted by Jen Herman 🌪️
Bernard Kim @bernardkim.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Princeton EEB is running a very broad faculty search at the Assistant Professor level. Please consider applying to join us! This is a wonderful, collaborative, cohesive department with diverse interests and amazing colleagues. apply.interfolio.com/193474
apply.interfolio.com
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
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Jen Herman 🌪️ @jukebarosh.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Gene function discovery is incredibly challenging. These X-grants are basically DARPA format. Milestones etc... it's like they think one can just ~magically~ convert the unpredictable & grinding nature of discovery into an applied engineering problem. I predict a massive waste of resources.
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Jen Herman 🌪️ @jukebarosh.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
On repeat in head, pretty much all day
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Reposted by Jen Herman 🌪️
Caroline Bartman @cbartman.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Excited to share our second Bartman lab paper! MSTP student Amelia developed a sensitive LC-MS method to measure Coenzyme A level. We can also combine this method with tracing to measure CoA synthesis rate. Congratulations Amelia!! pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
pubs.acs.org
A Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Method to Quantify Total Coenzyme A Concentration and Isotopic Labeling
Abstract. Coenzyme A is an essential cofactor synthesized from pantothenate, which carries activated acyl groups in cellular metabolic reactions. Coenzyme
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Reposted by Jen Herman 🌪️
Andrew Savinov @biosavinov.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Thrilled to announce that the Savinov lab is now live at UT Austin @utaustin.bsky.social! Our lab employs massively parallel experimental and AI methods to discover and design protein fragments as universal regulators of protein interactions in health and disease. www.savinovlab.com (1/n)
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Richard Lenski @relenski.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I just read that Bob Ricklefs has passed away. His "Economy of Nature" text (condensed version of his "Ecology" text) started me on my scientific journey. www.nature.com/articles/s41... A good person as well as terrific scholar. I've attached a picture of us from the 2013 SSE meeting in Snowbird.
Ricklefs and Lenski on grassy slope with snow covered mountains behind them.
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Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
“A.I. in health should not be driven by the tech industry,” Dr. Whyte said. “It should be driven by the clinical community. And right now, what we have going on is that tech is the tail wagging the dog.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/14/h...
nytimes.com
Trump Administration Moves to Integrate A.I. Into Medical Care Despite Concerns
Federal projects are rolling out A.I. agents that offer therapy and prescribe medicine, raising concerns about safety and the influence of venture capital investors.
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Jen Herman 🌪️ @jukebarosh.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Spent 30 min on a call convincing someone to use dropbox. Feel like Dropbox owes me tbh.
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Tulilab.com @tulilab.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
IU is hiring a virologist. I am so excited. Come join a great group of scientists and people.
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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 13/09/2026
This will devastate our research+innovation capacity, bedrock of the 21st century economy. 35% of *all* employed people in the US with STEM PhD degrees are both foreign-born *and* graduated from a US university. —> nap.nationalacademies.org/resource/292... Shutting them out is extremist folly.
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Jennifer Goff, PhD @jlgoff.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
New preprint! This one is actually from my class! We did metagenomic sequencing on a Winogradsky column. In my Microbial Biochemistry class, the students learned to assemble and analyze the MAGs, directly applying what they learned in lecture to make predictions about their organism’s metabolism. 🧵
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Kevin England @kevinengland.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Our paper (and my first first-author) is out! The alarmone pGpp inhibits translation through GTP depletion academic.oup.com/nar/article/... 🦠🚨🤠 @narjournal.bsky.social
academic.oup.com
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Peter Chien @chienlab.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
We have a TT job posting for molecular and cellular neuroscience here at UMass Amherst!!! Here is the ad: careers.umass.edu/jobs/assista...
careers.umass.edu
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry - Neuroscience - Amherst, Massachusetts, United States
Title: Assistant Professor of Biochemistry - Neuroscience Executive Area: Academic Affairs College/School/MBU: College of Natural Sciences Department: Biochemistry/Molecular Biology Work Location: Amh...
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Jen Herman 🌪️ @jukebarosh.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
If you forced me to pick between humility & brilliance, I'd pick humility every time
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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
The implementation phase begins... whereby investigator-initiated research is considered secondary to the whims and political priorities of OSTP and OMB who want to narrow what constitutes science into a limited set of corporate-focused interests while slashing budgets. www.nsf.gov/news/nsf-lea...
nsf.gov
NSF leadership in a new golden age of science
The U.S. National Science Foundation was established in 1950 to keep American discovery at the frontier. That mission has not changed. The science and technology ecosystem around it has...
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Evgenii Protasov @evgenii-protasov.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
The structure of a nitrogenase from a hyperthermophilic methanogen growing at 92 °C sheds light on how nitrogen fixation evolved 🧫🔥 #Microbiology #Methanogens #StructuralBiology #Evolution #Nitrogenase #MicroSky #ArchaeaSky @natcomms.nature.com doi.org/10.1038/s414...
doi.org
Molecular basis of N2 fixation in a hyperthermophilic archaeon - Nature Communications
Nitrogenases are enzymes that convert atmospheric N2 into ammonia, thus providing bioavailable nitrogen to living organisms. Here, Maslać et al. describe a highly thermostable, simple nitrogenase from...
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Adam Steinbrenner @adsteinbrenner.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Two faculty searches at Berkeley Plant & Microbial Bio @PMB_Berkeley Submit applications by Sept 30 Plant Responses to Environmental Changes aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05382 Plant-Microbe Communities aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05522
aprecruit.berkeley.edu
Assistant Professor - Plant Responses to Environmental Changes - Department of Plant and Microbial Biology
University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!
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George O'Toole (he/him/his) @geiselbiofilm.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
New in JB: Rangarajan and Waters review the role of divalent metals, particularly Mn2+, Mg2+, Zn2+, Ca2+, and Fe2+, in c-di-GMP signaling, including how these metals impact DGC and PDE enzyme activity. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... @asm.org #JBacteriol @microsky.bsky.social
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Khaled_Selim Lab @selimlab.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
A new preprint from the lab! 📄 We solved a long-standing question: how mechanistically the PTM AMPylation of glutamine synthetase controls the activity of one of the most important enzymes on Earth. 🌎 w/ beautiful cryoEM structures @hhu.de & @sfb1381.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Metabolic regulation and structural mechanism of glutamine synthetase AMPylation
In bacteria, glutamine synthetase (GS) is the main ammonium assimilation enzyme. Its activity is tightly regulated according to cellular energy status and carbon/nitrogen balance through reversible AM...
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Molecular Microbiology @molmicrounihoh.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Wow: Flagellar toxicity: Flagellar synthesis is lytic for Bacillus subtilis in the absence of PBP1! 👇 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... @pnas.org #subtiwiki #subtilis
pnas.org
Flagellar toxicity: Flagellar synthesis is lytic for Bacillus subtilis in the absence of PBP1 | PNAS
Flagella are large transenvelope nanomachines but how they transit the peptidoglycan in gram-positive bacteria is poorly understood. A recent model...
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JRho @jrho.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
The most absolutely massive flex from the state fair exhibit. This quilt is made of 40 years of prize ribbons from various categories at the New Mexico State Fair won by Carol St. Clair Johnson. She also won a prize for this quilt.
Massive quilt made of prize ribbons in blue, red, yellow, and whiteCenter square of quilt made of yellow and red ribbons and yellow rosettesBlock of quilt made of blue, yellow, red, and white ribbons. Ribbons state the year. Some have the prize winning object written on in markerCarol St. Clair Johnson
born 1954; resides Albuquerque, NM

O Fair New Mexico-41 Fair Years
2023
satin ribbons

After unexpectedly winning her first blue ribbon for a sewn cape in 1981, Carol St. Clair Johnson developed an enduring love for the New Mexico State Fair. The quilt Fair New Mexico-41 Fair Years incorporates more than six hundred of the ribbons she won at the fair every subsequent year except 2020 (when the fair was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic). Johnson earned ribbons for needlework, knitting, crochet, pies, cookies, cakes, canning, jewelry, flowers, vegetables, and potted plants. The title of the quilt is a reference to the state song, and the design places the state's Zia sun symbol at the center. The quilt earned Johnson yet another ribbon: Best in Category (miscellaneous quilt) at the 2023 New Mexico State Fair.

Courtesy of Carol St. Clair Johnson
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