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Laurel V. Hankins

@laurelvhankins.bsky.social
242 followers 178 following 163 posts

Teaching and researching c18/c19 American Lit at UMass Dartmouth: www.umassd.edu/directory/lhankins The Art of Retreat now available from Bucknell UP: tinyurl.com/yhunwhzm.

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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
does everyone living in RI right now see dead lantern flies when they close their eyes.
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Microplastics Sommelier @leastactionhero.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
this is what the constitutional convention looked like:
Woman yelling at cat meme, but check this out: the cat is having a Del’s, some hot wieners, and wearing a paw sox hat
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Rebecca Colesworthy @rcolesworthy.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Late to this (on the SUNY P blog) but the editors of Teaching Poetry Now did a great Q&A: "[Poets] wrestle w/ history, politics, race, philosophy, technology, sexuality & gender, science, nature...We don’t need to 'teach poetry' to use poems in the classroom." sunypress.edu/Blog/2026/Re....
sunypress.edu
Rethinking the Poetry Classroom
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Erica Fretwell @ericafretwell.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Friends! Hsuan Hsu and I are organizing a VIRTUAL ACLA seminar (May 2027), "Sensory Aesthetics: Beyond the Five Sense Paradigm." Submissions are open -- we'd love to be in conversation with you!
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
#academicsky let's celebrate the edited book chapter. What is an edited book chapter that you're particularly proud of, or you think deserves more readers? #celebratebookchapter The c18 picturesque is not with the c19 tells you it is. Collection available from @rutgersupress.bsky.social
Hankins, Laurel V. “The Early National Picturesque.” In The Part and the Whole in Early American Literature, Print Culture, and Art. Eds. Matthew Pethers and Daniel Diez Couch (Bucknell UP, 2024), 199-219.
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
A contract being withdrawn in July is not “uncommon.” A university strategically hiring "several part-time faculty for the cost of one full-time faculty.” Come for the student journalists and stay for the higher ed labor practices. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/07/28/m...
bostonglobe.com
UMass Dartmouth journalism instructor’s contract non-renewal prompts questions about student press freedom - The Boston Globe
The university said the budget constraints led is behind the contract non-renewal. Student reporters believe there is more to the story.
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Rachael King @rscar.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Looking for something to do this summer? We have a new batch of documents up at our Zooniverse site, Corresponding with Quakers. We've added materials from the Huntington's Shackleton Correspondence to UCSB's Ballitore Collection and we need help transcribing! www.zooniverse.org/projects/rac...
zooniverse.org
Corresponding with Quakers | Zooniverse - People-powered research
Investigating race, gender, class, and religion in 18th- and 19th-Century Irish Quaker Documents
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Boundless everlasting gratitude when a chapter requested through ILL includes the endnotes.
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
a news story I don’t think got enough attention is the ANACONDA reboot.
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Jeffrey Insko @jeffreyinsko.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
how come it's always a "college seminar" and not, like, "a gen ed class at a regional public university with 55 students in the basement of the oldest building on campus."
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Thrilled to hear this. My experience publishing with the Transits series was fantastic from start to finish. This doesn’t offset the sad news about Bucknell UP but it is a welcome development.
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
scammers having my social security number because my grad school app was rejected by Columbia 20 some years ago a little too on the nose thank you very much.
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
"a brief 28-question survey” is not a thing.
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 07/04/2026
Armageddon is terrible, but our only other option was diversity trainings at work.
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Deidre Lynch @drbibliomane.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
In time for April Fool's Day, which may be apt, my article on Gothic fiction and #18thc hoaxing has appeared in Novel, in a banger of an issue on Belief in Fiction, co-ed by @danielhack.bsky.social & Rachel Ablow. Take a look at this exciting t.o.c. I'm grateful to be in such great company.
Contents:
Rachel Ablow/Introduction: Belief and Disbelief after Secularization
Daniel Hack/Why Always That Dorothea? Realism and the Rise of Meaning
Colin Jager/ The Suspension of Disbelief, Again
Timothy Bewes/ "Things Can Always Be otherwise": Believing (in) Twenty-First-Century Fiction
Deidre Lynch/Believing in Novels: Hoax, Hocus, and the Fictionality of the Gothic
Ian Duncan/ Excessive Belief: Transport and Immersion in Nineteenth-Century Historical Ficton
Ayelet Ben-Yishai/ "A Look She Cannot Read": Novelistic Epistemology between Genre and Narrative Mode in Paul Lynch's Prophet Song
Amy Hollywood: Henry James, Minny Temple, and the 'Demon of the Why, Whence, and Whither"
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
When 2 of the authors on your list of 5 books each meet each other.
Paragraph from Ramona’s World describing Mrs. Quimby reading Moby-Dick for her book club.
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
Staring out at the grey skies of another approaching snowstorm and saw the welcome sight of the witch hazel starting to bloom.
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Finally spotted my book on our New Books section of the library. It has a call number and everything! Might look nice on your library shelves too. The Art of Retreat, from @bucknellupress.bsky.social, linked in profile.
Photo of a library shelf with the spines of several newly released titles.
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Jeffrey Insko @jeffreyinsko.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
I read that astonishingly stupid slavery article today and what's most hilarious to me is how it's completely lost on that guy that what makes the story of abolition "inspiring" is that it was led by people who had no patience for the kind of cowardly, insipid centrism he loves to peddle.
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
Students at UMass Dartmouth loved learning about @ccp-org.bsky.social during @douglassday.bsky.social today. Huge thanks to the organizers for a great event. Students were excited to share their finds and took real pride in contributing to open access archives. I’m excited to read their reflections.
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Just registered my class for this year's @douglassday.bsky.social @ccp-org.bsky.social transcribe-a-thon. We’ll be transcribing in our campus Frederick Douglass Unity House. What’s better than that.
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Alex Moskowitz @amoskowitz.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
i'm putting together two panels at ALA for the thoreau society, one on "thoreau and abolition," and one on "thoreau, travel, and place" full CFPs linked. i'm open to anything that sounds cool! 1/15 deadline call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/12/... call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/12/...
call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu
cfp | call for papers
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
My book will be keeping its out of office message up for one additional recovery day.
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
Waiting for me this morning, just in time for spring prep, *Teaching Poetry Now* ed. by @carolinegelmi.bsky.social and Lizzy LeRud from @sunypress.bsky.social
Teaching Poetry Now, edited by Caroline Gelmi and Lizzy LeRud. Title alternates red and green on black cover with white type scattered across top and bottom.
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
I’m not there but my book is. Thanks to a colleague for sending me this pic of *The Art of Retreat* at the @rutgersupress.bsky.social @bucknellupress.bsky.social #mla26 display. Available now for library orders!
Display table including my book The Art of Retreat and other great Rutger UP and Bucknell UP titles at MLA 2026.
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Lee Cicuta @butchanarchy.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Becca Good’s statement on the murder of her wife Renee Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross. “On Wednesday, January 7th, we stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns.” www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
mprnews.org
Renee Macklin Good’s wife says she nurtured kindness
On Wednesday, Renee Macklin Good was fatally shot by a federal ICE agent. Becca Good, her wife, shared the following statement with MPR News.
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Finally went completely screen free in my classes last semester. Grades were higher and student eval's were the highest in years - a problematic data point, but nearly all comments identified the screen-free classroom as beneficial to learning, including note-taking, reading comp, and engagement.
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
Colleagues and institutional support at University of Nottingham’s American Studies program have been crucial to my own professional development. Please sign the petition to save the program - there is still time for the decision to be reversed and the dept. has a good plan. c.org/GgqB242p97
c.org
SAVE AMERICAN STUDIES TEACHING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM
Can you spare a minute to help this campaign?
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
Colleagues and institutional support at University of Nottingham’s American Studies program have been crucial to my own professional development. Please sign the petition to save the program - there is still time for the decision to be reversed and the dept. has a good plan. c.org/GgqB242p97
c.org
SAVE AMERICAN STUDIES TEACHING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM
Can you spare a minute to help this campaign?
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
Immediately on my reading list……..
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
Soccer Mommy put on a great show in Boston tonight. color theory was my COVID lockdown soundtrack and it meant a lot to be with friends and a happy crowd tonight. Also thanks to my husband for babysitting on our anniversary so I could go.
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
When the moonflowers think they’re morning glories.
Two white moonflowers blooming in the morning sun.
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
The student in the morning class who saw My Chemical Romance in Boston last night looked much better than the professor in the same class who saw Rilo Kiley in Boston last night.
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
very rude of Katabasis to come out last week and not in June.
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
garden welcomed us home in fine fashion today.
Bouquet of dahlias in magenta and tangerine.Late August bouquet includes dahlias, queen anne’s lace, zinnias, daisies, cat mint, and rudbeckia.
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
I just preordered this incredible looking @sunypress.bsky.social book co-edited by @carolinegelmi.bsky.social, one of my favorite writers and teachers, and I hope you will too! sunypress.edu/Books/T/Teac...
sunypress.edu
Teaching Poetry Now
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 09/08/2025
Spotted: a rogue hollyhock volunteer.
Overgrown summer wildflower garden including pink hollyhock, purple coneflowers, zinnias.
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
My AI bib for students will apparently just remain a living document. "Premium chatbots provided more confidently incorrect answers than their free counterparts.” www.cjr.org/tow_center/w...
cjr.org
AI Search Has A Citation Problem
We Compared Eight AI Search Engines. They’re All Bad at Citing News.
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Ashley Rattner @ashleyrattner.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
I drafted an email opposing Canvas's partnership with OpenAI and am happy send it to you if you'd like to send such a thing to your institution's instructional designers and faculty senate.
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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
syllabus time, teaming up for the herculean efforts of reinventing writing assignments. here, some prompts for required weekly low stakes 250-500 word reflections/ process pieces that have proven relatively conducive to real writing in lit class. please share any similar suggestions in thread.
Describe something you learned from lecture this week that you didn’t know just from doing the readings.
    
Connect something you learned in 209 this week to something you are learning in another of your classes this semester.  
 
If Monday and Wednesday assigned readings were from two different texts, make connections between the two.  Do they share themes?  Forms?  Tone?  Historical context?  Do you find them equally interesting?  

Look at the very first paragraph of one of our texts and discuss how the opening lays the groundwork for the rest of the work.  Quote specific lines, phrases, or images.
 
Using quotes from a text, persuade someone (friend or foe, your grandma or your senator) to change their mind about something important.

Compose a 5 song playlist to accompany an assigned reading from this week, and write a few sentences for each song, explaining your choices.

Describe an idea you had in response to the readings/lecture/discussions for our class this week- any idea, about literature, or the world, or yourself.  How might you pursue this idea, in your studies or elsewhere? 
  
Choose a passage (no more than 10 lines) from the readings this week and rewrite it, changing at least one of the literary aspects such as: person (change from first to third-person or vice versa), tense (change from past to present etc), focalizing character (i.e. write it from a different character's perspective), style (adjectives, diction, description, tone). Then write 2-3 sentences about the effect of your changes.
 
Compose a yelp review to strangers, or a letter to a specific person, or a booktok style video, recommending a novel/poem/play from this week’s reading.

Write a letter to someone who has questioned your choice of majoring or minoring in English, explaining why you value what you’re learning.  Include quotes / ideas from this week’s readings.
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Leigh Claire La Berge @lclaberge.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
Happy Bastille Day! Feline reminder that philosophical patron saint of the French Revolution, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, put a cat on the cover of "The Social Contract" because cats were his “test of character”; those who don’t enjoy cats “have the despotic instinct of men.” @dukepress.bsky.social
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Joshua R Greenberg @joshrgreenberg.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
Five years ago today my book Bank Notes and Shinplasters: The Rage for Paper Money in the Early Republic came out. Like a lot of books that first Covid summer it got lost a bit at the time. Thanks to all of you who have read it.🗃️ www.pennpress.org/9780812252248/ban…
pennpress.org
Bank Notes and Shinplasters – Penn Press
The colorful history of paper money before the Civil WarBefore Civil War greenbacks and a national bank network established a uniform federal currency in the...
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
Sour cherry pie, from our very own tree. Should be set up for elevenses tomorrow.
Baked sour cherry pie with red ceramic bird vent decorated with pastry hearts.
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
The rabbits have taken to lounging.
Wild rabbit sprawled out in grass with back leg stretched out.
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Birds left me a pie’s worth.
Stainless steel bowl of sour cherries.
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Today in personal growth I showered with a house centipede and only did two tiny shrieks.
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Dr Hannah Murray @hlmurray.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
Spoiler: it’s me!!! 🥳
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
This is what democracy looks like in Rhode Island.
Poster from No Kings protest that reads “uses for ICE” with a checks next to the Dunkin’ and Del’s logos and a red x next to “inhumane racist government agency.”
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Laurel V. Hankins @laurelvhankins.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
I just vacuumed an actual cobweb out of my box of complimentary copies, so taking inspiration from another great piece by @rcolesworthy.bsky.social and reposting that my book, The Art of Retreat, is out from @bucknellupress.bsky.social, just in time for summer reading. RUP30 for 30% off.
tinyurl.com
The Art of Retreat - Bucknell University Press
The political and cultural fantasy of home as a retreat from the pressures of the world first emerged in the U.S. alongside two major nineteenth-century lit...
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