iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Happy Black History month! Here’s a thing I wrote about the Black history of inoculation a while back! Remember it wasn’t just Onesimus! Legions of Black men and women shared and shaped the practice in the Americas! slate.com/news-and-pol...

slate.com

How Far Back Were Africans Inoculating Against Smallpox? Really Far Back.

When I looked at the archives, I found a history hidden in plain sight.

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Melissa Reynolds @melkatrey.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Huge thanks to the Welch Medal Committee and the @aahmhistmed.bsky.social for recognizing Reading Practice with this honor. What a shortlist!

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King Algamemnon @adamrothman.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Bad bunnies from long ago www.bl.uk/stories/blog...

Rabbits capture, try and execute a hunter. The Smithfield Decretals, decorated in London, England, in the 1340s: Royal MS 10 E IV, f. 59v-61v

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Melissa Reynolds @melkatrey.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Good morning from TX SD-9! This morning I’m extra grateful to my neighbors in the blue center of Fort Worth, many of whom hosted fundraisers, invited neighbors to meet Taylor, & distributed yard signs. Small donors lined up against billionaire-funded SuperPACs, and we won!

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Melissa Reynolds @melkatrey.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

This is my first Texas ice storm, and it seems to defy the laws of physics? Currently 24 degrees out (feels like 11!) but somehow it’s still sleeting and not snowing, like a big eff you from the sky.

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Melissa Reynolds @melkatrey.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

Plans are afoot for the Spring 2026 issue of the Recipes Project: PERSONAL RECIPE COLLECTIONS. We’d love to read your pitches! More info below on how to submit. open.substack.com/pub/therecip...

open.substack.com

CfP: Personal Recipe Collections

Send us your pitches for the Spring 2026 issue of the Recipes Project

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Melissa Reynolds @melkatrey.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

Re-upping this once more to say that the deadline for applications approaches! January 15! Good job, non-TT but renewable contract with really strong salary & benefits plus opportunities for advancement on the teaching track. DM with questions!

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sarah jeong @sarahjeong.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

i think it is ok to reiterate that the victim as a us citizen. yes, noncitizens are equally entitled to human rights. but also, it's important to illustrate how ice isn't about immigration at all

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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 08/01/2026

A tenured professor who was briefly fired by Austin Peay State University in Tennessee in September for what the school’s president said was an insensitive social media post about the killing of Charlie Kirk will get a $500,000 settlement and his job back.

nyti.ms

University to Pay $500,000 to Professor It Fired Over Charlie Kirk Post

Austin Peay State University in Tennessee also reinstated Darren Michael, a tenured acting professor whose post about Mr. Kirk’s killing inflamed conservatives.

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Melissa Reynolds @melkatrey.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

I’m just so proud to have an article in this issue alongside scholars whose work I admire so much. Many thanks to Renée Raphael and Tina Asmussen for their vision & to the editorial staff of the RQ for the exceptional editorial care with which they brought this special issue to fruition!

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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

i think a (perhaps underappreciated) aspect of this whole situation is the extent to which every elite profession is filled with people who excel at drawing attention and want to be famous more than they want to do the actual job

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Charles Louis Richter @richterscale.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

SKULL OF THOMAS AQUINAS: TAKE A LEFT NOW PRIEST: No, the GPS says we have to keep going— SKULL: I KNOW A SHORTCUT PRIEST: Do you remember the last ti— SKULL: FOR THOSE WITH FAITH, NO EVIDENCE IS NECESSARY; FOR THOSE WITHOUT IT, NO EVIDENCE WILL SUFFICE

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Melissa Reynolds @melkatrey.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

Medievalists! Ancient historians! Re-upping this to say that the deadline for this very good non-TT job is January 15. Please apply and reach out with any questions! #medieval #ancienthistory #classics

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Monica H Green @monicamedhist.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Delighted to have my schedule set for the @rsaorg.bsky.social meeting in February. Looking forward to the first of two sessions on "Medicine and Science in the Early Modern Pacific." My paper will be examining evidence for leprosy's global dissemination 1000s of years prior to European colonialism.

Conference schedule for Renaissance Society of America, meeting in San Francisco, February 2026.
The title of the paper is "Leprosy at Contact: The Global Dissemination of Leprosy in the Pre-1500 World."

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Melissa Reynolds @melkatrey.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

**JOB ALERT** Friends, my department is hiring an Instructor in Medieval and Ancient History. This is a non-TT, teaching focused job but it’s a good one: renewable contract, great salary & benefits, and possibility of promotion on teaching track. DM me w/questions! jobs.tcu.edu/jobs/instruc...

jobs.tcu.edu

Instructor of History - TCU Main Campus, Texas, United States

Application Deadline: January 15, 2026 Position Details: This full-time faculty position is on-campus and in-person.Texas Christian University invites applications for a full-time Instructor in the De...

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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 20/11/2025

Can’t believe the whole country has to suffer through the return of Dickensian childhood diseases because the worst, most ignorant attention-demanders decided other people’s expertise makes them feel bad

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Melissa Reynolds @melkatrey.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Everyone, and I mean everyone, who knows anything about prenatal medicine knew that this would happen.

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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 20/11/2025

A new show at the Met Cloisters speaks to the existence of queer and trans people in the Medieval period and within the Catholic Church, as well as sexual dalliance and humor, and nontraditional unions.

hyperallergic.com

Mapping the Queer Landscape of Medieval Europe

A new exhibition at The Met Cloisters makes the case that gender and sexual fluidity were an essential part of Medieval religious art.

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TheNACBS @thenacbs.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

😍😍 😍 Loving all all these NACBS member books at the Chicago UP table! Including our Stansky and Snow book prize winners! @uchicagopress.bsky.social

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UofGlasgow Archives & Special Collections @uofglasgowasc.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

📣Our UofG Library Visiting Research Fellowships are now open for applications! We’re delighted to invite scholars from across the globe to apply to work with our internationally significant collections. Apply at: www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/li... 📆Closing date: 5 January 2026 #UofGLibraryFellows

Graphic showing double page opening of emblem book from Stirling Maxwell Collection featuring portrait of a man on the left and a printed emblem of text and image on the right. The image is overlaid with information about the fellowship scheme welcoming researchers and repeating closing date and URL to follow.

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REBPAF (Re-Mediating the Early Book: Pasts and Futures) @rebpaf.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Do you research early #bookhistory? Come to our #REBPAFConference : 23-25 June 2026, Royal Irish Academy, Dublin! 📚 Key details: • Deadline: 15 Dec 2025 [Abstract (max 300 words) + short CV] • Themes: Selection,Value,Accessibility & Survival in book culture Follow the link for more info! #REBPAF

rebpaf.wordpress.com

CFP: Re-Mediating the Early Book: Pasts and Futures

Keynotes: Sarah Werner, independent book historian; Renske Hoff, University of Utrecht; Aditi Nafde, Newcastle University Date & Location: 23-25 June 2026, Royal Irish Academy, Dublin Re-mediat…

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Olivia Waite @oliviawaite.com · 13/11/2025

Just a real “season finale” feeling to all kinds of news today, isn’t there

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Courtney E. Thompson @cethompson.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

I have voted for the deal that was on the Senate floor and which is probably caving to fascism Forgive me the flight delays were so annoying and so old

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Megan L. Cook @meganlcook.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Really enjoyed chatting with @kellyfaircloth.bsky.social about all things dirtbag medievalism, and delighted that the article is out now at Nat Geo: www.nationalgeographic.com/history/arti...

nationalgeographic.com

Why are we so obsessed with the medieval right now?

From burning castles to swords and magic and velvet gowns, medievalism has taken over 21st century pop culture.

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Melissa Reynolds @melkatrey.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

My daughter’s seventh grade History Fair project. This year’s theme is Revolutions. Obvi she chose the Print Revolution, & obvi gave credit to the Chinese for the first printed book, & obvi chose images from incunabula in the Bodleian. Why yes, I am a historian of the book. How did you know?

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Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

A fun question. In 5 years time, what looks better? The US’s enormous bet & capex on AI? Or China’s equally enormous bet and capex on renewables?

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Melissa Reynolds @melkatrey.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

Still pinching myself. What an incredible honor!

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Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

CAMPUS VISIT WITH THE VAMPIRE TEACHING DEMO WITH THE VAMPIRE SIT-DOWN WITH THE DEAN WITH THE VAMPIRE APOLOGETIC EMAIL THAT THE SEARCH WAS CANCELED WITH THE VAMPIRE

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Melissa Reynolds @melkatrey.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Happy first day of Fall-ish weather for all those* in Texas who celebrate! *Me.

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Melissa Reynolds @melkatrey.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

Grad students and early career faculty take note! Money is available for you to do cool stuff! Apply and you might even get some!

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Anthony Michael Kreis @anthonymkreis.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Whenever people complain about the number of folks relying on food stamps, it is worth reminding them that SNAP is, by too large of a degree, a subsidy for corporations that refuse to pay a living wage and their political allies who reject public policy prescriptions to reduce income inequality.

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Drew Anderson @drewanderson.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Writing was such a joy when I didn't know what the hell I was talking about.

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Megan L. Cook @meganlcook.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

Truly valuing the labor of others means respecting their time. Punctuality is an ethical praxis

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Melissa Reynolds @melkatrey.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Today in my intro class I lectured about a king who claimed absolute authority, developed new financial instruments to fund a huge military, and built gilded palaces filled with preening portraits of himself. Wait, who did you think I meant?

media.tenor.com

a painting of a king with a sun behind him and the words picmix below it

ALT: a painting of a king with a sun behind him and the words picmix below it

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Kate Carpenter @katecarp.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

I hope the ghost of Dolley Madison is cooking up something big.

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The Author, Séamas O'Reilly @seamas.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

It's very trendy for the woke left to mock the police these days, but this is the kind of thing that you and I might miss.

BBC report that police are focussing on a 'ladder placed against the side of the Louvre' while investigation a recent theft from the art gallery.

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Melissa Reynolds @melkatrey.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

Yes it is hard to convince students to do the hard work when they can hit the easy button, but even harder is convincing them to trust that their own ideas are better than anything produced by the resource-guzzling predictive text algorithm their university keeps selling them as THE FUTURE.

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

Many congratulations to my colleagues in the Forms of Labour project team on the publication of their new monograph! 🗃️👏🎉 Brilliantly, The Experience of Work in #EarlyModern England is available open access: www.cambridge.org/core/books/e... news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-h...

news.exeter.ac.uk

A woman’s place was not in the home: New book challenges assumptions about women’s work in early modern history

New research has revealed that women played a fundamental role in the development of England’s national economy before 1700. Far from being the unpaid homemakers and housewives of traditional historic...

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Melissa Reynolds @melkatrey.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

As a card-carrying academic I know I’m supposed to go hard on the NYTimes, but this is genuinely a great idea. Maybe people don’t think they care about grant cuts and frozen research, but the truth is this admin is stealing our future from us.

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Melissa Reynolds @melkatrey.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

I just keep coming back to this, the most obvious lacunae in every conversation about “incorporating AI” into our classrooms: no one—literally NO ONE—can explain how it improves the work of learning & knowledge-making. There is, in fact, overwhelming evidence to the contrary. This whole thread.

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Melissa Reynolds @melkatrey.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

Relieved to read the editorial board of my local paper here in Fort Worth (largest republican majority city in Texas) come down on the side of free speech and academic freedom. www.star-telegram.com/opinion/edit...

star-telegram.com

Texas colleges don’t need Abbott and Paxton’s meddling on free speech | Opinion

Texas A&M and North Texas are feeling the heat, and the Texas Tech system takes a big step on gender issues. | Opinion

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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Heads up, #humanities scholars! @ransomcenter.bsky.social is hosting an online info session about our 2026-27 research fellowships. Join me & Tracy Bonfitto next Thursday (Oct. 2) at 9 AM, CDT for details about our collections & application process. events.teams.microsoft.com/event/ad72fe... 🗃️📜📚

Social media graphic promoting the Harry Ransom Center's fellowship program. A photograph of a fellow reading a postcard is surrounded by a blue frame with white text ("FELLOWSHIP APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN") on each side.

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Ed @notdred.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

CHOTINER: And you didn’t know this person - what did you call him again? CELEBRIMBOR GREATEST OF THE ELVEN SMITHS: Right, his name was Annatar but CHOTINER: And you taught him to create a ring harnessing all his malice and cruelty? CELEBRIMBOR: Well I mean I was deceived CHOTINER: So you’ve said

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AAUP chapter @UT Austin @utaustinaaup.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

Op Ed by President of the AAUP chapter at UT Austin. Let teachers teach, let students learn. #AcademicFreedom #DefendHigherEd

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Melissa Reynolds @melkatrey.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

Found the best cure for the constant dread of creeping authoritarianism: taking my students to Special Collections! Seriously though, it’s my favorite class every semester. Buncha intro to early modern Euro history students, almost no majors, just so jazzed about touching really old books.

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