Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Did some proofreading for an academic client. Invoice is being settled by their university. Really, there is nothing I like more than filling in a university form with EVERY SINGLE DETAIL that was already on my bloody invoice. 151
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Carthy! Carthy! Carthy! You want Carthy? Of course you do, so I'm delighted to have contributed to this celebration of all things Smart'n' Crafty in the latest @folklondon.co.uk 061
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Journalism independent of sub-editing, certainly. 040
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 28/09/2026I'm still processing the passing of Bob Davenport. I used to see him fairly regularly at the old Musical Traditions club in London. An extraordinary and compelling singer--the size, shape and impact of a hammer--perhaps because he was also a complicated and sometimes difficult person. 052
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Today I have been peer reviewing. I realise that my comments boil down to: 'They're not stupid, tell them to put their backs into it'. 010
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 28/09/2026RIP Mighty Sparrowyoutu.beMighty Sparrow - Capitalism Gone MadYouTube video by Edward Spencer 062
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 27/09/2026There is something beyond beautiful in this post. 040
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Local organised crime syndicates have their own euphemisms 040
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Last night I met a dog of myth in the bus station. Look into those eyes. 080
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 25/09/2026I stopped answering these when it emerged that the Careers department there had never heard of the Smithsonian Institution. Then they axed the department that had awarded me my degree. And the one that hosted my first interdisciplinary conference (leading to my first interdisciplinary publication). 060
Reposted by Paul CowdellFolk London magazine @folklondon.co.uk · 25/09/2026The new Folk London is back from the printers and going out to readers today. With: * Martin Carthy – a career retrospective interview plus review of the new 20-CD box set * Olivia Chaney on Purcell, folk & genre-hopping * News, reviews, listings and more Buy here: folklondon.co.uk/product/octo... 054
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Gearing up for the Week 1 webinar, in which I enthusiastically introduce students to Joseph Jacobs, as well as Moses Gaster's magnificent take-down of JG Frazer. 000
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Hark, what is that thudding noise I hear upon the doormat? Excellent... 030
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 23/09/2026I wasn't ever taught by the great Pat Easterling (although I did spill red wine on her white carpet during a balloon debate at a faculty social evening) but she was always an Olympian intellectual presence, particularly as I was studying Sophocles for my finals. A superb scholar.theguardian.comPatricia Easterling obituaryClassical scholar and the first woman to be appointed regius professor of Greek at Cambridge University 010
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Poverty, I salute you. Through your grace I have become a magician. For I can see the world, but none see me. --from the 32 Tales of the Throne of Vikramaditya 060
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Well, I have the Week 1 of Term cold. I teach online. 020
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Delighted to have had a message from the (heroic) editors that the Routledge Handbook of Anthropology & Folklore is now officially in production. It'll be a beast so massive even librarians will baulk - 58 chapters, many co-authored - and that cohesion of community is as exciting as its content 1/2 261
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Delighted to have contributed to the Carthiana here 042
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 14/09/2026I have just learned that a paper I wrote in 2011 has been cited by an Uzbek scholar. I've always thought of it as one of my apprenticeship pieces, not so substantial, but I find I'm actually rather chuffed it's been read and engaged with. 070
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 14/09/2026Only wear Levis if you are a structural anthropologist 260
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 13/09/2026DC's branded home décor merch is getting out of hand now 110
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 13/09/2026The Thresholds of Impatiencepoundhammers.blogspot.comThe Thresholds of Impatience 000
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 12/09/2026Had to empty a mousetrap this morning. It's never my favourite pursuit, but, man, the look of reproach on that mouse's face. 130
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 11/09/2026For the last few weeks my Macbook has been up on blocks, so I've been a bit hampered, but it's now back. I restored everything from backup, so all my comforting old clutter is back, but with a new logic board the OS is treating all software as new. It's like watching it recover from a head trauma. 031
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Yet again I have mistaken not having read a book for not having a copy of it. Still, removing duplicates does clear shelf space 022
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 03/09/2026I know that linguistically I've already lost this one to changed usage, but: 'denies', not 'refutes'. Refutation, if it happens, will come with evidence during the trial. 060
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 31/08/2026Oh man, #AmDram. Inside a poetry volume I found a 1966 letter from a S London society considering suggestions for their Easter production. Having ruled out '1066 - And All That' ('more songs than spoken lines') they were inclining towards 'The Hollow Crown'. I don't know why that range amuses me. 110
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 29/08/2026Exeter's commitment to demonstrating in the shortest possible time and with the maximum possible examples absolutely everything that is catastrophically wrong in UK academia -- and the reasons for it -- really is quite phenomenal. There should be a league table. 040
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 29/08/2026There's some nice cheese in the fridge I can offer my partner for lunch. Probably with the words 'Whistle and I'll Comté you...' 230
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 29/08/2026Ooh, Spotted Flycatcher in the garden. That's a new addition to my house/garden list. 190
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 26/08/2026Devastated, but incredibly touched at seeing the bereft trying to be all the good things she encouraged and wanted in the world youtu.be/teQr9-3thScyoutu.beDolly Parton ~ "Little Sparrow"YouTube video by CountryQueen4Ever 050
Reposted by Paul CowdellJill Lightner @jilllightner.bsky.social · 25/08/2026Street art in her honor from SE Seattle 766861718
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 24/08/2026Very excited to have picked up a copy of this yesterday, not least because it will finally make me get a new stylus. 0111
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 22/08/2026Through the years, I have learned that there is no harm in charging oneself up with delusions between the moments of valid inspiration -- Steve Martin 011
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 22/08/2026My Argus Armspoundhammers.blogspot.comMy Argus Arms 000
Reposted by Paul CowdellUniversity of Illinois Press @illinoispress.bsky.social · 21/08/2026Folklore Without Borders is a network aiming to embed greater equality, diversity and inclusion within folklore in the United Kingdom. Learn more about it from Matthew Cheeseman & @paulcowdell.bsky.social in JAF: A Global Quarterly 139.552 on @projectmuse.bsky.social: muse.jhu.edu/pub/25/artic... 0123
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 19/08/2026“Museum worker pro tip: if you’d like to know if there’s a bat flying around your galleries, the best way is by simply listening to all the visitors saying: ‘there is a bat flying around the galleries’!” @themerl.bsky.social for the win, as ever. 030
Reposted by Paul CowdellThe Folklore Society @folkloresociety.bsky.social · 18/08/2026📣Enrolment for the next run of our 'History of Folklore' online short course is open!📣 Running from 17 September to 26 November 2026. Details and booking via the link below 0178
Reposted by Paul CowdellWWN @waterfordwhispers.bsky.social · 18/08/2026Daniel O'Donnell Forced Once Again To Deny Part In Biggie & Tupac Killings waterfordwhispersnews.com/2019/11/1… 18024
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 18/08/2026Had to go to Southampton yesterday as my laptop is again up on blocks. Hopefully not terminal (as I'd feared) but interrupted access again. I was struck by the video adverts on the ferry for the local literary festival. They'd be more compelling if they spelled all of their authors' names correctly 010
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 17/08/2026Fancy a short course introducing what folklore is, and how ideas about ‘the folk’ have shaped its study over time? Cos I can point you to a nice one... Lectures by Prof David Hopkin, current president of @folkloresociety.bsky.social, and myself, with me leading the 10 webinars. Details in the linklifelong-learning.ox.ac.ukA History of Folklore - Oxford Lifelong LearningThis course provides an historical introduction to the development of folklore studies in Britain. It will review historical conceptions and approaches to folklore from the seventeenth-century antiqua... 0156
Reposted by Paul CowdellMatt Gabriele @profgabriele.com · 12/08/2026Hi everyone beginning the semester! Just a reminder! 410728
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 06/08/2026A very good issue, that coincidentally also contains the article 'Folklore Without Borders Remains Our Aim' that Matthew Cheeseman and I wrote 042
Paul Cowdell @paulcowdell.bsky.social · 06/08/2026Boring Bob Grover's visionary moment is on loop inside my headyoutu.beThe Piranhas - Fiddling While Babylon BurnsYouTube video by usedrecordsgr 000