iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Justin Guarini fans after Kelly Clarkson’s rendition of “Respect” during the finale of American Idol’s first season:

“NEW YORK [MAGAZINE]
STREET FIGHTS
'Kelly Clarkson Has Put Us in Danger'
By Adriane Quinlan
Oct. 13, 2026, 2:55 PM EDT”

Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Twenty-eight years ago today, after sustaining a vicious antigay assault, Matt Shepard succumbed to his injuries in a Colorado hospital. He should still be with us, as should so many other LGBTQ+ people lost not only to sudden, brutal attacks like this one, but also to the slow violence of hatred.

A photograph of Matthew Shepard in a sweater standing beside a window.

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

From an excellent student essay in my Mass Incarceration class. I know that’s right! 🗃️

“LONG ESSAY
MODERN AMERICAN CAPITALISM HAS BEEN DEEPLY INTERTWINED WITH SYSTEMS OF CRIMINAL PUNISHMENT.
THESE SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN TOOLS FOR REGULATING LABOR, ENFORCING HIERARCHIES, AND PROTECTING THE INTERESTS OF CAPITAL. OVERALL CRIMINAL PUNISHMENT HAS BEEN USED FOR DISCIPLINING LABOR, CONTROLLING MARGINALIZED POPULATIONS AND EXPLOITING WORKERS TO BENEFIT CAPITAL.
HILLYER DETAILS THE USE OF
CONVICT LEASING AND CHAIN GANGS
TO SUPPLY CHEAP LABOR. THIS ALLOWED CAPITAL TO REPLACE SLAVE LABOR WITH A NEW FORM…”

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

The power’s out, and our generator is on the fritz. But otherwise Isaias hasn’t been too bad thus far. We’ll see you all on the other side!

Gumbo, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a bonafide baby, with his little tongue sticking out.

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

One of my students is going to see beabadoobee in concert next week, and she was surprised to learn that I listened to her music.

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I know some folks who could be very competitive for this position.

PROFESSOR OF DRAMA
APPLICATION DEADLINE: October 27, 2026
POST DATE: SEPTEMBER 29, 2026
POSITION TYPE: TENURED

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Thank you, @nytimes.com, but I haven’t given up just yet.

“The New York Times
The Morning: How to die”

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Today in my US since 1965 grad class, we discussed Michelle Adams’s magisterial book THE CONTAINMENT, the myth of southern exceptionalism, the rise of “colorblind” racism, and the differences between trade and university presses. A rich, wide-ranging conversation, as always.🗃️

The cover of Michelle Adams’s 2025 FSG book THE CONTAINMENT: DETROIT, THE SUPREME COURT, AND THE BATTLE FOR RACIAL JUSTICE IN THE NORTH.

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Here's the flyer for my senior seminar this coming spring. 🗃️

A flyer for "The United States since 1968" featuring a photograph of Bill Clinton and Al Gore in jogging attire and holding McDonald's cups. The rest of the text on the flyer reads: "Senior Seminar; HIS 4935-1; Professor Paul Renfro; Spring 2027; Wednesdays, 3–5:45 p.m."

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Congrats, @micalraz.bsky.social! This looks great. uncpress.org/978146969468... 🗃️

The cover of Mical Raz’s new book BREAKING FAMILIES, MAKING FAMILIES: ADOPTION AND CHILD WELFARE IN THE 1990s (UNC Press, 2026).

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Oh, get fucked, @wsj.com. Now and forever. 🗃️

A fatuous WSJ editorial titled “The Ph.D. Job Crisis Is a Needed Market Correction.” The dek reads:
“Universities will produce fewer underemployed, overcredentialed and aggrieved young people.”

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Typical Saturday morning formation. (Go Hawks.)

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Got my flu shot and my 5G COVID booster. (Go Hawks.)

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Today, we talked about penal modernization in Florida during the civil rights era. We spent a lot of time discussing regional dynamics within and beyond Florida. (“The further north you go, the further South you get,” as they say.) Another great conversation with a great group of young people. 🗃️

The cover of Heather Schoenfeld’s 2018 book BUILDING THE PRISON STATE: RACE & THE POLITICS OF MASS INCARCERATION.

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Today in my Mass Incarceration class, we discussed a chapter from Naomi Murakawa’s brilliant book THE FIRST CIVIL RIGHT. We talked about regional imaginaries, “legitimate” vs. “illegitimate” violence, and the paradoxes of “liberal law and order.” 🗃️

The cover of Naomi Murakawa’s 2014 book THE FIRST CIVIL RIGHT: HOW LIBERALS BUILT PRISON AMERICA.

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

For some odd reason, the entertainment system on my 2016 Subaru Outback thinks that the eminent legal scholar Michelle Adams and Michelle Williams (of Destiny’s Child fame) are the same person.

“Bluetooth Audio: Michelle Adams, Chapter 6: Democracy’s Finest Hour, THE CONTAINMENT,” accompanied by a photo of Destiny’s Child’s Michelle Williams.

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

1992 Large Neighborhood of the Year, babyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

A Leon County, Florida, plaque designating Woodgate as:

1992 Large Neighborhood of the Year, 1993 CONA Neighborhood of the Year, 2011 City of Tallahassee Large Neighborhood of the Year, and 2020 City of Tallahassee Best
Neighborhood Program Award (Social Improvement)

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Lectured about the New Deal and Huey Long today, so you know I had to show the students a picture of my firstborn son Huey (and his namesake)

Paul Renfro with a young Huey; Huey Long himself; and a flyer from the Share Our Wealth campaign.

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The long shadow of Dick Cheney.

“<
Dick Cheney (1941-2025) V
• • •
Jon Kyl, Senator Known for His Skills Behind the Scenes,
Dies at 84
The Arizona politician rose to the second-highest position in the Republican-held Senate caucus thanks to his policy smarts and deft political sensibilities.”

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I’ve neglected to update you all on what’s happening in my US since 1965 grad course! Today we discussed Jesse Montgomery’s IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO SURVIVE and @profceciliam.bsky.social’s MAKING THE LATINO SOUTH—both tremendous books that sparked a wide-ranging and lively conversation. 🗃️

The cover of Jesse Montgomery’s IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO SURVIVE.

The cover of Cecilia Márquez’s MAKING THE LATINO SOUTH.

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Reading about the author of the anti-Obama screed “Where’s the Birth Certificate?” (2011) for some reason, and he definitely looks like I thought he might look.

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Winslow Homer’s a little fruity for this one.

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Two Matisses, a Picasso, and a Klee from the Museum Berggruen exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.

Henri Matisse, “In the Studio in Nice” (1929)

Henri Matisse, “Woman in a Purple Coat” (1937)

Paul Klee, “Architecture of the Plain” (1923)

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

PR’s still setting PRs at the age of thirty-nine.

“A cheeky, humid 5K through the hellscape of suburban Houston”

“PR: Your fastest mile in 2026!”

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

BREAKING: MEDIOCRE GAY LEFTIST History Professor Enters Final Year of His Thirties, Gets Mauled By Cavalier King Charles Spaniels

Paul Renfro getting mauled by Cavalier King Charles Spaniels on a fabulous chinoiserie sofa.

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Just submitted this to my editor and agent. More soon! 🗃️

"Those Fearful Days: Murder, Race, and Power in the Post-Civil Rights South," by Paul Renfro (Liveright/W. W. Norton & Company), September 2026.

"This is a rough draft. Please do not circulate without permission from the author."

Word Count:

Statistics:
Pages: 416
Words: 132,800
Characters (no spaces): 706,218
Characters (with spaces): 837,208
Paragraphs: 1,965
Lines: 9,872

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Today, we read a chapter from Lisa McGirr’s THE WAR ON ALCOHOL and discussed US state-building, carceral capacity, and the intersections between alcohol prohibition and the long war on drugs. We also talked about FSU’s strange, strange loss to the Ponies last night. 🗃️

The cover of Lisa McGirr’s book THE WAR ON ALCOHOL: PROHIBITION AND THE RISE OF THE AMERICAN STATE.

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Devilishly active this morning.

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Homemade ‘za courtesy of my gay husband.

A Margherita pizza with basil on a metal pizza paddle.

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

A teeny, tiny, precious, innocent, perfect, angelic, literal baby.

A Cavalier King Charles Spaniel sitting on a couch.

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I love assigning and discussing “If Men Could Menstruate” (October 1978), particularly in my large US survey class. In some ways, it’s aged very well. In other ways, it’s aged very poorly. The same could be said for the brand of feminist politics that Steinem embodied. RIP. 🗃️

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

In my Mass Incarceration class today, we discussed two chapters from Eva Payne’s book EMPIRE OF PURITY. Our conversation focused on Payne’s concept of “American sexual exceptionalism” and the frame of “sex exceptionalism” in critical legal studies. 🗃️

The cover of Eva Payne’s book EMPIRE OF PURITY: THE HISTORY OF AMERICANS’ GLOBAL WAR ON PROSTITUTION.

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Still a long, long way to go, but I just completed a draft of THOSE FEARFUL DAYS: MURDER, RACE, AND POWER IN THE POST-CIVIL RIGHTS SOUTH. Watch this space! 🗃️

Word Count
Statistics:
Pages: 439
Words: 138,184
Characters (no spaces): 737,424
Characters (with spaces): 873,660
Paragraphs: 2,765
Lines: 10,634
(Includes footnotes and endnotes)

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Today in my Mass Incarceration class, we discussed a chapter from Kelly Lytle Hernández’s excellent book CITY OF INMATES. Students immediately made connections between the 1892 Geary Act and today’s crimmigration system. 🗃️

The cover of Kelly Lytle Hernández’s CITY OF INMATES: CONQUEST, REBELLION, AND THE RISE OF HUMAN CAGING IN LOS ANGELES, 1771–1965 (UNC Press, 2017).

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Paul Renfro @renfro.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Had a wonderful first meeting of my grad class this afternoon. The students and I discussed Brandon Terry's magnificent SHATTERED DREAMS, INFINITE HOPE alongside Jackie Hall's OAH presidential address (published in the March 2005 JAH) and Cha-Jua and Lang's "The 'Long Movement' as Vampire." 🗃️

The cover of Brandon M. Terry's SHATTERED DREAMS, INFINITE HOPE: A TRAGIC VISION OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, which features an image of the MLK Memorial in DC.

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