Cynthia Cyrus @scholarfarmer.bsky.social · 20hTruth in advertising, though: My service-related work comes and goes in this system – when I’m chairing a committee that needs to put out a report, it might become a line on the tracking list, but otherwise, it just lives in my day-to-day notebook 000
Cynthia Cyrus @scholarfarmer.bsky.social · 20hMy practice may not be as elegant as Trello, but I've found it to be highly adaptable, and I don't have to learn another platform 100
Cynthia Cyrus @scholarfarmer.bsky.social · 20hNote that for individual projects, I use more specialized spreadsheets, including one for managing research bibliographies and reading progress: silencesandsounds.blogspot.com/2025/04/mana...silencesandsounds.blogspot.comManaging Bibliography By SpreadsheetIn this post, I walk through how I structure and use a bibliography spreadsheet—from initial setup to prioritization, assessment strategies,... 100
Cynthia Cyrus @scholarfarmer.bsky.social · 20hI wrote about my system here: silencesandsounds.blogspot.com/2026/08/firs...silencesandsounds.blogspot.comFirst Monday of a New Month: What to Write?The first Monday of a new month is a day of possibilities, a day on which all kinds of streaks can start, a day on which… one wants to wi... 100
Cynthia Cyrus @scholarfarmer.bsky.social · 20hIt's more of a "to-consider" list than a to-do list. (That distinction has been really useful for keeping the long horizon visible without turning every interesting idea into an obligation.) 100
Cynthia Cyrus @scholarfarmer.bsky.social · 20hI never met a spreadsheet I didn’t love, so count me on Team Spreadsheet for the long-range planning. I keep a master list of research/writing projects (including the ones that may never actually happen), with priorities, possible venues, stages of completion, deadlines, and follow-up dates. 100
Reposted by Cynthia Cyrus"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 08/10/2026There's never enough Classics content here so let's talk about a couple of (as I tell my students) 'load-bearing culture words' in Latin and some of their cultural significance: beneficium: a favor, kindness, service officium: a duty, kindness, service & munus: a service, favor, obligation, gift. 432258
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusKathleen E. Kennedy @themedievaldrk.bsky.social · 10/10/2026Many people like to laugh at medieval illuminations of stag-snails, oh those funny medieval artists making up anim... 61203312
Cynthia Cyrus @scholarfarmer.bsky.social · 10/10/2026I spent my morning hiking to St Joseph's and back along the Lake Wobegon trail. Quite pretty! 010
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusKaleb E. Goldschmitt @kgoldschmitt.bsky.social · 10/10/2026What kind of intellectual freedom exists if there is nobody left to understand the basic stakes of research 1115
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusRoss W. Duffin @rosswmd.bsky.social · 09/10/2026In June/July's Choral Journal, I published an article about tuning for choirs. That led to a recent invitation for a wide-ranging discussion with Christopher Munce on his Choralosophy podcast. If you're interested, please check it out. youtu.be/8Iqz9g9YbE8?...youtu.beEpisode 308: It’s Just Intonation After All with Ross W. DuffinYouTube video by Choralosophy Podcast 253
Cynthia Cyrus @scholarfarmer.bsky.social · 09/10/2026Working hard on reframing the scribe's hand as "an opportunity to dwell on the small details" instead of my gut reaction of "devilishly hard to read..." 040
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusAda Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 09/10/2026Wow! Texts are super rare for the Hittites, basically there’s just one archive and it’s 95% lists of prayer sacrifices to mountain gods, so this is really, really exciting! 201618392
Cynthia Cyrus @scholarfarmer.bsky.social · 09/10/2026should I add #HumanMade? So much slop out there. Anyway, go volunteer at your local outdoor thingy, whatever that thingy is. It's rewarding, and you learn a lot! 000
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusAngry People in Local Newspapers @apiln.bsky.social · 08/10/2026Beavers, everybody. Beavers.notesfrompoland.comBeavers destroy sign warning about beavers 2137677
Cynthia Cyrus @scholarfarmer.bsky.social · 09/10/2026I went looking for prairie seeds and mostly photographed flowers. Fortunately, the artists had rather better command of their materials. Seeds, Sculptures, and the Art of Paying Attention: silencesandsounds.blogspot.com #LandArt #Nature #blog #rewilding #prairie 100
Cynthia Cyrus @scholarfarmer.bsky.social · 09/10/2026The secret service woke me up to shake hands with President Jimmy Carter 030
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusSchoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies @sims-mss.bsky.social · 06/10/2026Say hello to BASIRA (Books as Symbols in Renaissance Art): basiraproject.org #medievalsky --------------- Video by Emily Brooks Music by J.D. Porter Narration by Iris Péron-Ames 13523
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusMatt Binder @mattbinder.bsky.social · 07/10/2026the tech industry is about to invent books 574215784209
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusChaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 06/10/2026Banning a booke ys extinguishing a beacon. Banning a booke ys silencinge a thousand voyces speakinge yn the heart. Banning a booke ys refusinge to looke at the stars. Banning a booke ys damming a streame of feelinge and invitinge flood. Banning a booke ys making a violent litel shryne to ignorance. 215449
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusShepherd @neolithicsheep.bsky.social · 06/10/2026Wake up, everybody, new bovine species just dropped.share.googleExtinct ice age bovine discovered in Siberian caveBone fragments show this yak-like animal likely went extinct about 27,000 years ago. 713217
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusSam Bergman @violanorth.bsky.social · 05/10/2026I def don't have all the answers as to why there is such a persistent crisis/lull cycle in US orchestras, but one thing I do know from my 25 years at the high end of that business is that WAY too many execs and board leaders are convinced there is a magic sustainability formula hiding somewhere. 629747
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusIsabelle Marie @isabellemarie.bsky.social · 04/10/2026Nearly 600 Medieval Manuscripts from German Monasteries Now Online. www.medievalists.net/2026/09/600-...medievalists.netNearly 600 Medieval Manuscripts from German Monasteries Now Online - Medievalists.netNearly 600 medieval manuscripts from the German monasteries of Heilsbronn and Sankt Jobst have been digitised and made available to explore online. 014168
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusAndy “voice of Brak” Merrill. 🎅🏻🤡🐒💩 @amerrill2.bsky.social · 03/10/2026I know this station all too well. 1321737
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusU of T Centre for Medieval Studies @uoftcms.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Congratulations to Shannon McSheffrey and Walid A. Saleh, who have been elected Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada. www.medieval.utoronto.ca/news/shannon... 0304
Cynthia Cyrus @scholarfarmer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026I did the same -- three coffees and 8 atomic fireballs (okay. It's my weakness), then suddenly I mentally downshifted. Turns out real food actually matters to my biorhythms. <Huffs in frustration. So unfair!!!> 010
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusFine. I’ll update with a word count when I start writing again. @legalminimum.bsky.social · 30/09/2026In case anyone wasn't clear that all the AI apocalypticism was a smokescreen to cover for wanting to delay their IPOs, here's your most recent proof. Not a gift link because the headline says it all.ft.comSam Altman says OpenAI will delay its IPO until it overcomes safety concernsChatGPT maker launches new AI personal assistant as it faces challenge from Meta’s Muse 48831
Reposted by Cynthia Cyrusgeorgeanne elisabeth @georgeanne.bsky.social · 30/09/2026me writing my first email to admin requesting institutional $$$ for student travel to a conferencestatic.klipy.comAdorable Cat with Big Sad Googly EyesALT: Adorable Cat with Big Sad Googly Eyes 131
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusChaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Measuringe the value of educacioun by returne on ynvestment onlye ys lyke measuringe the value of a garden by the weight of the floweres 7419121
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusSurprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 30/09/2026[looks at personal fiefdom of medieval eel history that runs up to 1938] That's cute. 2836
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusKevin Moorebidity @kevinwmoore.bsky.social · 29/09/2026From this day on 2012: probably the most popular thing I’ve ever drawn. 121804491
Cynthia Cyrus @scholarfarmer.bsky.social · 29/09/2026The Schermerhorn will still host events. But after October 18, the Nashville Symphony’s musicians face an empty calendar. I wrote about the silence ahead, and the hope that this orchestra can return. silencesandsounds.blogspot.com #NashvilleSymphony #ArtsFunding 001
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusDaniel Bellingradt @dbellingradt.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Some do know that live-tweeting at events became a thing in mid-eighteenth century when a certain someone found his trumpet and lost his manners ... #LiveTweetingAtEvents 46314
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusBenjamin Tausig @burrata.bsky.social · 29/09/2026The issue itself came together as a quasi-thematic issue (not a planned special issue) about queer topics in current music scholarship. Five great articles. We wrote the intro reflecting on how rare this is in music studies! Coverage of queer topics is still not at all common in our field. 121
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusBenjamin Tausig @burrata.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Here's the introduction to the new issue of the Journal of Popular Music Studies (JPMS), written by me and my co-editor Dr Alisha Lola Jones: online.ucpress.edu/jpms/article...online.ucpress.eduEditors’ IntroductionAmerica is now in a moment—not its first—where backlash enjoys the full force of political authority. The lines between paramilitary and military, militia and police force, vigilante justice and the l... 1146
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusSleestak @sleestak.bsky.social · 28/09/2026and behold a pale horse. and the name that sat on him was death. and hell followed with him 2859281398
Cynthia Cyrus @scholarfarmer.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Rhetorical, right? But the work does speak for itself, and it is good work. Important work. Work that only you can do. My students love your work. So there's that... 010
Reposted by Cynthia Cyrus🌬Breeze @cool-summer-breeze.bsky.social · 24/09/2026This is the Stolen Neighbors Quilt. Each of the 11,000 squares represents a person taken by ICE in Minnesota. 125123765272
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusKieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 26/09/2026What earlier century had even a presentiment that such productive forces slept in the lap of social labor?centralbylines.co.ukM&S Custard Cream Spread: Britain has completed foodOne jar of M&S Custard Cream Spread has caused us to question civilisation, breakfast, mashed potato and the limits of human restraint 611126
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusRachel Deering @racheldeering.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Hello Saturday. 🐇 A little marginalia. #InternationalRabbitDay 4803190
Cynthia Cyrus @scholarfarmer.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Medieval miracle stories contain some very relatable misery: sore throats, missed work, and the desperate desire to feel useful again. Also: one cantrix gets her voice back just in time. silencesandsounds.blogspot.com #nuntastic #monasticlife #Catholic #medievalsky 181
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusMusicology Duck @musicologyduck.bsky.social · 23/09/2026nurse giving me my flu shot: “be sure to move your arms around a lot and that will help you not get sore” *looks at me for a minute* “typing doesn’t count” 178737
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusSouthern Minnesota Museum of Natural History @smmnh.bsky.social · 22/09/2026450 million years ago the majority of life in the oceans had soft bodies that did not fossilize very well. Their fossilized remains often appear as blurry stains upon a rock, but now and then a specimen is found with a well preserved body part, like this strange marrelomorph. 23710114
Reposted by Cynthia Cyrussarah jeong @sarahjeong.bsky.social · 22/09/2026lol my flight got diverted because of a medical emergency and they landed us in reykjavik in the middle of the night and deplaned us and sent us through passport control and then the crew vanished and then british airways sent us links to book an overnight hotel room but for a hotel at heathrow 21488331166
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusArt Herstory @artherstory.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Claudia del Bufalo Identified as Painter in Murder Trial, Not Noblewoman by Sarah Mitchell for USA Art News usaartnews.com/news/claudia... #womenartists #artherstoryusaartnews.comClaudia del Bufalo Identified as Painter in Murder Trial, Not NoblewomanNew research uncovers 17th-century painter Claudia del Bufalo's life as a poet and impresario, implicated in a murder trial in Rome. 0176
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusJohn Scalzi @scalzi.com · 22/09/2026Apropos to discussions today, a piece I wrote in 2017 -- the "before times" here on Bluesky -- about how the Brain Eater comes for (some, not all) writers and other creatives, and what happens then. whatever.scalzi.com/2017/05/03/t...whatever.scalzi.comThe Brain EaterSo, let’s say, there’s this writer. (It doesn’t have to be a writer. It could be a musician, or painter, or actor, any aspirant in any creative or indeed competitive field, in whi… 927139
Reposted by Cynthia CyrusDr Craig Barker @drcraigb.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Apparently episode one was first broadcast on the BBC 50 years ago today. Still one of the most remarkable television dramas ever. I Claudius 2032694
Cynthia Cyrus @scholarfarmer.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Reading is research. Reading is important. Reading can also be an extremely sophisticated way of avoiding writing. A few thoughts on reading with a job to do — including that crucial scholarly skill of knowing when to STOP. silencesandsounds.blogspot.com #AcademicWriting #Scholarship 041