Dr. Syntax
@drsyntax.bsky.social
Scholar & Writer. Professing 18th & 19th c. literature, Romanticism, disability, book history, bookbinding, and comics.
PhD @PennEnglish https://www.coloradocollege.edu/basics/contact/directory/people/richman_jared_s.html
PhD @PennEnglish https://www.coloradocollege.edu/basics/contact/directory/people/richman_jared_s.html
What is it about the academics/former academics who write for The Atlantic? Why do they hate colleges so much?
September 18, 2026 at 2:48 AM
What is it about the academics/former academics who write for The Atlantic? Why do they hate colleges so much?
Wait, this isn't an Onion headline?
Maybe the most important political story of our time. People just want the bullshit to stop.
71% of Americans Say They're Completely Exhausted
A CDC report shows that people are not feeling relaxed and restful in the United States.
gizmodo.com
September 18, 2026 at 12:57 AM
Wait, this isn't an Onion headline?
Shout it from the rooftops.
Opinion | Higher Ed’s Middle-Manager Problem
It’s time to get serious about administrative bloat.
www.chronicle.com
September 17, 2026 at 12:26 PM
Shout it from the rooftops.
Susan Stewart, _On Longing_
Can anyone recommend me really good collections of essays? Any topic. I need to do some training by reading brilliant examples of the form.
September 17, 2026 at 12:39 AM
Susan Stewart, _On Longing_
God help me for asking this question: but can anyone point me to work concerning Jane Austen and artificial intelligence? More broadly towards Austen and (what we used to call) digital humanities? Something like Janine Barchas's work on _Emma_ ("Very Austen")? Thanks in advance!
September 16, 2026 at 7:29 PM
God help me for asking this question: but can anyone point me to work concerning Jane Austen and artificial intelligence? More broadly towards Austen and (what we used to call) digital humanities? Something like Janine Barchas's work on _Emma_ ("Very Austen")? Thanks in advance!
Sad news. But so grateful for her writing, which I discovered as a college student. Thank for your words, Annie Dillard.
Annie Dillard, Meditative Author of ‘Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,’ Dies at 81 (Gift Article)
Her Thoreau-like account of journeys in the woods, published when she was 28, was the first of many ruminations on life and nature, good and evil.
www.nytimes.com
September 16, 2026 at 4:06 PM
Sad news. But so grateful for her writing, which I discovered as a college student. Thank for your words, Annie Dillard.
So I guess I'm sick. Cancelled meetings for the day. Will try to work on admin tasks/writing. But if that doesn't work, what's a comfort TV show you recommend? Old is fine!
September 15, 2026 at 2:10 PM
So I guess I'm sick. Cancelled meetings for the day. Will try to work on admin tasks/writing. But if that doesn't work, what's a comfort TV show you recommend? Old is fine!
I feel this deeply. Solidarity! 👊
These are the days where I want to run away from my job and become a pirate. Or a clown. Or, frankly anything but chair. Sigh.
September 15, 2026 at 1:42 PM
I feel this deeply. Solidarity! 👊
This is Bess. She refuses to be grateful to a feckless Supreme Court for doing the absolute bare minimum of its job. She’s grateful for sticks.
September 15, 2026 at 12:21 AM
This is Bess. She refuses to be grateful to a feckless Supreme Court for doing the absolute bare minimum of its job. She’s grateful for sticks.
#Heineken, if you’re listening, I would welcome your corporate sponsorship. How does the Heineken Professorship in Romantic Literature sound? Hit me up!
Heineken Lager - Wordsworth - I walked about a bit on my own...
YouTube video by Adstudies - Beers
m.youtube.com
September 14, 2026 at 7:05 PM
#Heineken, if you’re listening, I would welcome your corporate sponsorship. How does the Heineken Professorship in Romantic Literature sound? Hit me up!
Department chair again.
September 14, 2026 at 1:11 AM
Department chair again.
Why is the Trader Joe’s parking lot absolutely the seventh level of hell?
September 13, 2026 at 6:10 PM
Why is the Trader Joe’s parking lot absolutely the seventh level of hell?
It's very easy to get distracted. I'm working hard to focus on that which I care most about, that which will actually make a difference in my own life and for those that matter to me.
But it's a struggle.
But it's a struggle.
September 13, 2026 at 1:48 PM
It's very easy to get distracted. I'm working hard to focus on that which I care most about, that which will actually make a difference in my own life and for those that matter to me.
But it's a struggle.
But it's a struggle.
Make a band edible:
The Rolling Scones
The Rolling Scones
Nine Inch Snails
The Food Fighters (of course)
September 12, 2026 at 2:53 AM
Make a band edible:
The Rolling Scones
The Rolling Scones
Reposted by Dr. Syntax
SLUBBER, v.t.
To do lazily, imperfectly or coarsely; to daub; to stain; to cover carelessly. [Little used and vulgar.]
webstersdictionaryonline.com/1828/jz/01596
To do lazily, imperfectly or coarsely; to daub; to stain; to cover carelessly. [Little used and vulgar.]
webstersdictionaryonline.com/1828/jz/01596
September 11, 2026 at 2:15 PM
SLUBBER, v.t.
To do lazily, imperfectly or coarsely; to daub; to stain; to cover carelessly. [Little used and vulgar.]
webstersdictionaryonline.com/1828/jz/01596
To do lazily, imperfectly or coarsely; to daub; to stain; to cover carelessly. [Little used and vulgar.]
webstersdictionaryonline.com/1828/jz/01596
Twenty-five years ago I was sitting in my first graduate seminar. Jean-Michel Rabate read a paper he'd written on Protagoras while my first-year cohort wondered what the hell was going on.
September 11, 2026 at 1:15 PM
Twenty-five years ago I was sitting in my first graduate seminar. Jean-Michel Rabate read a paper he'd written on Protagoras while my first-year cohort wondered what the hell was going on.
Absolutely heartbreaking. If you've ever spent any time with your children in the hospital this will resonate.
After a Difficult Loss, Nigeria Has Become a Source of Pain for Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Adichie has moved countless readers with her novels about Nigerians at home and abroad. After the death in Lagos of her toddler son, her homeland no longer feels as much like home.
www.nytimes.com
September 10, 2026 at 9:27 PM
Absolutely heartbreaking. If you've ever spent any time with your children in the hospital this will resonate.
I made sure to do a hard workout this morning, because I just got both the flu and the Covid vaccines. Tomorrow's gonna be a blast, y'all.
Hornet in Hollow Knight Silksong
ALT: Hornet in Hollow Knight Silksong
static.klipy.com
September 10, 2026 at 7:02 PM
I made sure to do a hard workout this morning, because I just got both the flu and the Covid vaccines. Tomorrow's gonna be a blast, y'all.
We really are at the end of privacy.
September 10, 2026 at 6:15 PM
We really are at the end of privacy.
Reposted by Dr. Syntax
#OTD 10 Sept. 1797: death of #MaryWollstonecraft, wife of philosophical anarchist #WilliamGodwin; mother of #MaryShelley, author of Frankenstein; pioneering advocate of women's rights; citizen of the world. She lives on in her writings.
New Post: Mary Wollstonecraft in the Idler
This piece by Pamela Clemit was first published in the Idler, No. 54 (May-June 2017), 83-9: Quite Contrary: Mary Wollstonecraft Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) thought that a woman’s place was in t…
pamelaclemit.wordpress.com
September 10, 2026 at 9:30 AM
#OTD 10 Sept. 1797: death of #MaryWollstonecraft, wife of philosophical anarchist #WilliamGodwin; mother of #MaryShelley, author of Frankenstein; pioneering advocate of women's rights; citizen of the world. She lives on in her writings.
One of the better analogies, responses. See also: "oh, when I retire I'm going to teach college courses/write books" as if all you need is free time to do these things.
I sometimes talk to folks about archival research and say that visitors will tell me "Oh, I love to read! I wish I could come sit here all day and do research." But that's the same as saying to a marine biologist "Oh, I love to swim! I'd love to do your job." Which ofc one would never do. 1/2
September 9, 2026 at 9:43 PM
One of the better analogies, responses. See also: "oh, when I retire I'm going to teach college courses/write books" as if all you need is free time to do these things.