Liz Schirmer
@bertilak.bsky.social
Medievalist, teacher, reluctant administrator; queer solo parent by choice; desert dweller, ocean lover; piersplowman.org
Tomorrow/Friday - join us!!
June 25, 2026 at 9:29 PM
Tomorrow/Friday - join us!!
Reposted by Liz Schirmer
I will believe a university actually understands how to adapt to the AI moment if and only if said university actually increases funding for writing classes.
And not just the gen ed stuff--specialized ones for helping researchers write actually readable papers, with or without the goddamn AI.
And not just the gen ed stuff--specialized ones for helping researchers write actually readable papers, with or without the goddamn AI.
June 9, 2026 at 11:42 AM
I will believe a university actually understands how to adapt to the AI moment if and only if said university actually increases funding for writing classes.
And not just the gen ed stuff--specialized ones for helping researchers write actually readable papers, with or without the goddamn AI.
And not just the gen ed stuff--specialized ones for helping researchers write actually readable papers, with or without the goddamn AI.
Reposted by Liz Schirmer
No joke, it would be cheaper to pay every coal miner $5m every year to not mine coal. There are only 40,000 coal miners, while the coal industry produces >$500 billion in external costs every year, including by routinely burning coal just to burn it despite it costing more ("uneconomic dispatch").
President Donald Trump is preparing to use Cold War-era authorities to dole hundreds of millions of federal dollars to support coal-fired electricity as well as US exports of the fossil fuel
Trump Plans $700 Million Push to Build Coal Plants, Export Site
President Donald Trump is preparing to use Cold War-era authorities to dole hundreds of millions of federal dollars to support coal-fired electricity as well as US exports of the fossil fuel.
bloom.bg
June 4, 2026 at 12:51 PM
No joke, it would be cheaper to pay every coal miner $5m every year to not mine coal. There are only 40,000 coal miners, while the coal industry produces >$500 billion in external costs every year, including by routinely burning coal just to burn it despite it costing more ("uneconomic dispatch").
Reposted by Liz Schirmer
the serious answer is that we need a wholesale recommitment on the left to public higher education as a high quality low/no cost public good rather than a jobs training licensing agency.
I do not anticipate this happening.
I do not anticipate this happening.
What can be done to stop this from continuing to be an evergreen post I wonder
March 27, 2026 at 1:56 PM
the serious answer is that we need a wholesale recommitment on the left to public higher education as a high quality low/no cost public good rather than a jobs training licensing agency.
I do not anticipate this happening.
I do not anticipate this happening.
Reposted by Liz Schirmer
Democratic consultants: To replicate Mamdani’s success with the young people we must appeal to their short attention spans with memes and TikTok
Mamdani (actual quote): In the fifth century in what we now know as Ireland, a British warlord named Coroticus had laid waste to the countryside
Mamdani (actual quote): In the fifth century in what we now know as Ireland, a British warlord named Coroticus had laid waste to the countryside
March 18, 2026 at 6:38 PM
Democratic consultants: To replicate Mamdani’s success with the young people we must appeal to their short attention spans with memes and TikTok
Mamdani (actual quote): In the fifth century in what we now know as Ireland, a British warlord named Coroticus had laid waste to the countryside
Mamdani (actual quote): In the fifth century in what we now know as Ireland, a British warlord named Coroticus had laid waste to the countryside
Reposted by Liz Schirmer
Medievalist friends! Applications are open until end of Feb for a fully-funded PhD in Arthurian Literature with the brilliant Louise D'Arcens @medievalafterlives.bsky.social and myself, based between Sydney (Australia) and Groningen (The Netherlands).
Please share widely!
tinyurl.com/f7su6urv
Please share widely!
tinyurl.com/f7su6urv
Global PhD on Middle English Arthurian romance
The University of Groningen and Macquarie are offering a co-funded scholarship to support a student undertaking doctoral research in medieval literature.
tinyurl.com
December 18, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Medievalist friends! Applications are open until end of Feb for a fully-funded PhD in Arthurian Literature with the brilliant Louise D'Arcens @medievalafterlives.bsky.social and myself, based between Sydney (Australia) and Groningen (The Netherlands).
Please share widely!
tinyurl.com/f7su6urv
Please share widely!
tinyurl.com/f7su6urv
Come join us, Friday the 13th!
February 7, 2026 at 12:57 AM
Come join us, Friday the 13th!
Reposted by Liz Schirmer
I realise I'm just a freak, but living in a multicultural city is the best thing of all time, it's just the best possible human experience and i can not understand why anyone on earth would be like "weve got to destroy this"
January 17, 2026 at 4:28 AM
I realise I'm just a freak, but living in a multicultural city is the best thing of all time, it's just the best possible human experience and i can not understand why anyone on earth would be like "weve got to destroy this"
Maybe they think white people in the South won’t stand up for their neighbors. I think they’re wrong. #charlotte
November 16, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Maybe they think white people in the South won’t stand up for their neighbors. I think they’re wrong. #charlotte
Reposted by Liz Schirmer
Jupiter says trans rights
🔭 Jupiter in Ultraviolet from Hubble
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing & License: Judy Schmidt
star.ucl.ac.uk/~apod/apod/a...
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing & License: Judy Schmidt
star.ucl.ac.uk/~apod/apod/a...
November 11, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Jupiter says trans rights
This Friday - join us!
November 10, 2025 at 6:18 PM
This Friday - join us!
Reposted by Liz Schirmer
160 faculty from all 5 UC law schools signed this open letter detailing why the Trump demands to UCLA are unlawful, unconstitutional, and wrong: sites.google.com/view/uclawfa... Great to work with @fishkin.bsky.social @blakeprof.bsky.social @seanashiffrin.bsky.social on this statement.
Home
UC Law Faculty to Regents: Resist the Unlawful Demands
sites.google.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:05 PM
160 faculty from all 5 UC law schools signed this open letter detailing why the Trump demands to UCLA are unlawful, unconstitutional, and wrong: sites.google.com/view/uclawfa... Great to work with @fishkin.bsky.social @blakeprof.bsky.social @seanashiffrin.bsky.social on this statement.
Convo w bff 6 months ago: our institutions are huge and pretty entrenched, and I suspect they won’t be that easy to dismantle
Convo w bff today: at this point I want to be in a blue state when the war breaks out
Convo w bff today: at this point I want to be in a blue state when the war breaks out
October 9, 2025 at 12:36 AM
Convo w bff 6 months ago: our institutions are huge and pretty entrenched, and I suspect they won’t be that easy to dismantle
Convo w bff today: at this point I want to be in a blue state when the war breaks out
Convo w bff today: at this point I want to be in a blue state when the war breaks out
Reposted by Liz Schirmer
The summer has seen anti-trans campaigns across the UK and US, alongside a crisis in healthcare. But what use could trans history have in these time, beyond proving 'we have always been here'?
Sam Rutherford @echomikeromeo reflects on Imagining Trans Futures:
www.historyworkshop....
Sam Rutherford @echomikeromeo reflects on Imagining Trans Futures:
www.historyworkshop....
September 23, 2025 at 5:32 AM
The summer has seen anti-trans campaigns across the UK and US, alongside a crisis in healthcare. But what use could trans history have in these time, beyond proving 'we have always been here'?
Sam Rutherford @echomikeromeo reflects on Imagining Trans Futures:
www.historyworkshop....
Sam Rutherford @echomikeromeo reflects on Imagining Trans Futures:
www.historyworkshop....
Reposted by Liz Schirmer
“We have a right to know the charges against us, to know who has made the charges and to review them and defend ourselves,” they said. “But none of that has happened, which is why we’re in Kafka-land … It is an enormous breach of trust.”
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
UC Berkeley shares 160 names with Trump administration in ‘McCarthy era’ move
Prominent professor Judith Butler among students and faculty investigated for ‘alleged antisemitic incidents’
www.theguardian.com
September 12, 2025 at 11:50 PM
“We have a right to know the charges against us, to know who has made the charges and to review them and defend ourselves,” they said. “But none of that has happened, which is why we’re in Kafka-land … It is an enormous breach of trust.”
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Liz Schirmer
go go go!
PhD student union at Emory just ratified our first contract (and first union contract at Emory, first PhD union contract in Georgia). It's got some good stuff, but also I'm just very happy to be done bargaining!
September 13, 2025 at 12:22 AM
go go go!
Today! Please note time: 12:30 ET (not 1:30).
September 12, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Today! Please note time: 12:30 ET (not 1:30).
Can we get some professional assessment of signatures on all those batshit executive orders? Pls and ty.
September 10, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Can we get some professional assessment of signatures on all those batshit executive orders? Pls and ty.
Friday - join us!
September 10, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Friday - join us!
Reposted by Liz Schirmer
“It’s not tht traditional liberal learning is out of step w student demand. Instead, it’s out of step w priorities, values & desires of a powerful board of trustees… & an administrative class tht won’t fight for the liberal arts… even when it attracts major $$ gifts”
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/o...
Opinion | This Is Who’s Really Driving the Decline in Interest in Liberal Arts Education
Students want to study the humanities and liberal arts. But university administrators keep getting in the way.
www.nytimes.com
September 6, 2025 at 9:15 PM
“It’s not tht traditional liberal learning is out of step w student demand. Instead, it’s out of step w priorities, values & desires of a powerful board of trustees… & an administrative class tht won’t fight for the liberal arts… even when it attracts major $$ gifts”
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/o...
Tony is a local hero, having rescued two small children from drowning in the Rio Grande. He lives at Camp Hope, where he can keep his dogs and focus on sobriety while working landscaping jobs. Help Tony and other move to stable housing: tentstorents.org.
August 29, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Tony is a local hero, having rescued two small children from drowning in the Rio Grande. He lives at Camp Hope, where he can keep his dogs and focus on sobriety while working landscaping jobs. Help Tony and other move to stable housing: tentstorents.org.