Christopher Patton
@artofcompost.bsky.social
Poetry + vispo, printing history + paleography, a little of this + a little of that. Angered + activated by the slide of my birth country toward dictatorship. http://artofcompost.ca.
Another from Horsetail Rhizome, written for Gaspereau Press about Dumuzi, my 2020 book of poems, on the presenthood of myth & the happenstances of poetic form.
artofcompost.ca/2025/07/30/1...
artofcompost.ca/2025/07/30/1...
1. A plague-year reader
Another from Horsetail Rhizome. I wrote it about Dumuzi, my 2020 book of poems, for a reader Gaspereau Press made in lieu of the in-person promotions – launches & tours & the like – that ha…
artofcompost.ca
July 30, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Another from Horsetail Rhizome, written for Gaspereau Press about Dumuzi, my 2020 book of poems, on the presenthood of myth & the happenstances of poetic form.
artofcompost.ca/2025/07/30/1...
artofcompost.ca/2025/07/30/1...
The first part of Typographia, a digital exhibition on the typography of the early modern page, is now live at an interweb near you.
Typographia I Asterisk
In the summer of 2022, as Guest Curator at the Centre for Renaissance & Reformation Studies, I curated a small physical exhibition of handpress-printed books, Typographia, exploring six distinctive glyphs found on the early modern page. I also began a digital version of Typographia, coding it on Twine, an open-source platform for interactive, non-linear games. The first part, on the history…
artofcompost.ca
June 19, 2025 at 7:57 PM
The first part of Typographia, a digital exhibition on the typography of the early modern page, is now live at an interweb near you.
So sad. But he and his wife are still close. At least he has that.
Trump looking absolutely inconsolable at his fascist-themed 79th birthday party which no one turned up to other than those who had to because he's their boss.
June 14, 2025 at 11:42 PM
So sad. But he and his wife are still close. At least he has that.
Dress rehearsal for a coup, with Stephen Miller as stage manager. Here's an excellent statement of his aesthetics.
Moran should be applauded, not suspended, for seeing and saying it, so more of the rest of us can see it, and say it.
Moran should be applauded, not suspended, for seeing and saying it, so more of the rest of us can see it, and say it.
Breaking: ABC News says senior national correspondent Terry Moran "has been suspended pending further evaluation." This since-deleted tweet is the reason for the suspension:
June 9, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Dress rehearsal for a coup, with Stephen Miller as stage manager. Here's an excellent statement of his aesthetics.
Moran should be applauded, not suspended, for seeing and saying it, so more of the rest of us can see it, and say it.
Moran should be applauded, not suspended, for seeing and saying it, so more of the rest of us can see it, and say it.
An excerpt from my forthcoming book, Horsetail Rhizome.
0. Horsetail rhizome
In high school I was called by one boy, he’s a family doctor now, and also, thanks to a low charisma you often see in autocrats in the news, by many others there, Horse.
artofcompost.ca
June 8, 2025 at 3:41 PM
An excerpt from my forthcoming book, Horsetail Rhizome.
Generative AI is the cognitive equivalent of high fructose corn syrup. Forget the printing press, forget the steam engine. High fructose corn syrup. By the time we have a name for the cognitive diabetes we're courting, it'll be too late to reverse it.
May 17, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Generative AI is the cognitive equivalent of high fructose corn syrup. Forget the printing press, forget the steam engine. High fructose corn syrup. By the time we have a name for the cognitive diabetes we're courting, it'll be too late to reverse it.
Derailed tonight from grading and documenting to write this. I guess this is what Mother's Day means to me these days.
A message to my students
I was derailed tonight from grading and documenting to write this. I guess this is what Mother's Day means to me these days. My friends. I need to share with you that I am appalled by how much cheating there has been in this class. The bond between teacher and student is a creative and intellectual friendship that depends absolutely on trust.
artofcompost.ca
May 11, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Derailed tonight from grading and documenting to write this. I guess this is what Mother's Day means to me these days.
Watch PM Mark Carney quote Shakespeare in silent answer to Trump's "never say never." And King Lear no less (V.3.372)! A grandiose senescent tyrant on his way out.
youtu.be/8yDo49k0JAg?...
youtu.be/8yDo49k0JAg?...
WATCH: Carney's response to Trump saying "never say never" to 51st state
YouTube video by Toronto Sun
youtu.be
May 6, 2025 at 11:39 PM
Watch PM Mark Carney quote Shakespeare in silent answer to Trump's "never say never." And King Lear no less (V.3.372)! A grandiose senescent tyrant on his way out.
youtu.be/8yDo49k0JAg?...
youtu.be/8yDo49k0JAg?...
Americans in Toronto! Protect your vote! The votes of millions of others! Here's a small but real thing we can do to fight the tyranny taking shape in our home country.
www.democratsabroad.org/juliabuchana...
www.democratsabroad.org/juliabuchana...
Save Our Votes From Abroad! Rally and March-Toronto
Democrats Abroad strives to provide Americans abroad a Democratic voice in our government and elect Democratic candidates by mobilizing the overseas vote.
www.democratsabroad.org
April 15, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Americans in Toronto! Protect your vote! The votes of millions of others! Here's a small but real thing we can do to fight the tyranny taking shape in our home country.
www.democratsabroad.org/juliabuchana...
www.democratsabroad.org/juliabuchana...
The slope gets slipperier. We need mass action, millions in the streets, general strike, every nonviolent action in the arsenal.
youtu.be/Cs32oUJPXWU?...
youtu.be/Cs32oUJPXWU?...
WATCH: Trump ‘simply floated’ idea of deporting U.S. citizens, White House’s Leavitt says
YouTube video by PBS NewsHour
youtu.be
April 9, 2025 at 2:27 PM
The slope gets slipperier. We need mass action, millions in the streets, general strike, every nonviolent action in the arsenal.
youtu.be/Cs32oUJPXWU?...
youtu.be/Cs32oUJPXWU?...
Love letters to the oligarchs
A day after the national and global Hands Off protests – we were maybe 300 in Toronto – all the honks & waves & shouts in support were especially gratifying – I got round to writing these love letters.
A day after the national and global Hands Off protests – we were maybe 300 in Toronto – all the honks & waves & shouts in support were especially gratifying – I got round to writing these love letters.
Love letters to the oligarchs
A day after the national and global Hands Off protests – we were maybe 300 in Toronto – all the honks & waves & shouts in support were especially gratifying – I got round to writing these love letters.
artofcompost.ca
April 6, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Love letters to the oligarchs
A day after the national and global Hands Off protests – we were maybe 300 in Toronto – all the honks & waves & shouts in support were especially gratifying – I got round to writing these love letters.
A day after the national and global Hands Off protests – we were maybe 300 in Toronto – all the honks & waves & shouts in support were especially gratifying – I got round to writing these love letters.
Prepped and pumped for tomorrow's rally with Democrats Abroad Toronto. We're meeting at 1:30 pm at 361 University Avenue – across the street from the US Consulate – if you're in TO and would like to join us.
April 4, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Prepped and pumped for tomorrow's rally with Democrats Abroad Toronto. We're meeting at 1:30 pm at 361 University Avenue – across the street from the US Consulate – if you're in TO and would like to join us.
Never before in the history of this nation have so many self-serving cowards banded together united in their resolve to not do anything risky when their country called on them in its hour of need.
www.politico.com/news/2025/03...
www.politico.com/news/2025/03...
White House Correspondents’ Association cancels comedian headliner for annual dinner
The group's board unanimously decided it would no longer feature a comedic performance, WHCA President Eugene Daniels wrote in an email Saturday
www.politico.com
March 29, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Never before in the history of this nation have so many self-serving cowards banded together united in their resolve to not do anything risky when their country called on them in its hour of need.
www.politico.com/news/2025/03...
www.politico.com/news/2025/03...
Columbia’s capitulation
Sent this off the other day. I encourage my fellow Columbians to do likewise. Dear President Armstrong, I am writing to express my disappointment and anger that my alma mater has capitulated to the bullying and coercion of the Trump Administration. I understand how…
Sent this off the other day. I encourage my fellow Columbians to do likewise. Dear President Armstrong, I am writing to express my disappointment and anger that my alma mater has capitulated to the bullying and coercion of the Trump Administration. I understand how…
Columbia’s capitulation
Sent this off the other day. I encourage my fellow Columbians to do likewise. Dear President Armstrong, I am writing to express my disappointment and anger that my alma mater has capitulated to the bullying and coercion of the Trump Administration. I understand how worrisome a threat to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in funding must be. I recognize how complex and contested issues of free speech and peaceful protest on Columbia's and other American campuses are in these fraught times.
artofcompost.ca
March 28, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Columbia’s capitulation
Sent this off the other day. I encourage my fellow Columbians to do likewise. Dear President Armstrong, I am writing to express my disappointment and anger that my alma mater has capitulated to the bullying and coercion of the Trump Administration. I understand how…
Sent this off the other day. I encourage my fellow Columbians to do likewise. Dear President Armstrong, I am writing to express my disappointment and anger that my alma mater has capitulated to the bullying and coercion of the Trump Administration. I understand how…
Don't be fooled by the merely scandalous lead. HCR lays out the blueprint Trump and cronies are using. Coup, dictatorship, fascism, the words aren't hyperbole anymore (if they ever were).
March 28, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Don't be fooled by the merely scandalous lead. HCR lays out the blueprint Trump and cronies are using. Coup, dictatorship, fascism, the words aren't hyperbole anymore (if they ever were).
"If there is a plan, shock is part of the plan. We have to get through the surprise and the shock to see the design and the risk. We don't have much time." Snyder posted this on 15 November 2024. We have even less time now.
Just going to repost my essay "Decapitation Strike" from November. We are living through it now.
snyder.substack.com/p/decapitati...
snyder.substack.com/p/decapitati...
Decapitation Strike
Preserving America from Trump's Appointments
snyder.substack.com
March 27, 2025 at 1:26 AM
"If there is a plan, shock is part of the plan. We have to get through the surprise and the shock to see the design and the risk. We don't have much time." Snyder posted this on 15 November 2024. We have even less time now.
Reposted by Christopher Patton
"We call on scholars, students, administrators, and staff here at Columbia to reject such efforts to dominate universities."
Letter from History faculty at Columbia to President Armstrong (with complete list of signatories)
www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2025...
Letter from History faculty at Columbia to President Armstrong (with complete list of signatories)
www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2025...
Letter to Armstrong: We recognize in the recent actions of the Trump administration a desire to assert political control
To President Katrina Armstrong,
www.columbiaspectator.com
March 26, 2025 at 1:29 AM
"We call on scholars, students, administrators, and staff here at Columbia to reject such efforts to dominate universities."
Letter from History faculty at Columbia to President Armstrong (with complete list of signatories)
www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2025...
Letter from History faculty at Columbia to President Armstrong (with complete list of signatories)
www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2025...
Silver lining, comedic gold.
Uh oh the Trump administration accidentally added us to their group chat
March 24, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Silver lining, comedic gold.
Reposted by Christopher Patton
“Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemies Act than has happened here,” Judge Patricia Millett of the D.C. Circuit Court said, adding: “These people weren’t given notice, they weren't told where they were going.”
talkingpointsmemo.com/news/federal...
talkingpointsmemo.com/news/federal...
Federal Judge Says ‘Nazis Got Better Treatment’ Than Venezuelan Migrants Trump Expelled
A federal appellate judge expressed shock Monday at the treatment of Venezuelan...
talkingpointsmemo.com
March 24, 2025 at 9:32 PM
“Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemies Act than has happened here,” Judge Patricia Millett of the D.C. Circuit Court said, adding: “These people weren’t given notice, they weren't told where they were going.”
talkingpointsmemo.com/news/federal...
talkingpointsmemo.com/news/federal...
March 24, 2025 at 5:53 PM
The proper response to fascist takeover is not compliant roll-over. SHUT IT THE EFF DOWN. Demand a bill that neuters Musk and DOGE as a starting point. Then negotiate on policy, sure, but don't sell out on basic precepts of representative democracy. How do you people not get the EFFING difference?
Donald Trump and Elon Musk want a shutdown to destroy vital government services faster.
It would be a disaster.
And we have to alert everyone how much pain it would cause the American people.
From my interview on @allinwithchris.bsky.social:
It would be a disaster.
And we have to alert everyone how much pain it would cause the American people.
From my interview on @allinwithchris.bsky.social:
March 14, 2025 at 3:34 AM
The proper response to fascist takeover is not compliant roll-over. SHUT IT THE EFF DOWN. Demand a bill that neuters Musk and DOGE as a starting point. Then negotiate on policy, sure, but don't sell out on basic precepts of representative democracy. How do you people not get the EFFING difference?
We’re watching an administrative coup unfold in real time. Whatever you call the fascist upwelling in America, it is world-historical bad, end of the Pax Americana, and nothing good to take its place.
Nero again
We’re watching an administrative coup unfold in real time. Call it what you like, competitive autocracy, illiberal democracy, techno-authoritarianism, patrimonial state, First Galactic Empire come home to eat its makers, this is world-historical bad, end of the Pax Americana, its repressed terms & disjected others unleashed. If it were it up to me, our world would be small egalitarian communes, each developing its own inner science…
artofcompost.ca
March 9, 2025 at 7:45 PM
We’re watching an administrative coup unfold in real time. Whatever you call the fascist upwelling in America, it is world-historical bad, end of the Pax Americana, and nothing good to take its place.
March 6, 2025 at 7:09 PM