Brenda Shaughnessy
@brendashaughnessy.bsky.social
Poet, friend. Wrote Sensorium Ex, an opera, with composer Paola Prestini (2025.) Books of poetry: TANYA (Knopf 2023) The Octopus Museum (Knopf 2019) So Much Synth (2016) Our Andromeda (2012) Human Dark w/ Sugar (2008) Interior with Sudden Joy (1999).
Reposted by Brenda Shaughnessy
Did you know that if you buy my book on Amazon, Jeff Bezos makes 5 times as much as I do on each copy sold? Sharing some behind-the-scenes book math on why buying directly from presses is best for EVERYONE (except Bezos) in my newsletter today! aubreyhirsch.substack.com/p/book-math
October 14, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Did you know that if you buy my book on Amazon, Jeff Bezos makes 5 times as much as I do on each copy sold? Sharing some behind-the-scenes book math on why buying directly from presses is best for EVERYONE (except Bezos) in my newsletter today! aubreyhirsch.substack.com/p/book-math
Reposted by Brenda Shaughnessy
July 23, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Reposted by Brenda Shaughnessy
It’s worse than “Gaza is being starved and destroyed and no one cares.” It’s that hundreds of millions *do* care and are powerless to stop it. We need a world where that can never happen, where the masses actually have political power.
July 22, 2025 at 2:41 PM
It’s worse than “Gaza is being starved and destroyed and no one cares.” It’s that hundreds of millions *do* care and are powerless to stop it. We need a world where that can never happen, where the masses actually have political power.
Andrea Gibson is still with us, every moment & forever, even when we’re not reading them. But to read Andrea Gibson is to make a new “every moment” a new forever a mix of new and old—forgetting time has any hold on us entirely. Thank you, always-poet.
July 15, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Andrea Gibson is still with us, every moment & forever, even when we’re not reading them. But to read Andrea Gibson is to make a new “every moment” a new forever a mix of new and old—forgetting time has any hold on us entirely. Thank you, always-poet.
Our opera, Sensorium Ex, on PBS Newshour: www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
Opera uses AI to give people with non-verbal disabilities a voice
At an Omaha, Nebraska, festival this summer, new work explores the intersection of art, disability and technology, asking questions like "who has a voice?" and "who gets to be heard?" Senior arts corr...
www.pbs.org
July 14, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Our opera, Sensorium Ex, on PBS Newshour: www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
Our opera Sensorium Ex opens in 4 days, at the Sapp Field House in Omaha. In dress rehearsals now and it’s looking gorgeous. Paola Prestini’s music is divine.(commonsensesfestival.org)
(www.visionintoart.org/via-projects/sensorium-ex)
(www.visionintoart.org/via-projects/sensorium-ex)
May 18, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Our opera Sensorium Ex opens in 4 days, at the Sapp Field House in Omaha. In dress rehearsals now and it’s looking gorgeous. Paola Prestini’s music is divine.(commonsensesfestival.org)
(www.visionintoart.org/via-projects/sensorium-ex)
(www.visionintoart.org/via-projects/sensorium-ex)
New trailer for the opera ✨ vimeo.com/1082191184/f...
Sensorium Ex Trailer #2 FINAL (May 7 2025)
This is "Sensorium Ex Trailer #2 FINAL (May 7 2025)" by Paola/National Sawdust/VIA on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.
vimeo.com
May 8, 2025 at 5:37 PM
New trailer for the opera ✨ vimeo.com/1082191184/f...
YES. This.
Multiple Big Ten universities, including Michigan State, Rutgers and UCLA, have joined together to form a "Mutual Defense Compact" to protect their academic institutions against threats from the Trump administration. Rachel Maddow has a piece of advice for the organizers behind these efforts…
April 20, 2025 at 2:05 AM
YES. This.
A Princeton undergrad saying what needs to be said.
This eloquent, clear-eyed sophomore has more courage than the tenured professors in question.
Kudos to you, Frances Brogan.
www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2025...
Kudos to you, Frances Brogan.
www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2025...
Public intellectuals owe their institutions courage. Do not obey in advance.
If professors like Timothy Snyder won’t choose courage in the face of authoritarian attacks on their scholarship and independence, who will?
www.dailyprincetonian.com
March 28, 2025 at 12:15 PM
A Princeton undergrad saying what needs to be said.
An important thread:
1. One of capitalism’s greatest successes is to shut down our imaginations. With the help of its favoured tools - neoliberalism and fascism - it persuades us that “there is no alternative”. Our first task is to re-ignite our moral imaginations and name our alternatives. 🧵
March 28, 2025 at 11:51 AM
An important thread:
Here are the links to said pod & playlist.
This week on the podcast, @brendashaughnessy.bsky.social joins us to talk about resistance, poetry, & joy.
Listen anywhere you get your podcasts, or online at breakingformpod.buzzsprout.com.
And here's a Spotify link to Brenda's resistance playlist!: open.spotify.com/playlist/5W4...
Listen anywhere you get your podcasts, or online at breakingformpod.buzzsprout.com.
And here's a Spotify link to Brenda's resistance playlist!: open.spotify.com/playlist/5W4...
March 25, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Here are the links to said pod & playlist.
I yap with Aaron & James on @breakingformpod—we remember & wonder & lament & wander poetry together. Or if you need fuel for yr fight, listen to my Brenda’s Resistance Playlist—where Mitski & Cecile & St. Vincent & Janelle & We Are Ladyparts rule!
www.instagram.com/p/DHlMEypu5R...
www.instagram.com/p/DHlMEypu5R...
March 25, 2025 at 12:37 AM
I yap with Aaron & James on @breakingformpod—we remember & wonder & lament & wander poetry together. Or if you need fuel for yr fight, listen to my Brenda’s Resistance Playlist—where Mitski & Cecile & St. Vincent & Janelle & We Are Ladyparts rule!
www.instagram.com/p/DHlMEypu5R...
www.instagram.com/p/DHlMEypu5R...
Why hasn’t musk been arrested for anything? He breaks laws & NO ONE can come up w/ a charge? He stole govt $ & info, made himself co-prez, colonized the very skies. Meanwhile if a woman 8wks pregnant drives out of Idaho for an abortion, SHE’S a criminal. He has an army of fetii on ice! WTAF?!
March 3, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Why hasn’t musk been arrested for anything? He breaks laws & NO ONE can come up w/ a charge? He stole govt $ & info, made himself co-prez, colonized the very skies. Meanwhile if a woman 8wks pregnant drives out of Idaho for an abortion, SHE’S a criminal. He has an army of fetii on ice! WTAF?!
Reposted by Brenda Shaughnessy
Sometimes it feels like I’m going crazy, because there is something that is right in front of our faces, has been for years, and nobody of consequence ever says it:
Donald Trump works for Vladimir Putin.
How much more proof does anyone need? And what is anybody going to do about it?
Donald Trump works for Vladimir Putin.
How much more proof does anyone need? And what is anybody going to do about it?
March 1, 2025 at 3:19 AM
Sometimes it feels like I’m going crazy, because there is something that is right in front of our faces, has been for years, and nobody of consequence ever says it:
Donald Trump works for Vladimir Putin.
How much more proof does anyone need? And what is anybody going to do about it?
Donald Trump works for Vladimir Putin.
How much more proof does anyone need? And what is anybody going to do about it?
Reposted by Brenda Shaughnessy
There’s something happening in this country.
Teachers teach. We need a leaderful movement, and there are leaders all around us.
February 21, 2025 at 3:19 PM
There’s something happening in this country.
Reposted by Brenda Shaughnessy
What these nihilistic vandals are doing to dismantle science & medicine—generations of expertise & public service & life improving benefits—is cultural revolution level national self harm. No foreign foe could inflict such brutal damage & senseless suffering on US so fast & effectively & unresisted.
February 15, 2025 at 4:10 AM
What these nihilistic vandals are doing to dismantle science & medicine—generations of expertise & public service & life improving benefits—is cultural revolution level national self harm. No foreign foe could inflict such brutal damage & senseless suffering on US so fast & effectively & unresisted.
Reposted by Brenda Shaughnessy
SHARE WIDELY.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS.
With mass deportations starting today across the country, it is vitally important - for both citizens and non-citizens - to know your rights.
You have the right to remain silent. Assert it. You have the right to a lawyer. Ask for one.
(1/3)
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS.
With mass deportations starting today across the country, it is vitally important - for both citizens and non-citizens - to know your rights.
You have the right to remain silent. Assert it. You have the right to a lawyer. Ask for one.
(1/3)
January 22, 2025 at 2:19 AM
SHARE WIDELY.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS.
With mass deportations starting today across the country, it is vitally important - for both citizens and non-citizens - to know your rights.
You have the right to remain silent. Assert it. You have the right to a lawyer. Ask for one.
(1/3)
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS.
With mass deportations starting today across the country, it is vitally important - for both citizens and non-citizens - to know your rights.
You have the right to remain silent. Assert it. You have the right to a lawyer. Ask for one.
(1/3)
Reposted by Brenda Shaughnessy
it’s bad and it’s gotten exponentially worse in the past 6 months. if you write anything involving deep research/old books/forgotten periodicals you’re probably noticing “wiki creep,” because it’s one of the few resources left standing. the internet as an archive is disappearing, has disappeared.
Ha ha ha so Google Books’s time-restricted search is just not working any more; it’ll return stuff from this century no matter what you specify as the time frame.
Thanks, enshittification! I hate it here!
Thanks, enshittification! I hate it here!
January 16, 2025 at 10:29 PM
it’s bad and it’s gotten exponentially worse in the past 6 months. if you write anything involving deep research/old books/forgotten periodicals you’re probably noticing “wiki creep,” because it’s one of the few resources left standing. the internet as an archive is disappearing, has disappeared.
Megarich/technocrats know creative talent is the only irreducible human juice that $ can’t “make happen.” This frustrates them. Being unable to purchase, possess & control creativity enrages & embitters them. They’d gladly destroy art & any notion of artistic meaning, w their big dumb AI, jealous.
January 10, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Megarich/technocrats know creative talent is the only irreducible human juice that $ can’t “make happen.” This frustrates them. Being unable to purchase, possess & control creativity enrages & embitters them. They’d gladly destroy art & any notion of artistic meaning, w their big dumb AI, jealous.
Holiday books to give relatives this season! Give the gift of maybe your loved one might crack a book, contextualize, comprehend: Maria Ressa, Angela Y. Davis, Jill Lepore, Marilyn Frye, James Baldwin, Alexandra Kollontai, Masha Gessen, Kazuo Ishiguru, Audre Lorde, Wendy Brown.
December 16, 2024 at 3:22 PM
Holiday books to give relatives this season! Give the gift of maybe your loved one might crack a book, contextualize, comprehend: Maria Ressa, Angela Y. Davis, Jill Lepore, Marilyn Frye, James Baldwin, Alexandra Kollontai, Masha Gessen, Kazuo Ishiguru, Audre Lorde, Wendy Brown.
Time for this cursed seasonal confusion again:
December 3, 2024 at 12:18 PM
Time for this cursed seasonal confusion again:
Pay attention. Idaho did this too. Trying to erase the facts that women are dying because reproductive healthcare’s now illegal/criminalized in vast swaths of this nation. www.propublica.org/article/geor...
Georgia Dismissed All Members of Maternal Mortality Committee After ProPublica Obtained Internal Details of Two Deaths
In a letter, the state’s public health commissioner said the action was taken because “confidential information provided to the Maternal Mortality Review Committee was inappropriately shared with outs...
www.propublica.org
November 22, 2024 at 12:59 AM
Pay attention. Idaho did this too. Trying to erase the facts that women are dying because reproductive healthcare’s now illegal/criminalized in vast swaths of this nation. www.propublica.org/article/geor...
Kickass brilliant debut poetry from Spencer Williams: TRANZ.
Four Way Books. The real deal 🤩💐✨
Four Way Books. The real deal 🤩💐✨
November 20, 2024 at 2:55 PM
Kickass brilliant debut poetry from Spencer Williams: TRANZ.
Four Way Books. The real deal 🤩💐✨
Four Way Books. The real deal 🤩💐✨
Thinking of myriad anti-fascist uses of a home photocopier/printer w/ advanced finishing functions (booklet, staples, d/s, color, photo settings.) Pamphlets, zines, how-tos, poetry, letters on paper. Writers/educators/former Kinkos ppl: recs for under $600? The less “Smart” the better. Leads?
November 13, 2024 at 4:02 PM
Thinking of myriad anti-fascist uses of a home photocopier/printer w/ advanced finishing functions (booklet, staples, d/s, color, photo settings.) Pamphlets, zines, how-tos, poetry, letters on paper. Writers/educators/former Kinkos ppl: recs for under $600? The less “Smart” the better. Leads?