Deanna Kreisel 🌱
@doctorwaffle.substack.com
Victorianist • Utopianist • Environmentalist • Essayist • 100% AI-Free
Links to All the Things: linktr.ee/doctorwafflewrites
Links to All the Things: linktr.ee/doctorwafflewrites
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www.deannakreisel.com
INTRO: I'm a Victorian literature scholar and ecocritic. Currently working on a book about lawns. I write (mostly funny) essays and host a podcast interviewing other essayists. (Hit me up! I'm always looking for guests.) I play the piano, I bake, I read. Middlemarch 4-eva.
www.deannakreisel.com
www.deannakreisel.com
Book reviewers and authors!
Washington Post is shuttering its book section, part of the ongoing war against literacy & knowledge.
We at Current Affairs want to pick up the slack by expanding book reviews. Writers: pitch us anytime! And if you subscribe/donate we'll use the funding to commission book coverage.
We at Current Affairs want to pick up the slack by expanding book reviews. Writers: pitch us anytime! And if you subscribe/donate we'll use the funding to commission book coverage.
February 4, 2026 at 9:19 PM
Book reviewers and authors!
Philly will TAKE THEM DOWN
I've heard rumors that Philadelphia is next for the ICE invasion after Minneapolis.
Maybe I'm wrong, but
1) More than 11% of all ICE agents are in Minneapolis, and they've utterly failed to pacify the city.
2) Philly is 5x the size of Minneapolis.
3) "Minnesota nice" is a thing. We don't have that.
Maybe I'm wrong, but
1) More than 11% of all ICE agents are in Minneapolis, and they've utterly failed to pacify the city.
2) Philly is 5x the size of Minneapolis.
3) "Minnesota nice" is a thing. We don't have that.
January 18, 2026 at 11:11 PM
Philly will TAKE THEM DOWN
Sitting in an orthopedist’s waiting room in Mississippi, where Pet Shop Boys’ “It’s a Sin” is blasting over the speakers 🤔
January 15, 2026 at 2:56 PM
Sitting in an orthopedist’s waiting room in Mississippi, where Pet Shop Boys’ “It’s a Sin” is blasting over the speakers 🤔
Meanwhile in Mississippi
Predawn fire reduces parts of Mississippi's largest synagogue to charred ruins - Mississippi Today
A fire heavily damaged Jackson’s only synagogue before dawn Saturday – the same house of worship that was firebombed by the Ku Klux Klan in 1967 because the rabbi had been an advocate for civil rights...
mississippitoday.org
January 13, 2026 at 4:14 PM
Meanwhile in Mississippi
This is fantastic news and I am happy for my hometown but I'm also distracted by this photo featuring an Old Timey Criminal being apprehended by a Friendly Police Man
The drop in homicides to 222 mirrors a national reduction in violence and follows years of sustained declines after Philadelphia’s homicides peaked during the pandemic.
Philadelphia records the fewest homicides in nearly 60 years, plus other insights to 2025’s crime
www.inquirer.com
January 3, 2026 at 7:44 PM
This is fantastic news and I am happy for my hometown but I'm also distracted by this photo featuring an Old Timey Criminal being apprehended by a Friendly Police Man
Whoever said there aren’t huge financial dividends to being a literature scholar?
January 2, 2026 at 11:25 PM
Whoever said there aren’t huge financial dividends to being a literature scholar?
As a grown-ass woman in her 50s, I saw “It’s a Wonderful Life” for the first time the other day, and I have THOUGHTS:
1. George Bailey is basically an abusive asshole;
1. George Bailey is basically an abusive asshole;
December 26, 2025 at 5:36 PM
As a grown-ass woman in her 50s, I saw “It’s a Wonderful Life” for the first time the other day, and I have THOUGHTS:
1. George Bailey is basically an abusive asshole;
1. George Bailey is basically an abusive asshole;
In 1830, the Friends Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason in Northeast Philly (now Friends Hospital) introduced rabbits and lambs to patient exercise areas (possibly the earliest use of pet therapy) as part of their Moral Treatment of the mentally ill. 1830!
December 13, 2025 at 7:30 PM
In 1830, the Friends Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason in Northeast Philly (now Friends Hospital) introduced rabbits and lambs to patient exercise areas (possibly the earliest use of pet therapy) as part of their Moral Treatment of the mentally ill. 1830!
I’m confused — has Owen Wilson been trying to act all this time?
December 8, 2025 at 9:50 PM
I’m confused — has Owen Wilson been trying to act all this time?
Happy Holidays! Please enjoy this cheery Yuletide Nazis essay I wrote a few years ago.
The Christmas Bus Straight to Hell
On Santa, the Anti-Christ, Nazis, and grace
doctorwaffle.substack.com
December 8, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Happy Holidays! Please enjoy this cheery Yuletide Nazis essay I wrote a few years ago.
ANY ADDITIONAL SANTAS WILL BE ESCORTED OUT OF THE PARADE
December 6, 2025 at 7:39 PM
ANY ADDITIONAL SANTAS WILL BE ESCORTED OUT OF THE PARADE
Why are candles so expensive?
December 5, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Why are candles so expensive?
This is stunning -- an absolute must-read: "if you measured income inadequacy today the way [it was] measured it in 1963, the threshold for a family of four wouldn’t be $31,200.
It would be somewhere between $130,000 and $150,000.
It would be somewhere between $130,000 and $150,000.
Part 1: My Life Is a Lie
How a Broken Benchmark Quietly Broke America
https://www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-life-is-a-lie?open=false#§how-a-broken-benchmark-quietly-broke-america
November 26, 2025 at 5:10 PM
This is stunning -- an absolute must-read: "if you measured income inadequacy today the way [it was] measured it in 1963, the threshold for a family of four wouldn’t be $31,200.
It would be somewhere between $130,000 and $150,000.
It would be somewhere between $130,000 and $150,000.
Reposted by Deanna Kreisel 🌱
Here's my ranking of the numbers 1 and 2 in reverse numerical order:
1: 2
2: 1
1: 2
2: 1
November 25, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Here's my ranking of the numbers 1 and 2 in reverse numerical order:
1: 2
2: 1
1: 2
2: 1
Pie crust is a dialectic
November 25, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Pie crust is a dialectic
I know this is going to sound cheeseballs, but I am deeply grateful to have this book I'm working on as my daily companion.
November 22, 2025 at 7:27 PM
I know this is going to sound cheeseballs, but I am deeply grateful to have this book I'm working on as my daily companion.
Reposted by Deanna Kreisel 🌱
i don't think democratic voters should have to spend this much time whipping democratic elected officials.
November 9, 2025 at 11:48 PM
i don't think democratic voters should have to spend this much time whipping democratic elected officials.
So we got to be happy and hopeful for … 5 days?
November 9, 2025 at 11:48 PM
So we got to be happy and hopeful for … 5 days?
Reposted by Deanna Kreisel 🌱
From North Carolina to Mississippi, Black-owned farms are filling the gaps left by SNAP funding delays
Black-Owned Farms Fill Gaps Left by SNAP Funding Delays
From North Carolina to Mississippi, small businesses work to feed their communities while benefits are paused.
capitalbnews.org
November 9, 2025 at 2:25 PM
From North Carolina to Mississippi, Black-owned farms are filling the gaps left by SNAP funding delays
Finally watching "Task" and I have thoughts. The accents are okay-ish -- Mark Ruffalo doesn't bother trying, but I forgive him because Mark Ruffalo. (Also, his character is from Newtown Square, my hometown.) But what the hell is going on with characters from PA pronouncing it "LAN-CAH-ster" FFS?
November 8, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Finally watching "Task" and I have thoughts. The accents are okay-ish -- Mark Ruffalo doesn't bother trying, but I forgive him because Mark Ruffalo. (Also, his character is from Newtown Square, my hometown.) But what the hell is going on with characters from PA pronouncing it "LAN-CAH-ster" FFS?
Reposted by Deanna Kreisel 🌱
I will add: People who expected this teacher to be bummed do not know (good) teachers very well. A civics teacher? With a student who wants to run for office? That’s probably bliss.
November 8, 2025 at 12:51 PM
I will add: People who expected this teacher to be bummed do not know (good) teachers very well. A civics teacher? With a student who wants to run for office? That’s probably bliss.
It is KILLING me to learn that the digital camera I've owned since 2005 is now considered "vintage"
November 6, 2025 at 12:42 PM
It is KILLING me to learn that the digital camera I've owned since 2005 is now considered "vintage"
Reposted by Deanna Kreisel 🌱
Flying Squirrel Loves It Every Time
November 5, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Flying Squirrel Loves It Every Time
Reposted by Deanna Kreisel 🌱
After 13 years, Mississippi Democrats have broken the Republican Party’s supermajority in the Mississippi Senate.
Democrats flipped two GOP-held Senate seats and one House seat in the special elections.
buff.ly/nTvLlFI
Democrats flipped two GOP-held Senate seats and one House seat in the special elections.
buff.ly/nTvLlFI
Mississippi Democrats Break Republican Senate Supermajority, Flipping 3 Legislative Seats
After 13 years, Mississippi Democrats broke the Republican Party's supermajority in the Mississippi Senate, flipping 3 legislative seats.
www.mississippifreepress.org
November 5, 2025 at 7:33 AM
After 13 years, Mississippi Democrats have broken the Republican Party’s supermajority in the Mississippi Senate.
Democrats flipped two GOP-held Senate seats and one House seat in the special elections.
buff.ly/nTvLlFI
Democrats flipped two GOP-held Senate seats and one House seat in the special elections.
buff.ly/nTvLlFI
Reposted by Deanna Kreisel 🌱
If the sandwich don’t split, you must acquit
Defense says that the officer's testimony was "very questionable" because he said the sandwich both exploded in spray of mustard and onions and also landed in its wrapper on the ground.
November 5, 2025 at 8:29 PM
If the sandwich don’t split, you must acquit