Tes Slominski
feralfreelancer.bsky.social
Tes Slominski
@feralfreelancer.bsky.social
Coach and editor for academics | music scholar | fiddler in the Irish tradition

☘️🎻🏳️‍🌈Author of Trad Nation: Gender, Sexuality, and Race in Irish Traditional Music (Wesleyan 2020)

🪑📚🖋️Cohost of No Time to Write Club @notimetowriteclub
Somebody in my neighborhood got a rooster 😑
September 25, 2025 at 1:36 PM
While leaving a voicemail just now, I literally interrupted myself by exclaiming, "Look! A squirrel!" #ADHD achievement unlocked?

To be fair, it was a cute baby squirrel. But still.
September 21, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Unexpectedly quiet afternoon = getting to listen to the #XPoNential Music Festival streaming on #WXPN. Stunning sets from Tune-Yards, Richard Thompson, and now Molly Tuttle. Super excited for Kathleen Edwards in a few minutes! Next best thing to being there.
September 20, 2025 at 9:57 PM
The terrifying dream I had last night (which involved being chased by unknown pursuers, a portal in the form of an open window, and a handful of gods deciding whether to help me or not) ended with a different god (in the form of a blue stone or ball) admonishing me to respect my joy.

Ok, then.
September 20, 2025 at 4:26 PM
I run the Monday #notimetowriteclub sprints, and it's been so much fun to get to know such cool writers--we are all working on very different projects, but we never run out of things to talk about during our check-ins.
September 8, 2025 at 11:09 PM
I have been putting off wearing my new progressive glasses because I have been convinced I would barf and/or fall over, not necessarily in that order. It's been an hour and neither thing has happened, but Eyeball Brain is working overtime.
September 7, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Atlantic Ocean, my old friend—it had been far too long since I last saw your summer self.
September 4, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Worth waking up early for this #sunrise. Impromptu solo getaways are the BEST!
September 4, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Pretty sure I don’t want this joke anywhere near anything I intend to eat….
September 4, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Come for the absolutely fearless groundhog and stay for the to-do list idea. Or maybe it's the other way around?

Also, bonus fig content.

#feralfreelancer #adhd #lifehacks #figtree

open.substack.com/pub/theferal...
Nexts
Overriding brain "clench mode" to reduce overwhelm.
open.substack.com
September 2, 2025 at 3:15 PM
"Being vulnerable and choosing messy reality over imagined perfection has almost always been the right choice for my friendships. I haven’t consistently applied that lesson to my writing, though…maybe it’s time to start trying?"

#amwriting #feralfreelancer #music

open.substack.com/pub/theferal...
Throw Perfectionism in the Bin
And crank Belinda Carlisle on the stereo.
open.substack.com
July 14, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Tes Slominski
Hundreds of scientists are set to take part in the first performance of a new Scottish country dance inspired by the ripples in spacetime whose existence was first theorised by Albert Einstein.

More: gla.ac/3ICip4Q

#GR24Amaldi16 #GravitationalWaves #Glasgow
@uofgravity.bsky.social
July 11, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Reposted by Tes Slominski
This week, I share one of my mind maps. As I've learned more about various forms of #neurodiversity, I've begun to understand why this kind of graphic processing really helps me.

Do y'all do anything similar?

#notimetowriteclub #amwriting #creativeprocess

open.substack.com/pub/notimeto...
Sorting Through Mental Coins
Discovering process through...process
open.substack.com
June 27, 2025 at 2:35 PM
#ADHD #musician life: radio on playing 80s show, old-time fiddle tune on #Bandcamp playing on my phone, and a totally different tune in my head.
June 15, 2025 at 5:28 PM
At long last! Finally! A new installment of my Feral Freelancer newsletter!

This one is about what it's like to discover a creative block that one hasn't realized is even there....

open.substack.com/pub/theferal...
Candy Stores Without Walls
On showing up as a whole person.
open.substack.com
June 9, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Reposted by Tes Slominski
May 9, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Reposted by Tes Slominski
I’d say rather this confirms that Chicago is canon
A Chicago Pope implies the existence of an MLA Pope and APA Pope
May 8, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Reposted by Tes Slominski
In New York, ICE detained a busload of farmworkers that were actively involved in a union drive.

In Washington state, ICE dragged a farmworkers’ rights activist and leader out of his car to detain him.

Be warned: attacking unions is a hallmark of fascism.
May 8, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Y'all know what this moment needs?

MELODRAMATIC HARPSICHORD

open.spotify.com/track/4rvWKl...
Pièces de clavecin, Deuxième Livre, Suite en Ré Mineur: I. La Flamande
Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, Marie van Rhijn · Jacquet de La Guerre: L'inconstante · Song · 2018
open.spotify.com
May 5, 2025 at 9:03 PM
I love when the Chicago Manual of Style gets sassy: "The 'rule' prohibiting terminal prepositions was an ill-founded superstition based on a false analogy to Latin grammar" (CMOS 18, 5.186).

Begone false analogies and pompous Latin grammar snobbery!

#amediting #academicwriting #CMOS
May 5, 2025 at 8:05 PM
The State Farm insurance app indicates that it is appropriate for ages 4+. I pity the kindergartener who has to use it.
May 5, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Dear barometric pressure: please stop wiggling around like an antsy toddler.

#migraine #weather
May 4, 2025 at 7:22 PM
I leave it a few days and here’s what happened!
April 30, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Reposted by Tes Slominski
BREAKING: Police just surrounded Rev. William Barber, prominent activist and pastor, as he and others prayed in the U.S. Capitol Rontunda.

Police then expelled everyone (including press!) from the Rotunda to (presumably) arrest them.

I've covered protests here a lot. Never seen anything like it.
April 28, 2025 at 5:59 PM