Dr. Emily Friedman
@friede.bsky.social
Storyteller about storytellers.
18th century to today & beyond.
J.W.Liles Prof of English
Words: Polygon (RIP), LARB, etc
Next book: THE ACTUAL HISTORY OF ACTUAL PLAY (#TTRPG digital storytelling performance)
ecfriedman.com
(free) patreon.com/ecfriedman
18th century to today & beyond.
J.W.Liles Prof of English
Words: Polygon (RIP), LARB, etc
Next book: THE ACTUAL HISTORY OF ACTUAL PLAY (#TTRPG digital storytelling performance)
ecfriedman.com
(free) patreon.com/ecfriedman
Pinned
Dr. Emily Friedman
@friede.bsky.social
· Nov 14
Howdy, y’all.
I’m a tenured prof who studies storytelling outside the rules of mass media. This has included never-published manuscripts from during the age of print (1750-1900) & of late has made me a leader in the study of #TTRPG Actual Play.
I’ve learned a lot about friendship along the way.
I’m a tenured prof who studies storytelling outside the rules of mass media. This has included never-published manuscripts from during the age of print (1750-1900) & of late has made me a leader in the study of #TTRPG Actual Play.
I’ve learned a lot about friendship along the way.
Reposted by Dr. Emily Friedman
Anthony is referring to the insta "experts" on birthright citizenship that have popped up to create/backfill a "literature" to support Trump's birthright stripping. I too spent 2 years reading b/f putting pen to paper on my colonial chapter. This is why my book took 16 years. Research takes time.
I'm just over here toiling away on 17th and 18th-century legal history unmoored to any contemporary issue, and it took me two years before I even started putting pen to paper.
Discovering a brand-new understanding of 600 years+ of legal history and having a written paper in weeks is... curious.
Discovering a brand-new understanding of 600 years+ of legal history and having a written paper in weeks is... curious.
Maybe just me but to me it's incredibly obvious what these "birthright deniers" are up to. It's not an academic project, it's a political one, attempting to provide cover for conservative jurists who are now being asked to rule on this very question, and need a fig leaf of justification.
December 26, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Anthony is referring to the insta "experts" on birthright citizenship that have popped up to create/backfill a "literature" to support Trump's birthright stripping. I too spent 2 years reading b/f putting pen to paper on my colonial chapter. This is why my book took 16 years. Research takes time.
People really sleep on the rest of Mary Shelley’s output.
The Last Man is just as visceral and timely and OOOF.
The Last Man is just as visceral and timely and OOOF.
I’m re-reading The Last Man in the wake of truly gutting grief and wow. I do not recommend it.
December 26, 2025 at 3:46 PM
People really sleep on the rest of Mary Shelley’s output.
The Last Man is just as visceral and timely and OOOF.
The Last Man is just as visceral and timely and OOOF.
Reposted by Dr. Emily Friedman
Hi, hello! My book _Impressive Politics: Print before the Press in Late Medieval England_ is forthcoming from University of Pennsylvania Press.
I think about print all the time but in ways you might not expect.
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/...
I think about print all the time but in ways you might not expect.
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/...
"The Printing Press Democratized Knowledge": When Slogans Masquerade as History — Sonja Drimmer
The phrase is said so frequently it seems, like the mechanism it celebrates, to mechanically replicate itself. It's become a favorite catchphrase among tech boosters of any sort (see my post on...
sonjadrimmer.com
December 26, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Hi, hello! My book _Impressive Politics: Print before the Press in Late Medieval England_ is forthcoming from University of Pennsylvania Press.
I think about print all the time but in ways you might not expect.
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/...
I think about print all the time but in ways you might not expect.
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/...
METADATA 4 LYFE
I feel once again compelled to emphasis the digitizing in the literal scanning sense is fairly unimportant if it is not accompanied with metadata providing context for discovery. Both humans and AI will make things up when they don't know what they are looking at.
December 26, 2025 at 3:09 PM
METADATA 4 LYFE
What my girl Jay said.
(Which is why I teach how to read & write about games alongside literary texts, as different as they often are)
(Which is why I teach how to read & write about games alongside literary texts, as different as they often are)
totally! a designer's intent gives you a lens thru which you can understand the game's choices. but designer intent is also a way to bandaid over careless design. trying to use it to discuss the game-text is (to me) like trying to read a book based on what the author meant for it to say
December 26, 2025 at 3:07 PM
What my girl Jay said.
(Which is why I teach how to read & write about games alongside literary texts, as different as they often are)
(Which is why I teach how to read & write about games alongside literary texts, as different as they often are)
Reposted by Dr. Emily Friedman
You love to see it
SAG-AFTRA National Board Unanimously Ratifies First Intimacy Coordinator Union Contract
The deal inducts these workers into the union’s health and pension plans and establishes minimum wage rates and overtime rules.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
December 26, 2025 at 2:26 PM
You love to see it
I laughed, but of course immediately overthought it in the “even joke laws/rules are a response to a perceived phenomenon” so I’m curious about how much #TTRPG content (reviews, advice, Actual Play) doesn’t link to where one can find the game…
December 26, 2025 at 3:01 PM
I laughed, but of course immediately overthought it in the “even joke laws/rules are a response to a perceived phenomenon” so I’m curious about how much #TTRPG content (reviews, advice, Actual Play) doesn’t link to where one can find the game…
Reposted by Dr. Emily Friedman
This is why it’s so important to trace things back to the beginning whenever possible.
I believe @rauchway.bsky.social calls these “historical urban legends”
I believe @rauchway.bsky.social calls these “historical urban legends”
looking up the source of quotes, whether for a book or a video script, is great for figuring out when a quote everyone "knows" and has repeated for ages is actually just weird bullshit someone else made up
December 26, 2025 at 1:18 PM
This is why it’s so important to trace things back to the beginning whenever possible.
I believe @rauchway.bsky.social calls these “historical urban legends”
I believe @rauchway.bsky.social calls these “historical urban legends”
Reposted by Dr. Emily Friedman
This, but also: people in tech know that every 10x developer has 10 people behind them cleaning up the mess they make.
People in tech talk about the idea of a “10x programmer” — someone whose work is worth that of 10 others. I get the impression Musk etc think they can apply it all over the federal workforce but like… there’s no such thing as a 10x ATC navigational aid maintenance worker. Some jobs just need people.
Abruptly firing people who work in air traffic control is like murdering your own soldiers in the middle of a war.
Even if you think things now aren’t working as efficiently as they should there’s no clear path to recovering from this; it’s just a really extremely foolish and dangerous thing to do.
Even if you think things now aren’t working as efficiently as they should there’s no clear path to recovering from this; it’s just a really extremely foolish and dangerous thing to do.
February 19, 2025 at 12:36 AM
This, but also: people in tech know that every 10x developer has 10 people behind them cleaning up the mess they make.
Reposted by Dr. Emily Friedman
looking up the source of quotes, whether for a book or a video script, is great for figuring out when a quote everyone "knows" and has repeated for ages is actually just weird bullshit someone else made up
July 31, 2025 at 7:12 AM
looking up the source of quotes, whether for a book or a video script, is great for figuring out when a quote everyone "knows" and has repeated for ages is actually just weird bullshit someone else made up
Reposted by Dr. Emily Friedman
Frankly embarrassing for a British newspaper to report this without noting that the University of the Third Age has functioned in the UK for decades. It has 400,000 members.
www.u3a.org.uk/about
www.u3a.org.uk/about
‘Keeps your mind alert’: older Swedes reap the benefits of learning for pleasure
Retirees with ‘fantastic hunger for education’ taking part in university organised events in record numbers
www.theguardian.com
December 26, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Frankly embarrassing for a British newspaper to report this without noting that the University of the Third Age has functioned in the UK for decades. It has 400,000 members.
www.u3a.org.uk/about
www.u3a.org.uk/about
Reposted by Dr. Emily Friedman
campuses have learning opportunities, social space, entertainment, and universities ARE healthcare.
multigenerational access is net social good.
multigenerational access is net social good.
'Record numbers of Swedish retirees are enrolling in a university run “by pensioners for pensioners” amid increased loneliness and a growing appetite for learning and in-person interactions.' 1/2
‘Keeps your mind alert’: older Swedes reap the benefits of learning for pleasure
Retirees with ‘fantastic hunger for education’ taking part in university organised events in record numbers
www.theguardian.com
December 26, 2025 at 12:50 PM
campuses have learning opportunities, social space, entertainment, and universities ARE healthcare.
multigenerational access is net social good.
multigenerational access is net social good.
Reposted by Dr. Emily Friedman
Reposting out of a response thread to remind US people: if you make people mad on the internet, it is a VERY worthwhile investment to add an umbrella policy to your homeowners' or renters' insurance. I recommend a $2m per incident minimum; we increased ours to $5m recently just in case.
This is part of why I *strongly* recommend anyone who makes assholes on the internet mad a lot should have a umbrella liability policy added to their homeowners' or renters' insurance, with a minimum coverage of $2m per incident, although we just increased ours to $5m just in case.
December 26, 2025 at 4:34 AM
Reposting out of a response thread to remind US people: if you make people mad on the internet, it is a VERY worthwhile investment to add an umbrella policy to your homeowners' or renters' insurance. I recommend a $2m per incident minimum; we increased ours to $5m recently just in case.
Reposted by Dr. Emily Friedman
@ajhasocial.bsky.social Please spread the word about the Charles R. Eisendrath Fellowship at the Clements Library. The fellowship supports research on the relation of journalism to US history before 1900 in both pictorial and written reportage and commentary. See clements.umich.edu/research/fel...
Apply for a Clements Library Fellowship - UM Clements Library
clements.umich.edu
December 26, 2025 at 3:22 AM
@ajhasocial.bsky.social Please spread the word about the Charles R. Eisendrath Fellowship at the Clements Library. The fellowship supports research on the relation of journalism to US history before 1900 in both pictorial and written reportage and commentary. See clements.umich.edu/research/fel...
Reposted by Dr. Emily Friedman
All copies are claimed!
If you'd still like these games, the momatoes bundle still runs and bundles together the four RPGs at only $40 (a discount of $34!).
For folks in hardship, you may still email me for a free copy—just note that I reply very slowly!
Happy holidays!
itch.io/s/161143/the...
If you'd still like these games, the momatoes bundle still runs and bundles together the four RPGs at only $40 (a discount of $34!).
For folks in hardship, you may still email me for a free copy—just note that I reply very slowly!
Happy holidays!
itch.io/s/161143/the...
the momatoes bundle by momatoes
A bundle by momatoes, $40.00 for 4 games
itch.io
December 26, 2025 at 3:01 AM
All copies are claimed!
If you'd still like these games, the momatoes bundle still runs and bundles together the four RPGs at only $40 (a discount of $34!).
For folks in hardship, you may still email me for a free copy—just note that I reply very slowly!
Happy holidays!
itch.io/s/161143/the...
If you'd still like these games, the momatoes bundle still runs and bundles together the four RPGs at only $40 (a discount of $34!).
For folks in hardship, you may still email me for a free copy—just note that I reply very slowly!
Happy holidays!
itch.io/s/161143/the...
Co-sign.
Literally about the games people play.
Literally about the games people play.
Emma might be my favorite Jane Austen book. You just want to be a bystander listening to all the wit, but there's also this perfect tension between high stakes and low, comedy and potential tragedy, longing and self-sufficiency. Also, it's gay.
December 26, 2025 at 3:08 AM
Co-sign.
Literally about the games people play.
Literally about the games people play.
Reposted by Dr. Emily Friedman
Remember: It ys okaye to be lonelye. It ys okaye to feel lost. It ys okaye to be sad. It ys okaye yf nobody ys arounde. It ys okaye to have no plannes or just small plannes. It ys okaye to have big plannes that seem exhausting. It ys okaye to be a mess. Take care of thyself. Thou art amazinge.
December 24, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Remember: It ys okaye to be lonelye. It ys okaye to feel lost. It ys okaye to be sad. It ys okaye yf nobody ys arounde. It ys okaye to have no plannes or just small plannes. It ys okaye to have big plannes that seem exhausting. It ys okaye to be a mess. Take care of thyself. Thou art amazinge.
Colville’s thread synopsizes a slice of what I’ve called the Ambitious Middle that updrafted on SEO tied to the D&D Industrial Complex (in both content creation broadly & Actual Play specifically).
Like MC, I won’t say the sickos will inherit the earth, but reasonable ambitions are scaling down.
Like MC, I won’t say the sickos will inherit the earth, but reasonable ambitions are scaling down.
December 26, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Colville’s thread synopsizes a slice of what I’ve called the Ambitious Middle that updrafted on SEO tied to the D&D Industrial Complex (in both content creation broadly & Actual Play specifically).
Like MC, I won’t say the sickos will inherit the earth, but reasonable ambitions are scaling down.
Like MC, I won’t say the sickos will inherit the earth, but reasonable ambitions are scaling down.
Reposted by Dr. Emily Friedman
You can tell that LotR was written by an academic because Gandalf disappears for like 20 years doing research to answer a single question.
December 26, 2025 at 12:40 AM
You can tell that LotR was written by an academic because Gandalf disappears for like 20 years doing research to answer a single question.
Reposted by Dr. Emily Friedman
A guy I date long ago had a sister who was an attorney representing victims on these cases. She lasted a year and that was considered nearly heroic. You don’t actually need to experience everything. You can settle for knowing it is very bad.
I’m a trained social worker. I worked with cases of CSA and other horrifying traumas. I didn’t learn til 6 months before I burnt out how dangerous and cumulative vicarious and secondary trauma are.
You don’t want this in your head and you don’t want it to live in your body. It doesn’t leave.
You don’t want this in your head and you don’t want it to live in your body. It doesn’t leave.
And as several folks are saying in the comments: curiosity about the Epstein files is understandable, but just for yourself personally, think carefully about what you want in your head forever.
It will come to you later in upsetting ways that you may not expect.
bsky.app/profile/sass...
It will come to you later in upsetting ways that you may not expect.
bsky.app/profile/sass...
December 26, 2025 at 1:20 AM
A guy I date long ago had a sister who was an attorney representing victims on these cases. She lasted a year and that was considered nearly heroic. You don’t actually need to experience everything. You can settle for knowing it is very bad.
Nothing like a little seven year old Catholic girl popping off about the backstory of her roleplaying character while walking to see Christmas lights.
December 26, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Nothing like a little seven year old Catholic girl popping off about the backstory of her roleplaying character while walking to see Christmas lights.
This year my gifts were mostly “I made this or my friends made this” but in terms of pure reaction the stack of Narwhal & Jelly was the winner.
(It’s admittedly cheating when you know @kierongillen.bsky.social & you’re handing out @dropout.tv subs so your family can see you be a professional dork)
(It’s admittedly cheating when you know @kierongillen.bsky.social & you’re handing out @dropout.tv subs so your family can see you be a professional dork)
My fav question time of year: What’s the best gift you gave this year?
December 25, 2025 at 9:57 PM
This year my gifts were mostly “I made this or my friends made this” but in terms of pure reaction the stack of Narwhal & Jelly was the winner.
(It’s admittedly cheating when you know @kierongillen.bsky.social & you’re handing out @dropout.tv subs so your family can see you be a professional dork)
(It’s admittedly cheating when you know @kierongillen.bsky.social & you’re handing out @dropout.tv subs so your family can see you be a professional dork)
Reposted by Dr. Emily Friedman
A 3 1/2 year old I am auntie to is completely sure I am 10 years old. She knows I have an apartment, live on my own, and work at a museum, but responded to these data points with "she is a very smart girl, like me!"
Today my best pal gifted me this portrait of me, age 10, busy at my job as curator
Today my best pal gifted me this portrait of me, age 10, busy at my job as curator
December 25, 2025 at 7:35 PM
A 3 1/2 year old I am auntie to is completely sure I am 10 years old. She knows I have an apartment, live on my own, and work at a museum, but responded to these data points with "she is a very smart girl, like me!"
Today my best pal gifted me this portrait of me, age 10, busy at my job as curator
Today my best pal gifted me this portrait of me, age 10, busy at my job as curator
Reposted by Dr. Emily Friedman
Just as Clueless is the best adaptation of a Jane Austen novel, Muppet Christmas Carol is the best adaptation of anything by Charles Dickens.
December 25, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Just as Clueless is the best adaptation of a Jane Austen novel, Muppet Christmas Carol is the best adaptation of anything by Charles Dickens.
I gave my nephew Liar’s Dice, & as we sat down to play he said “so you know the rules…”
“Why should I?”
“Because you know the rules to all the games, Ummy.”
(Rarely have I felt the gap between reality & how I’m seen more acutely)
“Why should I?”
“Because you know the rules to all the games, Ummy.”
(Rarely have I felt the gap between reality & how I’m seen more acutely)
December 25, 2025 at 7:59 PM
I gave my nephew Liar’s Dice, & as we sat down to play he said “so you know the rules…”
“Why should I?”
“Because you know the rules to all the games, Ummy.”
(Rarely have I felt the gap between reality & how I’m seen more acutely)
“Why should I?”
“Because you know the rules to all the games, Ummy.”
(Rarely have I felt the gap between reality & how I’m seen more acutely)