Hannah LeClair
@hleclair.bsky.social
Comp Lit PhD | University of Pennsylvania
Pinned
The population of Twin Peaks is larger than Boone, NC
October 14, 2025 at 1:00 AM
The population of Twin Peaks is larger than Boone, NC
What do landscapes, in their fullest sense, do in literature? Join us for "Literary Landscapes After the Spatial Turn" as we try to figure out (w)here we are at ACLA 2026—paper proposals due Oct. 2! www.acla.org/seminar/ea7c...
September 29, 2025 at 12:48 AM
What do landscapes, in their fullest sense, do in literature? Join us for "Literary Landscapes After the Spatial Turn" as we try to figure out (w)here we are at ACLA 2026—paper proposals due Oct. 2! www.acla.org/seminar/ea7c...
Reposted by Hannah LeClair
Here you go! I'll write some new ones for this semester too. They loved them. The "read without your phone or screens in the room" was a revelation, and many of them decided to keep doing it. They had NO IDEA (& were horrified) how often they interrupt themselves to look at a phone for no reason.
![Reading Scenario Experiments. This series of prompts is designed to get you thinking about how the setting for reading affects concentration, comprehension, and even the existential experience of reading. Every week, one of the following prompts will appear on the syllabus. I encourage you to try all of them that you are able. How does a different reading setting affect your mood? Your receptiveness to the prose? Your pleasure or difficulty reading? What are the particular impacts of changing your lighting or surroundings? What do you notice about yourself and about the work you are reading during this experiment?
1. read by candlelight (use a small lamp in dorms where no candles are allowed!)
2. read for one hour without checking any devices, answering texts, etc.
3. walk out into nature (climb a tree, sit on a rock, grab a spot in a hammock) and read
4. host a reading night with friends & food (sit in companionable silence, reading without chatting)
5. read aloud a chapter to someone else
6. climb into bed at night and read by flashlight under the covers for at least 30 minutes, as if you’ve already been told “lights out” as a kid
7. reread a chapter and see what new things you notice the second time through
8. change your ambient-noise level: add music if you normally read in the quiet; or read without music if you are normally a music-listener
9. read with a sketchpad at hand and sketch scenes, characters, or other elements from the story
10. practice focused listening: have someone read to you
11. make yourself a special, fancy snack on a real plate to nibble while eating: pay attention to the cooking or arranging or choosing of ingredients to make it especially appetizing first
12. make tea (even if you’re not usually a tea drinker), and read and sip
13. invent a new reading scenario for yourself, or repeat the one you liked the best from this term
[writing assignment using these prompts follows; text character limit prevents inclusion of it in full]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rfs7afx6ue4mknbhhpnrzkyz/bafkreiel77b25truczj372qokmg5p3apa2dphux3jtplpz3dv35jul6wdu@jpeg)
July 16, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Here you go! I'll write some new ones for this semester too. They loved them. The "read without your phone or screens in the room" was a revelation, and many of them decided to keep doing it. They had NO IDEA (& were horrified) how often they interrupt themselves to look at a phone for no reason.
Reposted by Hannah LeClair
teachers!
excited to share a new website at this late date of Aug 15 to try to help us collectively prepare for back to school in the interpretative humanities classroom assaulted by the AI grift, so we don't have to go it alone.
take a look, share, + most importantly: CONTRIBUTE
against-a-i.com
excited to share a new website at this late date of Aug 15 to try to help us collectively prepare for back to school in the interpretative humanities classroom assaulted by the AI grift, so we don't have to go it alone.
take a look, share, + most importantly: CONTRIBUTE
against-a-i.com
AGAINST AI
against-a-i.com
August 15, 2025 at 5:39 PM
teachers!
excited to share a new website at this late date of Aug 15 to try to help us collectively prepare for back to school in the interpretative humanities classroom assaulted by the AI grift, so we don't have to go it alone.
take a look, share, + most importantly: CONTRIBUTE
against-a-i.com
excited to share a new website at this late date of Aug 15 to try to help us collectively prepare for back to school in the interpretative humanities classroom assaulted by the AI grift, so we don't have to go it alone.
take a look, share, + most importantly: CONTRIBUTE
against-a-i.com
Reposted by Hannah LeClair
Our second job material workshop will be tomorrow 8/8 @2pm EST. Sign up below
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
The first one went so well that MTC will be running two more of these workshops over the summer. Sign up here: mid-theory.com/mtc-writing-...
August 7, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Our second job material workshop will be tomorrow 8/8 @2pm EST. Sign up below
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
For all Bard's (and Leon's) faults, this is a fantastic interview
forward.com/fast-forward...
forward.com/fast-forward...
Bard president Leon Botstein says Trump’s campaign against colleges follows ‘a classic antisemitic routine’
Botstein, born in 1946 in Europe to Holocaust survivors, has led the liberal arts college for 50 years.
forward.com
August 7, 2025 at 3:30 PM
For all Bard's (and Leon's) faults, this is a fantastic interview
forward.com/fast-forward...
forward.com/fast-forward...
Reflecting on some of my life choices
August 3, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Reflecting on some of my life choices
Reposted by Hannah LeClair
syllabus time, teaming up for the herculean efforts of reinventing writing assignments. here, some prompts for required weekly low stakes 250-500 word reflections/ process pieces that have proven relatively conducive to real writing in lit class. please share any similar suggestions in thread.
July 21, 2025 at 12:14 PM
syllabus time, teaming up for the herculean efforts of reinventing writing assignments. here, some prompts for required weekly low stakes 250-500 word reflections/ process pieces that have proven relatively conducive to real writing in lit class. please share any similar suggestions in thread.
Reposted by Hannah LeClair
"They falsely stated that I, a U.S. citizen, have no Constitutional rights at a point of entry, and officers became increasingly agitated as I continued to assert my rights regardless."
Winooski Superintendent Detained, Questioned by Border Officials
Superintendent Wilmer Chavarria, a U.S. citizen, was questioned for hours at a Houston airport as he returned from a visit to Nicaragua with his husband.
m.sevendaysvt.com
July 23, 2025 at 10:47 AM
"They falsely stated that I, a U.S. citizen, have no Constitutional rights at a point of entry, and officers became increasingly agitated as I continued to assert my rights regardless."
Reposted by Hannah LeClair
1/2 A temporary new work of public art on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway by local artist Nicolo Gentile centers the celebrations and protests that have become part of the fabric of Philly's grand boulevard.
Nicolo's "Bar None" will be on view through the end of October!
Nicolo's "Bar None" will be on view through the end of October!
July 22, 2025 at 11:22 PM
1/2 A temporary new work of public art on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway by local artist Nicolo Gentile centers the celebrations and protests that have become part of the fabric of Philly's grand boulevard.
Nicolo's "Bar None" will be on view through the end of October!
Nicolo's "Bar None" will be on view through the end of October!
Reposted by Hannah LeClair
Rümeysa Öztürk describes the library in the prison where she was held for 45 days for co-authoring an op-ed
July 17, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Rümeysa Öztürk describes the library in the prison where she was held for 45 days for co-authoring an op-ed
Happy Bastille Day from the rive gauche (of the Schuylkill)
July 14, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Happy Bastille Day from the rive gauche (of the Schuylkill)
Had a wonderful time at my first #RSVP in Chicago—hearing great talks and viewing some archival treasures at the Newberry and Poetry Foundation!
July 13, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Had a wonderful time at my first #RSVP in Chicago—hearing great talks and viewing some archival treasures at the Newberry and Poetry Foundation!
Reposted by Hannah LeClair
The Woman with the Spider Web between Bare Trees https://clevelandart.org/art/1995.68
July 13, 2025 at 8:57 AM
The Woman with the Spider Web between Bare Trees https://clevelandart.org/art/1995.68
Reposted by Hannah LeClair
This article is going to turn me into the Joker. Literary style is not a puzzle you solve to get a little information treat 😩😩😩
June 21, 2025 at 9:54 PM
This article is going to turn me into the Joker. Literary style is not a puzzle you solve to get a little information treat 😩😩😩
Reposted by Hannah LeClair
BREAKING: Mahmoud Khalil speaks out after being released from ICE detention.
"The Trump administration are doing their best to dehumanize everyone here," Khalil said.
"The Trump administration are doing their best to dehumanize everyone here," Khalil said.
June 20, 2025 at 11:53 PM
BREAKING: Mahmoud Khalil speaks out after being released from ICE detention.
"The Trump administration are doing their best to dehumanize everyone here," Khalil said.
"The Trump administration are doing their best to dehumanize everyone here," Khalil said.
Great update: www.wnyc.org/story/new-so...
June 4, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Great update: www.wnyc.org/story/new-so...
Reposted by Hannah LeClair
*Action without Hope: Victorian Literature after Climate Collapse* is out today! The official release got pushed back due to an issue w the art, & despite being mostly about literature it's very visual.
So to celebrate its full entry into the world, a thread of some of my favorite images from it:
So to celebrate its full entry into the world, a thread of some of my favorite images from it:
Action without Hope
A study of how writers from the early phases of our prolonged climate emergency used aesthetic strategies to redefine the category of action. What does it feel like to live helplessly in a world that ...
press.uchicago.edu
June 4, 2025 at 4:23 PM
*Action without Hope: Victorian Literature after Climate Collapse* is out today! The official release got pushed back due to an issue w the art, & despite being mostly about literature it's very visual.
So to celebrate its full entry into the world, a thread of some of my favorite images from it:
So to celebrate its full entry into the world, a thread of some of my favorite images from it:
Happy May Day from Boz—and Bernie
May 2, 2025 at 1:55 AM
Happy May Day from Boz—and Bernie
Taught 2/3 classes outside today 😎
April 28, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Taught 2/3 classes outside today 😎
Reposted by Hannah LeClair
NEW: Mahmoud Khalil's wife gave birth to their child without him after ICE denied their request to let him be present.
“This was a purposeful decision by ICE to make me, Mahmoud, and our son suffer,” Dr. Abdalla said. “My son and I should not be navigating his first days on earth without Mahmoud."
“This was a purposeful decision by ICE to make me, Mahmoud, and our son suffer,” Dr. Abdalla said. “My son and I should not be navigating his first days on earth without Mahmoud."
Mahmoud Khalil’s Son Arrives After ICE Refuses to Let Him Attend Birth (Gift Article)
Mr. Khalil, a permanent resident detained in Louisiana, had requested a monitored furlough for the birth. His request was denied in less than an hour.
www.nytimes.com
April 21, 2025 at 11:34 PM
NEW: Mahmoud Khalil's wife gave birth to their child without him after ICE denied their request to let him be present.
“This was a purposeful decision by ICE to make me, Mahmoud, and our son suffer,” Dr. Abdalla said. “My son and I should not be navigating his first days on earth without Mahmoud."
“This was a purposeful decision by ICE to make me, Mahmoud, and our son suffer,” Dr. Abdalla said. “My son and I should not be navigating his first days on earth without Mahmoud."
Figured out a way to make grading take literally forever, thought it might be helpful to share
April 18, 2025 at 3:03 AM
Figured out a way to make grading take literally forever, thought it might be helpful to share
Reposted by Hannah LeClair
faced with a profoundly unjust decision against him, Mahmoud Khalil chooses to show incredible solidarity
April 11, 2025 at 10:17 PM
faced with a profoundly unjust decision against him, Mahmoud Khalil chooses to show incredible solidarity
First comment overhead while filing out of Philadelphia Orchestra's magnificent performance of The Firebird this evening: "Ah well, of course the Sixers lost"
April 6, 2025 at 4:11 AM
First comment overhead while filing out of Philadelphia Orchestra's magnificent performance of The Firebird this evening: "Ah well, of course the Sixers lost"