Megan L. Cook
@meganlcook.bsky.social
Your favorite medievalist's favorite medievalist. Middle English literature and/in early modern books, with a side of textual editing. In progress: Dirtbag Medievalism, Chaucer's Readers: 1400-2000, Lydgate's Shorter Works
This evening I went to a “no-baby shower” in honor of a friend’s upcoming salpingectomy. There was sushi, unpasteurized cheeses, cocktails, fire, choking hazards, a magician, opportunities to write to our reps to regarding reproductive justice. 100% awesome, wish I’d done this in advance of my own
November 23, 2025 at 2:59 AM
This evening I went to a “no-baby shower” in honor of a friend’s upcoming salpingectomy. There was sushi, unpasteurized cheeses, cocktails, fire, choking hazards, a magician, opportunities to write to our reps to regarding reproductive justice. 100% awesome, wish I’d done this in advance of my own
So when I was in high school we‘d go see punk and goth bands at this hall called the Lexicon Club (great name) that had a tejano bar out front, and this brings back, in the best way, the vibe of that whole scene
I’ve often called this song—“Just Like Heaven”—the finest single of the 80s and meant it. This cover’s arrangement only confirms it for me 💜🔥
November 22, 2025 at 8:38 PM
So when I was in high school we‘d go see punk and goth bands at this hall called the Lexicon Club (great name) that had a tejano bar out front, and this brings back, in the best way, the vibe of that whole scene
Reposted by Megan L. Cook
Chaucer in the Age of Medievalism needs you! In the wake of our conference, we are now preparing a collective volume and seeking additional chapters to complement the proceedings. Please share widely!
#medievalsky
modmed.hypotheses.org/8517
#medievalsky
modmed.hypotheses.org/8517
Appel à articles : Chaucer in the Age of Medievalism
Following the Chaucer: Here and Now exhibition (2023–2024) at the Bodleian Library, the conference Chaucer in the Age of Medievalism—sponsored by the Modernités médiévales association and the New Chau...
modmed.hypotheses.org
November 21, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Chaucer in the Age of Medievalism needs you! In the wake of our conference, we are now preparing a collective volume and seeking additional chapters to complement the proceedings. Please share widely!
#medievalsky
modmed.hypotheses.org/8517
#medievalsky
modmed.hypotheses.org/8517
Reposted by Megan L. Cook
Seriously this C17 poem is (accidentally?) incredibly affirming. He is embarrassed he guessed "wrongly" his aunt would have a baby boy, so the whole poem is like, you don't know that you didn't have a boy just because of what kind of body the baby was born with. People change sexes all the time! 🏳️⚧️
"All thing[s] are subject unto change we know,
And if all things, then why not sexes too?"
--Thomas Randolph, trans ally, 1638
And if all things, then why not sexes too?"
--Thomas Randolph, trans ally, 1638
November 21, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Seriously this C17 poem is (accidentally?) incredibly affirming. He is embarrassed he guessed "wrongly" his aunt would have a baby boy, so the whole poem is like, you don't know that you didn't have a boy just because of what kind of body the baby was born with. People change sexes all the time! 🏳️⚧️
Reposted by Megan L. Cook
And the news is... We're recruiting! Applications are now open for our 2026 @leverhulme.ac.uk Doctoral Scholarships. So, if you want to study at PhD level pre-modern handwritten cultures and the organisation of knowledge and power within them, do investigate our refreshed website.
November 21, 2025 at 9:30 AM
And the news is... We're recruiting! Applications are now open for our 2026 @leverhulme.ac.uk Doctoral Scholarships. So, if you want to study at PhD level pre-modern handwritten cultures and the organisation of knowledge and power within them, do investigate our refreshed website.
Reposted by Megan L. Cook
So the emoticon is an expression of the Holy Trinity: a heart symbol made of the printed letter V (in German early modern printing meaning a "U") and a cap that looks either like the number "3" or a crossed-epsilon ampersand. In the text, the cap is the "trinum".
June 28, 2025 at 6:56 AM
So the emoticon is an expression of the Holy Trinity: a heart symbol made of the printed letter V (in German early modern printing meaning a "U") and a cap that looks either like the number "3" or a crossed-epsilon ampersand. In the text, the cap is the "trinum".
We are in a classroom space crunch and I have just written to request the classroom with the requisite tech for my digital MSS seminar, even though it will be a small group and the room can accommodate more students. Ora pro nobis.
November 21, 2025 at 3:34 PM
We are in a classroom space crunch and I have just written to request the classroom with the requisite tech for my digital MSS seminar, even though it will be a small group and the room can accommodate more students. Ora pro nobis.
Loving the permutations here, but "Carriages at X" is one of my favorite Britishisms all on its own.
In highly important news from history today, it’s the 80th anniversary of the 21st birthday of Christopher Tolkien, notable now for the wording (especially the small print) of the invitation to the party
November 21, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Loving the permutations here, but "Carriages at X" is one of my favorite Britishisms all on its own.
Reposted by Megan L. Cook
If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features."
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
November 20, 2025 at 5:32 PM
If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features."
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
Reposted by Megan L. Cook
It’s all happening: Shakespeare in the Kitchen is slated for publication in April 2026 🍽️📗🎉 www.routledge.com/Shakespeare-...
Shakespeare in the Kitchen
Audiences and scholars alike have long remarked that Shakespeare’s poems and plays record the pleasures and perils of the table. Shakespeare in the Kitchen asks what Shakespeare’s works can tell us ab...
www.routledge.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:04 PM
It’s all happening: Shakespeare in the Kitchen is slated for publication in April 2026 🍽️📗🎉 www.routledge.com/Shakespeare-...
I'd briefly forgotten that the MLA session on Chaucer and Lydgate that Clint and I organized is going to kick ass
November 20, 2025 at 5:01 PM
I'd briefly forgotten that the MLA session on Chaucer and Lydgate that Clint and I organized is going to kick ass
Reposted by Megan L. Cook
listen to this king. a team with low morale is ineffective. relatedly, a team with high morale is effective. also relatedly: we are going to win
“I want their morale as low as possible because a team with low morale is ineffective.”
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter
Clifford “Buzz” Grambo patrols the streets of Baltimore to keep his neighbors safe—and make federal agents uncomfortable.
www.motherjones.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:06 PM
listen to this king. a team with low morale is ineffective. relatedly, a team with high morale is effective. also relatedly: we are going to win
Not feeling especially great about the two nursing students I saw yesterday using Google Gemini to complete their homework (which was about cancer screenings)
November 19, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Not feeling especially great about the two nursing students I saw yesterday using Google Gemini to complete their homework (which was about cancer screenings)
🤩🤩🤩🤩
JOB POSTING!
Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Rare Books and Prints at the @folger.edu
amherst.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/FSL_Em...
Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Rare Books and Prints at the @folger.edu
amherst.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/FSL_Em...
Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Rare Books and Prints
The Folger Shakespeare Library knows that an exceptional staff is the backbone of any great organization. We hire exceptionally qualified individuals who are committed to the mission, vision, and valu...
amherst.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com
November 19, 2025 at 1:36 AM
🤩🤩🤩🤩
To be fair, shih tzus are basically two cats in a trench coat
Your phone cannot tell you if your cat is a certain breed. My phone thought Fergus and Francie were a shih tzu. If you got your cat from a shelter or picked it up as a stray it is OVERWHELMINGLY likely that you have a standard mixed breed cat and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
November 18, 2025 at 8:21 PM
To be fair, shih tzus are basically two cats in a trench coat
Also: the implicit feedback I get from having students devise their own section of the curriculum is way more useful, in practical terms, than what I get in evals (e.g. if you do not want to read a book, I would recommend not taking the class called How to Read a Book)
First-year writing, esp in the age of AI, is hard but teaching my How to Read a Book class is satisfying in a specific way. The assignment I'm grading now asks students to design a new course unit, and so many are about reading as a means of cultivating attention in a world designed to fracture it.
November 18, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Also: the implicit feedback I get from having students devise their own section of the curriculum is way more useful, in practical terms, than what I get in evals (e.g. if you do not want to read a book, I would recommend not taking the class called How to Read a Book)
Reposted by Megan L. Cook
“Around six months after the cyber incident I talked to the then chair of the science select committee, who was not aware of this incident” w o w
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?
The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity
www.cityam.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:13 PM
“Around six months after the cyber incident I talked to the then chair of the science select committee, who was not aware of this incident” w o w
First-year writing, esp in the age of AI, is hard but teaching my How to Read a Book class is satisfying in a specific way. The assignment I'm grading now asks students to design a new course unit, and so many are about reading as a means of cultivating attention in a world designed to fracture it.
November 18, 2025 at 1:11 PM
First-year writing, esp in the age of AI, is hard but teaching my How to Read a Book class is satisfying in a specific way. The assignment I'm grading now asks students to design a new course unit, and so many are about reading as a means of cultivating attention in a world designed to fracture it.
Reposted by Megan L. Cook
Superb maps of Oxford's medieval Jewish heritage: www.oxfordjewishheritage.co.uk/oxford-jewis...
November 9, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Superb maps of Oxford's medieval Jewish heritage: www.oxfordjewishheritage.co.uk/oxford-jewis...
I suppose every generation has their version of this, but my partner just sent me a google calendar invite for the Nine Inch Nails concert we’ll be attending in February, and now I feel OLD
November 18, 2025 at 3:16 AM
I suppose every generation has their version of this, but my partner just sent me a google calendar invite for the Nine Inch Nails concert we’ll be attending in February, and now I feel OLD
I observed a colleague's class on Nixon last week, and let me tell you the young people were READY TO GO when it came to the Summers bit
teaching a short excerpt from rob nixon’s ‘slow violence’ this morning. this is how nixon starts the book, reminding you that the global south has always known larry summers for the moral degenerate that he is.
November 17, 2025 at 4:05 PM
I observed a colleague's class on Nixon last week, and let me tell you the young people were READY TO GO when it came to the Summers bit
The bar is in hell BUT IT CAN STILL GET LOWER. Beginning to understand, in new ways, why Dante needed nine levels
Jaw dropped. Trump Administration Removes Report on Missing and Murdered Native Americans, Calling It DEI Content
Trump Administration Removes Report on Missing and Murdered Native Americans, Calling It DEI Content - Oklahoma Watch
The Trump administration removed a congressionally mandated report on missing and murdered Native Americans from the DOJ website, citing compliance with an executive order against DEI. Senators who ch...
oklahomawatch.org
November 17, 2025 at 4:04 PM
The bar is in hell BUT IT CAN STILL GET LOWER. Beginning to understand, in new ways, why Dante needed nine levels
Reposted by Megan L. Cook
I spent the evening reading "Sir Gawain & the Green Knight" & enjoyed it more than I expected to.
November 16, 2025 at 10:05 AM
I spent the evening reading "Sir Gawain & the Green Knight" & enjoyed it more than I expected to.
Top 5 movie genres are:
An important cultural artifact is, has been, or will be stolen!
Movie is fine but the soundtrack absolutely slaps
The Mummy
French farce where everyone speaks very quickly
High-production value, award-seeking period piece
An important cultural artifact is, has been, or will be stolen!
Movie is fine but the soundtrack absolutely slaps
The Mummy
French farce where everyone speaks very quickly
High-production value, award-seeking period piece
Top 5 movie genres are:
heist
intelligence/espionage thriller
pitch perfect
cerebral ensemble oscar fodder drama
heist some more
heist
intelligence/espionage thriller
pitch perfect
cerebral ensemble oscar fodder drama
heist some more
Top 5 movie genres are:
People being shits at a dinner party
Rotting mansion, faded starlet/society beauty, high-camp fuckdown
Either nothing or everything happened, glacially slowly & visually stunningly
Woman is being haunted or maybe there’s actually a gross guy
Tilda Swinton hears a weird noise
People being shits at a dinner party
Rotting mansion, faded starlet/society beauty, high-camp fuckdown
Either nothing or everything happened, glacially slowly & visually stunningly
Woman is being haunted or maybe there’s actually a gross guy
Tilda Swinton hears a weird noise
November 16, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Top 5 movie genres are:
An important cultural artifact is, has been, or will be stolen!
Movie is fine but the soundtrack absolutely slaps
The Mummy
French farce where everyone speaks very quickly
High-production value, award-seeking period piece
An important cultural artifact is, has been, or will be stolen!
Movie is fine but the soundtrack absolutely slaps
The Mummy
French farce where everyone speaks very quickly
High-production value, award-seeking period piece
Not a single thought in his beautiful head
November 16, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Not a single thought in his beautiful head