Micah True
banner
micahtrue.bsky.social
Micah True
@micahtrue.bsky.social
Professor and Associate Dean (Graduate Studies) at U of Alberta • Early modern New France and France (literature, history, theatre) • Translator/translation studies • Zags hoops • books • academic life.
*Just published: The Jesuit Relations: A Biography*
Pinned
Had a great time talking with @gmarchildon.bsky.social about my new book for the Champlain Society’s podcast Witness to Yesterday.
The Jesuit Relations - Champlain Society
Greg Marchildon speaks with Micah True about his book, The Jesuit Relations.
champlainsociety.utppublishing.com
I'm excited for this lecture I'm giving next Thursday, about letters from the 17th-century Jesuit mission to the Wendat written by a French surgeon named François Gendron, and how they're related to the Jesuit Relations. In person and streaming online! Zoom registration in the image below.
February 6, 2026 at 3:01 PM
Just found a groaner of a pun to put at the centre of a lecture I’m giving in March. Just need 40 minutes of material to go around it. I’m doing this right, yes?
January 9, 2026 at 5:38 PM
Reposted by Micah True
got back from the dentist to find that not only @micahtrue.bsky.social's new Jesuit "Relations": a biography had arrived, but that my mother was already reading it and discovering new ways to get at me: if you're too busy to come down soon, she said, you could always send me a message in wampum...
January 2, 2026 at 12:04 PM
I might quit my day job
December 23, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Genuine lol at 9 and 10. Nailed it.
Note from my notebook (2018). Still relevant.
December 16, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Not even close to the last 24 hours, but this has already started. Not gonna happen.
We're in the last 24 hours or so before everything shuts down for the holiday break. This is when people try to sneak things into my inbox so it's on my plate over the break and not theirs. I am ready. #AcademicSky
a man is playing ping pong and has the number 5 on his shirt
ALT: a man is playing ping pong and has the number 5 on his shirt
media.tenor.com
December 15, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Waking up to fresh snow always makes me pause and reflect on what kind of monster thinks it’s a good idea to clear their driveway with a gd leaf blower before 7 am.
December 11, 2025 at 2:31 PM
I'm getting tons of email from ppl wanting to be paid to market my book in various ways: pitch it to podcasts, write a Wiki entry for it, deploy a "visibility arsenal" (!?) on its behalf, etc. Didn't get a single message like this after my first book (10 years ago, same press). Is this a new thing?
December 9, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Reposted by Micah True
Had a great chat with David Borys on the Curious Canadian History podcast about some of the lessons of my new book, The Jesuit Relations: A Biography (published this year by @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social )
S11E6 Letters from the Frontier – The Jesuit Relations and Old World Understandings of New France | Curious Canadian History
shows.acast.com
December 2, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Had a great chat with David Borys on the Curious Canadian History podcast about some of the lessons of my new book, The Jesuit Relations: A Biography (published this year by @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social )
S11E6 Letters from the Frontier – The Jesuit Relations and Old World Understandings of New France | Curious Canadian History
shows.acast.com
December 2, 2025 at 2:33 PM
I’m giving a talk about my new book at Newman Theological College in Edmonton today, and they have a whole pile of copies sitting here waiting. Love to see it! @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social
November 25, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Reposted by Micah True
I'm going to be very busy this week talking about my new book, The Jesuit Relations: A Biography (published by @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social). Here are two opportunities to listen in online (two distinct talks! Come to one or both!):
November 10, 2025 at 3:52 PM
I'm going to be very busy this week talking about my new book, The Jesuit Relations: A Biography (published by @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social). Here are two opportunities to listen in online (two distinct talks! Come to one or both!):
November 10, 2025 at 3:52 PM
My department is searching for a teaching professor of French (continuing appointment, open rank).
Career Teaching Professor (Open Rank), French
This position is part of the Association of the Academic Staff of the University of Alberta (AASUA). While this position welcomes applications from individuals external to the university, current Acad...
iaejup.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Livin’ that #conferencelife.
November 7, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Here's an opportunity to hear me talk about my new book on the Jesuit Relations. Nov. 14, online! Click here to register: shorturl.at/2ZJaE
October 31, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Reposted by Micah True
Sounds of the Seasons ...
New composition: Autumn Leaves.
October 31, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Catholics, please advise: when a priest says “bless you” at the end of a phone conversation, what should one say (particularly if one is not catholic)? I’m guessing “you too” wasn’t the right thing…just hoping to avoid sounding like a weirdo next time.
October 30, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Just emailed my MLA and the premier's office, for the first time ever. It's a start.
In the coming hours, everyday Albertans must decide if removing Charter rights in the dead of the night by bypassing the legislature and the courts is "the Alberta way."

Conservatives & libertarians in the UCP caucus must decide if this is the direction they want to take their party and movement.
October 28, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Reposted by Micah True
Tonight's moves by the UCP are part of a trend: shifting Alberta away from liberal democracy toward illiberalism.

"Populists like Smith often invoke freedom, but their concept of it is tied to loyalty to the dominant group rather than universal liberties.+

open.substack.com/pub/drjaredw...
Populism, freedom, and democracy in Alberta (and beyond)
Lessons from my grade fiver's homework assignment
open.substack.com
October 28, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Reposted by Micah True
Delighted to share the Call for Papers for a special issue of French Historical Studies on the theme "European-Indigenous Relations in the French Americas" (to be co-edited by Scott Berthelette and myself)

CFP and submission guidelines can be found here:
read.dukeupress.edu/french-histo...
Submission Guidelines | French Historical Studies | Duke University Press
Submission Guidelines | French Historical Studies | Duke University Press Submission Guidelines  CALL FOR PAPERS Special issue of French Historical Studies on European-Indigenous ...
read.dukeupress.edu
October 23, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Frustrated, enraged by all the ways getting this shot has been made difficult…po-tay-to, po-tah-to.
Some Albertans frustrated and unable to book COVID-19 shots as fall campaign kicks off | CBC News
Some Albertans struggled to book COVID-19 shots as the province’s fall immunization campaign opened to the general public on Monday.
www.cbc.ca
October 21, 2025 at 3:55 AM
Teen daughter reports that someone asked for her phone number at school today and she said 867-5309. I’m…proud?
October 16, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Micah True
The keynote public lecture for the Atlantic Medieval and Early Modern Conference will be offered by Dr. Tom Peace @tpcanoe.bsky.social on the topic, "What is a Treaty?" Friday, October 24, 7:00 pm, at Université de Moncton, Bibliothèque Champlain. Open to the public; no registration required.
October 13, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Reposted by Micah True
My latest: "Numerous studies show that majors in the humanities—typically, in departments of English, history, philosophy, religious studies, classics and languages—lead students to employment and life satisfaction outcomes as positive as those for majors traditionally championed as 'practical.'”
Counterpoint | Minnesota humanities graduates thrive in meaningful careers
"The stereotype of the underemployed history major is simply not true," professor Andrea Kaston Tange writes.
www.startribune.com
October 12, 2025 at 11:14 PM