Perry Zurn
@perryzurn.bsky.social
Prof @AmericanU. Interested in political theory, social movements, LGBT life, and fungi. Author @UMinnPress @mitpress @dukepress https://www.perryzurn.com/
Really excited to be sharing work on Cornell's own trans histories tonight! As part of trans awareness week.
November 11, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Really excited to be sharing work on Cornell's own trans histories tonight! As part of trans awareness week.
Whenever I make up a word (we need more for the things I think about), copyeditors say, "Hey. That's not a word. Use a dictionary word." I want to reply: "Hey. How do you think words got in the dictionary?!" What is this regime where we can't publish new words? Where did it come from? whywhywhy
November 4, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Whenever I make up a word (we need more for the things I think about), copyeditors say, "Hey. That's not a word. Use a dictionary word." I want to reply: "Hey. How do you think words got in the dictionary?!" What is this regime where we can't publish new words? Where did it come from? whywhywhy
No but really... all you writers, how DO you make yourself sit still for these copy edits on a full manuscript? I'm already a heavily distractible person, but I become a literal dandelion tuft in the breeze with these.
October 30, 2025 at 8:32 PM
No but really... all you writers, how DO you make yourself sit still for these copy edits on a full manuscript? I'm already a heavily distractible person, but I become a literal dandelion tuft in the breeze with these.
deargod I love writing, but I do not love copy editing. calling on this blewitt to give me strength today.
October 17, 2025 at 3:32 PM
deargod I love writing, but I do not love copy editing. calling on this blewitt to give me strength today.
A giant cyclops puffball guttating this morning…
September 22, 2025 at 8:58 PM
A giant cyclops puffball guttating this morning…
It’s drizzling and an older woman, with dyed red hair but deep grey roots, stands leaning against her weed wacker in a blue raincoat. She tenderly snips the tiniest edges of her sidewalk, while her bare feet turn slowly green with the cuttings. Her stance infinite.
September 17, 2025 at 8:12 PM
It’s drizzling and an older woman, with dyed red hair but deep grey roots, stands leaning against her weed wacker in a blue raincoat. She tenderly snips the tiniest edges of her sidewalk, while her bare feet turn slowly green with the cuttings. Her stance infinite.
.... but also what if I get buried alive by email?
September 16, 2025 at 7:26 PM
.... but also what if I get buried alive by email?
Also learned a lot and felt a lot with this book recently. Thanks to a friend for the recommendation! www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/695816...
Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H: 9780593448786 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
A queer hijabi Muslim immigrant survives her coming-of-age by drawing strength and hope from stories in the Quran in this “raw and relatable memoir that challenges societal norms and expectations”...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com
September 6, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Also learned a lot and felt a lot with this book recently. Thanks to a friend for the recommendation! www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/695816...
Cannot wait for this!
Among our new titles this month is poet Eli Clare's "Unfurl," a queer disabled love song to trees and beavers, tremors and dreams. buff.ly/Kn3Bk2m
September 2, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Cannot wait for this!
Earthstars appearing nearby. I’m taking it as a good omen--in a world seemingly so short of such things …
August 27, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Earthstars appearing nearby. I’m taking it as a good omen--in a world seemingly so short of such things …
Reposted by Perry Zurn
Remake the world with neurodivergence at its heart! Leon J. Hilton's Counter-cartographies: Neurodivergence and the Errancies of Performance is out today! www.upress.umn.edu/978151790903...
Counter-cartographies
How to remake the world with neurodivergence at its heart What if we embraced neurodivergent ways of being not as deviations to be corrected but as vital way...
www.upress.umn.edu
August 19, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Remake the world with neurodivergence at its heart! Leon J. Hilton's Counter-cartographies: Neurodivergence and the Errancies of Performance is out today! www.upress.umn.edu/978151790903...
I’m waiting for a car repair. I see an older woman walking with a walker, smoking a cigarette, and blaring Phil Collins from her phone for all and sundry. And I think, the poetry of the everyday, even beneath the 8am sun, is astounding.
August 14, 2025 at 12:21 PM
I’m waiting for a car repair. I see an older woman walking with a walker, smoking a cigarette, and blaring Phil Collins from her phone for all and sundry. And I think, the poetry of the everyday, even beneath the 8am sun, is astounding.
y'all I just saw this headline in Science and now I can't unsee it--both for its truth value and for its dad-joke quality.
August 11, 2025 at 3:10 PM
y'all I just saw this headline in Science and now I can't unsee it--both for its truth value and for its dad-joke quality.
A magical moth moment. Look at that tuft!
August 11, 2025 at 1:53 PM
A magical moth moment. Look at that tuft!
How might we do philosophy *with* and *for* trans people, & *in* the places where trans people are? How might work with interviews, archives, & community phenomenologies be philosophical? Could trans philosophy open the way for a revolution in philosophical method? blog.apaonline.org/2025/08/06/h...
How we Make Each Other or, How is this Book Philosophy?
For years now, I have grappled with how to do philosophy as a trans person and how to do philosophy from the social position of trans. While the former simply negotiates my standing as gender-marginal...
blog.apaonline.org
August 7, 2025 at 4:18 PM
How might we do philosophy *with* and *for* trans people, & *in* the places where trans people are? How might work with interviews, archives, & community phenomenologies be philosophical? Could trans philosophy open the way for a revolution in philosophical method? blog.apaonline.org/2025/08/06/h...
Fungal romance #fungifriends #mushrooms
August 2, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Fungal romance #fungifriends #mushrooms
These grow in the same spot year to year. Delighted to see them back!
July 21, 2025 at 8:21 PM
These grow in the same spot year to year. Delighted to see them back!
I've never used a library and archives as hard as I have those at Olin, here at Cornell, these past two years. How do I thank the whole team??? (1982 image below for effect) digital.library.illinois.edu/items/47a88c...
John M. Olin Library, Cornell Univeristy, Ithaca (N.Y.)
Caption on the back reads:
digital.library.illinois.edu
July 14, 2025 at 2:34 PM
I've never used a library and archives as hard as I have those at Olin, here at Cornell, these past two years. How do I thank the whole team??? (1982 image below for effect) digital.library.illinois.edu/items/47a88c...
Years ago, I visited the Leslie Feinberg Library at @Ben Power's @Sexual Minorities Archives. I snapped a photo of the philosophy shelf. Plato, Socrates, Foucault, and @Shannon Winnubst. Such a leap there that for a long time had been unthinkable. And trans philosophy still off in the distance.
July 12, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Years ago, I visited the Leslie Feinberg Library at @Ben Power's @Sexual Minorities Archives. I snapped a photo of the philosophy shelf. Plato, Socrates, Foucault, and @Shannon Winnubst. Such a leap there that for a long time had been unthinkable. And trans philosophy still off in the distance.
This full-length study of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is pretty fascinating. It answered a ton of my questions, and, as all good books should, left me with a lot of new ones. For the group's account of itself, see www.thesisters.org. nyupress.org/978147982036...
Queer Nuns
An engaging look into the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, queer activists devoted to social justice The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence make up an unlikely...
nyupress.org
July 8, 2025 at 4:51 PM
This full-length study of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is pretty fascinating. It answered a ton of my questions, and, as all good books should, left me with a lot of new ones. For the group's account of itself, see www.thesisters.org. nyupress.org/978147982036...
Did y'all know that legal protection for sexual orientation was first considered in New York City in 1971 ... but that it did not become law until 1986? It took fifteen years... in NYC (of all places)! And it only went statewide in 2002 (thirty+ years later). *thinking about work that takes time*
July 8, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Did y'all know that legal protection for sexual orientation was first considered in New York City in 1971 ... but that it did not become law until 1986? It took fifteen years... in NYC (of all places)! And it only went statewide in 2002 (thirty+ years later). *thinking about work that takes time*
From CHOICE reviews:
Zurn "is a wonderful stylist," "sections & subsections are organizational genius." Focused on "the poetics of the this-ness & here-ness of each other," Zurn has created "somehow both a beach read & serious academic literature." "Essential. Advanced undergrads through faculty."
Zurn "is a wonderful stylist," "sections & subsections are organizational genius." Focused on "the poetics of the this-ness & here-ness of each other," Zurn has created "somehow both a beach read & serious academic literature." "Essential. Advanced undergrads through faculty."
July 3, 2025 at 2:44 PM
From CHOICE reviews:
Zurn "is a wonderful stylist," "sections & subsections are organizational genius." Focused on "the poetics of the this-ness & here-ness of each other," Zurn has created "somehow both a beach read & serious academic literature." "Essential. Advanced undergrads through faculty."
Zurn "is a wonderful stylist," "sections & subsections are organizational genius." Focused on "the poetics of the this-ness & here-ness of each other," Zurn has created "somehow both a beach read & serious academic literature." "Essential. Advanced undergrads through faculty."
Slug respite with rusulla!
June 30, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Slug respite with rusulla!