Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
@travisclau.bsky.social
(he/him/his) Assistant Professor, Poet: c18/c19 British Literature/History of Medicine (immunity and vaccination)/Health Humanities/Disability Studies
travisclau.com
travisclau.com
Pinned
What's Left is Tender by Travis Chi Wing Lau — Small Harbor Publishing
www.smallharborpublishing.com
It's officially release day for WHAT'S LEFT IS TENDER, a book that I truly didn't think I had it in me to write: www.smallharborpublishing.com/books/whats-...
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
"AI" is and for a very long time has been a term used for obfuscation, occultation, and sleight of hand; but any sufficiently transparent magic is indistinguishable from technology.
muse.jhu.edu/pub/3/articl...
muse.jhu.edu/pub/3/articl...
January 2, 2026 at 10:04 PM
"AI" is and for a very long time has been a term used for obfuscation, occultation, and sleight of hand; but any sufficiently transparent magic is indistinguishable from technology.
muse.jhu.edu/pub/3/articl...
muse.jhu.edu/pub/3/articl...
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
Taxpayers and charities helped develop Zolgensma. Then it debuted at a record price, ushering in a new class of wildly expensive drugs.
Its story upends the widely held conception that high prices reflect huge industry investments in innovation.
(Published February)
Its story upends the widely held conception that high prices reflect huge industry investments in innovation.
(Published February)
What a $2 Million Per Dose Gene Therapy Reveals About Drug Pricing
Taxpayers and charities helped develop Zolgensma. Then it debuted at a record price, ushering in a new class of wildly expensive drugs. Its story upends the widely held conception that high prices ref...
www.propublica.org
December 31, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Taxpayers and charities helped develop Zolgensma. Then it debuted at a record price, ushering in a new class of wildly expensive drugs.
Its story upends the widely held conception that high prices reflect huge industry investments in innovation.
(Published February)
Its story upends the widely held conception that high prices reflect huge industry investments in innovation.
(Published February)
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
We covered so much here thanks to @davidforbes.bsky.social, but I’d like to underline perhaps the most pernicious aspect of the nyt’s ideologically driven campaign:
How it has caused grave damage to the rights of *all* queer people.
How it has caused grave damage to the rights of *all* queer people.
In this in-depth interview Billie Jean Sweeney — a former editor at The New York Times — details how the paper shifted towards openly promoting anti-trans hatred, why this was directed from the very top, how some staff pushed back and the immense damage done by the NYT legitimizing bigotry.
'A directive from above': Former NYT editor lays out how the paper pushes anti-trans bigotry
In this in-depth interview, former New York Times editor Billie Jean Sweeney details how the paper shifted towards openly promoting anti-trans hatred, how some staff tried to stop it, how it's directe...
transnews.network
January 2, 2026 at 9:54 AM
We covered so much here thanks to @davidforbes.bsky.social, but I’d like to underline perhaps the most pernicious aspect of the nyt’s ideologically driven campaign:
How it has caused grave damage to the rights of *all* queer people.
How it has caused grave damage to the rights of *all* queer people.
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
This is a thread of major media outlets falsely anthropomorphising the "Grok" chatbot program and in doing so, actively and directly removing responsibility and accountability from individual people working at X who created a child pornography generator (Elon Musk, Nikita Bier etc)
#1: Reuters
#1: Reuters
January 2, 2026 at 8:02 PM
This is a thread of major media outlets falsely anthropomorphising the "Grok" chatbot program and in doing so, actively and directly removing responsibility and accountability from individual people working at X who created a child pornography generator (Elon Musk, Nikita Bier etc)
#1: Reuters
#1: Reuters
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
Cover reveal. It's about how & why colonies/states controlled international & domestic migration until 1888, why in the late 19th c the feds took over, & what it was like for politically disfavored groups to live under that arrangement of power. You can't understand voluntary migration history 1/
January 2, 2026 at 1:01 PM
Cover reveal. It's about how & why colonies/states controlled international & domestic migration until 1888, why in the late 19th c the feds took over, & what it was like for politically disfavored groups to live under that arrangement of power. You can't understand voluntary migration history 1/
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
Three days left on my winter sale!
Grab any of my TTRPGs at 33% off, or get my whole catalog at an even bigger discount.
itch.io/s/175006/gil...
Grab any of my TTRPGs at 33% off, or get my whole catalog at an even bigger discount.
itch.io/s/175006/gil...
Gila RPGs Winter Sale 2025 by Gila RPGs
A bundle by Gila RPGs, $100.00 for 34 games
itch.io
January 2, 2026 at 4:52 PM
Three days left on my winter sale!
Grab any of my TTRPGs at 33% off, or get my whole catalog at an even bigger discount.
itch.io/s/175006/gil...
Grab any of my TTRPGs at 33% off, or get my whole catalog at an even bigger discount.
itch.io/s/175006/gil...
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
Like, not even GRE scores. SAT scores.
January 2, 2026 at 4:47 PM
Like, not even GRE scores. SAT scores.
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
“It’s a solution to a non-existent problem. I don’t see where this is doing anything to help voters. It’s only going to disenfranchise people,” says an Ohio election official about the state’s new ban on grace periods for mail ballots.
Ohio Bans Grace Periods for Mail Ballots, Fulfilling Trump’s Wishes
Ohio is the fourth GOP-run state this year to ban ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive after. A Supreme Court case could force that policy nationwide next year.
boltsmag.org
January 2, 2026 at 8:05 PM
“It’s a solution to a non-existent problem. I don’t see where this is doing anything to help voters. It’s only going to disenfranchise people,” says an Ohio election official about the state’s new ban on grace periods for mail ballots.
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
There are many sound and well-researched plans from faculty and staff that address the deficit; they are being totally ignored in a flouting of the principles of shared governance. We demand the administration rescind the cuts. www.chronicle.com/article/were...
‘We’re Being DOGE-ed’: Sweeping Buyout Plan Rattles the New School’s Faculty
Leaders say cuts are necessary to close a $48-million budget hole.
www.chronicle.com
December 27, 2025 at 3:46 PM
There are many sound and well-researched plans from faculty and staff that address the deficit; they are being totally ignored in a flouting of the principles of shared governance. We demand the administration rescind the cuts. www.chronicle.com/article/were...
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
Not now, haunted Victorian shoes
Mystery as hundreds of Victorian shoes wash up on Ogmore beach
Mystery as hundreds of Victorian shoes wash up on Ogmore beach
More than 400 leather hobnailed boots, thought to date back to the 19th Century, have been found.
www.bbc.com
December 23, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Not now, haunted Victorian shoes
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
Really pleased that the lecture I gave on disability in history for @histassoc.bsky.social is now live and #openaccess #DisabilityHistoryMonth #CriptheCurriculum #18C #WilliamHay #LifeWriting Link: eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
Film: Disability in Britain and Ireland – 1714 to 1785
eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
November 16, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Really pleased that the lecture I gave on disability in history for @histassoc.bsky.social is now live and #openaccess #DisabilityHistoryMonth #CriptheCurriculum #18C #WilliamHay #LifeWriting Link: eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
A joy to start the year seeing one of the very first poems toward my new project about faith(lessness) and the divine. Thank you, Allison Blevins, for believing in my work again and Jill Khoury for again giving my work a home at @rogueagent.bsky.social:
www.rogueagentjournal.com/tlau
www.rogueagentjournal.com/tlau
January 1, 2026 at 5:08 PM
A joy to start the year seeing one of the very first poems toward my new project about faith(lessness) and the divine. Thank you, Allison Blevins, for believing in my work again and Jill Khoury for again giving my work a home at @rogueagent.bsky.social:
www.rogueagentjournal.com/tlau
www.rogueagentjournal.com/tlau
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
RA 130, guest ed by Allison Blevins, is here! Including poetry by @seanthomasd.bsky.social @trampolinepoetry.bsky.social @travisclau.bsky.social @chloeyelenamiller.bsky.social @djvorreyer.bsky.social & @amiewhittemore.bsky.social 🪶 rogueagentjournal.com/issue130
Issue 130 — RogueAgent
Welcome!
rogueagentjournal.com
January 1, 2026 at 4:27 PM
RA 130, guest ed by Allison Blevins, is here! Including poetry by @seanthomasd.bsky.social @trampolinepoetry.bsky.social @travisclau.bsky.social @chloeyelenamiller.bsky.social @djvorreyer.bsky.social & @amiewhittemore.bsky.social 🪶 rogueagentjournal.com/issue130
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
Celebrating late into the night hasn't stopped people from submitting on the first day of our spring submission window! We are officially open for submissions, so disabled, chronically ill, and neurodivergent writers, we hope you send work our way!
January 1, 2026 at 3:42 PM
Celebrating late into the night hasn't stopped people from submitting on the first day of our spring submission window! We are officially open for submissions, so disabled, chronically ill, and neurodivergent writers, we hope you send work our way!
Here's to a better year for all of us.
January 1, 2026 at 4:24 AM
Here's to a better year for all of us.
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
As the year end draws near remember this.
December 31, 2025 at 11:52 PM
As the year end draws near remember this.
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
When universities tout their partnerships with OpenAI, parents, faculty and everyone really should be asking how they intend to account for the increasing evidence that their technology is hurting people, especially young and vulnerable people. How many instances of harm will be enough?
Uh… check out what ChatGPT allegedly told a man before he killed his mother and then himself.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
December 31, 2025 at 9:59 PM
When universities tout their partnerships with OpenAI, parents, faculty and everyone really should be asking how they intend to account for the increasing evidence that their technology is hurting people, especially young and vulnerable people. How many instances of harm will be enough?
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
This set of observations is produced by my scrolling Reddit and otherwise listening to people talk about "how to write."
A) there is no requirement that any of your characters has any sort of "arc" let alone a redemption.
B) there is also no requirement that your fiction has a plot.
A) there is no requirement that any of your characters has any sort of "arc" let alone a redemption.
B) there is also no requirement that your fiction has a plot.
December 31, 2025 at 4:47 PM
This set of observations is produced by my scrolling Reddit and otherwise listening to people talk about "how to write."
A) there is no requirement that any of your characters has any sort of "arc" let alone a redemption.
B) there is also no requirement that your fiction has a plot.
A) there is no requirement that any of your characters has any sort of "arc" let alone a redemption.
B) there is also no requirement that your fiction has a plot.
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
2025 was a very difficult year for me: I was basically blacklisted from the US workforce. But I can still write. Folks have asked me how they can help. If my writing has meant anything to you, here are four concrete ways you can help me to keep on doing it…
December 31, 2025 at 7:58 PM
2025 was a very difficult year for me: I was basically blacklisted from the US workforce. But I can still write. Folks have asked me how they can help. If my writing has meant anything to you, here are four concrete ways you can help me to keep on doing it…
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
“I’m honored to be your ancestor and believe that disabled oracles like us will light the way to the future. Don’t let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.”
Hero of 2025: Alice Wong
The disability justice icon's last message: "Don’t let the bastards grind you down."
www.motherjones.com
December 31, 2025 at 6:32 PM
“I’m honored to be your ancestor and believe that disabled oracles like us will light the way to the future. Don’t let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.”
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
Kinda like what we did to the Iraqi National Library when we liberated the country, except this time it's our own National Libraries.
I’ve been wondering for the last year when we’d get to the library destruction phase and here we are. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/c...
NASA’s Largest Library Is Closing Amid Staff and Lab Cuts
www.nytimes.com
December 31, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Kinda like what we did to the Iraqi National Library when we liberated the country, except this time it's our own National Libraries.
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
The American failure to protect its children sinks to new lows
EXCLUSIVE: @laurenweberhp.bsky.social & I have spent the last year collecting school+county-level vaccination data from across the US and found that only about 28% of counties now have herd immunity for kindergartners from measles—that leaves about 5.2mn kids unprotected.
Gift link: wapo.st/49zDc43
Gift link: wapo.st/49zDc43
U.S. vaccination rates are plunging. Look up where your school stands.
Take a look to see what the kindergarten measles vaccination rates are in your area.
wapo.st
December 31, 2025 at 3:37 PM
The American failure to protect its children sinks to new lows
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
Sitting a stewing in frustration isn't nearly as cathartic as just designing a poster. Let's see how often I remember that in 2026.
December 31, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Sitting a stewing in frustration isn't nearly as cathartic as just designing a poster. Let's see how often I remember that in 2026.