Christopher Yates
@yates.bsky.social
corrupt Renaissance courtier and English PhD; molochofficial on some other unnameable site
you'll never convince me that Derrida wasn't onto something when the richest man in the world just completed the phallocentrism-phonocentrism-logocentrism trifecta in a tweet about Homer
November 10, 2025 at 10:00 PM
you'll never convince me that Derrida wasn't onto something when the richest man in the world just completed the phallocentrism-phonocentrism-logocentrism trifecta in a tweet about Homer
enjoying all these press conferences and interviews where senior dems are more or less saying “in heaven there is no suffering and your deaths will prolong Trump’s time in purgatory, which is sort of a win if you really think about it”
November 10, 2025 at 7:18 PM
enjoying all these press conferences and interviews where senior dems are more or less saying “in heaven there is no suffering and your deaths will prolong Trump’s time in purgatory, which is sort of a win if you really think about it”
Heirloom debt is such a beautiful concept
November 9, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Heirloom debt is such a beautiful concept
Reposted by Christopher Yates
econ prof holding student meetings next to me at the cafe just said, to a small group of students who are taking notes, "my big theory is that the two things people want are money and power," and I can't stop thinking about how easy it all must be not having to think like at all.
November 6, 2025 at 7:15 PM
econ prof holding student meetings next to me at the cafe just said, to a small group of students who are taking notes, "my big theory is that the two things people want are money and power," and I can't stop thinking about how easy it all must be not having to think like at all.
two weeks or so ago I had the pleasure of conveying notable cowboy-wizard-sci-fi-author Samuel Delany to his induction to the American academy of arts and sciences
November 6, 2025 at 5:18 PM
two weeks or so ago I had the pleasure of conveying notable cowboy-wizard-sci-fi-author Samuel Delany to his induction to the American academy of arts and sciences
Woke is not dead which can eternal lie
November 6, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Woke is not dead which can eternal lie
the only thing funnier than Jay Jones winning his race in Virginia despite the leaked texts is Carrie Coyner, who leaked the texts, losing hers
November 5, 2025 at 4:46 AM
the only thing funnier than Jay Jones winning his race in Virginia despite the leaked texts is Carrie Coyner, who leaked the texts, losing hers
I’m having a “feelings night” which is when I let myself have feelings after a few weeks/months of being too busy for them and I just opened my phone and saw an old picture of Audrey Hepburn and immediately burst into tears (the stimulus for this sort of thing is arbitrary)
November 5, 2025 at 2:55 AM
I’m having a “feelings night” which is when I let myself have feelings after a few weeks/months of being too busy for them and I just opened my phone and saw an old picture of Audrey Hepburn and immediately burst into tears (the stimulus for this sort of thing is arbitrary)
At least part of the reason why everyone likes Benjamin is that you can attribute virtually any idea (even contradictory ideas) to him and really, who’s to say that it isn’t lurking somewhere in the Acrcades Project (odds are that it actually is in there somewhere)
November 3, 2025 at 5:43 PM
At least part of the reason why everyone likes Benjamin is that you can attribute virtually any idea (even contradictory ideas) to him and really, who’s to say that it isn’t lurking somewhere in the Acrcades Project (odds are that it actually is in there somewhere)
Done with grading so I’m going to treat myself to an hour of looking up whatever is going on with lily allen
October 30, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Done with grading so I’m going to treat myself to an hour of looking up whatever is going on with lily allen
Future anthropologists will note that, in the early decades of the 21st century, elite families demonstrated their wealth and prestige through the scale, variety, and tastefulness of their decorative gourd arrangements
October 28, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Future anthropologists will note that, in the early decades of the 21st century, elite families demonstrated their wealth and prestige through the scale, variety, and tastefulness of their decorative gourd arrangements
grad school Halloween parties really were a mixed bag because on one hand nobody would just go to party city and pick up a no-effort costume-in-a-bag but on the other hand you have to tolerate costumes like “reification” and “the specter haunting Europe” (etc.)
October 27, 2025 at 11:12 PM
grad school Halloween parties really were a mixed bag because on one hand nobody would just go to party city and pick up a no-effort costume-in-a-bag but on the other hand you have to tolerate costumes like “reification” and “the specter haunting Europe” (etc.)
I feel an extraordinary paper-title-envy when I remember the late Jonathan Goldberg's "The Anus in Coriolanus"
October 14, 2025 at 4:54 PM
I feel an extraordinary paper-title-envy when I remember the late Jonathan Goldberg's "The Anus in Coriolanus"
kind of obsessed with Oberon's slutty tunic and butterfly hair-clips here
October 8, 2025 at 8:23 PM
kind of obsessed with Oberon's slutty tunic and butterfly hair-clips here
I do understand the "bo'oh o' wa'er" jokes about (certain types of) British accents but I also believe that we should all think a bit more about what happens when we pronounce, say, the word "at," or (and this one is really uncomfortable) "uh-oh"
October 2, 2025 at 10:37 PM
I do understand the "bo'oh o' wa'er" jokes about (certain types of) British accents but I also believe that we should all think a bit more about what happens when we pronounce, say, the word "at," or (and this one is really uncomfortable) "uh-oh"
New London, Connecticut honestly shot way too high with that name
September 24, 2025 at 10:55 PM
New London, Connecticut honestly shot way too high with that name
I’m the only person who was raptured because I got up here first and told them what’s been going on down there, like what you’ve all been up to in general. My bad.
September 23, 2025 at 10:09 PM
I’m the only person who was raptured because I got up here first and told them what’s been going on down there, like what you’ve all been up to in general. My bad.
My “it’s safe to eat out in Florida” pamphlet has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my pamphlet
September 23, 2025 at 9:59 PM
My “it’s safe to eat out in Florida” pamphlet has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my pamphlet
Here in Rhode Island we’re just catching up to the summer 1999 news cycle
September 21, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Here in Rhode Island we’re just catching up to the summer 1999 news cycle
I love this 19th century depiction of Hotspur and the unnamed fop from Henry IV Part I for many reasons but chiefly because this is how I picture every interaction I have with my father
September 19, 2025 at 6:40 PM
I love this 19th century depiction of Hotspur and the unnamed fop from Henry IV Part I for many reasons but chiefly because this is how I picture every interaction I have with my father
So if I understand correctly the official liberal-Zionist position of the Democratic Party is: Donald Trump, America’s Hitler, is wrong about everything except (randomly!) his hard-line support of Israel, which is both fully correct and completely unrelated to his broader political project
September 18, 2025 at 9:21 PM
So if I understand correctly the official liberal-Zionist position of the Democratic Party is: Donald Trump, America’s Hitler, is wrong about everything except (randomly!) his hard-line support of Israel, which is both fully correct and completely unrelated to his broader political project
Very funny moment in this Agatha Christie novel (“The Moving Finger”); she’s a great plot-writer but also deeply incurious about the world around her and so her novels just pass on huge globs of raw ideology, undigested (this makes her interesting to read imo)
September 18, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Very funny moment in this Agatha Christie novel (“The Moving Finger”); she’s a great plot-writer but also deeply incurious about the world around her and so her novels just pass on huge globs of raw ideology, undigested (this makes her interesting to read imo)
It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted Jimmy Kimmel, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York
September 18, 2025 at 1:21 AM
It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted Jimmy Kimmel, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York
sometimes I recall with limitless horror the period when I was applying to grad school and, on the dubious recommendation of my advisors, cold-emailed every single early modernist working at any college with an English grad program in the entire anglophone world
September 16, 2025 at 10:36 PM
sometimes I recall with limitless horror the period when I was applying to grad school and, on the dubious recommendation of my advisors, cold-emailed every single early modernist working at any college with an English grad program in the entire anglophone world