Arielle Zibrak
@zibrak.bsky.social
feminisms, projects, pop culture 📚
| Literary Tour of the US, The Great Courses
| 12 Stories by American Women, Penguin Classics
| Avidly Reads Guilty Pleasures, NYU
| Writing Against Reform, UMass
Prof @ UWyo - views own
👐www.ArielleZibrak.com👐
| Literary Tour of the US, The Great Courses
| 12 Stories by American Women, Penguin Classics
| Avidly Reads Guilty Pleasures, NYU
| Writing Against Reform, UMass
Prof @ UWyo - views own
👐www.ArielleZibrak.com👐
Pinned
Arielle Zibrak
@zibrak.bsky.social
· Sep 3
Here's what I'm up to these days. SO EXCITED to write this book and talk about how the history of positive thinking in wellness impacts us all. Grateful for my agent @babedylan.bsky.social and my new editor Maria, who rocks.
What's your favorite name of an actual puritan? I'm between Mehitable Huntoon and Zebedee Ring at this time.
December 30, 2025 at 4:39 PM
What's your favorite name of an actual puritan? I'm between Mehitable Huntoon and Zebedee Ring at this time.
Blessed to share a nation and a savior, indeed.
The Constitution's "wall of separation" between Church & State was a phrase coined in 1802 by Thomas Jefferson in a letter to the Danbury, Connecticut Baptist Convention presenting his views on the relationship between religion and the role of the state in the new nation. #ChristianNationalism
December 29, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Blessed to share a nation and a savior, indeed.
This photograph is giving Carl Van Vechten. It's giving Miro. It's giving Man Ray and Ruth Bernard. It's saying I am all of art history and you are a med spa pamphlet.
Rama Duwaji, who will be First Lady of New York City in nine days, is profiled by The Cut
Profile Here: bit.ly/3YH900F
Profile Here: bit.ly/3YH900F
December 23, 2025 at 2:50 PM
This photograph is giving Carl Van Vechten. It's giving Miro. It's giving Man Ray and Ruth Bernard. It's saying I am all of art history and you are a med spa pamphlet.
Realism in the news.
The internet is furious over the Vanity Fair Trump cabinet portraits. But the photographer says the goal was “to reveal something more real”
The internet is furious over Christopher Anderson's Vanity Fair Trump cabinet portraits. But American politics do not feel pretty right now, so why should the portraits be pretty?
www.yahoo.com
December 19, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Realism in the news.
Sometimes I think wow, the Great Dead Authors would have really hated this, but then I worry they'd be as distracted by year-round fresh fruit as the rest of us.
December 18, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Sometimes I think wow, the Great Dead Authors would have really hated this, but then I worry they'd be as distracted by year-round fresh fruit as the rest of us.
Whether or not I will hate watch this even a little is a real nailbiter to myself.
of all of the things I am going to not watch, this is the thing I am going to not watch the most
December 17, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Whether or not I will hate watch this even a little is a real nailbiter to myself.
💫When a review says you did what you wanted to do
“Zibrak has written . . . a call to action to academic writers to not just write insular criticism but scholarship that is engaging, affecting, and purposeful.”
Tx Mark Noonan at MFS
muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
“Zibrak has written . . . a call to action to academic writers to not just write insular criticism but scholarship that is engaging, affecting, and purposeful.”
Tx Mark Noonan at MFS
muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
Project MUSE - Writing Against Reform: Aesthetic Realism in the Progressive Era by Arielle Zibrak (review)
muse.jhu.edu
December 16, 2025 at 6:55 PM
💫When a review says you did what you wanted to do
“Zibrak has written . . . a call to action to academic writers to not just write insular criticism but scholarship that is engaging, affecting, and purposeful.”
Tx Mark Noonan at MFS
muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
“Zibrak has written . . . a call to action to academic writers to not just write insular criticism but scholarship that is engaging, affecting, and purposeful.”
Tx Mark Noonan at MFS
muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
Reposted by Arielle Zibrak
Stephanie Insley Hershinow surveys recent Austen-related works on Jane Austen's 250th birthday: "Austen offers endless opportunity for examination and reexamination; still, it might be fair to ask what more one can say about our dear Jane." https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/happy-birthday-jane/
December 16, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Stephanie Insley Hershinow surveys recent Austen-related works on Jane Austen's 250th birthday: "Austen offers endless opportunity for examination and reexamination; still, it might be fair to ask what more one can say about our dear Jane." https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/happy-birthday-jane/
My student Lena Newlin published her podcast on the potter's field in our local cemetery, which she originally developed in my Public Humanities class! Lena is a descendent of Japanese-American railroad workers and a gifted writer whose work you'll be hearing a lot more about in the near future.
Conversations with Headstones Podcast | WyoHistory.org
Lena Newlin, host Guest: Scott Hunter, Parks Manager, City of Laramie Lena: [Voiceover] Hello, and welcome to today's episode of Conversations with Headstones, a podcast focused on unearthing stories ...
www.wyohistory.org
December 16, 2025 at 4:22 PM
My student Lena Newlin published her podcast on the potter's field in our local cemetery, which she originally developed in my Public Humanities class! Lena is a descendent of Japanese-American railroad workers and a gifted writer whose work you'll be hearing a lot more about in the near future.
It is often true of good literature (though/sigh) that the prose is a little in love with the object of its harshest criticism. They understand it.
the great gatsby is one of the most widely assigned books in america and yet apparently literally nobody understands it www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
December 7, 2025 at 12:42 AM
It is often true of good literature (though/sigh) that the prose is a little in love with the object of its harshest criticism. They understand it.
Reposted by Arielle Zibrak
So happy that "On Christian Nationalism: Critical and Theological Perspectives" is now out in print! With 19 contributors, the book addresses definitions of CN; historical development; intersections with racism, sexism, antisemitism, and Islamophobia; and practical ways to address the problem.
November 28, 2025 at 11:38 PM
So happy that "On Christian Nationalism: Critical and Theological Perspectives" is now out in print! With 19 contributors, the book addresses definitions of CN; historical development; intersections with racism, sexism, antisemitism, and Islamophobia; and practical ways to address the problem.
Is American Canto maybe what we need right now? Should I read it??
December 4, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Is American Canto maybe what we need right now? Should I read it??
trains.
I love trains so much. We deserve more (and better!) trains in this country. 😭
bsky.app/profile/anna...
bsky.app/profile/anna...
PSA: Amtrak’s NYC ➡️ Albany route is gorgeous.
December 4, 2025 at 9:20 PM
trains.
Reposted by Arielle Zibrak
"The New Politics of Online Feminism," by Akane Kanai, is an ethnographic account of how young people in online feminist subcultures produce and perform feminist knowledge in search of living an ethical life. #MediaStudies #FeministStudies Read the intro for free now: buff.ly/ce4CRRy
December 4, 2025 at 4:42 PM
"The New Politics of Online Feminism," by Akane Kanai, is an ethnographic account of how young people in online feminist subcultures produce and perform feminist knowledge in search of living an ethical life. #MediaStudies #FeministStudies Read the intro for free now: buff.ly/ce4CRRy
Writing this book was a long way for me to work through my own relationship between activism and creative practice. If that seems like something you might like to own, everything at UMass Press is 40% off with code HOLIDAY. Some other suggestions in comments!
www.umasspress.com/978162534771...
www.umasspress.com/978162534771...
December 4, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Writing this book was a long way for me to work through my own relationship between activism and creative practice. If that seems like something you might like to own, everything at UMass Press is 40% off with code HOLIDAY. Some other suggestions in comments!
www.umasspress.com/978162534771...
www.umasspress.com/978162534771...
"The years I taught . . . were scarred by despair, but I never despaired about my students, who, when our conditions allowed it, showed me again and again how close reading requires and multiplies both trust and strength." YES. @johannawinant.bsky.social at @bostonreview.bsky.social
The Claims of Close Reading - Boston Review
Literary studies have been starved by austerity, but their core methodology remains radical.
www.bostonreview.net
December 2, 2025 at 6:23 PM
"The years I taught . . . were scarred by despair, but I never despaired about my students, who, when our conditions allowed it, showed me again and again how close reading requires and multiplies both trust and strength." YES. @johannawinant.bsky.social at @bostonreview.bsky.social
Happy 44th to Britney Spears, from whom I think we can all say we've learned a lot.
britney spears is wearing black gloves and a watch and says if you wanna just scream scream your lungs out
ALT: britney spears is wearing black gloves and a watch and says if you wanna just scream scream your lungs out
media.tenor.com
December 2, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Happy 44th to Britney Spears, from whom I think we can all say we've learned a lot.
This company is so forthright about their own violence.
November 25, 2025 at 3:30 PM
This company is so forthright about their own violence.
Reposted by Arielle Zibrak
“I’ve been disabled for 14 years,” Jessica Slice writes, “but have never lived somewhere safe where I can use all (or even most) of the rooms.” She reports on the indignities of seeking housing when exclusion is built into the architecture:
Homes Still Aren’t Designed for a Body Like Mine
Why is it so hard for disabled people to find safe, accessible places to live?
bit.ly
July 28, 2025 at 2:30 PM
“I’ve been disabled for 14 years,” Jessica Slice writes, “but have never lived somewhere safe where I can use all (or even most) of the rooms.” She reports on the indignities of seeking housing when exclusion is built into the architecture:
Reposted by Arielle Zibrak
Professor @craigspencer.bsky.social attended the Children’s Health Defense conference last weekend in Austin, Texas. Follow the link to read his sobering report on a movement he says is "exceptionally organized, disciplined, and determined."⤵️
I'm a physician who went to the anti-vaccine movement's biggest gathering. More of my colleagues should too
A pro-vaccine physician went to the anti-vaccine movement's biggest gathering. He warns that public health must learn what it's up against.
www.statnews.com
November 12, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Professor @craigspencer.bsky.social attended the Children’s Health Defense conference last weekend in Austin, Texas. Follow the link to read his sobering report on a movement he says is "exceptionally organized, disciplined, and determined."⤵️
Reposted by Arielle Zibrak
In "Gay Print Culture," Juan Carlos Mezo González @jcmezo.bsky.social investigates the relationship between transnational gay liberation politics, periodicals, and images in Mexico, the United States, and Canada through the 1970s-90s. #LGBTQStudies Read the intro for free now! buff.ly/LdyHSFV
November 17, 2025 at 4:11 PM
In "Gay Print Culture," Juan Carlos Mezo González @jcmezo.bsky.social investigates the relationship between transnational gay liberation politics, periodicals, and images in Mexico, the United States, and Canada through the 1970s-90s. #LGBTQStudies Read the intro for free now! buff.ly/LdyHSFV
Reposted by Arielle Zibrak
Levine’s “Forms” & now “The Activist Humanist” are compelling and this interview was fantastic. For English educators & teacher educators trying to transcend the (false) binary between teaching form & social justice, her work offers an entirely new/innovative approach to both.
"I don't think, as a leftist, I was ever going to be a person who would make a case for hierarchy. But I realized that I had been arguing for a really long time that equality is better than hierarchy. And what is that? That is a hierarchy."
The Activist Humanist with Caroline Levine
We speak with Caroline Levine, Ryan Professor of the Humanities in the Department of Literatures in English at Cornell University, about her important book The Activist Humanist: Form and Method in…
moneyontheleft.org
November 12, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Levine’s “Forms” & now “The Activist Humanist” are compelling and this interview was fantastic. For English educators & teacher educators trying to transcend the (false) binary between teaching form & social justice, her work offers an entirely new/innovative approach to both.
Reposted by Arielle Zibrak
This is a really good piece
The far right is obsessed with Lord of the Rings and Musk keeps posting about "hobbits" because modern scientific racism owes more to fantasy worlds and gaming systems than genetic science, and they see both as effective mediums for right-wing propaganda www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Why Elon Musk Needs Dungeons and Dragons to Be Racist
The fantastical roots of “scientific racism”
www.theatlantic.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:07 PM
This is a really good piece
Reposted by Arielle Zibrak
Where can lefties improve?
I think knowledge about Christian nationalism is a big gap with progressives, lefties, socialists, etc. This is a problem because it means that people aren't always strategizing around the opposition we actually face.
Here are my recs for self-ed 🧵
I think knowledge about Christian nationalism is a big gap with progressives, lefties, socialists, etc. This is a problem because it means that people aren't always strategizing around the opposition we actually face.
Here are my recs for self-ed 🧵
The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism
Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism
bookshop.org
October 30, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Where can lefties improve?
I think knowledge about Christian nationalism is a big gap with progressives, lefties, socialists, etc. This is a problem because it means that people aren't always strategizing around the opposition we actually face.
Here are my recs for self-ed 🧵
I think knowledge about Christian nationalism is a big gap with progressives, lefties, socialists, etc. This is a problem because it means that people aren't always strategizing around the opposition we actually face.
Here are my recs for self-ed 🧵
Spent last night with this soul shattering and strengthening volume edited by Jia Tolentino. Christina Sharpe! Carolyn Forché! Eula Biss! Nuar Elsadir! (Just some of my own favorites.) Floored to see my own essay in notables. Link to it in comments. xx
The Best American Essays 2025
Check out The Best American Essays 2025 - <p>“The essay has taught me how to live,” writes Jia Tolentino, this year’s <em>Best American Essays</em> guest editor. In a time of escalat...
bookshop.org
October 31, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Spent last night with this soul shattering and strengthening volume edited by Jia Tolentino. Christina Sharpe! Carolyn Forché! Eula Biss! Nuar Elsadir! (Just some of my own favorites.) Floored to see my own essay in notables. Link to it in comments. xx