Philip Nel

@philnel.bsky.social

760 followers 580 following 680 posts

👨🏼‍🏫 Prof. he/him.
📚 Books on children's books & comics: https://philnel.com/writing/books/
📷 IG: thephilnel
🐘 Mastodon: @philnel@mastodon.green
🎵 Spotify: thephilnel
🐦 Twitter (deleted acct in 2022): @philnel

Videos

Philip W. Nel is an American scholar of children's literature and University Distinguished Professor of English at Kansas State University. He is best known for his work on Dr. Seuss and Harry Potter, which has led to him being a guest on such media programs as CBS Sunday Morning, NPR's Morning Edition, Talk of the Nation, and CNN's Don Lemon Tonight. .. more

Art 33%

Communication & Media Studies 22%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Pinned

Philip Nel @philnel.bsky.social · Jul 26

1/2 ⬇️ This is an excellent idea & I am co-signing & invite my fellow academics to join me. Academia depends on a lot of unpaid labor. Withhold your labor from Columbia. ⬇️

James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · Jul 25

In light of Columbia's capitulation to the Trump regime's illegal and extortionate demands, I have resolved not to write for Columbia publications, speak at Columbia events, or perform other free labor for a university that has repudated its values.

3d.laboratorium.net/2025-07-25-c...

Columbia’s Capitulation

Universities exist to promote the discovery, preservation, and transmission of knowledge. While they can help make to make a society virtuous, prosperous, and free, they do so by pursing their mission...

3d.laboratorium.net

Philip Nel @philnel.bsky.social · 12h

LLM AI “is everything that higher education should not be: exploitative, non-consensual, inaccurate, corrosive of cognitive growth and human relationships, destructive of people and the environment, and effectively unregulated.”

Katie (Kathryn) Conrad @kconrad.bsky.social · 12h

Hit the breaking point this morning with Michigan after hearing about their planned data center in Ypsi. Put all my in-progress posts on the back burner to write this (which I have also sent to UMGiving).
substack.com/@kconrad/not...

A letter to my alma mater

on their embrace of AI

substack.com

Reposted by Philip Nel

Katie (Kathryn) Conrad @kconrad.bsky.social · 12h

A letter to my alma mater

on their embrace of AI

substack.com

Reposted by Philip Nel

Chelsea Cristene Bock @chelseacristene.bsky.social · 12h

I can't stress this enough as a super volunteer for the Democratic Party and Democratic candidates. This should prompt you to get MORE involved, not less. Show up and use the existing infrastructure to make it work for all of us. In my neck of the woods, we've seen a ton of local victories this way.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 16h

Right, the answer isn't to abandon the party to these weasels.

The answer is to flood the party with people who will take it over and transform it.

Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 17h

Hey, a lot of people are talking about changing affiliation from Democratic to Independent.

Let me tell you why you shouldn’t do that in Colorado.

One of the main ways to get a primary challenge candidate on a ballot is to caucus for your party. You need to be registered as a Dem to caucus.

Reposted by Rosemary A. Joyce, Philip Nel

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 12h

I wrote about the "Appeasement Eight" Senate Democrats getting the party to fold to Trump in the government shutdown, and why it shows that pro-democracy Americans badly need a real opposition party, full of leaders who recognize the United States isn't a normal rule of law democracy anymore.

Democrats Have to Get Out of a Normal Democracy Mindset

By folding in the government shutdown in exchange for virtually nothing, eight Democratic senators aid Trump's authoritarian takeover rather than oppose it

www.arcdigital.media

Reposted by Philip Nel

Blue Heron Farm @blueheronfarm.bsky.social · 14h

Fuck everything today, but especially this man.

Greg Abbott announces reelection campaign for record fourth term as Texas governor

Gov. Greg Abbott formally announced his fourth gubernatorial run in Houston on Sunday. The incumbent Republican, who currently has around $87 million in his campaign war chest, will face two opponents...

www.kut.org

Reposted by Philip Nel

McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 14h

"My brethren, soldiers may leap out of that statue tonight and kill me, but what’s leaping out at me right now is our total disregard for norms. What you see as an enemy threat, I see as a one-of-a-kind statue of a mare."
www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/sen...

Senator Schumer Votes to Let the Big Wooden Horse into Troy

“In the wake of votes by a handful of key Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, to pass a GOP-led continuing resolution funding f...

www.mcsweeneys.net

Reposted by Philip Nel

Indivisible MHK @indivisiblemhk.bsky.social · 15h

📢 Indivisible MHK General Meeting at new seasonally adjusted time!
📆 4:30 pm, Sunday, Nov. 16th!
📚 Manhattan Public Library Auditorium.
🎤 Guest Speaker: Deb Nuss of Common Table.
🧺 We are accepting donations (for Common Table) of—
🥫 Non-perishable food in its original packaging
👦 Children’s books!

Reposted by Rosemary A. Joyce, Philip Nel, Dana R. Fisher , and 2 more Rosemary A. Joyce, Philip Nel, Dana R. Fisher, David Rosnick, Nicole Guenther Discenza

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 16h

Right, the answer isn't to abandon the party to these weasels.

The answer is to flood the party with people who will take it over and transform it.

Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 17h

Reposted by Richard S.J. Tol, Jonathan M. Gilligan, Philip Nel

Sean Casten @seancasten.bsky.social · 17h

My wife and I pay for life insurance even though we have never died. I pay for fire insurance even though my house has never burned down. That's not because we want to throw money at insurance companies. It's because THAT'S HOW INSURANCE WORKS.

Reposted by Philip Nel, Prokla Redaktion

Wajahat Ali @wajali.bsky.social · 1d

Thanks to @mostmuscle.bsky.social

www.opensecrets.org/orgs/america...

Reposted by Philip Nel, Raúl Pacheco-Vega

Ashley C. Ford @smashfizzle.bsky.social · 1d

The ACA made my whole self-employed life possible. For almost ten years, I was able to build a career that actually worked for me AND keep receiving necessary care to address the consequences of childhood medical neglect. And I still deserved better. We all do.

Philip Nel @philnel.bsky.social · 1d

I too wish the Democrats had stood their ground. They did not. It is indeed time to chuck Schumer.

But please make sure that T**mp & the GOP get due credit (blame) for the suffering & death created via:
➡️ cutting ACA subsidies
➡️ cuts to Medicaid
➡️ blank checks to the regime (recission)

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Philip Nel

David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 1d

I am not going to let Schumer and 8 center-right Democrats bring me down. We won on Tuesday. We're gonna keep winning. Just keep telling the stories of what the Trump administration is doing and how it's making lives so much harder, about the corruption, the incompetence, the violence.

Reposted by Rosemary A. Joyce, Philip Nel

Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 1d

Interesting that NY gov Kathy Hochul felt compelled to put out a statement against Dems' deal to end the shutdown

Governor Kathy Hochul *
@GovKathyHochul
...
Ending the shutdown shouldn't come at the expense of health care for tens of millions of Americans.
This deal paves the way for devastating premium hikes that will drive up costs for New Yorkers.
Count me out.

Reposted by Philip Nel

politiburb @politiburb.bsky.social · 1d

The Democrats are not at fault for anything going badly in your life right now.

Reposted by Philip Nel, David R. Miller, Brian Keegan

Patrick Monahan @pattymo.com · 1d

They caved in March so they could get a better deal now. They’re caving now so they can get a better deal in some indeterminate future. The better deal is always just beyond their reach, but continuing to cave will get them there. And if you don’t agree with that, you don’t understand Politics,

Reposted by Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Philip Nel, David R. Miller , and 4 more Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Philip Nel, David R. Miller, Rachel S. Franklin, Kate Jackson, David Darmofal, Heather E. Gaya

dan sinker @dansinker.com · 1d

How about we shut down the government for this very popular and specific goal and then, hear me out, we hold out for like a month and a half and then, ok this part is important, after a watershed election where we ran the table, ONLY THEN, fold and don't get the one thing we said we wanted.

Reposted by Rebecca Solnit, Rosemary A. Joyce, Philip Nel , and 3 more Rebecca Solnit, Rosemary A. Joyce, Philip Nel, David R. Miller, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Dan Immergluck

Ezra Levin ❌👑 @ezralevin.bsky.social · 1d

The original Dem demands were:
1) Permanent ACA subsidies
2) Medicaid funding restored
3) No more blank checks for the regime (rescission)

They dropped Medicaid immediately. Went silent on rescission. Cut back to 1 year of subsidies on Friday. And surrendered today.

The Senate Democrats!

Reposted by Philip Nel

Ann Telnaes @anntelnaes.bsky.social · 1d

anntelnaes.substack.com/p/the-trump-...

The Trump Coin

I'm adding my design submission

anntelnaes.substack.com

Reposted by Philip Nel, Nicole Guenther Discenza

Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · 1d

I wrote this a year ago. I wrote about Trump’s campaign of raci anxiety when he won the first time as did others. Look to see who is being platformed in this America that many of us predicted, and who has been disappeared. That will reveal a lot about this moment and what power wants us to believe.

Reposted by Philip Nel

Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · 1d

In the midst of all that we are facing, I want us to think about who we are being told to look to for understanding in this moment, who is being propped up as the voice of wisdom, and ask how right were they in predicting this, a year ago, 5, 8 years ago, and then ask why they are being centered now

Philip Nel @philnel.bsky.social · 1d

“As educators, we can model the values we want to see in the world, both for our students &…through civic communications that counter disinformation & establish bonds of solidarity with the greater public. We all have something we can contribute.”
— Ruth Ben-Ghiat
open.substack.com/pub/lucid/p/...

Intellectual Freedom in an Authoritarian Age

My Davis, Markert, Nickerson Lecture at the University of Michigan

open.substack.com

Reposted by Philip Nel, David R. Miller, Erol Akçay

Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 1d

Astonishing how hard this administration is working to keep people hungry.
It's clear they are trying maximize public suffering, in hopes of getting people to blame Dems for that suffering. But it's transparently the White House working overtime to keep the suffering going!
bsky.app/profile/cram...

Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 1d

Yikes. USDA sent threatening letter to states telling them that if they sent out EBT money —which many states did during the window when a lower court said SNAP funds had to be released—they have to take it back (?)
Trying to sort out what this means and if states even can claw back the funds

Reposted by Philip Nel, Karen Benjamin Guzzo, David Darmofal

Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 1d

Reposted by Philip Nel

Protect Democracy @protectdemocracy.org · 2d

Our Democracy Atlas series covering how democracy defenders around the world have navigated autocratic challenges may have concluded but our work hasn't. Don't forget to explore all 8 lessons from abroad, below: https://www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/eight-rules-of-antiauthoritarianism

Eight rules of antiauthoritarianism

Introducing the Democracy Atlas

www.ifyoucankeepit.org

Reposted by Philip Nel, Ann Bartow, David Darmofal

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

FOX: So you would ask Speaker Johnson to recall the House?

GOP REP. KEVIN KILEY: Not only would I, I've asked him to do it repeatedly. There's no justification. And honestly, it's Republican voters who should be most upset about this when they delivered a GOP majority and now that's being wasted

Reposted by Philip Nel

Sheryl Weikal, still saying Free Palestine @leftistlawyer.com · 2d

Recently a marginalized client and I got a good result at trial on a bullshit charge related to all the fascism. After court, I congratulated the client and said the case was over.

Client was pissed.

"So when do I get paid for all the work I missed and the damage to my reputation?"

Reposted by Philip Nel

En Buen Ora @enbuenora.bsky.social · 2d

pace @sarahkendzior.bsky.social a "we have a transnational crime syndicate masquerading as a government"

artsfuse.org/204467/book-...

Book Review: "Hiding in Plain Sight" - Detailing the Malignancy of Donald Trump - The Arts Fuse

According to Sarah Kendzior, “we have a transnational crime syndicate masquerading as a government.”

artsfuse.org

Reposted by Philip Nel

Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 2d

“People send me back their the season brochure shredded in an envelope and say: ‘Never, never, will I return, while he’s in power.’”

-- director of the Washington Nat'l Opera, which stages its performances in the Kennedy Center (Center chair: Donald Trump)

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Washington National Opera may move out of Kennedy Center due to Trump ‘takeover’

Ticket sales at about 40% unsold compared with before president made himself chair of US performing arts center

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Philip Nel

Tom the Dancing Bug, by Ruben Bolling @rubenbolling.bsky.social · 2d

Funny that MAGA is such a stickler for legality when it comes to people entering the country illegally that they will cheer a convicted but unpunished felon as he deliberately and flagrantly breaks scores of laws on a massive scale to remove them.

Light upyour news

Sign in to Lightnews

Sign up to start reading

Connect Bluesky

Connect with Bluesky

Light up
your news