Carolyn E Holmes
@carolyneholmes.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of Political Science. African Politics, Nationalism, and Democracy. Also quilting. Lots of quilting.
Pinned
New quilt! All made of home-dyed cyanotypes, with plants I collected.
It’s been about 2 years in the making, and I’m so pleased with how it’s coming out.
It’s been about 2 years in the making, and I’m so pleased with how it’s coming out.
Sent a scary email.
Definitely wont be using 32-47% of my internal CPU thinking about it until I get a response.
Definitely wont be using 32-47% of my internal CPU thinking about it until I get a response.
November 14, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Sent a scary email.
Definitely wont be using 32-47% of my internal CPU thinking about it until I get a response.
Definitely wont be using 32-47% of my internal CPU thinking about it until I get a response.
My standard response to “oh, I’ve read your work”
is “but why??”
I recognize the need to be better.
is “but why??”
I recognize the need to be better.
November 14, 2025 at 2:16 AM
My standard response to “oh, I’ve read your work”
is “but why??”
I recognize the need to be better.
is “but why??”
I recognize the need to be better.
Sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and sit with facts to really learn them.
Thomas Jefferson was 44 when he started in creeping on 14-year-old Sally Hemings. And Sally, who was enslaved, shared a father with Martha Wayles Jefferson—Tom's wife.
He's been dead literally centuries and the US refuses to reckon squarely with what this meant for definitions of American greatness
He's been dead literally centuries and the US refuses to reckon squarely with what this meant for definitions of American greatness
November 13, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and sit with facts to really learn them.
Boston is VERY Boston.
November 13, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Boston is VERY Boston.
...why are all the emails marked "high importance"?
November 12, 2025 at 11:50 PM
...why are all the emails marked "high importance"?
As an academic, it’s really wild to get invited to give a presentation at a school that rejected you as a student applicant.
Oh ho hooooo! Who wants to hear from me now??
Oh ho hooooo! Who wants to hear from me now??
November 12, 2025 at 8:50 PM
As an academic, it’s really wild to get invited to give a presentation at a school that rejected you as a student applicant.
Oh ho hooooo! Who wants to hear from me now??
Oh ho hooooo! Who wants to hear from me now??
Extremely mobster voice: “Aren’t we committed to fire safety if we come here and note that it’s an awfully nice place here, lots of flammable stuff tho, and that it sure would be a shame if something happened to it?”
Q: Given you answers about transparency, why are WH officials meeting with Boebert in an effort to get her to not sign the Epstein files petition?
LEAVITT: Doesn't it show transparency that members of the Trump administration are willing to brief members of Congress?
LEAVITT: Doesn't it show transparency that members of the Trump administration are willing to brief members of Congress?
November 12, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Extremely mobster voice: “Aren’t we committed to fire safety if we come here and note that it’s an awfully nice place here, lots of flammable stuff tho, and that it sure would be a shame if something happened to it?”
Gel manicures are some kind of witchcraft.
“Hey, get your hands a little sunburned and your nail polish lasts FOREVER.”
“Hey, get your hands a little sunburned and your nail polish lasts FOREVER.”
November 12, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Gel manicures are some kind of witchcraft.
“Hey, get your hands a little sunburned and your nail polish lasts FOREVER.”
“Hey, get your hands a little sunburned and your nail polish lasts FOREVER.”
This has big
~~Tech mogul: “what do you even think of me, Don??”
University/Don Draper responding “I don’t think of you.”~~
Energy
~~Tech mogul: “what do you even think of me, Don??”
University/Don Draper responding “I don’t think of you.”~~
Energy
November 11, 2025 at 9:30 PM
This has big
~~Tech mogul: “what do you even think of me, Don??”
University/Don Draper responding “I don’t think of you.”~~
Energy
~~Tech mogul: “what do you even think of me, Don??”
University/Don Draper responding “I don’t think of you.”~~
Energy
When asked to clean up his toys, my 5 year old very patiently explained:
“the problem with cleaning up is that you just have to do it again. And then keep doing it. Stuff keeps getting messy.”
And like…he’s right? And I’m sympathetic? But also, he still has to clean up?
“the problem with cleaning up is that you just have to do it again. And then keep doing it. Stuff keeps getting messy.”
And like…he’s right? And I’m sympathetic? But also, he still has to clean up?
November 11, 2025 at 9:13 PM
When asked to clean up his toys, my 5 year old very patiently explained:
“the problem with cleaning up is that you just have to do it again. And then keep doing it. Stuff keeps getting messy.”
And like…he’s right? And I’m sympathetic? But also, he still has to clean up?
“the problem with cleaning up is that you just have to do it again. And then keep doing it. Stuff keeps getting messy.”
And like…he’s right? And I’m sympathetic? But also, he still has to clean up?
I'm not even joking, guys. You really need to listen to this one.
Chana Joffe-Walt and @thisamericanlife.org doing a deep dive on the Afrikaner Refugees. It’s quite the segment:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
Winners
Podcast Episode · This American Life · 11/02/2025 · 57m
podcasts.apple.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:49 PM
I'm not even joking, guys. You really need to listen to this one.
Chana Joffe-Walt and @thisamericanlife.org doing a deep dive on the Afrikaner Refugees. It’s quite the segment:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
Winners
Podcast Episode · This American Life · 11/02/2025 · 57m
podcasts.apple.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Chana Joffe-Walt and @thisamericanlife.org doing a deep dive on the Afrikaner Refugees. It’s quite the segment:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
I’ve been saying, for all but the very VERY individual and extreme, this whole “refugee program” business is being *roundly* rejected by white South Africans…
Prominent Afrikaners are pushing back after President Trump announced no U.S. officials will attend the G20 in Johannesburg, rejecting his claims of "white persecution" in South Africa as false and politically driven.
Prominent Afrikaners refuse to be 'pawns,' and hit back at Trump's claims about South Africa
Prominent Afrikaners are pushing back after President Trump announced no U.S. officials will attend the G20 in Johannesburg, rejecting his claims of "white persecution" in South Africa as false and politically driven.
n.pr
November 11, 2025 at 11:35 AM
I’ve been saying, for all but the very VERY individual and extreme, this whole “refugee program” business is being *roundly* rejected by white South Africans…
Snow days are fancy coffee days.
Rules are rules.
Rules are rules.
November 10, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Snow days are fancy coffee days.
Rules are rules.
Rules are rules.
It is SNOWING!!!
November 10, 2025 at 4:36 PM
It is SNOWING!!!
This feels like good news. Can someone who knows more please confirm?
I don’t trust “good news” and “SCOTUS” in the same phrase much these days…
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/u...
I don’t trust “good news” and “SCOTUS” in the same phrase much these days…
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/u...
Supreme Court Denies Request to Revisit Same-Sex Marriage Decision
www.nytimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:05 PM
This feels like good news. Can someone who knows more please confirm?
I don’t trust “good news” and “SCOTUS” in the same phrase much these days…
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/u...
I don’t trust “good news” and “SCOTUS” in the same phrase much these days…
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/u...
And this time, Lucy really will let Charlie Brown kick the football.
Agree.
Sen Hassan, asked what will happen if Republicans don't carry out the deal, "Well, shame on them."
This is not what people were mobilizing for on Oct 18.
Sen Hassan, asked what will happen if Republicans don't carry out the deal, "Well, shame on them."
This is not what people were mobilizing for on Oct 18.
November 10, 2025 at 3:31 AM
And this time, Lucy really will let Charlie Brown kick the football.
Reposted by Carolyn E Holmes
Sir Thomas More: a man for all seasons.
Mr Chuck Schumer: a man for literally no seasons, at all.
Mr Chuck Schumer: a man for literally no seasons, at all.
November 9, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Sir Thomas More: a man for all seasons.
Mr Chuck Schumer: a man for literally no seasons, at all.
Mr Chuck Schumer: a man for literally no seasons, at all.
You can know this to be true, and it can also enrage you.
We can acknowledge that strategy (such that this is) and principle both exist.
We can contain multitudes.
We can acknowledge that strategy (such that this is) and principle both exist.
We can contain multitudes.
Assume all the yes and no votes from Dem senators are strategic and not sincere votes. The party caucus made a decision. No way to know how many were in favor. Then the caucus decided who would vote yes and no based on what would protect each of them politically the most. That’s how this works.
November 10, 2025 at 2:36 AM
You can know this to be true, and it can also enrage you.
We can acknowledge that strategy (such that this is) and principle both exist.
We can contain multitudes.
We can acknowledge that strategy (such that this is) and principle both exist.
We can contain multitudes.
If AI is coming for my job, I would like it to take over university committee work first, please and thank you.
November 10, 2025 at 2:27 AM
If AI is coming for my job, I would like it to take over university committee work first, please and thank you.
Sir Thomas More: a man for all seasons.
Mr Chuck Schumer: a man for literally no seasons, at all.
Mr Chuck Schumer: a man for literally no seasons, at all.
November 9, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Sir Thomas More: a man for all seasons.
Mr Chuck Schumer: a man for literally no seasons, at all.
Mr Chuck Schumer: a man for literally no seasons, at all.
Okay, I promise that I have a PhD in political science…but…
…I truly don’t understand why the R’s can’t open the government on their own. Why can’t they get their 53/219 group to make this vote?
Why would Dems defect, but their own folks wouldn’t?
…I truly don’t understand why the R’s can’t open the government on their own. Why can’t they get their 53/219 group to make this vote?
Why would Dems defect, but their own folks wouldn’t?
Let me get this right… a sufficient number Senate Democrats appear to be willing to reopen government to alleviate air travel for upper & upper-middle income people at the expense of access to healthcare for lower income people. Yes?
November 9, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Okay, I promise that I have a PhD in political science…but…
…I truly don’t understand why the R’s can’t open the government on their own. Why can’t they get their 53/219 group to make this vote?
Why would Dems defect, but their own folks wouldn’t?
…I truly don’t understand why the R’s can’t open the government on their own. Why can’t they get their 53/219 group to make this vote?
Why would Dems defect, but their own folks wouldn’t?
Christmas crafting! Victorian-inspired wire tinsel!
November 9, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Christmas crafting! Victorian-inspired wire tinsel!
It’s the “social scientists stop giving agency to non-actors” challenge.
(The state does not enact. Society does not create. Institutions do not build.)
I’m tagging all y’all.
(The state does not enact. Society does not create. Institutions do not build.)
I’m tagging all y’all.
November 9, 2025 at 2:30 PM
It’s the “social scientists stop giving agency to non-actors” challenge.
(The state does not enact. Society does not create. Institutions do not build.)
I’m tagging all y’all.
(The state does not enact. Society does not create. Institutions do not build.)
I’m tagging all y’all.
Someone in Atlanta, please rescue this gorgeous quilt top (and quilt it) before someone buys it to cut it up for a boxy jacket that will be worn for like 1 year before going "out of style"?
November 7, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Someone in Atlanta, please rescue this gorgeous quilt top (and quilt it) before someone buys it to cut it up for a boxy jacket that will be worn for like 1 year before going "out of style"?