Dr. Lucy B, rhetorician at large
@cereta.bsky.social
Fangirl, community college writing prof, rhetorician, wife, mother. Progressive, feminist, cisgender bisexual, amateur cultural critic. She/her.
Reposted by Dr. Lucy B, rhetorician at large
Government efficiency is when every federal agency has to send a daily emergency email to its workers telling them to ignore another daily email from a different department trying to fire them without knowing what their jobs are.
February 24, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Government efficiency is when every federal agency has to send a daily emergency email to its workers telling them to ignore another daily email from a different department trying to fire them without knowing what their jobs are.
Take a job with the federal government, they said.* They pay is so-so, but you'll have job security, they said.
*To my spouse, not me. I'm a college professor, so I'm all good, she said with a vaguely hysterical laugh.
*To my spouse, not me. I'm a college professor, so I'm all good, she said with a vaguely hysterical laugh.
To put a finer point on it, the Trump administration is mass firing federal employees and telling them if they dispute their termination that they can take it up with a board that will (I just learned) lack a quorum to function as of March 1 when another of the current board member’s term expires.
It can’t be a coincidence that the CFPB email firing probationary employees included the language below.
As I reported earlier, 1 of 3 members of this board was fired last night. If they fire one more, they lack a quorum to actually hear any cases.
As I reported earlier, 1 of 3 members of this board was fired last night. If they fire one more, they lack a quorum to actually hear any cases.
February 12, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Take a job with the federal government, they said.* They pay is so-so, but you'll have job security, they said.
*To my spouse, not me. I'm a college professor, so I'm all good, she said with a vaguely hysterical laugh.
*To my spouse, not me. I'm a college professor, so I'm all good, she said with a vaguely hysterical laugh.
Aw, yeah.
apnews.com/article/pope...
apnews.com/article/pope...
Pope rebukes Trump administration over migrant deportations, and appears to take direct aim at Vance
Pope Francis has issued a major rebuke to the Trump administration’s mass deportation of migrants. He warned that the program to forcefully deport people purely because of their illegal status deprive...
apnews.com
February 11, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Aw, yeah.
apnews.com/article/pope...
apnews.com/article/pope...
When did people start using "whenever" in places where they mean "when"? Like, "Whenever that story came out, everyone was surprised by what it said." I keep hearing it, mostly in documentaries, but sometimes from my students. Is it a regionalism that spread?
February 2, 2025 at 2:31 AM
When did people start using "whenever" in places where they mean "when"? Like, "Whenever that story came out, everyone was surprised by what it said." I keep hearing it, mostly in documentaries, but sometimes from my students. Is it a regionalism that spread?
Just got a message that a kid brought a gun to my kid's school today. He was caught by the preventative measures, and arrested, so the system worked as it should have. And now I'm just going to quietly freak out that we need those systems in the first place.
November 15, 2024 at 4:03 PM
Just got a message that a kid brought a gun to my kid's school today. He was caught by the preventative measures, and arrested, so the system worked as it should have. And now I'm just going to quietly freak out that we need those systems in the first place.
Paranosmia: when just reading about someone eating sauerkraut makes you smell it for four hours. It's a good thing I like sauerkraut.
October 30, 2024 at 11:15 PM
Paranosmia: when just reading about someone eating sauerkraut makes you smell it for four hours. It's a good thing I like sauerkraut.
I have watched hundreds of Progressive Insurance commercials starring Flo and company, and it wasn't until today that I wondered why insurance agents need to wear aprons.
October 29, 2024 at 1:36 PM
I have watched hundreds of Progressive Insurance commercials starring Flo and company, and it wasn't until today that I wondered why insurance agents need to wear aprons.
Took advantage of early voting today. I get anxious that something will happen on election day, so most years, I vote early. Vote Blue!
October 11, 2024 at 11:36 PM
Took advantage of early voting today. I get anxious that something will happen on election day, so most years, I vote early. Vote Blue!
You never realize just how much socializing revolves around food until food becomes problematic in some way.
October 6, 2024 at 4:45 PM
You never realize just how much socializing revolves around food until food becomes problematic in some way.
There's a lot that can be said about Pete Rose, but watching the man play baseball, especially with the Big Red Machine, was like nothing else. RIP, Charlie Hustle.
October 1, 2024 at 1:41 AM
There's a lot that can be said about Pete Rose, but watching the man play baseball, especially with the Big Red Machine, was like nothing else. RIP, Charlie Hustle.
Just sayin'.
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | Yes, it’s okay to compare Trump to Hitler. Don’t let me stop you.
My very minor status as an authority on Hitler comparisons stems from having coined “Godwin’s Law” more than three decades ago.
www.washingtonpost.com
September 25, 2024 at 7:57 PM
Just sayin'.
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Liars. Racist, morally bankrupt *liars.*
Vance says he'll keep calling Haitians in Springfield "illegal aliens" even though they're not. "If Kamala Harris waves the wand illegally and says these people are now here legally, I’m still going to call them an illegal alien," he said of a program that isn't illegal and that Harris didn't create
Vance Says He Will Keep Calling Haitians Legally in Springfield ‘Illegal’
The immigrants are mainly in the United States under temporary protected status, which the executive branch can grant to people whose home countries are in crisis.
www.nytimes.com
September 19, 2024 at 9:40 PM
Liars. Racist, morally bankrupt *liars.*
I will never get over students who don't come to class and then wail in confusion about the assignment, or better, get snippy with me about it.
September 18, 2024 at 5:26 PM
I will never get over students who don't come to class and then wail in confusion about the assignment, or better, get snippy with me about it.
I am still not used to being blocked out of my driveway by a swarm of geese. No lie: it took us the entirety of "Billie Jean" just to pull into the garage.
September 15, 2024 at 8:29 PM
I am still not used to being blocked out of my driveway by a swarm of geese. No lie: it took us the entirety of "Billie Jean" just to pull into the garage.
Watching Murder, She Wrote, and coming to terms with the fact that I am not all that much younger than Jessica was when the show began.
September 15, 2024 at 12:02 AM
Watching Murder, She Wrote, and coming to terms with the fact that I am not all that much younger than Jessica was when the show began.
www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/11...
This is a terrific article on many levels, but I especially love the bit about women writers being accused of abandoning their kids. I've seen the same accusation leveled at mothers who are in fandom, mothers who play an RPG one night a week...you get the idea.
This is a terrific article on many levels, but I especially love the bit about women writers being accused of abandoning their kids. I've seen the same accusation leveled at mothers who are in fandom, mothers who play an RPG one night a week...you get the idea.
What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men?
They did or said something awful, and made something great. They are monster geniuses, and I don’t know what to do about them.
www.theparisreview.org
September 12, 2024 at 10:01 PM
www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/11...
This is a terrific article on many levels, but I especially love the bit about women writers being accused of abandoning their kids. I've seen the same accusation leveled at mothers who are in fandom, mothers who play an RPG one night a week...you get the idea.
This is a terrific article on many levels, but I especially love the bit about women writers being accused of abandoning their kids. I've seen the same accusation leveled at mothers who are in fandom, mothers who play an RPG one night a week...you get the idea.
I swear, one of the hardest things about teaching writing is explaining the difference between a "B" paper and an "A" paper. How do you put, "There's nothing specifically wrong with your paper, but it just kind of sits there" in constructive terms?
September 11, 2024 at 5:30 PM
I swear, one of the hardest things about teaching writing is explaining the difference between a "B" paper and an "A" paper. How do you put, "There's nothing specifically wrong with your paper, but it just kind of sits there" in constructive terms?
A student paper just casually talked about a time when the student's high school went into "hard lockdown" (that is, when they thought there might be a shooter). The student talks about their peers crying and texting parents. How is this our kids' lives? How have we let this become their lives?
September 10, 2024 at 5:59 PM
A student paper just casually talked about a time when the student's high school went into "hard lockdown" (that is, when they thought there might be a shooter). The student talks about their peers crying and texting parents. How is this our kids' lives? How have we let this become their lives?
I am restarting my Incryptid/SPN RPG with (mostly) new players, and I am BY GOD going to get a story in that takes advantage of a real crossroads in my home town: the intersection of Church and State. Tell me there's not a story there.
September 8, 2024 at 1:56 AM
I am restarting my Incryptid/SPN RPG with (mostly) new players, and I am BY GOD going to get a story in that takes advantage of a real crossroads in my home town: the intersection of Church and State. Tell me there's not a story there.
If you have student loan debt, really investigate forgiveness.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQfy...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQfy...
February 24, 2024 at 5:10 PM
If you have student loan debt, really investigate forgiveness.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQfy...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQfy...
Reposted by Dr. Lucy B, rhetorician at large
"national unfuckable dweeb crisis reaches critical levels: young men urged to 'suck less' and 'stop being a bunch of dipshits'"
November 28, 2023 at 12:28 AM
"national unfuckable dweeb crisis reaches critical levels: young men urged to 'suck less' and 'stop being a bunch of dipshits'"
Do you ever wake up from a dream, especially an unpleasant one, only to fall right back into it? Sometimes I actually read for 20 minutes to clean my mind.
November 27, 2023 at 12:01 AM
Do you ever wake up from a dream, especially an unpleasant one, only to fall right back into it? Sometimes I actually read for 20 minutes to clean my mind.
Today, in things that annoy Lucy: plus-size clothing catalogs/websites that use non-plus-size models. It's not just that it's insulting to the very people they are trying to sell to. The clothes look weird on them. They're not cut for a size 4 woman.
November 4, 2023 at 10:41 PM
Today, in things that annoy Lucy: plus-size clothing catalogs/websites that use non-plus-size models. It's not just that it's insulting to the very people they are trying to sell to. The clothes look weird on them. They're not cut for a size 4 woman.
For some reason, the Other Place thinks I want to read every militant atheist and ex-LDS person on the site. And, I mean, nothing against, but not my particular cup of tea.
October 31, 2023 at 11:32 PM
For some reason, the Other Place thinks I want to read every militant atheist and ex-LDS person on the site. And, I mean, nothing against, but not my particular cup of tea.