Michelle Burnham
@curiousmonolith.bsky.social
Prof at Santa Clara University. 🏳️🌈 Writer of books on American literature. Editor of Re-Editions series at Lever Press. WNBA fan. Writing a book on the 1970s. Reclaimer of bad texts and decades.
Graphics for all.
September 1, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Graphics for all.
My Valkyries gear is here! Now I just need a dedicated WNBA sports 🏀 news show with a panel of smart, fun commentators reviewing the latest games and news and making predictions on the upcoming ones. Would watch obsessively! #WNBA
August 14, 2025 at 2:08 AM
My Valkyries gear is here! Now I just need a dedicated WNBA sports 🏀 news show with a panel of smart, fun commentators reviewing the latest games and news and making predictions on the upcoming ones. Would watch obsessively! #WNBA
New neighborhood, new flora on my walk around the block. What is this stunning, glorious excitement of a flower? It was on a vine, with small oval green fruit.
June 9, 2025 at 3:07 PM
New neighborhood, new flora on my walk around the block. What is this stunning, glorious excitement of a flower? It was on a vine, with small oval green fruit.
For me it’s Holger Hoock’s Scars of Independence.
April 22, 2025 at 3:56 PM
For me it’s Holger Hoock’s Scars of Independence.
So excited to announce that the first book in my Re-Editions series is coming out in May: OUR LITTLE LIFE, the recently-discovered first version of José Antonio Villareal’s novel POCHO, edited by Juan Velasco. This version includes 100 additional pages that complicate what we thought we knew!
March 25, 2025 at 8:34 PM
So excited to announce that the first book in my Re-Editions series is coming out in May: OUR LITTLE LIFE, the recently-discovered first version of José Antonio Villareal’s novel POCHO, edited by Juan Velasco. This version includes 100 additional pages that complicate what we thought we knew!
Hands down my favorite bourbon label ever. That’s a gambel’s quail. Bottled in Las Cruces New Mexico.
March 15, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Hands down my favorite bourbon label ever. That’s a gambel’s quail. Bottled in Las Cruces New Mexico.
Southern Arizona sunset.
March 8, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Southern Arizona sunset.
Read my newsletter post about Samantha Harvey’s ORBITAL, the Whole Earth Catalog, and views of earth from space. Subscribe to 70s Child, my new free Substack newsletter on all things #1970s.
January 10, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Read my newsletter post about Samantha Harvey’s ORBITAL, the Whole Earth Catalog, and views of earth from space. Subscribe to 70s Child, my new free Substack newsletter on all things #1970s.
Since the suspect in the murder of the insurance CEO has cited the Unabomber manifesto, this is a good time to recommend rereading Rachel Kushner’s terrific novel Mars Room, which is about today’s prison system but also about the difference between Henry David Thoreau & Ted Kaczynski.
December 10, 2024 at 2:57 PM
Since the suspect in the murder of the insurance CEO has cited the Unabomber manifesto, this is a good time to recommend rereading Rachel Kushner’s terrific novel Mars Room, which is about today’s prison system but also about the difference between Henry David Thoreau & Ted Kaczynski.
Greetings from the Eastern Docklands of Amsterdam. #sabbatical
December 7, 2024 at 1:38 PM
Greetings from the Eastern Docklands of Amsterdam. #sabbatical
This is a painting (composed from descriptions) of the whale oil refinery where some of these men likely worked, near Smerenberg. /2
December 4, 2024 at 8:21 AM
This is a painting (composed from descriptions) of the whale oil refinery where some of these men likely worked, near Smerenberg. /2
These are wool caps worn by 17th-century Dutch whalers and/or whale oil refinery workers in Spitsbergen, an archipelago in the Arctic which enters written European history in the late 16th century when Dutch navigators were looking for a northern route to east Asia. /1
December 4, 2024 at 8:21 AM
These are wool caps worn by 17th-century Dutch whalers and/or whale oil refinery workers in Spitsbergen, an archipelago in the Arctic which enters written European history in the late 16th century when Dutch navigators were looking for a northern route to east Asia. /1
The house my mother was born in, in 1938, was built in the 1300s, at the time when the population of Lübeck was booming because of the wealth from the Baltic trade. So this house was likely built by an up and coming merchant. 5/9
November 30, 2024 at 2:49 PM
The house my mother was born in, in 1938, was built in the 1300s, at the time when the population of Lübeck was booming because of the wealth from the Baltic trade. So this house was likely built by an up and coming merchant. 5/9
This is an image of s Russian fur trader carved into s choir stall in a church in Lübeck, Germany in the early 1400s. Why a Russian fur trader?? 1/9
November 30, 2024 at 2:49 PM
This is an image of s Russian fur trader carved into s choir stall in a church in Lübeck, Germany in the early 1400s. Why a Russian fur trader?? 1/9
View from the ship’s aft cabin this morning in Amsterdam. #sabbatical
November 30, 2024 at 7:30 AM
View from the ship’s aft cabin this morning in Amsterdam. #sabbatical
It’s entirely unclear to me why everyone doesn’t just move to Berlin. #sabbatical
November 21, 2024 at 8:23 AM
It’s entirely unclear to me why everyone doesn’t just move to Berlin. #sabbatical
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.
#Books
#BookSky 💙📚
#BookChallenge
#Books
#BookSky 💙📚
#BookChallenge
November 19, 2024 at 7:40 AM
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.
#Books
#BookSky 💙📚
#BookChallenge
#Books
#BookSky 💙📚
#BookChallenge
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 2/20
#BookSky💙📚
#Books
#BookChallenge
#BookSky💙📚
#Books
#BookChallenge
November 18, 2024 at 3:30 PM
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 2/20
#BookSky💙📚
#Books
#BookChallenge
#BookSky💙📚
#Books
#BookChallenge
The apartment we’re staying at in Berlin has Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century and Roberto Bolaño’s 2666 on the shelf which I have decided makes up for its lack of a couch. #sabbatical
November 18, 2024 at 3:27 PM
The apartment we’re staying at in Berlin has Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century and Roberto Bolaño’s 2666 on the shelf which I have decided makes up for its lack of a couch. #sabbatical
November 16, 2024 at 5:54 PM
Last day in Prague. Best place to write: the public library. Best food: chlebiček. Tomorrow, Berlin. #sabbatical
November 14, 2024 at 11:22 AM
Last day in Prague. Best place to write: the public library. Best food: chlebiček. Tomorrow, Berlin. #sabbatical