Deborah McDowell
@dem8z.bsky.social
Reader, writer, teacher, gardener, seamstress, contrarian. Professor, @WoodsonUVA Alice Griffin Professor of English, University of Virginia. Please, no DMs unless I know you. For professional matters, please contact me via UVA.
Many Halloweens ago. I cherish this photo of my niece trick-or-treating with me on the lawn at UVA. She is now 20 years old.
November 1, 2025 at 3:48 AM
Many Halloweens ago. I cherish this photo of my niece trick-or-treating with me on the lawn at UVA. She is now 20 years old.
Zora Neale Hurston. MOSES, MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN.
October 27, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Zora Neale Hurston. MOSES, MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN.
Grateful that the phone decided to turn up this photo with two dear friends. As I am won’t to say, a la Emily Dickinson, “My friends are my estate.”
October 18, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Grateful that the phone decided to turn up this photo with two dear friends. As I am won’t to say, a la Emily Dickinson, “My friends are my estate.”
Woke this morning thinking of this Robert Frost poem, no doubt because of doubts and apprehensions regarding the “victory” colleagues are celebrating. Perhaps it’s the “English major” in me, ever alert to the rhetoric of ambiguity. I echo how one us read the poem: “We work. We sow. We wait. We see.”
October 18, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Woke this morning thinking of this Robert Frost poem, no doubt because of doubts and apprehensions regarding the “victory” colleagues are celebrating. Perhaps it’s the “English major” in me, ever alert to the rhetoric of ambiguity. I echo how one us read the poem: “We work. We sow. We wait. We see.”
Thomas Jefferson,,the founder of UVA professed “hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." The federal “compact” is a form of tyranny. Do the right thing, UVA.
October 17, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Thomas Jefferson,,the founder of UVA professed “hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." The federal “compact” is a form of tyranny. Do the right thing, UVA.
My sweetest little pumpkin.
October 12, 2025 at 3:10 PM
My sweetest little pumpkin.
Someone is ready for Halloween!!
October 5, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Someone is ready for Halloween!!
The phone just turned this up. The babe in my lap is now three years old.
October 1, 2025 at 8:28 PM
The phone just turned this up. The babe in my lap is now three years old.
“One way of posing the question of who ‘we’ are in these times of war is by asking whose lives are considered valuable, whose lives are mourned, and whose lives are considered ungrievable.”
September 21, 2025 at 10:45 PM
“One way of posing the question of who ‘we’ are in these times of war is by asking whose lives are considered valuable, whose lives are mourned, and whose lives are considered ungrievable.”
In the midst of these dismal, scary, absurd and stupid times, my friend, Dudley, is a bright and steadfast light. He just dropped off this beautiful lemon cornmeal cake.
September 19, 2025 at 6:50 PM
In the midst of these dismal, scary, absurd and stupid times, my friend, Dudley, is a bright and steadfast light. He just dropped off this beautiful lemon cornmeal cake.
Is it time again to fly this flag? When a Black male college student is found hanging from a tree in Mississippi in 2025, this is neither an idle nor inflammatory question.
www.pbs.org/wgbh/america...
www.pbs.org/wgbh/america...
September 16, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Is it time again to fly this flag? When a Black male college student is found hanging from a tree in Mississippi in 2025, this is neither an idle nor inflammatory question.
www.pbs.org/wgbh/america...
www.pbs.org/wgbh/america...
This prompts me to go back and re-read Claudia Rankine’s JUST US.
September 12, 2025 at 9:10 PM
This prompts me to go back and re-read Claudia Rankine’s JUST US.
The words of Julian Bond are evergreen. I’m thinking this morning about this meditation on violence from a speech he wrote and delivered in 1969.
bondpapersproject.org/document/670
bondpapersproject.org/document/670
September 11, 2025 at 1:19 PM
The words of Julian Bond are evergreen. I’m thinking this morning about this meditation on violence from a speech he wrote and delivered in 1969.
bondpapersproject.org/document/670
bondpapersproject.org/document/670
A new edition with a new preface.
August 19, 2025 at 6:51 PM
A new edition with a new preface.
Speaking of the wee ones, just received this wonderful shot of big brother & baby sister. He is almost 3 and she is 4-months old. Grateful for the boatloads of joy they bring me. He now repeats w/me my parting lines after each visit: “I ❤️ you oceans & oceans & miles and miles; to the sky and back.”
August 16, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Speaking of the wee ones, just received this wonderful shot of big brother & baby sister. He is almost 3 and she is 4-months old. Grateful for the boatloads of joy they bring me. He now repeats w/me my parting lines after each visit: “I ❤️ you oceans & oceans & miles and miles; to the sky and back.”
Funny that the phone would turn this image up on the very weekend our family is celebrating my nephew’s 16th birthday. Here he is with my niece a few years back. These two have brought me so much joy.
August 10, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Funny that the phone would turn this image up on the very weekend our family is celebrating my nephew’s 16th birthday. Here he is with my niece a few years back. These two have brought me so much joy.
Brian Roberts, my former PhD advisee came to Charlottesville and we had a lovely lunch. He completed his degree 17 years ago, and this is his first time back to town since then.
August 6, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Brian Roberts, my former PhD advisee came to Charlottesville and we had a lovely lunch. He completed his degree 17 years ago, and this is his first time back to town since then.
Julian Bond. “NAACP NORTHEAST REGION VOTING RIGHTS SEMINAR.”
January 19, 1991/New York.
bondpapersproject.org/print/view/p...
January 19, 1991/New York.
bondpapersproject.org/print/view/p...
August 5, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Julian Bond. “NAACP NORTHEAST REGION VOTING RIGHTS SEMINAR.”
January 19, 1991/New York.
bondpapersproject.org/print/view/p...
January 19, 1991/New York.
bondpapersproject.org/print/view/p...
Received a “save-the-date” notice this morning announcing my May retirement. It included this photo of me upon my graduation from Tuskegee Institute in 1972, which appeared in a 2019 feature at UVA, “First in their Families.” Focused on first-generation college students, it also included the 1/
July 30, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Received a “save-the-date” notice this morning announcing my May retirement. It included this photo of me upon my graduation from Tuskegee Institute in 1972, which appeared in a 2019 feature at UVA, “First in their Families.” Focused on first-generation college students, it also included the 1/
For those interested in Stuart’s story, as well as that of others of her generation, see Crystal Sanders’s prize-winning book: 4/
July 25, 2025 at 11:51 PM
For those interested in Stuart’s story, as well as that of others of her generation, see Crystal Sanders’s prize-winning book: 4/
My orders came in! Could t wait to get home to open them, so I stopped at a cafe for a reading appetizer.
July 23, 2025 at 6:50 PM
My orders came in! Could t wait to get home to open them, so I stopped at a cafe for a reading appetizer.