Karen Tongson
@inlandemperor.bsky.social
Author of NORMPORN, WHY KAREN CARPENTER MATTERS, and RELOCATIONS. Food motivated. Expert Homosexual. Prof by day. Cohost of The Art of Grief and The Gaymazing Race podcasts, formerly of Waiting to X-Hale. #Gaylor curious.
ACFC ⚽️ & Dodgers ⚾️
ACFC ⚽️ & Dodgers ⚾️
In college I took out an emergency student loan to see Barbra’s 1995 farewell concert at the Pond in Anaheim (I paid it back! And Barbra had a few more farewell shows after that.) Needless to say, becoming the Barbra Streisand Professor in Contemporary Gender Studies is kind of a dream come true.
October 22, 2025 at 10:26 PM
In college I took out an emergency student loan to see Barbra’s 1995 farewell concert at the Pond in Anaheim (I paid it back! And Barbra had a few more farewell shows after that.) Needless to say, becoming the Barbra Streisand Professor in Contemporary Gender Studies is kind of a dream come true.
The face of a man whose bullpen shat the bed after he gave nothing but beauty and brilliance.
September 7, 2025 at 3:09 AM
The face of a man whose bullpen shat the bed after he gave nothing but beauty and brilliance.
NGL: there’s something about this that evokes that flashback scene from Hunting Wives where Sophie agrees to go to (her future husband) Graham’s party after a Sapphic snog w/ her roomie sent her into a homo-panic. #GaylorTruther
August 26, 2025 at 5:34 PM
NGL: there’s something about this that evokes that flashback scene from Hunting Wives where Sophie agrees to go to (her future husband) Graham’s party after a Sapphic snog w/ her roomie sent her into a homo-panic. #GaylorTruther
I guess it’s been 18 days since I last posted. Anyway, here’s proof of life, taken at the end of the first day of my 20th year professing at USC, and my 6th year of chairing my department. The expression says it all.
August 26, 2025 at 1:39 PM
I guess it’s been 18 days since I last posted. Anyway, here’s proof of life, taken at the end of the first day of my 20th year professing at USC, and my 6th year of chairing my department. The expression says it all.
I’m enjoying the sapphic intrigue of Hunting Wives as much as everyone (hello bisexual Blundstones in Sophie’s bag!), but don’t let it launder the reputation of Republicans who are literally trying to kill the whales right now after 50 years of this nation & the world trying to save them.
August 4, 2025 at 6:25 AM
I’m enjoying the sapphic intrigue of Hunting Wives as much as everyone (hello bisexual Blundstones in Sophie’s bag!), but don’t let it launder the reputation of Republicans who are literally trying to kill the whales right now after 50 years of this nation & the world trying to save them.
The world is shit but I’m feeling pretty amazing after my first ever Great Lakes swim (in Lake Michigan at Stearns in Ludington).
June 23, 2025 at 6:46 PM
The world is shit but I’m feeling pretty amazing after my first ever Great Lakes swim (in Lake Michigan at Stearns in Ludington).
My “papers” from when I moved permanently to the U.S. in 1983 at the age of 10. I didn't become a citizen until I was 16 in 1989, though my mom and I did have our greencards. ICE is abducting anyone and everyone who "looks illegal" (think about what that means viz. my photo) 1/
June 20, 2025 at 8:46 PM
My “papers” from when I moved permanently to the U.S. in 1983 at the age of 10. I didn't become a citizen until I was 16 in 1989, though my mom and I did have our greencards. ICE is abducting anyone and everyone who "looks illegal" (think about what that means viz. my photo) 1/
I’m not of the mind that a protest has to be “peaceful” to be effective or morally just. But the truth of the matter is that the reporting on Los Angeles in the national media is aligned with the administration’s propaganda justifying its reactiveness and excessive force. Our friend’s daughter…
June 10, 2025 at 10:25 PM
I’m not of the mind that a protest has to be “peaceful” to be effective or morally just. But the truth of the matter is that the reporting on Los Angeles in the national media is aligned with the administration’s propaganda justifying its reactiveness and excessive force. Our friend’s daughter…
We’re at a point where the "news" (both local and cable) are adopting the propagandist rhetoric of the regime by describing what's happening in L.A. as "riots." They fail to acknowledge who actually incites and escalates the violence, namely ICE, the new Gestapo.
June 9, 2025 at 11:44 PM
We’re at a point where the "news" (both local and cable) are adopting the propagandist rhetoric of the regime by describing what's happening in L.A. as "riots." They fail to acknowledge who actually incites and escalates the violence, namely ICE, the new Gestapo.
Thoughts about this Pride month, and how it felt like things changed for me in June 2023.
June 1, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Thoughts about this Pride month, and how it felt like things changed for me in June 2023.
Look, I try not to repost from over there, but this just peered directly into my soul (and my wardrobe).
May 6, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Look, I try not to repost from over there, but this just peered directly into my soul (and my wardrobe).
Tomorrow (Monday evening) at Wesleyan's Center for the Humanities: it's my last scheduled east coast talk as I approach the end of my year-long sojourn on this coast. Come on through, especially if we haven't had a chance to see each other yet.
www.wesleyan.edu/humanities/h...
www.wesleyan.edu/humanities/h...
May 4, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Tomorrow (Monday evening) at Wesleyan's Center for the Humanities: it's my last scheduled east coast talk as I approach the end of my year-long sojourn on this coast. Come on through, especially if we haven't had a chance to see each other yet.
www.wesleyan.edu/humanities/h...
www.wesleyan.edu/humanities/h...
ACFC finally broke the pattern last night and WON a tight game in the dregs of stoppage time instead of conceding in the most heartbreaking fashion. Press keeping the ball in play & Tierney burying it in the upper corner is just 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽 🖤 🩷
May 3, 2025 at 6:17 PM
ACFC finally broke the pattern last night and WON a tight game in the dregs of stoppage time instead of conceding in the most heartbreaking fashion. Press keeping the ball in play & Tierney burying it in the upper corner is just 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽 🖤 🩷
The legendary Daphne Brooks brought us together for the “Beyoncé Makes History” symposium at Yale, and I feel honored to have spent the last couple of days with such incredible writers and thinkers.
April 19, 2025 at 12:51 PM
The legendary Daphne Brooks brought us together for the “Beyoncé Makes History” symposium at Yale, and I feel honored to have spent the last couple of days with such incredible writers and thinkers.
I’ve never been more disappointed in this team in my entire life. Some players should’ve refused to go. The Dodgers did its city wrong today by legitimizing this tyrant w/ a visit and giving him a jersey that the great Jackie Robinson once wore. At least some of the boys didn’t look happy about it.
April 7, 2025 at 11:48 PM
I’ve never been more disappointed in this team in my entire life. Some players should’ve refused to go. The Dodgers did its city wrong today by legitimizing this tyrant w/ a visit and giving him a jersey that the great Jackie Robinson once wore. At least some of the boys didn’t look happy about it.
Three talks coming up in short succession over the next week: tonight at Vassar, Tuesday at NYU, and Wednesday at Yale. Come on through if you’re around…
April 3, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Three talks coming up in short succession over the next week: tonight at Vassar, Tuesday at NYU, and Wednesday at Yale. Come on through if you’re around…
This is almost exactly what happens in the Oscar-nominated film “I’m Still Here,” so if you’re comparing our timeline to other dictatorships and authoritarian regimes, we’ve now crossed that threshold.
March 10, 2025 at 2:38 AM
This is almost exactly what happens in the Oscar-nominated film “I’m Still Here,” so if you’re comparing our timeline to other dictatorships and authoritarian regimes, we’ve now crossed that threshold.
Our special episode of @theartofgriefpod.bsky.social on “Collective Grief and the L.A. Wildfires” is out now, featuring the voices of Myriam Gurba, Lien Ta, Guy Branum, Carolina Miranda, Natalia Molina, Margaret Wappler, Mai-Lin Cheng, Sarah Gertrude Rose Shapiro, Colin Campbell and Courtney Storer.
March 6, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Our special episode of @theartofgriefpod.bsky.social on “Collective Grief and the L.A. Wildfires” is out now, featuring the voices of Myriam Gurba, Lien Ta, Guy Branum, Carolina Miranda, Natalia Molina, Margaret Wappler, Mai-Lin Cheng, Sarah Gertrude Rose Shapiro, Colin Campbell and Courtney Storer.
Among my favorite things about Australia are the prawn rolls people serve for summer lunch gatherings at home. 🦐
February 22, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Among my favorite things about Australia are the prawn rolls people serve for summer lunch gatherings at home. 🦐
Or rather, it speaks to how the everyday must continue as a kind of pantomime amidst the ruins of unspeakable loss. It’s based on a true story, one that will continue to happen if we let it.
February 15, 2025 at 5:42 AM
Or rather, it speaks to how the everyday must continue as a kind of pantomime amidst the ruins of unspeakable loss. It’s based on a true story, one that will continue to happen if we let it.
Finally saw “I’m Still Here,” the Brazilian film about a family, probably not unlike yours, living through a dictatorship that “disappears” people who are perceived to oppose the regime, even passively. It’s a beautiful reflection on how everyday life continues until it cannot… 1/2
February 15, 2025 at 5:36 AM
Finally saw “I’m Still Here,” the Brazilian film about a family, probably not unlike yours, living through a dictatorship that “disappears” people who are perceived to oppose the regime, even passively. It’s a beautiful reflection on how everyday life continues until it cannot… 1/2
Vibe shift. Hello from Sydney.
February 12, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Vibe shift. Hello from Sydney.
WTF is up with this fascist coffee at the Vons in Echo Park?
February 9, 2025 at 11:57 PM
WTF is up with this fascist coffee at the Vons in Echo Park?
The memory machine reminded me that our current world was prophesied at my beloved Smog Cutter in 2017 (the year they shuttered for good):
February 8, 2025 at 8:10 PM
The memory machine reminded me that our current world was prophesied at my beloved Smog Cutter in 2017 (the year they shuttered for good):