Rachel Banner
@ishmaelcallme.bsky.social
chips & dips; poor sense of direction ; prof & union member ; writing about c19 U.S. literature - wives, violence, energy; Detroit, Philly, Joel Embiid forever
Pinned
Project MUSE - Melville's Idea of a Wife
muse.jhu.edu
I joke that it took me twenty years to figure out how to get this off my chest about Herman Melville, starting from my first encounter as an undergrad in 2005. But it kind of did. So thrilled that this essay has a home at J19: Project MUSE - Melville's Idea of a Wife muse.jhu.edu/article/970112
I’ve been cooking but I see the Lions are already Lions’ing this game
You can always count on Jared Goff to ruin Thanksgiving
November 27, 2025 at 6:35 PM
I’ve been cooking but I see the Lions are already Lions’ing this game
some weirdo delights from a stroll through town
November 27, 2025 at 3:37 PM
some weirdo delights from a stroll through town
I’m still writing my first book — for all kinds of reasons. But this article I never finished in 2020 (got an R&R at another journal during peak lockdown/toddler parenting /depression) just published. I loved writing about the incredibly weird, compelling Nat Turner of the 1831 Confessions
November 27, 2025 at 1:09 AM
I’m still writing my first book — for all kinds of reasons. But this article I never finished in 2020 (got an R&R at another journal during peak lockdown/toddler parenting /depression) just published. I loved writing about the incredibly weird, compelling Nat Turner of the 1831 Confessions
why does my 16 yr old niece's wish list include clothes from a brand called "John Galt" ?!
November 26, 2025 at 8:18 PM
why does my 16 yr old niece's wish list include clothes from a brand called "John Galt" ?!
Reposted by Rachel Banner
[Tom Waits voice] frisson of carrion tang
New Jersey turkeys have a "slightly coarser, grainier" meat than ordinary turkeys but the "frisson of carrion tang" in the gizzard has made them #1 Thanksgiving fare for discerning gourmets.
November 26, 2025 at 3:01 PM
[Tom Waits voice] frisson of carrion tang
Reposted by Rachel Banner
New episode out today featuring Alex Alston (Bryn Mawr College) and Maurice O. Wallace (Rutgers University, New Brunswick)!
S09 E05 | Animals in 19th-Century African American Literature
This episode features a conversation between Alex Alston, Assistant Professor of Literatures in English at Bryn Mawr College, and Maurice O. Wallace, Professor of English at Rutgers University, New Br
soundcloud.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:31 PM
New episode out today featuring Alex Alston (Bryn Mawr College) and Maurice O. Wallace (Rutgers University, New Brunswick)!
fresh pot of “November stew” from the dregs of our garden
November 26, 2025 at 2:28 AM
fresh pot of “November stew” from the dregs of our garden
Reposted by Rachel Banner
I ordered this new children’s book from Shout Your Abortion after meeting ppl from the org at NWSA and they threw in a couple extra books for me and I couldn’t love this org more. Buy their stuff! Support them! Shout about abortion! shoutyourabortion.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:07 AM
I ordered this new children’s book from Shout Your Abortion after meeting ppl from the org at NWSA and they threw in a couple extra books for me and I couldn’t love this org more. Buy their stuff! Support them! Shout about abortion! shoutyourabortion.com
why did they make it look like a lil stack of rare beef
November 25, 2025 at 12:14 AM
why did they make it look like a lil stack of rare beef
Reposted by Rachel Banner
Doing all I could this morning to keep the few undergrads who even turned up awake, & even this ghastly but interesting image, a prop to my discussion of the female Gothic & "Get Out" didn't quite do the job.
So I'll try with YOU.
It's an illustration to Bluebeard by Winslow Homer, of all people.
So I'll try with YOU.
It's an illustration to Bluebeard by Winslow Homer, of all people.
November 24, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Doing all I could this morning to keep the few undergrads who even turned up awake, & even this ghastly but interesting image, a prop to my discussion of the female Gothic & "Get Out" didn't quite do the job.
So I'll try with YOU.
It's an illustration to Bluebeard by Winslow Homer, of all people.
So I'll try with YOU.
It's an illustration to Bluebeard by Winslow Homer, of all people.
Emerald Fennell’s work annoys me in many ways, AND I love this new poster
November 24, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Emerald Fennell’s work annoys me in many ways, AND I love this new poster
San Juan is an incredible place. I assume many of you know this already but I was a newbie!
November 24, 2025 at 1:00 AM
San Juan is an incredible place. I assume many of you know this already but I was a newbie!
Reposted by Rachel Banner
Perfect ASA experience: present 4 papers on rot, someone in the audience is like “actually this all reminds me of gooning” then we all talk about the energy economy of gooning for 15 minutes
November 22, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Perfect ASA experience: present 4 papers on rot, someone in the audience is like “actually this all reminds me of gooning” then we all talk about the energy economy of gooning for 15 minutes
Are you at ASA today? If so come listen to us talk about free love communes, boll weevils, enshittification & the rot economy, and doing amateur dental extractions on your cousin-wife. None of this will make sense but it’s going to be so fun!
are you going to be at ASA in San Juan this weekend? Come listen to me, @ashleyrattner.bsky.social, @ericastevens.bsky.social, and friends talk about all things rotten in this failing state! (Graphic courtesy of Ashley. I bullied her into making it a few months ago, and I forget why)
November 22, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Are you at ASA today? If so come listen to us talk about free love communes, boll weevils, enshittification & the rot economy, and doing amateur dental extractions on your cousin-wife. None of this will make sense but it’s going to be so fun!
@ashleyrattner.bsky.social doing her part to force C19 on everybody at ASA
November 22, 2025 at 2:17 AM
@ashleyrattner.bsky.social doing her part to force C19 on everybody at ASA
Reposted by Rachel Banner
ICYMI: I reviewed every hat. All of the hats.
www.basketballfeelings.com/p/a-predicti...
www.basketballfeelings.com/p/a-predicti...
A predictive rating of every NBA City Edition hat
Writer and critic for The New Republic rates this year's crop of New Era caps.
www.basketballfeelings.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:04 PM
ICYMI: I reviewed every hat. All of the hats.
www.basketballfeelings.com/p/a-predicti...
www.basketballfeelings.com/p/a-predicti...
Reposted by Rachel Banner
NEW on Commonplace: In her latest essay, Caroline Greer writes on the history of menstrual care in the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century United States with a particular consideration of the collections at the Valentine Museum in Richmond, Virginia. commonplace.online/article/padd...
Padding Out History: Menstrual Management in the Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century United States - Commonplace
Innovations in menstrual technology that emerged in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century allow us to infer what techniques women used to manage their periods in earlier decades by analyzing...
commonplace.online
November 19, 2025 at 5:07 PM
NEW on Commonplace: In her latest essay, Caroline Greer writes on the history of menstrual care in the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century United States with a particular consideration of the collections at the Valentine Museum in Richmond, Virginia. commonplace.online/article/padd...
in which I was invited to an Energy Humanities symposium & talked about 19th century women’s underwear 🤷🏻♀️
November 19, 2025 at 2:53 PM
in which I was invited to an Energy Humanities symposium & talked about 19th century women’s underwear 🤷🏻♀️
From a recent zoom mtg but also applicable to: the news, my job, my university email account & LMS, messages from my kid’s school, aging family, and maybe I should also use as one of those photo holiday cards?
November 18, 2025 at 8:02 PM
From a recent zoom mtg but also applicable to: the news, my job, my university email account & LMS, messages from my kid’s school, aging family, and maybe I should also use as one of those photo holiday cards?
Reposted by Rachel Banner
Perhaps no one I trust less for cooking advice.
November 18, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Perhaps no one I trust less for cooking advice.
why are these dementia cashews being so slutty
November 18, 2025 at 12:21 PM
why are these dementia cashews being so slutty
Reposted by Rachel Banner
are you going to be at ASA in San Juan this weekend? Come listen to me, @ashleyrattner.bsky.social, @ericastevens.bsky.social, and friends talk about all things rotten in this failing state! (Graphic courtesy of Ashley. I bullied her into making it a few months ago, and I forget why)
November 17, 2025 at 1:43 PM
are you going to be at ASA in San Juan this weekend? Come listen to me, @ashleyrattner.bsky.social, @ericastevens.bsky.social, and friends talk about all things rotten in this failing state! (Graphic courtesy of Ashley. I bullied her into making it a few months ago, and I forget why)
A thing on my mind again given recent news cycle & prevailing narrative that’s taken hold of Me Too having “gone too far” is that that moment was just a relatively healthy dose of women being honest about sexual violence & coercion. The surface just got scratched and then 2016 and everything after.
November 17, 2025 at 6:09 PM
A thing on my mind again given recent news cycle & prevailing narrative that’s taken hold of Me Too having “gone too far” is that that moment was just a relatively healthy dose of women being honest about sexual violence & coercion. The surface just got scratched and then 2016 and everything after.
are you going to be at ASA in San Juan this weekend? Come listen to me, @ashleyrattner.bsky.social, @ericastevens.bsky.social, and friends talk about all things rotten in this failing state! (Graphic courtesy of Ashley. I bullied her into making it a few months ago, and I forget why)
November 17, 2025 at 1:43 PM
are you going to be at ASA in San Juan this weekend? Come listen to me, @ashleyrattner.bsky.social, @ericastevens.bsky.social, and friends talk about all things rotten in this failing state! (Graphic courtesy of Ashley. I bullied her into making it a few months ago, and I forget why)
My friend is starting a book club tonight and I’m going. I’m bringing a bottle of wine that I drank a glass of yesterday. Also I didn’t finish the book.
November 14, 2025 at 8:29 PM
My friend is starting a book club tonight and I’m going. I’m bringing a bottle of wine that I drank a glass of yesterday. Also I didn’t finish the book.