Jason Eric Bystrom
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jasonbystrom.bsky.social
Jason Eric Bystrom
@jasonbystrom.bsky.social
450 followers 210 following 580 posts
Religious Studies, Photography, Ethnomusicology, Extreme Metal, Basic Human Decency
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jasonbystrom.bsky.social
Merriam-Webster has some fun things to say about rack vs wrack:
“You should use the noun wrack for those happy moments in your life when you need to refer to a wrecked ship or some form of marine vegetation.”

www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/rack...
A photograph of my laptop screen with the Merriam-Webster webpage for an article entitled “Rack vs. Wrack Choosing which one to use can be nerve-racking”
November 7, 2025 at 5:47 PM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
These guys really are accelerationists hell-bent on burning the whole thing down.
A screenshot of a Politco article that states: Trump administration seeks emergency stay of court's order to fund SNAP The Trump administration has filed a motion seeking an immediate stay of a federal judge's order directing the Agriculture Department to use emergency funding to pay full food stamp benefits for November.
November 7, 2025 at 5:12 PM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
Okay, awkward usage of “religions” aside, the author seems to be mostly just playing with maps. If I’m understanding him correctly, these denoms were chosen arbitrarily to illustrate the regional concentration of certain groups as “a function in part of the overlap of religion and community.”
A screenshot that states: “Religious traditions in the U.S. are often linked to geography, a function in part of the overlap of religion and community. To emphasize this point, I took four of the above religions and overlapped them directly, showing where any one was more common than the others. The result is a complicated but I think appealing visualization of American religion.”
October 25, 2025 at 4:35 PM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
My favorite marcher so far at the SF No Kings is wearing a high-vis vest and raising a trash grabber in lieu of a sign.
A photograph of a trash grabber against a blank white background.
October 18, 2025 at 10:13 PM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
Arrived in Berkeley!
I was not aware that this is a collection of essays. Assumed it was a monograph. Actually, I’m pleased that it’s several essays because it will be easier to commit to an essay here and an essay there while juggling several other books.
A photograph of the cover of a hardback copy of the book Ancient Slavery and Its New Testament Contexts, Christy Cobb and Katherine A. Shaner, Editors.
October 17, 2025 at 12:26 AM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
I dunno. If self-identity matters in this discussion, looks like African Americans take the lead by a long shot.

x.com/ryanburge/st...
A February 2025 screenshot of a post from author and statistician Ryan Burge documenting the racial makeup of people who self-identify as evangelical: “What racial group is most likely to self-identify as evangelical? Black people, and it's not even close. In 2022, 44% of African-Americans said that they were evangelical. It was only 25% of Whites and Hispanics. Just 15% of Asians.”
October 12, 2025 at 11:24 PM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
To further muddy the waters, there has been some definitional drift with the word “evangelical” in the past few years as it takes on a more overt political connotation. See @ryanburge.bsky.social’s data on this. For example: x.com/ryanburge/st...
A screenshot of a 2024 post from the hellscape formerly known as Twitter where author and statistician Ryan Burge shares the results of a survey that demonstrates the wide range of religious affiliations of people who self identify as evangelical: “Share who self-identify as evangelical based on political partisanship Democrat vs Republican Jewish: 3% vs 9% Muslim: 11% vs 32% Buddhist: 6% vs 16% Hindu: 10% vs 18% These partisan gaps replicate in other surveys, as well. It could be random survey error, but probably not.”
October 12, 2025 at 11:02 PM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
Slightly tangential, but a play on the tension between automaticity and reading comprehension. Spotted a few years ago in Berkeley, California.
A photograph of a sign with the text: PRIVATE SIGN DO NOT READ VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW
October 12, 2025 at 6:00 PM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
KG Hutchins’ A Song for the Horses has officially landed in Berkeley, California!

@songsforhorses.com
A photo of the cover of KG Hutchins’ book, A Song for the Horses.
September 23, 2025 at 12:32 AM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
We Are Literally the World
September 14, 2025 at 9:47 PM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
Gwaizi brand!

But you have to make sure that it says “product of Yemen.” It’s a Yemeni company, but theyalso have “product of Thailand.
A can of Gwaizi brand tuna from Yemen.
September 12, 2025 at 1:41 AM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
Excellent piece from @evandeneykel.bsky.social

religiondispatches.org/charlie-kirk...
A screenshot from an article by Eric Vanden Eykel with the text, “The American debate over guns has never been about safety. It's always been about story, about the symbolic freight of a weapon displayed on the hip, about the myth that freedom is so delicate and fragile that it requires armed vigilance and perpetual defense. In that imagination, the gun becomes more than a tool. It becomes a sacrament. And sacraments demand sacrifice.”
September 11, 2025 at 7:29 PM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
An amusing abutment.
A screenshot of a Bluesky posting where Andrew Jacobs explains that the emojis for a crown and a bee, when posted to his account, represent his having achieved the status of Queen Bee in the NYT Spelling Bee. This post is followed by an unrelated post from Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg stating that “THE QUEEN IS IN THE FIELD.”
September 7, 2025 at 9:37 PM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
Update: Today I saw a student wearing pink Hello Kitty pajama (?) pants, pink crocks and a bedazzled Misfits t-shirt.

(Photo from Google Images.)
The famous skull image derived from the album cover of the Misfits’ 1979 single, “Horror Business.” This image became the band’s mascot, and is seen here in bejeweled form on the front of a t-shirt.
August 20, 2025 at 6:27 PM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
Judith Butlerian jihad champions the universal struggle of all critical studies.
A screenshot of an exchange between Bluesky user Nick Brumfield and me. Brumfield suggests that, “It honestly feels like we're hurtling to the collapse of all meaning, with the only way forward being Butlerian Jihad.” I respond, “Judith Butlerian jihad? ‘[We] must recognize that ethics requires us to risk ourselves precisely at moments of unknowingness, when what forms us diverges from what lies before.’”
August 17, 2025 at 10:59 PM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
Indeed.
A screenshot of an exchange between Bluesky user Nick Brumfield and me. Brumfield suggests that, “It honestly feels like we're hurtling to the collapse of all meaning, with the only way forward being Butlerian Jihad.” I respond, “Judith Butlerian jihad? ‘[We] must recognize that ethics requires us to risk ourselves precisely at moments of unknowingness, when what forms us diverges from what lies before.’”
August 17, 2025 at 8:17 PM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
Reminds me of this all-time classic:
A screenshot of a Twitter exchange wherein Twitter user Beth Felker Jones shares a photograph of a sheet of just-baked uncut brownies (or possibly a chocolate sheet cake) cooling on a stovetop. Someone has cut a single square near the center of the tray, leaving the remainder of the confection intact. Felker Jones encourages engagement with the image by requesting that people “caption this.” Twitter user Josiah Hawthorne responds with a caption proposal, "In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes."
August 3, 2025 at 4:44 PM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
Call me bougie, call me whatever you want, I swear by these two brands: Reel and Repurpose. Both are triple-ply bamboo. Not cheap, but worth it.
A photograph of a box of reel brand toilet paper. A photograph of a box of Repurpose brand toilet paper.
July 19, 2025 at 9:03 PM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
Spotted at the edge of the UC Berkeley campus. We are sliding into dark times.
A photograph of a poster on a utility pole. The poster is white with black text stating, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.” The poster has been torn around the edges as if someone was attempting to remove it, and the words have been crossed out with a black magic marker.
July 16, 2025 at 2:56 AM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
A photograph of a cookbook entitled Zao Fan: Breakfast in China by Michael Zee.
July 14, 2025 at 11:00 PM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
I think this might explain a lot. March 1990; Peak Don.
A screenshot of the cover of Playboy magazine’s March 1990 issue featuring a photograph of Donald Trump in black tie, sans jacket. A woman wearing a backless evening dress (whose name I do not know) is standing alongside Herr Drumpf, her back arched and buttocks thrusting towards Drumpf’s groin area. The issue includes articles covering such diverse topics as: DONALD TRUMP INTERVIEW ROCK AND RACISM Has the dark side taken over pop music? FAX 'N' FIGURES Sex comes to the electronic office CARS 1990 We pick the hottest, sharpest, sexiest "Nice magazine. Want to sell it?" WORLD-CLASS PLAYMATES FROM OUR FAR-FLUNG EMPIRE
July 12, 2025 at 10:08 PM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
I laughed out loud at this one:
A fake NYTimes headline that reads, “Mamdani's Use of Oxford Comma Raises Questions Amid No Record of Attendance”
July 10, 2025 at 2:42 PM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
Reminds me of this old tweet:
A screenshot of a tweet by a user named mikmilkmik that states, “u don't gotta be religious to admit some hymns n shit are absolute bangers”
July 10, 2025 at 2:07 AM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
July 1, 17:15 Pacific Daylight Time:
I keep refreshing the page every few hours 😅
A screenshot of a snippet of the landing page for Shaily Patel’s book Magic and Heresy in Ancient Christian Literature. The snippet shows green text with the words “Coming Soon.”
July 2, 2025 at 12:19 AM
jasonbystrom.bsky.social
No doubt is correct. See:

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
A screenshot from the linked Guardian article wherein an interviewee recalls being threatened “with assault of an officer for asking questions” during an ICE raid.
June 19, 2025 at 4:48 PM