Dr. Kurtis Hanlon
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kurtishanlon.bsky.social
Dr. Kurtis Hanlon
@kurtishanlon.bsky.social
1.3K followers 370 following 1.1K posts
A lecturer in premodern Japanese Language and Literature at Yale University. Researching literature, especially waka, and its intersection with play. Designated departmental baker (he/him) Signal: kurtishanlon.33
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kurtishanlon.bsky.social
Day 10.

カメちゃんに
伸びてあくびで
恵まれた

By my turtle
Stretching and yawning
I have been blessed.
A yellow bellied slider turtle sits on a carpet with his back legs splayed out and his front legs stretching forward. His mouth is open in a big yawn, accentuated by his closed eyes.
November 11, 2025 at 4:17 AM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
Okay, I've been out here about 3 hours and I've gotten between three and four dozen kids coming by. My feet can't take the 50° weather anymore. I'll leave candy out for any latecomers, but I'm going inside to get warm.
A man sits on a porch in a skeleton costume. He is wearing a black shirt and suit blazer with an orange tie. He has a white balaclava on with a painted skeleton mask on top and a wide brimmed fedora on his head.
October 31, 2025 at 11:36 PM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
We are all set up for whatever trick-or-treaters brave the cold and the wind. I've had a little over a dozen this first hour.
Two jack o'lanterns sit on a table lit from the inside. The one on the left has triangle eyes with upturned lower lids, a triangle nose, and a big grin with only two teeth. The one on the right has round upturned eyes with flared eyelashes up to the side, and a big toothy grin with one fang. Two jack o'lanterns sit on a porch lit from the inside. The one on the right has triangle eyes with upturned lower lids, a triangle nose, and a big grin with only two teeth. The one on the left has round upturned eyes with flared eyelashes up to the side, and a big toothy grin with one fang. A seafoam green chair and table sit on a porch. On the table are two McDonald's Halloween buckets, the green one filled with sugar candy, and the orange one filled with chocolate candy. There is a sign between them that reads "sugar or chocolate." At the front of the table is a jack-o'-lantern serving plate covered with one-inch buttons, with a sign saying, "please take one button." A gloved skeletal hand holds a gorgeously illustrated copy of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The cover illustration depicts Victor working on his creation.
October 31, 2025 at 10:08 PM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
My character giving out candy is going to be silent, so I made some handy signs for the candy and buttons I'll be handing out. I think it's good to have the distinction so that kids with allergies can go with the safe sugar stuff.
Two hand-letrered signs sit on some parchment paper with a dip pen kit beside them. The oxblood ink spells out two messages in batarde font: "Sugar or chocolate" and "please take one button." The sign asking for candy preference has ink splatters that look like blood.
October 31, 2025 at 8:48 PM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
Do you get the funky beret with yours? I got a cool chunky BEEFEATER hat with mine. I can't say the word without making an exaggerated deep voice.
A newly minutes doctor stands in regalia while holding his diploma. The regalia is crimson red with a true blue lining, and the hat is a wide brimmed beefeater hat with a poofy floop on top.
October 15, 2025 at 1:14 PM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
Jokes on you; I *am* a college professor.
October 11, 2025 at 3:24 AM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
Kame-chan's favorite color is orange, and Lizzy found him a tiny pumpkin at the store. Immediately after this photo was taken, he tried to bite at it.
A yellow bellied slider turtle floats at the top of the water in his tank with his limbs splayed out. He is looking through the glass at a miniature pumpkin being held by the photographer, and he is giving it a quizzical look as if deciphering if he can eat it.
October 4, 2025 at 8:43 PM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
I made caramelized onions to go on our pork chops last night. Today I'm going to surprise Lizzy with some gruyere and onion grilled cheese using the leftovers.
Sliced onions sit in a cast iron skillet on the stove. They are still white, but are soft and pliable. Sliced onions sit in a cast iron skillet on the stove. They have browned considerably, but still have some white in them. Lovely brown caramelized onions sit in a small serving bowl. There are crunchy bits among them.
September 30, 2025 at 2:09 PM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
Made a fun little button for spooky season with watercolors.

#kpopDemonHunters #sussie
A small, one-inch button sits on a tablecloth. It features a yellow background and a black and grey painting of Sussie, the six-eyed magpie from KPop Demon Hunters. Their face is in profile and shows three of their signature half-lidded eyes.
September 22, 2025 at 10:35 PM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
I made French style scrambled eggs to go with the baguette. Garnished with some fresh thyme.
A cutting board sits with a hunk of baguette sitting next to a bread knife, showing the bubbly open crumb of the bread. Next to the hunk is a plate with two slices of baguette with creamy, velvety scrambled eggs spread on top, garnished with fresh thyme. A single line of sunlight dapples through the blinds across the scene.
September 21, 2025 at 2:59 PM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
Whipped up some dough last night because I felt like making baguettes for breakfast.
Four baguettes sit on baking racks on top of a stove. They are long and covered in flour.
September 21, 2025 at 2:04 PM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
I took some time today to reseason some cast iron, including a rusty pan from our neighbor. I didn't take a before picture, but I'd say the results speak for themselves. The lower left is a thrift store salvage, and it looks much better than it did, trust me.
Four dark black cast iron pans sit, cooling, on top of a stove. They all shine with the extra layers of oil polymerized onto them.
September 16, 2025 at 3:28 AM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
Our turtle when he's walking on the floor minding his own business and smells the sushi takeout that we just opened:

(Like, literally, this man climbed vertically up Lizzy's shirt and tried to take it from her mouth. She wouldn't let me post the video I took instead of helping her.)
September 16, 2025 at 2:02 AM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
EVEN MORE THEORY
The cover image for C. Thi Nguyen's book, Games: Agency as Art. The artwork consists of a green adventurer with a full pack of travel equipment. They are at a T intersection with fuschia arrows pointing right and left, and seem to be deciding which way to go.
September 15, 2025 at 2:37 AM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
Well, if I'm going to claim it's the sexegenary cycle, I might as well arrange them to fit...
The same collection as the previous post of colored buttons depicting each of the 12 zodiac animals in the 5 elemental colors, but shifted slightly to match the slightly offset nature of the cycle of 12 and 10. It basically creates a diagonal of each color running through the 5x12 grid.
September 12, 2025 at 1:17 AM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
Sooooo, over the week I was inspired by the European zodiac buttons I made to make some Asian zodiac buttons as well. But I couldn't decide what color to make them, so I ended up doing the whole sexegenary cycle. It was good shodō practice; felt good to practice brush control again.
60 buttons laid out on a table. They are arranged in 5 rows of various elemental colors: green for wood, red for fire, yellow for earth, black for metal, and blue for water. The columns are the Japanese characters for the 12 animal zodiacs: rat 鼠, ox 牛, tiger 虎, rabbit 兎, dragon 龍, snake 蛇, horse 馬, ram 羊, monkey 猿, rooster 鶏, dog 犬, and boar 猪.
September 12, 2025 at 12:38 AM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
Look who came to cuddle with us in bed this morning. It's so funny because even when we put him right next to me, he will beeline to Lizzy to try and climb on her face.
The head of a yellow bellied slider turtle pokes out from under light blue sheets and looks at the camera. He looks mildly perturbed at being denied the ability to climb on the faces of the nearby humans. He is nestled up next to a man in a black shirt with a faded sea turtle on it.
September 10, 2025 at 4:49 PM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
Had a sudden idea for a set of zodiac buttons, so I busted out the watercolors. I'm not that into astrology, but I'm sure they'll find a good home somewhere.
A series of 12 buttons sit on some parchment paper next to a closed pan of watercolors. The buttons each have a zodiac sign on them, painted on a background of the color associated with each zodiac: red for Aries, green for Taurus, yellow for Gemini, dark blue for Cancer, orange for Leo, pink for Libra, black and white for Scorpio, purple for Sagittarius, grey for Capricorn, sky blue for Aquarius, and mint green for Pisces.
September 9, 2025 at 12:56 AM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
I'm really excited for the paper I'm giving in a week. It's about how the principles of andragogy are put into practice with my course design of "gamified grading," which is meant to lead to self-directed learners. The panel is completely online, so you should register and come! It's on Whova.
A green- and purple-backgrounded advertisement for the upcoming 2025 H-Net Teaching Conference, hosted on Whova. The information is that the panel "Food, Salon Discussions, and Gamified Grading" will take place on Tuesday August 19 from 2:05-3:05 EDT. In the corner is the name of the presenter, Kurtis Hanlon, and a little profile picture of him in a purple shirt and tie.
August 13, 2025 at 1:52 AM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
Just because I'm expanding into mead doesn't mean I'm giving up on my sodas. This lemonade is always a winner. The secret is to use a very sharp knife and slice off the thinnest layer of zest without any pith. Using a zester just doesn't do it for some reason. Maybe it gets pith, too?
A glass demijon with an s-shaped airlock on top. The yellow liquid inside is labeled as a lemonade, and marked as having started on August 11.
August 12, 2025 at 1:05 AM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
It's over folks. I'm expanding my fermentation from simple lactobacillus sodas to honest to goodness mead brewing.

This one should get to about 11% abv in about a month. Then with conditioning and aging, we'll be able to drink it at Christmas...
A 1.25 gallon plastic container sits on a counter. It has an airlock at the top and a spigot at the bottom. There are green pieces of tape that label the cider-colored liquid inside as a traditional mead, started on August 11, with a starting specific gravity of 1.094.
August 11, 2025 at 7:54 PM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
Tonight's culinary creation: burrata and prosciutto pizza with arugula and a balsamic drizzle.
A burrata and prosciutto pizza with arugula and a balsamic drizzle. The burrata is melted in patches and the prosciutto has crisped on the top due to a couple minutes under the broiler. The arugula hides much of the gooey goodness underneath.
August 8, 2025 at 11:45 PM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
Craft summer continues. I used the vinyl cutter to make button blanks out of watercolor paper and have been making some watercolor buttons!
A white canvas with vertical ribbons running in columns. The ribbons have a variety of buttons on them. Some are cut from patterned paper, like pink florals and zodiac inspired designs, and a few are acrylic painted with Kirby the Creampuff's face. But a variety of them are painted with watercolor florals, like purple or pink roses, color washed five petal flowers, and even a venus fly trap. A white canvas with vertical ribbons running in columns. The ribbons have a variety of buttons on them. Most of them are painted with watercolor florals, like purple or pink roses, color washed five petal flowers, and even a venus fly trap. A small selection of water color painted button designs. One is a pink gradient background with the sinograph 愛, two are orange slices, and one is a sail boat at sea, still waiting to be pressed into a button.
August 8, 2025 at 10:14 PM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
Between the yappy chihuahua on the 2nd floor or the cats we're cat sitting on the 3rd floor that still are wary of petting after a full week, we've determined that the cuddliest animal in the house is our turtle, Kame-chan.
A yellow bellied slider turtle sits on top of a green floral blanket and a white comforter with a grey plaid pattern. His legs are splayed out in front of him and his claws curl over the edge of the comforter. He has his head held up and is looking directly at the camera with both eyes with a look that suggests a lack of brain activity.
August 4, 2025 at 11:23 PM
kurtishanlon.bsky.social
How it feels to be done teaching a summer class
The scene from Shawshank Redemption where Andy Dufresne has escaped from prison. He stands, shirtless, with his arms raised as rain pours down on his upturned face and lightning flashes.
July 30, 2025 at 8:35 PM