Lauren Eriks Cline
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lerikscline.bsky.social
Lauren Eriks Cline
@lerikscline.bsky.social
2K followers 960 following 670 posts
teaching lit; writing about C19 performance, spectators, narrative; opinions my own; she/they
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lerikscline.bsky.social
Two deeply ethical, inspiringly courageous former colleagues of mine, Alex Gruber and Craig Ford, contributed to this piece discussing the layoffs at St. Norbert College.

www.ncronline.org/news/when-ca...
"A Catholic school without at least one full-time theology and religious studies faculty member will find it harder to live out its Catholic identity and distinguish itself from other private schools and even secular public schools," said Gruber. "I think it means an impoverishment of the teaching of theology and the vibrancy of the Catholic identity." St. Norbert, the Norbertine order's only higher-education institution in the world, cited budget deficits totaling $18 million in 2022-24. On Oct. 17 the order announced a $15 million gift to the school's endowment — a contribution that led some to speculate that some of the cuts, especially in theology, may not have been entirely financially driven. "The financial situation at the college provided a cover for an ideological transition," said theologian Craig Ford, who specializes in queer studies and Black studies and is now visiting professor in ethics at Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta. Ford was denied tenure in 2024, as were all St. Norbert faculty applying that year. By the time he left St. Norbert, at the end of the 2024-25 school year, the remainder of the theology department had also been let go. The department is now staffed with adjunct faculty, who teach courses for students taking two required theology classes as part of the school's core curriculum.
December 3, 2025 at 10:11 PM
lerikscline.bsky.social
Screen shot of recent news stories discussing the buyout deals for fired coaches at Kentucky ($38m) and LSU ($54m), along with the new contract for Lane Kiffin at LSU ($91m). Image of edits to the dril "candles" tweet that now reads: Food $200 Data $150 Rent $800 Buy out fired football coaches $36,000,000 Utility $150 someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my College is dying
December 2, 2025 at 4:18 AM
lerikscline.bsky.social
The Missing by Thom Gunn Now as I watch the progress of the plague, The friends surrounding me fall sick, grow thin, And drop away. Bared, is my shape less vague —Sharply exposed and with a sculpted skin? I do not like the statue's chill contour, Not nowadays. The warmth investing me Led outward through mind, limb, feeling, and more In an involved increasing family. Contact of friend led to another friend, Supple entwinement through the living mass Which for all that I knew might have no end, Image of an unlimited embrace. I did not just feel ease, though comfortable: Aggressive as in some ideal of sport, With ceaseless movement thrilling through the whole, Their push kept me as firm as their support. But death—Their deaths have left me less defined: It was their pulsing presence made me clear. I borrowed from it, I was unconfined, Who tonight balance unsupported here, Eyes glaring from raw marble, in a pose Languorously part-buried in the block, Shins perfect and no calves, as if I froze Between potential and a finished work. —Abandoned incomplete, shape of a shape, In which exact detail shows the more strange, Trapped in unwholeness, I find no escape Back to the play of constant give and change.
December 2, 2025 at 2:24 AM
lerikscline.bsky.social
Ok Montana
Photo of a house with the northern lights in the background (a long, diagonal streak of bright green and a low red/pinkish glow) Photo of a house and trees with the northern lights in the background (low teal-green glow and upper fuchsia glow) Photo taken from the middle of a street with silhouettes of trees and houses and the northern lights above (low green glow and upper fuchsia glow with shimmers) Photo taken from train tracks with silhouettes of trees and the northern lights above (low bright green glow and upper fuchsia glow) and some stars visible at the very top
November 12, 2025 at 3:18 AM
lerikscline.bsky.social
Chart from the Phrenological Journal (1838-1911), print from Dr. E. Clark

www.jstor.org/stable/commu...
Image showing a phrenological chart labeling the purported locations in the brain and facial features for traits like "acquisitiveness," veneration," and "benevolence." Above the skull is the phrase "Know Thyself." Versions of this image appeared in a range of literature put out by the Phrenological Journal and Science of Health.
November 6, 2025 at 10:20 PM
lerikscline.bsky.social
It was a niche post, but I stand by it.
Screenshot of a Tumblr post featuring a photo of a pelican with mouth open and text: pelcan Mouth perfec t size for put baby in to n\ap! inside very Soft and Comfort baby sleep soundly put baby in Pelican Mouth. Put Baby In Pelican Mouth. no problems ever in peliccan mouth because good Shape and Support for baby neck weak of big baby head. Apelican Mouth yes a place for a baby put baby in pelican mouth can trust pelican for giveing good love to baby. friend pelican
October 17, 2025 at 7:04 PM
lerikscline.bsky.social
I wasn’t sure I’d have the chance to be back in a literature classroom, and I feel absurdly lucky to have gotten one.

Thank you to so, so many for your encouragement and support. I’m very grateful to share the work with you.
Photo of a name plate outside and office door. The name plate reads: The University of Montana Western. English Department. Lauren Eriks Cline, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Photo of the poster at the Bear Creek Overlook, with mountains in the background
August 8, 2025 at 9:35 PM
lerikscline.bsky.social
It was a joy to see two of the first reviews I commissioned appear in the most recent issue of Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film: Yasser Shams Khan on The Visual Life of Romantic Theatre and Marlis Schweitzer on Kellen Hoxworth's Transoceanic Blackface.

journals.sagepub.com/toc/NCT/curr...
Screenshot of the opening segment of Yasser Shams Khan's review of The Visual Life of Romantic Theater, 1780–1830 by Diane Piccitto and Terry F. Robinson (eds) Screenshot of Marlis Schweitzer's review of Transoceanic Blackface: Empire, Race, Performance by Kellen Hoxworth
July 14, 2025 at 4:10 PM
lerikscline.bsky.social
Final peony season with our Green Bay bushes, and they are putting on a show.
Photograph of a fuchsia peony bush in bloom Photo of a small bouquet of cut fuchsia peonies in a clear jar on an end table with a couch and bookcase in the background Photo of a bell jar with cream and pale pink cut peonies beneath a window Photo of a cream and pale pink peony bush in bloom
June 18, 2025 at 1:29 AM
lerikscline.bsky.social
Protest stretched down the main streets of Green Bay, WI on both sides of the river. Many passersby honking and raising thumbs up in support.
Photo of protest crowds gathering on Broadway in Green Bay, WI Photo of protestors holding signs and flags on one block of Broadway in Green Bay, WI.
June 15, 2025 at 12:30 AM
lerikscline.bsky.social
*Oligarchs are gutting institutions and looting public money to keep working communities underresourced, undereducated, and desperate.
Screenshot of an email from LinkedIn that offers the clickbait "Struggling institutions are dragging their communities down with them."
May 20, 2025 at 6:24 PM
lerikscline.bsky.social
Thinking, for various reasons, about this passage from Stuart Hall:

"I am the sugar at the bottom of the English cup of tea....There are thousands of others beside me that are, you know, the cup of tea itself....That is the outside history that is inside the history of the English."
First of two screenshots from Stuart Hall's "Old and New Identities, Old and New Ethnicities": People like me who came to England in the 1950s have been there for centuries; symbolically, we have been there for centuries. I was coming home. I am the sugar at the bottom of the English cup of tea. I am the sweet tooth, the sugar plantations that rotted generations of English children's teeth. There are thousands of others beside me that are, you know, the cup of tea itself. Because they don't grow it in Lancashire, you know. Not a single tea plantation exists within the United Kingdom. This is the symbolization of English identity - mean, what does anybody in the world know about an English person except that they can't get through the day without a cup of tea? Where does it come from? Ceylon - Sri Lanka, India. That is the outside history that is inside the history of the English. There is no English history without that other history. The notion that identity has to do with people that look the same, feel the same, call them- selves the same, is nonsense. As a process, as a narrative, as a dis- course, it is always told from the position of the Other.
April 17, 2025 at 7:10 PM
lerikscline.bsky.social
Screen shot of a dril tweet that reads: "This Whole Thing Smacks Of Gender," i holler as i overturn my uncle's barbeque grill and turn the 4th of July into the 4th of Shit
April 7, 2025 at 10:28 PM
lerikscline.bsky.social
Looking good, Green Bay.
Photo of 500+ people gathered for the Hands Off rally in Green Bay, WI
April 5, 2025 at 6:21 PM
lerikscline.bsky.social
Show me 4 pictures in your phone that have your energy that aren’t selfies.
Screenshot of a tweet from user @ctrlcreep that reads “If God didn’t want me to use the em dash, why did he enshrine it in nature, in the horizon line—the lightning-harrowed bough—the canyon’s pink striation—the pupil of the goat” Photo of my brown dog, Sherman, snoozing in a sunny spot in front of two bookshelves and a window with a house plant. Screenshot of Christine Baranski pouring herself wine during a Zoom performance of “Ladies Who Lunch” for Stephen Sondheim’s 90th birthday. Photo of NBA star Nikola Jokic over a pull quote that reads “I’m patient because I cannot really run fast. That’s my only option.”
April 2, 2025 at 8:03 PM
lerikscline.bsky.social
Thank you, Wisconsin.
A selfie of the poster with an “I Voted” sticker.
April 2, 2025 at 2:30 AM
lerikscline.bsky.social
Nothing but respect for MY Odysseus
Photo of Toby Stephens as Captain Flint in Black Sails
February 17, 2025 at 11:13 PM
lerikscline.bsky.social
I love the All Grim Prints in my home office, and I think you would love some too.
Photo of a home office with a bookshelf, reading chair, and many beautiful prints (including Edward Said, James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, Capital Volume One, and Surplus Value) from All Grim Prints on the walls. There is also clutter on the side table, so you know time has passed.
February 16, 2025 at 9:04 PM
lerikscline.bsky.social
It's always a great time to introduce students to the history of the AIDS pandemic, of organized abandonment, and of queer solidarity and memory.

Here are a couple ways I've approached it in English and Women's and Gender Studies.
Screenshot of weeks ten and eleven for a reading calendar for English 150, "Unlivable Worlds": Week Ten Mon Oct 30 Bodies and Environments Thom Gunn, “The Man with Night Sweats” Danez Smith, “sometimes i wish i felt the side effects” Wed Nov 1 No Class: Advisement Day Fri Nov 3 Bodies and Environments Mark Doty, selections from Atlantis Critical Experiment 7 Due Week Eleven Mon Nov 6 Dramatic Worlds Tony Kushner, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, 1-43 Wed Nov 8 Dramatic Worlds Tony Kushner, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, 43-84 Fri Nov 10 Dramatic Worlds Tony Kushner, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, 84-end Critical Experiment 8 Due Screenshot of weeks seven and eight of a reading calendar for English/WMGS 206, "Queer Literature": Week Seven Mon Oct 9 Memorial and Mutual Aid David France (he/him), dir., How to Survive a Plague Wed Oct 11 Memorial and Mutual Aid Felix Gonzalez-Torres (he/him), “Untitled” (Perfect Lovers) and “Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) Thom Gunn (he/him), “The Missing” Fri Oct 13 Memorial and Mutual Aid Alexander Chee (he/him), “After Peter” Reading List 5 Optional Mid-Semester Self-Assessment Due Week Eight Mon Oct 16 Communities and Closets Tracy Chapman (she/her), “Fast Car” Bronski Beat, “Smalltown Boy” Wed Oct 18 Communities and Closets R.E.M., “Losing My Religion” Pet Shop Boys, “It’s a Sin” Fri Oct 20 Communities and Closets Randall Mann (he/him), “The Fall of 1992” Brenda Shaughnessy (she/her), “Gay Pride Weekend, S.F., 1992” Reading List 6
February 13, 2025 at 7:29 PM
lerikscline.bsky.social
I don't want to talk about how long this took me to make.
Screenshot of the Drake meme, but Drake's face has been replaced (badly) with the face from the statue of Ea-nasir.
February 10, 2025 at 2:16 AM
lerikscline.bsky.social
This week I said goodbye to my friend Sean: one the most important people in my life for over half my life, the father of my godson, a human I trusted with my whole self.

I wish for everyone the chance to love someone so much and so deliberately it will break your heart forever when they're gone.
Photo of four people looking very young at a college formal dance (left to right me, Leah, Sean, and Emily) in 2004. Photo of four people (left to right, Emily, Sean, me, Kyle) in Leelanau, MI in 2015 Photo of four people (left to right Sean, Emily, me, Kyle) at Blackrocks Brewing in Marquette, MI in 2018. Photo of five people (left to right Sean, Emily, Kyle, me, Bode) crossing a river in Marquette, MI in 2024.
February 7, 2025 at 4:10 AM
lerikscline.bsky.social
Amid a week of much forced uncertainty, here is the list of programs the new VPAA at St. Norbert is recommending for closure.
Photo of a slide showing “Vice President & CAO Recommendations” Majors to Eliminate Art and Art Education Chemistry Computer Science Earth Science French History International Studies Mathematics Physics Engineering Physics Theater Studies Theology and Religious Studies Psychology Education Majors to Revise and Reimagine Mathematics Education Music Education Philosophy Spanish Education
January 29, 2025 at 11:50 PM
lerikscline.bsky.social
Image of the "Everyone disliked that" meme
January 27, 2025 at 2:57 AM
lerikscline.bsky.social
Just put on Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. Time to take a big sip of coffee and check the news.
Screen shot of the opening scroll from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace that reads: "Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute."
January 26, 2025 at 10:31 PM
lerikscline.bsky.social
Bracing
A screen shot of the weather app for Green Bay reading a current temperature of -12 feels like -22
January 21, 2025 at 4:13 PM