Mercedes Sheldon
@mercedessheldon.bsky.social
19th Century Studies Scholar. Literature Lover. Enthusiastic Educator. Persnickety Parent. {she/her}
The sky was awash in beauty tonight. We drove about 20m into the suburbs to escape some light pollution.
November 12, 2025 at 4:23 AM
The sky was awash in beauty tonight. We drove about 20m into the suburbs to escape some light pollution.
Just a tiny snippet of a single song... More would be nice, but I was fully absorbed!
Regular fans might be surprised at the long skirt... 3 songs in, @dessadarling.bsky.social's manager came on stage & zipped off the lower section. Very rad!
Regular fans might be surprised at the long skirt... 3 songs in, @dessadarling.bsky.social's manager came on stage & zipped off the lower section. Very rad!
November 10, 2025 at 1:43 AM
Just a tiny snippet of a single song... More would be nice, but I was fully absorbed!
Regular fans might be surprised at the long skirt... 3 songs in, @dessadarling.bsky.social's manager came on stage & zipped off the lower section. Very rad!
Regular fans might be surprised at the long skirt... 3 songs in, @dessadarling.bsky.social's manager came on stage & zipped off the lower section. Very rad!
Last night, @dessadarling.bsky.social & the @minnesotaorchestra.org were spectacular! Her narrative thread was, as always, philosophical, insightful, humorous, and profound. Topic? Dreams and existentialism.
November 10, 2025 at 1:43 AM
Last night, @dessadarling.bsky.social & the @minnesotaorchestra.org were spectacular! Her narrative thread was, as always, philosophical, insightful, humorous, and profound. Topic? Dreams and existentialism.
Fab talk by Ocean Vuong last night, hosted by @umnenglish.bsky.social. He shared that he draws hope from his students, a generation who act in response to what they learn. I also loved when he commented on the novel as technology. I’ll be exploring this very idea in the spring!
October 24, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Fab talk by Ocean Vuong last night, hosted by @umnenglish.bsky.social. He shared that he draws hope from his students, a generation who act in response to what they learn. I also loved when he commented on the novel as technology. I’ll be exploring this very idea in the spring!
Today’s office surprises me. I experience motion sickness when reading in moving vehicles, so I figured that a hammock was a long shot. Seems to be okay, so long as I don’t close my eyes…which would defeat the purpose of the “office” anyway! So, catching up on VPR from @rs4vp.org
August 4, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Today’s office surprises me. I experience motion sickness when reading in moving vehicles, so I figured that a hammock was a long shot. Seems to be okay, so long as I don’t close my eyes…which would defeat the purpose of the “office” anyway! So, catching up on VPR from @rs4vp.org
Reading Psomiades’ fabulous introduction to Primitive Marriage (2023) while the kiddo is at a summer book club run by high school students from our district. The St Louis Park branch of @hclib.bsky.social is a lovely space for them to chat and me to delve into some great scholarship.
July 29, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Reading Psomiades’ fabulous introduction to Primitive Marriage (2023) while the kiddo is at a summer book club run by high school students from our district. The St Louis Park branch of @hclib.bsky.social is a lovely space for them to chat and me to delve into some great scholarship.
The images of various elocution periodicals were so fascinating! #RSVP2025 #VoicesVisions
July 13, 2025 at 7:16 PM
The images of various elocution periodicals were so fascinating! #RSVP2025 #VoicesVisions
Trying to work on the diss amidst all the global & local terror. The crashing waves of @lakesuperior.bsky.social mirror my unsettled self. We’re both pretty rilled up, energy below colliding with temperature changes above. @dessadarling.bsky.social & the @minnesotaorchestra.org ease the angst a bit.
June 22, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Trying to work on the diss amidst all the global & local terror. The crashing waves of @lakesuperior.bsky.social mirror my unsettled self. We’re both pretty rilled up, energy below colliding with temperature changes above. @dessadarling.bsky.social & the @minnesotaorchestra.org ease the angst a bit.
Today’s task: my tiny part of the the @rs4vp.bsky.social bibliography.
After fruitless searches in multiple university catalogues, I finally found print copies {easier to flip through} for half of my volumes at @hclib.bsky.social!
But the route was full of distractions! Best kind of adventure. 🤓📚
After fruitless searches in multiple university catalogues, I finally found print copies {easier to flip through} for half of my volumes at @hclib.bsky.social!
But the route was full of distractions! Best kind of adventure. 🤓📚
April 17, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Today’s task: my tiny part of the the @rs4vp.bsky.social bibliography.
After fruitless searches in multiple university catalogues, I finally found print copies {easier to flip through} for half of my volumes at @hclib.bsky.social!
But the route was full of distractions! Best kind of adventure. 🤓📚
After fruitless searches in multiple university catalogues, I finally found print copies {easier to flip through} for half of my volumes at @hclib.bsky.social!
But the route was full of distractions! Best kind of adventure. 🤓📚
Whomever edited the copy for 6 July 1899 in the York Herald missed a few key errors: the names of celebrity writers Meade and Allen are both incorrect. Just oblivious? Poor labor conditions? Too long since the last cuppa? We'll never know, but such little errors capture my imagination!
![Screenshot of text from newspaper that says "'The Strand Magazine' for the current month is especially interesting with its well-written and fully-illustrated account of 'Royal Miscellanies' ; its description, well illustrated, of remarkable cycles ; its 'Peep into Punch' ; and a dozen other articles, tales, and sketches of interest. Among the tales we must mention the first of a new series under the title of 'Stories of the Sanctuary Club,' by L. L. [sic] Meade and Robert Eustace, and W. [sic] Grant Allen's 'Hilda Wade' series."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ir3rnzuv7i7eptitju6qx246/bafkreicizffr4wan4d6hds6dbewxs6ianpt2zheq6ckgcmjxx476lnlc7a@jpeg)
December 18, 2024 at 9:07 PM
Whomever edited the copy for 6 July 1899 in the York Herald missed a few key errors: the names of celebrity writers Meade and Allen are both incorrect. Just oblivious? Poor labor conditions? Too long since the last cuppa? We'll never know, but such little errors capture my imagination!
And I've hit the wall... An Atheneaum ad quotes a review of MCA from the Daily Telegraph. I don't have access to the only online source I found: British Newspaper Archive.
I've searched Open Access Periodicals, C19 Index, Curran, British Periodicals, & BL Newspapers.
Anyone have access or ideas?
I've searched Open Access Periodicals, C19 Index, Curran, British Periodicals, & BL Newspapers.
Anyone have access or ideas?
December 13, 2024 at 10:44 PM
And I've hit the wall... An Atheneaum ad quotes a review of MCA from the Daily Telegraph. I don't have access to the only online source I found: British Newspaper Archive.
I've searched Open Access Periodicals, C19 Index, Curran, British Periodicals, & BL Newspapers.
Anyone have access or ideas?
I've searched Open Access Periodicals, C19 Index, Curran, British Periodicals, & BL Newspapers.
Anyone have access or ideas?
@umnenglish.bsky.social - did you know that today is Sandra Cisneros Day? She’s delighted to share this day with Indigenous Peoples Day.
October 14, 2024 at 9:51 PM
@umnenglish.bsky.social - did you know that today is Sandra Cisneros Day? She’s delighted to share this day with Indigenous Peoples Day.
Rough teaching day yesterday, so I decided to try my hand at Mary Berry’s Viennese Whirls. Yum!
I didn’t have raspberries, so I pulled some jam from the fridge. Nor did I have corn flour, so I pulsed corn meal on the spice grinder.
Now for a cup of tea and ye ol’ writing project. 🥰
I didn’t have raspberries, so I pulled some jam from the fridge. Nor did I have corn flour, so I pulsed corn meal on the spice grinder.
Now for a cup of tea and ye ol’ writing project. 🥰
October 8, 2024 at 4:29 PM
Rough teaching day yesterday, so I decided to try my hand at Mary Berry’s Viennese Whirls. Yum!
I didn’t have raspberries, so I pulled some jam from the fridge. Nor did I have corn flour, so I pulsed corn meal on the spice grinder.
Now for a cup of tea and ye ol’ writing project. 🥰
I didn’t have raspberries, so I pulled some jam from the fridge. Nor did I have corn flour, so I pulsed corn meal on the spice grinder.
Now for a cup of tea and ye ol’ writing project. 🥰
If you see this, post a monster.
September 21, 2024 at 5:12 AM
If you see this, post a monster.
Treasure trove in today's mail! Especially looking forward to Porscha Fermanis' "Scientific Periodicals [...] in Southeast Asia."
It seems that @rdfong.bsky.social is the only contributor who's here. And while @mvsa.bsky.social has made the move, RSVP hasn't. Membership pressure in 3, 2, ...
It seems that @rdfong.bsky.social is the only contributor who's here. And while @mvsa.bsky.social has made the move, RSVP hasn't. Membership pressure in 3, 2, ...
September 20, 2024 at 8:00 PM
Treasure trove in today's mail! Especially looking forward to Porscha Fermanis' "Scientific Periodicals [...] in Southeast Asia."
It seems that @rdfong.bsky.social is the only contributor who's here. And while @mvsa.bsky.social has made the move, RSVP hasn't. Membership pressure in 3, 2, ...
It seems that @rdfong.bsky.social is the only contributor who's here. And while @mvsa.bsky.social has made the move, RSVP hasn't. Membership pressure in 3, 2, ...
Then she turns to an audience favorite: #ConanDoyle‘s “Speckled Bracelet.” A violent snake on a dumby band hides and allows violence, just as violence often arises because/when systems of control fail.
April 20, 2024 at 3:43 PM
Then she turns to an audience favorite: #ConanDoyle‘s “Speckled Bracelet.” A violent snake on a dumby band hides and allows violence, just as violence often arises because/when systems of control fail.
#MVSA2024 continues with Kate Nesbit’s discussion of bell pulls and class anxiety in gothic fiction, drawing initially on Eliot’s “Lifted Veil.”
April 20, 2024 at 3:28 PM
#MVSA2024 continues with Kate Nesbit’s discussion of bell pulls and class anxiety in gothic fiction, drawing initially on Eliot’s “Lifted Veil.”
@notpodium.bsky.social, I enjoyed digging into the denotations of lectern & podium! Both the New Oxford American & Oxford English Dictionaries note that, in N. Amer. English, podium is synonymous with lectern. As this is my variety of English, I stand behind {pun intended 😉} my alt text usage.
April 20, 2024 at 3:48 AM
@notpodium.bsky.social, I enjoyed digging into the denotations of lectern & podium! Both the New Oxford American & Oxford English Dictionaries note that, in N. Amer. English, podium is synonymous with lectern. As this is my variety of English, I stand behind {pun intended 😉} my alt text usage.
In looking at 312 titles from 1862, several forms of attribution emerged: legal name, “by the author of,” pseudonym, or none whatsoever.
Interestingly, the use of “authoress” dropped significantly between 1838 and 1862.
Interestingly, the use of “authoress” dropped significantly between 1838 and 1862.
April 19, 2024 at 10:35 PM
In looking at 312 titles from 1862, several forms of attribution emerged: legal name, “by the author of,” pseudonym, or none whatsoever.
Interestingly, the use of “authoress” dropped significantly between 1838 and 1862.
Interestingly, the use of “authoress” dropped significantly between 1838 and 1862.
Troy Bassett explores the scholarly work of Victorian authorship attribution. Surprisingly, within non canonical authorship, twice as many men hid their identity than did women. Consider: Dickens published the first edition of Oliver Twist anonymously as “Boz.”
April 19, 2024 at 10:25 PM
Troy Bassett explores the scholarly work of Victorian authorship attribution. Surprisingly, within non canonical authorship, twice as many men hid their identity than did women. Consider: Dickens published the first edition of Oliver Twist anonymously as “Boz.”
Andrea Stewart asks: How do we evolve our digital tools and methodologies as we move beyond their shiny-new-ness and seek to create more complete pictures of women’s writing?
Photos show two phases of her visualizations. Phase 2 includes date of first publication!
z.umn.edu/StewartArchive
Photos show two phases of her visualizations. Phase 2 includes date of first publication!
z.umn.edu/StewartArchive
April 19, 2024 at 10:10 PM
Andrea Stewart asks: How do we evolve our digital tools and methodologies as we move beyond their shiny-new-ness and seek to create more complete pictures of women’s writing?
Photos show two phases of her visualizations. Phase 2 includes date of first publication!
z.umn.edu/StewartArchive
Photos show two phases of her visualizations. Phase 2 includes date of first publication!
z.umn.edu/StewartArchive
Name change from “choral” to “musical” society marks turn toward more serious focus on music as part of Girton’s intellectual landscape. Program is representative of the kind of content preformed.
April 19, 2024 at 9:50 PM
Name change from “choral” to “musical” society marks turn toward more serious focus on music as part of Girton’s intellectual landscape. Program is representative of the kind of content preformed.
Parkinson’s “Lazarus, Lotus-Eating” in _Household Worlds_ in 1866 evoke a variety of allusions— biblical, classical, and literary—as it draws a {brief} parallel between English and Asian addictive habits.
April 19, 2024 at 9:01 PM
Parkinson’s “Lazarus, Lotus-Eating” in _Household Worlds_ in 1866 evoke a variety of allusions— biblical, classical, and literary—as it draws a {brief} parallel between English and Asian addictive habits.
And third on the panel, Sanjana Chowdhury starts off with a helpful and impressively brief history of opium before exploring the literary archetype of opium addict and empire.
April 19, 2024 at 8:48 PM
And third on the panel, Sanjana Chowdhury starts off with a helpful and impressively brief history of opium before exploring the literary archetype of opium addict and empire.
Fantastic counter-reading of David’s evolving identity arises from the lens of _Arabian Nights_.
April 19, 2024 at 8:45 PM
Fantastic counter-reading of David’s evolving identity arises from the lens of _Arabian Nights_.