David McFarland
@mrmcfteaches.bsky.social
HS Humanities | Social Studies Dept. Head | #IB History and IB TOK | #bced, BC 🇨🇦| Unto the fundamentalists a stumbling block & unto the secularists foolishness.
🌎📍Cascadia Subduction Zone
🌎📍Cascadia Subduction Zone
Spending the day atop Burnaby Mountain with BC Social Studies educators. Keynote this morning by Andrew Coyne, one of Canada’s leading political journalists.
October 24, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Spending the day atop Burnaby Mountain with BC Social Studies educators. Keynote this morning by Andrew Coyne, one of Canada’s leading political journalists.
Years ago, a mentor encouraged me to “find my people” as part of my professional life. I’m grateful to say that one such group has been the Conference on @faithandhistory — warm, hospitable, and thoughtfully challenging.
October 21, 2025 at 4:08 AM
Years ago, a mentor encouraged me to “find my people” as part of my professional life. I’m grateful to say that one such group has been the Conference on @faithandhistory — warm, hospitable, and thoughtfully challenging.
Reposted by David McFarland
Very much enjoying the inflatable frog segment of the civil war.
October 10, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Very much enjoying the inflatable frog segment of the civil war.
Reposted by David McFarland
What ho! The Emperor’s guard! The guard, what ho!
October 6, 2025 at 4:09 PM
What ho! The Emperor’s guard! The guard, what ho!
British Columbia is calling! Still thinking about attending? Have something you might want to present? The WRCFH @faithandhistory.bsky.social October program is being assembled. Registration info coming out next week! Email dept. for travel/accomodation info.
Historians/Educator friends: You heard it here first: the Western Regional @faithandhistory Call for Papers has been EXTENDED!
Join us in British Columbia 🇨🇦 Oct. 16-18.
Ignore the deadline currently on the site!
✉️socialstudies@mypacificacademy.net
faithandhistory.org/conferences/
Join us in British Columbia 🇨🇦 Oct. 16-18.
Ignore the deadline currently on the site!
✉️socialstudies@mypacificacademy.net
faithandhistory.org/conferences/
August 28, 2025 at 2:37 AM
British Columbia is calling! Still thinking about attending? Have something you might want to present? The WRCFH @faithandhistory.bsky.social October program is being assembled. Registration info coming out next week! Email dept. for travel/accomodation info.
Reposted by David McFarland
Dear Smithsonian.......send your historical records to Canada before they're destroyed.
August 19, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Dear Smithsonian.......send your historical records to Canada before they're destroyed.
Reposted by David McFarland
Every time someone tells me to use fewer em dashes ⸻ I bring out Big Bertha.
That's how you can tell human authors from AI.
AI will put in some em dashes, then apologise and take them out when told off.
Human authors will climb the filing cabinet, hissing, and defend their right to em dashes with a loaded stapler.
AI will put in some em dashes, then apologise and take them out when told off.
Human authors will climb the filing cabinet, hissing, and defend their right to em dashes with a loaded stapler.
Em dashes, like anything, should be used in moderation. Check first with your editor if em dashes are right for you. 😉
#WriteSky #WritingTips
#WriteSky #WritingTips
August 3, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Every time someone tells me to use fewer em dashes ⸻ I bring out Big Bertha.
Canadian summer begins…
June 29, 2025 at 4:09 AM
Canadian summer begins…
Happy 5th 🎂 to a momentous work by @kkdumez.bsky.social! Prior to this bombshell exploration of evangelicalism’s gendered militancy, Dr. Du Mez made time for me in her Grand Rapids office amid a busy day & I cherish our continued connection over the past few years. Congratulations!
Thank you for reading Jesus and John Wayne.
Thank you for opening your minds. And thank you to so many of you for sharing the book bravely with others.
open.substack.com/pub/kristind...
Thank you for opening your minds. And thank you to so many of you for sharing the book bravely with others.
open.substack.com/pub/kristind...
Jesus and John Wayne turns 5!
And what a five years it's been
open.substack.com
June 24, 2025 at 4:18 AM
Happy 5th 🎂 to a momentous work by @kkdumez.bsky.social! Prior to this bombshell exploration of evangelicalism’s gendered militancy, Dr. Du Mez made time for me in her Grand Rapids office amid a busy day & I cherish our continued connection over the past few years. Congratulations!
Reposted by David McFarland
History has a normalizing effect, so it can be difficult to assess people's in-the-moment vibes on stuff in the past. With that said:
Has any moment in human history ever been *weirder* then rn?
Has any moment in human history ever been *weirder* then rn?
June 9, 2025 at 6:44 PM
History has a normalizing effect, so it can be difficult to assess people's in-the-moment vibes on stuff in the past. With that said:
Has any moment in human history ever been *weirder* then rn?
Has any moment in human history ever been *weirder* then rn?
Reposted by David McFarland
(the only time Bluesky feels like an echo chamber to me is when we're all going "hey, Bluesky isn't an echo chamber")
June 9, 2025 at 4:27 PM
(the only time Bluesky feels like an echo chamber to me is when we're all going "hey, Bluesky isn't an echo chamber")
Reposted by David McFarland
I’ve read too much science fiction too many dystopian novels and too many poems on civil rights to be quiet…
June 8, 2025 at 3:23 PM
I’ve read too much science fiction too many dystopian novels and too many poems on civil rights to be quiet…
Reposted by David McFarland
I ran an experiment, simultaneously posting articles on Bluesky and X, and then testing to see how many people actually clicked and read them. The numbers on Bluesky are higher, both because the X algorithm downranks journalism, and because Bluesky attracts readers, not just shitposters.
June 9, 2025 at 4:37 PM
I ran an experiment, simultaneously posting articles on Bluesky and X, and then testing to see how many people actually clicked and read them. The numbers on Bluesky are higher, both because the X algorithm downranks journalism, and because Bluesky attracts readers, not just shitposters.
“But remember: outside of what you are to them—something to be crushed for strategy and sport—there is a bigger world.”
I wrote this one through tears, and through inexpressible anger:
open.substack.com/pub/kristind...
open.substack.com/pub/kristind...
Some things she could not survive
In memory of Jennifer Lyell
open.substack.com
June 9, 2025 at 9:17 PM
“But remember: outside of what you are to them—something to be crushed for strategy and sport—there is a bigger world.”
A towering figure who cultivated a “prophetic imagination” that nourished gentle, holy resistance to the violence and oppression of our empires. Rest in peace and rise in glory, Walter!
June 5, 2025 at 8:00 PM
A towering figure who cultivated a “prophetic imagination” that nourished gentle, holy resistance to the violence and oppression of our empires. Rest in peace and rise in glory, Walter!
Historians/Educator friends: You heard it here first: the Western Regional @faithandhistory Call for Papers has been EXTENDED!
Join us in British Columbia 🇨🇦 Oct. 16-18.
Ignore the deadline currently on the site!
✉️socialstudies@mypacificacademy.net
faithandhistory.org/conferences/
Join us in British Columbia 🇨🇦 Oct. 16-18.
Ignore the deadline currently on the site!
✉️socialstudies@mypacificacademy.net
faithandhistory.org/conferences/
May 30, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Historians/Educator friends: You heard it here first: the Western Regional @faithandhistory Call for Papers has been EXTENDED!
Join us in British Columbia 🇨🇦 Oct. 16-18.
Ignore the deadline currently on the site!
✉️socialstudies@mypacificacademy.net
faithandhistory.org/conferences/
Join us in British Columbia 🇨🇦 Oct. 16-18.
Ignore the deadline currently on the site!
✉️socialstudies@mypacificacademy.net
faithandhistory.org/conferences/
Reposted by David McFarland
Job Listing: I'm seeking a Research Associate to join the Public History Lab at the Munk School, University of Toronto.
jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-...
jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-...
Research Associate, Public History Lab (One Year Term)
Research Associate, Public History Lab (One Year Term)
jobs.utoronto.ca
May 17, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Job Listing: I'm seeking a Research Associate to join the Public History Lab at the Munk School, University of Toronto.
jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-...
jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-...
Reposted by David McFarland
Good time to subscribe to Wired. I used to think of it as a guilty pleasure at the newsstand, a holdover from nerdy youth. But they are doing an excellent job covering key elements of our political reality.
ICYMI, DOGE is knitting together data from the Department of Homeland Security, Social Security Administration, and IRS that could create a surveillance tool of unprecedented scope.
DOGE Is Building a Master Database to Surveil and Track Immigrants
DOGE is knitting together data from the Department of Homeland Security, Social Security Administration, an IRS that could create a surveillance tool of unprecedented scope.
wrd.cm
April 21, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Good time to subscribe to Wired. I used to think of it as a guilty pleasure at the newsstand, a holdover from nerdy youth. But they are doing an excellent job covering key elements of our political reality.
Pay attention.
1/4. On the White House’s theory, if they abduct you, get you on a helicopter, get to international waters, shoot you in the head, and drop your corpse into the ocean, that is legal, because it is the conduct of foreign affairs.
April 15, 2025 at 3:11 AM
Pay attention.
I bought a copy at a Barnes and Noble in LA this week. Read a good chunk on the plane back to Vancouver.
April 12, 2025 at 3:36 AM
I bought a copy at a Barnes and Noble in LA this week. Read a good chunk on the plane back to Vancouver.
It’s official: The 2025 Western Regional @faithandhistory.bsky.social will be in BC, Canada in October! 🇨🇦 faithandhistory.org/conferences/
Are you a scholar or educator navigating Christian faith and the discipline of history in the western US or western Canada? Please consider joining us.
Are you a scholar or educator navigating Christian faith and the discipline of history in the western US or western Canada? Please consider joining us.
Conference – The Conference on Faith and History
faithandhistory.org
April 9, 2025 at 9:45 PM
It’s official: The 2025 Western Regional @faithandhistory.bsky.social will be in BC, Canada in October! 🇨🇦 faithandhistory.org/conferences/
Are you a scholar or educator navigating Christian faith and the discipline of history in the western US or western Canada? Please consider joining us.
Are you a scholar or educator navigating Christian faith and the discipline of history in the western US or western Canada? Please consider joining us.
Reposted by David McFarland
As the author of a history of concentration camps, I would like to emphasize that this is a very bad idea, and we should definitely not do it.
Leavitt confirmed that the WH is working on deporting US citizens to El Salvador
April 8, 2025 at 8:52 PM
As the author of a history of concentration camps, I would like to emphasize that this is a very bad idea, and we should definitely not do it.
Reposted by David McFarland
Cory Booker just gave the longest speech in the history of Congress and concluded by apologizing to everyone who had to stay up all night keeping the chamber open and operating.
April 2, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Cory Booker just gave the longest speech in the history of Congress and concluded by apologizing to everyone who had to stay up all night keeping the chamber open and operating.
Anyone have this quotation or a link to it? Thanks.
Powerful point from Senator Booker about the marchers in Birmingham not showing up with bigger dogs and firehoses to go against Bull Connor's thugs.
The opposition does not have a whole lot of hard power, but we can't afford to give up what we have, and we have to persuade.
The opposition does not have a whole lot of hard power, but we can't afford to give up what we have, and we have to persuade.
April 2, 2025 at 1:46 AM
Anyone have this quotation or a link to it? Thanks.