Nicholas Birns
@nicholasbirns.bsky.social
Academic, literary critic etc. teaching at NYU. Books from Cambridge UP, Bloomsbury, Broadview, Palgrave, U of South Carolina P, Sydney UP, Routledge. He/him
Reposted by Nicholas Birns
Just now: The plaintiffs who were arguing that Utah GOP's congressional map is illegal won in court.
The judge orders one of the two maps submitted by the plaintiffs ('map 1') be used.
The ruling, if it stands, guarantees that Democrats will pick up a congressional seat in Utah next year.
The judge orders one of the two maps submitted by the plaintiffs ('map 1') be used.
The ruling, if it stands, guarantees that Democrats will pick up a congressional seat in Utah next year.
November 11, 2025 at 6:55 AM
Just now: The plaintiffs who were arguing that Utah GOP's congressional map is illegal won in court.
The judge orders one of the two maps submitted by the plaintiffs ('map 1') be used.
The ruling, if it stands, guarantees that Democrats will pick up a congressional seat in Utah next year.
The judge orders one of the two maps submitted by the plaintiffs ('map 1') be used.
The ruling, if it stands, guarantees that Democrats will pick up a congressional seat in Utah next year.
Reposted by Nicholas Birns
Sat in a restaurant last year listening to someone talk about how they were getting ChatGPT to do their assignments for *an English masters they were doing part-time*. I still think about it occasionally.
Dude in the row in front of mine on a flight is literally producing the entire marketing campaign of a _________ fellowship using ChatGPT. Coolio…
November 11, 2025 at 1:44 AM
Sat in a restaurant last year listening to someone talk about how they were getting ChatGPT to do their assignments for *an English masters they were doing part-time*. I still think about it occasionally.
Reposted by Nicholas Birns
When students get to college they generally don’t know what college is and that’s an incredible pedagogical opportunity. My freshman comp class did Morrison, Pope, Dickinson, Shakespeare, and Johnny Cash all swirled together in a frenzy of discovery. Education is what we make it.
November 10, 2025 at 11:35 PM
When students get to college they generally don’t know what college is and that’s an incredible pedagogical opportunity. My freshman comp class did Morrison, Pope, Dickinson, Shakespeare, and Johnny Cash all swirled together in a frenzy of discovery. Education is what we make it.
Reposted by Nicholas Birns
‘There is a disconcerting sense that something much more serious is going on, that all the hokum and stage magic might be misdirection of the sort that enables something secret to enter the room.’
Francis Gooding on Dr John’s ‘very strange record’ ‘Gris-Gris’.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Francis Gooding on Dr John’s ‘very strange record’ ‘Gris-Gris’.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Francis Gooding · Hoodoo Man: Dr John and ‘Gris-Gris’
Beyond or beneath the theatrics there is a disconcerting sense that something much more serious is going on, that all...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 12:42 PM
‘There is a disconcerting sense that something much more serious is going on, that all the hokum and stage magic might be misdirection of the sort that enables something secret to enter the room.’
Francis Gooding on Dr John’s ‘very strange record’ ‘Gris-Gris’.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Francis Gooding on Dr John’s ‘very strange record’ ‘Gris-Gris’.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Nicholas Birns
The problem was never that Boris Johnson studied classics...
Perennial favourite reader's letter from 2021.
Perennial favourite reader's letter from 2021.
November 8, 2025 at 7:52 PM
The problem was never that Boris Johnson studied classics...
Perennial favourite reader's letter from 2021.
Perennial favourite reader's letter from 2021.
Sunset near Lehighton, PA
November 3, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Sunset near Lehighton, PA
Reposted by Nicholas Birns
A remarkable smackdown by Sen Mitch McConnell (R-KY) of the head of the Heritage Foundation
October 31, 2025 at 4:48 PM
A remarkable smackdown by Sen Mitch McConnell (R-KY) of the head of the Heritage Foundation
An innovative take on the play which also got the essentials of it, Isabella was actually seeing it for the first time! And asked all the right questions of it…
October 25, 2025 at 4:03 PM
An innovative take on the play which also got the essentials of it, Isabella was actually seeing it for the first time! And asked all the right questions of it…
THINKERY&VERSE - 2025 Season we saw their Macbeth last night. Transposed to New Jersey in the late 17th century after the settler massacre of the Lenape. Duncan becomes Dinah, Birman Wood to Dunsinane becomes from the Piney Woods to Perth Amboy. . thinkeryandverse.org
THINKERY&VERSE
A production company dedicated to theater and film for the mind. Join us in September as we re-imagine the Hall-Mills double homicide of 1922.
thinkeryandverse.org
October 25, 2025 at 4:02 PM
THINKERY&VERSE - 2025 Season we saw their Macbeth last night. Transposed to New Jersey in the late 17th century after the settler massacre of the Lenape. Duncan becomes Dinah, Birman Wood to Dunsinane becomes from the Piney Woods to Perth Amboy. . thinkeryandverse.org
Reposted by Nicholas Birns
My forthcoming book, Tales of Health: Illness, Disability, and Citizenship in the Romantic National Tale, has been selected for JStor’s Path to Open scheme where it’ll be made fully open access.
October 20, 2025 at 11:42 AM
My forthcoming book, Tales of Health: Illness, Disability, and Citizenship in the Romantic National Tale, has been selected for JStor’s Path to Open scheme where it’ll be made fully open access.
Reposted by Nicholas Birns
We just gave $40 billion to a country that is screwing us by selling to China, so China doesn't have to buy from or deal with the US.
That's almost the entire budget for USAID, except instead of saving one South American dude, we could have saved millions of children.
That's almost the entire budget for USAID, except instead of saving one South American dude, we could have saved millions of children.
October 17, 2025 at 5:25 AM
We just gave $40 billion to a country that is screwing us by selling to China, so China doesn't have to buy from or deal with the US.
That's almost the entire budget for USAID, except instead of saving one South American dude, we could have saved millions of children.
That's almost the entire budget for USAID, except instead of saving one South American dude, we could have saved millions of children.
Beginning the day
October 17, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Beginning the day
Reposted by Nicholas Birns
A cloudy morning here in N. California...I should've played around with the lighting.
Phalaenopsis Pure Moon 'Green Pixie'
#bloomscrolling #orchids #flowers #blooms #mothorchid #orchid
Phalaenopsis Pure Moon 'Green Pixie'
#bloomscrolling #orchids #flowers #blooms #mothorchid #orchid
October 16, 2025 at 4:31 PM
A cloudy morning here in N. California...I should've played around with the lighting.
Phalaenopsis Pure Moon 'Green Pixie'
#bloomscrolling #orchids #flowers #blooms #mothorchid #orchid
Phalaenopsis Pure Moon 'Green Pixie'
#bloomscrolling #orchids #flowers #blooms #mothorchid #orchid
Reposted by Nicholas Birns
Just discovered that Mademoiselle de Roselan, wife of the French governor of St Lucia in the 1650s, was, in fact...Indigenous Kalinago! I've read of European men cohabitating with Kalinago in the Caribbean, but not formal marriages where Caribbean women are acknowledged by their husband's titles. 🤯
October 15, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Just discovered that Mademoiselle de Roselan, wife of the French governor of St Lucia in the 1650s, was, in fact...Indigenous Kalinago! I've read of European men cohabitating with Kalinago in the Caribbean, but not formal marriages where Caribbean women are acknowledged by their husband's titles. 🤯
Reposted by Nicholas Birns
think new interest in japanese ink painting is good for my brain. needs decisive strokes, can't be retouched, so just have to resolve to keep trying and not feel bad no matter what. this is day 4. can't do bamboo leaves properly yet, (i think i need to move from elbow, not wrist?) but... see above.
October 15, 2025 at 11:17 AM
think new interest in japanese ink painting is good for my brain. needs decisive strokes, can't be retouched, so just have to resolve to keep trying and not feel bad no matter what. this is day 4. can't do bamboo leaves properly yet, (i think i need to move from elbow, not wrist?) but... see above.
Reposted by Nicholas Birns
hey this is fun
And congratulations to @jamellebouie.net for winning the American Historical Association's Tikkun Olam Prize for promoting public historical literacy www.historians.org/award-grant/...
Tikkun Olam Prize for Promoting Public Historical Literacy – AHA
The Tikkun Olam Prize for Promoting Public Historical Literacy honors individuals whose work has promoted literacy in public culture.
www.historians.org
October 15, 2025 at 7:36 PM
hey this is fun
Reposted by Nicholas Birns
Things Ben Says in Class, October 14th 2025 edition:
"There are many ambiguities about Fitzgerald's novel & especially how we read its characters. Tom Buchanan being a white supremacist domestic abuser jackassclown is not one of them."
"There are many ambiguities about Fitzgerald's novel & especially how we read its characters. Tom Buchanan being a white supremacist domestic abuser jackassclown is not one of them."
October 14, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Things Ben Says in Class, October 14th 2025 edition:
"There are many ambiguities about Fitzgerald's novel & especially how we read its characters. Tom Buchanan being a white supremacist domestic abuser jackassclown is not one of them."
"There are many ambiguities about Fitzgerald's novel & especially how we read its characters. Tom Buchanan being a white supremacist domestic abuser jackassclown is not one of them."
Reposted by Nicholas Birns
GET READY FOR FRIDAY! Make plans to get to lovely Bloomsbury if you're in the neighbourhood, or sign up for the zoom link by Thursday evening.
(or, if you like to live on the edge, get a picture of a Good Tree ready to bribe me for the clandestine zoom link on Friday)
#LowCountries #ArtHistory
(or, if you like to live on the edge, get a picture of a Good Tree ready to bribe me for the clandestine zoom link on Friday)
#LowCountries #ArtHistory
PROGRAMME! Excited to be welcoming Alexander Marr, Dirk van Miert, and @ebenbow.bsky.social this term -- and David Hopkin, Jeroen Puttevils, Feike Dietz, Sam Geens, Valika Smeulders, and Gloria Moorman in Spring.
All welcome @ihr.bsky.social or zoom! www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... #SkyStorians
All welcome @ihr.bsky.social or zoom! www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... #SkyStorians
October 13, 2025 at 6:48 PM
GET READY FOR FRIDAY! Make plans to get to lovely Bloomsbury if you're in the neighbourhood, or sign up for the zoom link by Thursday evening.
(or, if you like to live on the edge, get a picture of a Good Tree ready to bribe me for the clandestine zoom link on Friday)
#LowCountries #ArtHistory
(or, if you like to live on the edge, get a picture of a Good Tree ready to bribe me for the clandestine zoom link on Friday)
#LowCountries #ArtHistory
Reposted by Nicholas Birns
Peterborough, New Hampshire on a perfect autumn afternoon.
October 13, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Peterborough, New Hampshire on a perfect autumn afternoon.
Reposted by Nicholas Birns
Psst:
A reminder for American writers: High tea is not fancier tea, it’s supper. It’s a more substantial meal with a main dish, rather than tea, biscuits, scones, little snack foods. And it’s high because it’s served on a high table — dining table height — not a low, tea or coffee table.
A reminder for American writers: High tea is not fancier tea, it’s supper. It’s a more substantial meal with a main dish, rather than tea, biscuits, scones, little snack foods. And it’s high because it’s served on a high table — dining table height — not a low, tea or coffee table.
October 12, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Psst:
A reminder for American writers: High tea is not fancier tea, it’s supper. It’s a more substantial meal with a main dish, rather than tea, biscuits, scones, little snack foods. And it’s high because it’s served on a high table — dining table height — not a low, tea or coffee table.
A reminder for American writers: High tea is not fancier tea, it’s supper. It’s a more substantial meal with a main dish, rather than tea, biscuits, scones, little snack foods. And it’s high because it’s served on a high table — dining table height — not a low, tea or coffee table.