Leila K Norako
banner
profmaleficent.bsky.social
Leila K Norako
@profmaleficent.bsky.social
Medievalist. Mom. Harpy. Five hissing possums in a trenchcoat. Author of “rewarding but frustrating” scholarship ;)
Reposted by Leila K Norako
Imagine actually typing out either of those tweets and not feeling embarrassed. Universities are losing billions of dollars thanks to a Republican president, American science/higher ed is being decimated, millions will lose jobs/be impacted, and here you two are whining about your feelings.
March 22, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Reposted by Leila K Norako
If your first response is to call the cops, you're on the wrong side. Period.

We also heard of some ruckus outside the plenary. Wonder what actions might be planed for the last day of the conference?

#MAA2025 #MedievalSky #AcademicSky #MedievalAcademy
March 22, 2025 at 12:10 AM
Reposted by Leila K Norako
A sad day for Columbia and for our democracy. "Additionally the school believed there was considerable overlap between needed campus changes and Trump’s demands" has got to be one of the most depressing sentences ever written.

www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
Exclusive | Columbia Yields to Trump in Battle Over Federal Funding
Columbia’s agreement is a significant moment in the intensifying battle between Trump and elite universities.
www.wsj.com
March 21, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Reposted by Leila K Norako
Columbia University has failed to defend academic freedom & freedom of speech & allowed a great institution to be bullied & extorted into submission by an administration hellbent on contorting higher education to their will.

The AAUP condemns this capitulation. We can & must fight back.
Columbia Concedes to Trump’s Demands After Federal Funds Are Stripped
The administration has moved to cut $400 million in federal funding to the university without changes to its policies and rules.
www.nytimes.com
March 22, 2025 at 2:32 AM
@governorferguson.bsky.social I am a state employee and primary earner for my family of four. I started my assistant professorship in 2016 with a starting salary of $72k. I have been meritorious each of those years, and yet because of the state’s refusal to grant faculty actual cola raises 1/many
February 28, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Reposted by Leila K Norako
"The only thing the men of Beowulf succeed in leaving behind is war. Its poet knew this, knew that kings grow old and foolish, that splendid civilizations go up in flames, and that every victory is hollow and provisional."

@nybooks.com

www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
Dudes Without Heirs | Irina Dumitrescu
Translations of Beowulf are often judged by their first word. “Hwæt,” that enigmatic monosyllable, became a stately “behold” or “lo” in older versions of
www.nybooks.com
February 12, 2025 at 9:24 PM
From the NEH’s new applicant guidelines. As a friend observed, gender “ideology” includes heterosexuality, so technically no human-focused content is allowed for these HUMANITIES-focused grants. But we know that they won’t enforce their new rules in this way. We know who this will disqualify. 1/?
February 12, 2025 at 6:01 PM
And speaking of the book, here's a handy link!

I truly cannot thank @mahinder.bsky.social and everyone at @cornellupress.bsky.social enough for their support of and belief in this beast of a project!

www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
Monstrous Fantasies by Leila K. Norako | Hardcover | Cornell University Press
Monstrous Fantasies asks why medieval romances reimagining the crusades ending in a Christian victory circulated in England with such abundance after the 1291 Muslim reconquest of Acre, the last of...
www.cornellpress.cornell.edu
December 4, 2024 at 6:32 AM
I recently sat down with Miranda Melcher of @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social to talk about my book Monstrous Fantasies. Listen in if you're interested in hearing about why the intro begins with an erasure poem, or why I yell about American Sniper in the coda: newbooksnetwork.com/monstrous-fa...
Leila K. Norako, "Monstrous Fantasies: England's Crusading Imaginary and the Romance of Recovery, 1300-1500" (Cornell UP, 2024) - New Books Network
newbooksnetwork.com
December 4, 2024 at 6:28 AM