Rebecca Brackmann
@brackman1066.bsky.social
English professor, medievalist, early modernist, and general-purpose geek. Cross stitch and random mystery novels could make cameos. she/her/hers.
I love Mastodon, but y'all seem to be here.
I love Mastodon, but y'all seem to be here.
One of my favorite conferences, the Kentucky Philological Association, has opened submissions for the 2026 conference! If you're nearby, consider submitting an abstract--it's wonderfully supportive. Goes double if you are a student. www.thekpa.org
November 24, 2025 at 8:59 PM
One of my favorite conferences, the Kentucky Philological Association, has opened submissions for the 2026 conference! If you're nearby, consider submitting an abstract--it's wonderfully supportive. Goes double if you are a student. www.thekpa.org
Reposted by Rebecca Brackmann
Hey, history and medievalist friends. If you're doing any teaching on maps this semester, I have a couple of digital resources you might find useful.
#skystorians 🗃️
1. Matthew Paris's Map
A fully annotated & interactive copy of Paris's c.1250 map of England.
1/3
historiacartarum.org/annotated-cl...
#skystorians 🗃️
1. Matthew Paris's Map
A fully annotated & interactive copy of Paris's c.1250 map of England.
1/3
historiacartarum.org/annotated-cl...
Matthew Paris Annotated Map - Historia Cartarum
A fully annotated and clickable version of Matthew Paris's map of Britain. Clicking on any label gives a translation, transcription, and Wikipedia link.
historiacartarum.org
August 17, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Hey, history and medievalist friends. If you're doing any teaching on maps this semester, I have a couple of digital resources you might find useful.
#skystorians 🗃️
1. Matthew Paris's Map
A fully annotated & interactive copy of Paris's c.1250 map of England.
1/3
historiacartarum.org/annotated-cl...
#skystorians 🗃️
1. Matthew Paris's Map
A fully annotated & interactive copy of Paris's c.1250 map of England.
1/3
historiacartarum.org/annotated-cl...
Reposted by Rebecca Brackmann
We are delighted to announce the launch of The Guild of Medievalist Makers (GuMM), a community for academic and academic-adjacent practitioners of creative-critical work.
Read more about us and the society on our new website: www.guildmedmak.com
Read more about us and the society on our new website: www.guildmedmak.com
The Guild of Medievalist Makers
www.guildmedmak.com
April 7, 2025 at 5:02 PM
We are delighted to announce the launch of The Guild of Medievalist Makers (GuMM), a community for academic and academic-adjacent practitioners of creative-critical work.
Read more about us and the society on our new website: www.guildmedmak.com
Read more about us and the society on our new website: www.guildmedmak.com
Ok fellow nerds, which piece of classical music is the most likely to be an earworm for you? Curious because Mendelssohn's "Fingal's Cave" has been in my head for four days now.
February 11, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Ok fellow nerds, which piece of classical music is the most likely to be an earworm for you? Curious because Mendelssohn's "Fingal's Cave" has been in my head for four days now.
Long shot, but any vintage mystery fans in my followers who want to talk Patricia Wentworth for a minute?
January 24, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Long shot, but any vintage mystery fans in my followers who want to talk Patricia Wentworth for a minute?
Well, there's another white shirt lost to my underestimating how much tea was left in my mug.
January 14, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Well, there's another white shirt lost to my underestimating how much tea was left in my mug.
Reposted by Rebecca Brackmann
Really interesting discovery at the Newberry Library, where one of their Nahuatl-language manuscripts turns out to have been made using by far the largest known example of a pre-Columbian Mesoamerica paper technology known as maguey paper: www.newberry.org/news/analysi... #paperhistory
Manuscript is Most Extensive Example of Maguey Paper in Existence
A collection of sermons by sixteenth-century Franciscan missionary Bernardino de Sahagún is rare example from the Nahuas.
www.newberry.org
December 9, 2024 at 2:17 PM
Really interesting discovery at the Newberry Library, where one of their Nahuatl-language manuscripts turns out to have been made using by far the largest known example of a pre-Columbian Mesoamerica paper technology known as maguey paper: www.newberry.org/news/analysi... #paperhistory
Weather radar says there is no snow here at the moment. The view out my window says otherwise.
December 3, 2024 at 1:59 PM
Weather radar says there is no snow here at the moment. The view out my window says otherwise.
I cannot hit submit on a grant proposal without a sinking feeling of dread that some dreadful mistake lurks in the application. Just me?
October 28, 2024 at 5:56 PM
I cannot hit submit on a grant proposal without a sinking feeling of dread that some dreadful mistake lurks in the application. Just me?
Reposted by Rebecca Brackmann
I aired my id.
And I completely understand why they could not use my original headline: “Your child does not need a comms strategy.” www.npr.org/2024/07/30/n...
And I completely understand why they could not use my original headline: “Your child does not need a comms strategy.” www.npr.org/2024/07/30/n...
The antithesis of the Olympics: Using AI to write a fan letter
In one of Google’s Olympics ads, a dad uses AI tool Gemini to craft a fan letter from his daughter to an Olympian. But it’s the wrong approach to express admiration in a star athlete – and to instill ...
www.npr.org
July 30, 2024 at 5:29 PM
I aired my id.
And I completely understand why they could not use my original headline: “Your child does not need a comms strategy.” www.npr.org/2024/07/30/n...
And I completely understand why they could not use my original headline: “Your child does not need a comms strategy.” www.npr.org/2024/07/30/n...
Just dropped off a few boxes of doughnuts for our IT department, some of whom have been there since midnight due to the Cloudstrike debacle.
July 19, 2024 at 5:22 PM
Just dropped off a few boxes of doughnuts for our IT department, some of whom have been there since midnight due to the Cloudstrike debacle.
Reposted by Rebecca Brackmann
New blog post: In Defense of Embroidery!
Embroidery is routinely used in historical fiction to represent women’s oppression. And I ask, why? And what if it weren’t like that?
mimicofmodes.com/2024/05/19/i... #FashionHistory #c18th #c19th
Embroidery is routinely used in historical fiction to represent women’s oppression. And I ask, why? And what if it weren’t like that?
mimicofmodes.com/2024/05/19/i... #FashionHistory #c18th #c19th
In Defense of Embroidery
Embroidery is routinely used in historical fiction to represent women's oppression. And I ask, why? And what if it weren't like that?
mimicofmodes.com
May 19, 2024 at 8:09 PM
New blog post: In Defense of Embroidery!
Embroidery is routinely used in historical fiction to represent women’s oppression. And I ask, why? And what if it weren’t like that?
mimicofmodes.com/2024/05/19/i... #FashionHistory #c18th #c19th
Embroidery is routinely used in historical fiction to represent women’s oppression. And I ask, why? And what if it weren’t like that?
mimicofmodes.com/2024/05/19/i... #FashionHistory #c18th #c19th
Hey #medievalsky, if you're at ICMS, Manchester press is giving away display copies! #kzoo2024
May 11, 2024 at 4:49 PM
Hey #medievalsky, if you're at ICMS, Manchester press is giving away display copies! #kzoo2024
Reposted by Rebecca Brackmann
This is a structural problem. That means we cannot “teaching and learning” workshop our way out of it. We need systemic change and collective action and we can’t have the solution rely on college professors who were not trained for this kind of work.
April 28, 2024 at 2:57 PM
This is a structural problem. That means we cannot “teaching and learning” workshop our way out of it. We need systemic change and collective action and we can’t have the solution rely on college professors who were not trained for this kind of work.
Revising article on OE Maxims. I use "haters gonna hate" as an example of a contemporary maxim. Editor asked for a citation, which means I now have a whole footnote about Hall v. Swift and the legally indeterminate status of the phrase's origin (do refer to "Shake It Off" later in article also)
April 18, 2024 at 4:11 PM
Revising article on OE Maxims. I use "haters gonna hate" as an example of a contemporary maxim. Editor asked for a citation, which means I now have a whole footnote about Hall v. Swift and the legally indeterminate status of the phrase's origin (do refer to "Shake It Off" later in article also)
Reposted by Rebecca Brackmann
I guess my primary comment about this is that it feels that the pandemic ushered in an era in which faculty are supposed to extend endless compassion to students (fine!) but neither the students nor the conditions of academia extend compassion to us. And that is really, really hard.
All the "solutions" proposed in this involve more unpaid work from faculty to manage our own feelings about being overstretched.
I don't want a training, a coffee group, or a paid external speaker about about compassion fatigue.
I want higher pay, admin support, & actual vacation time.
I don't want a training, a coffee group, or a paid external speaker about about compassion fatigue.
I want higher pay, admin support, & actual vacation time.
“educators can’t be expected to be compassionate to students if they are not being treated compassionately themselves.”
April 14, 2024 at 6:33 PM
I guess my primary comment about this is that it feels that the pandemic ushered in an era in which faculty are supposed to extend endless compassion to students (fine!) but neither the students nor the conditions of academia extend compassion to us. And that is really, really hard.
In the last 3 weeks I have been in a total of 7 states and I am tired.
April 9, 2024 at 5:03 PM
In the last 3 weeks I have been in a total of 7 states and I am tired.
My student presenting at this year's #SigmaTauDelta (English Hon. Soc) conf is a writing minor and pre-vet major. He was very excited to learn that St Louis has one of the world's best zoos and I have been texted several photos of penguins.
April 5, 2024 at 2:56 PM
My student presenting at this year's #SigmaTauDelta (English Hon. Soc) conf is a writing minor and pre-vet major. He was very excited to learn that St Louis has one of the world's best zoos and I have been texted several photos of penguins.
Any of my peeps on here taking students to the Sigma Tau Delta convention next week?
March 30, 2024 at 6:07 PM
Any of my peeps on here taking students to the Sigma Tau Delta convention next week?
Introduction: I'm an English prof in rural Appalachia. Research and write about medieval and early modern English lit, with side-bars into other things. Cross-stitcher. Athletically declined myself, but mom to a teenager playing All the Sports
March 21, 2024 at 3:24 PM
Introduction: I'm an English prof in rural Appalachia. Research and write about medieval and early modern English lit, with side-bars into other things. Cross-stitcher. Athletically declined myself, but mom to a teenager playing All the Sports