Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃♂️⛰
@brendenwrensink.bsky.social
-Historian, American West, Borderlands, Environment, Indigenous Peoples
-Professor @ BYU & Assoc. Director @byureddcenter.bsky.social
-Podcast Host/Producer @WritingWestward.bsky.social
-Editor IntermountainHistories.org
-Books/Projects linktr.ee/BWRensink
-Professor @ BYU & Assoc. Director @byureddcenter.bsky.social
-Podcast Host/Producer @WritingWestward.bsky.social
-Editor IntermountainHistories.org
-Books/Projects linktr.ee/BWRensink
Pinned
Brenden W. Rensink | Twitter | Linktree
Professor of History & Associate Director @ BYU Redd Center
linktr.ee
Re-posting an intro for new contacts. I’m a North American West historian w/ pubs on borderlands, Indigenous peoples, genocide studies, religion, public history, etc. Environmental history for new book. I'm a history prof., run a research center, host a podcast, & more. Links: linktr.ee/bwrensink
Introduce yourself with five concerts you've seen multiple times
They Might be Giants
Blue Scholars
The Get Up Kids
Less Than Jake
Damien Jurado
They Might be Giants
Blue Scholars
The Get Up Kids
Less Than Jake
Damien Jurado
Introduce yourself with five concerts you've seen multiple times
R.E.M.
OutKast
Radiohead
Beastie Boys
The Roots
R.E.M.
OutKast
Radiohead
Beastie Boys
The Roots
Introduce yourself with five concerts you've seen —
NIN
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Soul Coughing
Poe
Tom Morello
NIN
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Soul Coughing
Poe
Tom Morello
November 28, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Introduce yourself with five concerts you've seen multiple times
They Might be Giants
Blue Scholars
The Get Up Kids
Less Than Jake
Damien Jurado
They Might be Giants
Blue Scholars
The Get Up Kids
Less Than Jake
Damien Jurado
Me and the piles of books of authors who I’ve interviewed for the @writingwestward.bsky.social. If you included the books I’ve considered but not been able to feature, these would reach the ceiling!
The BYU College of Family, Home, & Social Sciences includes the podcast in an article for their annual Connections Magazine. The back cover has a picture of @brendenwrensink.bsky.social with the piles of books whose authors he has interviewed
socialsciences.byu.edu/casting-scho...
socialsciences.byu.edu/casting-scho...
November 26, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Me and the piles of books of authors who I’ve interviewed for the @writingwestward.bsky.social. If you included the books I’ve considered but not been able to feature, these would reach the ceiling!
Reposted by Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃♂️⛰
It's weird to not only have lived through an information revolution but also now living through its undoing, all within less than a generation.
Google at its peak was basically the best information retrieval system in human history and they and every competitor decided going from there to “you didn’t want answers you wanted half-assed auto-complete 80%-wrong hallucinations” in a few years was the right idea
November 25, 2025 at 12:19 PM
It's weird to not only have lived through an information revolution but also now living through its undoing, all within less than a generation.
Reposted by Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃♂️⛰
Grateful to The Verge for publishing my essay on why large-language models are not going to achieve general intelligence nor push the scientific frontier.
www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
Is language the same as intelligence? The AI industry desperately needs it to be
The AI boom is based on a fundamental mistake.
www.theverge.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Grateful to The Verge for publishing my essay on why large-language models are not going to achieve general intelligence nor push the scientific frontier.
www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
I planned edit & produce the December @writingwestward.bsky.social Podcast ep. this AM...but the leaf blowers brigades are making a racket outside & despite being 9 floors up, my microphone keeps picking up the background noise. I wish BYU grounds would switch them all to quieter electric models.🤦
November 25, 2025 at 4:38 PM
I planned edit & produce the December @writingwestward.bsky.social Podcast ep. this AM...but the leaf blowers brigades are making a racket outside & despite being 9 floors up, my microphone keeps picking up the background noise. I wish BYU grounds would switch them all to quieter electric models.🤦
Preach
I am begging unis to shut these things down except for appropriate research.
They exist in direct contradiction to the mission of an institution of education.
They exist in direct contradiction to the mission of an institution of education.
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Preach
Reposted by Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃♂️⛰
Amy Kohout (Colorado College) is speaking in 10 minutes at 11:00 MST on her multiple-award-winning book, "Taking the Field: Soldiers, Nature, and Empire on the American Frontiers." Tune in to the live stream!
www.youtube.com/BYUReddCente...
www.youtube.com/BYUReddCente...
BYU Redd Center
Archived videos of lectures offered at the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University and episodes of our Writing Westward Podcast.
www.youtube.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Amy Kohout (Colorado College) is speaking in 10 minutes at 11:00 MST on her multiple-award-winning book, "Taking the Field: Soldiers, Nature, and Empire on the American Frontiers." Tune in to the live stream!
www.youtube.com/BYUReddCente...
www.youtube.com/BYUReddCente...
My Native but Foreign book is 40% off right now. A few new course adoptions might finally trigger an even cheaper paperback edition! Please consider assigning it. Courses on the West, Borderlands, Indigenous Peoples, Immigration, etc. have used it & I love to zoom in. Please share! 🗃️
amzn.to/4plyzjg
amzn.to/4plyzjg
Native but Foreign: Indigenous Immigrants and Refugees in the North American Borderlands (Connecting the Greater West Series)
Native but Foreign: Indigenous Immigrants and Refugees in the North American Borderlands (Connecting the Greater West Series) [Rensink, Brenden W.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Native but Foreign: Indigenous Immigrants and Refugees in the North American Borderlands (Connecting the Greater West Series)
amzn.to
November 20, 2025 at 3:03 PM
My Native but Foreign book is 40% off right now. A few new course adoptions might finally trigger an even cheaper paperback edition! Please consider assigning it. Courses on the West, Borderlands, Indigenous Peoples, Immigration, etc. have used it & I love to zoom in. Please share! 🗃️
amzn.to/4plyzjg
amzn.to/4plyzjg
I need to build a list of online primary source databases and digitized archival collections for post-1877 Native American History. Please post your favorites in the comments.
Or, if you already have a list I can build from, please send me a message! 🗃️
Or, if you already have a list I can build from, please send me a message! 🗃️
November 19, 2025 at 5:08 PM
I need to build a list of online primary source databases and digitized archival collections for post-1877 Native American History. Please post your favorites in the comments.
Or, if you already have a list I can build from, please send me a message! 🗃️
Or, if you already have a list I can build from, please send me a message! 🗃️
Disgusting
Jaw dropped. Trump Administration Removes Report on Missing and Murdered Native Americans, Calling It DEI Content
Trump Administration Removes Report on Missing and Murdered Native Americans, Calling It DEI Content - Oklahoma Watch
The Trump administration removed a congressionally mandated report on missing and murdered Native Americans from the DOJ website, citing compliance with an executive order against DEI. Senators who ch...
oklahomawatch.org
November 17, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Disgusting
Get ready for all of the dogs to be wagged. It's going to be a chaotic few weeks.
a cartoon of homer simpson and his family standing next to a man that says hey look over there
ALT: a cartoon of homer simpson and his family standing next to a man that says hey look over there
media.tenor.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Get ready for all of the dogs to be wagged. It's going to be a chaotic few weeks.
Reposted by Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃♂️⛰
Friends who use Goodreads, @wwnorton.com is offering a giveaway of my book, Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History. You can enter until December 11! 🧂🌊🌈🌱
www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...
www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...
Book giveaway for Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History by Caroline Tracey Nov 13-Dec 11, 2025
Enter to win one of 10 free copies available. Giveaway dates from Nov 13-Dec 11, 2025. An acclaimed young nature writer’s intimate exploration into the h...
www.goodreads.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Friends who use Goodreads, @wwnorton.com is offering a giveaway of my book, Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History. You can enter until December 11! 🧂🌊🌈🌱
www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...
www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...
Only the slightest pink was visible to the naked eye but the phone cameras caught some nice colors above Timpanogos, Provo Canyon, and Cascade Mountain. Seeing legit northern lights is one of my bucket list experiences.
November 12, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Only the slightest pink was visible to the naked eye but the phone cameras caught some nice colors above Timpanogos, Provo Canyon, and Cascade Mountain. Seeing legit northern lights is one of my bucket list experiences.
Reposted by Brenden W. Rensink 📚🏃♂️⛰
Call for papers for the edited collection, Beyond the American Western: Picturing the Far West in Global Comics: williamgrady.co.uk/cfp/
The volume aims to explore the vibrancy and diversity of the Western genre in comics from around the world.
Deadline for proposals: 14th December 2025
The volume aims to explore the vibrancy and diversity of the Western genre in comics from around the world.
Deadline for proposals: 14th December 2025
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Call for papers for the edited collection, Beyond the American Western: Picturing the Far West in Global Comics: williamgrady.co.uk/cfp/
The volume aims to explore the vibrancy and diversity of the Western genre in comics from around the world.
Deadline for proposals: 14th December 2025
The volume aims to explore the vibrancy and diversity of the Western genre in comics from around the world.
Deadline for proposals: 14th December 2025
Streaming live now, Yolonda Youngs’ lecture on her award-winning book, “Framing Nature: Creating an American Icon at the Grand Canyon.”
www.youtube.com/live/tptdxh-...
www.youtube.com/live/tptdxh-...
Yolonda Youngs - Framing Nature at the Grand Canyon: Creating an American Icon
YouTube video by BYU Redd Center
www.youtube.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Streaming live now, Yolonda Youngs’ lecture on her award-winning book, “Framing Nature: Creating an American Icon at the Grand Canyon.”
www.youtube.com/live/tptdxh-...
www.youtube.com/live/tptdxh-...
This was a thought-provoking collection of essays and a VERY fun conversation.
🚨New Episode Alert🚨
This month we chat with essayist, novelist, and Univ. of Montana environmental studies professor Mark Sundeen about his new essay collection, "Delusions + Grandeur: Dreamers of the New West" (@unmpress.bsky.social, 2025).
writingwestwardpodcast.podbean.com/e/080-mark-s...
This month we chat with essayist, novelist, and Univ. of Montana environmental studies professor Mark Sundeen about his new essay collection, "Delusions + Grandeur: Dreamers of the New West" (@unmpress.bsky.social, 2025).
writingwestwardpodcast.podbean.com/e/080-mark-s...
080 - Mark Sundeen - Delusions + Grandeur: Dreamers of the New West | Writing Westward Podcast
A conversation with Mark Sundeen about their book Delusions + Grandeur: Dreamers of the New West (University of New Mexico Press, 2025)
Mark Sundeen is an award-winning novelist, essayist, and Assoc...
writingwestwardpodcast.podbean.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:09 PM
This was a thought-provoking collection of essays and a VERY fun conversation.
Made a deliciously rich and deeply complex no-bean chili for our neighborhood church Halloween party and, of course, did not win the cook off. The bean bias persists but I’m a man of of principles and historical accuracy. Beans are great for your spicy bean stew, but keep them out of my chili! 😉
October 29, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Made a deliciously rich and deeply complex no-bean chili for our neighborhood church Halloween party and, of course, did not win the cook off. The bean bias persists but I’m a man of of principles and historical accuracy. Beans are great for your spicy bean stew, but keep them out of my chili! 😉
PAWS?!?!
October 28, 2025 at 9:37 PM
PAWS?!?!
So…an academic conference (at least, for those of us with face/name memory issues). 😭🙋♂️
October 27, 2025 at 10:43 PM
So…an academic conference (at least, for those of us with face/name memory issues). 😭🙋♂️
If you haven’t gotten your hands on Coll Thrush’s wonderful new book, Wrecked: Unsettling Histories from the Graveyard of the Pacific, here’s a short little docmentary film that NWPB did on it. Also check out my Writing Westward Podcast interview with Coll about the book.
youtu.be/cwoMXisb_SI?...
youtu.be/cwoMXisb_SI?...
Shipwrecks and the clash of Northwest coastal cultures
YouTube video by Northwest Public Broadcasting
youtu.be
October 25, 2025 at 7:09 PM
If you haven’t gotten your hands on Coll Thrush’s wonderful new book, Wrecked: Unsettling Histories from the Graveyard of the Pacific, here’s a short little docmentary film that NWPB did on it. Also check out my Writing Westward Podcast interview with Coll about the book.
youtu.be/cwoMXisb_SI?...
youtu.be/cwoMXisb_SI?...
It seems like social media & tech companies have been introducing AI services/features as a way to attract users. But for me, the (often forcefully and unsolicited) integration of AI is a deterrent & makes me LESS likely to use their platform/service/product. An AI "disable" feature is what I want.
October 22, 2025 at 4:49 PM
It seems like social media & tech companies have been introducing AI services/features as a way to attract users. But for me, the (often forcefully and unsolicited) integration of AI is a deterrent & makes me LESS likely to use their platform/service/product. An AI "disable" feature is what I want.
Cosign. 100%
Hi. I wrote an essay about AI slop: How it feels like an invasive species for the internet. How its boosters describe building a future that’s devoid of craft. How frictionlessness can be nihilistic & how this stuff seems to leach part of our shared humanity out of the world. I hope you'll read it.
AI’s Invasive Species
The slop is winning.
www.theatlantic.com
October 21, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Cosign. 100%
Returning to office on Monday after a week of out of state archival research and a conference is...rough. Setting that "out of office" automatic reply before you leave is heavenly, but dealing with the backlog of emails and tasks it leaves in its wake is most definitely not.
a man with a mustache and curly hair says it 's fan-tas-tic
ALT: a man with a mustache and curly hair says it 's fan-tas-tic
media.tenor.com
October 20, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Returning to office on Monday after a week of out of state archival research and a conference is...rough. Setting that "out of office" automatic reply before you leave is heavenly, but dealing with the backlog of emails and tasks it leaves in its wake is most definitely not.
Is Duolingo ok? These seem like…odd sentences.
October 19, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Is Duolingo ok? These seem like…odd sentences.
Western History Association in ABQ was so great. Saw old friends (sad I didn’t see many others who I heard were there), talked with prospective authors for my UNM series, had a nice roundtable with other centers people, ate good food, & tried to stand up for democracy at the #NoKings march. #WHA2025
October 19, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Western History Association in ABQ was so great. Saw old friends (sad I didn’t see many others who I heard were there), talked with prospective authors for my UNM series, had a nice roundtable with other centers people, ate good food, & tried to stand up for democracy at the #NoKings march. #WHA2025