Erica Fretwell
@ericafretwell.bsky.social
UAlbany English | The Art of Slight Living, 1900/2000 (in progress) | Sensory Experiments: Psychophysics, Race, and the Aesthetics of Feeling (Duke UP) | Co-editor (w Sarah Wasserman), Oxford Studies in American Literary History | she/her
Reposted by Erica Fretwell
The analog classroom is ironically the most innovative environment you can create in 2026. Cut out the noise and you create a superior learning situation.
But it is a battle to maintain, especially when admin pushes “no cost” or “low cost” online books like they do at my comprehensive public uni
But it is a battle to maintain, especially when admin pushes “no cost” or “low cost” online books like they do at my comprehensive public uni
Forth Worth teacher Chanea Bond says sticking with pen and paper keeps generative artificial intelligence out of her American literature classes. n.pr/4c3cdzs
To keep AI out of her classroom, this high school English teacher went analog
Forth Worth teacher Chanea Bond says sticking with pen and paper keeps generative artificial intelligence out of her American literature classes.
n.pr
January 28, 2026 at 12:39 PM
The analog classroom is ironically the most innovative environment you can create in 2026. Cut out the noise and you create a superior learning situation.
But it is a battle to maintain, especially when admin pushes “no cost” or “low cost” online books like they do at my comprehensive public uni
But it is a battle to maintain, especially when admin pushes “no cost” or “low cost” online books like they do at my comprehensive public uni
Parents to kids,
1980s: Don't open the door because kidnappers & murderers may be pretending to be cops
2020s: Don't open the door because the kidnappers & murderers are cops
1980s: Don't open the door because kidnappers & murderers may be pretending to be cops
2020s: Don't open the door because the kidnappers & murderers are cops
January 24, 2026 at 10:22 PM
Parents to kids,
1980s: Don't open the door because kidnappers & murderers may be pretending to be cops
2020s: Don't open the door because the kidnappers & murderers are cops
1980s: Don't open the door because kidnappers & murderers may be pretending to be cops
2020s: Don't open the door because the kidnappers & murderers are cops
the people who need to hear it won't hear it but i will say it anyway: this has been fascism, and it is fascism.
January 24, 2026 at 9:55 PM
the people who need to hear it won't hear it but i will say it anyway: this has been fascism, and it is fascism.
well in other news, happy biannual 'google how to activate your course' day/week/month to those who celebrate
January 22, 2026 at 1:49 AM
well in other news, happy biannual 'google how to activate your course' day/week/month to those who celebrate
gonna start a 20th c food studies journal called Modernism/McDernity
January 18, 2026 at 8:14 PM
gonna start a 20th c food studies journal called Modernism/McDernity
Reposted by Erica Fretwell
Emily Doucet, Inventing Nadar: A History of Photographic Firsts - @dukepress.bsky.social, April 2026
www.dukeupress.edu/inventing-na...
www.dukeupress.edu/inventing-na...
Inventing Nadar: A History of Photographic Firsts
www.dukeupress.edu
January 2, 2026 at 7:56 AM
Emily Doucet, Inventing Nadar: A History of Photographic Firsts - @dukepress.bsky.social, April 2026
www.dukeupress.edu/inventing-na...
www.dukeupress.edu/inventing-na...
Reposted by Erica Fretwell
An author asked for guidance on how to write a response to reader reports. My answer was pretty quick and dirty for practical reasons, but here's what I said. It ends with a link to much more thorough, helpful advice:
Responses can take the form of a letter to the editor/press . . . 1/?
Responses can take the form of a letter to the editor/press . . . 1/?
December 31, 2025 at 2:28 PM
An author asked for guidance on how to write a response to reader reports. My answer was pretty quick and dirty for practical reasons, but here's what I said. It ends with a link to much more thorough, helpful advice:
Responses can take the form of a letter to the editor/press . . . 1/?
Responses can take the form of a letter to the editor/press . . . 1/?
Reposted by Erica Fretwell
This is one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed, the craft here is impeccable.
August 13, 2025 at 6:06 AM
This is one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed, the craft here is impeccable.
Reposted by Erica Fretwell
there were only 24 years between these two events and yet the second one happened 32 years ago
December 30, 2025 at 3:29 PM
there were only 24 years between these two events and yet the second one happened 32 years ago
Reposted by Erica Fretwell
if tumblr dies I need this video to make it's seasonal rotation here instead just in case, Happy holidays 🎄
December 18, 2025 at 2:05 AM
if tumblr dies I need this video to make it's seasonal rotation here instead just in case, Happy holidays 🎄
Reposted by Erica Fretwell
People may not realize that this is the birth place of Ethnic Studies and the first Black Studies program. SFSU is a school of historic significance.
December 23, 2025 at 12:55 PM
People may not realize that this is the birth place of Ethnic Studies and the first Black Studies program. SFSU is a school of historic significance.
Rick Steves is a real one!
It’s the “season of love and giving”…but this year, doesn’t it seem more like a “season of fear and taking”? Like many of you, I’ve been saddened by the human impact of draconian government budget cuts and how angry many housed Americans are at unhoused Americans.
🧵 1 of 9
🧵 1 of 9
December 21, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Rick Steves is a real one!
Reposted by Erica Fretwell
Funny animal videos no longer being trustworthy just fucking sucks all around. I love the wonder of animal behavior and what it says about the experience of being alive. It's because it happened in reality that it's so fun. It's not fun if it was just made up. There's no wonder there.
December 19, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Funny animal videos no longer being trustworthy just fucking sucks all around. I love the wonder of animal behavior and what it says about the experience of being alive. It's because it happened in reality that it's so fun. It's not fun if it was just made up. There's no wonder there.
Gen Alpha is so brave. The courage it takes to perform "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at the holiday concert to an audience of Gen X/Millennial parents!
December 19, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Gen Alpha is so brave. The courage it takes to perform "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at the holiday concert to an audience of Gen X/Millennial parents!
Reposted by Erica Fretwell
UAlbany, one of those, NY state universities, has been hovering around 4 percent tenure track Black faculty since ever. I am THE Black tenure track political scientists. These folks are just little liars.
You’ll never guess who else experienced ‘racism’ on the job market despite their unimpeachable academic credentials.
December 18, 2025 at 11:26 PM
UAlbany, one of those, NY state universities, has been hovering around 4 percent tenure track Black faculty since ever. I am THE Black tenure track political scientists. These folks are just little liars.
It's true!
Sarah Wasserman, assistant dean for faculty affairs, was named co-editor of the eminent Oxford Studies in American Literary History book series. The scholar of 20th- and 21st-century American literature will lead the series alongside @ericafretwell.bsky.social of the University of Albany.
Wasserman Appointed Co-Editor of Oxford’s American Literary History Series | Faculty of Arts and Sciences
The prestigious book series offers an expansive approach to American literary and cultural history.
fas.dartmouth.edu
December 17, 2025 at 2:44 PM
It's true!
(blasting Tame Impala in my Honda CRV while drinking a cortado)
Me: I'm not bourgoie millennial cliche I'm not a bourgie millennial cliche I'm not a bourgie millennial cliche I'm not a bourgie millennial cliche I'm not a bourgie millennial cliche I'm n
Me: I'm not bourgoie millennial cliche I'm not a bourgie millennial cliche I'm not a bourgie millennial cliche I'm not a bourgie millennial cliche I'm not a bourgie millennial cliche I'm n
December 16, 2025 at 2:13 PM
(blasting Tame Impala in my Honda CRV while drinking a cortado)
Me: I'm not bourgoie millennial cliche I'm not a bourgie millennial cliche I'm not a bourgie millennial cliche I'm not a bourgie millennial cliche I'm not a bourgie millennial cliche I'm n
Me: I'm not bourgoie millennial cliche I'm not a bourgie millennial cliche I'm not a bourgie millennial cliche I'm not a bourgie millennial cliche I'm not a bourgie millennial cliche I'm n
Reposted by Erica Fretwell
NEW special issue of Critical Quarterly, 'Paper and Poetry: Interventions in Theory and Practice', brilliantly edited by @georginaemw.bsky.social and Orietta da Rodd. This is an outstanding collection that we are proud to publish in CQ! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14678705...
Special Issue: Paper and Poetry: Interventions in Theory and Practice: Critical Quarterly: Vol 67, No 3
Critical Quarterly is a literary reviews journal recognized globally for its unique combination of literary criticism, cultural studies, poetry, and fiction.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
December 15, 2025 at 2:15 PM
NEW special issue of Critical Quarterly, 'Paper and Poetry: Interventions in Theory and Practice', brilliantly edited by @georginaemw.bsky.social and Orietta da Rodd. This is an outstanding collection that we are proud to publish in CQ! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14678705...
Did not foresee the fashion industry adopting the word "edit" as a catchword for sartorial curation. Can't wait to see what it does with 'proofread.'
December 9, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Did not foresee the fashion industry adopting the word "edit" as a catchword for sartorial curation. Can't wait to see what it does with 'proofread.'
Reposted by Erica Fretwell
CRUCIAL! by Stephanie Foote
"I...lived through the devastation of a solid public university by a professional grifter who imagines himself as a visionary, and who takes every opportunity to express his vision. That person was Gordon Gee, and the university he destroyed was West Virginia University"
"I...lived through the devastation of a solid public university by a professional grifter who imagines himself as a visionary, and who takes every opportunity to express his vision. That person was Gordon Gee, and the university he destroyed was West Virginia University"
Project MUSE - Almost Heaven: West Virginia University and the Transcendental Grifter
muse.jhu.edu
December 5, 2025 at 6:04 PM
CRUCIAL! by Stephanie Foote
"I...lived through the devastation of a solid public university by a professional grifter who imagines himself as a visionary, and who takes every opportunity to express his vision. That person was Gordon Gee, and the university he destroyed was West Virginia University"
"I...lived through the devastation of a solid public university by a professional grifter who imagines himself as a visionary, and who takes every opportunity to express his vision. That person was Gordon Gee, and the university he destroyed was West Virginia University"
Reposted by Erica Fretwell
‘Effective Altruism did not originate in the clean room of a thought experiment but in the matrix of compromise we call a social world … from conversations among elites and has necessarily been molded by the pressures on them and the opportunities afforded them.’
By @benwurgaft.bsky.social
By @benwurgaft.bsky.social
Opinion | How a Thought Experiment Changed the World
Peter Singer and the roots of effective altruism.
www.chronicle.com
November 23, 2025 at 1:05 PM
‘Effective Altruism did not originate in the clean room of a thought experiment but in the matrix of compromise we call a social world … from conversations among elites and has necessarily been molded by the pressures on them and the opportunities afforded them.’
By @benwurgaft.bsky.social
By @benwurgaft.bsky.social
Reposted by Erica Fretwell
Watching Mamdani's victory speech, I'm struck by his—and his campaign's—unabashed vision of the US as an immigrant society, a culture built from the ground up from diversity. It is a complete rejection and reversal of the search for a white-washed homogeneity that the political right projects.
November 5, 2025 at 4:47 AM
Watching Mamdani's victory speech, I'm struck by his—and his campaign's—unabashed vision of the US as an immigrant society, a culture built from the ground up from diversity. It is a complete rejection and reversal of the search for a white-washed homogeneity that the political right projects.
Reposted by Erica Fretwell
I love that Mamdani is what the right claimed Obama was: A Muslim socialist born in Africa. The right practically manifested Mamdani into existence.
November 5, 2025 at 2:25 PM
I love that Mamdani is what the right claimed Obama was: A Muslim socialist born in Africa. The right practically manifested Mamdani into existence.
the day began with dick in a box and ended with zohran in office!!!!! not used to this good feeling! gonna bottle it up
November 5, 2025 at 2:45 AM
the day began with dick in a box and ended with zohran in office!!!!! not used to this good feeling! gonna bottle it up
Today my kid became a tween. He said, "Please don't put strawberries in the oatmeal again, Mom. They don't fit the vibe."
November 4, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Today my kid became a tween. He said, "Please don't put strawberries in the oatmeal again, Mom. They don't fit the vibe."