Hillary Loomis
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hillaryloomis.bsky.social
Hillary Loomis
@hillaryloomis.bsky.social
all things sheep~wool~tweed 🌞🌱🐑🧶🪡
environmental history
agricultural/commodity/textile history

PhD student SIU Edwardsville Historical Studies

Mama, enviro ed pro, Wisconsin girl at heart
Pinned
A new personal holiday-cutting off the loom day!
Can't believe it, but I think Andy Richter might actually win DWTS this season. Also this show may be more accurate than actual political polls.

I think this means the Dems should consider Walz for another run...

In the meantime, Go team Chiles Sosa!
November 7, 2025 at 3:22 AM
I can't escape this project! My breakfast placemat:
October 11, 2025 at 8:22 AM
I am so excited to be at the most unique campus I have ever visited @UniversityofLuxembourg Belval for the Society for the History of Technology Meeting!
October 9, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Woohoo! Excited to learn more about all the corn I seem to forever be driving thru! (and Brazil, which I aspire to visit as well!)
It's the official publication day for ETHANOL: A HEMISPHERIC HISTORY FOR THE FUTURE OF BIOFUELS. Want to know why the US turns 40 percent of the corn crop into fuel? How the US and Brazil became the world's two largest ethanol producers? Tom Rogers and I have answers.
www.oupress.com/978080619601...
Ethanol - University of Oklahoma Press
Though ethanol, a liquid fuel made from agricultural byproducts, has generated controversy in recent years—good or bad for the environment? a big-ag boon o...
www.oupress.com
October 9, 2025 at 11:16 AM
In honor of National 4-H Week I present a couple of fair kids and some tired parents.
October 8, 2025 at 6:17 PM
The proliferation of middle school boys on e-bikes and one-wheels crusing too fast with fishing poles adds to the apocalyptic vibes as of late.
September 11, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Summer finally feels over. I was too busy to post my "Eavesdropping on Rural America" series, but reading through my notes the best one was one of the first, way back on June 3, overheard in Highland, IL.

"I gotta get home, my "Old Country Road" tee shirt arrived from Temu today.
September 6, 2025 at 5:08 AM
Summer 2025 Family Political Phenology Observation: The summer the MAGA relations openly accepted climate change is real and dangerous.
August 21, 2025 at 5:07 AM
A beautiful, sobering piece for everyone beginning their syllabi and lesson plans for the fall...

www.gramercyreview.com/erasure/
Erasure – Gramercy Review
www.gramercyreview.com
July 26, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Woohoo! Still can't believe the serendipitous luck of finding a real deal commodity environmental historian in my neighborhood! Congratulations, Jeff and Tom! #bestadvisorever
With a cover and a listing on Amazon, it's official. ETHANOL: A HEMISPHERIC HISTORY FOR THE FUTURE OF BIOFUELS will be published in October by the University of Oklahoma Press. Pre-orders now available!
www.amazon.com/Ethanol-Hemi...
🗃️
💡🔌🌽🇧🇷
Ethanol: A Hemispheric History for the Future of Biofuels
Ethanol: A Hemispheric History for the Future of Biofuels [Manuel, Jeffrey T., Rogers, Thomas D.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Ethanol: A Hemispheric History for the Future of Biofuels
www.amazon.com
May 7, 2025 at 3:08 AM
I've had official safety training for: active shooters, power tools, chemical burns, fire-indoor and forest, tornados, earthquake, tsunami, bear/cougar attack, aquatic rescue in pool/lake/whitewater, all the lifeguarding classes, cpr refreshers ad infinitem, and even a class in avalanche safety
April 29, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Second grade boys basketball had funny moments, but nothing compared to the text chain of four dads trying to get baseballs out of a locked shed. New season new characters for the win.
April 17, 2025 at 12:44 AM
Just a couple of globe trotting ladies in houndstooth spotted in the airport! ASEH2025 here I come!
April 9, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Chatting with a McDonalds employee (My 8 yo's fav-not mine) today about the Global Menu restaurant in Chicago-which we were planning to visit this weekend. She mentioned she'd never been to Chicago even though she'd lived in IL for 30ish years.
April 3, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Been thinking and talking to peers about America's "big covid break up" lately. I think many are realizing "We're not going back!" is more akin to leaving a bad boyfriend then being forced back in time. Has anyone identified a bigger political rift that has split so many families so permanently?
March 28, 2025 at 9:00 PM
The first "History Road Trip Find" of the weekend-some very chique highland cows-en route to Midwest Junto of History of Science and Tech! @Sarah'sOnCentral Eureka, MO
March 21, 2025 at 7:38 PM
IMO Mexico and Canada are both great neighbors that deserve loaves of banana bread, not the
cow pies being thrown as of late.
As a Fulbright Canada alum and an American who knows friend from foe, I feel compelled to make what should be an obvious point: the President of the United States should stop threatening to annex Canada. (Paywalled link)
www.stltoday.com/opinion/colu...
Opinion: Midwesterners can’t afford Trump’s jokes about annexing Canada
Not. Funny.
www.stltoday.com
February 7, 2025 at 5:08 AM
I guess the NYT can't top my frequent reminder to family and friends to face their own fashion follies and burn that ugly tee on the bar-b-que, throw worn sneakers in local streams, and put G-ma's clothes on the scare-crow to decompose under the sun for everyone to see. 🫣
Purging Old Clothes? Here’s How to Responsibly Donate and Repurpose Your Castoffs.
Figuring out what to get rid of is just the beginning. We tapped experts and researched recycling programs to find reasonable ways to offload your clothes.
www.nytimes.com
January 9, 2025 at 2:32 AM
I have long enjoyed a good themed bake, but these old fashioned molasses oatmeal prune cookies seem to combine the dual nature of NYE debauchery and tomorrow's optimistic health goals in each chewy bite. I am so grateful to be celebrating our family's New Years' Baby's (my Dad) 75th!
January 1, 2025 at 5:23 AM
Nice little nugget on the labor/effort/expertise needed to properly wash wool garments, and the desire for polyester clothing by white collar women workers who did not have enough time to hand wash and were not paid enough to send out laundry, and wanted a wider wardrobe for self expression.
Barbara Hulanicki, co-founder of Biba, says the rise of launderettes led to people being careless with clothing led to synthetic fibers led to fast fashion.

"People threw their wool clothes into washers instead of washing them by hand." (Paraphrase)

www.theguardian.com/fashion/2024...
Microminis, Twiggy and flamingos: the ‘fabulous’ story of Biba
Exhibition in London captures the legendary emporium’s years at the height of fashion from 1964 to 1975
www.theguardian.com
December 20, 2024 at 4:26 AM
All aboard the STL Polar Express! Views include the dystopian brick carcasses of deindustrialized riverfront factories and a '90s tv-crime-show-style homeless burn barrel all before you reach the northpole! Contemplate the holidays while sipping hot chocolate inside a re-commisioned Amtrak car!
December 12, 2024 at 12:20 AM
A new personal holiday-cutting off the loom day!
December 10, 2024 at 6:03 PM

Feeling the holiday nostalgia this weekend and missing my relatives who all had the habit of using their stairs as pantries. Wondering if this was a midwest phenomena?
December 9, 2024 at 4:21 PM
In the event I ever go missing and my clean freak family (haha) can't find a dna sample, please call David Ridgen and let him know I had the forsight to stomp a tooth into the bottom of my childhood Saint Nicholas shoe. Yes, that is a baby tooth, not a corn kernal.
December 6, 2024 at 11:25 PM
In this edition of "Where I Come From" we explore the rich heritage and legacy of guns in the Northwoods. Nearly 300 years after the invention of the muzzleloader, teens are still blowing off their hands.
December 5, 2024 at 5:32 PM