Mercury Natis
@mercuryreads.bsky.social
Mercury/Mickey • Tolkien studies & Queer History/Theory PhD Candidate • Reformed art snob dismantling hierarchical taxonomized pedagogy • Pleasure activist • He/They • header by busymagpie • mercuryreads on twt ⚧️💖💜💙✡🍉
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Mercury Natis
@mercuryreads.bsky.social
· Mar 11
a cartoon fox is wearing sunglasses and a hat
ALT: a cartoon fox is wearing sunglasses and a hat
media.tenor.com
Hello party people! For those who don't know, I'm doing my PhD part time & work part time, but because of both phd and disability, I can't work more than I already do. Funds are very tight, so if you like what I do want want to support me, I have a few options for that! Links in the comments!
Reposted by Mercury Natis
Local high priest in Númenor would like you to give up your children for the lord and Savior. No, this is not a cult.
#tolkien #silmarillion #jrrtolkien #fallofnumenor #annatar #sauron #mairon #zigûr #tarmairon #tolkienart #silmart #tolkienfanart #silmfanart #chibiart #fantasy
#tolkien #silmarillion #jrrtolkien #fallofnumenor #annatar #sauron #mairon #zigûr #tarmairon #tolkienart #silmart #tolkienfanart #silmfanart #chibiart #fantasy
November 20, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Local high priest in Númenor would like you to give up your children for the lord and Savior. No, this is not a cult.
#tolkien #silmarillion #jrrtolkien #fallofnumenor #annatar #sauron #mairon #zigûr #tarmairon #tolkienart #silmart #tolkienfanart #silmfanart #chibiart #fantasy
#tolkien #silmarillion #jrrtolkien #fallofnumenor #annatar #sauron #mairon #zigûr #tarmairon #tolkienart #silmart #tolkienfanart #silmfanart #chibiart #fantasy
I know every so often I break theme to talk about Hedwig and the Angry Inch, but I just read an interview from 2021 with @masonalexanderpark.bsky.social about Hedwig and I am truly DELIGHTED when someone actually, genuinely understands this musical. Weirdly uncommon, for being a cult classic.
November 19, 2025 at 7:49 PM
I know every so often I break theme to talk about Hedwig and the Angry Inch, but I just read an interview from 2021 with @masonalexanderpark.bsky.social about Hedwig and I am truly DELIGHTED when someone actually, genuinely understands this musical. Weirdly uncommon, for being a cult classic.
If I ever found myself compelled to write, not an art crit or historical book but a purely Theory book, I think I would need to write one on queer paradox, the many paradoxes we live in and have lived in, and with which we approach our existence....
November 19, 2025 at 11:02 AM
If I ever found myself compelled to write, not an art crit or historical book but a purely Theory book, I think I would need to write one on queer paradox, the many paradoxes we live in and have lived in, and with which we approach our existence....
Reposted by Mercury Natis
This will be an interdisciplinary event: we're interested not just in Smith and his works, but the broader context of his time (abolition struggles! revolutions from Haiti to France!) and the state of his themes (labor, trade, finance, etc.) in the world today. If you work on *any* of these, apply!
Call for Papers: "The World in 1776/2026." 250 years after Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations blasted monopolists, mercantilists and enslavers as the scourges of a free society, what light can his ideas shed on the world today?
Abstracts due December 15th. Details: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Abstracts due December 15th. Details: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
The World in 1776/2026: The Wealth of Nations at 250
The World in 1776/2026: The Wealth of Nations at 250 Conveners: Maha Rafi Atal and Craig Smith, University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow and the British Academy invite submissions to "The Worl...
docs.google.com
October 29, 2025 at 2:40 PM
This will be an interdisciplinary event: we're interested not just in Smith and his works, but the broader context of his time (abolition struggles! revolutions from Haiti to France!) and the state of his themes (labor, trade, finance, etc.) in the world today. If you work on *any* of these, apply!
Reposted by Mercury Natis
Do they mean white straight Anglo American masculinity?
2020 Scottish gay man
2021 South African man
2022 Sri Lankan man
2023 Irish man
2024 Woman
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
2020 Scottish gay man
2021 South African man
2022 Sri Lankan man
2023 Irish man
2024 Woman
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The Guardian view on the Booker prize winner: putting masculinity back at the centre of literary fiction | Editorial
Editorial: David Szalay’s Flesh breaks from a decade of female-centred interiors and reopens a genre many thought closed to men
www.theguardian.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:03 AM
Do they mean white straight Anglo American masculinity?
2020 Scottish gay man
2021 South African man
2022 Sri Lankan man
2023 Irish man
2024 Woman
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
2020 Scottish gay man
2021 South African man
2022 Sri Lankan man
2023 Irish man
2024 Woman
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
I've had this realization that I'm not the kind of neurodivergent where I'm aware that the Rules are social constructs and so I must LEARN THE MECHANICS OF THE RULES. I'm the kind who is aware that the Rules are social constructs and want to burn the rulebook and rewrite it because it's nonsense.
November 17, 2025 at 7:11 PM
I've had this realization that I'm not the kind of neurodivergent where I'm aware that the Rules are social constructs and so I must LEARN THE MECHANICS OF THE RULES. I'm the kind who is aware that the Rules are social constructs and want to burn the rulebook and rewrite it because it's nonsense.
Tom beat me to it! I'm thrilled this is out in the world 🎉 It's my first publication in a book, so I'm feeling very sentimental about it all. This is Sauron as biblical femme fatale paper. The VOD is still live, I think, but if you want to read the more polished version in print... you now can! 👁
Another new publication! Thrilled to receive my contributor copy of Númenor, the Frail and Mighty reach print, also featuring @clarelmoore.bsky.social, @mercuryreads.bsky.social, @aranelparmadil.bsky.social, @putriprihatini.bsky.social, and more. Mazel Tov to editor @willsherwood.bsky.social too!
November 15, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Tom beat me to it! I'm thrilled this is out in the world 🎉 It's my first publication in a book, so I'm feeling very sentimental about it all. This is Sauron as biblical femme fatale paper. The VOD is still live, I think, but if you want to read the more polished version in print... you now can! 👁
First payment made, consult booked with a surgeon in the UK! If I decide to stay local instead of doing medical tourism, it's double the price but with much lower risks. 47% of the funds have been raised, please consider helping a guy out!
I also currently have a GoFundMe for top surgery! Please consider donating, the more I get, the less likely that I need to go the Medical Tourism route (which has dangers and complications).
gofund.me/a5e31e43a
gofund.me/a5e31e43a
Donate to Help Mercury Yeet the Teet! (or: a top surgery fundraiser), organized by Mercury Natis
Hello world, it’s me, Mickey, and this is a top surgery/elect… Mercury Natis needs your support for Help Mercury Yeet the Teet! (or: a top surgery fundraiser)
gofund.me
November 14, 2025 at 1:47 PM
First payment made, consult booked with a surgeon in the UK! If I decide to stay local instead of doing medical tourism, it's double the price but with much lower risks. 47% of the funds have been raised, please consider helping a guy out!
Hell of a quote from my reading of The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault. The main character is talking about disagreeing with the slave who is minding him, and he says to himself, "it seems I can be more just than Midas, not because I am good, but because I am free".
November 13, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Hell of a quote from my reading of The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault. The main character is talking about disagreeing with the slave who is minding him, and he says to himself, "it seems I can be more just than Midas, not because I am good, but because I am free".
Reposted by Mercury Natis
AUTHORS!!
Remember that case where a bunch of authors sued AI for stealing their work? And WON?
Well, the settlement money has been announced. Each WORK that got thefted will be compensated $3k (split 50/50 bw publisher + author). So authors will be compensated $1500 per WORK stolen.
More here:
Remember that case where a bunch of authors sued AI for stealing their work? And WON?
Well, the settlement money has been announced. Each WORK that got thefted will be compensated $3k (split 50/50 bw publisher + author). So authors will be compensated $1500 per WORK stolen.
More here:
Homepage | Bartz v Anthropic Settlement Site
www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com
November 10, 2025 at 11:30 PM
AUTHORS!!
Remember that case where a bunch of authors sued AI for stealing their work? And WON?
Well, the settlement money has been announced. Each WORK that got thefted will be compensated $3k (split 50/50 bw publisher + author). So authors will be compensated $1500 per WORK stolen.
More here:
Remember that case where a bunch of authors sued AI for stealing their work? And WON?
Well, the settlement money has been announced. Each WORK that got thefted will be compensated $3k (split 50/50 bw publisher + author). So authors will be compensated $1500 per WORK stolen.
More here:
Update: a further reference to it confirms it is TLS not TSL, so it's PROBABLY the Times Literary Supplement, which I am currently combing through. But if anyone knows any other TLSes, please let me know!
Hivemind help me out, I'm chasing a thread. I'm looking for SOMETHING called TSL, a magazine or a journal, publishing in 1973/74, probably in UK or South Africa, but could be elsewhere. It COULD be the Times Literary Supplement just turned around, but I want to cover my bases. Anyone recognize TSL?
November 10, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Update: a further reference to it confirms it is TLS not TSL, so it's PROBABLY the Times Literary Supplement, which I am currently combing through. But if anyone knows any other TLSes, please let me know!
Reposted by Mercury Natis
Reposted by Mercury Natis
Fandom isn’t your job. Take a month off. Take 3 years off. Post incomplete fics. Post incomplete art. Never post again. Switch fandoms. Stay loyal to one fandom only. Do whatever tf you want. You literally make all the rules of engagement in this arena.
November 2, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Fandom isn’t your job. Take a month off. Take 3 years off. Post incomplete fics. Post incomplete art. Never post again. Switch fandoms. Stay loyal to one fandom only. Do whatever tf you want. You literally make all the rules of engagement in this arena.
Reposted by Mercury Natis
With ICE and other extremist groups trying to claim #Tolkien, this old post still holds up:
“Tolkien does not simply give us hope for a better future or strength to endure hardship. Instead, the text [is] a call to action, a challenge...”
luke-shelton.com/2021/01/08/r...
“Tolkien does not simply give us hope for a better future or strength to endure hardship. Instead, the text [is] a call to action, a challenge...”
luke-shelton.com/2021/01/08/r...
Reading Tolkien during the Insurrection
I happened to be reading the final three chapters of The Lord of the Rings this week as supporters of an incompetent president attempted an insurrection in America. I am going through the book with…
luke-shelton.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:04 PM
With ICE and other extremist groups trying to claim #Tolkien, this old post still holds up:
“Tolkien does not simply give us hope for a better future or strength to endure hardship. Instead, the text [is] a call to action, a challenge...”
luke-shelton.com/2021/01/08/r...
“Tolkien does not simply give us hope for a better future or strength to endure hardship. Instead, the text [is] a call to action, a challenge...”
luke-shelton.com/2021/01/08/r...
I found a metaphor about AI that I like, and I'm going to stick with: AI is like mercury or lead or plutonium. Yeah, it has some practical uses, but those practical uses are vastly outweighed by the fact that they are actively toxic, destroying both our brains and the environment.
November 6, 2025 at 10:48 PM
I found a metaphor about AI that I like, and I'm going to stick with: AI is like mercury or lead or plutonium. Yeah, it has some practical uses, but those practical uses are vastly outweighed by the fact that they are actively toxic, destroying both our brains and the environment.
Reposted by Mercury Natis
Reposted by Mercury Natis
me at the end of class: here's a little speculative exercises; imagine you wake up from cryosleep in 2085. what's the kind of tech-society r/ship you'd like to see around you?
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
November 6, 2025 at 6:32 AM
me at the end of class: here's a little speculative exercises; imagine you wake up from cryosleep in 2085. what's the kind of tech-society r/ship you'd like to see around you?
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
Reposted by Mercury Natis
We're currently at 46%, which is incredible! Thank you all so much, every little bit helps, and I'm tremendously grateful. Keep sharing it around if you can!
I also currently have a GoFundMe for top surgery! Please consider donating, the more I get, the less likely that I need to go the Medical Tourism route (which has dangers and complications).
gofund.me/a5e31e43a
gofund.me/a5e31e43a
Donate to Help Mercury Yeet the Teet! (or: a top surgery fundraiser), organized by Mercury Natis
Hello world, it’s me, Mickey, and this is a top surgery/elect… Mercury Natis needs your support for Help Mercury Yeet the Teet! (or: a top surgery fundraiser)
gofund.me
October 14, 2025 at 12:29 PM
We're currently at 46%, which is incredible! Thank you all so much, every little bit helps, and I'm tremendously grateful. Keep sharing it around if you can!
Reposted by Mercury Natis
Don’t make me tap the sign.
October 15, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Don’t make me tap the sign.
Reposted by Mercury Natis
Amazon is helping fund a $300 million build of a ballroom for the White House.
Independent bookstores are donating to food banks and organizations that help with food insecurity.
They are not the same.
Independent bookstores are donating to food banks and organizations that help with food insecurity.
They are not the same.
October 30, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Amazon is helping fund a $300 million build of a ballroom for the White House.
Independent bookstores are donating to food banks and organizations that help with food insecurity.
They are not the same.
Independent bookstores are donating to food banks and organizations that help with food insecurity.
They are not the same.
Reposted by Mercury Natis
Hivemind help me out, I'm chasing a thread. I'm looking for SOMETHING called TSL, a magazine or a journal, publishing in 1973/74, probably in UK or South Africa, but could be elsewhere. It COULD be the Times Literary Supplement just turned around, but I want to cover my bases. Anyone recognize TSL?
November 4, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Hivemind help me out, I'm chasing a thread. I'm looking for SOMETHING called TSL, a magazine or a journal, publishing in 1973/74, probably in UK or South Africa, but could be elsewhere. It COULD be the Times Literary Supplement just turned around, but I want to cover my bases. Anyone recognize TSL?
I know this is my profesh account not my personal one, but I'm so incredibly happy that my city voted with their hearts and all that fire for justice that I know & love. I'M SO PROUD OF YOU NEW YORK CITY, MY BELOVED HOME. I MISS YOU EVERY DAY. CONGRATULATIONS ZOHRAN MAMDANI, THE PEOPLE'S MAYOR!
a man wearing a shirt that says i love ny is standing in a doorway
ALT: a man wearing a shirt that says i love ny is standing in a doorway
media.tenor.com
November 5, 2025 at 11:55 AM
I know this is my profesh account not my personal one, but I'm so incredibly happy that my city voted with their hearts and all that fire for justice that I know & love. I'M SO PROUD OF YOU NEW YORK CITY, MY BELOVED HOME. I MISS YOU EVERY DAY. CONGRATULATIONS ZOHRAN MAMDANI, THE PEOPLE'S MAYOR!
Reposted by Mercury Natis
HOPE LIVES!!!!!!
Obama may have run on a Hope slogan, but I've never felt like a national sense of Hope has ridden on anything so much as it's riding on Mamdani's NYC mayoral race. This isn't *really* about what he can achieve (that's very limited). It feels like a test of whether it's even possible to break free.
November 5, 2025 at 9:53 AM
HOPE LIVES!!!!!!
Reposted by Mercury Natis
It's Election Day! Get out there & vote (if you haven't already)!
Also, in addition to the Missoula City Council races, here are some other results I'll be tracking:
- NYC Mayor
- Seattle Mayor
- Virginia Governor
- New Jersey Governor
If there are any races you're watching, let me know as well!
Also, in addition to the Missoula City Council races, here are some other results I'll be tracking:
- NYC Mayor
- Seattle Mayor
- Virginia Governor
- New Jersey Governor
If there are any races you're watching, let me know as well!
November 4, 2025 at 5:19 PM
It's Election Day! Get out there & vote (if you haven't already)!
Also, in addition to the Missoula City Council races, here are some other results I'll be tracking:
- NYC Mayor
- Seattle Mayor
- Virginia Governor
- New Jersey Governor
If there are any races you're watching, let me know as well!
Also, in addition to the Missoula City Council races, here are some other results I'll be tracking:
- NYC Mayor
- Seattle Mayor
- Virginia Governor
- New Jersey Governor
If there are any races you're watching, let me know as well!
Hivemind help me out, I'm chasing a thread. I'm looking for SOMETHING called TSL, a magazine or a journal, publishing in 1973/74, probably in UK or South Africa, but could be elsewhere. It COULD be the Times Literary Supplement just turned around, but I want to cover my bases. Anyone recognize TSL?
November 4, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Hivemind help me out, I'm chasing a thread. I'm looking for SOMETHING called TSL, a magazine or a journal, publishing in 1973/74, probably in UK or South Africa, but could be elsewhere. It COULD be the Times Literary Supplement just turned around, but I want to cover my bases. Anyone recognize TSL?