Randall Stephens
@randalljstephens.bsky.social
6.5K followers 2.5K following 2.6K posts
American historian, religion, environment, pop culture, the South. Author: The Devil's Music (Harvard, 2018). Prof of Am & Brit Studies, Univ of Oslo. Fulbright alumnus.
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randalljstephens.bsky.social
Map from Max Greene, The Kanzas Region: Forest, Prairie, Desert, Mountain, Vale, and River (1856).
randalljstephens.bsky.social
“This is quintessential Robinson/Kanin stuff: the small sting of public humiliation festering to the point that it consumes a character’s entire being.In Ron’s case, the swing dancer who flips his wife over at a wedding is the chair that collapses beneath him following a big corporate presentation.”
The Chair Company's premiere is all in Tim Robinson's head
The Chair Company's premiere is all in Tim Robinson's head
www.avclub.com
randalljstephens.bsky.social
I still think about this Summer Fun set from Playmobil I saw at a toy store years ago.
randalljstephens.bsky.social
This is how the conservative, US-backed Nicaraguan President Adolfo Díaz Recinos handled political opponents. From the Toledo Blade, July 27, 1911.
randalljstephens.bsky.social
Legal status of conversion therapy for minors
Reposted by Randall Stephens
rodger.bsky.social
Cam Skattebo had one of the greatest high school highlights of all time in the California state championship game (he had 393 yards and 3 TDs and they won)
randalljstephens.bsky.social
Andy Gregar, 1900-1915, Mt Calvary, Kansas City, KS.
randalljstephens.bsky.social
“With hours to go until the announcement of this year’s Nobel peace prize, Norwegian politicians were steeling themselves for potential repercussions to US-Norway relations if it is not awarded to Donald Trump.”
Norway braces for Trump’s reaction if he does not win Nobel peace prize
US president may impose tariffs, demand higher Nato contributions or even declare Norway an enemy, analyst says
www.theguardian.com
randalljstephens.bsky.social
Spotted on a morning walk today
randalljstephens.bsky.social
I think NPR needs to either stop having bad-faith, arch-prevaricator Sen Ron Johnson on the radio, or, they need to pause the interview for a fact check every few seconds. As is, it amounts to laundering. www.npr.org/2025/10/08/n...
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson talks about the government shutdown
NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., about the latest developments around the government shutdown.
www.npr.org
randalljstephens.bsky.social
"the court's docket: a case that could end what's left of the landmark Voting Rights Act; a case that could do away w/ one of the few remaining laws that limits campaign fundraising; a challenge to the Trump tariffs; a challenge to his firing of independent agency commissioners...& much much more."
Supreme Court term will tackle executive power, executive power and executive power
The term promises to be hugely consequential and focused in large part on how much power the Constitution gives to the president.
www.npr.org
randalljstephens.bsky.social
“One of the Nobel prize awarding bodies has warned that academic freedom is under threat in the US and elsewhere, with political interference risking long-lasting negative effects – as scientists get ready for next week’s award announcements.“ www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Trump casts shadow over Nobels as prize-awarding body warns academic freedom at risk
US president has proposed measures that Royal Swedish Academy of Science VP says will ‘have devastating effects’
www.theguardian.com
randalljstephens.bsky.social
Is this Trump’s Gettysburg Address? “That’s the one thing with Obama, I had zero respect for him as a president, but he would bop down those stairs, I’ve never seen – da da da da da da, bop, bop, bop, he’d go down the stairs, wouldn’t hold on. I said, it’s great, I don’t want to do it.”
randalljstephens.bsky.social
Nano-nutrients will help you build up your pleeb and delb energy reserves. It also eliminates wakeagens, but may cause foot fatening.
randalljstephens.bsky.social
Going through some Dust Bowl oral histories that Oklahoma State University holds. A sampling of 1930s names: Bessie, Fern, Merle, Velma, Opal, Vernal, Aline, Louella, Garnett, Faye, Orin.
randalljstephens.bsky.social
Great Plains population density, 2000 US census and 1991 Canada census. (Wishart, ed., Encyclopedia of the Great Plains.)
randalljstephens.bsky.social
Thomas Hart Benton, Pop and the Boys (1963)
randalljstephens.bsky.social
“Todd Arrington’s resignation came shortly after Arrington refused to relinquish one of Pres Eisenhower’s swords from the museum’s collection. Pres Trump’s administration wanted to give one of the artifacts as a gift to King Charles III on Trump’s most recent state visit to the United Kingdom.”
Director of Eisenhower Library in Kansas ousted after refusing to give Trump administration a sword
The director of the presidential library and museum in Abilene, Kansas, said he was suddenly told to resign or be fired. He refused to give the Trump administration a historic sword from the museum’s ...
www.kcur.org
randalljstephens.bsky.social
“Who do you think is mainly responsible for the federal government partially shutting down?”
randalljstephens.bsky.social
“Modern English Usage was an immediate success….it acquired many enthusiasts…One was Winston Churchill, who, having received a memo about plans for the invasion of Normandy, responded, ‘Why must you write intensive here? Intense is the right word. You should read Fowler’s Modern English Usage’…”
The Autocrat of English Usage
Henry W. Fowler believed he knew how sentences should read—and his judgments have shaped The New Yorker’s style for a century.
www.newyorker.com