Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
@travisclau.bsky.social
(he/him/his) Assistant Professor, Poet: c18/c19 British Literature/History of Medicine (immunity and vaccination)/Health Humanities/Disability Studies
travisclau.com
travisclau.com
Pinned
What's Left is Tender by Travis Chi Wing Lau — Small Harbor Publishing
www.smallharborpublishing.com
It's officially release day for WHAT'S LEFT IS TENDER, a book that I truly didn't think I had it in me to write: www.smallharborpublishing.com/books/whats-...
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
“We reach for [LLMs] because our world is asking for altogether too much: too much work without the time to do it well, too much caregiving without the community infrastructure to support it, and too much pressure to perform academically without the foundational skills to make it possible.”
My take on AI use
1) It's making it harder for people to learn *how* to learn
2) If you can't do everything you think ou should be doing without resorting to it — then you're doing (or being asked to do) too much
www.patreon.com/posts/149942...
1) It's making it harder for people to learn *how* to learn
2) If you can't do everything you think ou should be doing without resorting to it — then you're doing (or being asked to do) too much
www.patreon.com/posts/149942...
Don’t Let The Machines Do The Living | Culture Study
Get more from Culture Study on Patreon
www.patreon.com
February 10, 2026 at 4:37 AM
“We reach for [LLMs] because our world is asking for altogether too much: too much work without the time to do it well, too much caregiving without the community infrastructure to support it, and too much pressure to perform academically without the foundational skills to make it possible.”
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
One of the most miserable things about living in this era is having to watch the stupidest & most arrogant people in the world have to relearn The Why of literally everything good that we collectively do the hard way.
The answer is always ‘Because a bunch of people died, fuckwit.’
The answer is always ‘Because a bunch of people died, fuckwit.’
Dr. Mehmet Oz is calling on Americans to get the measles vaccine as cases spread across the U.S.
Dr. Oz urges 'take the vaccine, please' amid measles outbreaks
Dr. Mehmet Oz is calling on Americans to get the measles vaccine as cases spread across the U.S.
bit.ly
February 10, 2026 at 1:30 AM
One of the most miserable things about living in this era is having to watch the stupidest & most arrogant people in the world have to relearn The Why of literally everything good that we collectively do the hard way.
The answer is always ‘Because a bunch of people died, fuckwit.’
The answer is always ‘Because a bunch of people died, fuckwit.’
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
Yessir that's my colleague Jorell Meléndez-Badillo (@jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social) and here's his history of Puerto Rico - available in English and Spanish press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
February 10, 2026 at 2:56 AM
Yessir that's my colleague Jorell Meléndez-Badillo (@jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social) and here's his history of Puerto Rico - available in English and Spanish press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
If you want to understand how far-reaching the corporate rot in media is, read this gutting piece about the fall of Oregon Public Broadcasting.
(And follow @ryanjhaas.bsky.social and @leahsottile.bsky.social’s new publication @thewesternedge.bsky.social which will be amazing bc they’re amazing)
(And follow @ryanjhaas.bsky.social and @leahsottile.bsky.social’s new publication @thewesternedge.bsky.social which will be amazing bc they’re amazing)
This is easily the hardest thing I've ever had to write.
I Had a Dream Journalism Job. Here's Why I Quit.
The rot that hollowed out trust in corporate media finally reached OPB. I had to go.
westernedgemedia.substack.com
February 10, 2026 at 4:58 AM
If you want to understand how far-reaching the corporate rot in media is, read this gutting piece about the fall of Oregon Public Broadcasting.
(And follow @ryanjhaas.bsky.social and @leahsottile.bsky.social’s new publication @thewesternedge.bsky.social which will be amazing bc they’re amazing)
(And follow @ryanjhaas.bsky.social and @leahsottile.bsky.social’s new publication @thewesternedge.bsky.social which will be amazing bc they’re amazing)
Dearest hivemind: I'm gearing up for a brief residency and wanting to actually make some progress on my new project on faith, faithlessness, and the spiritual. Who are your favorite poets / books even tentatively related that you'd suggest? Queer and non-Judeo-Christian even better!
February 8, 2026 at 2:39 PM
Dearest hivemind: I'm gearing up for a brief residency and wanting to actually make some progress on my new project on faith, faithlessness, and the spiritual. Who are your favorite poets / books even tentatively related that you'd suggest? Queer and non-Judeo-Christian even better!
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
Hey Everyone,
What are good world literature books/stories dealing with time and possibly time travel? I have a bunch but was hoping to crowdsource more 🙏
What are good world literature books/stories dealing with time and possibly time travel? I have a bunch but was hoping to crowdsource more 🙏
February 8, 2026 at 1:45 AM
Hey Everyone,
What are good world literature books/stories dealing with time and possibly time travel? I have a bunch but was hoping to crowdsource more 🙏
What are good world literature books/stories dealing with time and possibly time travel? I have a bunch but was hoping to crowdsource more 🙏
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
Ich koude wynne a gold medal at the olympics yf ther was an olympic sport called worryinge about everyethinge all the tyme
February 7, 2026 at 8:51 PM
Ich koude wynne a gold medal at the olympics yf ther was an olympic sport called worryinge about everyethinge all the tyme
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
"I can't mitigate [these harms] through more personal effort, education or professional experience." #academicsky
It's hard, as both a woman and a journalist, to understand both of these things and figure out a path forward. I can't mitigate them through more personal effort, education or professional experience. And it's galling to read the defenses for the layoffs and the people named in the Epstein files.
February 8, 2026 at 1:39 PM
"I can't mitigate [these harms] through more personal effort, education or professional experience." #academicsky
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
"you might stumble over a whole collective of people resisting in ways you didn't think of. There's a crew of carpenters just going around fixing kicked-in doors. There are tow truck drivers taking cars of detained people away for free...."
February 8, 2026 at 2:12 PM
"you might stumble over a whole collective of people resisting in ways you didn't think of. There's a crew of carpenters just going around fixing kicked-in doors. There are tow truck drivers taking cars of detained people away for free...."
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
New blog post! How did Jaleco adapt their Mega System 1 hardware to the needs of mahjong? And the plot of this game is... what? Mahjong Daireikai! nicole.express/2026/spooky-...
Story Follows Function: Mahjong Daireikai
We like to say that video games are art, and there’s truth in that. But in the capitalist world, video games are also a business. Not everything is the produ...
nicole.express
February 8, 2026 at 2:08 PM
New blog post! How did Jaleco adapt their Mega System 1 hardware to the needs of mahjong? And the plot of this game is... what? Mahjong Daireikai! nicole.express/2026/spooky-...
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
Happy to say the @wsj.com still does book reviews. My latest looks at a new read from Dr Alanna Skuse:
🧪🗃️📚
www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
🧪🗃️📚
www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
‘The Surgeon, the Midwife, the Quack’ Review: Not-Yet-Modern Medicine
In Renaissance England, skillful surgeons and herb-dispensing healers competed with charlatan doctors.
www.wsj.com
February 8, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Happy to say the @wsj.com still does book reviews. My latest looks at a new read from Dr Alanna Skuse:
🧪🗃️📚
www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
🧪🗃️📚
www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
I've seen some discourse about how it seems like everyone in the elite circles knew about Epstein. I'm reminded of the piece of information about the Tuskegee Syphillis Study that I end classes with: Congress had hearings about the study and re-confirmed funding Every. Year. For. Forty. Years.
February 7, 2026 at 10:05 PM
I've seen some discourse about how it seems like everyone in the elite circles knew about Epstein. I'm reminded of the piece of information about the Tuskegee Syphillis Study that I end classes with: Congress had hearings about the study and re-confirmed funding Every. Year. For. Forty. Years.
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
The main conceit of "AI" (namely chatbots and "agents") are the twin promises of control and productivity.
The mechanism of control is that you can be replaced more effectively by a machine, or someone who wields the machine more adroitly than you.
The mechanism of control is that you can be replaced more effectively by a machine, or someone who wields the machine more adroitly than you.
The bosses are forcing their employees to use it. Politicians are competing to shovel money & infrastructure at it. The billionaires who control media are constantly lecturing & hectoring people to accept it & use it more.
They don't care it's losing money. They don't care people hate it.
They don't care it's losing money. They don't care people hate it.
February 8, 2026 at 12:15 AM
The main conceit of "AI" (namely chatbots and "agents") are the twin promises of control and productivity.
The mechanism of control is that you can be replaced more effectively by a machine, or someone who wields the machine more adroitly than you.
The mechanism of control is that you can be replaced more effectively by a machine, or someone who wields the machine more adroitly than you.
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
“Helping people forge new connections.”
A fuck app.
“A new way to invest.”
An S&P 500 fund.
“Decentralized currency.”
Money you can use to buy drugs.
A fuck app.
“A new way to invest.”
An S&P 500 fund.
“Decentralized currency.”
Money you can use to buy drugs.
Tech Jargon Translations
“We’re revolutionizing communication.” We’re putting cameras and microphones in your home. “Helping people forge connections.” This app alienates ...
buff.ly
February 8, 2026 at 3:00 AM
“Helping people forge new connections.”
A fuck app.
“A new way to invest.”
An S&P 500 fund.
“Decentralized currency.”
Money you can use to buy drugs.
A fuck app.
“A new way to invest.”
An S&P 500 fund.
“Decentralized currency.”
Money you can use to buy drugs.
My entire lesson plan whenever I teach this.
“Wuthering Heights” is not a romance.
It is a gothic novel about vengeance, cruelty, oppression and psychological obsession. It is not a “love story”.
I will die on this hill.
It is a gothic novel about vengeance, cruelty, oppression and psychological obsession. It is not a “love story”.
I will die on this hill.
February 8, 2026 at 3:04 AM
My entire lesson plan whenever I teach this.
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
Have I ever mentioned how surreal it is to be an Editor-in-Chief of a journal called Vaccine right now?
www.science.org/content/arti...
It’s pretty wild, at least by typical academic journal editorial office standards.
www.science.org/content/arti...
It’s pretty wild, at least by typical academic journal editorial office standards.
Controversial Danish vaccine research group faces new allegations
Researchers say they couldn’t find complete data for 10 trials that together enrolled tens of thousands of children in Guinea-Bissau
www.science.org
February 6, 2026 at 6:14 AM
Have I ever mentioned how surreal it is to be an Editor-in-Chief of a journal called Vaccine right now?
www.science.org/content/arti...
It’s pretty wild, at least by typical academic journal editorial office standards.
www.science.org/content/arti...
It’s pretty wild, at least by typical academic journal editorial office standards.
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
A deadly encounter on the streets of 21st Century Kyoto in the wake of devastation from an earthquake that also unleashed a horde of demons - and magic back into the world.
A point-and-click and RPG hybrid that received an English translation in 2019.
📺: Makyouden, Nihon-Create, 1992 (PC-9801)
A point-and-click and RPG hybrid that received an English translation in 2019.
📺: Makyouden, Nihon-Create, 1992 (PC-9801)
February 7, 2026 at 11:00 PM
A deadly encounter on the streets of 21st Century Kyoto in the wake of devastation from an earthquake that also unleashed a horde of demons - and magic back into the world.
A point-and-click and RPG hybrid that received an English translation in 2019.
📺: Makyouden, Nihon-Create, 1992 (PC-9801)
A point-and-click and RPG hybrid that received an English translation in 2019.
📺: Makyouden, Nihon-Create, 1992 (PC-9801)
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
Without naming your job, tell me something you say over and over again at work.
"Where are your citations?"
"Where are your citations?"
Without naming your job, tell me something you say over and over again at work.
"No, you can't leave that here."
"No, you can't leave that here."
Without naming your job, tell me something you say over and over again at work.
"Are you travelling to engage in abuse of alcohol, drugs, or prescription medication?"
"Are you travelling to engage in abuse of alcohol, drugs, or prescription medication?"
February 7, 2026 at 6:24 PM
Without naming your job, tell me something you say over and over again at work.
"Where are your citations?"
"Where are your citations?"
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
Af-Am lit major Jodie Foster chose her field because of an interest ‘in literature that is as emotionally important as it is intellectually.’ In fact, she argued, Af-Am literature is perhaps the most American of all literary genres this country has produced..” www.harvardmagazine.com/radcliffe-in...
Jodie Foster Honored at Radcliffe Day 2025 | Harvard Magazine
The actress and director discussed her film career and her transformative time at Yale.
www.harvardmagazine.com
February 7, 2026 at 9:22 PM
Af-Am lit major Jodie Foster chose her field because of an interest ‘in literature that is as emotionally important as it is intellectually.’ In fact, she argued, Af-Am literature is perhaps the most American of all literary genres this country has produced..” www.harvardmagazine.com/radcliffe-in...
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
also yesterday i got my contrib copy of the new disability poetics anthology EVERY PLACE ON THE MAP IS DISABLED. it’s available now from northwestern university press:
nupress.northwestern.edu/978081014973...
nupress.northwestern.edu/978081014973...
Every Place on the Map Is Disabled - Northwestern University Press
An anthology of poems and essays by and celebrating Disabled writersDeclaring that Disabled people exist, innovate, thrive, and persevere, Every Place on th...
nupress.northwestern.edu
January 31, 2026 at 5:37 PM
also yesterday i got my contrib copy of the new disability poetics anthology EVERY PLACE ON THE MAP IS DISABLED. it’s available now from northwestern university press:
nupress.northwestern.edu/978081014973...
nupress.northwestern.edu/978081014973...
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
Today is the start of LGBT+ History Month in the UK. I joined some cool people a while ago to reflect on why queer and trans histories are rich and powerful. Our histories can illuminate the possibilities of activism and politics, as we work to build a better world.
Keep the conversation going.
🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈
Keep the conversation going.
🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈
BBC Radio 4 - Free Thinking, Queer Histories
How do we apply modern LGBT+ language and identities to historical figures?
www.bbc.co.uk
February 1, 2026 at 10:10 AM
Today is the start of LGBT+ History Month in the UK. I joined some cool people a while ago to reflect on why queer and trans histories are rich and powerful. Our histories can illuminate the possibilities of activism and politics, as we work to build a better world.
Keep the conversation going.
🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈
Keep the conversation going.
🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
A month on from publication my book 'Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain' remains available from publishers Bloomsbury with discounts on the hardback, paperback and e-book versions.
www.bloomsbury.com/uk/magic-ray...
www.bloomsbury.com/uk/magic-ray...
Magic Rays of Light
On the evening of 26 January 1926, inventor John Logie Baird held a public demonstration in his workspace on London's Frith Street of a 'seeing by wireless' app…
www.bloomsbury.com
February 5, 2026 at 7:53 AM
A month on from publication my book 'Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain' remains available from publishers Bloomsbury with discounts on the hardback, paperback and e-book versions.
www.bloomsbury.com/uk/magic-ray...
www.bloomsbury.com/uk/magic-ray...
Slid into my first snow-covered ditch on the way to work. Was terrified but as if summoned by my moment of need, a wonderful person came to pull me out. Car is a little scuffed but really glad it was only minimal damage to the car and not to me.
February 6, 2026 at 5:11 PM
Slid into my first snow-covered ditch on the way to work. Was terrified but as if summoned by my moment of need, a wonderful person came to pull me out. Car is a little scuffed but really glad it was only minimal damage to the car and not to me.
Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)
I’ve been thumping the table about this for years. Now it’s accelerating. I wish I could get my private college colleagues to realize that if it’s not stopped, it’s coming for us, too. “But we’re private!” Sure, ask Orban or Erdogan what an autocrat does with private higher ed.
Breaking, from me: An executive order from Oklahoma's governor directs most of the state's public colleges to "phase out tenure." #AcademicSky #HigherEd @chronicle.com
www.chronicle.com/article/tenu...
www.chronicle.com/article/tenu...
Tenure Will Be Eliminated at Most of Oklahoma’s Public Colleges, Governor Says
Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, directed the state’s two-dozen regional universities and community colleges to phase out the practice. Existing faculty members will be grandfathered in.
www.chronicle.com
February 6, 2026 at 3:21 AM
I’ve been thumping the table about this for years. Now it’s accelerating. I wish I could get my private college colleagues to realize that if it’s not stopped, it’s coming for us, too. “But we’re private!” Sure, ask Orban or Erdogan what an autocrat does with private higher ed.