Christopher Yates
@yates.bsky.social
corrupt Renaissance courtier and lecturer at Brown University; molochofficial on some other unnameable site
One of the strangest things I’ve ever seen: an actual 1890’s Parisian storefront reassembled inside a Bass Pro Shops in the Florida Keys
January 6, 2026 at 2:08 PM
One of the strangest things I’ve ever seen: an actual 1890’s Parisian storefront reassembled inside a Bass Pro Shops in the Florida Keys
My 2025 reading list (I’m actually still finishing Gaudy Night)
January 6, 2026 at 2:08 AM
My 2025 reading list (I’m actually still finishing Gaudy Night)
Merry Christmas!
December 25, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Merry Christmas!
this will become an increasingly common experience throughout the 21st century, but it feels very strange to live and work in a place that is now the subject of wild, mass conspiratorial thinking
December 18, 2025 at 4:45 PM
this will become an increasingly common experience throughout the 21st century, but it feels very strange to live and work in a place that is now the subject of wild, mass conspiratorial thinking
Well, we’ve been told to drop exams and final papers, which seems like the right move
December 14, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Well, we’ve been told to drop exams and final papers, which seems like the right move
Just horrifying. I’m supposed to be grading final papers right now. Have no idea what happens next.
December 14, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Just horrifying. I’m supposed to be grading final papers right now. Have no idea what happens next.
Active shooter on Brown University Campus and College Hill area of Providence. No suspect apprehended despite earlier report. Shots fired near Governor street.
December 13, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Active shooter on Brown University Campus and College Hill area of Providence. No suspect apprehended despite earlier report. Shots fired near Governor street.
I'm currently in the middle of nowhere (Smithfield RI, I took an hour-long bus to get here), sitting in a Barnes and Noble that hasn't been refurbished since the first Bush term, and I am experiencing the sort of serenity that one hopes people feel while succumbing to hypothermia
December 10, 2025 at 9:16 PM
I'm currently in the middle of nowhere (Smithfield RI, I took an hour-long bus to get here), sitting in a Barnes and Noble that hasn't been refurbished since the first Bush term, and I am experiencing the sort of serenity that one hopes people feel while succumbing to hypothermia
the dumb realization that helped me to better understand American politics is that Americans exclusively conceive of politics as "gay marriage/abortion/gun rights/trans women in sports" and everything else from the economy to the endless drumbeat of war is just How Things Are and Have Always Been
December 10, 2025 at 6:20 PM
the dumb realization that helped me to better understand American politics is that Americans exclusively conceive of politics as "gay marriage/abortion/gun rights/trans women in sports" and everything else from the economy to the endless drumbeat of war is just How Things Are and Have Always Been
RIP to Frank Gehry. I'll always have a soft spot for the Stata Center at MIT for pissing off this mathematician so much (it embodies "deconstruction" which is, he writes, "the antithesis of nature's organized complexity" and therefore a "nemesis" to science, nestled within its very nerve-center)
December 5, 2025 at 9:24 PM
RIP to Frank Gehry. I'll always have a soft spot for the Stata Center at MIT for pissing off this mathematician so much (it embodies "deconstruction" which is, he writes, "the antithesis of nature's organized complexity" and therefore a "nemesis" to science, nestled within its very nerve-center)
Reposted by Christopher Yates
SMASH BROS ANNOUNCER: ED AND LORRAINE WARREN!
December 4, 2025 at 3:26 AM
SMASH BROS ANNOUNCER: ED AND LORRAINE WARREN!
none of the Wicked cast stuff surprises me because I saw all that happen to a dozen different grad-school friend groups. Not the eating disorders specifically but what I have come to think of as the Terminal Group-Therapy Social Death Stage.
December 4, 2025 at 5:05 PM
none of the Wicked cast stuff surprises me because I saw all that happen to a dozen different grad-school friend groups. Not the eating disorders specifically but what I have come to think of as the Terminal Group-Therapy Social Death Stage.
a cool and under-appreciated genre of American architecture is “eccentric 1920’s-1930’s auto service station designed to attract attention from the then-new motorways”
December 4, 2025 at 5:03 PM
a cool and under-appreciated genre of American architecture is “eccentric 1920’s-1930’s auto service station designed to attract attention from the then-new motorways”
"in your post you said that --" first of all, do not conflate me, the author, with the "speaker" of my posts
December 1, 2025 at 7:21 PM
"in your post you said that --" first of all, do not conflate me, the author, with the "speaker" of my posts
found what has to be the funniest artist's bio of all time
November 25, 2025 at 5:09 PM
found what has to be the funniest artist's bio of all time
saw Night of the Hunter last night and I’m just glad that past-me left a movie that good for current-me to watch for the first time
November 24, 2025 at 7:23 PM
saw Night of the Hunter last night and I’m just glad that past-me left a movie that good for current-me to watch for the first time
Reposted by Christopher Yates
I learned it by… READING!!! *my telekinesis throws everything across the room*
November 20, 2025 at 7:51 PM
I learned it by… READING!!! *my telekinesis throws everything across the room*
I really want to know what’s going on in the class that meets here before mine
November 20, 2025 at 5:30 PM
I really want to know what’s going on in the class that meets here before mine
choosing to read the Olivia Nuzzi piece in a kind of Harley Quinn voice just to make it all seem more plausible
November 18, 2025 at 4:45 PM
choosing to read the Olivia Nuzzi piece in a kind of Harley Quinn voice just to make it all seem more plausible
my contribution to the "romantasy" discourse is that I wrote about one of the "a court of" books for sparknotes and the author uses the phrase "she gave a vulgar gesture" so repetitively that the mystery of the vulgar gesture in question quickly became the most interesting thing about the book
November 17, 2025 at 10:04 PM
my contribution to the "romantasy" discourse is that I wrote about one of the "a court of" books for sparknotes and the author uses the phrase "she gave a vulgar gesture" so repetitively that the mystery of the vulgar gesture in question quickly became the most interesting thing about the book
I am always getting on my pedestal to declare this but Jane Austen's "Love and Freindship" (sic), written when she was 14 years old, is so funny and bold and mean
www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1...
www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1...
Love and Freindship [sic]
www.gutenberg.org
November 13, 2025 at 8:20 PM
I am always getting on my pedestal to declare this but Jane Austen's "Love and Freindship" (sic), written when she was 14 years old, is so funny and bold and mean
www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1...
www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1...
well those Epstein emails are pretty bad so I guess we can expect a Distraction within the next 24 hours
November 12, 2025 at 9:26 PM
well those Epstein emails are pretty bad so I guess we can expect a Distraction within the next 24 hours
Just learned that “impregnable” is completely etymologically unrelated to “pregnant”
November 12, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Just learned that “impregnable” is completely etymologically unrelated to “pregnant”
put my spring syllabus together : )
November 11, 2025 at 4:59 PM
put my spring syllabus together : )
you'll never convince me that Derrida wasn't onto something when the richest man in the world just completed the phallocentrism-phonocentrism-logocentrism trifecta in a tweet about Homer
November 10, 2025 at 10:00 PM
you'll never convince me that Derrida wasn't onto something when the richest man in the world just completed the phallocentrism-phonocentrism-logocentrism trifecta in a tweet about Homer