David B Hobbs
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deebeehobbs.bsky.social
David B Hobbs
@deebeehobbs.bsky.social
Assoc Prof of English (modernism/poetry) at ULethbridge, critic (often in The Nation), ghostwriter of Tár On Tár
Pinned
one more time for the weekend — was thrilled to have the chance to write about Ronald Johnson, connecting him back to some of his early influences & source texts as well as pointing towards some contemporary poets continuing in his idiosyncratic Queer Romantic tradition
Ronald Johnson’s style, according to this friends and critics, was premised on “concentrated seeing”: A mode of poetic observation that slowed the world down and captured both its sound and nature.
Ronald Johnson’s American Romanticism
An inheritor of a distinct tradition that stretched back to Coleridge and Emerson, Johnson’s naturalistic poetry was immersive and intimate all at once.
bit.ly
Reposted by David B Hobbs
official beginning of the holiday season and it's time to revisit Richard E. Grant's Christmas decorations and his garden sculpture of Barbra Streisand's head www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUGV...
Inside Richard E. Grant’s Georgian House at Christmas | Design Notes
YouTube video by House & Garden
www.youtube.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by David B Hobbs
even when AI is surveying reputable sources, we shouldn't forget that summarizing and synthesizing are interpretive activities that involve selecting what is most significant or salient to ongoing discussions. even if AI were unbiased, this is creative work that we should be doing.
November 24, 2025 at 3:48 AM
Reposted by David B Hobbs
casaubon as a lovecraft protagonist who never actually encounters the blasphemous horrors
been enjoying Middlemarch as a novel about why you shouldn’t marry H.P. Lovecraft
November 23, 2025 at 8:46 PM
been enjoying Middlemarch as a novel about why you shouldn’t marry H.P. Lovecraft
November 23, 2025 at 7:43 PM
the way that RFK felt about Olivia Nuzzi is the way that I feel about Edamame Power
November 23, 2025 at 2:02 AM
I’m open to being the Woah Vicky for BlueSky
November 23, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Reposted by David B Hobbs
*beats the "Reunite Craig and Green for a CHARADE style caper flick* drum once again*
"hey, we noticed you from across the beach and liked your vibe."
November 20, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Reposted by David B Hobbs
Just a reminder that the deadline for abstracts for this FREE, ONLINE, GRAD STUDENT WORKSHOP is a little less than two weeks away!
November 18, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Reposted by David B Hobbs
There’s a lot to be worried about and many reasons to be sad, yes, but in just 5 months and 3 days we will find out exactly how Willy Wonka became Willy Wonka
July 12, 2023 at 7:48 PM
everything on Tubi feels like it was made to be recommended by a middleschool friend’s unsavory older brother
November 19, 2025 at 6:12 AM
Reposted by David B Hobbs
This Saturday at 7 pm, two @columbiaup.bsky.social authors, Keegan Cook Finberg and Kristin Grogan discuss their extraordinary new books, POETRY IN GENERAL and STITCH, UNSTITCH: in conversation w/ Christopher Nealon at @redemmas.org! bit.ly/3LAvRYz @keegancf.bsky.social @kristingrogan.bsky.social
Keegan Cook Finberg and Kristin Grogan present "Poetry in General: How a Literary Form Became Public" and "Stitch, Unstitch Modernist Poetry and the World of Work" in conversation w/ Christopher Nealo...
Join us for an evening of rethinking the power and labor of poetry in everyday spaces.
bit.ly
November 14, 2025 at 1:26 AM
you can just say “Harvard”
it's been hard to put this feeling into words, but we've spent the past couple of decades being lectured to and patronized by an elite class that spent its free time joshing with jeffrey epstein about his little sex abuse empire while lecturing us about how out of touch we are
November 13, 2025 at 8:08 PM
hello Ottawa! I am giving this talk tomorrow please come!

+ thank you @kqandrews.bsky.social for inviting me!
November 13, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Reposted by David B Hobbs
This seems hard to believe…given that Blackstone Inc. is only 40, KKR is 49, & Bain Capital is 41.
THE MEDIAN AGE OF A U.S. HOME BUYER NOW SITS AT A RECORD HIGH OF 61 YEARS, PER NAR.
November 11, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Reposted by David B Hobbs
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.

Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."

Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Reposted by David B Hobbs
I love this by Peter Coviello (former chair of Africana Studies at yes, Bowdoin). Very smart AND very funny. lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by David B Hobbs
ASAP: The Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present seeks applications for the next editor(s)-in-chief of the award-winning ASAP/Journal.

Please see more information below!

docs.google.com/document/d/1...
10.1 ASAP Journal call for editors 2025 short.docx
ASAP/Journal Editor-in-Chief Search ASAP: The Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present seeks applications for the next editor(s)-in-chief of the award-winning ASAP/Journal. Elizabeth Ho w...
docs.google.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Reposted by David B Hobbs
Hi Bluesky 👋

Small life update: I’m at the centre of a multimillion dollar lawsuit in Alberta launched by a failed candidate for Jason Kenney’s UCP

It may be the longest and most expensive media trial in Canadian history

I’m ready to go public about it and I want to share more details with you 🧵
November 7, 2025 at 2:44 PM
free tip to other college teachers — ChatGPT seems to really struggle with the question “Why might this approach to this topic be interesting to someone who is not you?”
November 7, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Reposted by David B Hobbs
check it out
November 6, 2025 at 7:18 PM
me at 20y/o: this guy is the best rapper alive
November 6, 2025 at 3:50 PM
I have been hesitant to wade into the “problems with BlueSky” conversations but this should be getting wayyyy more burn
Don’t worry, Kim Petras has seen the video of mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani requesting her music from a DJ. The DJ didn’t have any, but Petras has plenty of love in her heart for the mayor-to-be.
Yes, Kim Petras Has Seen That Zohran Mamdani Video
Don’t worry, Kim Petras has seen the video of mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani requesting her music from a DJ. The DJ didn’t have any, but Petras has plenty of love in her heart for the mayor-to-be.
www.vulture.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:34 PM
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November 5, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Reposted by David B Hobbs
I am SO happy to be able to share the wonderful cover for DISPATCHES FROM THE AVANT-GARAGE: THE ALTERNATIVE PRESS coming in March from Wayne State UP. The cover has it all—postcards, letterpress, a bison. Beautifully designed, as it happens, by Lindsey Cleworth, who grew up in my/our hometown.
November 5, 2025 at 2:24 PM
when these hit Grailed I am going to financially ruin myself
Our message to Andrew Cuomo was loud & clear in June.

It’s louder & clearer tonight.
November 5, 2025 at 9:13 PM