Tes Slominski
feralfreelancer.bsky.social
Tes Slominski
@feralfreelancer.bsky.social
Coach and editor for academics | music scholar | fiddler in the Irish tradition

☘️🎻🏳️‍🌈Author of Trad Nation: Gender, Sexuality, and Race in Irish Traditional Music (Wesleyan 2020)

🪑📚🖋️Cohost of No Time to Write Club @notimetowriteclub
For folks out there who are wondering if I've been hacked--yes, I did just rejoin FB--that is indeed me. I have super mixed feelings about that, but it does seem to be the easiest way to keep up with far-flung friends.
December 11, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Somebody in my neighborhood got a rooster 😑
September 25, 2025 at 1:36 PM
While leaving a voicemail just now, I literally interrupted myself by exclaiming, "Look! A squirrel!" #ADHD achievement unlocked?

To be fair, it was a cute baby squirrel. But still.
September 21, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Unexpectedly quiet afternoon = getting to listen to the #XPoNential Music Festival streaming on #WXPN. Stunning sets from Tune-Yards, Richard Thompson, and now Molly Tuttle. Super excited for Kathleen Edwards in a few minutes! Next best thing to being there.
September 20, 2025 at 9:57 PM
The terrifying dream I had last night (which involved being chased by unknown pursuers, a portal in the form of an open window, and a handful of gods deciding whether to help me or not) ended with a different god (in the form of a blue stone or ball) admonishing me to respect my joy.

Ok, then.
September 20, 2025 at 4:26 PM
I run the Monday #notimetowriteclub sprints, and it's been so much fun to get to know such cool writers--we are all working on very different projects, but we never run out of things to talk about during our check-ins.
September 8, 2025 at 11:09 PM
I have been putting off wearing my new progressive glasses because I have been convinced I would barf and/or fall over, not necessarily in that order. It's been an hour and neither thing has happened, but Eyeball Brain is working overtime.
September 7, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Atlantic Ocean, my old friend—it had been far too long since I last saw your summer self.
September 4, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Worth waking up early for this #sunrise. Impromptu solo getaways are the BEST!
September 4, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Pretty sure I don’t want this joke anywhere near anything I intend to eat….
September 4, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Come for the absolutely fearless groundhog and stay for the to-do list idea. Or maybe it's the other way around?

Also, bonus fig content.

#feralfreelancer #adhd #lifehacks #figtree

open.substack.com/pub/theferal...
Nexts
Overriding brain "clench mode" to reduce overwhelm.
open.substack.com
September 2, 2025 at 3:15 PM
"Being vulnerable and choosing messy reality over imagined perfection has almost always been the right choice for my friendships. I haven’t consistently applied that lesson to my writing, though…maybe it’s time to start trying?"

#amwriting #feralfreelancer #music

open.substack.com/pub/theferal...
Throw Perfectionism in the Bin
And crank Belinda Carlisle on the stereo.
open.substack.com
July 14, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Tes Slominski
Hundreds of scientists are set to take part in the first performance of a new Scottish country dance inspired by the ripples in spacetime whose existence was first theorised by Albert Einstein.

More: gla.ac/3ICip4Q

#GR24Amaldi16 #GravitationalWaves #Glasgow
@uofgravity.bsky.social
July 11, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Reposted by Tes Slominski
This week, I share one of my mind maps. As I've learned more about various forms of #neurodiversity, I've begun to understand why this kind of graphic processing really helps me.

Do y'all do anything similar?

#notimetowriteclub #amwriting #creativeprocess

open.substack.com/pub/notimeto...
Sorting Through Mental Coins
Discovering process through...process
open.substack.com
June 27, 2025 at 2:35 PM
#ADHD #musician life: radio on playing 80s show, old-time fiddle tune on #Bandcamp playing on my phone, and a totally different tune in my head.
June 15, 2025 at 5:28 PM
At long last! Finally! A new installment of my Feral Freelancer newsletter!

This one is about what it's like to discover a creative block that one hasn't realized is even there....

open.substack.com/pub/theferal...
Candy Stores Without Walls
On showing up as a whole person.
open.substack.com
June 9, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Reposted by Tes Slominski
May 9, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Reposted by Tes Slominski
I’d say rather this confirms that Chicago is canon
A Chicago Pope implies the existence of an MLA Pope and APA Pope
May 8, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Reposted by Tes Slominski
In New York, ICE detained a busload of farmworkers that were actively involved in a union drive.

In Washington state, ICE dragged a farmworkers’ rights activist and leader out of his car to detain him.

Be warned: attacking unions is a hallmark of fascism.
May 8, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Y'all know what this moment needs?

MELODRAMATIC HARPSICHORD

open.spotify.com/track/4rvWKl...
Pièces de clavecin, Deuxième Livre, Suite en Ré Mineur: I. La Flamande
Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, Marie van Rhijn · Jacquet de La Guerre: L'inconstante · Song · 2018
open.spotify.com
May 5, 2025 at 9:03 PM
I love when the Chicago Manual of Style gets sassy: "The 'rule' prohibiting terminal prepositions was an ill-founded superstition based on a false analogy to Latin grammar" (CMOS 18, 5.186).

Begone false analogies and pompous Latin grammar snobbery!

#amediting #academicwriting #CMOS
May 5, 2025 at 8:05 PM
The State Farm insurance app indicates that it is appropriate for ages 4+. I pity the kindergartener who has to use it.
May 5, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Dear barometric pressure: please stop wiggling around like an antsy toddler.

#migraine #weather
May 4, 2025 at 7:22 PM
I leave it a few days and here’s what happened!
April 30, 2025 at 1:45 PM