Penthesilea
@hansklocker.bsky.social
medievalist / idealist / feminist
OK, trying to be more specific: if you really care about redlining and what that did to real estate patterns and how badly it hurt Black families...that's textbook woke to me
December 16, 2025 at 5:47 AM
OK, trying to be more specific: if you really care about redlining and what that did to real estate patterns and how badly it hurt Black families...that's textbook woke to me
Oh wait, a specific topic? Resistance to racism and transphobia
December 16, 2025 at 5:15 AM
Oh wait, a specific topic? Resistance to racism and transphobia
I am old enough to remember when it meant "no longer naive about the history and extent of racial injustice in the USA." It has come to mean "sympathetic to social justice causes" but as a pejorative.
December 16, 2025 at 5:14 AM
I am old enough to remember when it meant "no longer naive about the history and extent of racial injustice in the USA." It has come to mean "sympathetic to social justice causes" but as a pejorative.
She's also very nice in a "favorite professor" kind of way. I'm a fan.
December 13, 2025 at 11:10 PM
She's also very nice in a "favorite professor" kind of way. I'm a fan.
She's a tenured history professor at Boston College and writes nightly letters that summarize current US politics and then put them in the context of US history. The general argument of the letters is things like Civil Rights are good and that Trump's policies are bad. That's really about it.
December 13, 2025 at 11:10 PM
She's a tenured history professor at Boston College and writes nightly letters that summarize current US politics and then put them in the context of US history. The general argument of the letters is things like Civil Rights are good and that Trump's policies are bad. That's really about it.
He has left the Cloisters! Roch & his dog are now in the main Met building, literally right in front of the annual Christmas tree 🐕
December 13, 2025 at 4:58 AM
He has left the Cloisters! Roch & his dog are now in the main Met building, literally right in front of the annual Christmas tree 🐕
Like, people have looked at maps of NYC and the buildings behind this guy, and he's not facing the right way to be taking the famous photo in this shot. So yes, it's all real in a sense, but also a staged publicity stunt and deliberately trying to look more exposed, casual, etc. than it really was.
December 13, 2025 at 3:32 AM
Like, people have looked at maps of NYC and the buildings behind this guy, and he's not facing the right way to be taking the famous photo in this shot. So yes, it's all real in a sense, but also a staged publicity stunt and deliberately trying to look more exposed, casual, etc. than it really was.
The whole thing was a photo shoot, and they really are up high but below them is a lot of scaffolding and more beams and things, so while it was definitely dangerous it's not like it's a total drop to the ground. There were four photographers and it's not really known which one took the famous snap
December 13, 2025 at 3:29 AM
The whole thing was a photo shoot, and they really are up high but below them is a lot of scaffolding and more beams and things, so while it was definitely dangerous it's not like it's a total drop to the ground. There were four photographers and it's not really known which one took the famous snap
Right, but people do have agency. Ideally it would be things like "gee life is better when my babysitter doesn't get deported" or "maybe I don't enjoy murders in the Caribbean" that drives them one way or another, not "people write mean tweets"
December 12, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Right, but people do have agency. Ideally it would be things like "gee life is better when my babysitter doesn't get deported" or "maybe I don't enjoy murders in the Caribbean" that drives them one way or another, not "people write mean tweets"
bro if we taxed the billionaires 90 percent we could afford healthcare AND parental leave AND education for all
I mean come on
I mean come on
December 12, 2025 at 12:14 AM
bro if we taxed the billionaires 90 percent we could afford healthcare AND parental leave AND education for all
I mean come on
I mean come on
Yup. Compare to all the bad faith misinterpretations of anything any Democrats say...
December 10, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Yup. Compare to all the bad faith misinterpretations of anything any Democrats say...
Isn't that exactly what their website says? Or am I missing something?
December 10, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Isn't that exactly what their website says? Or am I missing something?
This place looks the way "Fairytale of New York" sounds 🎄💜✨️
December 9, 2025 at 2:38 PM
This place looks the way "Fairytale of New York" sounds 🎄💜✨️
Here's one in stained glass!
December 9, 2025 at 4:43 AM
Here's one in stained glass!
Not to belabor the point, but once you spend enough time with books like this, the little stamps don't seem quite so obnoxious...
www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
December 7, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Not to belabor the point, but once you spend enough time with books like this, the little stamps don't seem quite so obnoxious...
www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
That's an adorable beehive, and now that I have googled Saint Ambrose + beehives it's even better 🍯🐝
December 7, 2025 at 3:12 PM
That's an adorable beehive, and now that I have googled Saint Ambrose + beehives it's even better 🍯🐝
Honestly that's a well done stamp, because it doesn't cover any figures or animals, but it does make sure nobody with a knife would just steal the illumination, which happened a whole lot early on.
December 7, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Honestly that's a well done stamp, because it doesn't cover any figures or animals, but it does make sure nobody with a knife would just steal the illumination, which happened a whole lot early on.
Insider memo: Jeffries isn't the best for this role
December 3, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Insider memo: Jeffries isn't the best for this role
Oh! In that case you're thinking of the regular installation. Still there any time you can come back to NYC!
December 3, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Oh! In that case you're thinking of the regular installation. Still there any time you can come back to NYC!
The booklet was supposed to be a special exhibition catalogue; the show itself was scheduled for 2020 and canceled due to the pandemic, but at least the little book was published 🦄
December 3, 2025 at 5:34 PM
The booklet was supposed to be a special exhibition catalogue; the show itself was scheduled for 2020 and canceled due to the pandemic, but at least the little book was published 🦄
They also published this lovely booklet a few years ago, free to download:
www.metmuseum.org/met-publicat...
www.metmuseum.org/met-publicat...
A Blessing of Unicorns: The Paris and Cloisters Tapestries - The Metropolitan Museum of Art
This Bulletin examines the fascinating stories behind the only known sets of unicorn tapestries in the world—one at The Met Cloisters and another at the Musée de Cluny, Paris. The thirteen tapestries ...
www.metmuseum.org
December 3, 2025 at 5:33 PM
They also published this lovely booklet a few years ago, free to download:
www.metmuseum.org/met-publicat...
www.metmuseum.org/met-publicat...
It's both, FWIW -- the original tapestries are in the Cloisters permanent collection and always on view, but they also did a special exhibition on Unicorns in 2013:
www.metmuseum.org/press-releas...
www.metmuseum.org/press-releas...
Exhibition on Unicorns in Medieval and Renaissance Art Marks 75th Anniversary of The Cloisters
May 15–August 18, 2013 - The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Met presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world for everyone to experience and enjoy.
www.metmuseum.org
December 3, 2025 at 5:31 PM
It's both, FWIW -- the original tapestries are in the Cloisters permanent collection and always on view, but they also did a special exhibition on Unicorns in 2013:
www.metmuseum.org/press-releas...
www.metmuseum.org/press-releas...
Right?! And they also seem to believe they couldn't possibly lose political support over this? Or at least they act that way...?
December 1, 2025 at 2:39 AM
Right?! And they also seem to believe they couldn't possibly lose political support over this? Or at least they act that way...?
I grew up in a random American suburb, but was always a medievalist too. Looking back it was all really obvious, from an obsession with Robin Hood to reading Tolkien to begging my AP English teacher not to skip Beowulf. Then I realized how much medieval art has survived and that was that 🦄🏰⚔️
December 1, 2025 at 12:03 AM
I grew up in a random American suburb, but was always a medievalist too. Looking back it was all really obvious, from an obsession with Robin Hood to reading Tolkien to begging my AP English teacher not to skip Beowulf. Then I realized how much medieval art has survived and that was that 🦄🏰⚔️
On one level, I do understand this. On another level, I don't quite know what the process would look like for accountability, what it means that the JAGs are effectively disbanded now, etc., if Trump can just pardon them, etc. etc. Like, okay what are the next steps
November 30, 2025 at 10:23 PM
On one level, I do understand this. On another level, I don't quite know what the process would look like for accountability, what it means that the JAGs are effectively disbanded now, etc., if Trump can just pardon them, etc. etc. Like, okay what are the next steps