Shannon McSheffrey
@medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
Professor of Medieval History, Concordia U, Montreal; president of the Canadian Society of Medievalists, 2024-26. Spend most waking hours thinking about London riots early 16thc., Dutch immigrants, sex, gender, and the like. Knitster. She/her.
Reposted by Shannon McSheffrey
Really disturbed seeing my high school do this.
Last week an indigenous student at my local high school was suspended for an Insta post strongly criticizing Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Read & sign if you think the school has no business policing students’ political views (or language on social media…)
openletter.earth/petition-to-...
openletter.earth/petition-to-...
Petition to revoke the suspension of Sunny Picard
openletter.earth
November 8, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Really disturbed seeing my high school do this.
Last week an indigenous student at my local high school was suspended for an Insta post strongly criticizing Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Read & sign if you think the school has no business policing students’ political views (or language on social media…)
openletter.earth/petition-to-...
openletter.earth/petition-to-...
Petition to revoke the suspension of Sunny Picard
openletter.earth
November 8, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Last week an indigenous student at my local high school was suspended for an Insta post strongly criticizing Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Read & sign if you think the school has no business policing students’ political views (or language on social media…)
openletter.earth/petition-to-...
openletter.earth/petition-to-...
Reposted by Shannon McSheffrey
Can’t stop thinking about all the robber baron fucks that held secret meetings and spent MILLIONS AND MILLIONS in bribes and campaign investments and attack ads and media manipulation trying to tank Mamdani currently having the dawning realization that their money is completely and utterly useless.
November 5, 2025 at 2:25 AM
Can’t stop thinking about all the robber baron fucks that held secret meetings and spent MILLIONS AND MILLIONS in bribes and campaign investments and attack ads and media manipulation trying to tank Mamdani currently having the dawning realization that their money is completely and utterly useless.
Reposted by Shannon McSheffrey
One of the main architects of our present descent, and just because he didn’t like where things headed doesn’t mean the he ever took responsibility, much less faced justice for his crimes.
Dick Cheney, one of the most polarizing vice presidents in US history, has died. bloom.bg/4oqCbR4
November 4, 2025 at 11:53 AM
One of the main architects of our present descent, and just because he didn’t like where things headed doesn’t mean the he ever took responsibility, much less faced justice for his crimes.
Reposted by Shannon McSheffrey
I have never in my life encountered a more bespoke internet meme.
#CalvinAndHobbes #VoynichManuscript #Medievalsky
#CalvinAndHobbes #VoynichManuscript #Medievalsky
November 3, 2025 at 11:47 PM
I have never in my life encountered a more bespoke internet meme.
#CalvinAndHobbes #VoynichManuscript #Medievalsky
#CalvinAndHobbes #VoynichManuscript #Medievalsky
Reposted by Shannon McSheffrey
You laugh, but this is how the exododus went extinct
November 3, 2025 at 3:36 PM
You laugh, but this is how the exododus went extinct
Reposted by Shannon McSheffrey
If our economic system is so brittle that it can be destroyed by free buses, maybe we should try for something more resilient.
Holy crap, WP. “The young politician was born into a life of wealth and privilege, and from that perch he adopted a worldview centered around destroying the economic system that made his adopted country thrive.” www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | Zohran Mamdani’s success is a warning
How did a socialist with almost no governing experience become New York’s mayoral frontrunner?
www.washingtonpost.com
November 3, 2025 at 5:04 PM
If our economic system is so brittle that it can be destroyed by free buses, maybe we should try for something more resilient.
Il est encore temps de vous inscrire pour écouter Laura Moncion parler des reclus médiévaux !
Mercredi à 11 h EST sur Zoom, 👇
Mercredi à 11 h EST sur Zoom, 👇
La SCM en ligne : le mercredi 5 novembre 2025 à 11 h (heure de l'Est) on écoute Laura Moncion, lauréate du prix Boyle 2025, parler de sa thèse intitulée « Being a Recluse is No Small Thing: Late Medieval Women’s Reclusion in Theory and Practice ».
Inscription : forms.gle/n6LJh7JYKvRD...
Inscription : forms.gle/n6LJh7JYKvRD...
Laura Moncion – Boyle Prize Presentation / Colloque du prix Boyle - REGISTRATION / INSCRIPTION
On 5 Nov. 2025 at 11h00 (EST), the Canadian Society of Medievalists will hold its second annual Boyle Prize Online Presentation, when Laura Moncion, the winner of the Society's Leonard E. Boyle Prize ...
forms.gle
November 3, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Il est encore temps de vous inscrire pour écouter Laura Moncion parler des reclus médiévaux !
Mercredi à 11 h EST sur Zoom, 👇
Mercredi à 11 h EST sur Zoom, 👇
There's still time to register to hear Laura Moncion talk about medieval recluses!
Wednesday at 11 EST on Zoom, 👇
Wednesday at 11 EST on Zoom, 👇
The CSM Online: Tune in Wednesday 5 Nov. 2025, at 11am EST to hear 2025 Boyle Prize Winner Laura Moncion talk about her dissertation, "Being a Recluse is No Small Thing: Late Medieval Women’s Reclusion in Theory and Practice."
Register for the Zoom link: forms.gle/n6LJh7JYKvRD...
Register for the Zoom link: forms.gle/n6LJh7JYKvRD...
Laura Moncion – Boyle Prize Presentation / Colloque du prix Boyle - REGISTRATION / INSCRIPTION
On 5 Nov. 2025 at 11h00 (EST), the Canadian Society of Medievalists will hold its second annual Boyle Prize Online Presentation, when Laura Moncion, the winner of the Society's Leonard E. Boyle Prize ...
forms.gle
November 3, 2025 at 2:49 PM
There's still time to register to hear Laura Moncion talk about medieval recluses!
Wednesday at 11 EST on Zoom, 👇
Wednesday at 11 EST on Zoom, 👇
Reposted by Shannon McSheffrey
I don't care about hockey in the slightest, but Vladdy Guerrero Jr. walking into Game 7 of the World Series rocking a Marie-Philip Poulin jersey makes my heart swell like the damn Grinch's on Christmas.
November 1, 2025 at 8:34 PM
I don't care about hockey in the slightest, but Vladdy Guerrero Jr. walking into Game 7 of the World Series rocking a Marie-Philip Poulin jersey makes my heart swell like the damn Grinch's on Christmas.
Reposted by Shannon McSheffrey
If you have or have had Tri-Council funding you, too, may be concerned about this Parliamentary Committee request for confidential data.
Also, these clowns asked for 5 years of data on applications from everyone from MA students to Canada Research Chairs in... an excel spreadsheet. 15 days notice.
Also, these clowns asked for 5 years of data on applications from everyone from MA students to Canada Research Chairs in... an excel spreadsheet. 15 days notice.
Open Letter to Protect Tri-Council EDI Data
Why do we need urgent action to protect our data?
The mandate of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Science and Research is to review and report on topics relating to science and research in ...
docs.google.com
November 2, 2025 at 2:03 AM
If you have or have had Tri-Council funding you, too, may be concerned about this Parliamentary Committee request for confidential data.
Also, these clowns asked for 5 years of data on applications from everyone from MA students to Canada Research Chairs in... an excel spreadsheet. 15 days notice.
Also, these clowns asked for 5 years of data on applications from everyone from MA students to Canada Research Chairs in... an excel spreadsheet. 15 days notice.
Reposted by Shannon McSheffrey
RETALIATORY TARIFF TO THE SHIN
CANADA IS ANGRY
November 2, 2025 at 1:34 AM
RETALIATORY TARIFF TO THE SHIN
Reposted by Shannon McSheffrey
Also open to and important for any Canadian researcher concerned with the Tri-Councils' mandates.
If you are a Canadian scientist 🧪 alarmed by the unfair targeting of academics working on research related to EDI in the US ➡️
Turn your attention to our own House of Commons' Standing Committee on Science and Research and consider signing this open letter:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Turn your attention to our own House of Commons' Standing Committee on Science and Research and consider signing this open letter:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Open Letter to Protect Tri-Council EDI Data
Why do we need urgent action to protect our data?
The mandate of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Science and Research is to review and report on topics relating to science and research in ...
docs.google.com
October 31, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Also open to and important for any Canadian researcher concerned with the Tri-Councils' mandates.
This is a marvellous book: so nuanced and humane www.cundillprize.com/news/lyndal-...
Lyndal Roper wins 2025 Cundill History Prize for Summer of Fire and… | Cundill Prize
Lyndal Roper has been announced as the 2025 winner of the US$75,000 Cundill History Prize for Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants' War
www.cundillprize.com
October 31, 2025 at 11:40 AM
This is a marvellous book: so nuanced and humane www.cundillprize.com/news/lyndal-...
Reposted by Shannon McSheffrey
Notable that the people carrying Trumpism don't act like they believe they're carrying out the will of the public, they act like dictators terrified of a spontaneous uprising so swift and massive it overwhelms their protective services before assistance can arrive.
NEW: Stephen Miller, Marco Rubio, Kristi Noem, and others have taken over military homes that until recently housed senior officers. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
Top Trump Officials Are Moving Onto Military Bases
Stephen Miller, Marco Rubio, Kristi Noem, and others have taken over homes that until recently housed senior officers.
www.theatlantic.com
October 30, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Notable that the people carrying Trumpism don't act like they believe they're carrying out the will of the public, they act like dictators terrified of a spontaneous uprising so swift and massive it overwhelms their protective services before assistance can arrive.
Yes yes yes
"Developing our linguistic capacities — to master diverse concepts, to follow an intricate argument, to form judgments, to communicate those to others — is the development of our capacity to think. Cognitive degradation threatens democratic processes."
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/o...
Opinion | Why Even Basic A.I. Use Is So Bad for Students
www.nytimes.com
October 30, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Yes yes yes
Reposted by Shannon McSheffrey
there are only two genders online: Abelard & Heloise
My thesis is that the far left (and substantial quantities of the far right) want to be monks but have no idea they can just do that, so they're trying to drag us into the monastery too
October 29, 2025 at 5:51 AM
there are only two genders online: Abelard & Heloise
Reposted by Shannon McSheffrey
"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"
October 28, 2025 at 10:46 AM
"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"
Historian here: it can indeed stand the test of time if by time you mean centuries
I've built a socioeconomic system that depends on everyone to do useful work and act ethically except the people at the top, who get unimaginable rewards for being antisocial frauds and criminals. And I think it will stand the test of time
October 29, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Historian here: it can indeed stand the test of time if by time you mean centuries
Reposted by Shannon McSheffrey
Whatever strategy you’re about to suggest, we’ve thought about it. docs.google.com/document/d/1...
ChatGPT Harm Reduction for Writing Assignments
ChatGPT Harm Reduction for Writing Assignments Because this document has escaped containment, a couple points of explanation. I wrote this for myself and a few colleagues as we work out how to handle...
docs.google.com
October 28, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Whatever strategy you’re about to suggest, we’ve thought about it. docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Reposted by Shannon McSheffrey
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
June 19, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
Reposted by Shannon McSheffrey
Our department is hiring! Assistant Professor and Ruby Heap Professorship in Women’s History universityaffairs.ca/search-job/?...
Search Jobs - University Affairs
universityaffairs.ca
September 26, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Our department is hiring! Assistant Professor and Ruby Heap Professorship in Women’s History universityaffairs.ca/search-job/?...
Reposted by Shannon McSheffrey
Dante has a specific section of Hell for people who commit crimes on behalf of a monarch (the pope) knowing the monarch has promised in advance to pardon them.
October 26, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Dante has a specific section of Hell for people who commit crimes on behalf of a monarch (the pope) knowing the monarch has promised in advance to pardon them.
Making sure everything is on the up and up
October 25, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Making sure everything is on the up and up
This is fabulous
I made my students a little “book” (just using Google slides) to show them how you all answered my question about how you take notes for research. Just to show the variety.
How Do Scholars Take Notes?
How do scholars take notes? I like seeing examples of different people’s notetaking, so I asked scholars to show me how they take notes for research.
docs.google.com
October 25, 2025 at 4:31 PM
This is fabulous