Mikhaila Redovian
@mikredovian.bsky.social
UC Davis Ph.D. candidate studying early modern English literature and the oceanic, outdoor enthusiast, pet person, coffee relisher
The seminar is undefeated
There isn't a single problem "solved" by edtech that couldn't be fixed with smaller classes led by well-paid teachers given real academic freedom
December 13, 2025 at 1:08 AM
The seminar is undefeated
Anti-caffeine was in with some colleagues a few years ago and it’s just. Why would I give up the most pleasurable small thing in my morning..? But this is why. Same whole 30 denialism-as-control.
Feels like the US has spent the last 5+ years on the verge of some kind of secular moral revival that keeps getting channeled into weirdo lifestyle puritanism
Cafes across the U.S. are embracing the low- and no-caffeine lifestyle, with options that are a far cry from dusty tea bags and rewarmed decaf. nyti.ms/3XKlqoj
December 11, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Anti-caffeine was in with some colleagues a few years ago and it’s just. Why would I give up the most pleasurable small thing in my morning..? But this is why. Same whole 30 denialism-as-control.
Dissertation chapter ain’t writing itself! Trying to keep chugging with small progress 💪
starting Dec 1st! ie tomorrow!
for structure to eke out pages at a bonkers time of year (that is also a precious writing-est time):
you can do 250 words a day! books get written that way! if more, amazing! if not when grading or festive-ing, that's ok!
check in daily at #acadecawriteathon
for structure to eke out pages at a bonkers time of year (that is also a precious writing-est time):
you can do 250 words a day! books get written that way! if more, amazing! if not when grading or festive-ing, that's ok!
check in daily at #acadecawriteathon
is there a NaNoWriMo but for December and academic/ nonfiction? Should we start it?
December 1, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Dissertation chapter ain’t writing itself! Trying to keep chugging with small progress 💪
Reposted by Mikhaila Redovian
"While other universities report that the humanities are shrinking, at Berkeley, the opposite is true. The music major is the fastest-growing major on campus. We are finding bigger classrooms because film is exploding. English is back to the numbers we saw 15 years ago. We are hiring" bit.ly/4ohKuOe
"The humanities really are a resource — a confidence for living in our times.” Dean Sara Guyer on the modern utility of humanities degrees
This interview originally appeared on the Division of Arts
bit.ly
November 23, 2025 at 3:38 PM
"While other universities report that the humanities are shrinking, at Berkeley, the opposite is true. The music major is the fastest-growing major on campus. We are finding bigger classrooms because film is exploding. English is back to the numbers we saw 15 years ago. We are hiring" bit.ly/4ohKuOe
I had an English professor who taught our class that all writing is political. Signed up for that second major in English the next semester.
November 23, 2025 at 1:14 AM
I had an English professor who taught our class that all writing is political. Signed up for that second major in English the next semester.
I unironically dream of my car being part of one of these campaigns
Not to brag, but we’re pretty confident this is the best sticker on the planet. Get a free "tell your dog i said hi" sticker with every order through December 1st: www.weratedogs.com/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=bf-sale
November 22, 2025 at 7:20 PM
I unironically dream of my car being part of one of these campaigns
See also: the student who asked me "what was your experience living through first wave feminism" when I am ~10 years older than said students.
Just FYI to fellow rapidly aging academics attempting to hold onto cultural references our students understand. College seniors this year were born after all three Lord of the Rings movies.
September 15, 2025 at 3:58 PM
See also: the student who asked me "what was your experience living through first wave feminism" when I am ~10 years older than said students.
Maybe instead of unyoking sciences and the humanities these folks should join a union.
In which a Yale prof calls for jettisoning humanities to make way for science-only universities.
“scientists… are being punished for the sins of [humanities scholars] because we all live under one roof. I cannot see a compelling reason for our continued cohabitation.”
“scientists… are being punished for the sins of [humanities scholars] because we all live under one roof. I cannot see a compelling reason for our continued cohabitation.”
Unyoke the Sciences From the Humanities
Arts and sciences typically cohabitate. Should they?
thedispatch.com
August 13, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Maybe instead of unyoking sciences and the humanities these folks should join a union.
Let me tell you about how often I've explained my English Ph.D. project while wearing my alumni Geology hat in the ~5 days I've been wearing it.
It’s a difficult proposition for undergrads to work through, but choosing a major isn’t really about what kind of jobs you want to do so much as what sorts of questions you want to think about or *how* you want to think about questions throughout your life.
June 8, 2025 at 2:07 AM
Let me tell you about how often I've explained my English Ph.D. project while wearing my alumni Geology hat in the ~5 days I've been wearing it.
Zotero lost all of my notes on a very important text I've been working through, on this, the first real day of Daylight Savings Time. Feels like a sign to just pack it in and go back to bed.
March 10, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Zotero lost all of my notes on a very important text I've been working through, on this, the first real day of Daylight Savings Time. Feels like a sign to just pack it in and go back to bed.
I agree, but will probably not be asking this question quietly.
Later. Later when we can breathe again, I will ask quietly why my colleagues in STEM never marched for devastating cuts to arts and humanities, disciplines that did not need the same recruitment of diverse populations already here.
Now, I will march. Later, I will ask.
Now, I will march. Later, I will ask.
March 6, 2025 at 5:31 PM
I agree, but will probably not be asking this question quietly.
Reposted by Mikhaila Redovian
huge congrats to all the reasonable & evenhanded university presidents who set new records for advance compliance on this, since nobody even had to ask before they all lined up to make dissent into a crime
March 4, 2025 at 3:37 PM
huge congrats to all the reasonable & evenhanded university presidents who set new records for advance compliance on this, since nobody even had to ask before they all lined up to make dissent into a crime
Yay! my favorite Ph.D. sidequest so far (which I also consider one of the more important, designing a cosmopolitan exhibit about the Early Modern era with our library) won an award! Everything is on fire, etc. etc., but this has been a joy! library.ucdavis.edu/graduate-stu...
Grad Prize Winners – UC Davis Library
library.ucdavis.edu
February 21, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Yay! my favorite Ph.D. sidequest so far (which I also consider one of the more important, designing a cosmopolitan exhibit about the Early Modern era with our library) won an award! Everything is on fire, etc. etc., but this has been a joy! library.ucdavis.edu/graduate-stu...
Spouse is reading Paradise Lost for the first time, so I spent last night on the couch listening to him "Oooo" after all of the best parts of Book I (spoiler alert, that's basically all of Book I).
Have I reached peak English Academic??
Have I reached peak English Academic??
February 12, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Spouse is reading Paradise Lost for the first time, so I spent last night on the couch listening to him "Oooo" after all of the best parts of Book I (spoiler alert, that's basically all of Book I).
Have I reached peak English Academic??
Have I reached peak English Academic??
Our department is reorganizing our library space and as a result, I have brought home a host of Austen novels and thus no longer have any excuse to have not read them. Will I turn into a Victorianist? Check back for updates!
January 27, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Our department is reorganizing our library space and as a result, I have brought home a host of Austen novels and thus no longer have any excuse to have not read them. Will I turn into a Victorianist? Check back for updates!
Why is rereading your own writing so cringey? It's almost as bad as hearing your voice recorded 😬
December 3, 2024 at 5:07 PM
Why is rereading your own writing so cringey? It's almost as bad as hearing your voice recorded 😬
Don't worry guys, getting so much "Do not obey in advance" practice fighting my own institution for funding. There's gonna be so much "do no obey in advance-ing" around here
November 21, 2024 at 10:38 PM
Don't worry guys, getting so much "Do not obey in advance" practice fighting my own institution for funding. There's gonna be so much "do no obey in advance-ing" around here
Reposted by Mikhaila Redovian
"If a woman doesn't look woman enough to a Republican, they want to be able to inspect your genitals to use a bathroom? It's disgusting.
Everyone should reject it completely... they're endangering women, they're endangering girls of all kind, and everyone should reject it. It's gross." - AOC
Everyone should reject it completely... they're endangering women, they're endangering girls of all kind, and everyone should reject it. It's gross." - AOC
November 21, 2024 at 2:44 AM
"If a woman doesn't look woman enough to a Republican, they want to be able to inspect your genitals to use a bathroom? It's disgusting.
Everyone should reject it completely... they're endangering women, they're endangering girls of all kind, and everyone should reject it. It's gross." - AOC
Everyone should reject it completely... they're endangering women, they're endangering girls of all kind, and everyone should reject it. It's gross." - AOC
All happy essays are alike; each unhappy essay is unhappy in its own way
I understand the logic for them and sympathize with the profound exhaustion of grading a lot of items with repetitive feedback, but I truly do loath rubrics.
November 20, 2024 at 5:37 PM
All happy essays are alike; each unhappy essay is unhappy in its own way
I go through all the eyeball stabbing of writing and then you tell me there's something WORSE on the other side?! What is this "revising"!?!?!
November 18, 2024 at 10:33 PM
I go through all the eyeball stabbing of writing and then you tell me there's something WORSE on the other side?! What is this "revising"!?!?!
Oh wow, being called out on a Monday with "Nobody is Talking about Form" and "Nobody Talks About Form Anymore"
tag yourself, I'm "it's a dick" 🐳
November 18, 2024 at 5:03 PM
Oh wow, being called out on a Monday with "Nobody is Talking about Form" and "Nobody Talks About Form Anymore"
It's always fun to talk about MEMS here at UC Davis, and it was especially exciting to contribute some thoughts to the L&S magazine about our collaboration with Shields Library Archives and Special Collections in the spring. Archives are a dream! lettersandsciencemag.ucdavis.edu/arts-humanit...
Globalizing the Middle and Early Modern Ages
Scholars in the Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS) program are working to dispel the caricatures of this era by de-centering European history from the discourse and showing how, in fact, much of...
lettersandsciencemag.ucdavis.edu
November 17, 2024 at 7:54 PM
It's always fun to talk about MEMS here at UC Davis, and it was especially exciting to contribute some thoughts to the L&S magazine about our collaboration with Shields Library Archives and Special Collections in the spring. Archives are a dream! lettersandsciencemag.ucdavis.edu/arts-humanit...
Ahh yes, my favorite part of writing where I am so sick of thinking about it that I can cut through distractions basically through spite!
November 14, 2024 at 4:40 PM
Ahh yes, my favorite part of writing where I am so sick of thinking about it that I can cut through distractions basically through spite!
Horrible news discovering that not spending the first and last 30 mins of my day on my phone actually does notably improve my life
November 5, 2024 at 6:43 PM
Horrible news discovering that not spending the first and last 30 mins of my day on my phone actually does notably improve my life
Rat Girl Summer gives way to Rat Girl Fall
A London distributor says thieves posing as a French client stole some $389,000 worth of cheddar. The tight-knit U.K. cheese community is on high alert — and asking people to help sniff out the goods.
Imposters stole thousands of pounds of posh cheddar, rattling the U.K. cheese world
A London distributor says thieves posing as a French client stole some $389,000 worth of cheddar. The tight-knit U.K. cheese community is on high alert — and asking people to help sniff out the goods.
www.npr.org
October 29, 2024 at 5:49 PM
Rat Girl Summer gives way to Rat Girl Fall