Dr. Ishaan
@reluctantmicroblog.bsky.social
Literary scholar for my sins
English and Cultural Studies PhD
Animal studies, Marxism, indie rock, cinema
https://ishaanselby.owlstown.net/
https://bandcamp.com/edsays
https://letterboxd.com/edsays/
English and Cultural Studies PhD
Animal studies, Marxism, indie rock, cinema
https://ishaanselby.owlstown.net/
https://bandcamp.com/edsays
https://letterboxd.com/edsays/
Pinned
Pub thread:
I write about animals, capitalism, race, and gender& sexuality
I write about animals, capitalism, race, and gender& sexuality
Get my ass
Never ask postdocs what they'll be doing next year, that's considered terribly offensive in their culture.
February 13, 2026 at 4:19 PM
Get my ass
Reposted by Dr. Ishaan
Mellon currently has the humanities held hostage, and is threatening to kill one humanity an hour unless its demands are met: one million dollars in small, un-marked bills; a helicopter; and guarantee of a five-percent increase in hiring of under-represented scholars over the next ten years.
February 13, 2026 at 2:06 PM
Mellon currently has the humanities held hostage, and is threatening to kill one humanity an hour unless its demands are met: one million dollars in small, un-marked bills; a helicopter; and guarantee of a five-percent increase in hiring of under-represented scholars over the next ten years.
Reposted by Dr. Ishaan
The Mellon Foundation trained me in the art of the sword; she taught me how to love, and how to kill in the name of second-wave feminism. The Mellon Foundation taught me the Weirding Way; my name became a killing word (my name is "Intersectionality").
February 13, 2026 at 1:55 PM
The Mellon Foundation trained me in the art of the sword; she taught me how to love, and how to kill in the name of second-wave feminism. The Mellon Foundation taught me the Weirding Way; my name became a killing word (my name is "Intersectionality").
"Politics does not reflect majorities, it constructs them."— Stuart Hall
The art of politics is not to do what people think. If it was, there literally wouldn’t be any politics. The art of politics is to convert public opinion in the direction of your policies. Not so subordinate your policies to opinion.
February 13, 2026 at 4:31 AM
"Politics does not reflect majorities, it constructs them."— Stuart Hall
If other people with lots of money want to fund the humanities please be my guest
February 13, 2026 at 2:29 AM
If other people with lots of money want to fund the humanities please be my guest
I remember reading a bunch of dumb articles in Jan '25 about how Cool the Right is and that's basically been disproven like everyday since then
My latest premium newsletter piece is about the conservative obsession with their own cultural impotence.
No War but Culture War
The right holds political power, but for them that's never enough
stringinamaze.net
February 13, 2026 at 1:31 AM
I remember reading a bunch of dumb articles in Jan '25 about how Cool the Right is and that's basically been disproven like everyday since then
Reposted by Dr. Ishaan
How much do you have to hate yourself to even read this article?
February 13, 2026 at 1:07 AM
How much do you have to hate yourself to even read this article?
The dog in Marty Supreme was *acting*
Up there with the Good Boy dog and the Anatomy of a Fall dog tbh
Give that dog an Oscar
Up there with the Good Boy dog and the Anatomy of a Fall dog tbh
Give that dog an Oscar
February 12, 2026 at 11:05 PM
The dog in Marty Supreme was *acting*
Up there with the Good Boy dog and the Anatomy of a Fall dog tbh
Give that dog an Oscar
Up there with the Good Boy dog and the Anatomy of a Fall dog tbh
Give that dog an Oscar
WeRateDogs guy doing a great reading of the political logics of the Ring lost dog ad and how dogs in media are used to cover over oppressive political projects.
I wrote about this is a bit in my essay on PAW Patrol and robot dogs in Gaza: humanimalia.org/article/view...
I wrote about this is a bit in my essay on PAW Patrol and robot dogs in Gaza: humanimalia.org/article/view...
February 12, 2026 at 4:29 PM
WeRateDogs guy doing a great reading of the political logics of the Ring lost dog ad and how dogs in media are used to cover over oppressive political projects.
I wrote about this is a bit in my essay on PAW Patrol and robot dogs in Gaza: humanimalia.org/article/view...
I wrote about this is a bit in my essay on PAW Patrol and robot dogs in Gaza: humanimalia.org/article/view...
"How revealing, then, that the New York Times staffer David Brooks recently suggested that literary fiction has been declining in quality, because of its supposed progressivism... Given Brooks’s lament, we must ask: Is the cissexual literary world okay?" 👏
Davis & Byron exalt real friends above other concepts of love. Not a cult, nor the cult of the couple-form is what is most needed for flourishing; rather, what these novels call for is friend-love—beyond even the mutual mothering-imperative—without an onus to heal www.publicbooks.org/is-the-cis-l...
Is the Cis Literary World Okay? - Public Books
Contemporary trans literature is thriving in a highly freewheeling manner… How revealing, then, that David Brooks recently suggested that literary fiction has been declining in quality.
www.publicbooks.org
February 12, 2026 at 3:18 PM
"How revealing, then, that the New York Times staffer David Brooks recently suggested that literary fiction has been declining in quality, because of its supposed progressivism... Given Brooks’s lament, we must ask: Is the cissexual literary world okay?" 👏
Reposted by Dr. Ishaan
‼️‼️‼️ Canadians and residents of Canada!‼️‼️‼️
petition to ban Canadian companies from working with ICE and from ICE operating in Canada
Sign & share!
www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en...
petition to ban Canadian companies from working with ICE and from ICE operating in Canada
Sign & share!
www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en...
Petition e-7146 - Petitions
www.ourcommons.ca
February 12, 2026 at 2:59 PM
‼️‼️‼️ Canadians and residents of Canada!‼️‼️‼️
petition to ban Canadian companies from working with ICE and from ICE operating in Canada
Sign & share!
www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en...
petition to ban Canadian companies from working with ICE and from ICE operating in Canada
Sign & share!
www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en...
one of the tragically correct books of our time
Of course, the politicians and pundits who push homeschooling as a path to security (or salvation) don't care about mixing up correlation and causation. They only care about dismantling public infrastructure and forcing women to be our safety net instead.
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/697130...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/697130...
Holding It Together by Jessica Calarco: 9780593538128 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
Other countries have social safety nets. The U.S. has women. Holding It Together chronicles the causes and dire consequences. America runs on women—women who are tasked with holding society...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com
February 12, 2026 at 1:56 PM
one of the tragically correct books of our time
Reposted by Dr. Ishaan
first time in new york since zohran took office and other than having to recite the shahada on arrival at laguardia nothing much has changed
February 12, 2026 at 1:28 PM
first time in new york since zohran took office and other than having to recite the shahada on arrival at laguardia nothing much has changed
Reposted by Dr. Ishaan
I'm going to try this when students ask me hellishly difficult questions like "what is the rationale behind Plato's geometric number for human sexual reproduction"
The question for Baghdad Bondi was, how many of Epstein’s co-conspirators and pedophiles have you indicted or investigated?
Answer: The Dow is over $50K.
Answer: The Dow is over $50K.
February 12, 2026 at 1:35 PM
I'm going to try this when students ask me hellishly difficult questions like "what is the rationale behind Plato's geometric number for human sexual reproduction"
Reposted by Dr. Ishaan
Few people realize how important it is to write cryptic words on whiteboards with dried-out markers. It makes students pay attention and increases the kind of mystique necessary for true learning to occur.
February 11, 2026 at 6:35 PM
Few people realize how important it is to write cryptic words on whiteboards with dried-out markers. It makes students pay attention and increases the kind of mystique necessary for true learning to occur.
Reposted by Dr. Ishaan
Re: the lost dog ad. The family dog has, at least since the late 1940s, occupied an in between space for the American family. It is loved like a child. Or, better, loving it is proof of the child's innocence. But that love carries with it the threat of violence, of the rabid dog and a return to...
February 11, 2026 at 9:54 PM
Re: the lost dog ad. The family dog has, at least since the late 1940s, occupied an in between space for the American family. It is loved like a child. Or, better, loving it is proof of the child's innocence. But that love carries with it the threat of violence, of the rabid dog and a return to...
Reposted by Dr. Ishaan
AI simply cannot stand in front of a classroom, gesticulating wildly and writing semi-illegibly on chalkboards, both of which are key to building rapport and convincing your students you are worth learning from
If people think AI can replace historians and political scientists, I have a bridge on the Thames to sell you.
February 11, 2026 at 4:53 PM
AI simply cannot stand in front of a classroom, gesticulating wildly and writing semi-illegibly on chalkboards, both of which are key to building rapport and convincing your students you are worth learning from
When Mr. Wonder Years said "I'm just so tired" I felt that
February 11, 2026 at 9:09 PM
When Mr. Wonder Years said "I'm just so tired" I felt that
Reposted by Dr. Ishaan
Emerald Fennell they are obliterating your ass on Sesame Street. They're telling kids to eat veggies in the new movie "Wuthering Bites" by Ruby Rutabaga.
February 11, 2026 at 6:08 PM
Emerald Fennell they are obliterating your ass on Sesame Street. They're telling kids to eat veggies in the new movie "Wuthering Bites" by Ruby Rutabaga.
Reposted by Dr. Ishaan
Something interesting in that the dystopian Ring camera is marketed as a tool to find dogs
Playing on the sentimental attachment to dogs in public culture
Playing on the sentimental attachment to dogs in public culture
February 11, 2026 at 2:02 PM
Something interesting in that the dystopian Ring camera is marketed as a tool to find dogs
Playing on the sentimental attachment to dogs in public culture
Playing on the sentimental attachment to dogs in public culture
Pub thread:
I write about animals, capitalism, race, and gender& sexuality
I write about animals, capitalism, race, and gender& sexuality
February 11, 2026 at 1:58 PM
Pub thread:
I write about animals, capitalism, race, and gender& sexuality
I write about animals, capitalism, race, and gender& sexuality