Sarah Cooley
@sarahcooley.bsky.social
Doctoral student at Kellogg College, Oxford, reading for DPhil in English Local History. Early Modernist.
Cat Servant
Fuelled by coffee
Views my own
Cat Servant
Fuelled by coffee
Views my own
Had a really good day writing today. Fingers crossed I can be similarly successful tomorrow.
November 21, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Had a really good day writing today. Fingers crossed I can be similarly successful tomorrow.
WTAF
I've said it before and I will say it again many times, people using "AI" to design and deliver 'teaching' to students, to mark their work, and in this case to (!) generate literal voice overs are risking their jobs, and frankly they *should* be at risk if they do this sort of thing:
‘We could have asked ChatGPT’: students fight back over course taught by AI
Staffordshire students say signs material was AI-generated included suspicious file names and rogue voiceover accent
www.theguardian.com
November 21, 2025 at 7:46 PM
WTAF
The bottom pic is a bit what my garden is like.
Teeming with wildlife and lovely flowers.
Teeming with wildlife and lovely flowers.
November 21, 2025 at 7:37 PM
The bottom pic is a bit what my garden is like.
Teeming with wildlife and lovely flowers.
Teeming with wildlife and lovely flowers.
Yay :)
www.worldturnedupsidedown.co.uk/product/the-... published today, a fantastic teaching resource and a super Xmas present. With contributions from @annlaurahughes.bsky.social @isminipells.bsky.social @waseemahmed98.bsky.social @denisegreany.bsky.social Richard Cust, Andy Hopper (Ed.) Oh, and me.
The civil wars in 100 objects - The World Turned Upside Down
The civil wars that took place between 1638 and 1651, and their aftermath, were the most destabilising conflicts that the British and Irish peoples have ever endured. During these times everyday peop...
www.worldturnedupsidedown.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Yay :)
😍
November 10, 2025 at 1:15 PM
😍
I spent most of this afternoon trying (and failing) to write more of my chapter. So about 4pm, I went for a walk round my local churchyard.
I shouldn't be surprised at what a bit of #Nature can do: I came home, cooked tea, and have just had the best 3 hours work.
#AllSaintsDay #EcoChurch #Thesis
I shouldn't be surprised at what a bit of #Nature can do: I came home, cooked tea, and have just had the best 3 hours work.
#AllSaintsDay #EcoChurch #Thesis
November 1, 2025 at 10:20 PM
I spent most of this afternoon trying (and failing) to write more of my chapter. So about 4pm, I went for a walk round my local churchyard.
I shouldn't be surprised at what a bit of #Nature can do: I came home, cooked tea, and have just had the best 3 hours work.
#AllSaintsDay #EcoChurch #Thesis
I shouldn't be surprised at what a bit of #Nature can do: I came home, cooked tea, and have just had the best 3 hours work.
#AllSaintsDay #EcoChurch #Thesis
Reposted by Sarah Cooley
A reminder in case you haven't yet voted in the National Trust elections
If you're a National Trust member, it's that time of year again: Midnight tonight is the deadline. It's a shame people have to keep doing this to keep a toehold on historical truth in this country, but here we are. Voting link: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...
![[Scene is the entrance cabin to a NATIONAL TRUST PROPERTY AND GARDENS]
1
NATIONAL TRUST EMPLOYEE [inside cabin]:
Hello there
2
[A young family - two parents two kids - have arrived at the front desk].
DAD:
Hi - do you have an activity trail, for the kids?
3
NT EMPLOYEE:
Of course – you’re just in time for the Autumn Gammon Trail!
4
MUM:
That sounds fun, doesn’t it kids?
5
NT EMPLOYEE [handing an activity sheet and pencils to the kids]:
Every autumn, the Reform Trust gammons flock back to the National Trust for the AGM. Just follow the trail round the grounds, and see how many you can spot!
6
NT EMPLOYEE [hearing something in the gardens]:
Listen - that's their call
[Calls emanating from the landscape]:
tut-tut
woke-woke
7
NT EMPLOYEE [showing the family an apparently empty fenced enclosure with some bushes in]:
They are extremely sensitive and fragile...
But you can bring them out of hiding if you put a little sign down mentioning slavery.
8
KIDS [pointing]:
There they are!
[Some little red faced PEOPLE wearing Barbour jackets and gilets emerge cautiously from the bushes. They are creeping towards a TINY SIGN in the middle of the enclosure].
[Little people noises]:
woke-woke
tut-tut
woke-woke
9
[Close-up of the TINY SIGN - we can read that it says]:
Slavery had a bit to do with building this massive house.
[Noises from the little people again as they inspect the tiny sign]:
tut-tut
woke-woke
10
MUM [pointing]:
What's that one doing there?
NT EMPLOYEE:
Oh, that's so sweet…
11
[We see that one of the people is sat on a rock, with a little laptop open on a tree stump, and they are furiously typing away].
NT EMPLOYEE:
I think he's writing a column for the Daily Telegraph…
12
[We see close up to the little person’s screen, it is a word document reading]:
Are National Trust scones secretly WOKE?
[ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreib7lt736b6rmzinml5s7kxjdaapo2a36xp4d4lssypimx3taqicdm@jpeg)
October 31, 2025 at 1:57 PM
A reminder in case you haven't yet voted in the National Trust elections
On the 89th anniversary here is some appropriate listening.
youtu.be/AKhAlsXgOy8?...
youtu.be/AKhAlsXgOy8?...
Cable Street
YouTube video by The Young'uns - Topic
youtu.be
October 4, 2025 at 12:25 PM
On the 89th anniversary here is some appropriate listening.
youtu.be/AKhAlsXgOy8?...
youtu.be/AKhAlsXgOy8?...
Reposted by Sarah Cooley
“Too often people go to university to ‘explore research and knowledge’.”
- business secretary, Peter Kyle.
What do they want knowledge for? Heaven forbid that students go to university to learn something!
- business secretary, Peter Kyle.
What do they want knowledge for? Heaven forbid that students go to university to learn something!
British students lack ‘drive’ of their American peers, says Business Secretary | LBC
The Business Secretary has defended comments he made at a meeting with investors where he said British students lack the ‘drive’ and ‘vigour’ of their American peers.
www.lbc.co.uk
September 19, 2025 at 9:54 AM
“Too often people go to university to ‘explore research and knowledge’.”
- business secretary, Peter Kyle.
What do they want knowledge for? Heaven forbid that students go to university to learn something!
- business secretary, Peter Kyle.
What do they want knowledge for? Heaven forbid that students go to university to learn something!
Seen across on the "other" site. This is the academic vibe I like. #NosyBitch
September 5, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Seen across on the "other" site. This is the academic vibe I like. #NosyBitch
Reposted by Sarah Cooley
j.r.r. tolkien, the return of the king
September 4, 2025 at 3:23 PM
j.r.r. tolkien, the return of the king
🤣🤣
August 16, 2025 at 10:28 PM
🤣🤣
The Ship of the Fens. A magnificent place.
August 16, 2025 at 10:16 PM
The Ship of the Fens. A magnificent place.
For #InternationalCatDay here is Dotty just chillin'
I send my youngest a photo of the cat every day, as she is working away and she misses her.
So this is also a #DailyDotty
I send my youngest a photo of the cat every day, as she is working away and she misses her.
So this is also a #DailyDotty
August 8, 2025 at 11:26 AM
For #InternationalCatDay here is Dotty just chillin'
I send my youngest a photo of the cat every day, as she is working away and she misses her.
So this is also a #DailyDotty
I send my youngest a photo of the cat every day, as she is working away and she misses her.
So this is also a #DailyDotty
Boston Stump: Visible for miles against the big Lincolnshire horizon.
Interior view of the ‘Boston Stump’ - the west tower of St. Botolph’s Church at Boston in Lincolnshire. Mostly 15th century in date, the tower rises to a height of some 272 feet. 📸 My own. #MedievalMonday #BostonStump #Lincolnshire
July 21, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Boston Stump: Visible for miles against the big Lincolnshire horizon.
A definite childhood memory, we didn't do much in the way of holidays but I remember the summer comics.
When they bought you the bumper summer edition for the journey
(Talkabout Holidays, 1977)
Artist: Robert Ayton
(Talkabout Holidays, 1977)
Artist: Robert Ayton
July 21, 2025 at 8:24 PM
A definite childhood memory, we didn't do much in the way of holidays but I remember the summer comics.
Reposted by Sarah Cooley
“keep politics out of kids movies”
disney in 1973:
disney in 1973:
July 20, 2025 at 2:30 AM
“keep politics out of kids movies”
disney in 1973:
disney in 1973:
Reposted by Sarah Cooley
"Archives are not inert historical collections. They always stand in an active, dialogic, relation to the questions which the presents puts to the past; and the present always puts its questions differently from one generation to another."
Stuart Hall, "Constituting an archive"
Stuart Hall, "Constituting an archive"
July 13, 2025 at 7:30 AM
"Archives are not inert historical collections. They always stand in an active, dialogic, relation to the questions which the presents puts to the past; and the present always puts its questions differently from one generation to another."
Stuart Hall, "Constituting an archive"
Stuart Hall, "Constituting an archive"
True - but it is even better is when it is asked as a question?
Permission is always needed to use the Big Light.
Permission is always needed to use the Big Light.
“Any use of the Big Light must be preceded by clearly stating: ‘I’m putting the Big Light on’ in order that others present may not be startled by sudden return to stark reality.”😄
‘The Big Light is used only to find the switch for The Little Light.’
🤣🤣
🤣🤣
February 13, 2025 at 2:26 PM
True - but it is even better is when it is asked as a question?
Permission is always needed to use the Big Light.
Permission is always needed to use the Big Light.
Reposted by Sarah Cooley
From 21 February @royalhistsoc.bsky.social will be closing and archiving its X account.
From this date all updates from the Society - and its promotion of work by fellow organisations for #history and the humanities - will be via BlueSky.
Please encourage colleagues to join us here #skystorians
From this date all updates from the Society - and its promotion of work by fellow organisations for #history and the humanities - will be via BlueSky.
Please encourage colleagues to join us here #skystorians
February 11, 2025 at 7:46 AM
From 21 February @royalhistsoc.bsky.social will be closing and archiving its X account.
From this date all updates from the Society - and its promotion of work by fellow organisations for #history and the humanities - will be via BlueSky.
Please encourage colleagues to join us here #skystorians
From this date all updates from the Society - and its promotion of work by fellow organisations for #history and the humanities - will be via BlueSky.
Please encourage colleagues to join us here #skystorians
Definitely, I have a great insufficiency!
January 26, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Definitely, I have a great insufficiency!
This is the motivation I needed today - thank you
How to write: Stop not writing. Keep your butt in the chair. Write really bad small sections of the whole—passages, moments, episodes, memories—til you have an incredibly shitty 1st draft. Then take out the boring parts, the lies and pretensions. Then write a better 2nd draft.
January 7, 2025 at 3:22 PM
This is the motivation I needed today - thank you
Reposted by Sarah Cooley
Thought for the day....
The Hymn "O Jesus I Have Promised"
Can be sung beautifully to The Muppets theme tune.
You're welcome to that ear worm.
The Hymn "O Jesus I Have Promised"
Can be sung beautifully to The Muppets theme tune.
You're welcome to that ear worm.
December 11, 2024 at 9:23 AM
Thought for the day....
The Hymn "O Jesus I Have Promised"
Can be sung beautifully to The Muppets theme tune.
You're welcome to that ear worm.
The Hymn "O Jesus I Have Promised"
Can be sung beautifully to The Muppets theme tune.
You're welcome to that ear worm.