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Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)

@travisclau.bsky.social

5.4K followers 6.1K following 490 posts

(he/him/his) Assistant Professor + Poet @ Kenyon: c18/c19 British Literature/History of Medicine (immunity and vaccination)/Health Humanities/Disability Studies travisclau.com

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Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴) @travisclau.bsky.social · Jul 31

It's officially release day for WHAT'S LEFT IS TENDER, a book that I truly didn't think I had it in me to write: www.smallharborpublishing.com/books/whats-...

What's Left is Tender by Travis Chi Wing Lau — Small Harbor Publishing

www.smallharborpublishing.com

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Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)

Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 1d

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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The Second Mrs. de ShinyGoth👻 @ghostingdani.bsky.social · 18h

I'm in the newspaper again!

(I did not write this editorial I'm just quoted in it) www.theshorthorn.com/opinion/edit...

Editorial: Book bans harm students’ education

Students can benefit from learning about experiences different than their own.

www.theshorthorn.com

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Evan Narcisse @evnarc.bsky.social · 14h

Y'know, when people have asked me about my dream game, I've always said a runaway slave + Underground Railroad project or something set in or around the Haitian Revolution.

Someone somewhere is already taking this on and infusing the work with all the courage that the subject matter deserves.

Stephen Totilo @stephentotilo.bsky.social · 18h

SCOOP: Last year, Ubisoft cancelled an Assassin's Creed game set during Reconstruction. Was to feature a Black Assassin who, among other things, fought the rise of the Klan

Sources: Leadership nixed it over concerns re: U.S. political climate, backlash to Yasuke

www.gamefile.news/p/scoop-ubis...

Scoop: Ubisoft cancelled a post-Civil War Assassin’s Creed last year

Company leadership deemed the project too controversial for the moment, sources tell Game File

www.gamefile.news

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Holly Bird @holly-bird.bsky.social · 16h

Loved listening to @saranahmed.bsky.social speak so movingly and poetically about some of the ideas behind her new book this evening at @lighthousebks.bsky.social

Book ‘No Is Not a Lonely Utterance’ by Sara Ahmed held in front of a bookshelf

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$fractalecho.bsky.social$

Rua M. Williams @fractalecho.bsky.social · 15h

Disabling Intelligences: Legacies of Eugenics and How We are Wrong about AI is now available in physical form! link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Cover of Disabling Intelligences, a dark pink book with orange vines.

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Victoria Strauss @victoriastrauss.com · 21h

Scam alert: there's an IngramSpark impersonator at ingramsparkbookpublishers dot com. Part of a wave of publishing/ghostwriting scams from Pakistan that hijack authors looking to self-publish--they often "borrow" well-known publisher names but this one also "borrows" the real IngramSpark's logo

Screenshot of IngramSpark impersonator's contact form, with chat window where scammer sales rep "Travis Clark" claims that "We are Ingram Spark's hands-on services department. You will be able to find our information here: https://www.ingramsparkbookpublishers.com/

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Sanho Tree @sanho.bsky.social · 14h

“A study, published on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that last season’s 2024–2025 mRNA COVID vaccines reduced people’s risk of emergency department visits by 29 percent, their risk of hospitalizations by 39 percent and their risk of death by 64 percent.”

Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 16h

A new study shows that receiving an updated COVID vaccine reduced people’s risk of severe disease and death in all age groups, regardless of immunity from prior infection or vaccination

Annual COVID Vaccines Save Lives, New Study Shows

A new study shows that receiving an updated COVID vaccine reduced people’s risk of severe disease and death in all age groups, regardless of immunity from prior infection or vaccination

www.scientificamerican.com

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 15h

repost this if an editor has ever saved you from yourself

violent alien @blipstress.bsky.social · 15h

An actual hot take: Too many authors are afraid of editors watering down their voice or whatever and not afraid enough of editors letting you put any old slop on the page.

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Ashley C. Ford @smashfizzle.bsky.social · 1d

Nick Clegg argues lack of fairness because it’s impossible for him to win the game if he has to follow the rules.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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Reposted by Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴)

Matthew Kirschenbaum @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · 21h

Virginia State Senate Dems just brought down fire and fury regarding the “Compact,” notifying the President and Rector that UVA would lose ALL STATE APPROPRIATIONS if it signs and cedes the University to “federal political control.” Notably, their letter directly restates points made here by @siva.

Siva @sivav.bsky.social · 23h

The “compact” for higher ed is an unserious document written by unserious people from a position of spectacular ignorance. No one should take it seriously. Sadly, my bosses are taking it seriously.

newrepublic.com/article/2013...

Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down

How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education

newrepublic.com

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Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴) @travisclau.bsky.social · 22h

I don't always have moments in my creative practice where I feel like I arrived at the project I believed in, but this one felt right as a culmination of learning and of trusting a process of making. Thank you to those who have supported me in this work.

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Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴) @travisclau.bsky.social · 22h

Been just over two months of this book in the world. I'm grateful to so many of you who have welcomed it with such love and generosity.

Still have signed copies if any folks would like one!

Stacks of copies of my book, What's Left Is Tender, in a box.

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Rebecca Colesworthy @rcolesworthy.bsky.social · 2d

FYI happening this Thursday—free and open to all. Just click the link to register. Featuring @dwcongdon.com, @dawnd.bsky.social, and Alyssa Napier talking all things diss to book—what’s the diff b/w them, how to find a press/approach an editor, tips for proposal writing. Join us & spread the word!

Association of University Presses @aupresses.bsky.social · 2d

All are invited to the first in Publishing with University Presses Webinar Series, "Turning Your Dissertation into a Book," Oct 9 at 1pm ET. Organized by our Faculty Outreach Committee with the Rutgers Ctr for Minority Serving Institutions.

Register here: https://buff.ly/UiOAr5M

Turning You Dissertation into a Book webinar promotional tile

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Prof Sheena Cruickshank @sheencr.bsky.social · 2d

I would remiss if I didn't have a whoop about Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi winning the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering immune cells — regulatory T cells — that help to prevent the body from attacking its own tissues

Medicine Nobel goes to scientists who revealed secrets of immune system ‘regulation’

Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi discovered cells that protect the body from autoimmune diseases.

www.nature.com

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Jacqueline Antonovich @jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 4d

Not to be *that* obnoxious academic, but the term "moron" was invented by eugenicists to classify high-functioning "feebleminded" people, and most often targeted at women who were sexually promiscuous.

Molly Jong-Fast @mollyjongfast.bsky.social · 4d

It almost ceases to be ideological, I think anti-moron could be a lane for a political party.

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Mallory Harris, PhD @malar0ne.bsky.social · 4d

IMO this hasn't gotten enough attention: a recent memo at NIH announces that peer review will be devalued in determining which grants get funded, granting more power to political appointees to make decisions based on the admin's whims over scientific merit

kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

Changes at NIH Give Political Appointees Greater Power To Fund or Block Research - KFF Health News

The National Institutes of Health’s long-held standard of peer review for grantmaking has been subverted by President Donald Trump and NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, who gave unprecedented power to po...

kffhealthnews.org

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Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 5d

Just writing about this for tonight's newsletter. Here's the published version - facultysenate.virginia.edu/resolution-o...

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Lambda Literary @lambdaliterary.org · 4d

🎉🎉🎉 Congratulations to the 2025 Lambda Literary Award Winner for LGBTQ+ Studies: When Monsters Speak: A Susan Stryker Reader by Susan Stryker, edited by McKenzie Wark! @susanstryker.bsky.social @mckenziewark.bsky.social @dukepress.bsky.social 🎉🎉🎉
#Lammys2025 #LammyAwards

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Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴) @travisclau.bsky.social · 4d

Realizing this weekend just how much energy I spend masking, which I truly had not thought about until I really thought about what's exhausting me beyond a working life that so often does not want me to have boundaries.

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Travis Chi Wing Lau (劉志頴) @travisclau.bsky.social · 4d

Part of this belated process of unlearning and relearning how to live and work after finally getting diagnosed with ADHD so late in life has been realizing all the ways in which I've worked against myself and the way my brain works.

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Standplaats Kraków @standplaatskrk.pl · 4d

A woodcut style ink drawing of a Tardigrade: "Just because I can survive harsh conditions doesn't mean I should have to."

(If anyone knows the artist, I'd love to make (a version) of this available for sale and can only find tumblr replies via tineye.)

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Small Harbor Publishing @smallharborpub.bsky.social · 5d

Coming Soon! Now Flourish Northern Cardinal: Selected Poems 2005–2025 by Darren C. Demaree

A sweeping collection that spans two decades of poetry—storm and salvation, devastation and beauty, carried in lines that linger like thunder.

✨ learn more: www.smallharborpublishing.com/books/now-fl...

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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 4d

Given what I've heard from undergrads, it seems a lot of K-12 schools no longer assign novels, especially outside AP classes. Instead, it's all anthologies or even digital anthologies (like Savvas offers) that come with read-aloud options so that kids never have to engage directly with the text.

Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 4d

I think we’re really going to have to do a lot more of this. A massive deprogramming so that people can read more than ten words at a time without anxiety.

www.thetimes.com/uk/education...?