valerie gritsch
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valderie.bsky.social
valerie gritsch
@valderie.bsky.social
loud disabled academic who’s obsessed with her dog. MA in celebrity & fan studies, currently a MLIS student. creator of spottedhounddesign. suffering mets and destiel fan. she/her.
Pinned
Might as well share my MA thesis on this platform, too!
I’m so proud of ‘“Something Happened on the Day He Died”: How David Bowie Fans Transformed Brixton.’ It won an award from my department⚡️
Click through to read/download for free from CUNY academic works.
academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3546/
“Something Happened on the Day He Died”: How David Bowie Fans Transformed Brixton
Following the death of David Bowie on January 10, 2016, his hometown of Brixton, South London, has become a pilgrimage and tourist destination for fans. On the 11th of January, the world discovered Bo...
academicworks.cuny.edu
just wrote my personal statement and am losing it lmao
November 18, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Reposted by valerie gritsch
I think the tarring and feathering scene in HBO's John Adams series does a good job with representing the public violence in places like Boston in the years leading up to independence. #KenBurns #HATM www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMeB...
Tarring and Feathering
YouTube video by William Stuchell (HD)
www.youtube.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Reposted by valerie gritsch
The central problem that emerged in Episode 1 of Ken Burns's new documentary about the American Revolution is that while he wants to integrate a wide range of voices and the historians responsible for this broader perspective, he refuses to allow it to disrupt a traditional and familiar narrative. 🗃️
November 17, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Reposted by valerie gritsch
Other things I liked: The inclusion of Native Americans and not just as additions but as the people controlling much of this land.
The inclusion of Phyllis Wheatley voiced by Amanda Gorman.
#HATM
a woman wearing a yellow jacket and a red headband stands in front of a microphone with the numbers live at the bottom
Alt: Amanda Gorman wearing a yellow jacket and a red headband stands in front of a microphone at the Biden inauguration
media.tenor.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:30 PM
im uploading a bunch of past writing and presentations ive done about music, fandom, and celebrity death:
November 17, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Reposted by valerie gritsch
Hey guys—I rescued this little baby I named Arrow last week, and as such I need to raise some money for his vet bills coming up.

I’ve put together a listing of pins I have left to sell, pls DM me for anything.

Books are also still available on my Ko-Fi, and vinyl on my Discogs!
November 17, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Reposted by valerie gritsch
To Everyone in every occupied city of America, tonight: Yes, we have been here, before. And yes, we can fight tyranny, again -- and win. If you need inspiration, look no further than our own past.

And heed the words of John Adams.

#TheAmericanRevolution #KenBurns #HATM

#Freedom #Democracy
November 17, 2025 at 2:42 AM
Reposted by valerie gritsch
Here you go. More info on Sibyl Ludington, the female midnight rider. www.smithsonianmag.com/history/did-... #HATM
November 17, 2025 at 2:42 AM
Reposted by valerie gritsch
No, Hancock & Adams didn’t flee into the night as soon as Paul Revere arrived at the Lexington parsonage. Hancock wanted to stay and fight, and it took hours to get him into a carriage. #HATM

Furthermore, he could have stayed in the parsonage, and the redcoats would’ve marched by half a mile away.
November 17, 2025 at 2:37 AM
Had the same thought #hatm
"Promiscuous shooting." What a turn of phrase. #HATM
November 17, 2025 at 2:38 AM
Reposted by valerie gritsch
Yes, London told Gen. Gage to arrest rebel leaders. Yes, Hancock and Adams were in Lexington.

But Gage aimed for provincial artillery and other military supplies in Concord, beyond Lexington.

The narration fudges the difference.

#HATM
November 17, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Reposted by valerie gritsch
lol Samuel Seabury, so maligned by Lin-Manuel #AmericanRevolution #HATM
November 17, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Reposted by valerie gritsch
Witch hunts are basically an American past-time since 1692

😒 #HATM
November 17, 2025 at 2:32 AM
Reposted by valerie gritsch
Great point about switching identities from British to American, or as John Adams said the Revolution was a mental event. #HATM
November 17, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Reposted by valerie gritsch
SNEH: These committees just sound like McCarthyites #HATM
November 17, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Reposted by valerie gritsch
Paul Giamatti reprising his role as John Adams #AmericanRevolution #HATM
November 17, 2025 at 2:27 AM
Reposted by valerie gritsch
Dissolving the House of Burgesses was a big mistake. #HATM
November 17, 2025 at 2:20 AM
Reposted by valerie gritsch
The fact that one of the most galvanizing and celebrated moments of the lead-in to the American Revolution was a bunch of white guys doing redface is one of the least surprising things in American History. #HATM
November 17, 2025 at 2:14 AM
Reposted by valerie gritsch
Exactly. It gave them an excuse to say they didn't know who was involved if they were caught and also permission to be reckless or "savage" while dressed that way-kind of like the rebel yell. #HATM
November 17, 2025 at 2:14 AM
Reposted by valerie gritsch
Benjamin Carp's *Defiance of the Patriots* is a must read on the Boston Tea Party. I was surprised to read that this event was not a significant part of the early histories of the American Revolution. It's a wonderful example of the distinction between history and memory. #KenBurns #HATM
November 17, 2025 at 2:14 AM
Reposted by valerie gritsch
Unpopular opinion - the Boston Tea Party was terrorism. #hatm
November 17, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Reposted by valerie gritsch
Hard reminder that most early Americans viewed Africans as a product like livestock . #HATM
November 17, 2025 at 2:08 AM
Reposted by valerie gritsch
So many references to colonists being enslaved by Britain. The irony was lost on them. #HATM
November 17, 2025 at 2:05 AM
Reposted by valerie gritsch
The Committees of Correspondence... the @bsky.app of the late Colonial era. 🤓

#HATM
November 17, 2025 at 2:05 AM
Reposted by valerie gritsch
There was a PBS children's series called Liberty's Kids. It had a vast array of celebrity voices: Walter Kronkite voiced Franklin. Michael Douglas as Patrick Henry, Ben Stiller as Jefferson, Liam Neeson as John Paul Jones, and (I kid you not) Arnold Schwarzeneggar as Steuben. #hatm
November 17, 2025 at 1:57 AM