Maura Elizabeth Cunningham

The old world is dying and the new world struggles to be born. Now is the time of monsters. Will you send just $5...

Working on @contingent-mag.bsky.social's December issue call for pitches and an accompanying fundraising campaign, because times are tough but historians should be paid for their work--even if they made a terrible life choice.

Hit the gas, Gritty. You have plenty of time before puck drop. #Flyers

Shang Bronzeware themed pumpkin carving patterns should definitely be a thing.

Standing athwart the Progress Bar of History and screaming "Stop!" Not for any reactionary reason, but because there's no way we're making all our deadlines at this rate.

Hellebuyck to the Devils is so colossally annoying.

Society for Hong Kong Studies to disband after 9 years citing lack of funding hongkongfp.com/2026/10/23/s...

Putting this out into the world: I would love to do guest interviews with podcasts or newsletters about @draftingthepast.bsky.social (I imagine @mkn.bsky.social would, too, but I won't speak for her!). Hit me up at kate@draftingthepast.com if you're looking for a guest!

11-year-old Maura is still crushed by this moment.

At #AsiaNow, UC San Diego professor Todd A. Henry shares the story of how he has moved from being a words-and-print historian to visual storyteller. Henry's first short film, "Paradise," looks at South Korea’s queer past through the site of Seoul's Pada Theater.

"Once again, millions of Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples already living under systematic repression find themselves caught in the middle of forces whose consequences they will bear and whose decisions they have no part in making." — Zubayra Shamseden and Peter Irwin for @chinafile.bsky.social

I'm pleased to announce the publication of a roundtable on Cold War and Taiwan Studies in the International Journal of Taiwan Studies. In my position paper, I discuss how the field of Cold War history has engaged with Taiwan, problematically at times. brill.com/view/journal...

China exporting "engineered catharsis"—the microdramas taking over the internet, by Shirley Xinyi Cai:

Eileen Chang’s fiction has reached almost mythic status, yet not long ago it was nearly forgotten. The story of her publishing history is almost as interesting as that of her life. Read David Frazier's profile review: chinabooksreview.com/2026/10/22/e...

Saddened to learn that the Society for Hong Kong Studies, formed in 2017, will dissolve on 31 October 2026, due to "a lack of funding". hkstudies.org

Ever since the rise of generative AI, writing in standard bloodless academic prose has held less and less appeal to me. AI is perfectly good at writing characterless prose. It makes me want to be a fully messy human on the page.

Call for Proposals - Global Chinese Internets: Chinese Internet Research Conference (CIRC) 24, June 8-9, 2027 at SOAS University of London. Submit paper and panel proposals by November 30 for consideration. https://u.osu.edu/mclc/2026/10/15/global-chinese-internets-circ-2027-cfp/

CFP below for a *very exciting* special issue of the Journal of Popular Music Studies (JPMS) ... announcing critical Dolly Parton studies! Please spread the word to anyone who might want to contribute work. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

This comic is over 16 years old (it's old enough that if it were a person, it might conceivably be starting to check out universities' websites) and it's no less relevant now than when it was first published. Speaking as a university webmaster: Dammit.

"Me horrified. Me have unique voice. And now me sound like not me. Now me sound like Matt on LinkedIn." We feel your pain, Cookie Monster.

Me seeing the Flyers score

Flyers beat the Senators 3-1. The start-of-season losing streak ends at 9.

OUR LONG REGIONAL NICHE SPORT NIGHTMARE IS OVER

"Me horrified. Me have unique voice. And now me sound like not me. Now me sound like Matt on LinkedIn." We feel your pain, Cookie Monster.

Cordially invite Ms. Zacharia to return to China where specialist cadres will be delighted to escort her on an inspection tour of certain provincial toilets.

(Grim) reading recommendation requests for a seminar I'm teaching on writing about mass violence: If you wanted to showcase models for powerful, memorable, or unique approaches to narrating mass death/violence, what would you assign? Any period/topic/event welcome. I have the atomic bomb covered

Join Leta Hong Fincher, Teemu Ruskola, Eli Friedman, and Weixiang Chen on 10/22 at the @brooklyninstitute.bsky.social offices for the launch of Verso's Hundred Flowers series. www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/h...

Somebody please hide Tocchet’s glasses. It’s the only way to break the curse.

Gritty wept.

This is just the third time so far this season that the Flyers have hit an intermission with a lead.

My brother and I got front-row upper bowl tickets AND parking for a grand total of $75. God bless struggling hockey teams.

Big news this morning. With the podcast returning to the air next week, it’s finally time to reveal our new website, which you can find at www.herberthistory.com

I couldn't be less concerned about who the Phillies' manager is. Do I love Mattingly? No. I hated how he used the bullpen this year. But I find myself saying that about every manager. No, this team only improves if Dombrowski fixes the roster. That's it. Firing some coaches is fine, but that's it.

Did you know that there are now *five* issues in each Journal of Asian Studies volume, instead of 4? This year's thematic bonus issue is on "Unicode and the Humanities" and guest edited by Raja Adal and Christopher Lowy. https://read.dukeupress.edu/journal-of-asian-studies/issue/85/4

you know what instead I'm giving the $20 to Dan Vladar to make up for the pain and suffering his useless teammates are inflicting upon him

Like why wouldn’t you take the glasses off? You didn’t wear them last year and hey here’s this thing you changed and now the whole organization is falling apart so I dunno maybe we just try some stuff

I can't wait to read Simeon Simeonov's *Empire of Consuls* -- out in spring 2027 from @uncpress.bsky.social Everyone here @brownhist.bsky.social is beaming with pride

Surely the Flyers health insurance will cover a second pair of glasses. Somebody take Tocchet to Lens Crafters for some wire rims. The team can’t survive this curse much longer.

I will personally hand a crisp $20 bill to the first Philadelphia Flyer to score a game winning goal this season

On the plus side, tickets for Thursday's Flyers-Red Wings matchup in Detroit are falling in price every day.

Amidst all, so wonderful to see the excellent work historians are doing in multiple dimensions and fields and methods be recognized!