Paul Renfro

Just submitted this to my editor and agent. More soon! 🗃️

Oh, we are cooking.

An important reminder, especially given the incessant fearmongering over poisoned candy and “stranger danger” each Halloween season. As usual, supposed “moral threats” to children generate headlines, while more quotidian (and far more common) threats often get overlooked.

“Do you love Smashing Pumpkins?” “I love to do that!”

You literally never have to apologize to Pat McAfee.

OPERATION GARNET STORM

I was interviewed for this A&E story about the practice of placing missing children on milk cartons. Check it out if you feel so inclined. www.aetv.com/articles/mil... 🗃️

We have an open-rank tenure track job in Global Black Feminisms at Rutgers, Fall 2027 start date.

Earnest take: If you’re chastising those who celebrate the electoral defeat of fascists around the globe, you probably don’t actually care about “democratic self-government.”

We have near final results from Brazil, 99.8% reporting: Lula 51.76% Bolsonaro 48.24% In 2022, Lula beat Bolsonaro's father by 1.8%; so he has nearly doubled his lead. Also, if you followed this thread & enjoyed it... be sure to follow me: I'll be tracking 700 US elections at once in 9 days!

“Give me that goddamn banana.” —Gumbo

Typical crybaby conservative.

Not a dabbing, defecating dog!

In my grad class this week, we discussed Bench Ansfield’s award-winning book BORN IN FLAMES. Our conversation centered on racial capitalism, the American studies tradition, and the politics of publishing. Congratulations to @benchansfield.bsky.social on this remarkable achievement. 🗃️

Brought my sons to my Mass Incarceration class today. Suffice it to say, they found our discussion of police militarization and the crack epidemic extremely boring.

CFP: History of the Right, 1945-present, with me and @laurenstokes.bsky.social at Northwestern this spring. More here! networks.h-net.org/group/announ...

It’s been two years since the publication of my second book, THE LIFE AND DEATH OF RYAN WHITE. I wrote this book amid the carnage of the COVID-19 pandemic and dedicated it to the memory of a remarkable young man—and every person who has been touched by HIV and AIDS. 🗃️

BREAKING: SCOTUS rejects Trump admin's request to allow it to end gender-affirming medical care in prisons — a significant, if tentative, rejection of one of the admin's most extreme anti-trans arguments. Only Thomas and Alito noted they would have granted the stay. More to come: www.lawdork.com

“Everything Has a History”! www.chronicle.com/article/the-...

Less than two weeks out from Election Day, and I just saw my first ad for a Democrat running for statewide or national office. Florida’s Democratic Party seems intent on missing the Blue Wave™️.

Keith Haring’s “Altarpiece,” completed just a few weeks before his death in 1990 from AIDS-related causes.

Keith Haring, “Untitled (Fun Fridge),” 1982, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas.

No ICE, only ice cream.

You love to see it. 🍕

In my Mass Incarceration class today, we discussed Donna Murch's searing review of Michael Fortner's book and Fortner's (ahem) interesting response. Our conversation centered on the racial and class politics of punishment—and the strange world that is academia. 🗃️ www.bostonreview.net/articles/don...

This shit fucking slaps.

Justin Guarini fans after Kelly Clarkson’s rendition of “Respect” during the finale of American Idol’s first season:

Sorry to return to this, but why the fuck is the Chronicle interviewing Lepore for the second time in less than a year? If you truly wanted to diagnose the issues facing higher ed, you couldn’t pick a less representative, more out-of-touch academic than Lepore to help you do that.

I’m loving the new Troye Sivan album. My only gripe? It’s not his gayest album. 😢

I got proofs for my book NO PLACE FOR HOME: TERROR AND RACE IN LITERATURE AFTER 9/11 from @uminnpress.bsky.social! The press has also offered a 30% discount for those who pre-order before January 1st! To order, click the link in my bio.

Twenty-eight years ago today, after sustaining a vicious antigay assault, Matt Shepard succumbed to his injuries in a Colorado hospital. He should still be with us, as should so many other LGBTQ+ people lost not only to sudden, brutal attacks like this one, but also to the slow violence of hatred.

A very in-touch and relatable professor!

How fitting that I am currently in grading jail, charged with grading the midterm exams from my Mass Incarceration course. 🗃️

From an excellent student essay in my Mass Incarceration class. I know that’s right! 🗃️

The power’s out, and our generator is on the fritz. But otherwise Isaias hasn’t been too bad thus far. We’ll see you all on the other side!

A great piece on the challenges confronting nonfiction publishing. My agent has mentioned some of this to me, but I didn’t realize it was this dire. thewalrus.ca/nonfiction-i...

Turner Diaries-ass executive branch.

Rest easy, king.

To paraphrase Public Enemy, Mamdani’s got a right to be hostile, man!

I wish we heard more of this kind of pointed, unvarnished, historically informed rhetoric from liberals and those on the left. Fascists like Mike Collins are fundamentally opposed to the notion of equality, justice, and decency for all, and they deserve nothing but scorn.

🚨Hot off the press‼️ THE POLITICAL SUPREME COURT by @rachelshelden.bsky.social dismantles the myth of an apolitical Court to reveal a much longer history of politics on the bench. Officially out October 27 from W. Hodding Carter III Books, an imprint of @uncpress.bsky.social ⚖️📚

Ditto.

One of my students is going to see beabadoobee in concert next week, and she was surprised to learn that I listened to her music.

We picked some of our favorite nonfiction history book covers in recent memory. See what made our list and why, and tell us what you would add! www.draftingthepast.com/12-history-b... #booksky

I know some folks who could be very competitive for this position.

Jonathan Chait was born in 1972. The GOP has arguably been a white-nationalist party for most of his life—from Reagan’s Neshoba County Fair speech to George Bush’s William Horton ad to Newt Gingrich’s racist antiwelfare politicking to the vile xenophobia of the Bush II years and beyond.