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rachelcleves.bsky.social
Hungry historian. Novelist. Vancouver Island dweller. I post a lot about old books I'm reading, and sometimes new ones. Also art and nature shots. I avoid posting about politics because what the fuck's the point. You know what I think.
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Posts 28 Comments 21

looking up a Hans Sebald Beham etching and AI gave me this useful summary:

submitted 22 hours ago • 0 comments

Sometimes I foot it with dancing, and sometimes I carol up a song, but the reviews of my artistry are not as effusive

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Had a great conversation with Minneapolis radio host and columnist Tommy Mischke, who had great questions and observations about Lustful Appetites. So thrilled to get to talk about the book with smart funny people garagelogic.com/episode/good...

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Got to love a conference acceptance that comes with a hot graphic and an official promise of great parties 🔥

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Another banger from my son Simon. Heavy Simon & Garfunkel vibes. Check it out.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Sometimes my mind thinks one word but my fingers type another. I'm always curious to see what my subconscious mind delivers on the page. This afternoon my fingers have delivered a brand new word: "unexamplored." Some sort of mash-up between example and unexplored?

submitted 10 days ago • 1 comment

absolutely loving this new reggae song out from my SIL @duniabest.bsky.social and my brother @aramsinn.bsky.social — no idea who the song could be about duniaandaram.bandcamp.com/track/how-do...

submitted 10 days ago • 1 comment

Passionate and angry, as we all should be

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

Listened to Pritzker’s full speech. So great to hear some leadership! Wish it came sooner youtu.be/zMndfvxVeRo?...

submitted 13 days ago • 1 comment

Program is out for the Queer Pasts conference next month in Copenhagen. So many talks I'm excited for! Why must they be cross-listed 😭 I want to see my PhD supervisee (who am I kidding, she's her own woman), @jameyj.bsky.social and I want to see @amandalittauer.bsky.social and @aiross.bsky.social

submitted 20 days ago • 1 comment

In his last newsletter, former Chez Panisse chef Jeremiah Tower, who heats up chapter 9 of Lustful Appetites, sings the praises of Norman Douglas, who makes his appearance in chapter 8 of Lustful Appetites (and in the biography I wrote about him). Too late to get the quote in the book?

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

Letter from my union warning us not to risk travel to the US unless absolutely necessary, especially if we've "expressed negative opinions about the current U.S. administration or its policies"

submitted 27 days ago • 7 comments

Books allowed at the Naval Academy: Mein Kampf The Bell Curve The Camp of the Saints (white supremacist novel) Books banned at the Naval Academy: I know why the Caged Birds Sing Memorializing the Holocaust A critique of the Bell Curve www.nytimes.com/2025/04/11/u...

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments

A 🧵 About the most astonishing source I ever found: The Alpenpost, a handwritten anti-Nazi and anti-Stalinist newspaper edited and illustrated by two absurdly precocious girls from 1935 to 1940.

submitted 196 days ago • 23 comments

My NEH Public Scholar Award was just unlawfully terminated by DOGE. Unlike many NEH recipients, I received no termination notice. But, my NEH page now says "Warning: FULL: Administrative Termination.” I continue to honor my award terms; DOGE continues to violate lawful contracts. We will fight this.

submitted 35 days ago • 12 comments

I'm listening to a cover of "No Scrubs" that's been slowed down to half speed and the experience feels like driving behind a car that's going 30mph on the freeway on ramp. Musical road rage. [courtesy my spotify weekly mix]

submitted 35 days ago • 0 comments

I am obsessed with the penguin Gadsden flag

submitted 37 days ago • 18 comments

Great review of Lustful Appetites in the Wall Street Journal! www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

submitted 38 days ago • 1 comment

Great review of Lustful Appetites in the Wall Street Journal! www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

submitted 38 days ago • 1 comment

Ever since moving to Canada in 2009, I've been deeply grateful for the public research funding that has enabled me to write multiple monographs and essays. If Poilievre is elected, that funding may go the way of NEH and NIH grants www.montrealgazette.com/news/canada/...

submitted 38 days ago • 0 comments

"Data Kindness" is a concept that @jesgilbert.bsky.social and I developed during our book tour for The Secret Life of Data. We've never written about it. Til now. time.com/7273469/data...

submitted 40 days ago • 1 comment

Apparently April fools used to be celebrated with egg nog? (article from 1872)

submitted 41 days ago • 0 comments

saving this 1899 newspaper illustration of Harry Houdini for my history of kink seminar ...

submitted 41 days ago • 0 comments

Read my latest piece for @time.com's Made by History on how the ongoing campaign to rewrite the history of Watergate is growing and now has a foothold within the National Archives. time.com/7265175/the-...

submitted 49 days ago • 7 comments

Last day of my Watergate class. Students have asked for a class spent thinking about the present politics in the US through a Watergate lens. What would you tell them? Key similarities? Key differences?

submitted 42 days ago • 11 comments

Last day of my Watergate class. Students have asked for a class spent thinking about the present politics in the US through a Watergate lens. What would you tell them? Key similarities? Key differences?

submitted 42 days ago • 11 comments

Potato chips will always rank first in my snack food pantheon, but pita chips are so very tasty * PSA brought to you by the 11am munchies

submitted 45 days ago • 0 comments