David McFarland

Spending the day atop Burnaby Mountain with BC Social Studies educators. Keynote this morning by Andrew Coyne, one of Canada’s leading political journalists.

This will always be a career highlight for me, and I’m so thankful for the conversations, the community — especially my Social Studies Dept. team! — and the shared passion that made it possible.

Two years ago in San Diego, I accepted a nomination to lead our western regional chapter. This weekend, we wrapped up our first-ever Canadian 🇨🇦 conference and the first to be hosted in a high school.

Years ago, a mentor encouraged me to “find my people” as part of my professional life. I’m grateful to say that one such group has been the Conference on @faithandhistory — warm, hospitable, and thoughtfully challenging.

Very much enjoying the inflatable frog segment of the civil war.

What ho! The Emperor’s guard! The guard, what ho!

British Columbia is calling! Still thinking about attending? Have something you might want to present? The WRCFH @faithandhistory.bsky.social October program is being assembled. Registration info coming out next week! Email dept. for travel/accomodation info.

Dear Smithsonian.......send your historical records to Canada before they're destroyed.

Every time someone tells me to use fewer em dashes ⸻ I bring out Big Bertha.

Canadian summer begins…

At Baylor in 2022.

Happy 5th 🎂 to a momentous work by @kkdumez.bsky.social! Prior to this bombshell exploration of evangelicalism’s gendered militancy, Dr. Du Mez made time for me in her Grand Rapids office amid a busy day & I cherish our continued connection over the past few years. Congratulations!

History has a normalizing effect, so it can be difficult to assess people's in-the-moment vibes on stuff in the past. With that said:

Has any moment in human history ever been *weirder* then rn?

(the only time Bluesky feels like an echo chamber to me is when we're all going "hey, Bluesky isn't an echo chamber")

I’ve read too much science fiction too many dystopian novels and too many poems on civil rights to be quiet…

I ran an experiment, simultaneously posting articles on Bluesky and X, and then testing to see how many people actually clicked and read them. The numbers on Bluesky are higher, both because the X algorithm downranks journalism, and because Bluesky attracts readers, not just shitposters.

“But remember: outside of what you are to them—something to be crushed for strategy and sport—there is a bigger world.”

A towering figure who cultivated a “prophetic imagination” that nourished gentle, holy resistance to the violence and oppression of our empires. Rest in peace and rise in glory, Walter!

Historians/Educator friends: You heard it here first: the Western Regional @faithandhistory Call for Papers has been EXTENDED!

Join us in British Columbia 🇨🇦 Oct. 16-18.

Ignore the deadline currently on the site!

✉️socialstudies@mypacificacademy.net

faithandhistory.org/conferences/

Welcome to Canada 🇨🇦

Job Listing: I'm seeking a Research Associate to join the Public History Lab at the Munk School, University of Toronto.
jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-...

Good time to subscribe to Wired. I used to think of it as a guilty pleasure at the newsstand, a holdover from nerdy youth. But they are doing an excellent job covering key elements of our political reality.

Pay attention.

I bought a copy at a Barnes and Noble in LA this week. Read a good chunk on the plane back to Vancouver.

It’s official: The 2025 Western Regional @faithandhistory.bsky.social will be in BC, Canada in October! 🇨🇦 faithandhistory.org/conferences/

Are you a scholar or educator navigating Christian faith and the discipline of history in the western US or western Canada? Please consider joining us.

Just learned of this an hour ago. Whoa. TWU’s Langley, BC campus is in my backyard.

As the author of a history of concentration camps, I would like to emphasize that this is a very bad idea, and we should definitely not do it.

I was humbled to be at Kelly Ingram Park in downtown Birmingham, Alabama back in October and I’d love to connect this for my #IBHistory students.

Cory Booker just gave the longest speech in the history of Congress and concluded by apologizing to everyone who had to stay up all night keeping the chamber open and operating.