Pat Lawrence

I think I can share this link, right? Vote for me for MLA Academic Freedom Delegate. nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...

And if you think others might value my work on legislative affairs, censorship, accreditation, and other venues where academic freedom is defended, let them know, too, please.

Hey everybody, if you're an MLA friend, please consider casting your vote for me in the current election. I'm up for the Academic Freedom professional issues seat on the delegate assembly. I want to get up there and keep our right to write safe.

The Comic Book Burnings Project Documenting and Mapping Fires in America, 1945-1955

If you're interested in comics censorship, you could check out this fascinating DH project on comic book burnings: storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/7dee...

Cave drawing: Below a peace symbol, 4 human silhouettes face each other while carrying spears or long branches. One prepares to throw his spear.

It's 2025

Patrick S. Lawrence discusses the resurgence in comic and book censorship.
muse.jhu.edu/pub/30/artic...

@projectmuse.bsky.social #politics #ComicStudies #comics #censorship #history #activism #solidarity #UniversityPress #2025 #freedom #ComicBooks #BannedBooks #CensorshipSucks

@utexaspress.bsky.social Jorge Santos and I will be live tomorrow mid-day!

Here's a convenient link to register for the Zoom for my talk tomorrow. Come learn about comics censorship of today and yesteryear: sc-edu.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

(You gotta register via The QR in the link)

I'm doing a talk about Out of the Gutters next week. It's on Zoom if you want to hear me and the inimitable Jorge Santos talk about comics censorship! drive.google.com/file/d/1hirU...

Illustration: 7 people in business casual sit on a couch and chairs or stand nearby. 3 text boxes suggest conversation among them. One person shrugs with a question mark above their head.

Comics Studies Conferences in a Time of Crisis

Andrew J. Kunka considers the fallout of the presidential administration’s recent actions.
muse.jhu.edu/pub/30/artic...

@projectmuse.bsky.social #politics #AmericanPolitics #ComicStudies #comics #DEI #activism #comic #students #education #presidents

Volume 74, Numbers 1 & 2 Shenandoah has been publishing great writing for 75 years. Located at Washington and Lee University, the magazine is part of the English Department and is a tool used to teach students the art and cra...

Look at this cool collection of comics with @benpassmore.bsky.social Ebony Flowers, and others. With an intro by @qianawhitted.bsky.social www.shenandoahliterary.org/74-1-2/#comi...

I'm in here! Feels awesome.

Censorship history, like a lot of things these days, is looking like a recurring loop. I wrote about it for Inks: muse.jhu.edu/pub/30/artic...

An ominous bit about the EO on flag burning, which invokes fighting words doctrine to say some kinds of speech are so offensive they should be illegal: the original fighting words case upheld the conviction of Chaplinsky for calling someone a fascist: www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1...

I'm working on a new book on moralism in nationalist rhetoric. Smoot is a big figure in the 4th chapter about the early 20th.

But what I hope my students are now seeing is that constitutional rights are only real when we take seriously that they need protection. And when people tell you they want to take away your rights, you should believe them. (5/5)

Flag burning incident near White House leads to arrest hours after Trump's executive order The arrested man identified himself as a combat veteran and said he was burning the American flag in protest of an executive order Trump signed Monday targeting flag burning.

As the case of the combat vet who burned a flag near the white house today progresses, I expect to see the defenses given for an EO that clearly contradicts a pretty recent decision by a pretty conservative court to change like cuttlefish colors. (4/5) www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...

I told them, though, that didn’t guarantee there wouldn’t be some kind of action to prosecute people for it. Political bluster these days often turns into unconstitutional action. We'd seen it already. And here we are again... (3/5)

They all agreed flag burning was constitutionally protected speech, and they thought for sure everybody knew that—including people advocating for it to be prosecuted. They thought that this was all bluster to get votes. They didn’t take it seriously. (2/5)

The EO on flag burning is a constitutional mess—invoking fighting words isn’t going to get them around Texas v. Johnson. What strikes me, though, is that I discussed this precise possibility with students in my free speech class last spring; here’s what they said: (1/5)

Kind of torn saying this, but "I Remember You" covered by the Ataris might be better than "Live Wire" covered by Boy Sets Fire. These are the hair-metal-covered-by-punk/hardcore-bands hot takes that keep me up at night.

Banned Books Week is October 5-11. With some organization this could be a watershed year for activism. Here are some ideas for events you can hold in your district, at your library, at the bookstore. Get started now to make the week powerful docs.google.com/document/d/e...

It was very cool to see that @jordanscarroll.bsky.social won the Hugo Award for Best Related Work this year. Such a big accomplishment--and if you're looking to read more of his work, he has an insightful take on Charles Burns's Black Hole in Out of the Gutters from @utexaspress.bsky.social

Jordan! This is Amazing!

Most campuses have this kind of proscription in their free speech policies--if they have free speech policies at all. When I reviewed the ones in my own system, they also proscribed banners affixed to surfaces or landscaping and a host of other common protest actions.

This commonly emerges from the lines drawn around certain kinds of protest in the interest of property, facilities, order, and landscapes. In some enforcement environments, it seems like no big deal, but it leaves enough wiggle room for punitive, chilling, and arbitrary suppression of speech.

Assistant Professor - Richland, SC - Indeed.com University of South Carolina

The faculty of the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of South Carolina, Columbia campus, invites applications for two 9-month, full-time, tenure-track positions at the rank of Assistant Professor to begin August 16, 2026.

www.indeed.com/m/viewjob?jk...

Reading Catharine Beecher's "An Essay on Slavery and Abolitionism, with Reference to the Duty of American Females" and ... she is complaining about cancel culture?

Your chapter is essential for the collection! And for the world we live in these days. Hoping it's going to be a go-to resource for all the people fighting censorship.