Shaily Patel

Literate Workers and the Production of Early Christian Literature Cambridge Core - History of Religion - Literate Workers and the Production of Early Christian Literature

My short Elements book "Literate Workers and the Production of Early Christian Literature" is now available on Cambridge Core. It was a lot of fun to learn from the exciting scholarship that's been happening and I hope that it's a useful resource for people. www.cambridge.org/core/element...

📣Are you a NAPS member? Did you publish your first article in 2024 or 2025? Do you like cash money?

Send a PDF of that first article to me at jecs.editor@gmail.com by January 31, 2026

Best First Article prize and a cool $250 awarded at the NAPS annual meeting!

Again: the Purpose of LLM- type "AI" bullshit engines is not to tell you the truth or to lie to you, but to tell you something you are statistically determined to be more likely to accept, irrespective of facts— which makes them perfect for accelerating dis- & misinformation & persuasive propaganda…

I've got a fresh cache of Capybara photos ready to go.

this is so relatable.

My bro is recovering from a cancer surgery and is selling comics and his own art to help pay for it. He does WhatNot streams on Thursday nights, so if you like comic books, I'd recommend attending and picking something up. Please share.

www.whatnot.com/s/fx2qm3Jc

snow day = good hot cocoa. today it’s trader joe’s!

that’s an awesome birthday! happy birthday to your daughter!!

nice to know half the state feels the same.

the snow is nice, though.

a delay is not nearly as fun as a snow day. 😕

Good Bones Maggie Smith Life is short, though I keep this from my children. Life is short, and I've shortened mine in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways, a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways I'll keep from my children. The world is at least fifty percent terrible, and that's a conservative estimate, though I keep this from my children. For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird. For every loved child, a child broken, bagged, sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world is at least half terrible, and for every kind stranger, there is one who would break you, though I keep this from my children. I am trying to sell them the world. Any decent realtor, walking you through a real shithole, chirps on about good bones: This place could be beautiful, right? You could make this place beautiful.

I just read a Dogrates 15/10 post about a dog rescued after…I won’t share the details but it was deliberate animal cruelty…and it seems like a good time to revisit “Good Bones.” Maybe you need it today too.

why am i so excited about a possible snow day when i’m teaching online this term?

Lecture flyer titled “From Refuse to Revelation: What Rubbish Disposal Tells Us about Papyri from Roman Egypt.” The left side lists the speaker, Anna Boozer of Baruch College (CUNY), and event details: CUNY Graduate Center Classics Program, Fall 2025 Lecture Series; Thursday, December 4 at 5 pm in Room 4422 and online via Zoom. RSVP email is provided. The right side features a portrait of the speaker above a block of text explaining that discarded papyri in rubbish heaps across Roman Egypt—especially at Oxyrhynchus—formed accidental archives containing literary texts, correspondence, and official documents. The summary describes how cleaning, recycling, and disposal practices reveal social organization and cultural insights into Roman-Egyptian life.

Today at 5pm EST! In person and via Zoom.

#Classicsblueskey #blueskyclassics

that’s going to look nice next to this year’s hot pink.

a worthy addition to the JECS color range!

some good news!

Today! Free book talk on HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY, hosted by the Linda Hall Library:
7-8pm CST (8-9pm EST)

Register to get the Zoom link.

💙📚 🧪 🗃 #ancient #medieval #renaissance #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thC #HAMH #politics

Pasts Imperfect (12.4.25) This week, the one and only Tori Lee returns with her annual ancient world gift guide. Then, racing to preserve Sudan's cultural heritage, a new study on domestic cats assesses the leopard cats of anc...

The last Pasts Imperfect of 2025 is out! The incomparable @toriflee.bsky.social has our annual ancient world gift guide. Then, saving Sudan's cultural heritage, cats in Ancient China, Indigenous canoe-making, ancient disability, new ancient world journals by @yaleclassicslib.bsky.social & much more!

Everyone Uses This Coping Strategy. When Does It Become a Problem?

this is actually a pretty good explainer on masking for folks who’re unfamiliar.

Economics of Race and Stratification, Spring 2026

DEADLINE IN ONE WEEK: The NBER Race and Stratification Working Group will have its annual meeting on Friday, March 27, 2026. @franciscaantman.bsky.social, Bocar Ba, Robynn Cox and I are organizing the program. Submit your paper by December 11, 2025! @nber.org #Econsky www.nber.org/conferences/...

I’m sharing a Palestinian account every day and today is Sharif. Sharif and his wife came to Egypt prior to the war to get IVF treatment- which was successful and they had twins Husam and Ahmad. Husam has a congenital heart disorder. They have not been able to go back but also cannot work in Egypt.

this is amazing.

she really is EXQUISITE in this movie!

this movie is so good!

bluesky will really argue with something as simple as “communicate clearly” and i just want to remind everyone that naps are good.

james rives, y’all. we should all be lucky enough to know and to learn from james rives.

here's another way to think through this assignment: can you clearly explain your thesis, your evidence, etc, to HS students? a lot of HS English and/or History teachers would love to let you come to class and try -

i like this reframing a lot.