Dr. Paula R. Curtis

A tortie in a bow tie with avocados on it, looking offended at the demand that she contribute.

GET A JOB, RIGATONI

a felt Totoro face-down on a black side table, looking how we all feel

hard same

He is belovedly stuffed down the back of my pants right now where he belongs.

I should have linked a better shot! bsky.app/profile/paul...

(for the record he looks grimier in that photo than he is 😂) bsky.app/profile/paul...

A rice and rosemary felt Totoro sitting inside a microwave.

Thanks! Since pasta cat is not helpful for recovery I have turned to my rice bag Totoro (made by the talented @sunshot.bsky.social). Totoro is still very dutiful after many many years.

A tortie cat named Rigatoni wearing a bow tie and sitting expectantly on top of the back od a real couch, one paw outstretched with murder mits armed. She watches her human, laid up on the couch with terrible back pain, with no sympathy. No sympathy, only play.

A girl who firmly believes messing up your back is no reason not to play with her.

The world’s on fire and I wrenched my back in my sleep and the syllabi aren’t anywhere near done there goes Saturday in bed at 8pm it is. 🙃

heard this in @michaelhobbes.bsky.social’s voice

He was so sure he was gonna get that bird. 😭💚

A majestic white long haired cat named Bruce flopped on a table reaching out with a paw to gently touch an iPad playing his bird shows.

A majestic white long haired cat named Bruce flopped on a table calmly watching an iPad playing his bird shows from a foot away.

Sometimes you toucha da birds and sometimes you respectfully observe them from afar

A fluffy white long haired cat named Bruce stepping down from a dining room chair onto a small set of stairs.

Last morning with His Majesty Bruce. 🥹 I brought over the little steps I used when Freckles got up there in age. Bruce is still really spry for 20 but it’s important to take the strain off those old leggies.

After you, friend.

Boiling this exchange down to “East Asia is not the same as Asian American” misses the core issue referenced about current challenges to education devaluing many such humanistic topics related to identity, marginalization, etc.—regardless of regional focus—that students are intensely interested in.

I recommended she send them to my class, which, yes, is in East Asia, but specifically is on marginalized identities in Japan, including indigenous peoples. This subject is seldom taught, even more rarely taught as a premodern course, & currently also the subject of censorship at many institutions.

You are still missing the point both Miriam & I were making. She was responding to a post on subjects deemed “low enrollment” by saying that many, such as African American Studies, Women/Gender/Sexuality Studies, Asian American Studies, etc. various marginalized topics/identities, were always full.

Will do! Socials can be a real bummer 90% of the time these days, so I figure a little Bruce is good for us all.

we are all Bruce

volume up to hear his tender happy bird purr

in his gentle heart I am sure

A white kitty gazing attentively at an iPad with a bird hopping about on it.

cat tv 12 hours of birds and squirrels (YouTube)

it really is a crime

A majestic white loaf of a cat sitting very close to his Bird TV.

Bruce that is too close.

UNC System’s new definition of academic freedom approved over faculty objections The policy states that “academic freedom is not absolute,” and places three key parameters around it.

"People who come to this university system to study do so with the expectation that they will get the quality education that the name UNC represents. A redefinition of the code to restrict academic freedom would damage that expectation.”

—David Ambaras, NC State AAUP President

@ncaaup.bsky.social

Thank you for the wisdom, sir.

A fluffy white majestic cat standing on a coffee table and looking up at an orange feather longingly.

A fluffy white majestic cat standing on two legs with a paw outstretched on a coffee table and looking up at an orange feather longingly.

Plz to give Bruce the Feather That Was Foretold.

He was lucky to own such a caring human. 🥲

A tortie cat with a milk chin sitting daintily on a bathroom counter and gazing up like a total sweetheart.

My sweetheart Freckles made it to 20! It was crazy to think about adopting her in high school and still snuggling with her after three degrees and two postdocs.

I am only watching him until Saturday morning. 🥲

A fluffy white long haired kitty asleep against my arm while my soul leaves my body from cuteness

excuse me while I have a little cry