Daniel Cavicchi

"Origin of Term ‘Fan' Is Mooted Question." San Francisco Call, Volume 110, Number 176 (23 November 1911): 10.

CFP: Sounding Things: Props, Material Culture, and Accessories in Popular Music

Abstract Deadline: May 1, 2026
Abstract Length: 350–500 words
Editors: Kate Galloway, Paxton Haven, and Mike Levine

Full call here: drive.google.com/file/d/1mfyd...

Providence, R.I., Is Used to Snow. But Not 36 Inches in a Day.

Spent the entire day moving snow. Time for tea and Tylenol. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/24/u...

The Largest Historical Dictionary of English Slang Now Free Online: Covers 500 Years of the “Vulgar Tongue” 'The three volumes of Green's Dictionary of Slang demonstrate the sheer scope of a lifetime of research by Jonathon Green, the leading slang lexicographer of our time. A remarkable collection of this ...

The Largest Historical Dictionary of English Slang Now Free Online: Covers 500 Years of the “Vulgar Tongue”

Ian McKellen performs “The Strangers’ Case” speech from “Sir Thomas More” on Colbert.

They Went to the Woods Because They Wished to Live Deliberately

Thoreau fandom.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/03/r...

Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio) YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Stay free

Writing William Billings - Commonplace When historical details are nonexistent, make them up. Not usually considered sound advice to historians, granted, but possibly warranted under these circumstances.

How do historians tell a story of a fascinating person who left few personal papers? In a new Commonplace piece, David Stowe explains how/why his historical novel might be the right approach for the life of William Billings, the first significant US composer. 🗃️

commonplace.online/article/writ...

Orange cover, with author’s name across the top. The title occupies the top third, in the style of a dictionary entry. Beneath that is a double-torsoed man in gray: one half stands, looking at text on a phone, and the other bends down at the waist to attend to an oversized fragment of a dictionary page.

Highly recommend Unabridged, by @stefanfatsis.bsky.social. Especially in an environment of unchecked doublespeak, it’s good to read about people who have devoted their lives to the principle that words and their definitions matter.

Opinion | The Multi-Trillion-Dollar Battle for Your Attention Is Built on a Lie

D. Graham Burnett, Alyssa Loh, and Peter Schmidt advocate for “defeating the forces that frack human beings” with Simone Weil’s "theory of attention rooted in love, care and commitment, an ethics of attention that cannot be sold or stolen.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/o...

New issue of Fandom | Cultures | Research ⬇️⬇️⬇️

#FanStudies

journals.uni-marburg.de/fcr

Subject Tags - Commonplace Browse by Subject

Are you finalizing a syllabus and looking for short, accessible articles to assign on some aspect of American history before 1900? Did you know that Commonplace has a subject tags page that allows you to easily browse our 25 year back catalog? Check it out here: 🗃️

commonplace.online/article/subj...

AllMusic Best of 2025 | AllMusic 2025 in Review AllMusic has assembled our Best of 2025. Browse through and check out what music our editors have been listening to this year.

All the lists are published, and New Year's Day is the perfect time to walk back through our 2025 Year In Review to discover which albums you may have missed over the last three hundred and some-odd days. Happy New Year!

Bilge Ebiri: “Why Terrence Malick Is the Most Influential Director” Bilge Ebiri explores filmmaker Terrence Malick’s vision of grace and his far-ranging influence on American cinema.

Excellent essay, by @bilgeebiri.bsky.social, on Terrence Malick’s enduring influence.
yalereview.org/article/bilg...

You Can Look It Up How the thing said Is in the words, how The words themselves The thing said . . . A word, that’s the poem.          —James Schuyler How

Joseph Epstein echoes my (apparently antiquated) love for the printed dictionary in “You Can Look It Up: A Threnody for the Dictionary.”
www.commentary.org/articles/jos...

Watching Providence retreat into itself after the Brown shooting What it's like when this uniquely American horror arrives in your city.

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Glued to the news. It is awful to see Providence’s East side become an active crime scene. I’m saddened by the casualties and, with the shooter still at large, worried about Brown University colleagues and students still sheltering in place.

Been there.

Sesame Street: Pinball Number 4 YouTube video by Sesame Street

Thinking about how much time I spent as a child watching Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood (1968), Sesame Street (1969), and The Electric Company (1971). Mr. Rogers was most important for me, although Sesame’s groovy "Pinball Counting Song” always got my full attention.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODJ-...

The Tune of Things, by Christian Wiman Is consciousness God?

Brilliantly provocative essay from Christian Wiman: “I aim to call into question some of our most settled ideas, and lay a little depth charge under some of the dualisms that define and derange us.” harpers.org/archive/2025...

Talking Heads' Chris Frantz on the newly resurfaced 'Psycho Killer' demo Podcast Episode · Rhode Island Report · 11/27/2025 · 22m

Yours truly speaking about the super cool previously unreleased Artistics and Talking Heads demos which are available today at your local independent record store.

Impossible how good reading is. You mean I just point my face at the paper for a bit and it does a whole update on my brain?

Announcing the latest issue of Participations! (Feel free to share :) ).

This issue, we feature articles on BookTok, K-Drama, Cinephiliac memory, inclusivity in Harry Potter fanfic and work on audiences in Ghana and Flanders! :)

www.participations.org

Brittany Davis, Black Thunder (incredible standout: Amid the Blackout of the Night)

Runners Up:
Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (esp.: Noise Machinery)
Shakti, Mind Explosion (esp.: Shrini’s Dream)
Omer Avital, New York Now and Then (esp.: title track)

Black Musical Theater, 200 Years and Running (Gift Article) The nearly forgotten Black stars, songwriters and strivers who made Broadway what it is today.

Jesse Green, "Black Musical Theater, 200 Years and Running.” [See also: Marvin McAllister, *White People Do Not Know How to Behave at Entertainments Designed for Ladies and Gentlemen of Colour*, UNC Press, 2003].
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Yes! Edugyan went to U. Victoria, I believe. The book remains a favorite of mine.

The cloth cover of a first edition of Erich Maria Remarque's Arch of Triumph (1945). The cover is a worn gray/blue, with the title and author imprinted in gold.

Arrived in the mail today. Time for rereading.

Somehow, in a seminar today, I was able to connect The Summer I Turned Pretty to William Bradford’s initial impressions of Cape Cod. Some students sat straight up!

Everything you need to know about the Booker Prize 2025 shortlist | The Booker Prizes As the Booker Prize 2025 shortlist is announced, we’ve picked out the most interesting facts, trends and themes that have emerged in this year’s selection

The Booker Prize 2025 shortlist: thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-l...

My article on how the performing arts can be incorporated as a method for public humanities has just been published in the online, open-access journal, Public Humanities. Free to download. #publichumanities #AcademicSky #PerformingArts #HigherEd #theatre #arts
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...