Ryan Cordell

I do feel like we’re all beginning to understand in an immediate, visceral way what it must have been like to live under one of the mad Roman emperors

Live at WEFT, by The Anxious Bench 5 track album

It’s Bandcamp Friday! If you were so inclined, my little local band has some music online—we’re hoping to get back into the studio this summer & that’s what your dollars would support!

theanxiousbench.bandcamp.com/album/live-a...

theanxiousbench.bandcamp.com/album/exhala...

We haven’t really reckoned with the fallout of what’s happened—we’ve mostly been limping along, patching holes & hoping the status quo might magically return—there are so many serious conversations we must have about the scale of research expected, revising T&P guidelines for the new paradigm, &c.

I’m not saying anything novel here, but the reality has been cast in sharp relief as I’ve learned just how many people are applying to 1 narrow program—not even across my whole university, but only from my college—it’s going to be a barrage, with a relatively minuscule number actually funded

The _scope_ of work that can be supported is also so much narrower—some orgs like Mellon are taking a broad mandate, but most others are narrowly tailored to a particular person’s priorities & agenda—in that way, they are not philosophically much different from the new NEH/NEA, etc.

As I—along, I suspect, with many of you—scramble to complete private foundation grant application, it’s so thoroughly clear private funding cannot compensate for the decimation of federal research support in the US—most obviously, everyone is now competing over an exponentially smaller pool of funds

Oh, 100%. It’s terrifying to be led by fanatics

This is where folks overly psychologizing religion can be deceptive—I mean, yes religion intersects with desire for power, or sexual control, etc. but it’s not just a mask for psychological things—many of them actually believe it—are really, actually trying to fulfill biblical prophecy

Growing up, literally every time hostilities erupted anywhere in the Middle East l, our pastors would start frothing about the “signs of the times” & warning us to get ready—& now we’re essentially being governored by those folks, who feel they have a spiritual mandate to usher in apocalypse

Do I think Donald Trump believes any of that? No, of course not—as far as I can tell, that dude believes nothing beyond his own bullshit. But he’s easily manipulated by folks who really, genuinely believe it, and likely see him as a convenient tool

They specifically need other countries to be at war with Israel, and they’ll absolutely “support” Israel now to ensure Israel is cleansed in apocalyptic fire when the end times & tribulations kick off

Folks who didn’t grow up in American evangelicalism & think that “we’re at war to kick off Armaggedon” story sounds far-fetched—it isn’t. There are many folks—lots now in positions of power—who desperately want war in the Middle East because it’s required by their interpretation of Biblical prophecy

Read more about what this case means for press freedom in this op-ed by @seth-stern.bsky.social in @theintercept.com, published in Nov.

I give this principled stand like a week, tops

They’ll pinkie promise to really, definitely, for sure vote on a band-aid like body cams—but not until *after* the new secretary is appointed—& then once half the dems approve the nominee well gosh darn it we can’t vote on that *now* can we?

decidedly not

well now we all know what a "markwayne" really is…

Can’t help but think of the last season of The Diplomat when Keri Russell’s character is offered a "special envoy" title & her staff immediately clock that it’s a bullshit consolation prize with no real power or resources behind it

“Markwayne” sounds like a fantasy job.

“Well, traveler, that sounds like a question for the local markwayne. But don’t be fooled—he’s a gnome in disguise!”

This is what Rumsfeld would call an Unnoem Unnoem

we had to change our travel dates & all our arrangements *twice* for this trip & when we arrived Tad was a bit surprised by how much we’d agreed to haul—I know the whole trip was stressful but his good spirits never wavered—& with sore legs & backs this is what he texted me—such an incredible human

Ending with profound appreciation for Tad Schroeder, the @ischoolui.bsky.social's facilities director—Tad has now *twice* taken overnight trips to haul thousands of pounds of equipment with me & is @skeuomorphpress.org’s most stalwart advocate—he’d say it’s just his job but it’s so far over & above

Mostly photos of us swooning over particular cases

One of our students documented yesterday & just dropped me a ton of photos—I can only post a few at a time, so here come a few posts that are mostly pics—I was blown away by how many students showed up to haul type—we have such a great student community @ischoolui.bsky.social

It only took a few hours to move everything in, but I’ve been here all day arranging. Will still tinker but yes, we moved 248 trays of type, many hundreds of cuts & borders, & so much more into a space that had no room for anything!

Lots of students came to help; things are moving fast!

Ok, starting off a thread to document the unloading. For those who have visited @skeuomorphpress.org & were wondering, “where on earth earth will you put that type?” here’s the main answer: the bases of our central tables will be replaced by type cabinets—tabletops will go back on the cabinets

So many goodies coming tomorrow to Skeuomorph!!

It was hard to focus on loading as I kept wanting to take pictures or chat with the seller about the history of his press & the collection—he was a lovely Iowa farmer/printer, 85 years old—so gracious but it was hard not to see some sadness in his expression as we loaded his life’s work into a truck

The truck is loaded with all 10 cabinets & we’re on the road home. No 4 pictures could capture the richness of this collection—hundreds of fonts, some incredible wood type—including one 30-line font that’s now the largest in our collection—cuts, borders, ornaments, type specimen books, &c. &c.

I’m at the country liquor store

I’m at the U-Haul rental

I’m at the combination country liquor store and U-Haul rental