the contemporary and its curiosities https://mid-theory.comhttps://bsky.app/profile/mid-theory.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/mid-theory.bsky.social/post/3mwt4tyjsoc23For MTC, Abhinav Bhardwaj reviews The Woman Who Climbed Trees, Nepalese author Smriti Ravindra’s debut novel "The Woman Who Climbed Trees." "...a rare work of Nepali English fiction, is interested in what happens when a life remains discernible without yielding to the demand for definition." https://mid-theory.com/2026/10/01/queer-altitudes-in-smriti-ravindras-the-woman-who-climbed-trees/01 Oct 2026 15:02 +0000at://did:plc:mkatvf4wekflfebtm27ptogn/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwt4tyjsoc23https://bsky.app/profile/mid-theory.bsky.social/post/3mwbgvfcduk2q"The human animal, as it appears within Vanjonack’s stories, is a simple creature no matter how many incredible technologies and ecological catastrophes it creates." For MTC, Sam Norcross reviews the hot off the press darkly funny, speculative short story collection OUT OF BODY by Chris Vanjonack https://mid-theory.com/2026/09/24/pulp-sci-fi-for-the-pre-apocalypse-a-review-of-chris-vanjonacks-out-of-body/24 Sep 2026 14:14 +0000at://did:plc:mkatvf4wekflfebtm27ptogn/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwbgvfcduk2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/mid-theory.bsky.social/post/3mw4qsmghl22m"The Pitt demonstrates how “the secular” is more than a simple absence or negation of religion; it is an ambivalence about the very idea of religion, which ramifies across discursive idioms of Western modernity." Evan Goldstein on religion and 'The Pitt.' https://mid-theory.com/2026/05/07/the-prayers-and-tears-of-dr-robby/22 Sep 2026 17:28 +0000at://did:plc:mkatvf4wekflfebtm27ptogn/app.bsky.feed.post/3mw4qsmghl22mhttps://bsky.app/profile/mid-theory.bsky.social/post/3mvaykdclvc2dSchool is back in session! For Mixtape # 9 we asked a few of our colleagues what recent academic monographs were on their summer reading list. What insights are they taking into the new academic year? What should we put back on the shelf? https://mid-theory.com/2026/09/11/mixtape-9-recent-monographs/11 Sep 2026 16:32 +0000at://did:plc:mkatvf4wekflfebtm27ptogn/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvaykdclvc2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/mid-theory.bsky.social/post/3mu3637xqi22dFor our latest, Jordan Baldridge review Zayd Ayers Dohrn's semi-autobiographical revolutionary musical 'Revolution(s), which he made in collaboration with RATM frontman, Tom Morello. "Ayers Dohrn collapses the expansive and collective past referenced here by Marx into a specific, personal one." https://mid-theory.com/2026/08/27/all-in-the-family-review-of-zayd-ayers-dohrns-revolutions/27 Aug 2026 15:30 +0000at://did:plc:mkatvf4wekflfebtm27ptogn/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu3637xqi22dhttps://bsky.app/profile/mid-theory.bsky.social/post/3mu3637xqi22dFor our latest, Jordan Baldridge review Zayd Ayers Dohrn's semi-autobiographical revolutionary musical 'Revolution(s), which he made in collaboration with RATM frontman, Tom Morello. "Ayers Dohrn collapses the expansive and collective past referenced here by Marx into a specific, personal one." https://mid-theory.com/2026/08/27/all-in-the-family-review-of-zayd-ayers-dohrns-revolutions/27 Aug 2026 15:30 +0000at://did:plc:mkatvf4wekflfebtm27ptogn/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu3637xqi22dhttps://bsky.app/profile/mid-theory.bsky.social/post/3mtjjik5txs2b"In times of strife, we grasp for what we can." Abigail Dahlke & Charlotte Richardson-Deppe reflect on the latter's soft sculpture series 'Death Rattles,' which confronts the tactical aesthetic of the militarized state with the squishy, squeaky, absurd, irreverent repurposing of thrifted materials https://mid-theory.com/2026/08/20/death-rattles-or-soft-guns-for-a-dying-empire/20 Aug 2026 15:06 +0000at://did:plc:mkatvf4wekflfebtm27ptogn/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtjjik5txs2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/mid-theory.bsky.social/post/3msjeigee6c2wThanks to @mitchrmurray.bsky.social for a truly outstanding workshop presentation today and to the 60+ colleagues who attended. The market is bleak but our support & service to one another does not have to be. We will see you in two weeks for the second part of the series. See more at mid-theory.com [contains quote post or other embedded content]07 Aug 2026 20:11 +0000at://did:plc:mkatvf4wekflfebtm27ptogn/app.bsky.feed.post/3msjeigee6c2whttps://bsky.app/profile/mid-theory.bsky.social/post/3msgf6s5k3s2nThis is tomorrow! [contains quote post or other embedded content]06 Aug 2026 15:46 +0000at://did:plc:mkatvf4wekflfebtm27ptogn/app.bsky.feed.post/3msgf6s5k3s2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/mid-theory.bsky.social/post/3mse3vlts3c2jWe get it, it is (a) drag. [contains quote post or other embedded content]05 Aug 2026 17:54 +0000at://did:plc:mkatvf4wekflfebtm27ptogn/app.bsky.feed.post/3mse3vlts3c2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/mid-theory.bsky.social/post/3msbh66cg2s2uOur second academic job market materials workshop starts this Friday with @mitchrmurray.bsky.social. Sign up here: tinyurl.com/36fvvctv More info on our website: https://mid-theory.com/mtc-writing-groups/04 Aug 2026 16:38 +0000at://did:plc:mkatvf4wekflfebtm27ptogn/app.bsky.feed.post/3msbh66cg2s2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/mid-theory.bsky.social/post/3ms4ihwy6nk2zYou can read MTC August newsletter here: tinyurl.com/kc5jcf8y02 Aug 2026 17:18 +0000at://did:plc:mkatvf4wekflfebtm27ptogn/app.bsky.feed.post/3ms4ihwy6nk2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/mid-theory.bsky.social/post/3mrxueusv4k2zMid Theory Collective congratulates our editor Jay Shelat @jshelat1.bsky.social 🎉 [contains quote post or other embedded content]31 Jul 2026 21:08 +0000at://did:plc:mkatvf4wekflfebtm27ptogn/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrxueusv4k2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/mid-theory.bsky.social/post/3mrutimyrfs2eEmily Coccia pens an anti-eulogy for 'Hacks,' and an ode to the queer fun of making thing, hard and hacky things with others even when, especially when, nothing is guaranteed. https://mid-theory.com/2026/07/30/an-anti-eulogy-for-hacks/30 Jul 2026 16:14 +0000at://did:plc:mkatvf4wekflfebtm27ptogn/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrutimyrfs2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/mid-theory.bsky.social/post/3mrutimyrfs2eEmily Coccia pens an anti-eulogy for 'Hacks,' and an ode to the queer fun of making thing, hard and hacky things with others even when, especially when, nothing is guaranteed. https://mid-theory.com/2026/07/30/an-anti-eulogy-for-hacks/30 Jul 2026 16:14 +0000at://did:plc:mkatvf4wekflfebtm27ptogn/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrutimyrfs2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/mid-theory.bsky.social/post/3mrd5aju3l22eFor our latest installment of Adaptation Anxiety series, Nathan Likert reviews The Odyssey and what it says about the director's futile guilt & generational angst! "Homer’s text thus becomes a Trojan horse through which the contemporary can be litigated." https://mid-theory.com/2026/07/23/what-can-a-homer-or-a-nolan-offer-the-future/23 Jul 2026 15:20 +0000at://did:plc:mkatvf4wekflfebtm27ptogn/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrd5aju3l22ehttps://bsky.app/profile/mid-theory.bsky.social/post/3mrd5aju3l22eFor our latest installment of Adaptation Anxiety series, Nathan Likert reviews The Odyssey and what it says about the director's futile guilt & generational angst! "Homer’s text thus becomes a Trojan horse through which the contemporary can be litigated." https://mid-theory.com/2026/07/23/what-can-a-homer-or-a-nolan-offer-the-future/23 Jul 2026 15:20 +0000at://did:plc:mkatvf4wekflfebtm27ptogn/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrd5aju3l22ehttps://bsky.app/profile/mid-theory.bsky.social/post/3mrasv5yook2c"I recognize and even admire that date’s characters’ failure of action is the play’s subject itself rather than a failure of the play." Hanu Shahdadpuri reviews Jake Flume’s 'date.' http://mid-theory.com/2026/07/17/the-flat-theatricality-of-the-scroll-review-of-jake-flumes-date/22 Jul 2026 17:10 +0000at://did:plc:mkatvf4wekflfebtm27ptogn/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrasv5yook2c