Rachel Wagner
@drrachelwagner.bsky.social
Author, Cowboy Apocalypse (2025) and Godwired (2012). Prof of Religious Studies @ Ithaca College, mom & caregiver, disgruntled idealist, loud introvert. Religion, gaming, politics, media, film. #cowboyapocalypse
https://tinyurl.com/CowboyApocalypse
https://tinyurl.com/CowboyApocalypse
Pinned
Here's a code for 30% off my book, releasing in February. Want to understand more about the relationship between guns, media, and apocalypticism in America? I spent 10 years thinking about it. Review for a journal or a podcast or a news outlet? Let me know and I can probably get you a free copy.
Out now! I’m up for writing short pieces for outlets, interviews, whatever helps people get the info. There’s a whole chapter on guns (13 ways of looking at a gun).
A queer nunk, with the sort of imsights we need now.
What Queerness can teach us about friendship | Tashi Choedup | TEDxGITAMVizag
YouTube video by TEDx Talks
m.youtube.com
November 29, 2025 at 10:52 PM
A queer nunk, with the sort of imsights we need now.
Here’s a cool resource offering avenues of connection for queer and religious folk from numerous traditions.
About Us — Beloved Arise
www.belovedarise.org
November 29, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Here’s a cool resource offering avenues of connection for queer and religious folk from numerous traditions.
America is so fucked up that we have turned the presidency upside down. Instead of a leader who serves the country, we have become a country who serves the leader. The celebration of white male superiority has become everything because it finally was under threat.
November 29, 2025 at 7:22 PM
America is so fucked up that we have turned the presidency upside down. Instead of a leader who serves the country, we have become a country who serves the leader. The celebration of white male superiority has become everything because it finally was under threat.
It seems stupid to have to say this but just being Afghan doesn’t make anybody violent. Any one of us could lose our shit at some point so having guns lying around everywhere is not the best idea. I’d rather upset people have easy access to forks or hockey sticks than high powered rifles. The end.
November 29, 2025 at 5:19 PM
It seems stupid to have to say this but just being Afghan doesn’t make anybody violent. Any one of us could lose our shit at some point so having guns lying around everywhere is not the best idea. I’d rather upset people have easy access to forks or hockey sticks than high powered rifles. The end.
Would love advice on how to get on some podcasts or interviews about my book. I think I add a new and needed dimension to the conversation about guns and religion in America. Please teach me!
November 29, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Would love advice on how to get on some podcasts or interviews about my book. I think I add a new and needed dimension to the conversation about guns and religion in America. Please teach me!
Another shooting. Because it’s as predictable as politics.
Black Friday shooting at California mall leaves 3 wounded
Black Friday shooting at California mall leaves 3 wounded
Gunfire erupted inside a Santa Clara mall packed with Black Friday shoppers, leaving a man, a woman and a 16-year-old girl wounded.
www.nydailynews.com
November 29, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Another shooting. Because it’s as predictable as politics.
Remember when everyone was saying MOOCs were going to kill college? Now nobody younger than what—40?—even knows what they are. I do hope AI blows up bad, but that ordinary people don’t have to carry the financial burden and rich muckity mucks bear it all.
November 29, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Remember when everyone was saying MOOCs were going to kill college? Now nobody younger than what—40?—even knows what they are. I do hope AI blows up bad, but that ordinary people don’t have to carry the financial burden and rich muckity mucks bear it all.
After an educational dream last night, I have to wonder why people at risk of zombie attacks don’t wear bite proof clothing. Scarves, gloves, leather. The lives that could be saved! 🧟♂️ 🦷
November 28, 2025 at 10:34 PM
After an educational dream last night, I have to wonder why people at risk of zombie attacks don’t wear bite proof clothing. Scarves, gloves, leather. The lives that could be saved! 🧟♂️ 🦷
“In this way you can have your empty church with a dirt floor swept clean of dirt and your spectacular stained glass gleaming by the cathedral rafters, both. Because nothing you say can fuck up the space for God.” ~The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson.
November 28, 2025 at 8:03 PM
“In this way you can have your empty church with a dirt floor swept clean of dirt and your spectacular stained glass gleaming by the cathedral rafters, both. Because nothing you say can fuck up the space for God.” ~The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson.
“Almost everything serious is difficult, and everything is serious.” ~Rilke
November 28, 2025 at 1:21 AM
“Almost everything serious is difficult, and everything is serious.” ~Rilke
When it’s gorgeous out but all you can think about is the grading you haven’t yet done
November 28, 2025 at 12:41 AM
When it’s gorgeous out but all you can think about is the grading you haven’t yet done
What would it mean to have a new beginning now? If we, worn thin and hungering, could drop it all and start afresh? I mean: Could we remember how to love?
November 27, 2025 at 11:33 PM
What would it mean to have a new beginning now? If we, worn thin and hungering, could drop it all and start afresh? I mean: Could we remember how to love?
Beautiful.
They did it again! NYC subway Thanksgiving 2025, via @scootercaster.com!
November 27, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Beautiful.
Reposted by Rachel Wagner
Happy Thanksgiving
November 27, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Happy Thanksgiving
It’s only a “lone wolf” when it’s a single raving white man. Otherwise it’s part of a concerted effort to invade America.
Read my book?
Read my book?
November 27, 2025 at 5:08 PM
It’s only a “lone wolf” when it’s a single raving white man. Otherwise it’s part of a concerted effort to invade America.
Read my book?
Read my book?
There’s a political pun waiting to be made for those who play along with Trump’s rude shenanigans. Piggybacking.
November 27, 2025 at 3:39 PM
There’s a political pun waiting to be made for those who play along with Trump’s rude shenanigans. Piggybacking.
I’m late to awareness about this GOP attack on higher ed and especially the humanities. If your program’s grads don’t quickly make more than people who don’t go to college your program/field loses capacity to offer student loans. Shortsighted and problematic.
www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...
www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...
How Senate Republicans Want to Hold Colleges Accountable
The proposed plan would cut some programs off from federal loans if their students don't earn more than an adult with a high school diploma. It's higher ed lobbyists' preferred option.
www.insidehighered.com
November 26, 2025 at 10:49 PM
I’m late to awareness about this GOP attack on higher ed and especially the humanities. If your program’s grads don’t quickly make more than people who don’t go to college your program/field loses capacity to offer student loans. Shortsighted and problematic.
www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...
www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...
Reposted by Rachel Wagner
If I’m understanding this correctly, X is owned by a white nationalist who pays poor people of color in developing countries to pretend to be working class white Americans to scare other white Americans into being afraid poor people of color from developing countries are going to ruin America?
November 23, 2025 at 7:30 PM
If I’m understanding this correctly, X is owned by a white nationalist who pays poor people of color in developing countries to pretend to be working class white Americans to scare other white Americans into being afraid poor people of color from developing countries are going to ruin America?
“Brazil just succeeded where America failed. Bringing a former president who assaulted democracy to justice.”
‘Apocalypse In The Tropics’ Director Petra Costa On Bolsonaro Arrest, Investigation Into Christian Nationalist Pastor In Her Oscar-Contending Film
The arrest of former President Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil’s capital is making headlines worldwide, and thrusting an Oscar-contending film into the spotlight. Federal police took Bolsonaro into custody o...
uk.news.yahoo.com
November 23, 2025 at 10:14 PM
“Brazil just succeeded where America failed. Bringing a former president who assaulted democracy to justice.”
I’m in Boston at the American Academy of Religion! If you want a copy of my paper—“From Noise to Signal: The Devilish Controversies of Angel Studios”—send me your email.
November 21, 2025 at 7:05 PM
I’m in Boston at the American Academy of Religion! If you want a copy of my paper—“From Noise to Signal: The Devilish Controversies of Angel Studios”—send me your email.
A.I. ain’t ever going to tell me who I am or what I want. That’s up to me. So I better be real careful in my education, so I have the information I need to figure out who I am.
November 20, 2025 at 11:04 PM
A.I. ain’t ever going to tell me who I am or what I want. That’s up to me. So I better be real careful in my education, so I have the information I need to figure out who I am.
The more you write, the more what you write aligns with what you say. The more you write, the more you know what you want to say. The more you write, the more you can say exactly what you want to say.
November 20, 2025 at 10:57 PM
The more you write, the more what you write aligns with what you say. The more you write, the more you know what you want to say. The more you write, the more you can say exactly what you want to say.
You’ll be thrilled to hear that I managed to use the phrase “poopy butts” in my AAR conference paper on American media and evangelicalism.
November 19, 2025 at 1:58 PM
You’ll be thrilled to hear that I managed to use the phrase “poopy butts” in my AAR conference paper on American media and evangelicalism.
My job is so weird. “I’m on a tight schedule to get my paper about evangelical streaming services, MAGA child trafficking stings, and anti-woke media titans done and out the door.”
November 18, 2025 at 11:09 PM
My job is so weird. “I’m on a tight schedule to get my paper about evangelical streaming services, MAGA child trafficking stings, and anti-woke media titans done and out the door.”
If I manage things right, I may get to use the phrase “poopy butts” in my conference presentation at AAR (American Academy of Religion).
November 15, 2025 at 9:43 PM
If I manage things right, I may get to use the phrase “poopy butts” in my conference presentation at AAR (American Academy of Religion).