Dan Punday
@dan-punday.bsky.social
Professor of English at Mississippi State University. I've published on narrative theory, contemporary US (mostly) literature, and computing. Currently working on infrastructure as a narrative issue. Also sometimes makes pottery.
Not in my skill set, but I so need someone to do one of these with the metal presentations at the end of Star Wars.
Start here, it's perfectly set up:
Start here, it's perfectly set up:
January 17, 2026 at 4:41 PM
Not in my skill set, but I so need someone to do one of these with the metal presentations at the end of Star Wars.
Start here, it's perfectly set up:
Start here, it's perfectly set up:
For people of my age (let's not speak of it) who have parents that are hard to buy for, I got my mom this Bird Buddy smart bird feeder that takes pictures when birds eat and tells you their species. Pretty cool, and the definition of a gift for someone who doesn't need anything.
January 17, 2026 at 3:06 PM
For people of my age (let's not speak of it) who have parents that are hard to buy for, I got my mom this Bird Buddy smart bird feeder that takes pictures when birds eat and tells you their species. Pretty cool, and the definition of a gift for someone who doesn't need anything.
Taught my first classes of the semester today, and never had the standard today-is-the-first-day-of-class-and-I-didn't-prepare-my-syllabus anxiety dream I usually get over the break. Not sure if my unconscious is getting chill, or lazy.
January 15, 2026 at 11:18 PM
Taught my first classes of the semester today, and never had the standard today-is-the-first-day-of-class-and-I-didn't-prepare-my-syllabus anxiety dream I usually get over the break. Not sure if my unconscious is getting chill, or lazy.
Classes start this week. We've been running around the last few days doing (fun) social stuff. Today we have nothing on the schedule, leftovers in the fridge, and football on tv. My wife has declared it "luxury day" and that seems perfect.
January 11, 2026 at 3:43 PM
Classes start this week. We've been running around the last few days doing (fun) social stuff. Today we have nothing on the schedule, leftovers in the fridge, and football on tv. My wife has declared it "luxury day" and that seems perfect.
Geez, that Timmy Chalamet movie about ping pong? They should teach it in film schools about the importance of editing. What a mess.
January 9, 2026 at 4:24 AM
Geez, that Timmy Chalamet movie about ping pong? They should teach it in film schools about the importance of editing. What a mess.
A nice thing about Mississippi is that you can put plants in the ground so early in the spring--usually in March--so my habit has been to start seeds for things like tomatoes on January 1st under a grow light. Always fun to see them germinate and grow over these (relatively) cold months.
January 7, 2026 at 6:53 PM
A nice thing about Mississippi is that you can put plants in the ground so early in the spring--usually in March--so my habit has been to start seeds for things like tomatoes on January 1st under a grow light. Always fun to see them germinate and grow over these (relatively) cold months.
Mississippi State has, of course, a big agricultural focus. Just got an email from a friend who has a @poultry email address. How can you not be jealous? I always imagine their department made up of chickens in little lab coats with clipboards. Department meetings must be adorable!
January 7, 2026 at 3:28 PM
Mississippi State has, of course, a big agricultural focus. Just got an email from a friend who has a @poultry email address. How can you not be jealous? I always imagine their department made up of chickens in little lab coats with clipboards. Department meetings must be adorable!
Reviewing my Am Lit survey for the spring term, and realized I made a terrible oversight by not including WCW's "This is Just to Say." So few poems are internet memes: finally something the kids can relate to. We're gonna have fun with that.
January 6, 2026 at 2:18 PM
Reviewing my Am Lit survey for the spring term, and realized I made a terrible oversight by not including WCW's "This is Just to Say." So few poems are internet memes: finally something the kids can relate to. We're gonna have fun with that.
I know it got good reviews when it came out, but the new Naked Gun movie with Liam Neesom is just such a joy--out on Prime. All the fun of Airplane and Police Squad. If you love that stuff, take time to watch this, it so much fun.
January 6, 2026 at 2:52 AM
I know it got good reviews when it came out, but the new Naked Gun movie with Liam Neesom is just such a joy--out on Prime. All the fun of Airplane and Police Squad. If you love that stuff, take time to watch this, it so much fun.
Got new grow lights this year for starting tomatoes and peppers over the winter. Can't help but feel, based on the logo, that they have growing something else in mind.
January 4, 2026 at 5:03 PM
Got new grow lights this year for starting tomatoes and peppers over the winter. Can't help but feel, based on the logo, that they have growing something else in mind.
Always happy to be back in the Pittsburgh area.
December 27, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Always happy to be back in the Pittsburgh area.
Let's all recall who was on that Harper's letter with Weiss. I suppose they weren't all bad faith actors, but everybody should be reexamining that pile-on about "woke" culture. So much woe-is-me self indulgence, disgusting simple opportunism.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Lette...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Lette...
December 22, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Let's all recall who was on that Harper's letter with Weiss. I suppose they weren't all bad faith actors, but everybody should be reexamining that pile-on about "woke" culture. So much woe-is-me self indulgence, disgusting simple opportunism.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Lette...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Lette...
Been praising my Am Lit survey students all semester. But here's an answer on the final from a guy who presented as super bro-y guy. But what a lovely closing paragraph on *Sing Unburied Sing*; so thoughtful. I think I did my work with this class.
December 17, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Been praising my Am Lit survey students all semester. But here's an answer on the final from a guy who presented as super bro-y guy. But what a lovely closing paragraph on *Sing Unburied Sing*; so thoughtful. I think I did my work with this class.
Grading finals for my American lit survey, and struck by how many students spontaneously reference Stein's *Tender Buttons*. My work here is done.
December 10, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Grading finals for my American lit survey, and struck by how many students spontaneously reference Stein's *Tender Buttons*. My work here is done.
Haven't heard it put this way, but I think this is smart: ChatGPT essentially depends on making you feel like you *can't* do stuff, like read long articles, write papers, brainstorm, and even figure out the mechanics of adult life.
This entire grift relies on convincing people that they don't know how to do the things they have always known how to do, and ironically, if it works, we will, in a very short amount of time, forget how to do all the things we have always known how to do.
Jimmy Fallon: "And do you use ChatGPT when raising your baby?"
Sam Altman: "I cannot imagine figuring out how to raise a newborn without ChatGPT."
Sam Altman: "I cannot imagine figuring out how to raise a newborn without ChatGPT."
December 10, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Haven't heard it put this way, but I think this is smart: ChatGPT essentially depends on making you feel like you *can't* do stuff, like read long articles, write papers, brainstorm, and even figure out the mechanics of adult life.
Grad students came into the last class eager to rank the novels in the infrastructure and lit seminar. Decided to do it publicly, with lots of on-the-fly audience feedback. Severance takes the gold, Tropic of Orange the silver, How to Live Saftely in a Science Fictional Universe the bronze
December 2, 2025 at 12:57 AM
Grad students came into the last class eager to rank the novels in the infrastructure and lit seminar. Decided to do it publicly, with lots of on-the-fly audience feedback. Severance takes the gold, Tropic of Orange the silver, How to Live Saftely in a Science Fictional Universe the bronze
Not the most important thing about Stoppard's death, but this is something I didn't know.
Playwright Tom Stoppard has died at 88. Did you know he ghost-wrote George Lucas and Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? kottke.org/20/11/tom-st...
Tom Stoppard and the Last Crusade
Hermione Lee has written an authorized biography of playwright, screenwriter, translator, and man of letters Tom Stoppard, calle
kottke.org
November 29, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Not the most important thing about Stoppard's death, but this is something I didn't know.
For a small fee, I will attend your enemy's presentation and ask, "So is this basically just New Criticism?"
For a small fee, I will go to your historian enemy’s seminar presentation and say “I guess I’m just wondering what the “so what” of this paper is?”
November 27, 2025 at 4:21 PM
For a small fee, I will attend your enemy's presentation and ask, "So is this basically just New Criticism?"
Had grad students over to make pottery Christmas ornaments. Just opened the kiln and everything came out great.
November 27, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Had grad students over to make pottery Christmas ornaments. Just opened the kiln and everything came out great.
Wrapping up the American lit survey. A few weeks ago I asked student jokingly after push back, do you want to teach class? Today she said, yes, she'll teach the class. It's the last day on Ward's *Sing Unburied Sing*. Did amazing. Turns out, her grandfather worked at Parchman. Geez, what a context.
November 25, 2025 at 3:10 AM
Wrapping up the American lit survey. A few weeks ago I asked student jokingly after push back, do you want to teach class? Today she said, yes, she'll teach the class. It's the last day on Ward's *Sing Unburied Sing*. Did amazing. Turns out, her grandfather worked at Parchman. Geez, what a context.
Last cosmos of the year.
November 22, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Last cosmos of the year.
10 years ago, had someone ask me for an chapter for a book on Clarence Major. Wrote it but the collection didn't go anywhere. Never did anything with the piece, now the editor wants it in a journal special issue. Sure, why not? Now I'm getting copyediting Qs and I have no idea what I was referencing
November 21, 2025 at 12:54 PM
10 years ago, had someone ask me for an chapter for a book on Clarence Major. Wrote it but the collection didn't go anywhere. Never did anything with the piece, now the editor wants it in a journal special issue. Sure, why not? Now I'm getting copyediting Qs and I have no idea what I was referencing
This semester I've added a "warm up exercise" to the Am lit survey class. In groups students fill out a one-page sheet of 3 questions about the reading. They get credit as long as they participate. Discussion is more lively, attendance is better. Students like getting these little points for stuff.
November 19, 2025 at 12:17 PM
This semester I've added a "warm up exercise" to the Am lit survey class. In groups students fill out a one-page sheet of 3 questions about the reading. They get credit as long as they participate. Discussion is more lively, attendance is better. Students like getting these little points for stuff.
Gratifying day teaching Ward's *Sing Unburied Sing* in my American lit survey. Students came in with opinions! Mad at Leonie. Tried to get them to maybe be slightly critical of Jojo, but they wanted no part of that. Perfect teaching experience: so many strong opinions about these characters.
November 18, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Gratifying day teaching Ward's *Sing Unburied Sing* in my American lit survey. Students came in with opinions! Mad at Leonie. Tried to get them to maybe be slightly critical of Jojo, but they wanted no part of that. Perfect teaching experience: so many strong opinions about these characters.
Had a brilliant undergraduate make it to being a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship. Did some mock interviews and coaching to help him get prepped. Just learned that his whole interview focused on why he (as a black man) wanted to "do DEI." What a fucking joke.
November 17, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Had a brilliant undergraduate make it to being a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship. Did some mock interviews and coaching to help him get prepped. Just learned that his whole interview focused on why he (as a black man) wanted to "do DEI." What a fucking joke.