Jeff Manuel
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jeffmanuel.bsky.social
Jeff Manuel
@jeffmanuel.bsky.social
Historian of Energy, Technology, and the Environment; Professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; Coauthor of "Ethanol: A Hemispheric History for the Future of Biofuels;” Public and Oral History Practitioner.
jeffmanuel.com
When I’m in western MI people ask which St. Louis I’m from (there’s one in central MI).
November 26, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Per AP style you have to write “Iowa City, Iowa”?
November 26, 2025 at 3:29 PM
We also saw a significant rise in enrollment at SIUE, so it’s clearly a statewide issue and not just a Chicago effect. Great news, but I worry just a bit this is partly a sign of the weakening entry level job market.
November 23, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Sounds like the Zach Bryan song...
🎵And, I've been roofing houses atop of homes I can't afford
But I'm saving all my pennies and I'm praying to the lord
One day we'll make it through all this barely gettin' by🎵
youtu.be/CQGDBxuKeqI?...
Zach Bryan- Quittin' Time Live (Lincoln NE)
YouTube video by Matthew Long
youtu.be
November 21, 2025 at 5:39 PM
ISO type that identifies with me
November 21, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Tired: subsidize farmers bc of a trade war

Wired: subsidize farmers bc they’re all that stands between us and thousands of hungry bears
November 20, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Apparently those are the matagi, or traditional hunters
November 20, 2025 at 1:44 PM
“Keiji Minatoya, the owner of a confectionery store in Akita, was attacked by a bear in his garage two years ago. The bear tore off a piece of his earlobe; when he looked in the mirror, he could see part of his skull. The bear attacked four other people in his neighborhood that day.”
November 20, 2025 at 1:10 PM
I like Oliver Burkeman’s books that are kind of anti-productivity self-help.
November 20, 2025 at 2:08 AM
Hard to pick just one, but for a book that’s a great ride *and* squeezes in some scholarship, try Deborah Cohen’s _Last Call at the Hotel Imperial_.
November 19, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Glad to see some attention to Brazil’s corn ethanol boom, which has been happening under the radar of most US readers. Look forward to following this series.
November 19, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Maybe Rebecca Woods’s _The Herds Shot Round the World_?
November 19, 2025 at 1:36 PM
That's what I've been thinking about: are we on the verge of a wave of students looking to grad school as a refuge just as a lot of programs are cutting to the bone?
November 18, 2025 at 6:30 PM
“go beyond dialogue” 🤷🏻‍♂️
November 18, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Really interesting dialogue, Caleb. Thanks for sharing. Your contributions about contingency and paths not taken in energy history were spot on. There's still work to do in connecting energy *history* with energy humanities, I think, but I'm glad people are thinking along these lines.
November 17, 2025 at 8:24 PM