Michael J. Kramer
@michaeljkramer.bsky.social
Historian, SUNY Brockport
Editor, The Carryall: US Cultural & Intellectual History thecarryall.org
Director, Berkeley Folk Music Festival Project bfmf.net
#culturerover: Promiscuous Cultural Criticism culturerover.net
Union, UUP
More: michaeljkramer.net
Editor, The Carryall: US Cultural & Intellectual History thecarryall.org
Director, Berkeley Folk Music Festival Project bfmf.net
#culturerover: Promiscuous Cultural Criticism culturerover.net
Union, UUP
More: michaeljkramer.net
New #culturerover: The Play of Levels, hypothesizing cultural criticism in US intellectual history. www.michaeljkramer.net/the-play-of-...
November 13, 2025 at 4:06 PM
New #culturerover: The Play of Levels, hypothesizing cultural criticism in US intellectual history. www.michaeljkramer.net/the-play-of-...
Not the bots!
October 13, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Not the bots!
Why are there so few (none?) news stories about individual ICE agents themselves? Who they are, what motivates them, any moral dilemmas they face? Why aren’t protesters trying to get some to speak out?
October 13, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Why are there so few (none?) news stories about individual ICE agents themselves? Who they are, what motivates them, any moral dilemmas they face? Why aren’t protesters trying to get some to speak out?
New #culturerover: The Dissonance of Dissidence—Theater Apparatus, Václav Havel’s Protest @ MuCCC/Rochester Fringe Festival @rochesterfringe.bsky.social, 10 september 2025. www.michaeljkramer.net/the-dissonan...
September 22, 2025 at 12:05 AM
New #culturerover: The Dissonance of Dissidence—Theater Apparatus, Václav Havel’s Protest @ MuCCC/Rochester Fringe Festival @rochesterfringe.bsky.social, 10 september 2025. www.michaeljkramer.net/the-dissonan...
New #culturerover: Outstretched—Commotion Dance reaches out in Opus @ MuCC/Rochester Fringe Festival @rochesterfringe.bsky.social, 9 September 2025. www.michaeljkramer.net/outstretched/
September 21, 2025 at 11:57 PM
New #culturerover: Outstretched—Commotion Dance reaches out in Opus @ MuCC/Rochester Fringe Festival @rochesterfringe.bsky.social, 9 September 2025. www.michaeljkramer.net/outstretched/
New #culturerover: Those Times of Revolution—In Los Lobos’s 1996 “Revolution,” the words say one thing, the music another. www.michaeljkramer.net/those-times
September 19, 2025 at 7:12 PM
New #culturerover: Those Times of Revolution—In Los Lobos’s 1996 “Revolution,” the words say one thing, the music another. www.michaeljkramer.net/those-times
I once again defer to experts, but shouldn't the Democrats message right now be twofold?
September 13, 2025 at 12:03 AM
I once again defer to experts, but shouldn't the Democrats message right now be twofold?
Don’t get all the hand-wringing by Democratic leaders about upcoming potential government shutdown. Isn’t it simpler? “The other party currently holds power. We’re the opposition party. Let them solve the issue. If they can’t then elect us next time.” Make the distinction clearer.
September 7, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Don’t get all the hand-wringing by Democratic leaders about upcoming potential government shutdown. Isn’t it simpler? “The other party currently holds power. We’re the opposition party. Let them solve the issue. If they can’t then elect us next time.” Make the distinction clearer.
Why is the phrase “the juice isn’t worth the squeeze” or variations of it suddenly ubiquitous? A few years ago everyone had “bucket lists,” now we are in an era of diminishing returns?
September 5, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Why is the phrase “the juice isn’t worth the squeeze” or variations of it suddenly ubiquitous? A few years ago everyone had “bucket lists,” now we are in an era of diminishing returns?
New #culturerover: Get Out the Way, Old Dan Tucker returns as ICE agent? www.michaeljkramer.net/get-out-the-...
August 30, 2025 at 12:40 AM
New #culturerover: Get Out the Way, Old Dan Tucker returns as ICE agent? www.michaeljkramer.net/get-out-the-...
Question for political operatives, activists, and historians. I keep wondering why the Democratic Party's message is not simpler and bolder: the Trumpublicans want to kill your grandma and your children; we want to keep them alive. Why are they not saying something like that these days?
August 29, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Question for political operatives, activists, and historians. I keep wondering why the Democratic Party's message is not simpler and bolder: the Trumpublicans want to kill your grandma and your children; we want to keep them alive. Why are they not saying something like that these days?
Get out the way Old Dan Tucker. www.facebook.com/reel/4151252...
August 14, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Get out the way Old Dan Tucker. www.facebook.com/reel/4151252...
The closing of the BBC Sounds app is very sad. Way more restricted access to BBC Radio overseas now. Part of a larger closing down of public media (and global publics)?
August 3, 2025 at 2:36 PM
The closing of the BBC Sounds app is very sad. Way more restricted access to BBC Radio overseas now. Part of a larger closing down of public media (and global publics)?
Great conversation here between Paul Gulroy and Steve McQueen. youtu.be/YHW2HHaEl2g?...
A Conversation with Steve McQueen and Paul Gilroy
YouTube video by CUNY Graduate Center
youtu.be
August 3, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Great conversation here between Paul Gulroy and Steve McQueen. youtu.be/YHW2HHaEl2g?...
Move over Zizek. Step aside Walter Benjamin. Take a bath Barthes. Best cultural criticism & analysis going today, in a format for contemporary times. youtube.com/@meditations...
Meditations for the anxious mind
For biz: [email protected]
youtube.com
August 2, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Move over Zizek. Step aside Walter Benjamin. Take a bath Barthes. Best cultural criticism & analysis going today, in a format for contemporary times. youtube.com/@meditations...
Call for a ban on the word "impactful" unless you are planning to punch someone (preferably a Nazi).
July 29, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Call for a ban on the word "impactful" unless you are planning to punch someone (preferably a Nazi).
Over at @newyorker.com, the always-sharp Vinson Cunningham has a nice piece on those super-weird Apple AI ads, www.newyorker.com/culture/crit..., something I was thinking a lot about too in the Culture Rover post Phonies, www.michaeljkramer.net/phonies/. #culturerover
What Do Commercials About A.I. Really Promise?
If human workers don’t have to read, write, or even think, it’s unclear what’s left for them to do.
www.newyorker.com
July 29, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Over at @newyorker.com, the always-sharp Vinson Cunningham has a nice piece on those super-weird Apple AI ads, www.newyorker.com/culture/crit..., something I was thinking a lot about too in the Culture Rover post Phonies, www.michaeljkramer.net/phonies/. #culturerover
Jasper Johns, Two Flags (Black) (crop), 1970-72. For more, see "We Carried You In Our Arms, on Independence Day—images & sounds for July 4th." www.michaeljkramer.net/we-carried-y...
July 4, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Jasper Johns, Two Flags (Black) (crop), 1970-72. For more, see "We Carried You In Our Arms, on Independence Day—images & sounds for July 4th." www.michaeljkramer.net/we-carried-y...
New #culturerover: More Than a Face—the gaze & the visage. Unmasking masking in the 2020s. www.michaeljkramer.net/more-than-a-...
June 13, 2025 at 10:53 AM
New #culturerover: More Than a Face—the gaze & the visage. Unmasking masking in the 2020s. www.michaeljkramer.net/more-than-a-...
“Don’t hate the black, don’t hate the white. If you get bitten, just hate the bite.” youtu.be/u8r32Scvbds
Sly & The Family Stone "Everyday People & Dance To The Music" on The Ed Sullivan Show
YouTube video by The Ed Sullivan Show
youtu.be
June 10, 2025 at 7:42 AM
“Don’t hate the black, don’t hate the white. If you get bitten, just hate the bite.” youtu.be/u8r32Scvbds
New #culturerover: Brushing Against the Body, on
The Living End: Painting and Other Technologies, 1970–2020, @mcachicago.bsky.social www.michaeljkramer.net/brushing-aga...
The Living End: Painting and Other Technologies, 1970–2020, @mcachicago.bsky.social www.michaeljkramer.net/brushing-aga...
May 24, 2025 at 9:04 PM
New #culturerover: Brushing Against the Body, on
The Living End: Painting and Other Technologies, 1970–2020, @mcachicago.bsky.social www.michaeljkramer.net/brushing-aga...
The Living End: Painting and Other Technologies, 1970–2020, @mcachicago.bsky.social www.michaeljkramer.net/brushing-aga...