Mid Theory Collective
@mid-theory.bsky.social
the contemporary and its curiosities
https://mid-theory.com
https://mid-theory.com
Pinned
MTC is running two reading groups this fall. The first starts later this month. We will be reading HEART LAMP, a collection of short stories in translation and the first meeting is September 18. Get your books now and join us!! Sign up below:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Reposted by Mid Theory Collective
Tomorrow's the deadline for proposals for this virtual mini-workshop for grad students with the Post45 Data Collective. Pitch a 10-15 minute presentation with data from the collective. Get feedback from a lot of excellent people.
DEAR GRAD STUDENTS,
This March @post45data.bsky.social will be holding a free, online mini-workshop for grads working in the fields of contemporary literature and culture.
More info / abstract submission here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
1/4
This March @post45data.bsky.social will be holding a free, online mini-workshop for grads working in the fields of contemporary literature and culture.
More info / abstract submission here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
1/4
CFP: The Data of Post45 Literature and Culture (Online Graduate Workshop)
How has encroaching climate disaster impacted how the future is imagined in science fiction novels? What can a century of NYT bestsellers lists tell us about trends in mainstream publishing? And how c...
docs.google.com
November 30, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Tomorrow's the deadline for proposals for this virtual mini-workshop for grad students with the Post45 Data Collective. Pitch a 10-15 minute presentation with data from the collective. Get feedback from a lot of excellent people.
Reposted by Mid Theory Collective
DEAR GRAD STUDENTS,
This March @post45data.bsky.social will be holding a free, online mini-workshop for grads working in the fields of contemporary literature and culture.
More info / abstract submission here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
1/4
This March @post45data.bsky.social will be holding a free, online mini-workshop for grads working in the fields of contemporary literature and culture.
More info / abstract submission here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
1/4
CFP: The Data of Post45 Literature and Culture (Online Graduate Workshop)
How has encroaching climate disaster impacted how the future is imagined in science fiction novels? What can a century of NYT bestsellers lists tell us about trends in mainstream publishing? And how c...
docs.google.com
October 27, 2025 at 3:57 PM
DEAR GRAD STUDENTS,
This March @post45data.bsky.social will be holding a free, online mini-workshop for grads working in the fields of contemporary literature and culture.
More info / abstract submission here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
1/4
This March @post45data.bsky.social will be holding a free, online mini-workshop for grads working in the fields of contemporary literature and culture.
More info / abstract submission here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
1/4
Reposted by Mid Theory Collective
The Post45 Data Collective invites graduate students in the humanities or adjacent fields to explore cultural data reflexively and collaboratively in a mini-workshop hosted virtually on Friday, March 13. Details here: data.post45.org/news/grad-wo...
November 12, 2025 at 4:12 PM
The Post45 Data Collective invites graduate students in the humanities or adjacent fields to explore cultural data reflexively and collaboratively in a mini-workshop hosted virtually on Friday, March 13. Details here: data.post45.org/news/grad-wo...
This sounds amazing, please apply ✨
Are you a grad student working on post-1945 culture? Could your research benefit from incorporating some data, even minimally? Want feedback from journal editors?
This Post45 Data Collective virtual workshop may be for you!
Applications are due DECEMBER 1: data.post45.org/news/grad-wo...
This Post45 Data Collective virtual workshop may be for you!
Applications are due DECEMBER 1: data.post45.org/news/grad-wo...
The Post45 Data Collective invites graduate students in the humanities or adjacent fields to explore cultural data reflexively and collaboratively in a mini-workshop hosted virtually on Friday, March 13. Details here: data.post45.org/news/grad-wo...
November 30, 2025 at 4:32 PM
This sounds amazing, please apply ✨
Sarah Sgro and Olivia Stowell take on the "Instagram Theme Party™," dressing for the algorithm, and what these rituals tell us about the "kind of choreographed sociality that both relies on and is reproduced by algorithmic culture and platform capitalism."
Article illustrations by Carolyn Jao
Article illustrations by Carolyn Jao
Styling Algorithmic Life
The Instagram Theme Party™ (trademark ours) is everywhere, and it requires you to dress to code. Sundresses studded with a faux-watercolor seashell print. A pair of pajama shorts sporting a flimsy …
mid-theory.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Sarah Sgro and Olivia Stowell take on the "Instagram Theme Party™," dressing for the algorithm, and what these rituals tell us about the "kind of choreographed sociality that both relies on and is reproduced by algorithmic culture and platform capitalism."
Article illustrations by Carolyn Jao
Article illustrations by Carolyn Jao
Sarah Sgro and Olivia Stowell take on the "Instagram Theme Party™," dressing for the algorithm, and they tell us about "ritual talismans for a kind of choreographed sociality that both relies on and is reproduced by algorithmic culture and platform capitalism"
Article Illustrations by Carolyn Jao
Article Illustrations by Carolyn Jao
Styling Algorithmic Life
The Instagram Theme Party™ (trademark ours) is everywhere, and it requires you to dress to code. Sundresses studded with a faux-watercolor seashell print. A pair of pajama shorts sporting a flimsy …
mid-theory.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Sarah Sgro and Olivia Stowell take on the "Instagram Theme Party™," dressing for the algorithm, and they tell us about "ritual talismans for a kind of choreographed sociality that both relies on and is reproduced by algorithmic culture and platform capitalism"
Article Illustrations by Carolyn Jao
Article Illustrations by Carolyn Jao
Reposted by Mid Theory Collective
"the universal defilement of political speech saddles every utterance with such a burden of filth that, crushed and starting from within a dystopia that has already occurred, political speech can briefly, vanishingly, in the fragile space of an instant, attain the condition that literature cannot."
Mamdani Feelings
Starting from a place of extreme negativity, political speech can brush the bright membrane that forms literature’s impossible horizon. The rent is too high in Los Angeles. Consider a number: “One …
mid-theory.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:08 PM
"the universal defilement of political speech saddles every utterance with such a burden of filth that, crushed and starting from within a dystopia that has already occurred, political speech can briefly, vanishingly, in the fragile space of an instant, attain the condition that literature cannot."
Reposted by Mid Theory Collective
a gift from @bakaari.bsky.social (some of the other ones she brought were her brilliance and her humor)
@mid-theory.bsky.social
@mid-theory.bsky.social
November 9, 2025 at 5:01 PM
a gift from @bakaari.bsky.social (some of the other ones she brought were her brilliance and her humor)
@mid-theory.bsky.social
@mid-theory.bsky.social
Reposted by Mid Theory Collective
We are underway. @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social delivers opening remarks at a packed “Close Reading For The 21st Centure” book launch symposium.
November 7, 2025 at 3:46 PM
We are underway. @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social delivers opening remarks at a packed “Close Reading For The 21st Centure” book launch symposium.
"the universal defilement of political speech saddles every utterance with such a burden of filth that, crushed and starting from within a dystopia that has already occurred, political speech can briefly, vanishingly, in the fragile space of an instant, attain the condition that literature cannot."
Mamdani Feelings
Starting from a place of extreme negativity, political speech can brush the bright membrane that forms literature’s impossible horizon. The rent is too high in Los Angeles. Consider a number: “One …
mid-theory.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:08 PM
"the universal defilement of political speech saddles every utterance with such a burden of filth that, crushed and starting from within a dystopia that has already occurred, political speech can briefly, vanishingly, in the fragile space of an instant, attain the condition that literature cannot."
Reposted by Mid Theory Collective
On the day of the NYC mayoral election, Ali Raz pens a gorgeous essay reflecting on how Mamdani's rhetoric evinces a poetics of the Universal and convokes a shared commons united by labor and by the rhythms of life spent working in cities most of us cannot afford.
mid-theory.com/2025/11/04/m...
mid-theory.com/2025/11/04/m...
Mamdani Feelings
Starting from a place of extreme negativity, political speech can brush the bright membrane that forms literature’s impossible horizon. The rent is too high in Los Angeles. Consider a number: “One …
mid-theory.com
November 4, 2025 at 7:54 PM
On the day of the NYC mayoral election, Ali Raz pens a gorgeous essay reflecting on how Mamdani's rhetoric evinces a poetics of the Universal and convokes a shared commons united by labor and by the rhythms of life spent working in cities most of us cannot afford.
mid-theory.com/2025/11/04/m...
mid-theory.com/2025/11/04/m...
Reposted by Mid Theory Collective
This is a beautiful essay
On the day of the NYC mayoral election, Ali Raz pens a gorgeous essay reflecting on how Mamdani's rhetoric evinces a poetics of the Universal and convokes a shared commons united by labor and by the rhythms of life spent working in cities most of us cannot afford.
mid-theory.com/2025/11/04/m...
mid-theory.com/2025/11/04/m...
Mamdani Feelings
Starting from a place of extreme negativity, political speech can brush the bright membrane that forms literature’s impossible horizon. The rent is too high in Los Angeles. Consider a number: “One …
mid-theory.com
November 4, 2025 at 8:28 PM
This is a beautiful essay
Reposted by Mid Theory Collective
A piece about having Big Feelings about Mamdani. @mid-theory.bsky.social was a dream to work with 💖
Now glueing myself to election coverage. 🍺📺
Now glueing myself to election coverage. 🍺📺
On the day of the NYC mayoral election, Ali Raz pens a gorgeous essay reflecting on how Mamdani's rhetoric evinces a poetics of the Universal and convokes a shared commons united by labor and by the rhythms of life spent working in cities most of us cannot afford.
mid-theory.com/2025/11/04/m...
mid-theory.com/2025/11/04/m...
Mamdani Feelings
Starting from a place of extreme negativity, political speech can brush the bright membrane that forms literature’s impossible horizon. The rent is too high in Los Angeles. Consider a number: “One …
mid-theory.com
November 4, 2025 at 8:25 PM
A piece about having Big Feelings about Mamdani. @mid-theory.bsky.social was a dream to work with 💖
Now glueing myself to election coverage. 🍺📺
Now glueing myself to election coverage. 🍺📺
On the day of the NYC mayoral election, Ali Raz pens a gorgeous essay reflecting on how Mamdani's rhetoric evinces a poetics of the Universal and convokes a shared commons united by labor and by the rhythms of life spent working in cities most of us cannot afford.
mid-theory.com/2025/11/04/m...
mid-theory.com/2025/11/04/m...
Mamdani Feelings
Starting from a place of extreme negativity, political speech can brush the bright membrane that forms literature’s impossible horizon. The rent is too high in Los Angeles. Consider a number: “One …
mid-theory.com
November 4, 2025 at 7:54 PM
On the day of the NYC mayoral election, Ali Raz pens a gorgeous essay reflecting on how Mamdani's rhetoric evinces a poetics of the Universal and convokes a shared commons united by labor and by the rhythms of life spent working in cities most of us cannot afford.
mid-theory.com/2025/11/04/m...
mid-theory.com/2025/11/04/m...
Reposted by Mid Theory Collective
In our inaugural 'For Your Consideration' column Amanda Ann Klein and Olivia Stowell discuss Aaron Schimberg’s 2024 film A DIFFERENT MAN, a psychological drama about an actor with facial differences who undergoes an experimental treatment to alter his appearance.
mid-theory.com/2025/10/22/f...
mid-theory.com/2025/10/22/f...
For Your Consideration: ‘A Different Man’
In our “For Your Consideration” column, MTC editors, writers, and readers point your attention to works of art and cultural texts that may have dropped out of the 36-hour discourse cycle, but we co…
mid-theory.com
October 22, 2025 at 3:22 PM
In our inaugural 'For Your Consideration' column Amanda Ann Klein and Olivia Stowell discuss Aaron Schimberg’s 2024 film A DIFFERENT MAN, a psychological drama about an actor with facial differences who undergoes an experimental treatment to alter his appearance.
mid-theory.com/2025/10/22/f...
mid-theory.com/2025/10/22/f...
Working with Adam was an absolute dream! He was as usual responsive, attentive, brilliant. We cannot wait to work with him again ✨🎉
Had the pleasure of making some totes for @mid-theory.bsky.social This was a lot of fun. More projects like this!
October 31, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Working with Adam was an absolute dream! He was as usual responsive, attentive, brilliant. We cannot wait to work with him again ✨🎉
Our final meeting on NEVADA will be TODAY 10/30 at 5:30pm ET. We look forward to seeing returning and new faces! Sign up here: tinyurl.com/4yj7xj8p
Our reading group on NEVADA starts in about two weeks! Get your copy of this brilliant, funny, trailblazing trans novel and join us on October 16th @ 5:30 ET. Sign up here: tinyurl.com/4yj7xj8p
October 30, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Our final meeting on NEVADA will be TODAY 10/30 at 5:30pm ET. We look forward to seeing returning and new faces! Sign up here: tinyurl.com/4yj7xj8p
Our final meeting on NEVADA will be tomorrow 10/30 at 5:30pm ET. We look forward to seeing returning and new faces! Sign up here: tinyurl.com/4yj7xj8p
Our reading group on NEVADA starts in about two weeks! Get your copy of this brilliant, funny, trailblazing trans novel and join us on October 16th @ 5:30 ET. Sign up here: tinyurl.com/4yj7xj8p
October 29, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Our final meeting on NEVADA will be tomorrow 10/30 at 5:30pm ET. We look forward to seeing returning and new faces! Sign up here: tinyurl.com/4yj7xj8p
As you gear up for the spooky season, may we interest you in the unplayable and the haunt of the VHS tape
mid-theory.com/2025/09/04/c...
mid-theory.com/2025/09/04/c...
Conjuring the Unplayable
But why does anyone film anything? To remember it and, in the case of home viewing, to watch it repeatedly, allowing the images to spread across time like a curse. The same week I began writing thi…
mid-theory.com
October 28, 2025 at 8:55 PM
As you gear up for the spooky season, may we interest you in the unplayable and the haunt of the VHS tape
mid-theory.com/2025/09/04/c...
mid-theory.com/2025/09/04/c...
Reposted by Mid Theory Collective
For MTC, TJ Calhoun reviews Danzy Senna’s 'Colored Television.' Of the novel's protagonist they write, "She is the daughter of a theory-minded generation, where race is both too fluid and too real, and where no one actually wants to be understood, only verified."
The Prison-House of Authenticity: A Review of ‘Colored Television’
Here, the tragic mulatto is circumstantial: the novel makes it clear that, given the right motivations, anyone is capable of desiring badly, especially when custom furniture is on the line. In the …
mid-theory.com
October 27, 2025 at 2:00 PM
For MTC, TJ Calhoun reviews Danzy Senna’s 'Colored Television.' Of the novel's protagonist they write, "She is the daughter of a theory-minded generation, where race is both too fluid and too real, and where no one actually wants to be understood, only verified."
Reposted by Mid Theory Collective
Would anyone want to write a review of Lily Allen’s new album for @mid-theory.bsky.social ?? It’s so so so good and begs for some great criticism!
October 27, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Would anyone want to write a review of Lily Allen’s new album for @mid-theory.bsky.social ?? It’s so so so good and begs for some great criticism!
For MTC, TJ Calhoun reviews Danzy Senna’s 'Colored Television.' Of the novel's protagonist they write, "She is the daughter of a theory-minded generation, where race is both too fluid and too real, and where no one actually wants to be understood, only verified."
The Prison-House of Authenticity: A Review of ‘Colored Television’
Here, the tragic mulatto is circumstantial: the novel makes it clear that, given the right motivations, anyone is capable of desiring badly, especially when custom furniture is on the line. In the …
mid-theory.com
October 27, 2025 at 2:00 PM
For MTC, TJ Calhoun reviews Danzy Senna’s 'Colored Television.' Of the novel's protagonist they write, "She is the daughter of a theory-minded generation, where race is both too fluid and too real, and where no one actually wants to be understood, only verified."
In our inaugural 'For Your Consideration' column Amanda Ann Klein and Olivia Stowell discuss Aaron Schimberg’s 2024 film A DIFFERENT MAN, a psychological drama about an actor with facial differences who undergoes an experimental treatment to alter his appearance.
mid-theory.com/2025/10/22/f...
mid-theory.com/2025/10/22/f...
For Your Consideration: ‘A Different Man’
In our “For Your Consideration” column, MTC editors, writers, and readers point your attention to works of art and cultural texts that may have dropped out of the 36-hour discourse cycle, but we co…
mid-theory.com
October 22, 2025 at 3:22 PM
In our inaugural 'For Your Consideration' column Amanda Ann Klein and Olivia Stowell discuss Aaron Schimberg’s 2024 film A DIFFERENT MAN, a psychological drama about an actor with facial differences who undergoes an experimental treatment to alter his appearance.
mid-theory.com/2025/10/22/f...
mid-theory.com/2025/10/22/f...
Reposted by Mid Theory Collective
For MTC, Sophia Richardson examines how Netflix's SIRENS draws on competing visions of the ancient myth.
mid-theory.com/2025/10/16/w...
mid-theory.com/2025/10/16/w...
Whose Sirens?
How does this supportive sororal network gradually embraced by the show’s women turn into the nest of monsters perceived by its men? The most immediate and obvious reference to “sirens” in Netflix’…
mid-theory.com
October 16, 2025 at 4:52 PM
For MTC, Sophia Richardson examines how Netflix's SIRENS draws on competing visions of the ancient myth.
mid-theory.com/2025/10/16/w...
mid-theory.com/2025/10/16/w...
For MTC, Sophia Richardson examines how Netflix's SIRENS draws on competing visions of the ancient myth.
mid-theory.com/2025/10/16/w...
mid-theory.com/2025/10/16/w...
Whose Sirens?
How does this supportive sororal network gradually embraced by the show’s women turn into the nest of monsters perceived by its men? The most immediate and obvious reference to “sirens” in Netflix’…
mid-theory.com
October 16, 2025 at 4:52 PM
For MTC, Sophia Richardson examines how Netflix's SIRENS draws on competing visions of the ancient myth.
mid-theory.com/2025/10/16/w...
mid-theory.com/2025/10/16/w...