Paul Dobryden
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pdobryden.bsky.social
Paul Dobryden
@pdobryden.bsky.social
500 followers 760 following 39 posts
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pdobryden.bsky.social
Re recent news, is it "capitulation" or "appeasement" if two parties work together to achieve a set of shared goals? I believe there's another word for this
October 23, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Reposted by Paul Dobryden
g-s-s-n.bsky.social
Congratulations to our very own Paul Flaig on the publication of his book: Weimar Slapstick and Hollywood Comedy Transformed - out today with Bloomsbury, in the World Cinema series edited by Lúcia Nagib and Julian Ross

www.bloomsbury.com/uk/weimar-sl...
Weimar Slapstick and Hollywood Comedy Transformed
From cabaret songs inspired by Buster Keaton to Mickey Mouse's diagnosis as a “melo-maniac,” Weimar Slapstick and Hollywood Comedy Transformed explores the extr…
www.bloomsbury.com
October 2, 2025 at 8:59 AM
pdobryden.bsky.social
Warning that Cville Walgreens is out of COVID vaccine. Their appointment system is disconnected from their inventory, so making an appointment does NOT mean they actually have it
pdobryden.bsky.social Paul Dobryden @pdobryden.bsky.social · Sep 4
Update #2: RN at UVA Primary Care Pantops said they can now send COVID vaccine prescriptions to local pharmacies
September 8, 2025 at 8:23 PM
pdobryden.bsky.social
Very honored and excited to be featured at this event next year 🙏

Thank you @mharrabin.bsky.social and @lawrencealexander.bsky.social
weimarfilmnetwork.bsky.social Weimar Film Network @weimarfilmnetwork.bsky.social · Sep 5
📢📢📢 Upcoming Conference: 'Rethinking Weimar Cinema' (University of Oxford, 17 - 19 June 2026)

Full Call for Papers: drive.google.com/file/d/1pxBI...

Deadline: 31 October 2025

Please share widely with anyone who may be interested in joining us in Oxford next year!
Call for Papers: Rethinking Weimar Cinema (University of Oxford, 17 - 19 June 2026) Keynote Speakers: Dr Paul Dobryden (University of Virginia) Dr Sara F. Hall (University of Illinois Chicago) Dr Qinna Shen (Bryn Mawr College) Film Screenings: TBC, in collaboration with the Ultimate Picture Palace and Weimar 100 Organizers: Dr Lawrence Alexander (Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford) and Dr Molly Harrabin (University of St. Andrews/University of Warwick). Deadline for submitting proposals: 31 October 2025 The centennial years of the Weimar Republic (1918-1933) have seen a rise in academic engagement with and public interest in this period of German film history. As one of the most dynamic and experimental periods in global cinema, Weimar film has long been recognized for its aesthetic innovations, sociopolitical commentary, and influence on subsequent film movements. Yet these anniversary commemorations have not only reaffirmed the significance of this era, they have also opened the door for new questions, perspectives, and critical paradigms. This conference seeks to build on this momentum by revisiting Weimar cinema through fresh critical lenses and innovative methodologies, inviting participants to reconsider its cultural, political, and aesthetic significance in light of new archival discoveries, theoretical frameworks, and interdisciplinary approaches. The conference will take stock of our current understanding of Weimar film to map where this field may be heading as well as offering new genealogies of those images, figures, and texts that have defined it thus far. In addition to traditional conference papers, we welcome contributions from archivists, practice-based researchers, and works of videographic criticism. Please submit proposals of up to 300 words to lawrence.alexander@rsa.ox.ac.uk and mlh21@st-andrews.ac.uk by 31st October 2025. Notices of acceptance will be sent out in December. A limited number of bursaries are available to contribute to travel and accommodation costs for postgraduate and early-career speakers. This event is hosted by the Weimar Film Network and funded by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) as part of a three-year Promoting German Studies networking grant awarded to the German Screen Studies Network, co-directed by Dr Paul Flaig and Dr Dora Osborne.
September 5, 2025 at 6:22 PM
pdobryden.bsky.social
Message from UVA Primary Care. UVA will not give a prescription for COVID vax (which CVS and Walgreens seem to require in VA) and will not do so until Sept 18-19 ACIP meeting. After which RFK's stacked ACIP will likely make it significantly harder for anyone to get the vax. Am I understanding this?
Screenshot of MyChart message: **Thank you for your message about the COVID-19 vaccine. At this time, we are awaiting guidance from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP/CDC) before we are able to plan how to address this for our patients this fall. As soon as we have more information, we will be sure to share it with you. We understand this uncertainty may be distressing, and please know we are working diligently to provide updates as soon as possible.** - UVA Primary Care
August 29, 2025 at 5:38 PM
pdobryden.bsky.social
UVA wouldn't give me a prescription today. Apparently haven't decided their policy yet.
maggieastor.bsky.social Maggie Astor @maggieastor.bsky.social · Aug 29
Major update: As of this morning, CVS says it's decided it can offer the vax in 13 of the 16 states IF you get a prescription. Still a big new barrier for many people, but a change from its "no vaccines at all in these states" position yesterday.

The three remaining absolute-nos are MA, NV and NM.
maggieastor.bsky.social Maggie Astor @maggieastor.bsky.social · Aug 29
NEWS: CVS, the largest pharmacy chain in the country, is currently not offering Covid vaccines in 16 states and DC — even to people who meet the new FDA criteria — because the CDC hasn't signed off and isn't expected to do so (if it does so) for at least three weeks.
August 29, 2025 at 3:47 PM
pdobryden.bsky.social
This can be thought of alongside ICE, deployments in cities, etc. It's straightforwardly eugenic, obviously, but this move would essentially deputize the virus for social repression

www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump...
Trump and RFK Jr. to Ban Covid-19 Vaccine ‘Within Months’
A close associate of the HHS secretary claims the U.S. government will soon pull COVID-19 mRNA jabs from the market.
www.thedailybeast.com
August 25, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Reposted by Paul Dobryden
returnstosender.bsky.social
A massive attack on several humanities units (Arabic Studies, Judaic Studies, Holocaust Studies, Classics, Religion, German & Scandinavian, Russian/East European/Eurasian Studies) *and* tenure now unfolding at the University of Oregon (a blue state!). Closure of units and faculty layoffs threatened.
I've now been allowed and asked to share more details about what's going down at the University of Oregon, which involves imminent announcement of firings, among others, of tenure-track and tenured faculty. Given the units impacted (see below), please share this with your professional networks in related disciplines and start getting ready to put pressure (or begin putting pressure already) on the University of Oregon upper admin to abandon this alleged plan before they finalize it. It appears that, with no prior consultations, the departments of Religion and Classics (two separate units), and the programs in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, German & Scandinavian, Judaic Studies, Arabic Studies, and Holocaust Studies (the latter five all parts of a previously-consolidated mega unit called the Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages) are facing imminent announcement of elimination (expected the week of Sept 7), with layoffs of pre-tenure, tenured, and career faculty in these units. The reason given is "financial exigency" -- upper administrations of several universities across the country (and in blue states like Oregon also) appear to be giddy to use the context of Trump attacks on higher ed to dismantle the humanities. Faculty at OU won a faculty union not long ago; this may be, in part, a retaliation for that, I've been told. The union is working with AAUP, etc.; my understanding is that the maximum spotlight is needed at this point.
August 18, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Reposted by Paul Dobryden
pehjackson.bsky.social
www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...
GOLDBLATT, LEVY, WILLIAMS: What does it mean for U.Va. to follow the advice of legal counsel?
Our University does not have legal counsel independent from the state government nor, in this case, from the Trump administration.
www.cavalierdaily.com
August 16, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Reposted by Paul Dobryden
annakornbluh.bsky.social
teachers!

excited to share a new website at this late date of Aug 15 to try to help us collectively prepare for back to school in the interpretative humanities classroom assaulted by the AI grift, so we don't have to go it alone.

take a look, share, + most importantly: CONTRIBUTE
against-a-i.com
AGAINST AI
against-a-i.com
August 15, 2025 at 5:39 PM
pdobryden.bsky.social
Me - Ray Müller - Leni Riefenstahl...
leastactionhero.bsky.social Microplastics Sommelier @leastactionhero.bsky.social · Aug 15
me and a friend were trying to figure out how many handshakes away from hitler we were this afternoon. the answer? not many!

me - buddy cianci - gerald ford - wernher von braun - hitler
August 15, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Reposted by Paul Dobryden
pdobryden.bsky.social
Sage just published this interview I filmed with them last year about ongoing research

"Casualties Fight Back: Left Disability Activism and Film Production in Germany, 1929-1932"

sk.sagepub.com/video/skprom...
Please wait while we attempt to authenticate you...
sk.sagepub.com
July 14, 2025 at 3:09 PM
pdobryden.bsky.social
Sage just published this interview I filmed with them last year about ongoing research

"Casualties Fight Back: Left Disability Activism and Film Production in Germany, 1929-1932"

sk.sagepub.com/video/skprom...
Please wait while we attempt to authenticate you...
sk.sagepub.com
July 14, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Paul Dobryden
cyborgapologist.bsky.social
Hey UVA faculty folks (and non-faculty, too)!

Wednesday, July 2 from 1-2:30 in Clark 108. Join us for a faculty town hall to start fighting back against political interference in UVA. Tell your colleagues, bring as many as you can.

Zoom access available, DM me for the link.
June 30, 2025 at 7:42 PM
pdobryden.bsky.social
Our leaders have been evolved in a ecosystem that selects for whatever the opposite of a spine is
June 27, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Reposted by Paul Dobryden
mharrabin.bsky.social
CfP: Queer Lives & Trans* Formations: Reimagining Weimar Germany’s LGBTQ+ Histories and Cultures, an online conference that I have co-organized with Cedar Lensing-Sharp! Deadline for submissions: 30 August 2025! Keynotes from @manwithoutatan.bsky.social @jonahgarde.bsky.social & Camilla Smith!
June 9, 2025 at 6:48 PM
pdobryden.bsky.social
Unsolicited May 1 movie recommendation. On Criterion

boxd.it/s6u2
Unrest (2022)
In 1877, in a watch factory in a valley in north-western Switzerland, Josephine produces balance spindles, tiny parts that ensure the agitation movement ("unrueh") of the mechanical watches. She soon ...
boxd.it
May 1, 2025 at 9:07 PM
pdobryden.bsky.social
Marlene Dietrich's star power is such that undergrads who have no idea who she is at the beginning of the semester will, at the end, vote her best actor, and when you ask them why, simply respond "c'mon, it's Marlene Dietrich!"
April 24, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Reposted by Paul Dobryden
tframpton.bsky.social
Men in plainclothes, one in a balaclava, raided the Charlottesville courthouse today. They abducted a local painter whose case (allegedly fighting with his roommate) was being dismissed, and another who was there paying fines. They took them away in unmarked vans.

dailyprogress.com/news/local/c...
ICE detains 2 men in Charlottesville courthouse raid
Three men who identified themselves as Homeland Security officers raided a courthouse in downtown Charlottesville Tuesday, detaining two men without explanation.
dailyprogress.com
April 23, 2025 at 12:44 AM
pdobryden.bsky.social
My book and three other publications
March 20, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Reposted by Paul Dobryden
pdobryden.bsky.social
New issue of German Studies Review has a diminutive special section I edited, “Remediating the Third Reich,” with fantastic essays by Mary Hennessy (on the 1943 film GROßSTADTMELODIE) and Brook Henkel (on Fassbinder’s WORLD ON A WIRE)

muse.jhu.edu/issue/54291
Project MUSE - German Studies Review-Volume 48, Number 1, February 2025
muse.jhu.edu
February 20, 2025 at 2:22 PM
pdobryden.bsky.social
New issue of German Studies Review has a diminutive special section I edited, “Remediating the Third Reich,” with fantastic essays by Mary Hennessy (on the 1943 film GROßSTADTMELODIE) and Brook Henkel (on Fassbinder’s WORLD ON A WIRE)

muse.jhu.edu/issue/54291
Project MUSE - German Studies Review-Volume 48, Number 1, February 2025
muse.jhu.edu
February 20, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Reposted by Paul Dobryden
emgunter.bsky.social
BREAKING: UVA Health has also decided to comply in advance by suspending all gender-affirming care for patients under 19 years of age, per an internal communication sent to medical providers employed by UVA.
January 31, 2025 at 4:43 PM
pdobryden.bsky.social
A pleasure to work with @ervinmalakaj.bsky.social !
ervinmalakaj.bsky.social Ervin Malakaj @ervinmalakaj.bsky.social · Nov 11
I get to collaborate with one of the most wonderfulestest people ever and we wrote a short essay on Béla Balázs’ "Visible Man" for its 100th bday. Part of a bigger project (workshop & publication). @pdobryden.bsky.social

www.sensesofcinema.com/2024/book-re...
Between Cineanthropology and Distraction: Revisiting Béla Balázs’ Visible Man at 100 – Senses of Cinema
www.sensesofcinema.com
November 12, 2024 at 2:46 AM
Reposted by Paul Dobryden
anitsirkk.bsky.social
So excited to be part of this workshop on Béla Balázs‘s 1924 film theory „Der sichtbare Mensch, oder die Kultur des Films“ organized by @ervinmalakaj.bsky.social @pdobryden.bsky.social
ervinmalakaj.bsky.social Ervin Malakaj @ervinmalakaj.bsky.social · Aug 17
100 years ago Béla Balázs published "Der sichtbare Mensch, oder die Kultur des Films" (The Visible Man, or the Culture of Film). The book became a foundational text in film theory. My comrade Paul Dobryden and I are organizing a workshop for the occasion. german.as.virginia.edu/visible-cent...
Book cover for Der sichtbare Mensch
September 4, 2024 at 12:52 AM