Dr. Emily Friedman

I’m now also: - Liles Prof of English - 26-27 @folger.edu Public Humanities Fellow - under contract with @mitpress.bsky.social for my next book on the history & making of Actual Play (performance of TTRPGs) - work ahead on why/how we play, tied to ideas about community, story, fame, & friendship

Sunday was Lantern Night at my alma mater, which I still keep with me (I remain my class’s Songsmistress, a title I am all the more grateful for because, like many good things in my life, it came because I was a total dork with no chill)

Paging @thathoberekguy.bsky.social

My main takeaway from this trip is simple: keep at it. There is a real hunger out there for interactive designs with strong emergent narratives. Folks want games that are worth their time.

Rockstar devs in the UK are set for a very strange November. Check this timeline: 12th Nov: The ballot opens for employees to vote on union recognition. 17th/18th Nov: The final two days of an employment tribunal over union busting. 19th Nov: GTA VI releases! 26th Nov: Union recognition results.

LET’S GO (get online with the best group of analog nerds in the business)

#GenerationAnalog2027: Have Games, Will Travel... TRAVEL will be this year’s conference theme... FULL CFP: analoggamestudies.org/generation-a... #gameinlab #analoggamestudies

Elizabeth Holmes is not the face of motherhood for incarcerated women. Jazmin Valentine wailed in agony for 6 hours in labor while staff and nurses LAUGHED at her. She had to resort to sliding her amniotic sac under her cell door to prove she was in labor.

Another interview for the Mousetrap design series: this one is with @kiennas.bsky.social. We discuss magic circles through their experimental game, "Your Magic Circle," down to emotional bleed as a form of "crossing" the magic circle. I hope you find it as insightful as I did!

I'm going to try to do this cleanly. Today's right wing governments are networked to each other. Those networks are well-documented. You can read about them in books. Following the elections in one node of that network is good practice for understanding the U.S. node.

1/ Holy shit, this woman who earns less than $50K is spending her nights and weekends finding furniture for NYC public housing residents, aka God's work www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

This is such a fantastic photo: "The Witches' Tea Party" but I want to use it to explain the origin of the tall, pointy witches hat. The real story of this photo: These are residents at the Hospital of the Holy & Undivided Trinity: an almshouse in Castle Rising, Norfolk, England established 1610.

There is something demoralizing in listening to a fan podcast that misses the point entirely. There’s something a little reassuring when you realize only a few dozen people have probably heard it. There’s something re-demoralizing when you consider that’s still several classrooms’ worth of people.

My friend Joe Chevalier (owner of Yellow Dog) put Melissa Albert’s THE CHILDREN into my hands & said it would be of interest. He was right, & I may never forgive him. WHEW.

Let’s be so clear: this is the work that gets us a little further down the road towards preservation. Combined with Anne’s savvy with metadata, it promises to make a MEANINGFUL database for Actual Play.

We resent universities as proof that a touch‘o’socialism is good actually so we blame them for all of capitalism’s externalities.

Oh, it’s THEE litmus test for misogynoir and it works across genders. Another trusty test: people who say “females.”

little bit of a tangent: i once had a department chair who physically threatened me because the graduate student he was having an affair with was struggling in my class. i ended up resigning a few months later. so dating a student can have far-reaching consequences beyond the abuse of the student.

Since it’s come up, I’ll be at Metatopia doing some panels, & quietly at PAXU. In January will be speaking in UK at @bsecs.bsky.social Still doing calendar Tetris for spring & figuring out Folger events but looks like I’ll be speaking in Midwest & East Coast. Will be at CircleDC & (maybe?) GAMA.

New reading list in the comments.

The self-help hustle influencers trying to find a commodifiable niche on AI is sincerely the bleakest stuff I’ve seen on socials.

Very interesting new video from @cozyrpgreviews.bsky.social where he tries to learn how to play Orbital Blues by ONLY playing the solo supplement The Wanderer by @moreblueberries.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmMK...