I've been thinking about writing a " I told you so" thread but let's just call it- Academics "on here" are more prepared for the post Pandemic future than their peers and institutions who barely get it.

The pandemic has contracted the ways in which we socially interact and engage intellectually and morally.. as a result, people who have been tweeting, etc, are more prepared to both disseminate and engage information more quickly...

It's also harder to make those connections that junior scholars and grad students need to make if you've been told not to be active on social media.. how are people going to know about your work. especially if it's siloed in an online expensive journal?

I'm also thinking about how those of us who are activists scholars gather information.. we can't wait for media to digest it for us... we have to know who to trust and how to filter information "on here"

The ways in which we are all being forced to adapt and engage are changing, and as much as we don't like face to face contact, being online allows us to engage more frequently. I've already done three panels online this week...

I'm not suggesting all this extra work is healthy, or right for everyone... But I didn't have to get on a plane to speak with the @knightfdn , @achahistory or @univofscranton

There are real opportunities right now in the midst of this mess to recreate yourself, your scholarship and your teaching not by leaning in or working harder, but just realizing the old framework isn't working anymore... and it won't after pandemic either.

So I hope some of the admins who might follow me, or people who run societies, publishers, etc will realize we have to break the mold of regular academic business and begin to model new ways of connectivity and intellectual exchange and stimulation.

Last thing.. it was easier for me to write a trade book during the pandemic because I didn't have to go look at microfilm and all of that. I couldn't. But the book I did get out during the pandemic was easily researchable from my own library and the library that was online

Some will look at my forthcoming book and think, she didn't do normal research.. but the fact is, I could span 3 centuries of history because I have been teaching about it for 20 yrs, and could keep up on all the literature in this particular area (race/religion) online.

I've been on twitter on this account since 2010, but on twitter since the 2008 election. While this place can be a real shitshow, i shudder to think how small my scholarship would be without it. So thanks folks.. you've made me a better thinker and writer.

Let's hope the university world catches up to us before intellectual stimulation really shrivels up. #fin