Excited to share that my new book is available for preorder via @uncpress.bsky.social (coming out March 2027). Use code 01SOCIAL30 at checkout to save 30%! uncpress.org/979889088799...

last night had a dream that I was trying to explain my dissertation to the anthropic CEO, which is especially ironic given that anthropic has already stolen my book for training data

last time I taught cholera in my history of epidemics course I said that in modern times this would only spread in the context of a disaster that destroyed a town's water/sewer systems...then days later Helene hit and did precisely that to banner elk

really disappointed I have to teach on what should be a western NC holiday (release day for a new billy strings record)

I told my Appalachian history students I wore my Mothman t-shirt to their final exam for good luck and one was like isn’t seeing the mothman actually bad luck and….yeah I didn’t really think that one through

maintenance is here at the humanities offices now bc it smells like something died in here. I mean c'mon isn't this metaphor just a little too on the nose

teaching Civil War in a highly visible library classroom w/glass windows = shocking random students with my lecture slide feat. a pile of amputated limbs (it was civil war medicine day)

Excited to share that “Casey Jones: America’s Engineer” (tentative title) now has final @uncpress.bsky.social board approval and is heading to publication (in early 2027). Thanks especially to @lucaschurch.bsky.social for working with me to get this over the line. Stay tuned for more details…🚂

Today I learned that I was born in the same hospital as Pat McAfee, Curt Cignetti, and Mark Cuban? (Magee women’s hospital in Pittsburgh)

So glad I got to see this live last night in AVL - one of the best shows I’ve been to: stereogum.com/2482906/watc...

Watch MJ Lenderman Cover Jason Molina With Magnolia & Johnson Electric Co.

Earlier this year MJ Lenderman covered Songs: Ohia’s “Just Be Simple” for I Will Swim To You: A Tribute To Jason Molina. Last night, he joined Magnolia & Johnson Electric Co. at their Asheville show f...

stereogum.com

me rn (mentally broken penn state fan)

Check out this piece on a train song I wrote, which touches on a series of tragedies along the Western NC RR and bridges my 1st and 2nd (forthcoming) @uncpress.bsky.social books. All part of a band w/friends that really cohered in the aftermath of Helene: uncpressblog.com/2025/10/30/o...

Old Fort Loops: A Soundtrack of Resilience After Hurricane Helene - UNC Press Blog

How does one recover from and process a generational storm like Helene? For UNC Press author Scott Huffard and his friends, the answer was through music. When Helene swept through the Banner Elk area ...

uncpressblog.com

How does one recover from and process a generational storm like Helene? For UNC Press author @shuffard.bsky.social and his friends, the answer was through music. Learn about the making of their band Spell of Leaves and their new single Old Fort Loops ⤵️ uncpressblog.com/2025/10/30/o...

Old Fort Loops: A Soundtrack of Resilience After Hurricane Helene - UNC Press Blog

How does one recover from and process a generational storm like Helene? For UNC Press author Scott Huffard and his friends, the answer was through music. When Helene swept through the Banner Elk area ...

uncpressblog.com

today in Appalachian history: discussing a reading (War Trails of the Blue Ridge) from the guy whose historic marker I almost hit every time I back up my car

a student missed class today because they “fell in the river” which to be fair, is something that’s possible to do in this campus

thank you Victoria 3 for reminding me about my book project (and also thanks for having this event appropriately boost the labor movement)

troubling that octoberfest beers are hitting the shelves before I’ve even started working on my fall syllabi

Fust = a perfect soundtrack to a summertime post-thunderstorm cruise through the NC Piedmont on I-40

talking trains (specifically the Western NC Railroad and what its history tells us about the complicated cultural history of southern railroads) over in Johnson City today: 6 pm at the Johnson City Railroad Experience!

@shuffard.bsky.social wrote about striking workers and their relationship with railroads and capitalism in the late 19th century and beyond.

Strikers, Octopi, and Visible Hands: The Railroad and American Capitalism

In popular culture and American historiography, the railroad corporation has long been a site where Americans have grappled with larger questions of political economy.

clioandthecontemporary.com

today in history of southern Appalachia I think I irrevocably damaged YouTube’s auto-closed captioning function by using it on an Alan Lomax interview with Ray Hicks

today a student told me she’s listened to a song I played in class - Steeleye Span’s Blackleg Miner - 30 times so yea I feel like I’ve done my job here

lecturing on TVA dams in the morning and 1920s/30s southern textile strikes in the afternoon - not a bad day of class at all (even if students were not impressed when I told them I wanted to make a playlist of songs about dams)

not my sweet summer child students walking to class in t-shirts and shorts when we're about to get whacked by a cold front (and get 1-3 inches of snow this afternoon)

I showed my students the NWS forecasted rainfall map the Wednesday before Helene destroyed my school/town and some later thanked me for preparing them for the nightmare to come. Why slash and cut an extremely effective government service at the behest of a billionaire?

don’t even bother inviting me to the hangout if the vibes aren’t in the realm of Dwight Yoakam’s video for A Thousand Miles To Nowhere (1993)

trying to get work done while my car is being serviced and I severely underestimated the amount of chatty old men at the car dealership in Boone (I really should be used to this by now)

I’d like to thank whoever drew a large-breasted mothman on my class’s whiteboard for reminding us of the always-flexible nature of Appalachian folklore traditions

today in history of southern appalachia - lecturing on the construction of railroads that Helene destroyed :(

tourists currently leaning over Helene-smashed fences to feed bojangles biscuits to some mangy looking deer = not exactly a healthy ecosystem here on beech mtn