A photo of Robert Berkhofer, Director of the Medieval Institute at Western Michigan University, in conversation with scholars at ICMS Kalamazoo 2025. The Muppets Statler and Waldorf are behind him, gesturing their confusion.

The Medieval Institute alumni breakfast at ICMS 2025, featuring the Muppets Gonzo and Rizzo at the head of the table.

A photo of various scholars gathered in small groups outdoors at ICMS 2025. Miss Piggy is seated on her luggage chatting with a group while Fozzie Bear stands looking confused by himself.

An overhead photo of a happy hour from ICMS 2025, featuring Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.

We see the vision.

I 1000% DO endorse this

I'm not saying I endorse this. But I'm not NOT saying it, either

A manuscript illustration of a green dragon with a silly, ferret-like face. Overlaid is a brown rectangle that says "ICMS registration is OPEN! Click here to register".

ICMS 2026 registration is officially open! Be sure to register early so you secure your spot in limited workshops, concerts, and (limited) Tuesday arrivals. We can't wait to see you there!
icms.confex.com/icms/2026/re...

Fingers crossed so hard, seriously. I don't blame anyone for not coming - lost funding and the current political situation are very real factors - but we need the numbers in order to keep afloat

2K is our magic number to keep us from having to raise registration rates, so that's what we're always aiming for

It's really pretty straightforward - images as finding aids - but inexplicably no one seems to mention them

Yup, so we charge $300 for the labor of stuffing the envelopes and (optimistically) ask you to send us 2000 copies of the flyer. Any leftovers we can give back to you or put on the tables for people to pick up

Aww, and you haven't even seen my unwritten article on the marginal images

1800+ last year, about 500 of them virtual (some opted not to be displayed in the registrant index)

3000 only once, in 2014 (the 50th year, and I'm told that was frankly too big), but frequently ca. 2400 pre-covid. Since we came back, we haven't yet broken 2000

A city street with half a tree down across it, along with several traffic cones (many of them also fallen down), some construction equipment, and several holes in the street partially filled with dirt

Better angle on this - between the construction and the tree, I'm not getting much past my driveway right now

Extremely difficult to read document in cursive script. Actually this is a charter of lady Clotilde, Paris AN/K//2/10, from 673

My therapist: Don’t worry, Merovingian cursive is not real, it can’t hurt you

Merovingian cursive:

A bright sunny morning with the remains of overnight storm damage. There's half a tree down across the street, and in the foreground there's a big muddy hole in the ground marked off by traffic cones, and a partial view of a construction machine

Another view of a bright sunny morning with the remains of overnight storm damage. There's half a tree down across the street, and in the foreground there's a construction machine

The wind last night was so loud I didn't even hear this come down right across the street (the cones and machinery are from unrelated, planned work on the water service lines)

This is actually rather comforting

Apropos of SO MANY things

You HAVE to celebrate good things. Even if they’re tiny and fragile and may blow away. In fact, you have to celebrate the fragile ones EVEN HARDER because who knows how many chances you get?

If you constantly think how it will all go wrong, if every triumph is met with “but…” you will burn out.

Benevolent giants? I mean. Hobbits! All around us!

VERY much needed, and heartfelt in the most literal sense possible. Joy in spite of the world is ❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜

A cluster of people in various ridiculous and delightful outfits, all smiling widely, centered on Scribe in a hanging wicker chair and @werewulver.bsky.social standing nearby. @merovingians.bsky.social and I are two of the three people in the back row, looking and feeling like benevolent giants among a crowd of hobbits

And a marvelous time was had by all. Not pictured: an adorable ringbearer and her emotional support unicorn; a cake like a galaxy; assorted elves, wizards, and other fantastical people; and overflowing love.

@werewulver.bsky.social and Scribe, we love you!

(all photos by @amorefotos.bsky.social)

Scribe sitting enthroned in a wicker hanging chair, with me, @merovingians.bsky.social, and another person leaning around her. I'm wearing a corset with a claddagh emblem, @merovingians.bsky.social has a McIntire clan kilt, and our friend Em is in an elegant blue velvet dress. We all look mischievous and delighted.

Scribe sitting enthroned in a hanging wicker chair with me and Em on either side, smiling widely. My arms are extended forward and it looks vaguely like I might be casting a spell; Em is laughing at me.

I got to see some friends from college (including @merovingians.bsky.social!), and no, I have no idea what I'm doing in the second picture

@werewulver.bsky.social and my dearly beloved but not yet on bsky friend Scribe. They are standing next to each other beaming in front of a purple-blue mural. Their handmade wedding outfits are vaguely elven: Nate's shirt is blue, with a high collar and a darker blue woven belt, and Scribe's dress is purple with a translucent veil with a mushroom motif over the top. They both look tremendously happy.

I've been offline a lot lately because of *gestures wildly* all of this, but I gotta share some pictures from a fantasy-themed wedding I went to earlier this month, because how adorable are these lovely people?

Calling all medievalists! Registration for the 60th annual International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo opened this week! Head to our website to register and learn more about what to expect this May: wmich.edu/medievalcong... #kzooicms #ICMS #medievalstudies

A beige house with peeling paint, covered on its lower half by those foam panels they nail to walls before putting new siding on. The photo is taken from the driveway, which is full of dirty refrozen rutted slush.

I am a half-naked greige house in the February slush

I didn't authorize this, dangit

I'm angry about a lot of things. Outraged, frightened, you name it.

But in the dark petty corners of my mind, I'm also just plain annoyed. Why do they get to take the small daily joys and triumphs and poison them with the guilt of "I should be doing more" and "but what about people with less"?

Enhanced Drivers Licenses: What Are They? | Homeland Security Enhanced Drivers Licenses (EDLs) are state-issued enhanced drivers licenses that provide proof of identity and U.S. citizenship.

Trans folks seeking passports: Here's something potentially useful, to a small group. If you are in:

Michigan
Minnesota
New York
Vermont
Washington

You have access to an "EDL". This is a drivers license that can be used for LAND AND SEA (not air) entry to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean. (1/3)

ok. because we all could use a little joy here are some silly medieval hedgehogs for hedgehog day:

COMMON GROUND BEAUMONT TO DETROIT: 1943 Looky here, America What you done done— Let things drift Until the riots come. Cause everything that hitler And mussolini do Negroes get the same Treatment from you. Now your policemen Let the mobs run free. I reckon you don't care Nothing about me. You tell me that hitler Is a mighty bad man. I guess he took lessons From the ku klux klan. You jim crowed me Before hitler rose to power— And you're sTiLL jim crowing me Right now, this very hour. Yet you say we're fighting For democracy. Then why don't democracy Include me? You tell me mussolini's Got an evil heart. Well, it mus-a been in Beaumont That he had his start— I ask you this question Cause I want to know How long I got to fight BOTH HITLER-AND JIM CROW. -Langston Hughes, syndicated by the Associated Negro Press, in New York People's Voice and other papers, July 3.

I can’t find any archival evidence that that the Langston Hughes poem circulating here today is authentic so here is a sourced Hughes poem, Beaumont to Detroit, 1943, published that year in the magazine Common Ground, in which he compares Hitler and Mussolini to American Jim Crow and the KKK

"Mraaaap," quoth Nimbus