Reposting my #Introduction because there's a flurry of new folks -- and I'm an eternal optimist at finding fellow Welsh writing in English peeps. So here goes:

I work as the Community Outreach Officer for the Welsh Dictionary of Biography, more collquially called the #Bywgraffiadur, at the #NationalLibraryOfWales. Our goal is to close representational gaps and set the Dictionary on a course of recording the diverse lives of historical Welsh people in all their facets. https://biography.wales/

Otherwise, I'm working on #WelshWritingInEnglish mostly from the long #C19. Other research interests include #TravelWriting, particularly illustrated accounts and the history of the #VisitorsBook. I'm also into #PublicHistory and community outreach, sometimes abt #PortHeritage, #WW1 German submarine warfare and its effects on Welsh communities.

I share longer #WiP here: https://bydbach.hcommons.org/

Toots will be mostly in #English, but occasionally also in #Deutsch and #Cymraeg.
#Histodons

I'm pretty sure some of my local, offline disabled friends now have brain damage from making piss poor personal decisions to expose themselves to unsafe covid crowded environments & getting covid multiple times over past 5 years. I can't be around them because they're so reckless with their already immunocompromised lives.

They seem amazed that I haven't got covid even once & haven't suffered any cold/flu for over 5 years too. It's not rocket science. I haven't been infected because I don't make reckless personal decisions. I'm already disabled, with 3 incurable progressive illnesses & don't need to get sicker/weaker. I am vicious about protecting my health & equally viscious on protecting my loved ones' health.

All of your political 'heroes' will be dead or disabled by #LongCovid or just #Covid in general because none of them are #CovidCautious & campaigning in massive #unmasked crowds.

Fucking criminal. Fucking shitass brains. Fucking #EugenicsEnablers. Fucking ignorant, selfish #PlagueSpreaders.

If you feel offended - you are fucking guilty of being a #eugenics enabler. Mask the fuck up.

All large Summer #conventions, with mass crowds & zero #CovidSafety masking policies, are basically plague spreader parties & people going to them will be on the sick folks list in September.

The first #COVID19 #data released by the #BritishColumbia for #Disease Control since the official end of the province's #PublicHealthEmergency shows #hospitalizations decreasing, but still near their highs for the year.

There were 175 test-positive #COVID patients in #BChospitals as of Thursday, according to the #BCCDC. That's down from 204 at the start of last month, but still the fourth-highest total of 2024, and more than double the 76 people #hospitalized at this time last year.

The BCCDC's most recent update showed 368 new, lab-confirmed #COVIDinfections in the province, though that number significantly #underestimates the spread of the #virus because most people in the province do not qualify for lab-based testing.

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/mobile/175-in-hospital-with-covid-19-in-bccdc-s-first-update-since-end-of-public-health-emergency-1.6986823?cache=/13-canadian-bucket-list-sights-for-the-nature-lover-1.2378214

From @thetyee

Gregory said the database is a good idea for some diseases, in particular for some vaccines that do protect people from infection. But when it comes to COVID-19, he said, the vaccine doesn’t prevent transmission.

“Relying on vaccinations as the measure of whether people are likely or not to transmit [COVID] to vulnerable patients is a very dangerous strategy,” Gregory said.

Instead, he added, it would be best if everyone wore masks in public health settings whenever possible.

Mitigation measures such as properly worn N95s, HEPA air filtration, ventilation and avoiding high-risk areas like indoor crowded spaces are “all variant proof,” Gregory said. “No variant has evolved to circumvent an N95.”

https://thetyee.ca/News/2024/08/05/No-Longer-Official-Emergency-COVID-Remains-Crisis/

The entire staff at #Agora, in #ViewRoyal, #VictoriaBC won't mask up so I'm not going In there. Changed my appointment today to phone appointment instead.

They're a privatized franchise with locations in #Vancouver, #Brampton & #Kingston - #Ontario. You should know that their staff don't wear #CovidSafety masks.

https://www.aroga.com/contact/

FYI - These are the kind of emails I send out to #medical facilities that I have to go to. I don't fucking play around!

It really irks me when people who got covid because they stopped masking up - unless it was demanded - try to tell me that I'm lucky to not get it or any other cold or flu for over 5 yrs. That's longer than before covid hit here but these reckless fools don't pay attention to factual details. Several have been infected more than once.

Full fucking STOP. I'm not lucky. I've just never stopped masking. I changed my lifestyle. I don't attend unsafe indoor events - no matter how much I'd love to go. I dropped friends - when many showed me, through selfish choices - my health & other vulnerable peoples' health, matters less to them than being able to keep on pretending everything is just fine. It's not luck. It's fucking personal commitment to protect myself, my family, my remaining friends & community at large.

They're lucky they're not in a fucking bodybag for continuing to act/speak like covid is 'just a bad cold/flu.

I'm on a new instance so thought I should post a new #intro. I'm a professor specializing in #C19 US #literature with transatlantic crossings by way of #HenryJames and #ChildrensLit. Since I'm on C18.masto now, I'll mention that I also work intermittently on William Williams's castaway novel, Mr. Penrose. Another thing I do is direct the #UniversityPress at my institution, which is strong in #philosophy, #theology, related branches of #medieval studies, and ethics-focused #humanities. Hi!

In which I draft an #introduction, delete it all apart from "I", restart, pause for tea, write a little, order a book on a random side-topic, think of a neat line for my WIP **, notice an anachronism, google it, disappear down a website for an afternoon, twoot about a detail I've discovered, pause for tea, talk a lot, write a little...

In which I prove that I need no #introduction to #SlowWriting #procrastination #JamTomorrow

** #romance #administration #London #Year1819 #C19 #EastIndiaCompany