​As the world, and the US in particular, struggles with its racial history and as folks protest, here is the fantastic The OJMO sharing some thoughts. If you would like to see one of the best wrestling shows (period) I have ever seen then you can watch Roy Johnson/Wrestling Resurgence's 'Everything Patterned' show. All proceeds from the Video on Demand and the 'zine will be donated.  

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With everything "going on" right now, you might need a little bit of new wrestling scholarship. If so then I got you covered. My new article 'Queer Music-Hall Sport: All-In Wrestling and Modernist Fakery' has just been published my Modernism/modernity. I am still quite amazed that this great journal agreed to publish this article at all! It is the first time I have tried to uncover resonances between the disparate bits of my research. At first it didn't seem that wrestling and modernism had that much to say to each other. Hopefully this article begins to prove this assumption incorrect. It connects the 1930s' history of British professional wrestling to broader modernist concerns about fakery, pretence and lies. There are some fun stories in there, as well as some theoretical stuff, and, best of all, I managed to sneak mentions of Jerry 'The King' Lawler v Andy Kaufmann (1982) and the Parents' Television Council's law 2001 lawsuit against the WWE into the footnotes of the world's leading modernist journal! 

Currently you can access the article for free through the journal's own website here.  But if a paywall ever reappears then you can find a green-access version at Loughborough University's repository here. The article is published with huge thanks to everyone at Modernism/modernity, Andy Frayn (who managed to solve my framing problem for me), Ben Litherland (who kindly read the article and offered lots of helpful suggestions) and everyone at Wrestling Resurgence for inspiring me to write it in the first place.

COVID-19 has rather scuppered the world of British professional wrestling over the past few months. With shows cancelled and the prospect of socially-distanced wrestling a tricky concept to conceive, Wrestling Resurgence, like every other company, is taking an enforced holiday. However, there are very few things the Wrestling Resurgence team enjoys more than talking about wrestling. This is where the new podcast comes in. 'The Grappling Arts' is Resurgence's very own podcast. It takes a slightly different tack from most other wrestling podcasts, asking guests to reflect on their own sport-art practice by picking matches that have influenced them alongside some of their favourite feuds from their own careers. Resurgence producer Sam West heads up the podcast and I offer a few thoughts along the way.

Our first episode is now out. Sam and I sit down with 'Flying' Mike Bird, one of British wrestling's most respected wrestler-trainers. We had a great (and long!) chat about Bret Hart, the point of chops and the beauty of student v teacher matches (and a lot, lot more). Sam and I will be producing episodes fairly regularly so do subscribe if this is your sort of thing. You can find it here though iTunes.

When I first moved back to England after my adventures in Scotland I kept a blog. It was a place to write about new experiences: living in Lincoln, becoming a full-time academic, travelling around. But then social media rather took over. I set up Twitter after a student incredulously asked me what I did with my summer holidays(!); I realised I needed a way to connect with people, to give a sense of my work projects. It felt like Twitter was that platform and, for a while, it was. Yet I never felt at home with the transitory, impulsive nature of social media despite the fact that I have made great friends through Twitter. I shied away from joining Facebook and Instagram, though I was tempted by both. Gradually blogging felt like an indulgence, like letter writing. 

Yet, during the past few months when life has changed so dramatically, blogging has suddenly become attractive again. And so, I've decided, to (maybe) start a blog (in a non-committal, laissez-faire sort of way). As I was considering whether to carve out a new bit of the online universe, I read this article by Tina Roth Eisenberg and this article by Cal Newport. Blogs are, perhaps, where it's at right now.

So, I might give it a go...