Janet Watson

@janetskwatson

History professor at UConn, mother, knitter, long COVID and cardiac arrest survivor. Author, Fighting Different Wars. Be kind, stand strong, and aim for democracy. Cats. Personal account.

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Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Jul 15

Canadian wildfires, central Connecticut edition. Left is the view out a window in one of the rooms in the UConn Health Infusion Center in Farmington, looking across at the Hartford skyline, four weeks ago. Right is the same view, today.

View out of a window well above ground level, showing puffy clouds in a blue sky, lots of green trees in the foreground, and in the middle ground a clear view of the skyline of a small city.

The same view but zoomed in a bit more. A brownish haze hangs over everything, discoloring it all. You can barely identify the city skyline (and maybe you couldn’t if you didn’t already know it was there).

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Jul 14

I call this one “Study in Shades of Sunshine, Maple, Oak, and Nutmeg” (Nutmeg is the cat. That’s her name.)

A golden-ginger cat is sitting in a square of sunlight on an oak hardwood floor, in front of Birdseye maple cabinetry.

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Jun 22

I’m really not sure this is the right precedent:

Painting of Lenin arriving at Finland Station in St Petersburg, 1917

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Jun 19

Image of a postage stamp from 1938, marking the Austrian Anschluss by Germany. Two men are holding a flag with a swastika on it together, arms around each other’s shoulders. Around the edge of the stamp it reads: Deutsches Reich. Ein Volk. Ein Reich. Ein Führer.

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Jun 11

But we can agree that cats are great :)

Two black cats sitting one on each arm of a gray upholstered chair, doing a fine imitation of the lions outside the NYC public library. In the background are a Birdseye maple dresser and a barrister’s bookcase with books. The cat closer to the camera has a tuft of white under her chin.

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Jun 2

Me, absolutely sure the kittens belonged in the old wooden boat on the other side of my grandparents’ deck, and apparently never noticing that they would immediately jump out and return to their mother. (I’m going through old albums to remake them for my mother.) @catsofyore.bsky.social

A toddler with very chubby cheeks and not a lot of hair, wearing a plaid short-sleeved knit dress with white collar and picot-trimmed cuffs, carrying a dark kitten.

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· May 15

Both my grandmothers graduated from college, and my mother’s mother was in one of the early cohorts to study abroad her junior year (it was still novel enough that both their departure & their return were covered in the city paper). I love this photo of her with her classmates on a beach in France.

Five college-aged young women in shorts and swimming tanks, standing in a line with their arms around each other shoulders, on a beach in France in the early 1930s. Other folks, wearing hats and more clothing than the American women, are also visible. The photograph is sepia. All the people are white with dark hair. No one has a tan (or a thigh gap).

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· May 10

All three of my kids are college grads, licensed drivers, safe swimmers, and registered voters who always cast their ballots. They’re good people. And I love them like I love to breathe. Their dad and I did all right.

A card from a floral arrangement that reads “thanks for being the best mom on the planet! Love” (the names are covered by the envelope from the card, clipped together by the plastic floral card holder) . It’s all lying on white cloth with a pattern of blue hydrangeas with green leaves.

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· May 10

A black cat lying on her back on her someone’s outstretched legs, all four paws in the air at goofy angles, exposing her entire belly for a tummy rub. She has a big patch of shockingly white fur on her lower tummy.

An orange cat perched on the back of a green couch, facing the camera directly, with a small red plastic Washington Nationals cap on her head. She is debating internally what she thinks about this and what should be the appropriate response.

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· May 10

These little girls turned 7 today. They keep me company every day while I’m stuck in bed. So grateful to Plumcot and Pomegranate.

Two black half-grown kittens lying on a grey fleece blanket.

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· May 7

The Connecticut State legislature has done something I find delightful and entirely appropriate:

The American robin, Turdus migratorius, shall be the state bird, providing in the month of March of each year, the American robin and Suzanne Brigit Bird, also known as Sue Bird, shall be the state birds.

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· May 7

Are you sure it’s not an appreciation of the change to the CT State Bird?

Excerpt from a piece of legislation: “The American Robinson, Turdus migratorious, shall be the state bird provided in the month of March of each year, the American robin and Suzanne Brigit Bird, also known as Sue Bird, shall be the state birds.”

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Apr 24

We have a fox den next to our house that has been used every spring for the last ~5 years. Here’s the mom with several of the kits (there are 5). They will turn orange as they mature. So amazing to see them nursing! (Photo credit: my neighbor.) I love that they trust us enough to keep coming back.

An adult female red fox nuzzling a gray fox kit while several other kits nurse.

An adult red fox standing near dead leaves beside the edge of a fox den while several of her kits nurse.

An adult red fox shines in the sunlight while several of her kits nurse.

A rear view of an adult red fox standing with several kits nursing. She is looking to her right where another kit is wandering nearby.

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Apr 11

We have a Perfect Cat-Sized Rectangle of Sunlight in our house. Happy #Caturday all

A beautiful yblack cat lying on a hardwood floor in a rectangle of sunlight that’s almost exactly her size. She is lying on her side with her fluffy tummy exposed to the camera. Her head is up and she is looking at the person taking the photo.

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Mar 5

Photo of view out a window showing deep cover of snow and totally bare trees.

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Feb 28

Cover of The Lancet medical journal, with only text on it. The background is white, the top and bottom text blocks are black, and there is a large green text block in the middle, quoting from an editorial in the issue. It says: “The destruction that Kennedy has wrought in 1 year might take generations to repair, and there is little hope for US health and science while he remains at the helm.”

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Feb 16

Grift and ego: shot and chaser (Thanks to @joshgerben.bsky.social and @jasongarcia.bsky.social )

Screenshot of bluesky post linking article from gerbenlaw.com with headline: “Trump’s Private Company Files Trademark for ‘President Donald J. Trump International Airport’”

Screenshot of bluesky post linking to jasongarcia.substack.com with the text “The FL legislature is budgeting $5.5M of taxpayer monies to change the name of Palm Beach International Airport to ‘President Donald J. Trump International Airport.’”
The post also includes an image from the Florida Senate “Local Funding Initiative Request”

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Feb 11

“Math class is tough” (1992)

Photo of a box with a clear front, containing “Teen Talk! Barbie” who has “special things” to say. It’s from 1992 but her appearance is VERY 1980s, with big hair, bright colors, and shades of inspiration from a more discreet Madonna. She also has a very odd hat with brightly colored flowers on it.

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Jan 22

Pears Soap has worked well in my teaching many times:

An advertisement for Pears soap where a small black child becomes white where cleaned with Pears, which is described as “matchless for the complexion.” This image is held at the Wellcome Institute in London.

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Jan 15

Calvin Goldscheider 28 May 1941 - 13 January 2026 Brilliant scholar Extraordinary mentor Devoted husband My stepfather

A photograph of a man with a graying beard smiling. A woman with dark curly hair is also smiling and resting her head on his shoulder. He is wearing a red windbreaker over a dark blue polo. She is wearing a dark blue cardigan over a light blue oxford. They look very happy together - they are each other’s worlds. They are Calvin and Fran Goldscheider.

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Nov 13

If you don’t want to go through TikTok to see and hear what Jenna Norton has to say about having been put on “non-disciplinary” administrative leave from NIH, here’s a video file:

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Nov 9

This is a good time to be honoring Resistance heroes.

Black and white photo of the head and shoulders of Jean Moulin, wearing a fedora angled just so

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Nov 3

He also reminds me of the guy from the Pears Soap advertisement.

Ad for Pears’ Soap from the late 19th century. A white man with white hair in a white naval uniform is washing his hands at a white sink aboard ship. The text explains that Pears’ Soap helps by “lightening the White Man’s Burden” as “cleanliness” is key to the imperial project of “brightening the dark corners of the earth as civilization advances.”

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Oct 31

When your kids grow older, they do pretty amazing things

A beautifully carved small pumpkin in a floral pattern, illuminated from inside by an electric tea light. The pumpkin is sitting on an autumnal runner on top of an Edwardian sideboard. Part of a framed portrait from just before the Second World War is visible above it.

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Oct 31

Plumcot (near) and Pomegranate, channeling the lions at the New York Public Library

Two black cats, the nearer one with a jabot of white fur under her chin, posing like matched guardians on the arms of a gray upholstered chair. In the background are a Birdseye maple mid mod dresser, a barrister bookcase, and part of an open interior door.

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Oct 31

I love having a Japanese maple right outside my window.

Photograph of a window with sage green curtains pulled open. Outside are the brilliant red leaves of a Japanese maple in autumn, glowing in late morning sunlight.

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Oct 12

I am lying in bed with two sleeping cats on me and it’s the best weighted blanket ever.

Part of a bed with linens that are white with blue and green hydrangeas. You can just see the bumps created by two legs under the covers, but they are covered by the bodies of two sleeping black cats who fill the frame.

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Sep 28

Age yourself with a film you saw in a cinema as a kid (Admittedly it came out several years before I was born but I still saw it in our local movie theater in Saratoga Springs NY when I was ~6, along with my big sister. We sat in the front row and she wouldn’t let me have 🍿 till after the cartoons.)

A still from the movie Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. Santa is standing on the left. A man and a woman are on the right, wearing goofy helmets and stretchy green clothes that apparently seemed futuristic in the 1960s. In front of the adults are two children wearing earth-style clothing of the period, an older boy and younger girl. The girl was played by the young Pia Zadora.
The movie routinely makes lists of the worst films of all time.

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Sep 17

My sister was quoted on @rachelmaddowarmy.bsky.social last night! SO PROUD of how she has been speaking out for truth (and cancer research!)

Screenshot of a clip from Rachel Maddow’s show on MSNBC. It shows an excerpt from the NYT Magazine article, “Trump Is Shutting Down the War On Cancer.” The pull quote, which Maddow read: “…this has been a deliberate and targeted attack. ‘They have studied how N.I.H. works, studied it hard and learned it well,’ says Sarah Kobrin, head of the Health Systems and Interventions Research Branch at the National Cancer Institute. ‘And they have put sand in the gears in ways that are very effective, devastating.’”

Janet Watson@janetskwatson· Sep 8

Six years ago today we adopted these two sweethearts, who bring such love, joy, comfort, peace, and sometimes hilarity to our lives.