Michael Lawrence

how it feels to go to a different floor of your office

Desperately sad to report that you’ve read enough to start writing

My buddy lost his job to AI. It was his job to chug thousands of gallons of water at a data center

My actual conspiracy theory that I believe is that the Rathlin Island puffins aren’t real. I’ve been three times during various summers and have seen nary a puffin.

Thrilled to say that I submitted my PhD thesis! If anyone says ‘don’t get it right, get it written’ to me again I will be going absolutely mental 🙃

Really looking forward to both attending and speaking at the history seminars for @HAPPatQUB this semester. There is a great range of topics being covered with the usual free snacks and drinks. Come along one and all!

Does Belfast have the 2nd highest number of asylum seekers in the UK, and do almost a fifth of them live in BT12, as claimed by DUP MLA Edwin Poots? ❌ No. 📊Belfast ranks 20th overall. 👥With 0.6% of the local population (1 in 167 people). ➡️ No data confirms the BT12 claim.

I'm in the PhD edits trenches so please reply with pictures of your pets to keep me sane 🙃

Had a fantastic weekend at Belfast Pride with the Cara-Friend team!

Sex, Love, and Everyday Life: A History of Northern Ireland before Gay Liberation 23rd July – 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm £5.00 – £6.50 In this talk, Dr Tom Hulme (Queen’s University Belfast) brings to life a whole host of queer characters and events in Northern Ireland’s past, from the ‘female husband’ who worked in Belfast’s docks in the 1880s to the region’s first lesbian activist in the 1960s; the scandalous discovery of a Victorian male brothel to the homosexual circulation of infamous Jazz Age novels. Please visit our website for more information: linenhall.com/event/sex-love… #LinenHall #OpeningMinds #Belfast

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve found records of a blackmail gang who targeted homosexual men in public bathrooms in the 1930s while pretending to be Irish I’d have two nickels, which isn’t that much but it’s weird that it happened twice.

Had a fantastic time in Aberdeen speaking at the @SSNCI_tweets annual conference! Believe it or not, this was a black-and-white slide but my radiant homosexuality was enough to turn the projector gay.

Love this but regret looking at the comments on this. Boring hatred and bigotry that stems from a baby-like level of egocentrism and a complete lack of any sense of appreciation of heritage.

Professor Sven Beckert (Laird Bell Professor of American History, Harvard University) will deliver this year's Wiles Lecture Series on the topic of 'Rethinking the History of Global Capitalism' 📅28-31 May 🏛️Emeleus Lecture Theatre, Lanyon Building All welcome!

With that, my organising stint for the QUB History Seminar Series is at its end! Had some amazing speakers over the last two years, and the wine wasn’t bad either! Thank you so much to Conor Brockbank for my gift, and for taking over the seminar series from me! 💖

Come along tomorrow and join us in welcoming Professor Alex Lichtenstein at QUB for his talk on curating an anti-lynching exhibition!

Unfortunately this event has had to be cancelled because of illness! Next week, we'll have another QUB Public History Seminar featuring Prof Alex Lichtenstein on 'Creating a Public Anti-Lynching Exhibition'!

Please join us for tomorrow's History Seminar where Dr Livi Dee will be presenting her paper: "A pregnancy, I suppose, ends in one of three ways": An Oral History of Unmarried Pregnancy in N. Ireland, 1945-2015'. 📅 21/03, 4pm 🏛️ 01/003, 27UQ Register 👉 ow.ly/ihjw50Vl7yT

Call for papers! PGR Conference at QUB on 7 May 2025 "The Self Under Siege: Re-thinking Selfhood Across Disciplines". Submission deadline 28 March - scan QR code for more info.