It’s the 50th anniversary of the time Eric Clapton went onstage and told everyone who wasn’t British to leave the room and the country, and was the impetus for Rock Against Racism
Benjamin Tausig
@burrata.bsky.social
Professor of music and sound in Asia. Editor of @avcx.bsky.social crosswords. Posts about pop music, sound, Thailand, NYC, anthropology, puzzles, TNG. Author of “Bangkok after Dark” (Duke 2025) and “Bangkok Is Ringing” (Oxford 2019).
I simply would not have been able to complete my PhD if these rules had been in places when I went to the US for grad school in 2008. I maintained student status until 2016, then switched to H-1B to work full-time while I finished my dissertation. in all it took 11 years for me to finish.
Benjamin Tausig@burrata.bsky.social · 4h agoDHS's new visa rules for int'l students studying in the US are, as you might imagine, bad. The link below offers a useful summary. A key thing is that students can now only get 4-year visas, including PhD students, rendering such degrees all but impossible. www.fisherphillips.com/en/insights/...
DHS's new visa rules for int'l students studying in the US are, as you might imagine, bad. The link below offers a useful summary. A key thing is that students can now only get 4-year visas, including PhD students, rendering such degrees all but impossible. www.fisherphillips.com/en/insights/...
Final Rule: Establishing a Fixed Time Period of Admission and an Extension of Stay Procedure Quick Facts
On July 17, 2026, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security published a final rule in the Federal Register introducing a fixed period of admission and extension of stay procedure (EOS) for F students. ...
studyinthestates.dhs.gov
Considering a new tool for the new semester: “Thanks for your email. This account is configured to bounce back messages determined to have been written substantially with the aid of AI. Please feel free to rewrite the email yourself and then send it again.”
Trying out a take: more than his other films, Nolan's Odyssey is about the spectacle of practical, in-camera "tricks" — Polyphemus puppet, the pigs, etc. Its story isn't unimportant, but it's also just a widely-known narrative frame to occasion a series of visual attractions. It's early cinema.
The introduction to the vibes book is live and free on the publisher’s website! dukeupress.edu/good-vibes-o...
Good Vibes Only: Phenomenology and the Biopolitics of Algorithmic Legitimation
dukeupress.edu
Maybe the most inscrutable trope of AI small talk nowadays is “… and it’s only going to get better!” Which digital technologies have gotten better in the past decade, as opposed to shittier, more ad-poisoned, or simply broken? What is the precedent for this assumption?
In case there was any lingering doubt about the politics of the Vanderbilt report, I want to note that Linda McMahon referenced the report, even calling it "courageous," in her recent letter telling universities to shape up. So that's who those scholars are in bed with. www.ed.gov/media/docume...
Called it www.patreon.com/posts/162364...
Episode 141 [PATREON EXCLUSIVE] -- The (deep breath) "Report on the State of Scholarship in the Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences" | In Bed With the Right
Episode 141 [PATREON EXCLUSIVE] -- The (deep breath) "Report on the State of Scholarship in the Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences" by In Bed With the Right on Patreon. Join In Bed With the Ri...
patreon.com
Benjamin Tausig@burrata.bsky.social · 2d agoIn case there was any lingering doubt about the politics of the Vanderbilt report, I want to note that Linda McMahon referenced the report, even calling it "courageous," in her recent letter telling universities to shape up. So that's who those scholars are in bed with. www.ed.gov/media/docume...
In case there was any lingering doubt about the politics of the Vanderbilt report, I want to note that Linda McMahon referenced the report, even calling it "courageous," in her recent letter telling universities to shape up. So that's who those scholars are in bed with. www.ed.gov/media/docume...
Dr. Tiffany Willoughby-Herard, a senior scholar at UC-Irvine, is being attacked by her institution, UC-Irvine, for her activism. Robin DG Kelley explains ... robindgkelley.substack.com/p/in-support...
In Support of Dr. Tiffany Willoughby-Herard
Most academics in the U.S., as well as activists resisting the genocide in Gaza, are familiar with the case of Professor Tiffany Willoughby-Herard, a renowned Global Studies scholar at the University ...
robindgkelley.substack.com
Crosswords make this kind of adjustment all the time. Consider (first image) how in 2020 ELON was usually clued via Elon Musk. As it became clear that Musk was a white supremacist psychopath, puzzles began cluing ELON almost exclusively by reference to Elon University (second image, 2025-26).
AVCX Classic@avcx.bsky.social · 3d agoJust thinking maybe, perhaps, possibly, it’s time to stop putting JK Rowling things in the crossword puzzle
Crosswords make this kind of adjustment all the time. Consider (first image) how in 2020 ELON was usually clued via Elon Musk. As it became clear that Musk was a white supremacist psychopath, puzzles began cluing ELON almost exclusively by reference to Elon University (second image, 2025-26).
AVCX Classic@avcx.bsky.social · 3d agoJust thinking maybe, perhaps, possibly, it’s time to stop putting JK Rowling things in the crossword puzzle
Just thinking maybe, perhaps, possibly, it’s time to stop putting JK Rowling things in the crossword puzzle
This reminds me that I discovered a series of Thai-language crosswords when I was going through 1980s gay skin mags from scholar Benedict Anderson’s personal papers. The letters aren’t fully checked, so they got around the diacritic crossing issue. I sent these to Will Shortz, he was amused.
Avery Pattullo@luciapattullo.bsky.social · 5d agoNow I'm wondering whether anyone has ever made an International Phonetic Alphabet crossword. It would take care of the all diacritic/accent mark issues, but I imagine you'd have people coming at you with dialectal difference pitchforks, particularly for vowels (e.g., the /pɛn/ - /pIn/ divide)
Should we put together a lightning special issue for the Journal of Popular Music Studies? www.nytimes.com/2026/07/31/t...
Boy George Pulled From ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ Days After Posting Pro-Israel Reggae Song
Boy George’s manager said he was pulling the singer from a role in “Jesus Christ Superstar” in “the best interests of my artist.”
nytimes.com
"Wearable grandfather" is really doing a lot for me www.instagram.com/reel/Dba3VMi...
Harris Alterman on Instagram: "Come to our fake tech art pop-up Aug 8th. Link in bio."
7,890 likes, 186 comments - theharrisalterman on July 30, 2026: "Come to our fake tech art pop-up Aug 8th. Link in bio.".
instagram.com
I think I'll ask the students in my "music and tourism" class this semester if they think that Odysseus could be understood as a tourist? The ensuing discussion will both tell me where they're at intellectually, and also whether or not they're on Bluesky.
"Wearable grandfather" is really doing a lot for me www.instagram.com/reel/Dba3VMi...
Harris Alterman on Instagram: "Come to our fake tech art pop-up Aug 8th. Link in bio."
7,890 likes, 186 comments - theharrisalterman on July 30, 2026: "Come to our fake tech art pop-up Aug 8th. Link in bio.".
instagram.com
Taste Good Malaysian Cuisine (Elmhurst) doesn’t advertise anywhere that it’s on the Times best 100 NYC restaurants list, for which respect. But, truly enough to post about it, this food slaps.
Those of you in Buddhist Studies know Erik to be a grand and generous colleague of heroic integrity. May he prevail.
Benjamin Tausig@burrata.bsky.social · last wk.My genuinely brilliant colleague in Southeast Asian studies, Dr. Erik Davis at Macalester College in St Paul, faces a federal indictment and a possible six-year prison sentence, for having "ties" to "antifa" (i.e. for organizing anti-ICE protests). www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
My genuinely brilliant colleague in Southeast Asian studies, Dr. Erik Davis at Macalester College in St Paul, faces a federal indictment and a possible six-year prison sentence, for having "ties" to "antifa" (i.e. for organizing anti-ICE protests). www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
The professor facing prison in ‘antifa’ case: ‘They want to scare all who oppose ICE’
Erik Davis is accused by the government of a ‘conspiracy’ to obstruct ICE – experts say it’s part of a pattern to criminalize lawful organizing and ruin activists’ lives
theguardian.com
My genuinely brilliant colleague in Southeast Asian studies, Dr. Erik Davis at Macalester College in St Paul, faces a federal indictment and a possible six-year prison sentence, for having "ties" to "antifa" (i.e. for organizing anti-ICE protests). www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
The professor facing prison in ‘antifa’ case: ‘They want to scare all who oppose ICE’
Erik Davis is accused by the government of a ‘conspiracy’ to obstruct ICE – experts say it’s part of a pattern to criminalize lawful organizing and ruin activists’ lives
theguardian.com
Our union, @uupinfo.bsky.social, just ratified a new contract for its employees, with some good negotiating wins. Notably, the new contract includes a very brief AI clause (attached). Obviously important, but I have no idea what this specific language protects against? uupinfo.org/communicatio...
I LOVE the idea of fun notebooks and sticky flags to encourage annotation! I teach popular literature, and it's worked well for me in getting students to consider the mechanics of texts they consider trashy/bad/disposable. when they copy passage out, they see how much is actually happening.
Oh! I didn't know it's called "common placing" either (and I call myself an early modernist 🫥). I am tempted in small classes to supply nice notebooks, colorful pens, & sticky flags myself, to introduce students to the sheer delight of mapping ideas, tracing their thinking, and chatting with texts.
As next school year draws closer (eek), I'm curious to hear an update on your anti-AI defenses, if you're teaching? Policies, sure, but also how you're redesigning assignments and building guardrails. I might write something about all this.