I’m an alumna of the Berlin Program and benefited so much from it, not just during the program while working on my dissertation but all the years afterwards. A massive loss for the field.

Jen Evans@jennifervevans.bsky.social · 8h ago

Sad news from one of the best programs out there for international students and scholars.

FYI: Free webinar for those interested in the history of the Kindertransport and/or the work of W.G. Sebald. To register: wmich.webex.com/webappng/sit...

I’m debuting Experiments in Reading this fall, a 1-unit pass/fail course designed to help students develop a habit (and love) of reading. I’m looking forward to it and hope to do it every semester, or at least most. Inspired by an @aktange.bsky.social post on here!

Cassidy apparently not learning the lesson of his RFK vote.

I’m sure that there’s a max limit on watching Knicks Finals highlights. But I have not yet reached it.

It seems that the presidents of Washington St. Louis, ASU, Kansas, and Johns Hopkins helped write the letter. With leaders like this, who needs enemies.

Liam Knox@liamknox.bsky.social · 2w ago

Scoop: The Trump administration is sending a letter to college presidents asking them to pledge a series of policy changes by the end of the year. Unlike last year's Compact, this effort was devised with input from higher ed leaders. Free link to my exclusive: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

"...history has the potential to change a people’s future by changing its self-understanding." History is exceptionally powerful, which is why its expert work is degraded, distorted, accepted only as tourism. Always the authoritarian political instrument of choice. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/o...

Opinion | Trump's Smithsonian Attacks Are Attacks on America’s Future (Gift Article)

This is how we decide who we are and who we want to be.

nytimes.com

Hanif Abdurraqib gets right at what I'll miss most about Glen Hansard: whether busking, in trad sessions, in concerts, at funerals (Shane MacGowan's), he always invited in the audience and created community through music. The Irish are good at this; he was great. www.newyorker.com/news/postscr...

Glen Hansard’s Street-Corner Stories

Both as a young busker and as a famous singer-songwriter, Hansard understood how to make people stop and listen and feel one single thing.

newyorker.com

And not a single person in the Trump State Department looked at this and said, “hmm, that doesn’t look right.” So much for the idea of AI as a tool that supports and deepens thinking rather than replaces it. (Also, they could have just annotated an existing map.)

Eric Geller@ericjgeller.com · 3w ago

"A US government map of Africa mislabeled every country during a state department presentation at a global conference in Brazil this week, causing a stir among attenders who took screenshots and posted them online."

Anyone who has spent any time reading student writing, no matter the institution, knows that we need to strengthen writing programs and centers and focus more on developing students' writing skills. At least anyone who really cares about educating students, not just graduating them.

Mary Lewis@profmarylewis.bsky.social · 3w ago

It‘s quite possible that with this move, @harvard.edu could become the only Ivy League university without a writing center. www.thecrimson.com/article/2026...

It’s nice to see everyone’s textual analysis of The Odyssey It’s almost like the humanities give you entertainment, feelings, pleasure, and fun/interesting stuff to talk about, as well as lenses into both past and current society

My heart is often in Berlin...tonight it's a broken one. www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/liveb...

CSD Berlin 2026 abgebrochen: Auto fährt im Tiergarten in Menschenmenge – ein Toter, Täter flüchtig

Schwerer Zwischenfall beim Christopher Street Day mit vielen Verletzten + Polizei fahndet nach flüchtigen Tatverdächtigen + Finale am Brandenburger Tor abgebrochen + Alle Entwicklungen in Newsblog.

tagesspiegel.de

I once eavesdropped on a conversation among literary translators on a airport shuttle bus after a conference. It was fascinating! I have had a much greater appreciation for the art and scholarship of translation ever since.

EMILY WILSON@emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · last mo.

9. In my own Homeric translations, I try to convey something of the feel of Homeric poetics, by using a regular traditional meter (=the meter traditional in English, rather than the free verse used by most other modern translators), and what I hope is a fresh, vivid, rapid, non-slangy lexicon.

When I was teaching in Mississippi, a student brought her 8-10 year-old son to class one day (an in-service day at his school). He sat next to her in the front row of the lecture hall and not only paid attention but took notes. That was well over 20 years ago, and I can still see him. 🥰

Angus Johnston@angus.bsky.social · 3w ago

The best thing in the world is when a visiting little kid raises their hand to ask a question in one of my lectures. It's only happened a few times in my life, but god, I love it so much.

German broadcast. Nailed it

🇪🇸 🇪🇸 🇪🇸

Hungarian President Sulyok has signed the 17th Amendment to the constitution therefore removing himself from office. It’s been amazing to watch. Orban's Fidesz has been falling apart before our eyes. 🧵

"There are people to whom empire grants depth, nuance, sophistication, and whose political interventions are welcomed. Others are not afforded that distance." Worth a read as institutions hold Middle East studies scholars in exception to academic freedom. lareviewofbooks.org/article/law-...

Law & Order: Higher Ed Unit | Los Angeles Review of Books

A professor of Arabic literature on seeing herself on the small screen.

lareviewofbooks.org

With all this talk about testosterone, and Hegseth's obsession with it, just a quick recommendation for "Testosterone: An Unauthorized Biography" by Rebecca Jordan-Young and Katrina Karkazis. Really interesting! More info and links to buy: www.katrinakarkazis.com/testosterone...

📢 Once more for the people in the back: - Most [more than 95%] of archives have not been digitized. - Most of humanity's knowledge and memory is *not* reachable by LLMs. - Believing that AI can provid you with comprehensive, definitive, "intelligent" results is folly.

Jesse Locker@jessemlocker.bsky.social · last mo.

Giving myself a headache in the archives

Happy one-month anniversary of the #Knicks championship to all who celebrate! youtube.com/shorts/l18Ls...

“It’s over! It’s over! Knicks fans, this is not a dream.”— Mike Breen on the call. Legendary.

YouTube video by NBAbzy

youtube.com

As a writer, Slavenka Drakulić sought to evoke the life of the single individual in a way that made empathy possible, writes her friend @marcishore.bsky.social www.eurozine.com/to-compose-a...

‘To compose a sentence was to take a moral stance’

As a writer, Slavenka Drakulić sought to evoke the life of the single individual in a way that made empathy possible, writes her friend Marci Shore.

eurozine.com

Corruption game recognizes corruption game. Trump 🤝 Infantino I don't think that Balogun should have gotten a red card, but the Belgians are justified in their anger. If there are more red cards, will those suspensions be postponed as well?

Steve Herman@newsguy.bsky.social · last mo.

President Trump called FIFA's president and asked him to review the suspension of the United States' top goal scorer. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/05/us...

This is a continuation of an older trend. Employers want people who are strong thinkers, good communicators, and effective collaborators. They want to train those people as they want them to work, rather than have to de-program bad habits and deal with weak critical thinking and writing skills.

Lauri Donahue@lauridonahue.bsky.social · last mo.

futurism.com/future-socie... lol

This an official Vatican photograph of Leo at Lampedusa, Italy - one of the world’s heaviest migrant sites - where he went this morning to pray for migrants who died at sea. This is after turning down the offer to come to the United States.

The Insta algorithm is pretty much feeding me only Knicks and Cabo Verde at this point. And that is just fine.

Happy 4th to you + yours. Did you know the colonists were BIG MAD at King George III over migration & citizenship issues to the point that these end up as enumerated line items in the Declaration of Independence? Drawn from the colonial chapter of Migration & the Origins of American Citizenship.

What the Declaration of Independence Said About Migration and Citizenship — Anna O. Law

The Declaration of Independence is essentially a list of colonial grievances against King George III and enumerated reasons why the colonists were breaking away from Britain. I’ve described it to my s...

annaolaw.com

So close. Cape Verde fought so hard and brought such joy and fun. 👏👏👏👏👏 to Cape Verde 🇨🇻

YESSSSS! 🇨🇻

GOOOOAAAALLLLL! Cape Verde!