One of my pet theories for why Gen Z is in love with the trades is simply that they're more visually suited to Instagram and TikTok. Every white-collar job looks the same in a photo--person at laptop--and it looks boring. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/13/s...

Mom, Dad, I Want to Be a Welder

Gen Z is increasingly turning to trade schools in hopes of future-proofing their careers against A.I. But getting their parents and peers on board can be a challenge.

nytimes.com

New article alert: "Doing County-Level Digital History at a Regional University: Reflecting on Ten Years of the Madison Historical Project." My co-authors and I share thoughts on the value of local digital history over the long run. 🗃️ cuny.manifoldapp.org/read/doing-c...

For Offrange, I wrote about my dad's career as an oats broker and how he and others remade the oat supply chain 40 years ago. Farm policy pushed oats off US farms, Canadian farmers embraced neoliberalism and met the demand, & they filled taconite freighters with oats! ambrook.com/offrange/per...

My Dad Helped Build North America’s Oat Supply Chain: Can It Be Remade?

In the wake of headlines about the “Oat Mafia” attempting to disrupt America’s oat infrastructure, one writer shares some lessons from the recent past.

ambrook.com

Good story here of oats, the US, Canada, farm policy, and the Canadian Prairies

Jeff Manuel@jeffmanuel.bsky.social · last mo.

For Offrange, I wrote about my dad's career as an oats broker and how he and others remade the oat supply chain 40 years ago. Farm policy pushed oats off US farms, Canadian farmers embraced neoliberalism and met the demand, & they filled taconite freighters with oats! ambrook.com/offrange/per...

For Offrange, I wrote about my dad's career as an oats broker and how he and others remade the oat supply chain 40 years ago. Farm policy pushed oats off US farms, Canadian farmers embraced neoliberalism and met the demand, & they filled taconite freighters with oats! ambrook.com/offrange/per...

My Dad Helped Build North America’s Oat Supply Chain: Can It Be Remade?

In the wake of headlines about the “Oat Mafia” attempting to disrupt America’s oat infrastructure, one writer shares some lessons from the recent past.

ambrook.com

I haven't read much coverage of David Roediger's recent memoir, _An Ordinary White_, but I just finished it and would recommend it. Fascinating stuff about St. Louis, Chicago, the origins of whiteness scholarship in the 1990s, and his razor-sharp critique of the modern university. 🗃️

An Ordinary White - David Roediger

A prize-winning historian details his intellectual and political evolution Written by the author of the landmark book The Wages of Whiteness and one of the key figures in the critical study of race an...

fordhampress.com

I've been assigning oral history assignments to my college students for a long time. The podcasting boom has made the technical side of things much, much easier. Smartphones and AI transcription have dramatically lowered the barriers to entry. But podcasts are now shaping what interviewees say+

Deer update: about ten hours after posting this, the deer got snarled trying to jump a neighbor's fence. Police came and the neighbor asked if they'd put it down. Police said they won't discharge a firearm in a residential neighborhood. They unbolted part of the fence and the deer got out +

Jeff Manuel@jeffmanuel.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The regular morning standoff

If you're a student trying to quickly get up to speed on critical theory and the Frankfort School, this Alex Ross article on Habermas has a straightforward narrative summary: newyorker.substack.com/p/jurgen-hab...

Jürgen Habermas Defended Reason in a Darkening Age

Alex Ross on the late German philosopher.

newyorker.substack.com

I have a short comment about the policies driving used cooking-oil theft for Inc. magazine. This is one of those things no one thinks about when making policy, but years later there are crooks outside Dirty Harry's beach bar, stealing the old grease. www.inc.com/amaya-nichol...

Why Thieves Are Suddenly Targeting the Trash Behind Beachside Restaurants

Two men were just arrested in Delaware for stealing this common waste product. Here's why officials don't think it's an isolated incident.

inc.com

The regular morning standoff

Have a dad who's an agricultural "yield bro"? Maybe he'd like a book about the global history of ethanol for Father's Day. Now under $20 for the hardcover on Amazon. www.amazon.com/Ethanol-Hemi...

Ethanol: A Hemispheric History for the Future of Biofuels

Ethanol: A Hemispheric History for the Future of Biofuels [Manuel, Jeffrey T., Rogers, Thomas D.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Ethanol: A Hemispheric History for the Future of Biofuels

amazon.com

The St. Louis region often feels like the land the time forgot. But the upside is that I get to stop at North America's last remaining Mister Donut

Re-reading _All the King's Men_ for the first time since high school. As a middle-aged academic, I now realize the book is a long exploration of one man's alt-ac career.

Interviewing archivists and I've learned a new word

A beautiful tribute to Paula Kamps, an artist and a friend. She will be missed. mailchi.mp/mleblancchic...

A highlight for a true 20th century US history nerd like me--today I got to talk to someone who had digitized a big chunk of the FSA-OWI photograph collection! I learned they scanned the prints in quadrants to get the quality they needed then stitched them together digitally. 🗃️

Grim conclusions from the new AAA&S Humanities Indicators report

I haven't followed the LLM training lawsuits closely, but this update on the case against Meta and implications for academic authors—including journal article authors—is intriguing (h/t to @janefriedman.com's newsletter) www.authorsalliance.org/2026/05/05/s...

Elsevier v. Meta: AI Training Lawsuit Explained

Elsevier and other publishers are suing Meta over AI training data. Here’s why the case matters for copyright, access to knowledge, and everyday users.

authorsalliance.org

In the nerdiest energy story of all time, I'm meeting with a guy who has developed a table-top board game about running an oil refinery because he wants to add a historical dimension

Lovely set of short reflections on Illinois history in light of the 250th in the current issue of the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. I'm damn proud to claim the Prairie State as my adopted home. scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jishs/is...

Volume 119 Issue 1 | Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (1998-) | Scholarly Publishing Collective

scholarlypublishingcollective.org

It's been a tough year in higher ed, but the students remind us why we do this. A highlight from this weekend's undergraduate research symposium: a student presenting his research into 1980s Christian hair metal, with the wig to match.

It's the season of retirement celebrations, which feel like the center of gravity in academic humanities these days. Every time I attend one I think about this scene from John Williams's _Stoner_. Congrats to all those retiring this spring.

Glad to see @alofstehage.bsky.social's book on US farmers in Brazil featured in Offrange magazine. I'm biased, but the global agribusiness links between the US and Brazil are such an important and little-understood story. ambrook.com/offrange/boo...

Better Off in Brazil?

With diminishing opportunities at home, some U.S. soybean farmers have relocated thousands of miles South. A new book considers the impact.

ambrook.com

At yesterday's Southern Illinois Univ board meeting, faculty were angry about a proposed contract with Risepoint, an online program manager (OPM). As @tressiemcphd.bsky.social has written over and over, OPMs are bringing the for-profit model inside public higher ed. www.youtube.com/live/U8B5b0Z...

Board of Trustees Meeting 4/16/26

YouTube video by SIU Board of Trustees Meeting

youtube.com

An update on the saga of 45Z, the Clean Fuels Production credit that *might* pay farmers for regenerative practices. This one's had a lot of twists and turns since it was created by the Inflation Reduction Act.

Jesse Hirsch@jessehirsch.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Dept of Treasury finally approved 45Z, a generous tax credit that rewards producers who use regenerative practices. It could be a huge boon for sustainable ag — if the USDA can agree on its rules. New from @kristenschmitt.bsky.social: ambrook.com/offrange/far...

Really interesting website by @remiwnd.bsky.social, an engineer and historian, that documents the origins of "wind and site engineering" for wind energy projects.

Brian Leech@brianleechphd.bsky.social · 4mo ago

@remiwnd.bsky.social Great presentation yesterday! I also enjoyed checking out your aeolians.net site. I’ll tag it for anyone looking at #envhist #energyhist or #histSTM, even if hashtags mean less over here.

"Well written, thoroughly researched, and deeply informative... The authors successfully demonstrate how ethanol’s long, complex history informs its future." New review of "Ethanol: A Hemispheric History for the Future of Biofuels" by @jeffmanuel.bsky.social & Tom Rogers from @oupress.bsky.social

H-Net Reviews@hnetreviews.bsky.social · 4mo ago

New book review: Bennett on Manuel, Jeffrey T.; Rogers, Thomas D.: _Ethanol: A Hemispheric History for the Future of Biofuels_. University of Oklahoma Press, 2025. Published by H-Environment. Read here: networks.h-net.org/node/20148012

As a scholar of esoteric topics, I rarely see direct connections among my projects. But today's inbox has one—an ethanol-powered ship for transporting iron ore www.marinelog.com/news/vale-an...

"Well written, thoroughly researched, and deeply informative" Thanks to Elizabeth Bennett for a thorough (and positive!) review of _Ethanol: A Hemispheric History for the Future of Biofuels_ networks.h-net.org/group/review... 🗃️