John Paul Meyers

@johnpaulmeyers.bsky.social

Ethnomusicologist. Midwesterner. Associate Prof. of Af-Am Studies + Music at UIUC. My book, "Same Old Song: The Enduring Past in Popular Music," is out now! https://www.amazon.com/Same-Old-Song-Enduring-American/dp/1496850874/ref=sr_1_2?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.8

Put on a sport jacket this morning, since it's the first day of teaching for me. It feels kind of weird, like it's too tight, and then I figure out that I've got something thick in the interior chest pocket. What could it be? I don't remember. I reach inside and see that it's a packet of tissues.

This morning in Biddeford, Maine, a 26-year-old man said goodbye to his wife and daughter and left for work. Moments later he was dead, shot in the head by ICE agents, the second man ICE has killed in six days. ICE is killing our neighbors. ICE cannot be reformed. Abolish ICE.

New Kacey Musgraves album is very enjoyable. This is my verdict from spending 48 hours in Texas. Nothing on it is as ear-catching as "Golden Hour," "Oh, What a World," or "Dinner with Friends," but 14 good songs. I appreciate the restraint in the production. (1/2)

My older sister graduated from a Fancy East Coast University in 1999, and they gave Alan Greenspan an honorary degree at commencement. He got a rapturous reception from the crowd of parents and families. Even at 16, I thought this was more than a bit weird.

Ye is performing on September 3 and 4th at Soldier Field. Or you could walk a mile north to Millennium Park and go to the Chicago Jazz Festival those nights and see some musicians who aren't antisemitic sexual harassers. Bill Charlap and Dee Dee Bridgewater on the 3rd, Robert Glasper on the 4th.

19 year old kid on my flight was in the wrong row, messing up a family of 4 that was trying to sit together. He was nice and apologized profusely for it. Now he’s reading the hardcover edition of “Atomic Habits” and using a dollar bill as a bookmark. I’m kinda rooting for him.

I just want to say that I think that I have assembled the correct linkage of zip ties to keep the loose plastic skid shield on the bottom of my Honda Fit from flapping in the breeze at highway speeds. One of those things that is stupidly expensive to replace, so I've been DIYing it for 3 years.

I took my bikes for a few short turns around the block to check on some things and I'm thinking, "You know, it's 92 with a 75 degree dew point, but it doesn't feel so bad." And then I work on my bikes in my shed, with no air flow, for three minutes and I'm sweating a medium-size lake.

The ADA called the cops on attendees--one of them a former ADA president--for distributing reprints of an article pulblished in the ADA's flagship journal. "Failing to meet the moment" is starting to feel like the understatement of the century when it comes scientific organizations in the US.

Dimitri Drekonja, MD, MS@dimitridrekonja.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Shame on the American Diabetes Association- ejecting scientists from the meeting for distributing copies of an editorial critical of NIH funding cuts. Kudos to these scientists for standing up for science and resisting censorship 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Now to go check the IDweek code of conduct page…

The Iranian government is brutal and authoritarian. There is also no possibility that a military campaign led by Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu leads to a safer, freer, more properous future for the Iranian people. Impeach Donald Trump. Impeach Pete Hegseth.