I mean, how else will they be ready to use their little hands to fix the inner workings of the power loom?

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 14h ago

BASH: One of the things that's happening is there's a push to start students down a trade school track as early as elementary school. Is that too early? LINDA McMAHON: I don't think so BASH: But elementary school? McMAHON: I think you can have some introduction of skilled trades in elementary

And because of how true this is, we’ll never escape this dystopian, post-truth, flash over substance world anytime soon.

Asheesh Kapur Siddique@asheeshks.org · 5d ago

The center-left abandoned the humanities in public higher ed, while the right embraced an authoritarian, non-scholarly approach to them. Unfortunately, it does not look like this situation will change anytime soon: asheeshksi.substack.com/p/why-the-de...

Tessa Wahlquist is incredibly brave. (Of course, that I’m even thinking that is an absolute travesty. She is, of course. But heavens.)

Arkansas Times@arktimes.bsky.social · 6d ago

“They immediately said, ‘Do not mention this to anyone.’ They said to keep researching, but don’t say anything about it because they might be watching,“ researcher Tessa Wahlquist said. “They” were members of the Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders administration.

Why you can’t trust the AI: it’s pro-Cavalier. Probably wasn’t in favor of the Protectorate.

Dr Ian McCormick@wokestudies.bsky.social · last wk.

Cavaliers: holidays! Roundheads: "annual leave"

Sure, but if Dems say “Chocolate chip cookies are the true American dessert” they’ll say we want “Open Borders.” This is a party that accused Haitian immigrants of eating dogs to win an election. We cannot make decisions based on what they might say.

Better Things Are Possible@internethippo.bsky.social · last wk.

"If you say Abolish ICE, Republicans will say you want open borders." Right but it's your job to communicate persuasively enough to 1) win and 2) enact your party's agenda. If you don't have the requisite talent, you're unfit, step aside. If you don't *want to* then you're unfit, step aside

Northwestern University admin accepting $35 million for the football program from MAGA donors Dick and Liz Uihlein while also shuttering the African Studies program and its 80-year-old history is a pretty good encapsulation of higher ed in the US.

Or, and hear me out, we take that $20 million and reinvest in the existing colleges we’ve slashed funding to. It’s a crazy idea, I know.

Hartford Courant@hartfordcourant.bsky.social · last wk.

Gov. Ned Lamont has announced a $20 million investment from his administration “to establish a 100,000-square-foot flagship campus for the Hartford Innovation Center at State House Square in downtown Hartford,” according to a…

❤️

250 to 250@250to250.bsky.social · last wk.

Jacques Pépin is a legendary chef, culinary educator, PBS television host, and author whose work revolutionized American home cooking. Here, Pépin celebrates Julia Child’s enthusiasm for making fine cuisine accessible to all. #WeAreAmerica250

Any #history colleagues working on syllabi: if you need or want anything on social movements, abolitionist, civil rights, Civil War, Reconstruction, or queer history let me know, I have old syllabi, readings, etc…

This isn’t a dig at the lovely @bencarp.bsky.social, but I really miss working on syllabi. It gave me an opportunity to think about new stuff, nele topics, new readings. I don’t really get to do that anymore. Made me excited for the year.

Benjamin L. Carp 🎏@bencarp.bsky.social · last wk.

I will literally do anything to avoid working on syllabi

#VoteBinface www.pbs.org/newshour/amp...

Nigel Farage faces off against Count Binface in special election that's been denounced as a stunt

Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-immigration party Reform UK, had hoped a special election Thursday for his Parliament seat would help quell awkward questions about his finances.

pbs.org

I continue to be fascinated by the use of "radical" in U.S. politics and social movements. It's what my first book is on. I had planned, perhaps, for it to be what my second book would be on.

Mark Copelovitch@mcopelov.bsky.social · 2w ago

The @nytimes hasn't written a single article asking if "voters will think Tom Tiffany is too radical" because he is an election-denying, pro-ICE, authoritarian extremist. Somehow, his position on the political spectrum has disappeared completely from the National and State Conversations™️

The @nytimes hasn't written a single article asking if "voters will think Tom Tiffany is too radical" because he is an election-denying, pro-ICE, authoritarian extremist. Somehow, his position on the political spectrum has disappeared completely from the National and State Conversations™️

Will Wisconsin Voters Think Francesca Hong Is Too Radical? Here’s Where She Stands.

The democratic socialist is the front-runner to win the Democratic primary for governor of Wisconsin on Tuesday.

nytimes.com

He perpetuates actively harmful views of higher ed that are part of an ongoing project to destroy it. Precarity is itself a part of that project. Plenty of academics have been willing bedfellows (if they get theirs) and far more have just been unwilling to admit what was happening. For years. 

Breathless coverage in the NYT about every half a fart in the Ivies/“elite” unis and rare coverage of the going’s on at CUNY in their backyard. We’re dead to them.

Laura Tanenbaum@ltanenbaum.bsky.social · 2w ago

also the voices of working class folks in elite institutions are important but a huge part of the classism is the lack of attention to institutions that primarily serve the working class.

Also, this is what happens when you do away with liberal arts education. This right here. It’s obviously not true, but without critical thinking…

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w ago

Trump: "At one year, you should have 5 separate visits for vaccines rather than getting them all in the same day. I've seen proof of where they have a vaccination thing that looks like the size of a bottle of soda and pour it into a little child's body."

It’s the problem we’ve had in Connecticut for years and years. They just don’t care.

Annie Abrams@annieabrams.bsky.social · 2w ago

easy to mock right wing humanities institutes, more difficult to get dems to answer for lapsed commitment to liberal education

there are more than twice as many museum workers in the US than there are coal miners

John Garrison Marks@johngmarks.com · 2w ago

On my blog, I wrote about how America's museums are falling apart. The US has 20k+ museums, and most have historic buildings with leaky roofs, failing HVAC units, and flooding basements. What they don't have is money for repairs. Please read/share! 🧵 johngmarks.beehiiv.com/p/america-s-...

I, for one, failed because I never prioritized research. I hoped (thought?) that a terrific teaching and service record might save me at a 4-4 or so teaching college.

"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux@bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 2w ago

Alright, I'm putting a line in the stand: No more 'why I left academia' takes from dudes that never got their monograph out (in book fields). 'oh sure, I got a gold-plated academic job and bailed out in advance of the tenure decision without a book out, but it was BECAUSE OF WOKE!!' Sure, buddy.

Alright, I'm putting a line in the stand: No more 'why I left academia' takes from dudes that never got their monograph out (in book fields). 'oh sure, I got a gold-plated academic job and bailed out in advance of the tenure decision without a book out, but it was BECAUSE OF WOKE!!' Sure, buddy.

I plan to ask my students: “Why would a group of people interested in money and power want to force you away from studying the Humanities and social sciences? What’s in it for them?”

Rob Townsend@rbtownsend.bsky.social · 2w ago

"It’s easy for a politician to be against something, like a data center. But who is going to fighting for something, like the #humanities?... Real leadership would mean fighting to give more young people more opportunities to flourish as creators and thinkers" bit.ly/4q3F6AA

I mean…Eversource is pretty bad.

Marc Elias@marcelias.bsky.social · 2w ago

Ross Douthat lives in...Connecticut. To be fair, I haven't been there recently, but did I miss its "civic and educational collapse?"

One of mine is MAGA, the other is a Zohran-loving Dem Socialist. So…

Dr. Jack Brown@drjackbrown.bsky.social · 2w ago

If dogs could vote, they'd all vote blue.

Centrist Democrats hate humanities scholarship just as much as Republicans do - the difference is that Democrats think humanities teaching is important in the elite private institutions they aspire to send their kids to, but not the actual laborers.

What the public believes about academia and its reality are as different as the earth is to the moon.

Alexander Chee@alexanderchee.bsky.social · 2w ago

Whenever Axelrod starts up his “faculty lounge“ crap I remember it is something most colleges and universities did away with decades ago. He lives in the 90s as they are in his head, like Trump.

The framing of these Democratic primaries by many news orgs is "how did the party let these radicals take over?" instead of "what is going on in the country and the world that leads so many people to vote this way?"

I set a tea bag on fire in my kitchen just now. So, the start of the school year is coming.

The absolute best of McSweeney’s

McSweeney's@mcsweeneys.net · 3w ago

"Look, I’ve got nothing against Queequeg. He’s a nice guy. And he can spy a whale spout in a hurricane. And hit a nickel-sized moving target in open water in one steel stroke. But all those 'biggee' tattoos? Tell me they don’t scream 'diversity hire.'"

Oh my, I only knew two. One was the FIFA World Cup Official Song (from 2026). The other was Wonderwall which is…not from 2026.

Dr Jon Sutton@jonsutton.bsky.social · 3w ago

It turns out I'm of an age where a song can spend 19 weeks at Number One without me hearing it.