In a fit of la nostalgie, I am drinking Mariages Frères' thé à la cannelle-orange and eating a Bastogne cookie. Suddenly it's Paris in my little Minneapolis office! (Here's a link to the amazingly delicious tea, although as a student long ago I drank Twining's: www.mariagefreres.com/fr/cannelle-...)

MARIAGE FRÈRES - Thé Français depuis 1854

Ce mariage de thés de grands jardins d'Asie parfumé aux écorces de cannelle et d'orange - épice et fruit des jardins du Paradis - se consomme chaud ou glacé. Typé, tonique, exquis.   Présenté dans...

mariagefreres.com

As a citizen of the Midwest, I find it oddly appropriate that this scandal is hot dog-themed. (A cheddar brat would have been more classy, tho'.)

Minnesota Star Tribune@startribune.com · last wk.

The City of St. Paul has hired an outside law firm to investigate sexual harassment allegations against Mayor Kaohly Her, including claims that she directed inappropriate sexual comments toward Police Chief Axel Henry and other city employees.

Next up on the research agenda: Pittsburgh & Cleveland in September and New Haven in October. Would love recommendations for good places to eat / interesting museums / great bookstores in Cleveland & New Haven, if you have 'em!

Came home to 95º degree temps in Minneapolis - nothing for it but to make the season's first gazpacho! Kid #1: why would anyone eat that? Kid #2 (in disgust): I'm going to go get a book. Fortunately, salami & provolone panini saved the day! (but the adults very much enjoyed the garlicky goodness)

The car attack on the Berlin Pride event has been designated a mass casualty event.

The hotel breakfast in Copenhagen included some amazing bread, and I'm curious about reproducing it at home. It wasn't Rugbrød, although I had that also - it was a ciabatta-sized loaf with a very crunchy exterior and very soft (wheat-like) interior, and it was very very dark brown. What is it?!

Back in the '90s, I learned the art of staying cool in Egypt. At that time, air conditioning was not common. In the extremely hot summer of 2026, how are people managing? n.pr/4pC2Rzw

COMIC: Temps are predicted to hit 106 in Egypt this week. How do people stay cool?

Back in the '90s, I learned the art of staying cool in Egypt. At that time, air conditioning was not common. In the extremely hot summer of 2026, how are people managing?

n.pr

This sounds like a great job - come work in the Twin Cities!

Craig Eliason@celiason.bsky.social · 2w ago

So excited that my department is hiring a new tenure line position! Please share with any great art historians you know who specialize in art of the Mediterranean region earlier than 1700! #arthistory #jobs

Very sad to hear of the passing of Christine Borland, a powerful artist whose work has often greatly moved me and who engaged with difficult truths about the body, medicine, and human suffering. May she rest in peace.

Hyperallergic@hyperallergic.com · 2w ago

We honor Christine Borland, an artist who explored human fragility through science; Astrid Furnival, a pioneering British textile artist; John Will, an artist who plumbed truth and identity through humor, and others.

Today I spent a few hours looking at anatomical specimens and amazing exhibitions at the Medical Museion, walked for hours taking photos, bought tea from Perchs Thehandel, a 200-year old tea shop, re-packed my suitcases, and thought for the 100th time: what an insanely livable city. Bye, Copenhagen!

It's lovely and cool here in Edinburgh, and meanwhile back home in Minneapolis, today's air quality is the worst ever recorded (due to wildfires in Canada and northern Minnesota), with an expected high temp of 91ºF/33ºC. (The air quality index is 392, which registers as "hazardous".) Not good.

In Edinburgh for the ESHS Annual Conference - good lord, reading the list of sessions is an overwhelming task. How many people are going to be at this conference!?

Ok, new city: what should I do here in Glasgow? Visited the Kelvingrove Art Gallery today to see the incredible Glasgow Boys paintings. I've seen just about every CRM building there is to see. I have a free day before I hit the archives on Thursday - how should I spend it?

It required three taxi rides and a train, but I have safely arrived in Manchester. Looks like I have a free couple of days before an archives visit on Monday. What should I see?

It is quite nice to see that a number of folks I follow here on Bluesky are listed in the program for SSHM. I hope your talks go well (I hope mine does, too, ha)!

I am *obsessed* with the 1920s predilection for these squishy flower circles and for orange, blue, & green (indeed, it is the theme of my dining room, home to many thrifted pieces of Art Deco porcelain). I've never seen them on shoes before - how gorgeous!

julieinstitches.bsky.social@julieinstitches.bsky.social · last mo.

Shoes designed by André Perugia, Paris, c1922. Leather with silk & metallic thread embroidery. Via LACMA.

There's a new museum in Philadelphia, but its building and mission date back to before this country was founded. https://to.pbs.org/4uY1Suy

Questioning my life choices... by which I mean the decision to present at three back-to-back conferences. This will be the most incredible experience - or the most embarrassing. Only time will tell.

Things that I have foolishly asked Merlin to identify for me and been disappointed when it could not: a mama squirrel fussing at her baby squirrel, a woodpecker pecking instead of singing, neighbors whistling for their dog to come inside (but tunefully), the mallard ducks that live in our backyard.

I am so excited about this - can't wait to get to Philly and check it out! (one day)

Mary Fissell@maryfissell.bsky.social · last mo.

Article about one of my favoritre research libraries & its wonderful collection of books about sex! www.nytimes.com/2026/06/23/a...

A few years back, I was taking the train from Dublin to Belfast. It was repeatedly delayed because they were worried (or so the announcement said) that if they went too fast in "this heat" the rails would melt. It was ... 82º F. I don't think anyone in Ireland, the UK, or Europe is ready for this...

Sam Whyte@samwhyte.bsky.social · last mo.

The trains are melting.

I just read a NY Times article from last fall about Guillermo del Toro, Mary Shelley, and Frankenstein. (I am a bit behind on my Sunday morning reading.) Apparently del Toro has *13* libraries in his home, each devoted to a different subject! My 30+ overflowing bookcases pale in comparison! Goals...

Today was a Perfect Midwestern Day. It was 75º and sunny, with big, fluffy white clouds and a blue sky. I started the morning with a Nutella-filled brioche donut from Bogart's, admired vintage goodies & gardens as we drove around NE checking out garage sales, and finished up at the plant store. <3

Ever see Jamelle Bouie's animation of the trans-Atlantic slave trade? It's amazing and horrifying. He had his doubts later that maybe it tends to reduce the horrors to an abstraction (www.nytimes.com/2022/01/28/o...), but I think it is helpful in shocking the conscience. slate.com/news-and-pol...

This Haunting Animation Maps the Journeys of 15,790 Slave Ships in Two Minutes

By the conclusion of the trans-Atlantic slave trade at the end of the 19th century, Europeans had enslaved and transported more than 12.5 million Africans.

slate.com

Headed to Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Copenhagen on a research trip this summer - I'd love your best tips for little-known medical history collections, tea purveyors, incredible bookstores, and 19th-c. architectural marvels & ruins. Bonus points if there's a botanical garden! Thanks!

Just putting it out there that this month's *Scone of the Month* is... coronation cheese! It combines mature cheddar, curry spices and sultanas and, to make it extra special, you can have it with mango chutney and a dollop of coriander and lime cream cheese. 📷 Helen R

Congratulations to Scottie Hale Buehler on the publication of her chapter, “Entangled Sites of Pedagogy: André Levret’s Parisian Midwifery Course”! This looks like a fantastic volume, and it's open-access.

UCL Press@uclpress.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Congratulations to Maria Pia Donato, Elaine Leong, Tillmann Taape and their contributors! Learning to Cut (the first title in a major new history of science series) published yesterday! #OpenAccess as always: uclpress.co.uk/book/learnin...

Oslo Pride video 🥹 🏳️‍🌈 #Pride #LoveIsLove

Oh yay, the new Bulletin of the History of Medicine is out! It features my positioning paper on objects and materiality in the history of medicine. After years, it is finally out! muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...

Don't mind me, I'll just be over here tearing up and feeling all the feels for a while... If you haven't seen Hacks, please do yourself a favor and watch it. By far one of the best-written series I've ever watched. We are all, each of us, so complex and so connected to each other.

Mark Harris@markharris.bsky.social · 2mo ago

As if I didn't already love Hacks enough, it not only sticks the landing, but does so with the single most homosexual music cue in the history of television. I miss it already.