I think this is a really important op-ed from the Mellon Foundation today, doubling down on their philanthropic commitment to humanities research and encouraging universities and other foundations to do the same. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

With Humanities at Risk, How Mellon Sees Its Role (opinion)

Some may disagree with our emphasis on broadening who shapes the humanities. The real challenge to the field is the decline in overall support.

insidehighered.com

I am stunned to hear of the passing of the fierce, brilliant and principled scholar activist Johanna Fernandez. Johanna's scholarship will endure. She was a gem and the world is worse for her no longer being here. Rest in power, comrade.

Rest in power to our brilliant CUNY colleague Dr. Johanna Fernández. Thank you for your profound work 🕊️🖤

Things will get worse as more students secretly use AI to do homework. There has always been a divide between those who care about education for its own sake and those who only care about grades, but AI will worsen this divide, leaving fewer people with the ability to do causal reasoning.

The Volatile Mermaid@ohnoshetwitnt.bsky.social · 2w ago

I’m sorry what

Please stop arguing about the historical accuracy of an adaptation of a book that has a cyclops and a couple of witches and some giants. I’m begging you.

uh...yes?

gamera obscura@ohrobin.bsky.social · 2w ago

Texas Republicans doing recruitment for us.

Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal.

Denise Oliver-Velez, a Powerful Voice of the Left, Dies at 78 She became the highest-ranking female member of the Young Lords in New York, where she pressed for women’s rights, and later joined the Black Panthers. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/u...

Denise Oliver-Velez, a Powerful Voice of the Left, Dies at 78 (Gift Article)

She became the highest-ranking female member of the Young Lords in New York, where she pressed for women’s rights, and later joined the Black Panthers.

nytimes.com

Many thanks to the Toronto Star for inadvertently showing us why we should all use the Oxford Comma. Apparently Sylvia had some, let's say, complicated hobbies:

Dearie me

Denise Oliver-Velez, RIP. Pa’lante, siempre pa’ lante!

Don’t know who to credit for this. But it is how I feel.

'Academics fear they are being “set up to fail” after several institutions finished the academic year by announcing fresh job cuts, casting doubt over who will return after the summer break, and what courses they will be teaching.' 1/3

Summer of ‘chaos’ predicted as mass job cuts close academic year

‘Impossible to plan’ for research and teaching, say staff, as threat of redundancy looms large over summer breaks

timeshighereducation.com

“The American Revolution Was Hardly an Anti-Colonial Movement”: UCLA Historian Robin D. G. Kelley www.democracynow.org/2026/7/2/rob...

“The American Revolution Was Hardly an Anti-Colonial Movement”: UCLA Historian Robin D. G. Kelley

Ahead of the July Fourth holiday and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we speak with the acclaimed scholar Robin D. G. Kelley, who examines how Black radicals have interpreted ...

democracynow.org

I agree with @prisonculture.bsky.social's assessment here. Also makes me think that making Mamdani hold to his promise to fund libraries at 0.5% of the city budget also would force other key decisions - like NOT raising the police budget. hammerandhope.org/forums/mamda...

How Is Zohran Mamdani Doing?

Nine New Yorkers discuss the first six months of the Mamdani administration.

hammerandhope.org

It is about leaning into the violence of the archives to offer alternative narratives that matter. It is about recognizing and discussing the silences and violence, allowing those resonances to be in all their messiness.

For Vogue, I talked to Ramell-Correen Frederick, aka Cheeks, who embroidered Knicks gear in the streets of Brooklyn after Game 5. He uses a 104-year-old hand-crank, chainstitch embroidery machine that he named Jessica.

The New York Artist Embroidering Knicks Merch on the Street

vogue.com

“Historian here”! He actually ran on deregulation, cutting social assistance programs, and boosting defense spending. 🗃️

"Founders proclaimed an equality they could neither contain nor bring themselves to extend. Abolitionists suffragists+reformers of every later generation reached for the Revolution’s language+turned it against the unfinished republic. They could do so because the language was radical to begin with."

Berny Belvedere@bernybelvedere.bsky.social · 2mo ago

A truly beautiful—and powerful—retrospective by @andycraig.bsky.social in @theunpopulist.net on the intellectual giant we just lost: the historian Gordon Wood.

There is a problem with the stories we tell & the way we perceive how change happens. The Union of Pinnacle Tenants, the largest tenant-led union in NYC—are the reason Mamdani took action. Organized people power is pivotal. Top down stories of elected heroes (even ones we like) are not sufficient.

Robert Reich@rbreich.bsky.social · 2mo ago

In January, Zohran Mamdani took action against bankrupt landlord Pinnacle, which was responsible for over 5,000 housing violations. Thanks to his intervention, Pinnacle's new owners have forgiven millions in tenants' back rent. This is what governing for the people looks like.

This is why all of you have a DUTY to stop paroting austerity language at the Federal level. The money is there. It's just not going to supporting life affirming institutions and programs.

American Immigration Council@immcouncil.org · 2mo ago

Congress voted to give ICE and CBP another $70 billion through 2029. "There is no question that this bill passing will make it incredibly difficult to reverse the creation of a huge deportation machine at the hands of President Trump,” @naynagupta.bsky.social tells @washingtonpost.com.

Very proud to announce publication of newest NYC CIVICS FOR ALL COMICS GROUP comic KNOW YOUR RIGHTS! Created w/ Project Open Arms & @nycimmigrants.bsky.social! Words by @alexsegura.com art @davidhahn.bsky.social colors E. Wright letters @tayloresposito.bsky.social. www.weteachnyc.org/resources/re...

"Soon enough, there will be no memory of the university as it was – just as there is already no memory of free higher education among today’s students, who find the idea scarcely imaginable. That the govt doesn’t care if the uni dies – & is in fact working actively to hasten its demise – is clear."

Benjamin Braun@benbraun.eurosky.social · 2mo ago

"short of the arrival of some kind of Noah’s Ark, the British university as we know it is destined for extinction sooner rather than later." Lorna Finlayson in Sidecar, @newleftreview.bsky.social. 4/4

Congrats Class of 2026 🎓 Bronx Community College CUNY 💚💛

Farmers in Andhra Pradesh, India, say they are being pressured to sell their land to the government for Google’s data center project. Video report @shamsheer.bsky.social & Monica Jha. Read the full report: www.dirtydata.earth youtu.be/p2DQpWe4hVw?...

DIRTY DATA: Meet the Villagers Fighting Google’s Biggest Data Center Outside the U.S.

YouTube video by Environmental Reporting Collective

youtu.be

Historian here this is literally about gutting the Reconstruction amendments especially the consequential 14th amendment piece by piece.

Also the next somebody says reparations for black people is a ridiculous idea, remind them that we have a reparations program for trying to overthrow the government

Check out this great project that maps Black digital and public humanities work.