finally a state pushing back, massachusetts just moved a bill to protect libraries and make book bans harder to pull off, proof that fighting for access still matters, maybe this is the start of something better?

By the Burning River Brigade in NE Ohio

DC's celebrations of the 250th anniversary of this country were in every way the AI Willy's Chocolate Experience/Fyre Festival crossover event we all expected but somehow with more smoke and terror

Happy 250th, America! My gift to you, as is the tradition of course, is all the phenomenal public scholarly writing, podcasts, & books in my 283rd #ScholarSunday thread. Add more below, please share as widely as was the Declaration, & enjoy the intellectual fireworks, all! 🗃️ +

Question: What's keeping America from being as great as it could be? Major Jason Watson: “Divisiveness. The unwillingness to talk to each other. Unwillingness to love our neighbors Understand that we're all just human beings We are all Americans We have more in common than we do not”

This might be the most blatant example in existence of "rich guy who created a problem attempting to place the blame for that problem on immigrants"

Same with every Schoolhouse Rock! song The Great American Melting Pot is a fucking banger because diversity rocks. Bills, not Exec Orders, become laws. We have a Three-Ring Government, motherfuckers. And inventions are only innovations if they meet a necessity, you tech shitheads. I know the songs.

The security guard at the door:

PS. MA Poet Laureate Regie Gibson bringing the critical patriotic 🔥 to the Boston Pops 4th celebration tonight!

Same with every Schoolhouse Rock! song The Great American Melting Pot is a fucking banger because diversity rocks. Bills, not Exec Orders, become laws. We have a Three-Ring Government, motherfuckers. And inventions are only innovations if they meet a necessity, you tech shitheads. I know the songs.

Spent the 4th of July reading Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (for research), a book about nostalgia, conspiracy theories, social media, and the ills of our God forsaken society. Excellent, damning read, I see why it's a bestseller right now. (Please no spoilers for others if you've read it!)

I'll never forget that NPR tweeted out the Declaration of Independence line by line on the 4th of July, and Trump's supporters flipped out thinking NPR was trashing their King. In 2017.

So for a weekend follow-up to my AmericanStudying the 250th blog series, three ways to challenge the mythologizing, misremembering, & MAGA madness characterizing America in July 2026, from metaphor-making to critical patriotism to political advocacy & activism! blackwhiteandread.com/july-4-5-202...

PS. For a lot more on that third form of resistance, see @gvaughnjoy.bsky.social's latest phenomenal addition to our website: blackwhiteandread.com/effecting-ch...

Just a reminder that patriotism isn't holding a bible and wrapping yourself in the flag while you violate the Constitution and plunder the country. Happy 4th of July, stay cool and safe!!

Happy 4th of July to all who celebrate the most American way possible--protest & critique. 🗃️ @hcrichardson.bsky.social

Mark Twain hated the Fourth of July. He was often invited to speak at Independence Day festivities. His audiences assumed that his reliably unpatriotic remarks were tongue-in-cheek jests. But he meant that shit. 1/9

The most patriotic thing you can do is fight to make this country a better place for everyone. There are many ways to do that by applying your expertise as a scholar to public goods through education or advocacy. Here's a guide for humanities scholars who want to help shape policy:

On our 250th anniversary, I refuse to cede the idea of patriotism to the white supremacist fascists. That mythic patriotism has always been part of our identity--but we can tell a very different story through the legacies of American critical patriotism. My new @pghreviewofbooks.bsky.social essay! 🗃️

Collective critical patriotism ftw! pghrev.com/a-syllabus-o...

The most patriotic thing you can do is fight to make this country a better place for everyone. There are many ways to do that by applying your expertise as a scholar to public goods through education or advocacy. Here's a guide for humanities scholars who want to help shape policy:

New Resource Alert: I've just added a page on how to use your humanities expertise to advocate for policy changes as a constituent expert. If writing op-eds and podcasts isn't your type of public scholarship but you still want to put your expertise to the public good in new ways, try advocacy!

I'll say this until I'm dead. The whole conservative project has been about the conversion of public spaces to private ones, ones where groups can be excluded all in the name of individual choice. And if you hear the phrase "tragedy of the commons," you know who you're talking to.

New Resource Alert: I've just added a page on how to use your humanities expertise to advocate for policy changes as a constituent expert. If writing op-eds and podcasts isn't your type of public scholarship but you still want to put your expertise to the public good in new ways, try advocacy!

Every single lawmaker that’s calling for their constituents to “be responsible with electricity usage” during the extreme heat had better be supporting heavy restrictions on data centers.

Love this map, love this story. This is what America is all about. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Be sure to tune in each Saturday so you don’t miss a thing! The conversation starts this Saturday with @ethanhealey.com as we discuss the power of memory and the American Revolution. Never fear! Gilded Age content resumes in August!

Apart from everything else you can say about this heinous stance, it's also historically illiterate and just plain false. Read this thread on Muslim influences on our founding and Moorish communities already here and established by the end of the American Revolution: bsky.app/profile/amer...

Thanks so much! Those are just the tip of the iceberg of foundational & defining Muslim American stories; Yarrow Mamout, who became a literal iconic image of the new nation, is another fav of mine: americanstudier.blogspot.com/2020/04/apri...

I remember watching westerns with my grandpa as a kid; I don't recall much multiculturalism in them. I'll definitely watch the two reviewed in the essay below.

Church/Mosque/Synagogue. Volunteer. Mutual AID. Organize for HIV, COVID, Trans, Gaza/Palestine, LGBTQ, BLM. Sport Leagues. Make Zines. Canvass for Elections. Bathhouses. Hook Ups. Befriend Service Workers In Your Life. Libraries. Organize “Adult Field Trips” (Movies, Hikes, Museums, Historic Sites).

It’s true what they say. You couldn’t make Blazing Saddles today. Because it was made in 1974 and Gene Wilder is dead.

Mel Brooks's Blazing Saddles (1974) is a phenomenal film that fits into a much larger tradition of cultural works that challenge Hollywood and vaudevillian whitewashing of the American West This week I reviewed it in conversation with Deadwood (2004-2006; 2019) and Springsteen's album Western Stars

By very far, they're the best Hollywood couple of all time. Look at how she cuddles the little friend while Paul cooks in his high socks and tiny shorts. Goals on goals.

He's killing the ducks. He's killing the birds. He's killing the wildlife of the people who live there.

But as I talked about in my latest podcast season, on baseball at WWII Japanese American incarceration camps, sports can also exemplify community, resistance, & joy. The son of Nigerian immigrant parents scoring a knockout round goal for the most diverse USMNT in our history definitely qualifies! 🗃️

Re-upping this for the Wednesday crowd: My latest weekly roundup of reading and listening recommendations, taking in the World Cup, African sovereignties, and the post-Cold War order, among other themes. All reposts (and subscriptions) much appreciated. x

On Birthright Citizenship: “The Reconstruction Amendments were an anticaste, antisubordination reset for the Nation, not a mere spot treatment for the dark stain of slavery.” -Justice Ketanji Brown 💅💕

If you owe a woman $5 million for sexual assault, you also owe the country your resignation.

This is a pretty clear cut principle:

This is bone-chilling. A conservative hedge fund manager wants to require little girls to pass genital inspections for their “safety.” And it’s only for girls’ sports. There’s a clear link between transphobia and child sexual abuse.

I made a whole ass teddy bear!! Look how cute he is with his little thoughtful stare into the sky 😭

If you're one of these historians and an Editor isn't reaching out, here's a list of pitchable publications you can send your ideas and work to:

Me looking at Catholic Bluesky this morning: Da fuck they got goin on over there

If you're one of these historians and an Editor isn't reaching out, here's a list of pitchable publications you can send your ideas and work to:

I made a whole ass teddy bear!! Look how cute he is with his little thoughtful stare into the sky 😭

When I think of Substack, I think of @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social's experience with them. I find it astonishing that a platform which ran for years championing independent voices could regress into a ‘content' factory for racists and misogynists so quickly. Deleted mine; now I have a no-frills blog👇

I already loved Deadwood, but I love it so much more still after sharing & talking about it with Vaughn. Review Roulette is always a must-read but this is one of the best & most thoughtful yet. Check it out & share widely, thanks! 🗃️ @hcrichardson.bsky.social

Mel Brooks's Blazing Saddles (1974) is a phenomenal film that fits into a much larger tradition of cultural works that challenge Hollywood and vaudevillian whitewashing of the American West This week I reviewed it in conversation with Deadwood (2004-2006; 2019) and Springsteen's album Western Stars