Every so often I think about how Minnesota holds, continues to hold, and will never return the 28th Virginia Batte Flag as a spoil of war, won righteously against the slaver-oligarchs and their willing goons in battle at Gettysburg. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/28th_Vi...

@coryhaala.bsky.social 👀👀👀

Just released - the preliminary program for @deindustrialpol.bsky.social's June 18-20 conference in Montreal on "(Un)Just Transitions? Deindustrialization and the Environment." Check it out! deindustrialization.org/depot2025con...

My UW employer, Stevens Point, last had a winning season in 2016 and hasn't made the playoffs since 2008. (And they...uh...don't look close to doing it again soon.) So, if the logic holds, I'll prep for the championship parade in 2041. Go Pointers.

@coryhaala.bsky.social wrote a piece that compared the progressive/populist backgrounds in the DNC Chair race. It was truly a Midwestern moment. (I still think the wrong Midwesterner won)

Once in a while I check my personal site, just to see what random things people care about... ...today it's that more people cared about North Dakota @dem-npl.bsky.social legend Buckshot Hoffner than me. (As is right and just.)

/readies the "shameless plug" cannon ...and if you want to fall back IN love with nonfiction, DO I HAVE A BOOK FOR YOU! (pre-order) www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p0...

As we enjoy Bears-Niners and the absurdities of Christian McCaffrey, please remember that he was once out-dueled in a single game by Justin Jackson the Ball-Carrier AND Clayton Thorson.

The Hawai'i Bowl is on (and a banger, as the prophecies foretold) and the presents are (almost) wrapped, with plenty of help from a whole lot of cheap scotch. God bless us, everyone.

Did a Friends theme for our sibling Christmas. I was responsible for bringing the traditional English trifle, and I think I did a great job.

How do we feel about Roseanne here: a show that lived the 80s/90s Midwest in its original form (the prison opening in S8!), but in the reboot opted for...well, other things.

Same boat. Enrollments up (esp history ed, run in-dept), yet when we tried to make a cost-SAVING move of hiring a like-for-like TT line w/supervisory certification to replace a retiring prof w/o it, provost said no, MAYBE we'd get an NTT if we behaved. It'd start a death spiral, and we'd be blamed.

A great idea! May I offer a suggestion? www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p0...

Grateful to the State Historical Society of Missouri for awarding me a Gary R. Kremer Center for Missouri Studies fellowship in 2026: I'll spend a few weeks researching the Farm Crisis, community organizing, and struggles to rebuild rural and urban communities alike. shsmo.org/news/2025/sh...

Ten(?) years ago I joined an amazing co-op. Tonight the lights went out for the last time. Thanks for everything, Fair State Brewing Cooperative, and especially the bar staff who made it the community that it was. -#694

Currently on the Chronicle of Higher Ed's job board for history. Wonder if I should throw in my CV; I can promise them I'd take a pay cut and I wouldn't leave for LSU.

Really important. Cool to hear Daniel's work at a 2023 @brennancenter.org symposium and sobering to see gaps' growth since. Also, kick in the ass I need to refine my paper from that event on Paul Wellstone's 33% Campaign + a 1996 Native voter registration drive...working-class mobilization abounds!

**readies the Shameless Plug Cannon** I KNOW A BOOK HE COULD TRY www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p0...

oh man then we're gonna love gopher-badger and HAT. absolute snowy FILTH incoming

With A Game, 🪓, and 🎩 today (all due respect to 🌽 and 🪣 yesterday), a line that's stuck with me on the 1988 election is that Bush-Dukakis was Harvard-Yale when voters really wanted a Big Ten slugfest. Whether it's politics or football, deep down we're all absolute populist sickos.

Rename it the Mallory Thompson School of Music.

Reached a verdict: happy I did it. Hope you are, too: When Democrats Won the Heartland, available for pre-order. Lots of economic populism, Democrats winning R+[lots] states, and how grassroots activists kept the flame alive. Link, if you'd like: press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p0...

My daughter's daycare is LUCKY. Wonder if they're ordering Lou's or Giordano's.

Was a good morning to roll into Point.

Can't forget the Mass I went to in Grand Forks on Assumption in 2017. Homily started by defining ex cathedra infallibility, then 15 mins on how Francis was not to be taken as infalliable on climate change and immigration. I have no problem thinking conservative Catholics can square this circle.

...so yeah, I'd say recruitment to our Museum Studies minor at UWSP is going pretty well.

also just generally begging "midwestern studies" to include one image that includes, y'know, a city instead of another barn

It's funny, because I THOUGHT there was a group called the Midwestern History Association that's been around for a decade doing exactly this. So I'm really curious as to why a recent winner of the organization's lifetime achievement award is pulling this.

He’s a West Ham fan, so he’s not smart about everything, but he knows Midwestern history. Give him a preorder!

And just like that, it's real. When Democrats Won the Heartland: Progressive Populism in the Age of Reagan, 1978-1992, from @illinoispress.bsky.social. Due out 4/14/26. Thanks to everyone who tolerated this dream and made it happen. Pre-order if you'd like: www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p0...

Iconic, and yet "the Mike Kafka game" for me will always been when I was an HS senior in Minnesota, sure I wanted to go to Northwestern, and then Kafka did this to the Gophers in the funniest-ever montage of a tall, bald giraffe just ambling all over an inept Minnesota defense.

Reminder: CfP active for next year's Midwestern History Conference hosted by Miami University of Ohio from April 30-May 1. Deadline for submissions is December 8. This thread contains more information that may help those who are thinking of but have not yet submitted a proposal. 1/x

Index your own book, they said. You'll learn SO MUCH about your argument, they said. It'll save you so much money, they said. I mean, were they right? Sure. Was it worth it? [/looks at 3:02am email to press, bags under my eyes] JURY STILL VERY MUCH OUT

Proud that I've had dozens of students submit projects that have been published by @livingnewdeal.bsky.social. It's such a great teaching tool and community resource.

let me tell you about my summer 2025 and #newdealminneapolis, because i got some random ass local bridges for you

To be clear, the last time it was possible for me to do this was 1991.

I wonder what it's like to watch your favorite team in a World Series. Or a Super Bowl. Or the NBA Finals. Or the NHL Finals.

Got cover art today. Still working some stuff out, but starting to feel uncomfortably real.

23 years ago today. It remains true: We all do better when we all do better.

Went an hour out of the way to a Driftless Area farm, saw the sign out front, learned from an 80s organizer that North American Farm Alliance (all over my book) was organized in THAT farmhouse, plus stories about tractorcades and farm policy... ...I'm damn lucky to have my job.

Great historical advocacy, educating folks on the roots of the 1980s Farm Crisis, from @fleecechase1.bsky.social! bgindependentmedia.org/financial-st...

It's a "home day" for the girls and Dad, so we've gone for a walk (to see a train with CPR livery), grabbed some nature stuff, and played with the talking globe... ...can you guess what country we're learning about? 😂

Fun example from @timmiller.bsky.social's interview (or at least the @ezraklein.bsky.social clip)! Let's see. 1984 presidential: * South Dakota: R+27 * North Dakota: R+31 1986 Senate races, ft. incumbent Republicans: * SD: Daschle, D+3 * ND: Conrad, DNPL+1 Wonder what those two guys ran on!

Come get your boys, @sykescharlie.bsky.social. Or educate em. Or something.

Playing the hits down in Mankato.

From St Mary's (Sleepy Eye) cookbook: "Best Ever Meat Loaf" of Helen Zollner, who at Easter Mass '92 called my Grandma's broach "interesting," sparking a 21-yr standoff only thawed by a curt nod during the Sign of Peace at Christmas '13. I pray this meatloaf continues our families' healing process.

Tell you what, it's not the worst way I've ever spent a Saturday night in September.

Oh we are so BACK ✊ FARMS 🤝 LABOR Now join us for all these great @farmaid.org events, beginning Tuesday at 4pm, Best Buy Theater: "Lessons in Mobilizing: From the Farmer Labor Movement to the Tractorcades to Today" www.farmaid.org/festival/far...

Farm Aid and the UMN Departments of History, American Studies & Anthropology Present Collective Power in the Countryside: A Conversation With Sarah Smarsh & Sarah Vogel, Moderated by Sonja Trom Eayrs Thu, Sep 18, 5:00pm Best Buy Theater, Northrup, UMN @sarahsmarsh.bsky.social @umn-amst.bsky.social