In this in-depth interview Billie Jean Sweeney — a former editor at The New York Times — details how the paper shifted towards openly promoting anti-trans hatred, why this was directed from the very top, how some staff pushed back and the immense damage done by the NYT legitimizing bigotry.

Hooray, my home town!

Today in #DemocraticPublicFinance Mamdani in his speech challenged the casual narrative erasure of many in his coalition. Narrative erasure is the first step of an accounting trick: if someone can be said to not really exist, then their existence presents as a cost to the city that excludes them.

I was wondering what Mamdani's first executive order would be, and I'm not disappointed by this. He has wiped off the books EVERY Eric Adams executive order issued on or after September 26, 2024, the day Adams was indicted on federal bribery charges.

I love libraries

I wish to see the people of the world rise up against the vile forces currently trying to leverage climate change using violence and propaganda in an attempt to dismantle democracy, so that they can ransack the planet and consolidate its natural resources for their own gain

my TL is where "I'm not using Canvas anymore" from faculty crosses with music fans giving up corporate streaming platforms - this is the same movement. across sectors people really want more autonomy from proprietary & extractive platforms.

Richard Smallwood has passed. They will call him a gospel music artist. He was that. But Smallwood was also one of the greatest composers - period of any modern music form. My heart is heavy. A great musical legend has left us. www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...

Just saw an ad for a were-CEO novel. I know they meant a werewolf who is a CEO, but I’m dying laughing as I picture a normal wage-slave who once a month turns into a feral CEO for three days.

Our pop stars continue to be both more accountable and more responsive to feedback than the editorial board of the New York Times

I am hugely excited about this new book. It is a tour de force of archival and analytical work, such an important topic, and beautifully produced. Congratulations, Catherine! @universitypress.cambridge.org #earlymodern

In the face of rising authoritarianism, creativity is an enduring movement superpower that helped us break through the stranglehold of fear this year.

Return to Office mandate

“Buy our home security package named after someone who was utterly destroyed by a back door break-in he didn’t see coming because he was focused solely on the front door.”

We had congressional hearings when parents just suspected heavy metal was leading some kids to suicide.

Composer for the Jesuits

Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn’t by Eiffel 65, Aqua, Vengaboys, or Rednex

please send me funny skeets to set to music !!

I STG LinkedIn

Anyway. They spent the last decade telling us STEM degrees were the future and the Humanities were worthless then they spent hundreds of billions of dollars to build a glitchy Humanities robot.

When the clock strikes midnight on January 1, creative works from 1930 & sound recordings from 1925 will enter the public domain in the US, like: 💄 Dizzy Dishes, first Betty Boop cartoon 🕵️♀️ First 4 Nancy Drew novels 🚂 The Little Engine That Could 🎩 Morocco 🍑 Georgia on My Mind and many more! 🧵👇

The Supreme Court rejected the federal government’s request to deploy the National Guard in Illinois. It’s time to let our troops go home to celebrate the holidays with their families — and stay home.

“Oops, sorry, I thought everyone would name the weird racial profiling stops that get people thrown in concentration camps after somebody else.”

BREAKING: Missourians ask a court to block the state from using the new GOP-backed congressional gerrymander in the 2026 midterms until they have a chance to approve or reject the measure in a referendum.

Just up on the Telegraph, a thorough and thoughtful piece about the wrongheaded policy changes at WAC. Thanks to Kate Murphy, @illuminations.bsky.social, @unamccormack.bsky.social and @marklewisohn.bsky.social for giving up their time. Gift link here www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/65a1031...

Burying the lead: "The tenor also noted that he would like to invite Anna Netrebko to perform at the Tiroler Festspiele, where he is the Artistic Director."

This is for Music Theory 1 instructors

LET’S GO! 🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

PROOFS! 🥳 Adding to the archives chat, Chair of the composer's guild, Dame! And yet, many of Elizabeth Maconchy's works are unknown - I discovered a "lost" manuscript in researching this chapter. It was (uncatelogued?) in the archive! The librarian only opened the box because I asked.

One reason the NYT has burned its credibility with trans people is that they still cite the discredited Cass report in reporting on trans healthcare. Never the German, Utah, or other systematic reviews supporting care. They also never provide the political context behind restrictions in care.

Don't forget to fill out the Committee Service Survey by Friday, December 26! This is how you can get more involved in the Society and support us in our mission! Take it here: forms.gle/ToKkTYLfaKE3...

Frost: If you want to protect children, why don't you ban assault weapons instead of health care?

Yes

Daniele et al. Thx for this colloquy. Super fun! Open access for a month or so. Cheers!

just wrote the most email of emails and now to unplug

Extremely proud to have my name alongside these incredible scholars.

This is incredible news. Today, Virginia officials will unveil a statue of Barbara Johns at the Capitol to replace one of Confederate General Robert E. Lee that had stood for more than a century. www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

Also out today, my Introduction to a colloquy review of On Music Theory. @philewell.bsky.social responds to contributions from Jonathan Bellman, Allison Lewis & @drbaferguson.bsky.social, @whatsoperadoc.bsky.social, Jasmine Henry, Toru Momii, and Sara Speller. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

My review of Queer Ear, ed. Gavin S.K. Lee, is out in Music Theory Spectrum today.

"Queer Ear still centers masculine representations that presume an inherently cis and male subject...in many ways enforcing a false equivalence between what is masculine and what is wrong with what we might construe as the non-queer music theory: cis music theory."

People should take a page out of New School faculty's book and start doing forensic accounting for their own institutions using public documents

"For the first time, a majority of Americans believe billionaires are a threat to democracy. A remarkable 71 percent believe there should be a wealth tax. A majority believe there should be a cap on how much wealth a person can accumulate."

Jewish soldiers in the German and Austro-Hungarian armies celebrating Hanukkah on the Eastern Front, 1916.

Another prosecution in Chicago for assaulting federal law enforcement has fallen apart after a grand jury refused to indict storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

BREAKING: Seattle Children's Hospital successfully fought this summer to get DOJ's invasive trans care subpoena quashed. The Seattle court partially unsealed the case this week. This was the fourth, previously sealed case mentioned in this recent Law Dork report: www.lawdork.com/p/judges-doj...

We’ve got 8 PhD studentships open in Durham for interdisciplinary research, especially projects sitting at the intersection of humanities and sciences. Many music psychology projects can tick these boxes! Feel free to get in touch www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...

There isn't a single problem "solved" by edtech that couldn't be fixed with smaller classes led by well-paid teachers given real academic freedom

BILL BURR: “If someone’s working 160 hours a month and can’t make their rent, you’re not paying them enough. Maybe you should just be worth $900,000,000… How does a CEO take a f*cking 8 figure bonus and none of your employees have dental insurance?”