Signs presents “Lesbian Studies, Now” — exploring lesbian feminism’s vital role in contemporary scholarship, from gender nonconformity to revolutionary fervor. Special issue out now! (sub. req’d): buff.ly/MxJWVvm

Georgiann Davis’ account of growing up intersex and obese in a dysfunctional family is a ‘queer’ response to J. D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy. But will the Trump administration spoil her happy ending? https://www.timeshighereducation.com/depth/hillbilly-energy-middle-school-dropout-academic-tenure

For the past 17 years Kym Register has owned The Pinhook, one of Durham's most esteemed clubs. WUNC music reporter @brianburns.bsky.social recently sat down with Register to talk about the history of the club and what came before it. www.wunc.org/wunc-music/2...

just learned that “Our Movement Starts Here” — an eye-opening documentary about 1972’s Warren County landfill protests & the birth of the environmental justice movement — is now available on PBS! here’s my interview with the filmmakers from last year: indyweek.com/culture/scre...

Once a cornerstone of online democracy, the humble hashtag is quietly vanishing — and with it, a little piece of user power, says @etymology.substack.com.web.brid.gy. 🔗 tinyurl.com/pzvxpstk TLDR 👇 #langksy #linguistics #digitalcommunication #digitaldiscourse

Flawless 10/10

A must read for ANYONE who wants to understand why Black women are experiencing a uniquely bad labor market and why the 300,000 number isn't telling the full story. Dr. Valerie Wilson gets deep into the data around job losses and why paying attention to Black women matters. #blacksky

The Pop Conference deadline is less than three weeks away: October 22. Please, join me in spreading the word today. PopCon thrives on its ties to both lifelong presenters and dynamic new presenters. Got something good to speak to our Mayhem? Send in a proposal! www.popconference.org

A new nonprofit provides resources to Black families of transgender and nonbinary youth at a moment of heightened political hostility.

HAPPENING NOW — This morning, Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order establishing “ICE-free zones.” “That means that city property and unwilling private businesses will no longer serve as grounds for these raids,” Johnson said to applause. thetriibe.com/2025/10/mayo...

This is a banger. Unmute and memorize these bars.

The AAUP is doing a skills training for campus organizing. Is your school participating? docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Live. Keep living. Keep living life. birdersofpalestine.com/pages/donati...

I have a full day today, but I woke up early to put this edition of my newsletter together because I need you all to have this rundown of what we've been up against this week in Chicago as the federal assault on our city continues. To ignore these developments would be a damning mistake for us all.

The Hiphop Archive and Research Institute the house that the late Dr. Marcyliena Morgan built. I was honored to bring #LeftOfBlack to her house 12 years ago to discuss her vision for the study of HipHop Culture.

“Body slamming, teargas and pepper balls: viral videos show 🧊 using extreme force in Chicago A facility in Broadview, a mostly Black suburb, has become the site of escalation and ‘targeted attacks’ on protesters” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

I spoke to a Venezuelan woman who was arrested in this raid and later released with her 4yo son. She said agents broke down their door, pointed guns at them and made sexualized remarks about Venezuelan women. When she returned to her apartment it was boarded up and all her possessions were gone.

The book is currently undergoing peer review, but I’m really excited to share all I’ve learned, which is the nice thing about writing a book: I got to share and think about a lot in those pages! In the meantime, you can read my article on respectability here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

It costs 0$ to Repost a Black disabled queer small business! It could lead to my next sale. I sell pins, compression gloves, artist gloves, binders, hip braces, wrist braces, compression socks, walking sticks, elbow braces, bags, back braces & more! Store details below!

Local Chicago news is covering a lot of what is happening. I am not seeing this reported in any detail in national outlets (I assume it might get there eventually) but the harm is being done right now. www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/t...

"What [the state] should be doing is getting in the way of these kidnappings. Instead, the state of Illinois has sent the Illinois State Police. This is ... a sanctuary state. JB Pritzker goes on TV every other day talking about how evil Trump is, but the State Police are collaborating with ICE."

This is who @emanabdelhadi.bsky.social is. Brilliant. Fearless. I fucking hate typing this shit out: Free Eman. Amplify amplify amplify please.

I'm trying to work on bringing in higher ee policy updates from across the emotional spectrum so it feels great to add this to the list

CALL PRITZKER TO DEMAND HE REMOVE ILLINOIS STATE POLICE FROM BROADVIEW: (Chicago) 312-814-2121 or 312-814-2122 (Springfield) 217-782-6830 or 217-782-6831 Hearing impaired (TTY): 888-261-3336 I called and talked about how the state cops joined ICE in brutalizing protesters today.

ICE en masse physically attacked a crowd of protesters under protection of @govpritzker.illinois.gov’s state troops. Disgusting.

A new exhibition at the Ford Foundation Gallery demonstrates how Black women’s ceramics become memorials to land and body, inheritance and loss, embodying continuity and carrying histories across generations.

I appreciate the clarity of this statement on Trump's attempt to further strongarm 9 universities, including my employer, from Penn faculty: "When an invitation is accompanied by consequences for not accepting it, it is in fact a threat, not an invitation." aaup-penn.org/statement-by...

“the government cannot condition a benefit on a recipient having to give up a constitutional right.” Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...

According to eyewitnesses, armed ICE agents dragged kids out of their beds in the middle of the night, zip tied them and put them in rented vans while raiding an * entire apartment building* on the South Side of Chicago. www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOXO...

The administration wants to dismantle left networks. So we need to double down on connection-building—strengthen our networks, grow deeper relationships, prioritize care. It was an honor to join @mskellymhayes.bsky.social & @emanabdelhadi.bsky.social on Movement Memos. truthout.org/audio/holdin...

UNC-Chapel Hill has hired K&L Gates, a law firm with ties to Republican state legislators, to lead its investigation into the School of Civic Life and Leadership, people familiar with the probe said.

I spoke with @perrybaconjr.bsky.social and @hakeemjefferson.bsky.social about Trump and the emerging post-colorblind racial order. Also, it's my Substack debut, so if you are over there, hit me up.

We need a bigger national spotlight on this building raid, fam. Agents dropped from helicopters onto the roof. Citizens and non-citizens alike were dragged from their homes in the night. People who weren't kidnapped during the raid had their belongings seized after the fact. This is madness.

The Trump admin’s offer to give preferential treatment to institutions that toe the party line reeks of bribery in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological agenda. This is corruption. Adherence to ‘loyalty oaths’ would usher in a new era of thought policing in American higher education.

An “immigration judge” is not an actual judge in the judicial branch. They are a DOJ employee. As Judge Young, an actual judge, made clear in one of the truly essential parts of his Tuesday ruling. www.lawdork.com/p/judge-will...

“Should I pretend I, as an intersex person, don’t exist?” - Georgiann Davis www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

"Hi, my name is Nico. I am with the participants of Sirius. If you are watching this video, we have been attacked or abducted by the Israeli armed forces. And we ask for you to ask for your government to release us, or to make something to keep this situation safe."

We're hiring a postdoc in Duke GSF!! academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30734

I don’t know if I’m late but this @tressiemcphd.bsky.social analysis is so good. Here’s a gift link

Breaking | dozens of protesters march through the streets of Athens, Greece, denouncing Israel’s illegal interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla and the genocide in Gaza.

Adding "feds fucking choking a man in broad daylight" to the list. Absolute terror across Chicago today. Begging for national attention that matches the level of crisis on the ground here feels like screaming underwater at this point.

NC State University sues Monsanto, manufacturer of PCBs, over Poe Hall contamination. NC State alleges Monsanto marketed PCB mixtures to the building industry as being safe despite knowing they were toxic. (Via @koriedean.bsky.social) www.newsobserver.com/news/local/e... #nced

Once again, it is *faculty*—not administrators—who brought this case and won. Including UC Faculty Association chapters of the AAUP.

WE WON: "This case -– perhaps the most important ever to fall w/in..this district court squarely presents the issue whether non-citizens lawfully present here in US..have the same free speech rights as the rest of us. The Court answers this Constitutional question unequivocally “yes, they do.”"

donate or boost, please. come on y’all.

From grocery stores to food distribution services, Black women are leading efforts to feed their communities. (In partnership with @apnews.com and Rural News Network) capitalbnews.org/black-women-...

On view at Tulane University, and it was a joy to work on this. But you don’t have to visit campus to see it. Check out the digitized collection of Black New Orleans nightlife posters, 1979-1980, newly published online via the Tulane University Digital Library: libguides.tulane.edu/BlackNightli...