My wife @leausaumatre.bsky.social and I made a killer Christmas playlist and it’s great

Bluesky, this is my gift to you

I KNOW some of y’all are here. I’m wearing all black and have pink hair. Please say hi!!!

There’s one thing that none of us know how to explain to our children. And that thing is the 2019 Cats movie.

Having a real “Jefferson has beliefs, Burr has none” moment re: MTG vs. Collins/Murkowski on the Epstein files. Hell hath frozen over.

Happening now: eating @leausaumatre.bsky.social’s freezer jam straight outta the jar with a spoon. I will not apologize.

Duh

Tried introducing my kid to National Geographic’s Greeking Out podcast for kids. I just finished Jennifer Saint’s Ariadne, so I went for the episode on Dionysus. His response: “MOM?!! CUTTING THIGHS? PUTTING BABIES INSIDE? THIS IS NOT APPROPRIATE FOR KIDS.” Anyway we’ll try again next year 😆

I got to interview two noted historians for my @thebaltimorebanner.com piece on the Nottoway fire. It reminds me that we are never in a post racial society and that the shadows of slavery and dehumanization can’t be papered over by pretty decorations.

Oh hey wow this article is a local public historian bonanza 😍 Big fan of @marthasjones.bsky.social and @leausaumatre.bsky.social here!!

In THE TROUBLE OF COLOR, I wrote about the poetic justice of the fire that destroyed the plantation where my great grandmother was once held enslaved. Nottoway reminded me that sites of slavery’s crimes against humanity still stand all around in Baltimore. www.thebaltimorebanner.com/opinion/colu...

In related news, I'm pleased that there are today fewer Confederate statues in my old neighborhood of Charles Village in Baltimore than there were when in lived there 2004-7. But, the US needs a truth and reconciliation process about its many abuses and I hope one day it gets one.

In THE TROUBLE OF COLOR, I wrote about the poetic justice of the fire that destroyed the plantation where my great grandmother was once held enslaved. Nottoway reminded me that sites of slavery’s crimes against humanity still stand all around in Baltimore. www.thebaltimorebanner.com/opinion/colu...

I had the absolute pleasure of speaking yesterday with @lesliegraystreeter.bsky.social about the Nottoway Resort fire. 🧵 (1/9)

Something I truly don’t understand is why, in 2025, in-person votes are still required and a single person being absent from the in-person vote just, disenfranchises an entire district of voters. What?

“The Obama-Biden war on showers” Can we get this on a t-shirt or

As a historian with middling skills but high interest in garment-making, this thread was super interesting. The question of whether America could pull off actually desirable branding at this point is fascinating to me because I honestly don’t know.

New — ICE will release the mother and children they shackled and unlawfully abducted from Sackets Harbor, NY in late March after relentless pressure from the town. I write how the incredible outcome of this horrifying story should give fuel us to fight back: www.thehandbasket.co/p/sackets-ha...

Because I am untutored in the Majesty of the Law I do not consider it reasonable that Chief Justice Roberts let the man the US kidnapped swelter for a few extra days in the Salvadoran torture chamber just so the Justices can stroke their chins.

Baltimore wants our neighbor back, you cretin of a "justice"

My family attended a peaceful rally in Baltimore today. Given recent attacks on the IMLS, NEH, and Smithsonian, I felt compelled to represent museums. @bmoreart.bsky.social featured this photo in a photo essay you can view in full here: bmoreart.com/2025/04/one-...

The biggest thing we need to do is let people know that the protests are FUN. Yelling fuck the man is fun. You will meet fun people. We also need to make them more fun. Bring grills like the French. Bring instruments like it’s Mardi Gras. Give people a reason to spend their weekend in the streets.

I love and believe in museum work. But in four months of job searching, with a respectable, established resume, I’ve had just one organization reach out to interview—and my second interview with them, scheduled for this morning, was rescinded an hour prior due to uncertainty around grant funding.

Between Booker and Princeton, daaamn Jersey!

These clips will be played across the world and that matters in this moment and it will matter in the future.

Cory Booker as he breaks Strom Thurmond's speaking record: "I'm not here because of his speech. I'm here despite his speech. I'm here because as powerful as he was, the people are more powerful."

I want the various Smithsonian concerns to take it to court every damn time this administration wants them to change something. They say something is ahistorical? Make them prove it. You know they can’t

The key words for the next four years or however long this lasts are “targets funding.” Funding can be found elsewhere. It just can. We shouldn’t have to hustle like that, and Americans deserve to have their tax dollars spent on the public services museums provide—but we can look to other sources.

This is how it's done. A strong and principled response by WilmerHale to the illegal Executive Order attack - a form of attempted government intimidation declared unconstitutional by a federal judge. This is how to guard the rule of law.

It seems like a good time to gently suggest that scholars and universities are not the same thing. Universities have been causing harm to marginalized people for… *checks notes* Forever? Columbia caving is a big deal but universities aren’t the heroes we often wish they were.

Today, the President of the United States pointed his finger at Baltimore City public school students and leered at their test scores as he dismantled the Department of Education. I’m a museum educator in Baltimore City and I have something to say about it.

LOL, Keith Sonderling doesn’t know museum folks & librarians.

From a museum & heritage professional now watching Trump, Musk, and the GOP legislature wave their swords menacingly at the IMLS, threaten broad censorship, and attempt criminalization of honest, inclusive history work: a thread about museums and the American future.

Huge march in New York today protesting the illegal DOGE cuts

You have probably heard the Trumpist claims that the EU was created to mess with the US. You've probably intuited that that is BS, but don't know why the EU *was* created.

Hawaiian haystacks are a culinary abomination but so help me god they are delicious. @leausaumatre.bsky.social made them for dinner tonight and we all ATE THEM UP.

BREAKING: In response to our lawsuit, the National Endowment for the Arts will no longer force grant applicants to certify that they won't promote "gender ideology." This is a big step toward defeating the NEA's unconstitutional censorship.

There’s a lot of “abuser terrified of being left” energy in the comment sections of posts about Canada & Europe moving away from American products. “Be careful what you ask for!” “You’ll never find anyone who supports you like we do!” “You’ll never be okay without us!” They will. They will.

Look, I appreciate Center Stage is taking the lead in vocalizing this, something really important for cultural institutions to do. But. Center Stage has resources that make this way easier than it is going to be for a lot of smaller institutions.

Since the weather and production delays are currently stymying our efforts to get promotional literature out there into the hands of visitors to Baltimore, here is a casual reminder that we have both 1) a Visit Baltimore page baltimore.org/listings/ful... .....

[frankenstein voice] STOVE HOT!

Starts TODAY? Y’all I’m a millennial white woman and I stepped in there once (ONCE) since this all went down to pick up an essential in a semi-rural spot without other options. I have been back zero other times. The boycott has been on! But if you’re new here, welcome 💛💛

one of the things I always loved about the best children’s & YA literature was it never shied away from saying love was not just important, it was central to defeating evil in moments of adult cynicism and hopelessness I’ve thought that was too simple, too naive But no Love is how we defeat evil

Yeah this is great optics, shocking that every Dem isn't jockeying and fighting to earn their own version of this picture with increasingly bold disruptive actions

That thing where all our basic human rights and needs are under threat and we can’t even take a moment to feel, process, or do anything about it because mass layoffs are imminent and we must, must, must perform at work so we don’t lose even more security? That is working class life under capitalism.

EOs aren't laws, get lost

Good. No early compliance.

I woke up today so determined to not feel despondent about the world.

If you've never been part of a government procurement process, it might be hard to understand just how much of a "go to prison" thing this would have been at any point from 1946-2024.