With July 4th upon us, a moment to think about the Declaration of Independence as a collaborative project of the American mind with a preview of the new LC exhibit the Declaration’s Promise: www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2026/07/the-...

RIP Mark Rothko. You would have loved how the hydrogen peroxide bleach is only turning the Reflecting Pool blue around the perimeter

So for the next post in my Supreme Court Superlatives blog series, that exclusionary 1924 Virginia law, how the Lovings fought for an inclusive vision of American community, & other under-remembered & crucial contexts for Loving v. Virginia! blackwhiteandread.com/june-11-2026...

RIP David Hockney! “Calling himself ‘an English Los Angeleno,’ Hockney immortalized the city’s sparkling swimming pools, palm trees and beautiful young men,” LAT. www.latimes.com/obituaries/s... #DavidHockney (& his poster) at the ARCO Center for Visual Art exhibit of #1984Olympics posters:

Laws/institutions created to oppress one group rarely stays siloed and instead often impinges on the rights of others. A look at slave patrols in the American South and how their existence limited rights generally even for whites w/ special focus on @gauthamrao.bsky.social's new work, White Power:

@americanstudier.bsky.social Thanks for checking out the SEP piece! I read yours as well and even though I work in AAPI history I have to admit I was not aware of the Hanapepe Massacre. I enjoyed the piece! www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2026/03/cons...

"As America turns 250 this year, many of Whitman’s observations remain as true today as they did in 1871. The ideals of the Declaration of Independence can be achieved." www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2026/03/walt...

It was fun chatting about my @pennpress.bsky.social book with @ryanreft.bsky.social for the @urbanhistorya.bsky.social blog. We talked about everything from Leave It To Beaver to critical race theory and Trump's crazy proposal for 50-year mortgages. Great conversation!

New on the blog! @ryanreft.bsky.social interviews @m-r-glass.bsky.social about Cracked Foundations: Debt and Inequality in Suburban America:

All marriages are partnerships but how many are professionally collaborative? Martin and Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Daniel Patrick and Elizabeth Moynihan serve as two prominent examples: blogs.loc.gov/manuscripts/...

Robert Duvall, Chameleonlike Actor of Film, Stage and TV, Dies at 95 www.nytimes.com/2026/02/16/m...

If the DEA had killed 80 innocent Americans in the course of apprehending one drug dealer, there would be riots. But we are so ghoulishly indifferent to the lives and humanity of people abroad that it's barely even part of the conversation.

Metropole senior editor, @ryanreft.bsky.social looks back on 9 years at the helm as he departs: "[T]hat’s how I feel about The Metropole. It’s a ship at sea for all those who want to come aboard–climb the ladder. “We’ve got ourselves/Gonna sing it, gonna love it, gonna work it out at any length.”

As a Didion devotee (fanatic?) this was like a junkie getting their fix: Joan Didion’s Thanksgiving: Dinner for 75, Reams of Notes www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/d...

While I enjoyed Being Eddie (the new Netflix doc) it’s like a lot of docs today in which the subject has too much influence … we never really delve into his relationship with Cosby (I mean it’s def referenced but I wanted more) or tougher q’s in general on other topics.

I was super happy to read and edit this entry in @urbanhistorya.bsky.social’s #MetropolitanConsumption theme for November. One of my favorite pieces we’ve published.

Shout out to The Clipse for their Grammy noms, that said the Grammys mean almost nothing to me. Most of the bands/artists I listened to never sniffed those awards. You either like the music you like or you don’t, no award makes it better. Still big ups to the Clipse Let God Sort Them Out is great!

lol. Anyone who follows soccer knows FIFA is a corrupt **** organization but this is so impressively dumb

Holy **** the Chicago Bulls might actually be good and Josh Giddy might actually be an All-NBA candidate. I mean I’m probably going to regret actually saying this but my god …

I was punished for my Cowboys hate, I couldn't access this account since then, but for better or worse, I'm back. It's probably the latter.

Leo Frank’s trial for the murder of a young girl, his death sentence, eventual commutation, and finally his lynching all serve as a window into the nation’s problematic history with anti-Semitism. www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2025/10/just...

I am just hate watching this cowboys documentary

Good god the new Clipse album is good

Germany deserved this game and France didn’t.

France is blowing this game. All credit to Germany for sticking it out despot being this down to 10.

And the Germany ties it up a player down, so however stupid they’ve been they’re mentally tough as hell

Gotta say the Germans have been playing some stupid soccer in this tourney … second red in two games both terrible decisions by the players. That said I don’t know if pulling someone’s hair should be a straight red that seems harsh. But still stupid

While we've loved what we've recieved so far, with the hot and busy summer upon us, we've extended our deadline for entry into the UHA Grad Student Blog Contest for 2025 until August 3rd, check out the link below for more details and send us your essays!

Journalist Ruben Salazar was killed by a sheriff's tear gas canister during Nat'l Chicano Moratorium on Aug 29, 1970. Aug 15–Sep 19: Latino Theater Company play “August 29” shares personal stories related to this moment in the Chicano Movement. www.latinotheaterco.org/august29 #LAThtr #RubenSalazar

Considering all the takes about this platform from folks on the other platform, oddly silent about the fact that uh, one of its primary programs has turned racist and misogynist. Go figure. And for the record I avoid commenting on either, it’s pointless, but hey hard not to notice right now

Jeebus, that is some racist ish

Wait, if he thinks he needs to deport Musk (for the record, I hate Musk but I despise this denaturalization bs more) why does the govt have hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts with his businesses?

ICE gets billions for overtime raids. But your kid with a heart defect can’t get coverage without a full-time job at age five.

“Perhaps HTG’s greatest contribution was creating activists out of once closeted citizens. “The fact at that time is we weren’t even thinking about being politically active,” remembers Carroll. Because of High Tech Gays, “We weren’t political activists, and yet we did become political activists.”

Man what’d I’d give for a new Fugazi album in this moment. Something pure and inspiring

So I’ve seen the film Melancholia on all these lists if best movies from the 21st century and after watching it … uh yeah, it’s not. A real 2 hour slog honestly

Whatever one thinks about the strikes today, this admin hasn’t demonstrated that it thinks about any thing in any real depth beyond raw emotion so forgive me if I worry they haven’t thought this out in full.

Very pleased to announce preorders for my forthcoming book, Living in the D.A.I.S.Y. Age: The Music, Culture, and World De La Soul Made (Atria/One Signal), is available wherever you buy your books. Coming out January 2026! The preorder link is in the comments. I can't wait for you all to read!

So proud to be a part of this amazing morning. Location ocean beach San Francisco #nokings

Let this be the enduring image out of DC today.

No words for how this just sucks.

Give the photographer the Pulitzer Prize

It's suspicious that all the "BlueSky is dying" talk coincides with right-wing and centrist talking heads crying and whining about not being beloved here. I can't imagine why they would have an interest in spreading a narrative that this place is uninhabited 🙃

All of Bluesky right now.

this is like drake and kendrick lamar but they're both drake

Wait, the Musk/Katie Miller thing might be real?

It looks like they stole the chairs from an hotel lobby and plonked them in a high school gym.

"Little Tokyo has been successful in its persistence and is currently evolving to a new level of natural selection. Having survived three waves of displacement, and now facing new threats from gentrification, Little Tokyo is poised to redefine itself yet again."