finding gifts from Simone Weil this morning, by way of the ever generous and generative Cora Diamond

It’s almost like we need some civics centers, amiright?

“Though often justified as required by state law… Governor-appointed Boards of Regents at public university systems are adopting policies that censor classes in ways that the Texas Legislature refused to pass… violat[ing] the freedom to teach and the freedom to learn protected by the 1st Amendment”

⭐️📢PRESS RELEASE: Across Texas, students and faculty at all seven public university systems face efforts to censor student learning and faculty teaching. See below for an overview of the ways AAUP members and leaders are fighting back! Join us! ✊ aaup-texas.org/blog/f/facul...

“…a spate of words from the loudspeakers and the politicians… tell us that we are a free people, fighting to defend freedom… Down here, … it is our business to puncture gas bags and discover seeds of truth. It is not true that we are free.”

“Their coalitions have the least to lose from war, and swearing off free trade makes seizing resources through force seem more attractive. This unfortunately means that the incoming "America First" coalition is likely to put the United States in greater, not less, risk of conflict.” (Dec 2024)

“I love beauty, therefore i am…” this is a resolution to skepticism i can get behind #cavell #irismurdoch #acknowledgment (thanks Fernando Pessoa)

happy birthday to Virginia Woolf—thank goodness for her ✨

the Access of Evil (not a typo)

a special issue of Conversations, the journal dedicated to Stanley Cavell just came out, and it features an essay of mine about Indra Sinha's novel “Animal’s People” - it's in inspiringly/intimidatingly good company here: uottawa.scholarsportal.info/ottawa/index...

Most comprehensive roundup of details I’ve seen re the drawdropping censorship of Plato at TX A&M dailynous.com/2026/01/06/t...

PEN America: “We are witnessing the death of academic freedom in Texas." https://pen.org/press-release/swift-removal-of-academic-leaders-at-texas-am-signals-the-death-of-academic-freedom-in-the-state-warns-pen-america/

We are delighted to share the exciting news that the CFP for the @moderniststudies.bsky.social 2026 conference - next year called Weird Modernisms - jointly held with @modernistudies.bsky.social at @lborouniversity.bsky.social is now live! More info here: moderniststudies.org/conference/MSA2026/CFP/

looking forward to @texasaft.org's virtual "Summer School" event this week - Higher Ed: Updates on governance, academic freedom, and faculty rights - anyone interested in joining can sign up here: www.mobilize.us/texasaft/eve...

@aaup.org has released an excellent report on trends and concerns re the rollout of AI in higher ed. They've also shared a fantastic doc offering recommendations for campus policies to protect academic labor rights, quality education, our students' privacy, etc. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Today, the AAUP released a new report, "Artificial Intelligence & Academic Professions." The report calls for policies that prioritize economic security, faculty working & student learning conditions as AI tech accelerates. www.aaup.org/news/new-rep... 🧵1/9

They finally made the milk from that hotel

paperbacks of my book are now available for preorder at a 30% discount, using the code PAPER30 on @edinburghup.bsky.social's website! Please share w/ anyone who might be interested in thinking about the political and ethical ideal of "conversation" via literature & philosophy 🌺

I loved this: “The Silence” www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Taking heart from iris Murdoch>>“we are moral agents before we are scientists, and the place of science in human life must be discussed in *words*.”

Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this son of York

thank goodness but also

wowowow so excited! congrats to the kind, brilliant @keegancf.bsky.social

paperback versions of my book with @edinburghup.bsky.social are available for pre-order - and discounted! edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-fiction...

doggo tolerated his first protest pretty well. He dislikes clapping and honking but met some bleeding hearts handing out free butt scratches

this looks terrific!

just learned with great delight and gratitude of this thoughtful, generous review of my book by Philip Mills (himself author of a wonderful new OA book on poetry & OLP) www.nordicwittgensteinreview.com/article/view...

Texas legislators just passed a bill that gives politically-appointed regents control over faculty curriculum, hiring, & governance. It does what they accuse academics of doing: privileging ideas, biases, & agendas on political grounds, & silencing those that do not follow their ideology.

Al Gore quoting Adorno while New Left Review interviews Ross Douthat feels like a real Freaky Friday kind of situation

One of the happiest updates I’ve written since I started following this story. 12 students back in status and maybe more to come. Across the country, students are saying their SEVIS is back. www.dailycal.org/news/campus/...

this invitation from my university's Center for Teaching and Learning to a workshop on using AI to boost "professional influence" on LinkedIn is... almost too much food for (human) thought

Arendt: "Surely the scientist cannot permit himself to ask: What consequences will the result of my investigations have for the stature (or... for the future) of man? It has been the glory of modern science that it has been able to emancipate itself completely from all such... humanistic, concerns"

Hard to imagine a greater gift of/in education than what Stanley Cavell says of working with JL Austin

Musk and the DOGE want to use NLRB data to intimidate workers, whistleblowers, unions and anyone who may want to hold them accountable for their disgusting union-busting. Let's be clear: the labor movement will not back down.

DOGE has reportedly gained access to sensitive NLRB data — including info on union activity, workplace complaints, and names of organizers. Coincidentally, the NLRB has multiple lawsuits against SpaceX and Tesla. The conflicts of interest just keep getting more blatant.

from reality tv to authoritarian collapse, Pepe to doge, there’s a rhyming with kierkegaard’s supposition…

this from Kierkegaard's "Either/Or"...!

It was never about controlling spending or paying down the federal debt. "[A]bout $17 million from the National Endowment for the Humanities and about $17 million from the National Endowment for the Arts would be directed to the Garden of Heroes." www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/a...

As of this morning, we've tracked over 600 student visa revocations at more than 100 colleges. That's double yesterday morning's count. Send updates to me or @amowreader.com and follow @insidehighered.com interactive visa map here: www.insidehighered.com/news/global/...

this article helpfully notes that some students have had visas revoked, whereas others have had immigration status summarily "terminated" in the Student & Exchange Visitor Information System database (SEVIS). SEVIS termination is even more abrupt & lacking in due process than visa revocation

118 international students’ immigration statuses revoked across Texas universities www.texastribune.org/2025/04/09/t... via @texastribune.org

Learned that one of our literature PhD students had his visa revoked. No explanation of course. Soft spoken, sensitive young man from the Middle East, working on 19th c American women writers and transcendentalism. This is maddening. I think around 20 UTD students have had visas revoked so far

Maybe pause doomscrolling for a second to check out this CFP for The De Gruyter Handbook of Feminist Scholarship: DS/DH at the Kitchen Table, edited by @anitaconchita.bsky.social and me? We would love to hear from you! Proposals due May 1, 2025. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Read this. Spread it. Our nation does this in our name to a tourist--and much, much worse to immigrants without power or protection. "I was a British tourist trying to leave America. Then I was detained, shackled & sent to an immigration detention centre" www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

They are not pro-life. Stop using that phrase to describe them. They kill. Trump administration eviscerates maternal and child health programs www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...