Springtime bird watching

LLMs do not write “history” & cannot do new historical research. Historical research might become a dead art… But that will come from closings of departments & slashings of research grants… not from bots summarizing what’s already known.

I care deeply, DEEPLY, about archival silences. I think reliance on automated crawling of web resources is only shifting the hegemony instead of addressing the frameworks. Who's not online? What's not online? What never will be and/or never should be?

this web poem by Helen Shewolfe Tsang involves painstakingly removing bones from a milkfish as you uncover the words in the poem. genius execution

paul bunyan and babe, route 2, bemidji, minnesota, 1980

Why am I reposting rent funds? It's still pretty bad here. I am real close to tapped out on donations this month & last, but we're gonna keep going. There's some matching right now, if you've got anything you can spare. Standwithminnesota.com

I'm all in favor of celebrating (eventually) but not like this. Local organizing efforts were grassroots and localized and tailored to specific communities, and biz leaders don't get to just swoop in and slap their sponsorship logos on the hard work *they didn't do* We'll plan our own parties

This is my third year of #secretsamol, my first year not getting a prompt for Lyke, and my most ambitious project so far. Thanks to @glenatron.bsky.social for the Perpetua prompt ‘where the star fell,’ which allowed me to spend a lot of time looking at images of both stars and swamps.

my #secretsamol piece for hannahjewelking on tumblr! ended up making a small collection of little guys, which includes duck, it, blue j's plant fox, and a single flegg. some animations and turntables below 👇

No kings

This is something that most people will miss, because they're not in the profession and haven't ever really thought about historical knowledge is produced. But it's an incredibly important point.

this month's red threads is coming up on may 15!

The cute print was definitely an incentive to choose Boneshaker as my store of choice for Independent Bookstore Day

This will not be the first economic blackout or the last. But it's a place for new people to start, and for others to continue their boycott. Eat. The. Rich.

Looking for a dozen eggs?

Also encourage people to email LC to oppose this proposed revision, which was announced a few hours ago (with comments deadline of today 😡). Your email can be short (1-3 sentences) and can focus on impact to your patrons. #critcat #LCSH #cataloging 📚

If you are a public servant working towards #pslf and are worried about the future of your relief, you are not alone. We are a group of public servants dedicated to supporting PSLF, helping our members navigate forms, and planning action. Join for support and to help support. discord.gg/CSYnyDBc

It’s very easy to tell them how shameful it is to pull up the ladder on those who fought beside you for your place.

i see people quoting emma goldman’s “if i can’t dance, i don’t want to be a part of your revolution” wayyyy more often than i see them planning to assassinate financier and industry magnate henry clay frick

Second year of #secretsamol, second time making something about Lye Lychen. I honestly wouldn’t be mad if I got a Lyke prompt for the next several years.

Friends, I need you to use alt text on every picture. Plus the full name and nothing with an asterisk. 1. For accessibility 2. So muted words work. That's helping people who are caring for themselves. 3. If you're gonna take a stand about how we should care for people, this is part of caring.

I am never more jealous of my cats than when they are cozily napping and I have chores to do.

What I love in these complex glass-making instructions from the Library of Ashurbanipal is a reference to older texts. “Copy of an ancient tablet”, reads a line from this, to us, ancient tablet. A reminder that the scholars writing these instructions worked to preserve older knowledge and history

If you have been meaning to help, the time is now. Multiple camps with fires and evictions at this moment. We'll be handing out hand warmers and coffee and supplies, bring warm clothes (especially gloves) if you want, or go let people just sit in your car to warm up until there's somewhere to go ❤️

If you are worried about your cats and avian flu there are very reasonable steps you can take to protect them. apnews.com/article/cats...

Thinking back to my project for last year’s #secretsamol while preparing for this year. I’m doing a completely different medium, but I’m interested to see how the overlap plays out.

I had an interaction with a stranger today who wanted to tell me how much they thought history was important, that it's something we should face head-on. When I suggested that she should advocate for empowered/employed educators, it was clear she'd never thought about educators as part of history.

I just wrote to both senators through their contact forms. I hope they get the message that this kind of callousness won’t be tolerated by Minnesotans.

BREAKING: The biggest strike against Amazon in U.S. history is happening right now. The Teamsters are picketing facilities across the country. The union has organized workers at 10 Amazon locations AND they're putting up picket lines at hundreds of other Amazon sites nationwide.

You do not need to be an academic to visit an archive. You do not need a degree to visit an archive. There is no terrifying Don at the door grilling potential visitors. If it's your first time, a nice archivist will help you. It's our shared history, our preserved records. Go explore it.

"If you are a Democrat who yells about being part of the resistance, but you think it's okay to clear out homeless encampments and strip people of their civil rights merely for not having a fixed abode, then guess what? You are a foot soldier of fascism. Seriously, that's all I have to say."

Oh man, non-archivists have no fucking clue how widespread this problem is. Chances are, whatever newspaper you're looking for, the archives going back more than 5-10 years aren't available on their site.