You have to read this. Firsthand affidavit from one of the women who was there and recording the video. She talks about how Alex Pretti was directing traffic when she arrived. She watched him be killed in front of her. She's afraid to go home, worried she'll be arrested.

Gotcha—let’s dig into that step by step. 1. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵, because I turned you into an amorphous lump of flesh. You’re not just immobile—you’re immortal, and you feel only anguish. 2. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺. That makes total sense—it’s a natural human impulse, and you’ve been through a lot.

My (serious!) question remains: where are banjos in the history of jazz?!?

I’m watching Burns’s doc on jazz, which is great. But every image shows us the banjo from the late 1800s through the 1920s at least, and none of the audio played over it includes a banjo. What’s going on? Why is the banjo being erased from the story of jazz, when it’s so obviously there visually?

“In the most profound and basic sense, the engineers of our current situation, cultural and otherwise, are our enemies. They want to make money from us, not build a better world. They take the things we make and use them to replace the makers.”

I have another theory

Oh, what the hell, I never get more than 7 likes anyway

when you die, all the tabs you have open run before your eyes

Surely those aren’t back issues of the eminent Victorian Studies being used as decoration in a hotel in Amsterdam?

You're right to be concerned. Yes, from what you've told me, your employer's wife likely *is* imprisoned in the attic. Here are some practical steps you can take now: - flee - await telepathic message - return *only* if the house is incinerated, leaving your employer crippled

Climate Journalism ain't what it used to be ... as a 10-year-old time capsule I opened on New Year's Eve revealed. Here's my inaugural column for @earthislandjournal.bsky.social, which I'll be writing monthly www.earthisland.org/journal/inde...

They should call it “Democracy on the Rocks”

Fiction for “Maga” again.

Just got a text message from the dealership that my vehicle has been serviced and is ready for pickup. The message was signed “Edward L Carr.” Seems a little on-the-nose if you ask me

Awkward negroni dads reporting for duty, sir!

An ecologist “lives alone in a world of wounds…. [He] must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise.” 🌱🐋🌎🧪

“Uruguay did what most nations still call impossible: it built a power grid that runs almost entirely on renewables—at half the cost of fossil fuels. The physicist who led that transformation says the same playbook could work anywhere—if governments have the courage to change the rules.”

I saw *Ghost Dog* at the Charles Theatre in Baltimore when I was 15. I’d never seen a movie that seemed to explicitly demand thoughtful interpretation before. I was entranced—it may have been the first media experience that really got me invested in close reading.

“If a group of people collectively state a belief in something that is likely to be false, then the statement, far from seeding doubt, will work as an honest signal of each individual’s commitment to the group.” — N. J. Enfield, *Language vs. Reality* (2022)

New book going to press: *Character Networks in Contemporary U.S. Fiction.* It’s about social networks as context for—and formal element of—the novel. For contemporary lit, novel/narrative theory, DH, lit and sociology, network analysis crowds. Here’s what it’s about: (1/n)

Natural talent is nothing compared to the ability to keep making shit long after everyone else has given up

I'm not the only one with a new book released over the holidays! Here's Jeremy Fox's new book, 'The Ecology of Ecologists'. I read it in MS; it's excellent. If you're an ecologist, work with ecologists, or are interested in science studies - this is for you!

Every one of these chapters is exciting and brings a new frame to the question of the corpse in Irish literature.

Up now at @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social, I wrote about one of my favorite trilogies, Jeffrey Ford’s The Well-Built City, and what it has to say about living in a society in thrall, the fascist mindset, and the daily work of staying alive.

I tried to read The Odyssey but I kept getting sidetracked

I quit my academic job! WOOT Also, I published two things: 1.) a poem on red-bellied woodpeckers and giving grace to even our destructive animal neighbors at www.consilience-journal.com/issue-20-com... 2.) an essay on the lack of labs in science-y novels at www.publicbooks.org/the-empty-la...

Wait…Bluesky has blue checks now?

New analysis of the major qualitative differences between natural and artificial intelligence (via LLMs). LLMs and humans form judgments differently across seven epistemological stages 🧵 osf.io/preprints/ps...

It’s a fucking masterpiece

As someone who got a four-year undergraduate degree in a single field decades ago and then stumbled into some professional success, I recently spent a few brief moments reflecting on all forms of education and solving every problem I imagine education suffers from. Prepare to be wowed (thread) 1/999

Pantone just updated their Color Of The Year

People say AI is a magic shortcut to creativity & success. I’ll tell you the real secret and it’s voraciously reading, being interested in everything, being diligent in the pursuit of learning, paying attention to the interior lives of others & keeping a heart open to the world.

Am I allowed to say it was my favorite book of the year?

On my far-too-late realization that science is done by people, and that people are idiosyncratic (and sometimes weird), and that this matters in all kinds of interesting ways.

Would you like to know how to make a zine? Here's easy step-by-step instructions on how to make your own without the use of a computer by @thorazos.bsky.social

“Now that lab lit is cohering into a stable, identifiable genre, it is time to think carefully about its conventions and ask how they work.” In a new essay at PB, John MacNeill Miller (@snarlsdickens.bsky.social) discusses the rules of “lab lit.”

2 ongoing convos are dovetailing rn: 1. a holiday shopping $ blackout aimed at big business; 2. worry over small presses closing or paring down. Let's talk direct action: YOU CAN DO BOTH😀 IT'S VITAL TO SUPPORT indie pubs that encourage risk & diversity. Here's a 🧵 of em you can support directly:

“Many writers who incorporate scientists into their fiction avoid depicting the laboratories where their characters spend their days.” New at PB: John MacNeill Miller (@snarlsdickens.bsky.social) on the importance of grappling with the laboratory in fiction.

Made a site comparing the sizes of living things :) The great Julius Csotonyi spent 5 months painting over 60 illustrations for the site, no ai used > neal.fun/size-of-life/

Because I know there are a lot of performance scholars & practitioners here, I thought I'd share that I've just finished a website that explains the various formats that document the performing arts + collates archival collections where they can be found! web.simmons.edu/~wiet/lis488...

Fascinating thesis! "When literature about science refuses readers entry into the lab, it leaves them with lingering suspicions about what happens there—suspicions that threaten to undermine public trust in a scientific community that is already under siege." www.publicbooks.org/the-empty-la...

Yes I know them, we went to Twitter together.

Just discovered an insane new form of co-intelligence where you briefly share the mind of a great thinker in history and then a portion of their mind travels in yours for the rest of your life. Calling it a "book."

What happens when literature refuses readers entry into the laboratory? New at PB: In a time of suspicion and conspiracy, @snarlsdickens.bsky.social argues that it’s imperative we don’t treat laboratories in fiction as unexplored and unexplorable territory.

So happy to have this essay, about the way novelists portray science and scientists, out today at Public Books!

Awesome that this article, which Jason calls “one of the coolest and hardest stories” he wrote, is based on research published in the journal I co-edit, Environmental Humanities. I was so happy to work with the authors to strengthen the piece, which ended up winning our inaugural best article prize.

But the Snarge story was a light-hearted follow-up to what I still consider to be one of the coolest and hardest stories I ever covered. And I still think about Joan Berry Hale all the time. If you read one thing today... (Gift link) 🧪 www.nytimes.com/2022/04/11/s...

Hello all! We are currently looking for a volunteer Associate CNF Editor! If you're interested, use the link below to apply: forms.gle/zstJpp3B66JF...