More content like this.

AUTHORS: AG has prepared a detailed explainer on the Anthropic settlement and how it affects us. Full details:

日本郵便は２５日、米国向け郵便物の一部について２７日から引き受けを一時停止すると発表した。米関税措置に関連して運送事業者や郵便事業者が実施すべき手続きが不明確で運用が極めて困難な状況だという。 bit.ly/4mrbdaS

"If your books were uploaded to LibGen/fed into the LLMs, add your name to the potential class action lawsuit by tomorrow." Details: LibDem database: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a... Attorney form: www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-au... (This information comes via a reliable Discord source.)

This piece by @laurenginsberg.bsky.social is excellent.

Following this with interest as I'm teaching my own version of a course like this, "The 'Field' of Religious Studies" in Spring 2026. My approach is to treat the history of religious studies as the history of area studies and vice versa. Piggybacking here for recs of things folks find fun!

Postdoc at Penn for 2026–2027 academic year, with focus on the keyword "Practice." Might be good for some scholars of religion. wolfhumanities.upenn.edu/fellowships/...

This is very bad. Although entirely predictable. Once more the humanities are being cut back to prop up STEM and, increasingly, AI investment (including at the expense of bench science). In the past, cuts to humanities were promoted on two separate logic streams that do not hold true: /1

I don’t quite agree with the title if this editorial, but I applaud these intrepid student journalists for reminding the university that actions should match stated values and principles. www.thedp.com/article/2025...

The Asahi Shinbun reports that Young Magazine will be published in print form in the US starting August 21. Lots of fascinating details in the article about everything from cover design to serialization strategy. 米国版「ヤンマガ」刊行、1冊1千ページ無料配布　ジャンプは9言語 digital.asahi.com/articles/AST...

"Learn to code" was always bad advice, unless you actually like to code. College students have the best chance of professional success if they major in topics that interest them. Today in @startribune.com. Please tell high school students and parents. www.startribune.com/what-should-...

Huge news in the St. Isidore case. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Another disturbing attack on higher education, this time via restrictive immigration policy.

Very informative thread on India-Pakistan

Recommended reading: SCOTUS's two big school cases aren't just about religion. From Aaron Tang: These cases could upend the tradition of broad community guidance of school curriculum and values. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

This is high art

Cory Booker is still killing it, just shy of 24 hours. As others have said, this is actually a GOOD speech. Has been all day.

Many of our current problems in academia boil down to this: The people with the greatest decision-making power at a university have no idea what professors and our students do, nor why we do it. And many of them are actively hostile to us. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I screwed up the link yesterday, so here is this article again for the Saturday morning crowd. I talked with one of Penn’s talented student journalists about the state of the humanities, stressing the power and promise of what humanists do: www.34st.com/article/2025...

👀

A good reason to ask the question below: ohiocapitaljournal.com/briefs/ohio-...

"We have ICE on our streets abducting people because Donald Trump or Marco Rubio don't like their speech. That's crazy, and we have to figure out how to respond to it," Rutgers professor + @aaup.bsky.social president Todd Wolfson tells @leximcmenamin.bsky.social www.teenvogue.com/story/aaup-t...

A talented student journalist interviewed me for this article about the state of the humanities. thedp.com/article/2025...

Thank you for your service, @unlawfulentries.bsky.social Great article.

The video is sickening. The act horrendous and unconscionable. The context truly chilling.

On my way to Fairfax for a talk at GMU. Basically compressing my "Religion of Anime" semester-long course into a one-hour lecture. Let's see if I can do this. religiousstudies.gmu.edu/articles/21851

A weird outcome the Abe Shinzō assassination. Viewed in historical context, this court decision implicitly validates vigilantism; it also marks a major change in 🇯🇵 religious freedom law. Tokyo court strips Unification Church of religious corporation status www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/03...

Excellent essay (begins on p. 25)

Portland! If you need a way to kill time this afternoon, I’m giving a talk @ 5PM: www.lclark.edu/calendars/ev...

There are so many errors in the reasoning of this conversation that it is hard to know where to begin one’s critique. But a key takeaway for any university admin should be that now is the time to defend principles, not cower in compliance.

Pete Coviello is so spot on throughout here. www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...

Reading a brilliant brand-new article and just noticed the ProQuest “AI Assistant” summary on the sidebar of my library’s website gets the point completely wrong. Like 100% incorrect. No surprise, but still shitty.

From Religious Studies at York Twitter account: The administration at York University has suspended admissions to the Religious Studies program . . . The faculty have written this statement. We ask you to will distribute it widely and write to York's administration to protest this decision.

Radiohead’s Kid A still grabs me just the way it did when I first heard it in a dorm room in college.

NEH introduces new prohibited categories to comply with executive orders. This is an infringement of academic freedom plain and simple, and also nonsense: what is “discriminatory equity ideology”

I am not a nervous flier. But I boarded a flight this AM with more trepidation than I have ever had. When they grounded the flight due to a mechanical issue, I felt a wave of relief. Glad American Airlines put safety first, and mad that cuts to the FAA mean more danger for all of us.

Another Bunch of wisdom. share.inquirer.com/z6ss5x

Not the point of this ProPublica article, which is good, but I think the messaging should not just be that the Dept of Govt “Efficiency” takes resources from vulnerable populations. They are stealing from all of us. They are stealing from me. They are stealing from you.

Our upcoming Boardman Symposium is gonna be 🔥. www.library.upenn.edu/events/ameri...

If you are faculty (especially one with any degree of money or status), you must join AAUP. Members fund our lawsuits against Trump, access resources to learn how to fight, receive free legal consultations and referrals in case they're targeted, and return a portion of dues to their local.

Will Bunch is a treasure.

Getting in touch with my inner rage monster at the National Museum of Asian Art.

Yes. I was just making a similar point to someone the other day about the value of wandering library stacks in pursuit of a question. Process, not product.

This whole exchange is so spot on. Recalling a time I asked a senior admin not to refer to individuals as “diverse” and just got a blank look. Like she was looking at me going “But you ARE a diverse!”

The Philadelphia Inquirer with the proper message for the moment. 🎁 share.inquirer.com/jV2yjx

Gessen is indispensable right now. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/15/o...

Keep an eye on the so-called “school choice” moves happening around the country. The segregationist impulse behind choice initiatives remains strong, and the weird carve-out with tax dollars remains super weird. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Deleted a “help me with tech” post because I solved the problem and didn’t want to introduce unnecessary confusion.