At least for the time being, I’m going to be stepping back from BlueSky. Truthfully, my current job is just terrible for my mental health and, well, the constant deluge of Trump is not helping. If you need me: [email protected] anytime. Be well.

Okay, final #hatm thought on queer history. Martin Duberman, perhaps the grand dame of queer history, was someone I desperately wanted to be when I was at Wesleyan. He moved from abolition in early career to queer history for the rest. I so very much wanted to follow his arc. And meet him. Oh well.

Really appreciate the history of the modern university and its importance to how all disciplines conduct themselves in the opening “tweets” here.

Isn’t partial government interest/control of private corporations literally…umm…socialism?

You 100% know that Trump/Patel/Bondi are starting with Bolton because they know he’s such a hated figure across the spectrum. If they get away with this political prosecution, they’ll keep moving up the ladder.

Removing the memorial to the 49 innocent people killed in the 2016 terrorist attack on the Pulse nightclub, because a rainbow is too political. Restoring Confederate monuments and renaming military bases after Confederates because, um, honoring armed treason in defense of slavery isn’t political?

This is…umm, quite the list.

#skystorians, has anyone written a history of the Sears and Roebuck mail-order houses? I’ll be honest, I’m just curious, that’s all.

And yet…

There may be different targets & levers & rationales. But disinvestment in highered has a lot of bipartisan ground. It’s bigger than Trump. & fixing it will be complex if we even can./2

Ppl who’re surprised about cuts to higher ed in blue states seem to think that disdain for humanities in particular & highered in general is limited to one side of the aisle. This isn’t true./1

See, we’re so focused on Trump (understandably) and his attacks on higher education but, as many of us in Connecticut have been screaming about (shout-out @melanienewport.bsky.social), the dismantling of higher education is the rare, unicorn, bi-partisan issue.

Yes. More of this. I could write an oral history of whaling from the whales’ perspective.

Okay, if Gemini is the future of AI, it’s basically an early career graduate student. I might be able to live with that.

I’m not at #HATM tonight (we were playing a game), but, love Dad movies: 1). I remember war films with my father. Midway and Toro, Toro, Toro are fondly recalled. Recent film in that genre I loved: Tom Hanks’s Greyhound. 2). Greek salad 3). Not Dell! Quality’s really declined!

That was…just dreadful football. #MUARS

That this type of open corruption has ever been allowed to happen in the United States is sickening. It will take us Millennials our entire lives to clean this up. All because a reality tv star didn’t like being made fun of in 2012 or whatever.

"It seems to many professors of the humanities that 'fiscal crisis' has become a pretext for far-reaching changes that are not necessary so much as desired by university leaders... 'Even when traditional liberal learning clearly wins with students and donors, it loses with those in power.'"

This. We got those receipts a few years ago because the administrators hoped that data would show that Humanities majors cost more money than they were worth, justifying their closure. Turns out, the opposite was true. We're cheap and, therefore, cash cows....

And soon, only the business schools will remain. This is the most idiotic…. Le sigh. And in a blue state, too.

Explain to me again why we can’t afford single payer health insurance. Explain it to me like I’m 5.

if "bigballs attacked by two 15 year olds" is our Reichstag fire then i officially declare an end to history because we don't want anybody reading that shit later

US higher ed basically started to copy the German research-university model in the early 20th century. Then Germany tore it down themselves. Not unrelated, one reason Germany lost the race for the A-bomb is that Hitler thought theoretical physics was essentially Jewish

1). Rent. Obviously. 2). Soup and grilled cheese. Honestly, did not care for Wicked. Why is this movie longer than the entire musical, only covering Act I, and yet, somehow, not expanding the story? #hatm

The “aesthetic-ification” of K-college. Love the phrase.

As per usual, I agree with all of this and we need reminders for those outside academia (and, honestly, inside academia).

This is perfect

Man, looking at the starting salaries of poli sci professors compared to history professors and boy howdy did I choose the wrong one of my two majors to go to grad school for.

Man, great topic coverage today from @thetattooedprof.bsky.social @unlawfulentries.bsky.social and @nathanielcgreen.bsky.social on teaching as public engagement, periodizing the survey, and online teaching. All topics I think about regularly. A day tailor made to jog thoughts!!!

This, why is this such a hard thing for us to state: teaching is public history. I’ve said that before on the other site but… it gets me every time. Teaching *is* public history.

Ironically, Wikipedia with its ongoing rejection of LLMs and other AI, complete with human fact checkers, is now one of the most reliable sources on the internet.

But….Nobody respects our beloved Constitution like the GOP!!!! Right?!?!?

"The Original Gerrymanders" is live on the #JerPano! Kevin Vrevich offers historical context for thinking about gerrymandering through recent redistricting plans by Texas Republicans. Read this and other reflections on The Panorama: thepanorama.shear.org/2025/08/01/g...

You’re telling me this isn’t The Onion or the beginning of a Netflix farce?

Only answer I get from anybody is “It’s hear to stay so we have to teach students how to use it,” which is just the lamest surrender of agency ever. Lots of things are “here to stay” that we would never think of deliberately inviting into our classrooms or homes.

I'm so tired of talking about AI but also my entire job hinges on conversations about AI and I'm so demoralized and feel so gaslit and I am just deeply not okay.

The reason this happens is because education degrees favored by secondary schools devalue subject area expertise but are teaching curriculum that often emphasizes more advanced skills. So you have curriculum that wants students to conduct original research with teachers who either haven’t done it…

It is my dream to teach a state history class like this. Obviously, New England states are the most likely candidates. I taught a full-semester colonial New England class my last semester at Wesleyan. It was (along with my Microhistories course the same semester) my favorite course I taught.

So, I wrote a thing for the @shearites.bsky.social JER’s Panorama on some of the earliest gerrymanders to provide some historical context for what is happening. thepanorama.shear.org/2025/08/01/g...

So, I wrote a thing for the @shearites.bsky.social JER’s Panorama on some of the earliest gerrymanders to provide some historical context for what is happening. thepanorama.shear.org/2025/08/01/g...

I can almost see the new Schlesinger volume on the shelves. Right next to "Age of Jackson" and "The Crisis of the Old Order: Age of Roosevelt" Now there's... "The Orange Man and His Fancy Balls"

Tartufo by Kira Jane Buxton is a delightful, warm, funny, and quirky book about a tight-knit Tuscan village of eccentrics and a truffle. It’s wonderful and incredibly comforting. You’ll laugh, you’ll tear up, and you’ll feel better after reading it. I recommend with a glass (or two) of Toscana.

lol I posted MONTHS ago that if they retook power they would restore like 30% of what Trump destroyed and pat themselves on the back for a job well done

Because I’m about to blow another gasket let me recommend a book before I try to avoid the internet today: