People debate whether or not there’s a great millenial novel, but how can there be one when so many classics begin with a character haphazardly buying a new house in a new town for “reasons” and “just because”

Book people: the following small presses have just lost funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. Please consider supporting them! A Thread.

One of the things that led us to this shitty political moment is the obsession with intent.

I wrote for @baltimorebeat.bsky.social about how the government’s entire case against Abrego Garcia rests on the assertion of a disgraced cop who could not even testify in state court and was suspended 5 days after encounter with Abrego Garcia. baltimorebeat.com/governments-...

“Last year, the arts and culture sector contributed "a whopping $1.102 trillion" to the country's Gross Domestic Product, more, in fact, than the transportation and agricultural industries…So, again, why is the industry under attack?” jeraldcrook.substack.com/p/this-isnt-...

FORTY remain active. Almost FIFTEEN HUNDRED canceled.

Issue 59 of Baltimore Beat is live. April 19 will mark 10 years since Freddie Gray’s death. This issue looks back on that tumultuous time in our city’s history. Our cover was designed by Wide Angle Youth Media.

my hot take is that if you lost your job to government cuts, you’re allowed to complain about losing your livelihood, full stop, no qualifiers about “and even more, the important work.”

One of the reasons @baltimorebeat.bsky.social is so essential is because it provides features like the multi-page list of community resources for food, rent, health, etc. Critical community information you won’t routinely see in other media outlets serving the City.

The "Book Résumés" initiative from @uabookbans.bsky.social, @slj.com, and publishing partners is a powerful tool to combat censorship. This free resource includes reviews, accolades, and more info on frequently-challenged books. New titles added regularly! buff.ly/dr3btyt

Children’s shoes are lined up on the street in Washington, DC, representing the 17,400+ Palestinian children killed by Israel

This is just to say friends, if you have a space or platform to talk about NEH, IMLS, and other such agency cuts, my job is subject to them and as of yet I have no gag order

Happy Friday

I’ve worked on something close to 60 grants in various capacities as a Library of Congress task force director. And if we lose NEH that pretty much ends most research and preservation infrastructure, with no backup plan.

How are artists/art workers/museums/galleries mobilizing against Trump? My DMs are open for tips about shows, guerrilla actions, performances, posters, billboards, letters, boycotts, you name it — for a story. Pls share.

During COVID everyone realized the med industry had its limits, and how agencies like the CDC and NIH or government injection of funds were vital to incentivize pharma and expand public health and…survive. The NEH is that also. We don’t survive without culture and history, and these grants… /1

I just wrote to all of my congressional representatives to plead them to support the NEH, for everyone, for public history, for scholarship, for teaching, for all of it. I used this widget: very easy, it has a template, and automatically looks up the emails of your representatives. p2a.co/DdtlGIT

Save the NEH, my job, and the jobs of thousands of culture workers who are supported by NEH funds and programming. This link takes you to a SUPER simple form to email all of your reps. It took me 15 seconds and I got email replies from my congressman and both senators. p2a.co/DdtlGIT

What the defunding happening at the National Endowment for the Humanities means—for individual grantees and state humanities councils & their grantees (by Jennifer Schuessler at NYT) tl;dr It’s really bad!!

3/3 FDLP is indexed for full-text search, unlike the regular Wayback Machine. Pages look more like a facsimile than the regular Wayback. Includes full video. Archive-It link for: The National Endowment for the Humanities Federal Depository Library Program Web Archive archive-it.org/collections/...

hearing that state book festivals funded by National Endowment Humanities are being shuttered — so, no Southern Festival of Books this year... the Kentucky Book Festival is still on, as its funding comes from sponsors & donors, but the Kentucky Humanities Council is readjusting its budget.

The small amounts are also calculated, literally. They know these projects are not going to move the needle on the economy like tariff. They’ll be whispers in the wind, tears in the rain. Money will flow all the same

At a certain point, the numbers become ambiguous. “DOGE saved $12 million” might as well be “billion.” In a federal budget of trillions, it all sounds like a fortune to the right idiot that wants to feel good about this.

Seems like the NEH is being at once gutted and Trumpified. Sigh.

National History Day needs your help: "we learned that our grants from NEH were terminated. This means a loss of more than $336,000 over this year and next." bit.ly/41YDE8v

Trump and Musk are the kings of dunking an easy layup. They recognize a small tangible win can pay off dividends as a PR win.

NEW — After putting all Institute of Museum & Library Services (IMLS) employees on administrative leave Monday, I'm told DOGE is canceling congressionally-appropriated grants to state libraries across the entire country. Libraries are getting notice that funding was canceled as of 4/1. More here:

As we all know, NEH funding was already almost inexpressibly meager. It bears repeating that they’ve targeted NEH and IMLS exactly because they’ve been *incredibly* efficient at spurring new thought, writing, and community-building.

This is just to say friends, if you have a space or platform to talk about NEH, IMLS, and other such agency cuts, my job is subject to them and as of yet I have no gag order

"Late last night, Wednesday, April 2, all humanities councils received emails and letters under the signature of NEH Acting Chair Michael McDonald notifying them that all awarded grants...were canceled in their entirety, effective April 1." bit.ly/3Y5JwKP

A few tips for NEH grantees: 1) if you've spent money on an awarded grant but have not yet drawn down the funds, make sure to submit the paperwork to drawn down funds ASAP. 2) the NYTimes article suggests that "DOGE" might cancel awards. If you receive an email from DOGE cancelling your NEH award,

I spent the last five years serving public history, arts, and culture at NEH. Please take a moment to let your representatives know you support NEH. Or read on and I can tell you a little bit about why I believe in public funding for the humanities.

Please contact your member of congress to ask them to save the NEH. p2a.co/DdtlGIT

Cancelling the agency may be unconstitutional, cancelling the funds may be unconstitutional, but DOGE figured out that firing people isn’t Labor lawyers: Whats the argument to make against mass government firings?

I wrote about Title VI, a Department of Ed program that changed my life & gave students across the country a chance to learn about the world. Some asshole lawmakers have always hated it. Thanks to DOGE, it's basically dead. Don't count on university admins to fill the void. time.com/7269589/depa...

Oh jfc www.reddit.com/r/fednews/s/...

Underfunding of public goods like public libraries requires many to apply for grants to agencies like IMLS. IMLS does important work that enables libraries, archives, and museums to serve us all.

IMLS is the Institute of Museum and Library Services. It's about $200 million per year for libraries and $50 million for museums. Not a lot for the federal budget, but a huge piece of the culture and knowledge system - which is why MAGA is eliminating it.

🚨NEW🚨: Donald Trump is attempting to strip away federal support for libraries. We will NOT let that happen. Last night the President signed an order to gut the Institute of Museum & Library Services. But together, we know we can show up & defeat it. Full EO: www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

The library and the post office are the only two systems we have that circulate things widely and to everyone, no matter who they are or what they believe. The library is the only one that, for now, is not forced to pay for itself at point of sale. Attacks on IMLS are attacks on every one of us.

TeslaTakedown has been a really, really prime example of that. 10-15 people per dealership have done more than 10s of thousands in the streets of a major city, because there's a specific goal: make it super awkward for anyone who's thinking about buying a swastikar. Marches aren't everything.

Something that i think we all need to do in this moment is rethink what protest looks like. And it's not always taking to the street (not a criticism of that). There are many levers to wield.

And getting a group of the right people into a room to focus on a strategic issue. What are yours? How are you bringing them out of your house and into your community? Leadership is nothing more and nothing less than seeing an unfulfilled need for your people and stepping in to fill it. Do it.

BTW guns are like one small subset of modern community defense movements. Ham radio skills, organizing volunteers for disaster relief or food distribution, and getting trained in SAR or first aid are as useful if not more. And getting into drone piloting. Lots of very important roles