Once again, we have completely lost the thread on how a college education is supposed to work. It’s not major=>job, it’s major=>opportunity to learn critical thinking and expression=>job. Double majors do not produce double opportunities. www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

I'm starting to work on designing my "Archaeology and the Public" course for next spring. Does anyone have syllabi, assignments, or lesson plans they'd be willing to share on the subjects of public arch, collaborative arch, pseudoarch, or journalistic & pop culture depictions of arch?🏺 #academicsky

This NPR story highlights the AMAZING archeological work of Laura Ng @cocalola.bsky.social. Laura has been tracking down descendants of the original Chinatown, including my dad (who gets a few words in at the end). www.kuow.org/stories/wyom...

📻👄 Guess who’s on the radio? I’m in the latest episode of Radiolab on voice radiolab.org

It’s official! We’re launching the UCLA Department of Labor Studies. After years of building as a small but mighty “program,” Labor Studies has been elevated to departmental status. We’re the first but hopefully not the last of our kind in the UC system.

It's amazing how many people are out there bragging publicly about how they now use ChatGPT to perform pretty much all of their tasks at their well-paid corporate job, and have yet to connect the dots on "if you're making your utility value identical to ChatGPT, why would they keep paying you?"

Welp here we are again, fresh out of Archaeologists for Skype a Scientist matches. This fall, we have matched 248 groups with Archaeologists for online Q&As. I have 38 more groups who need a match, but I'm out of Archaeologists! Archaeologists! Please volunteer www.skypeascientist.com/sign-up.html

A moving, searching essay by @bethlewwilliams.bsky.social, who has an important new book, “John Doe Chinaman.” www.newyorker.com/news/the-wee...

I haven’t been able to face this. Now though I am doing it.

Canadian arch lost two incredibly talented people in the Lisboa funicular accident... 😓 www.lapresse.ca/actualites/2...

Trump's very first example of the Smithsonian's "corrosive ideology" was an exhibit that correctly stated "Race is a human invention." How is scientific consensus (that biological races don't exist in humans) corrosive? We are asking scientists to co-sign our statement: forms.gle/kqKQF9CZ3jPB...

In a new interview, I talk with Frontline, one of India's leading news magazines, about my new book on the United States: on America's fortress mentality, the paradoxes of defensive infrastructure, and the risks that India faces in following a similar path. frontline.thehindu.com/social-issue...

Sick fucking bullshit www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/u...

The Culinary Workers Union representing 60,000 hospitality workers in Nevada has achieved a historic victory on the Las Vegas Strip. For the first time in its 90-year history, all major casinos on the Strip are unionized.

The Archaeology of American Protests, coauthored with Dania Talley, is now available for preorder at $45 hardcover with the discount code 31AU825 at the publisher’s website upf.com/book.asp?id=...

***Fellow historians and academics*** Academia is isolating. If you'd ever like to connect over Zoom to share your work and interests, let me know! I connected with about 50+ folks via Twitter back during the pandemic, and it was super rewarding.

According to one study, nearly 80 per cent of Sikh boys with head coverings in the U.S. report being bullied. Manvir Singh writes about why he wears a turban.

After many years this is out now, many congratulations to everybody!

BILLIE BUTLER WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Update: As of today, the total number of migrants brought to Guantanamo under President Trump’s Jan. 29 order has just reached 600, according to a Defense official. There are 11 detainees in immigration detention here now, up from 2 on Saturday. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/12/u...

No explanation. None. It’s obscene. I keep remembering the 1679 habeas corpus act. It reacted to the king arresting people & without trial deporting them. It began: “for prevention of imprisonment beyond seas.” Without explanation, our current SCOTUS majority is undoing centuries of justice.

David Remnick writes about what comes next. www.newyorker.com/news/the-led... Donald Trump Bombs Iran, and America Waits | The New Yorker

"'If this administration has its way, [ #Manzanar is] probably one of the stories they’d rather see go away,' Dennis Arguelles, the Southern California director of the National Parks Conservation Association..." www.sfgate.com/california-p... [h/t @troutgirl.bsky.social] #AAPIhistory

“He seemed a little surprised to be confronted.” Yeah, that’s the problem with the clubby atmosphere of the Senate. This guy thinks he can spread vile lies without pushback. Good for @smith.senate.gov for puncturing that delusion

Do you know how badly you have to screw up as a Republican to get this kind of turnout in IDAHO? #NOKINGS

FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK. www.politico.com/news/2025/05...

For anyone not familiar with GRFPs: these are fellowships awarded TO THE STUDENT. They're NOT awarded to an institution or tied to a particular project. Many GRFPs are earned with an application written before a student has submitted any grad school applications.

Don't look away, don't normalize: this is the virtually unconstrained leader of the world's most powerful country ambushing the president of South Africa with conspiracy-fueled racist propaganda promoted by his unelected billionaire maybe-appointee who has caused the deaths of children through DOGE.

ICE pretended to arrest a 21 yo in order to force her to call her undocumented mother to come leave the house (where she was safe from ICE arrest) to care for her baby. When the mother came, she was abducted and the daughter was suddenly of no interest to ICE. www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Wait, it gets even WORSE. ICE was interested in this family because an agent wanted retribution against the father of the baby, who apparently had honked at the care of an undercover ICE agent the day before who had cut him off. www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

A group of Quakers are marching more than 300 miles to demonstrate against the Trump administration's crackdown on immigrants. Organizers of the march say their protest seeks to show solidarity with migrants and other groups that are being targeted by the administration.

"All I can hear are the screams—the deafening desperate screams, from a mother, from her daughter, from the woman holding the daughter’s baby." www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

ASIAN AMERICANS now streaming on PBS www.pbs.org/show/asian-a... The only way we were able to tell the story of Asian America--PBS. #SavePBS!

I just finished reading @michaelluo.bsky.social’s extraordinary book “Strangers in the Land.” It’s a must-read. Washington Post: “‘Strangers in the Land” deserves a place on the shelf beside other essential works of American history.’” WAPO Review: bit.ly/44mPiLP Order His Book: bit.ly/4jJg6e4

"These $25,000 grants are for activities to address immediate needs following grant cancellations, including completing a wave of data collection, analyzing already collected data or writing, thoughtful project closure with community partners, or preparing grant proposals to continue the research."

Congratulations @profdanhicks.bsky.social - do yourself a favour - go read it! #Archaeology #Booksky 🏺📚

Enjoyed my conversation about “Strangers in the Land” with @nytimes.com national editor extraordinaire Jia Lynn Yang at Politics and Prose. Talked about the book’s origin story, the hope in the Chinese American story, and how I found my characters in the archives. www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMvh...

Word cloud of the titles of the over 500 NSF grants canceled, as documented in grant-watch.us/nsf-data.html . The two most common words (research, collaborative) excluded. The word cloud tells the whole story. 🧪#AcademicSky

***Attention fellow historians, scholars, and concerned individuals*** The California Digital Newspaper Collection is under financial threat, facing a $300,000 deficit. If you would like to keep this essential resource afloat, please consider donating: www.givecampus.com/campaigns/61...

The president has reportedly urged Congress to pass $175 billion for border security. But residents of Del Rio, Texas, and Douglas, Arizona, say their basic needs — like safe drinking water and hospital access — aren’t being met. @anjeanette-damon.bsky.social and Perla Trevizo w/ @texastribune.org

Friends in the DC area, join Jia Lynn Yang, @nytimes.com national editor extraordinaire and author of “One Mighty and Irresistible Tide,” and I at Politics and Prose on April 30th to talk about “Strangers in the Land!” politics-prose.com/event/2025-0...

Some personal news: the Department of Homeland Security has given me, an immigration lawyer born in Newton, Massachusetts, seven days to leave the U.S. Does anyone know if you can get Italian citizenship through great-grandparents?

Highly recommend this interview with Christopher Eisgruber, President of Princeton University, on why academic freedom at our higher ed institutions should concern all Americans. #AcademicSky #MomSky

Can't bring myself to say anything clever about this. Fuck these guys. They're the brownshirts, the klan, the pick your own comparison. They're the ones who eagerly volunteer to shoot, kill, and maim whenever reactionary movements give them the opportunity to do so. Fix your hearts or die.

Get this: Commerce is slashing $ to Princeton's world-renowned climate research b/c modeling changes to Earth systems is "contributing to a phenomenon known as 'climate anxiety,' which has increased significantly among America’s youth." No research, no problem! www.commerce.gov/news/press-r...

New set of NEH grant program cancellations: DHAG Fellowships Open Book Program Dangers and Opportunities of Technology: Perspectives from the Humanities Archaeological and Ethnographic Field Research Institutes for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities

This is a criminal administration whose leaders need to be removed from office and tried for their crimes.