try and imagine a bigger W as an academic

In a conference forum last year I said that grad programs need to rethink their expectations re: grad student grant proposals and find ways to divest from big federal grants which was shrugged off to focus on how to adjust the language we use in proposals to avoid censorship...anyways, here we are

In 1953 archaeologist Robert Braidwood initiated a debate: what began the domestication of cereals in the Ancient Near East? Was it for bread or beer? Malt & malting was discussed briefly by some of the Braidwood Symposium participants but the "Bread or Beer" debate continues unresolved today. 🏺

Result! Just received from Grammarly: "Hi, Thank you for reaching out. After careful consideration, we have decided to deactivate Expert Review while we reimagine how to make it more useful for customers and more respectful of the experts whose work it surfaces." 1/ 🧪💙📚 🗃 #academicsky

54% of male Republicans under the age of 50 believe "the Holocaust was greatly exaggerated or did not happen as historians describe." manhattan.institute/article/the-...

Strongly encourage all academics, novelists, reporters, bloggers, whatever to just email this account and state that you want to opt out of this idiocy. Overload them with emails and make them regret they ever tried this shit. [email protected]

Junior faculty- Consider coming to Princeton Psych -all expenses paid- for a few weeks to hang out with my great colleagues! (I can’t host this year, but we have so many great labs to choose from!). Application details below.

Fun fact about us for #InternationalWomensDay - our 1st graduating students were women - Margaret Crichton Mitchell (later Stewart), 1st ever class🥇in #Archaeology MA 1930, PhD 1934 (Childe's only PhD student) & Barbara Laidler our 1st ever BSc Archaeology (c. 1930s)! @hcaatedinburgh.bsky.social 🏺

My god this story.

NYU is only “liberal” when convenient. “NYU canceled 13 culture, identity & faith-based graduation ceremonies due to the “current political climate,” according to student groups that are urging admin to rescind the order or better explain their reasoning.” @thecity.nyc nyunews.com/news/2026/02...

Don't look away from the continued cruelty and horrors. Please keep calling your representatives, please keep showing up to protest these horrific actions, please keep caring.

ICE killed a teacher in Georgia today when they chose to chase a man who posed no danger and had no criminal history.

"On behalf of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA), I am very pleased to inform you that you have been selected as the 2026 recipient of the SAA's Book Award—Popular category for “Native America: The Story of the First Peoples” published by Princeton University Press." Wow! No words.

For my money, the way thousands of regular people are self-organizing to resist data centers is one of the most cautiously hopeful stories going right now. www.themountaineer.com/news/no-cryp...

Students applying for NSF funding are having their applications “returned without review” for being “ineligible,” despite their proposed research falling squarely within the application guidelines. eos.org/research-and...

Stanford is doing this because it wants to

"You raise your voice, I erase your voice." ICE in Minneapolis are erasing your rights. Please share our new video of what's happening in our city. youtu.be/W1dyNcRGRXY

I have been of the opinion for about five years now that we are all mostly clinging to the *idea* of social media. But that it has not existed, as we mean it, since Jack sold Twitter. The minute capital lined up to fold social media into its technocratic political consolidation, it stopped existing.

The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents border patrol officers at the National Border Patrol Council, calls on Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller to resign or be fired

Of course he does. Is this a joke? He defended the guy who killed Good. He’s told multiple people that he thinks protesters should be attacked. He told people at a rally to rough someone up. He’s said nothing as ICE has hurt people for months. He doesn’t get to walk away from this now.

www.standwithminnesota.com/send-a-love-... 😘

I don’t have voting members in Congress but I’m still calling Schumer to tell him to shut the government down over ICE occupying cities and executing people in the streets

This moment in history provides us with incontrovertible evidence that all the conservatives who claim to be extremely devoted to freedom of speech and the right to bear arms, and opposed to the encroachment of tyranny, are completely and totally full of shit. It's all white supremacy and greed.

This video is itself a historical document that shows the Trump administration's efforts to erase history. There are few more telling symbols of the intentional attempt to silence the past than the raw, empty spaces left behind after this removal of displays about the history of American slavery.

ICE just crashed a car at my intersection (due to their own shitty driving) and immediately got out and tear gassed observers.

One day, if we are lucky, the erasure of American history will itself be remembered as a shameful chapter in American history

ICE has been busting down doors and seizing people from their homes without signed judicial warrants. But it wasn’t some decision on the fly. It turns out, it was actual agency policy. A shocking memo, and what it means for this practice, in today’s write-up. Link in the replies.

Conference that may be of interest for @oeai.bsky.social

Call for Research Showcase Workshop Proposals: Interested in sharing your research with a wider audience and engaging more deeply with the AAAS SocSci Caucus and broader community? We invite self-nominations for our first Online Research Showcase Workshop in Spring 2026.

Important--this is the most significant Trump revenge prosecution that has been flying under the radar. @replamonica.bsky.social we stand with you! Friends please give a read....

Trump has deported 540,000 people, fewer than in either of Biden's last 2 years. But Biden deportations focused on the border, now mainly shut. Trump has targeted those in the country and has removed 230,000 of them, more than Biden in 4 years. @albertsun.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

I have posted too much today, but cannot get this photo out of my head. This must stop.

I wrote about my experiences being sexually exploited as a child, and what we need to do to make sure AI doesn’t make that a reality for millions of children. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Jesus. www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...

🚨"This is nuts! What the f*ck is going on, this is insane! ICE is just trying to scare people; they tell you it's only immigrants—it's f*cking anybody!" -furious Minneapolis resident tells our @zdroberts.bsky.social after ICE shot a man in the leg tonight. LIVE NOW ⬇️

Melted marbles from Moria, the largest migrant camp in Europe, which burnt down in 2020. The material culture of border crossings is often intentionally erased. Preserving and studying it is essential to understanding this contemporary #archaeology 🏺 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

He laid out the m.o. of modern pseudo-archaeology, i.e., repeat false claims and never correct them: " “Chariots of the Gods” was followed by more than two dozen similar books, spawning a literary niche in which fact and fantasy were mixed together against all historical and scientific evidence."

Pseudo-archaeology, pseudo-history and various strains of UFO belief can get … extremely racist and it’s something that doesn’t get covered competently in the mainstream press. www.splcenter.org/resources/ha...

For some agencies, the cuts have hollowed out decades-old functions of the federal government. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

In the days since the Venezuela attack, Donald Trump has explicitly threatened not only Greenland but also Canada, Colombia, Iran, and Mexico. Why? “Because he can,” @sbg1.bsky.social writes. Read her new column about a burgeoning international crisis.

We need fresh utopian thinking to boost us out of the nightmare loop of the present. Join us and share! futurecafes.org

As of today, I am a FULL professor. I do not care much for occupational status markers. Still, it is not lost on me that only 2% of full professors are Black women. This goes beyond personal accomplishment. It is a responsibility to do as much as I can for others. That is exactly what I aim to do.

A tenured professor who was briefly fired by Austin Peay State University in Tennessee in September for what the school’s president said was an insensitive social media post about the killing of Charlie Kirk will get a $500,000 settlement and his job back.

Which means Hilton isn’t a welcoming place for the rest of us. Looks like we’ve all found a new place to boycott— globally.

What in the Gestapo is going on in Grand Rapids? Watch this activist get arrested *mid-interview* for speaking out against U.S. action in Venezuela.

“I have watched with dismay and increasing horror as my nephew, an educated man who is well aware of his heritage, has become the architect of immigration policies that repudiate the very foundation of our family’s life in this country.” www.politico.com/magazine/sto...

CBS didn't run the 60 Minutes segment on CECOT, but over here at @propublica.org we've been working on the story since March, including finding out who each and every man sent to that maximum security prison was. You can see our reporting here: www.propublica.org/series/depor...

The rare wild commercial Christmas tree harvest endures on the edge of climate change, wildfire, and shifting immigration policy, revealing how even our most cherished traditions depend on fragile landscapes and unseen labor.

An exciting delivery at solstice time. Very much looking forward to reading this….#SkyscapeArchaeology