Communism with lunar characteristics

WE DID IT! Our illegal union @uam-umd.bsky.social is a lot less illegal today. 12,000 contingent faculty in MD just won the right to collectively bargain. Life-changing win for teachers and students. Only happened bc thousands of people worked together to beat our bosses in the statehouse.

The victories happen quietly: www.thecrimson.com/article/2026...

"Eros" by George Oppen, quoted in Chris Nealon's 2021 essay, "George Oppen and the Future"

I wrote about Trump’s ideological deportation policies and their implications for free speech, including on university campuses. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

If you want to explore whether a company you buy from works with DHS/ICE, there is a real simple website to do that! www.usaspending.gov/search

the money don’t shine Wanda Coleman

Nasra Ahmed, a 23-year-old US citizen, was arrested and detained by ICE. She was held for TWO DAYS. ICE agents handcuffed her, called her a racial slur, and she was knocked to the ground so hard she got a concussion. This cannot continue happening. ICE needs to leave.

"We are not, and we must not become, a nation that imprisons and deports people because we are afraid of what they have to tell us." — Judge William Young #AAUPvRubio @mesa1966.bsky.social

"Talking straight here, the big problem in this case is that the cabinet secretaries and, ostensibly, the president of the United States are not honoring the First Amendment,” Judge William G. Young said. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/u...

Rumeya Ozturk has resumed her studies and Betar, the witch hunt org who pursued Palestinian protesters, has dissolved. As @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social says, I regret to inform you that we are going to win.

There is a substantial connection between the affective + social infrastructure you build in a good classroom and the counter-hegemonic sociality of academic union organizing, and someday I'd like to write about that. Venmo in bio

Good blog: longhaulmag.com/barboncino-w...

Excited to be included in this superb volume, edited by Lizzy Lerud and @carolinegelmi.bsky.social !

Holy cow! This is a legal smack down of the Trump regime's attack on UC system!

Higher ed workers say: Condemn the Compact! Here is CSU-AAUP, AFT Local 6745 member A. Fiona Pearson, professor of sociology at Central Connecticut State University, calling for us to unite in the face of these attacks on higher ed! @aftct.bsky.social

This Friday, student leaders are walking out across the country...Find an action near you, find your friends, and go to it! actionnetwork.org/event_campai...

(extremely in my 40s voice) Some nice estate sales today!

Happening now: @uconnaaup.bsky.social members & fellow colleagues in #UConnLabor stand together to shift the balance of power in current #union contract negotiations. #TheCTDifference @aft.org @aftacademics.bsky.social‬ @afthighered.bsky.social @aaup.org @higheredlabor.bsky.social‬

Brown said no to the Compact! But they should not impose finance management-driven austerity at the same time. Brown AAUP with an excellent analysis here: www.browndailyherald.com/article/2025...

My book Poetry in General: How a Literary Form Became Public is available for pre-order! I am excited to share it with the world. Find it on the Columbia UP site with endorsements from Anthony Reed, Leigh Claire La Berge, Sarah Dowling and Craig Dworkin cup.columbia.edu/book/poetry-...

The Trump administration is inviting all US colleges to participate in a compact that would grant preferential federal funding in return for commitments to specific policy changes like DEI bans, according to a source

Over 100 Brown U students & 20 faculty members gathered outside the campus today to demand that the university reject Trump’s loyalty oath compact. Professors & students taped their mouths shut to symbolize the compact’s threat to free speech, #academicfreedom & diversity of thought. #DefendHigherEd

Spoke with cnn while sitting on the floor of my hotel room hallway bc my family were asleep in the other room.

Sign-on letter to oppose Trump's (extortion) "compact" for higher ed institutions. actionnetwork.org/petitions/un...

AAUP v. Rubio is out, and look at how it starts. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

This book...

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a free illegal stream decree

Tenured folks, you may not know how to catch up on preparing, so some starting points from someone who was once faculty & is now a higher ed labor organizer: -Join your campus AAUP chapter. -If you don't have one, start one—talk to another AAUP chapter in your city/state to make connections. /cont

It's publication day for UNIVERSITY KEYWORDS. Across 27 sharp essays, the book offers a critical account of the political economy of US higher education, how it came to be structured this way, and how together we might build a better university together.

This is a HUGE win for American higher education! #DefendHigherEd www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/u...

We Out Here! AAUP & @aft.org members from coast to coast are out in the streets this #LaborDay standing on business & raising the voices of higher ed workers as we continue to resist an unprecedented wave of attacks. Join Us! #DefendHigherEd ✊🏼✊🏾✊🏻✊🏿✊🏽

This is quite something by Pankaj Mishra harpers.org/archive/2025...

Make a statement for higher ed workers this Labor Day with HELU signs! Easily printable from our website, perfect for any kind of Labor Day action. See you in the streets! higheredlaborunited.org/2025/08/28/h...

Wrote a eulogy for the yellow letters in my office window. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

"As two of the nation’s largest private graduate student unions fight for new contracts, their members have been among the most vulnerable to the president’s attacks on universities." @swcolumbia.bsky.social | @hgsuuaw.bsky.social | @uawregion9a.bsky.social www.thenation.com/article/soci...

The Trump admin has used funding cuts to threaten universities into negotiations. Join this meeting to explore these settlements’ implications for academic freedom & shared governance. We will discuss what AAUP chapters can do to fight back. 🗓️August 26, 7-8pmET Learn more at the link👇

"Ideological Deportation": AAUP v. Rubio Trial Challenges Trump Crackdown on Pro-Palestine Students

“apply to Columbia: we PROMISE your private info will end up in the hands of disgusting little freaks!”

Co-wrote a thing, btw

📌MEDIA ADVISORY – TODAY at 11:30am ET: Calling all members of the press interested in tuning in to the final pretrial hearing in AAUP v. Rubio, our lawsuit challenging the Trump admin's ideological deportation policy on U.S. campuses. Register here: forms.mad.uscourts.gov/seating-sign...