Laura Ng

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

Thank you! Hope to meet you all at the Midwest Archaeology Conference.

Wyoming town erects new monument to violent, anti-immigrant history At a time when President Trump is going after foreign laborers in the U.S, and saying unflattering accounts of U.S. history should be removed, Rock Springs, Wyoming has put up a new monument to ethnic...

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...

Thank you, Beth! We look forward to working with you and other descendants as we recently learned that the school district admins were at commemoration statue unveiling and want us to continue excavating the site in future years.

Radiolab: Podcasts | WNYC Studios | Podcasts Investigating a strange world.

📻👄 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?"

a woman is smiling and holding a cup that says help me . Alt: a woman is smiling and holding a cup that says help me .

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

The Ritual of Civic Apology More than a century after driving out their Chinese residents, cities across the West are saying sorry, with parks, plaques, and proclamations. But it’s seldom clear who they’re talking to—or what the...

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

Video of clash over gender-identity content in Texas A&M children’s lit class leads to firing, removals After the video fueled outrage, a professor was fired and two college leaders removed from their administrative roles for approving content inconsistent with the course’s description.

Texas Tribune confirms that she was NTT
www.texastribune.org/2025/09/08/t...

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

Accident de funiculaire au Portugal | Deux Québécois experts en archéologie parmi les victimes Un couple de restaurateurs d’objets patrimoniaux très connu dans le milieu de l’archéologie au Québec compte parmi les 16 victimes du déraillement du funiculaire de Lisbonne.

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...

Anthropologist Anand Pandian on America’s “Everyday Walls” and the Fragility of Democracy In his new book, anthropologist Anand Pandian reflects on how gated communities, oversized vehicles, and digital echo chambers deepen social isolation in the United States—and warns that India’s growi...

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...

Trump Wants U.C.L.A. to Pay $1 Billion to Restore Its Research Funding

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

All major Las Vegas Strip casinos are now unionized in historic labor victory The Culinary Workers Union representing 60,000 hospitality workers in Nevada has achieved a historic victory on the Las Vegas Strip.

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 Learn more about this book at UPF.com

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.

Why I Wear the Turban The headwear is burdened by stereotypes—but it can carry, too, the pleasures of self-invention.

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.

So cool! Congratulations.

Female lineages and changing kinship patterns in Neolithic Çatalhöyük Combining 131 paleogenomes with bioarchaeological and archaeological data, we studied social organization and gendered practices in Çatalhöyük East Mound (7100 to 5950 BCE), a major Neolithic settleme...

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

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

Another Dozen Migrants Are Transferred to Guantánamo

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.

Donald Trump Bombs Iran, and America Waits The U.S. strikes were unprecedented, and the repercussions are impossible to predict.

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

Signs to police 'negative' history went up at Manzanar. Historians are nervous. "It sends a pretty clear message that your story is not welcome here."

"'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

View of the No Kings protest from the 4th floor of the Boise Capitol Building

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

#NOKINGS