Cara Burnidge

This quote:
“writing requires an unending effort at something resembling authenticity. Most mistakes come from not being yourself, not saying what you think, or being afraid to figure out what you really think.”

I also felt uncomfortable learning so much about their lives and arguments. This trend is interesting to know on a macro level but I’m not sure I should know micro level details. And the intersection with family courts! Agh!

I couldn’t finish reading it. Wow. Wowee.

"We want to gear on the side of entertainment," he said, "because we think especially biblical content is over-indexed to educational." …is a remarkable statement given Religious Studies Departments around the country closing.

I’m teaching modern US history survey in-person in the spring for the first time in six years. What are the new cool supplemental books to assign students? 🗃️

Yes to what’s above and depending on your interest, Myth of Seneca Falls by Tetrault or Fighting Chance by Dudden.

There’s some like Funding Feminism that focus on how finances shape the mvmt

There’s so much specialization now that trade presses might have the best overviews

One of the reading groups this fall at my institution is @cjdenial.bsky.social Pedagogy of Kindness. Love to see it!

Free-Range Religion Ethical and moral concerns about food and diet commonly feature in individuals' religious identities and expressions. These concerns extend beyond what one s...

@uncpress.bsky.social is having a flash sale to celebrate their new website 🎉 You can save 50% off all books, including pre-orders of mine, for 48 hours with code 01NEWSITE50!

uncpress.org/978146969032...

Plus there are new blurbs from @therubellion.bsky.social and @rachelbgross.bsky.social!

Local church and artist memorialize Arlington ICE arrests with ‘stumbling stickers’ | ARLnow.com A new collaboration between a South Arlington church and a local artist is seeking to memorialize places where immigration enforcement has arrested people in Arlington. Led by the Rev. Ashley Goff, me...

In Arlington, a church and artist mark sidewalks where ICE tore families apart. These ‘stumbling stickers’ force memory onto public ground—reminders of grief, resistance, and the refusal to let erasure win.

Race, Slavery, and Blue Jeans | AMERICAN EXPERIENCE | PBS LearningMedia Learn how the production of indigo and denim relied on the skills and labor of enslaved people brought to colonial America from Africa and how these products became vital to the economies of the South...

So much is happening in the Sweeney ad and it’s not just the play on the word “jeans.” There’s also a play being had on emphasizing her jeans being “blue.”

How did blue get passed down for generations?

www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ame...

Critical secularism studies - are we still doing this? Any juice left in that lime? I say yes!

<turning to look directly at the camera from an office at a public, teaching-emphasis university>

thinking for no apparent reason about @felixh.bsky.social's brilliantly titled chapter "Invisible Umpires" in his book Ku Klux Kulture

www.christianitytoday.com/2025/07/died...

Excellent piece by @danielsilliman.bsky.social

These two screen shots are horrifying

How to I not merely dislike a Spotify suggestion but make the algorithm feel shame for even suggesting it in the first place?

It’s always “Ladies, if you are alienated by overwork, drop out of the public sphere and become a tradwife” and never “Ladies, if you are alienated by overwork, form a union.”

Tale as old as time.

“His deftness in removing the specter of violence from his own narrative is a reminder of the ways violence against women is normalized. It isn’t that people don’t believe in what happened to Jolie on that plane — they just don’t care.”

“Swaggart’s scandals taught aspiring megachurch personalities that institutional accountability was no longer required when it came to redemption in the age of independent media.”

I left my purse in a library today and the librarian who found it saw my library card in my wallet, called my local branch to get my number, called me to come back and get the purse, and then apologized to me for invading my privacy.

We do not deserve librarians.

UPDATE: The Indiana legislature announced that, across the state's public universities, it will immediately eliminate 75 programs, suspend/teach-out 101, and force 232 to consolidate or be eliminated. Not surprisingly, these closures disproportionately affect arts, humanities, and social science.

BREAKING: Justice Jackson cites the Colored Conventions Project Digital Archive her dissent in Medina v. Planned Parenthood. These public collective digital projects MATTER and they WILL be heard. 👏👏👏

@ccp-org.bsky.social
@profgabrielle.bsky.social
@jimccasey1.bsky.social

So what this brief paragraph and single footnote does is accuse Thomas, not only of failing to practice what he preaches but doing so in a very specific way that produces very specific effects. Ignoring Black voices gets you bad originalism that harms people. Now as then. Whew.

Opinion: College students, go ahead and major in what you love "The lesson here is simple: Major in what you love, not what you think will get you a job," David M. Perry writes.

"Learn to code" was always bad advice, unless you actually like to code. College students have the best chance of professional success if they major in topics that interest them. Today in @startribune.com. Please tell high school students and parents.

www.startribune.com/what-should-...

Sports metaphors are the only ones I know to work!

Swinging a tracker for “the steps” counts but also doesn’t

training for a marathon w/o running or not running progressively farther;

strength training w/o doing “heavy lifts”;

soreness (discomfort that isn’t pain) *is* required to meet goals

This is part of the reason why for all the shade theoryheads throw at description vs analysis (because description is assumed to be advocacy), I think it still matters to describe religion

It’s a real struggle to have students write or say something with descriptive accuracy and withhold analysis

There’s 44 chapters in all, so I’ll share more at another time. All hits no skips!

And for those who want to help students understand the complicated history of ideas, policies, and laws pertaining to “separation of church and state” check out

Ch 1: Religion and State by Shelby Balik

Ch 2 Pluralism and Secularism by Eric Chalfant

Ch 6 Race, Racism, and Anti-Racism by Matthew J Smith impressively explains the terms scholars use, the scholarship & social history they stand on, and why they use them.

It’s intro-level, not jargon-y, to make these inaccessible (and sometimes banned) topics accessible