James Neal

Guidelines and application materials for the National Endowment for the Arts’ principal grants category, Grants for Arts Projects, are now available. www.arts.gov/news/press-r...

"How Oak National Academy Is Transforming Classrooms with AI and OER---What the US can learn from the UK" #OER www.newamerica.org/education-po...

The 2026 New Orleans Jazz Festival music lineup is coming out early. Here's when. It's more than a month earlier than Jazz Fest's typical mid-January roster rollout.

"The 2026 New Orleans Jazz Festival music lineup is coming out early. Here's when. The mid-December release of the roster is more than a month earlier than normal. Who will be on the list?" www.nola.com/entertainmen...

This is great to hear. I wish the event/organization much success and progress toward a brighter future.

We Must Remain Vigilant: An open letter to publishers | Opinion Lee & Low publisher and co-owner Jason Low says publishers must continue the commitment to diverse titles while also contributing to the larger fight for the freedom to read.

‘We Must Remain Vigilant’: an open letter to publishers from Jason Low about book banning | SLJ

Libraries and museums get federal funding back after Trump cuts Earlier this year, the Trump administration gutted the Institute of Museum and Library Services, leading to canceled federal grants. Now, after a court order, those grants are being reinstated.

I am enjoying reconnecting with participants on recently reinstated grants for my agency. I have had several great conversations over the past few weeks. www.npr.org/2025/12/04/n...

I am beyond thrilled to share some good news:

1. I've moved to a new job at UC Santa Barbara.

2. We have been selected for a 2025 Humanities and AI Virtual
Institute award from @schmidtsciences.bsky.social!

Both, we hope, will allow us to continue building the work! +
hfa.ucsb.edu/news/schmidt...

Here’s why writers are raging about the Netflix-WB merger. Over the weekend, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) issued a statement condemning the pending merger between two massive media titans: Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery. But laymen may be wonderi…

Why should you care about the Warner Bros. merger? “Unfortunately, massive lay-offs and subscriber fee increases are only the tip of a con list.”

Chilling ... “They don’t consider questioning how women are treated in society,” said Ryan Lowe, a math and linguistics major. “They don’t consider questioning how African American people are treated in society. They see those as questions that don’t need to be asked.”

In Greenbelt, Md., New Deal history meets co-op spirit Where We Live | “We’ve got rocket scientists from NASA Goddard living next to artists”

This is a very nice profile of my old neighborhood, Greenbelt, MD. ... "The tool library is part of the Greenbelt MakerSpace, one of many co-ops in the city of about 25,000 residents in Prince George’s County, roughly 10 miles outside D.C." wapo.st/44VjDjV

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, By gift © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

I and the Village by Marc Chagall, 1923
https://botfrens.com/collections/212/contents/137874

Well damn...

Landscape with black pigs and a crouching Tahitian

Landscape with black pigs and a crouching Tahitian
https://botfrens.com/collections/44/contents/12697

Enjoyed some king crab this evening at Chasin Tails in Northern Virginia. chasintailsss.com

DOUGLASS DAY | FEB 13, 2026 Featuring the Colored Conventions Project DouglassDay.Org

Save the date!

Douglass Day 2026
"All Rights for All"
Fri, February 13
Sign up today!
DouglassDay.org

Feat. the Colored Conventions Project! @ccp-org.bsky.social @digblk.bsky.social

Troops and warplanes deployed in Benin after ‘failed coup attempt’ West African Ecowas forces sent to country after group of soldiers announced dissolution of government on state TV

"Troops and warplanes deployed in Benin after ‘failed coup attempt’
West African Ecowas forces sent to country after group of soldiers announced dissolution of government on state TV" www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

40 Years Later: Sade, “Promise” - Longreads "Promise" isn’t necessarily about love, or even about surrender, but about giving your heart over, repeatedly, and enduring the failures that come with the exchange.

"40 Years Later: Sade, 'Promise'" by Hanif Abdurraqib longreads.com/2025/11/20/s...

Living on Earth: AI Power Demand and the Climate Artificial intelligence or AI’s huge appetite for power is reviving demand for older and dirtier fossil fuel energy. Dan Gearino, clean energy reporter with our media partner Inside Climate news, spea...

"Dan Gearino, clean energy reporter with Inside Climate news, speaks with Host Steve Curwood about the massive data centers that power AI, community pushback, and how the AI trend could put vital climate targets out of reach." www.loe.org/shows/segmen...

Soldiers appear on television to announce apparent military coup in Benin A group of soldiers has appeared on Benin’s state TV to announce the dissolution of the government in an apparent coup.

"Soldiers appear on television to announce apparent military coup in Benin" apnews.com/article/beni...

5 Minutes That Will Make You Love the A.A.C.M.

"The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians in Chicago has built community and pushed musical boundaries for 60 years. Hear 13 tracks from this jazz institution" www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/a...

Review | ‘Positive Obsession’ shows Octavia Butler as a very human icon Susana M. Morris’s biography draws on the science fiction writer’s journals to reveal her genius, and her doubts

Also ICYMI

Appreciate you Chris!

To Root Out Wokeness in the Course Catalog, This Texas University Is Turning to AI “The AI was upset with my use of the phrase ‘women's rights movement.’”

“School officials have created a Microsoft Copilot prompt to review course descriptions with an eye toward avoiding ‘advocacy-oriented or prescriptive terms.’”

Terms: “dismantling, decolonizing, interrogating, challenging, centering, combating, liberation, resistance, activism, justice oriented”

#Mood ...

Library Agency Reinstates Grants Canceled by Trump Administration

"The federal agency that supports the nation’s libraries has restored thousands of grants canceled by the Trump administration, following a federal judge’s ruling that the executive order mandating the cuts was unlawful" www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/a...

Frank Gehry, whose designs defied gravity and convention, dies at 96 Gehry transformed modern architecture with exuberant buildings such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Guggenheim Museum. "I've always been for optimism and architecture not being sad," he said.

"Frank Gehry dies at 96. The architect defied gravity and convention" www.npr.org/2025/12/05/5...

Our Privacy Expert Tried, and Failed, to Disappear From the Internet It’s not as simple as deleting a few accounts.

Locking down your data isn’t as simple as deleting a few accounts. Our tech writer tried to wipe himself from the internet. Here are the data-removal services he recommends if you want to try it yourself.

Awesome!

Netflix to Buy Warner Bros. in $83 Billion Deal

Wow ... "Netflix to Buy Warner Bros in $83 Billion Deal" www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/b...