Emily K.D. Smith

Columbus introduced sugar cane to the Caribbean and his son opened the first plantation. They were the originators of this brutality.

So many Caribbean people died on these plantations that they eventually had to start bringing in slaves from Africa.

Average lifespan once there was only 7 years.

Any doctoral student or early career scholar want to give an online guest lecture on Marcion (preferably) or second century Christianity (but not gnosticism) more broadly?

I think I can offer you a $100 stipend for a 45 minute talk. Needs to be MWF 10-1050.

I'm local to this; lots of confirmed exposure sites in the greater tri-state area. Mask up, and if you haven't yet, check your vaccination status to make sure you're up to date.

This got stuck in my head something awful while in the field and I hate you for it lmao

A friend in MPLS sent me some resources to spread around to help support the folks under siege, so please give if you are able:

www.standwithminnesota.com (resource hub)
linktr.ee/mplsmutualaid (resource hub)
linktr.ee/ICEOUTmutual... (food distribution, immigrant support services)

1/3

On my first day as a PhD student at Chicago, I was gifted a copy of Von Däniken’s Chariots of the Gods by a senior archaeologist who said to me: “May this serve as a reminder for why teaching real archaeology to the public matters”

The hagiographic obits for him are absolutely wild

Expedition Magazine | “Scholars Will Call it Nonsense” <p>In 1968 an obscure Swiss hotel manager published a book entitled Erinnerungen an die Zukunft. An English edition appeared under […]</p>

With the recent passing of Erich von Däniken, here's a short article from 1987 dissecting his claims about aliens in Chariots of Gods (1968). It's a reminder that archaeologists have been debunking pseudoarchaeology for nearly 40 years.

I have spent the afternoon writing about 1950s and 60s Egyptological racism. I managed to not put my fist through computer screen with some of these sources. Please clap.

Sudan’s story is far from a tragedy The country’s revolution was a successful and nonviolent democratic uprising. The west should remember that

Sudan’s war is not “nihilistic” chaos, nor is it a “civil conflict”, writes @yassmin.bsky.social. This is a war against civilians, punishment for the people’s audacity in standing up to the military regime—and the international community is enabling it.

New Egyptian museum brings fresh pressure for return of Nefertiti’s bust One of Egypt’s most famous and beautiful artifacts lies in a Berlin museum, and the calls for its return have received a renewed push with the opening of a new museum.

Over 100 years after a 3,400-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti was first taken to Berlin, the largest effort to bring her back to her homeland is underway.

But German museum authorities are hardly eager to hand over one of the country’s most famous artifacts.

I didn’t realize how much of a struggle writing the diss would be, but I finally broke 50k words and it’s almost wrapped up - the end is in sight. Through a lot of major changes, extreme burnout, and uncertainty, I managed to keep plugging away. Still got a bit left to go, but I’m almost there.

If you’re wondering why your friends in academia are a little on edge right now, it’s because an eighteen-year-old who hasn’t done the reading, doesn’t look at the assignment, and has does no critical thinking skills more complex than “because I think it’s in the Bible” can literally end your career

The thing that is stupid about this AI argument is that it’s absolutely true that people can’t read everything in detail, but the way things work they’re pressured to pretend that they do. The exponential amount of literature was a problem pre-AI.

I cannot emphasize enough that the White House has no authority to withhold funds from the Smithsonian. It can, however, try to persuade/threaten Congress to reduce future funding.

You'd think my abstract writing skills would improve with time and practice, but no. Words are...hard? Anyway, submitted to #ICNS2026; fingers crossed the word salad came out as semi-coherent. Send help.

Exactly. Edtech is not the solution to lack of resources and criminally low pay for teachers. No matter how much billionaires PR teams claim it is.

They are remaking public education in their own image before our very eyes.

AI Slop Is Spurring Record Requests for Imaginary Journals The International Committee of the Red Cross warned that artificial intelligence models are making up research papers, journals and archives

www.scientificamerican.com/article/ai-s...

Longshot odds here - but are any of my followers here winemakers and/or know any winemakers willing to answer a question or two? I have a filtration question I'd like expert opinions on.

A montage of some of the items you can bid for at the Creatives 4 Sudan auction. Raising life-saving funds for people escaping genocide in El-Fasher. Top left is a close up of part of a triptych by Alaskan artist Anna Huöng called The Salmon Run, beautiful expressive line work and subtle colours show fish swimming together across the paper. Beneath this is an image of a sterling silver handcrafted necklace by Sara Strebler of a Aglais Io Butterfly. At the bottom are images of three books Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell, One Day by David Nicholls and The Notorious Virtues by Alwyn Hamilton, all of which have been signed.

There's just 2 days left to bid on an array of stunning art, books, mentoring sessions and experiences all in aid of the people of Sudan! Definitely lots of #ArtAdventCalendar worthy pieces there.... #Creatives4Sudan

app.galabid.com/creatives4su...

#ArtSky #BookSky #CraftSky #Art

Either you understand that there is an organized campaign to push trans people out of public life with the explicit end goal of "morally mandating us out of existence" that is backed by some of the wealthiest individuals to have ever lived, or you're simply not equipped to grasp what's happening.

...the final say in affairs unless a student specifically requested to speak with the professor, which I would then facilitate arranging a formal meeting for the student to have a one-on-one with the professor to discuss the grade. I was also the one to regrade, if a regrade was requested. (4/4)

I personally mediated several disputes across several courses with the goal of avoiding formal censure of students, but there were a few cases I put forth to the Professor who, in turn, reported to the Integrity Council. But for basic failure to adhere to outlined instructions, I was largely - (3/4)

...responsibility to mediate disputes, including grade disputes, before escalating it up the chain. Professors would give a standard (ex: we expect a "B" average for the course), but most marking assistance to other TAs was provided by the Lead TA via rubrics given by the Professor. (2/4)

In my experience as both a general and Lead TA is that no - the Professor would offer advice if a TA had marking questions, but outliers typically first go to the Lead TA who then makes a judgement call to discuss it with the Professor, with the understanding that it was the Lead's - (1/4)

OU puts graduate instructor on leave after student claims discrimination on Bible-based essay grade OU placed a graduate student instructor on leave after a student publicly contested a grade and filed an illegal discrimination claim after she received a failing grade on an essay

So, an OU student a shitty reaction paper in a psych course, got failed by a grad student TA for not following directions and threatened legal action, while also getting her uni TPUSA chapter to post the essay. Her mother is on X saying trans people must not be allowed to be professors.

This is…

This thread is 💯. Labor precarity in academia means the evisceration of faculty governance and academic freedom, opening the door to administrative purges of the most vulnerable. And faculty-esp tenured faculty and academic leaders-who aren't defending their trans colleagues are enabling it.

As I said on the other site: she would have gotten an F from me too.

You need to cite. You need cogent and clear arguments.

I am losing my mind.

I’m looking forward to asking my university president next week about how much they will protect instructors and TAs from this bullshit. If I can’t even fail a student for literally not following the assignment instructions, or writing a bad paper, then what the hell is the point of a class?

Computer, please summarize everything PG Wodehouse ever wrote in ten seconds

Hey conference-organizers (sorry for addressing you in one of your professional capacities on a holiday).

I posted this 5 days ago, and 65 artists have already applied. Many of them are PSYCHED, and many of them are extremely qualified.

There's HUGE interest from artists in working w/scientists.