Isaac Arten

My own best sandwiches:
1. Meatloaf sandwich from Foster's in Durham
2. Pulled pork from a food truck called Capitalist Pig in St. Louis
3. Any jambon buerre baguette I ever scrounged up on a research day

"Resident Aliens" is my usual recommendation; it's a nice summary of his basic argument.

Lutheran born and raised, and you are not wrong!

I own two copies of "On the Incarnation" because I was working on a paper about it over AAR once, and (happily) I could just pop into the conference exhibit hall to buy the second one!

Thanks to @truahrabbis.bsky.social for teaching me this midrash (Yalkut Shimoni 13:2): God created the 1st human from dust from the 4 corners of earth so “if one comes from the east to the west [near death], the land will not say, ‘The dust of your body isn’t mine. Go back to where you were created!’ Rather, every place a person goes, a part of them is from there and a part of them is returning there.”

Grateful to @truahrabbis.bsky.social for teaching this important classical midrash:

"God created the first human being out of dust from the four corners of the earth [because], every place a person goes, a part of them is from there and a part of them is returning there.”

There was a fantastic ice cream place there when Samantha and I visited to see a play at New Blackfriars some years ago- highly recommended if it's still there!

Why a Minneapolis neighborhood sharpens a giant pencil every year Throngs of people gathered Saturday in a scenic Minneapolis neighborhood for an annual ritual — the sharpening of a gigantic No. 2 pencil

In the midst of everything that sucks right now, this:

abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory...

With a splash of elderflower liqueur, you have yourself a French gimlet, which is a lovely variant!

Past Isaac was fond of writing "A bit more here..." in comments, then leaving the revisions long enough that he forgot what the "more" was supposed to elaborate on...

I do indeed! I just put a new batch up on the Paradox Woodworks instagram yesterday. The two in my first photo are cocobolo, and I have pear and olive ones done or in progress too. Tell me what you like and I'll make some recommendations! www.instagram.com/p/DJW2hdbxvo...

A display of wooden fountain pens

On the other hand, if you're at all concerned you might not have enough, I can help you pack a couple more...

Editorial Cartoons: Art as Satire - Stuff You Should Know | iHeart <p>Editorial, or political cartoons, have a rich history in the United States and abroad. And though the Golden Age may have passed, the use of images to create satire and sway public opinion is still...

Also, here's the podcast where I found out about it (because the history of editorial cartoons is genuinely fascinating and you're the sort of people who like to learn new things! www.iheart.com/podcast/1119...

The People and the Ruling Elite in Caricatures (Wade and Daumier) | Online Library of Liberty Introduction John Wade (1788-1875) was active in British reform circles throughout the 1820s. This group included people such as James Mill and other “Philosophical Radicals”. One of their key demands...

Here's the source for this image and its commentary (again, historian!): oll.libertyfund.org/pages/images...

Some well dressed citizens gather around his feet to collect the coins which fall to the ground. From the king’s commode fall official documents which grant various privileges and honours to those waiting below, before they rush off to the National Assembly."

"King Louis Philippe is portrayed as the giant Gargantua (from Rabelais’ novel Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532)). The taxpayers (to the right) are loading baskets full of their tax money which are carried up a ramp into the king’s open mouth...

A satirical image from 1831. King Louis Philippe is portrayed as the giant Gargantua (from Rabelais’ novel Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532)). The taxpayers (to the right) are loading baskets full of their tax money which are carried up a ramp into the king’s open mouth. Some well dressed citizens gather around his feet to collect the coins which fall to the ground. From the king’s commode fall official documents which grant various privileges and honours to those waiting below, before they rush off to the National Assembly.

As an historian, I just feel like more people should know about this 1831 cartoon of a tyrant gorging on tax money and pooping out favors for his rich friends...

Hey, easy now (says your preacher)!

Trans Youth Emergency Project: Supporting Families of Trans Youth Supporting families of trans youth nationwide through the logistical and financial burdens of navigating bans on gender-affirming care.

Every day should be trans day of visibility--

for those of you who are out, shine big, gorgeous ones. 💖

and for those of you for whom it's not safe, now-- please stay safe and know how loved you are. 💜

And for everyone in solidarity, here's a great way to show up with cash dollars:

Total domination does not allow for free initiative in any field of life, for any activity that is not entirely predictable. Totali- tarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.u

This seems like a good time to remind folks of what Hannah Arendt once wrote:

Politics and the English Language | The Orwell Foundation "Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind."

When I said "read Orwell" I meant "Politics and the English Language" and "What is Fascism?"

intellectualtakeout.org/2015/12/geor...

www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-f...

To be clear, I don't *mind* being a negative example for my students, it just doesn't usually happen so immediately, or in a way that's so embarrassingly on the nose!

Ironic professor life: I'm writing a lecture on the intellectual virtue of curiosity and realize I need to look up some basic fact; immediately get distracted by three social media tabs and forget what I needed to find out and now I've become the negative example in my own lecture...

Historian of Christianity here: the term for a prophet who asks for money for prophecy is "false prophet."

"And an apostle at his departure should accept nothing but as much provisions as will last him to his next night's lodging. If he asks for money, he is a false prophet." (The Didache)

A workbench filled with wooden parts prepared for projects.

I think a workshop full of project parts is the woodworker's equivalent of the academic's desk covered in books (so naturally I have both!)

A rabbit with a piece of a pine branch on his head

Let's have a cute rabbit picture to start with! I call this one "Hazel Augustus."