Zarena Aslami

This is so sad; so many lives ruined. And for what?

Amy Sherald Cancels Her Smithsonian Show, Citing Censorship

Amy Sherald says the Smithsonian suggested removing a painting of a transgender woman as the Statue of Liberty from her upcoming show at the National Portrait Gallery “to avoid provoking President Trump.” Sherald: “I cannot in good conscience comply with a culture of censorship”

@aktange.bsky.social field trip!

Lawmakers call for release of Afghan man seized by Ice at green card appointment – US politics live Man who worked for US military in Afghanistan seized by immigration agents and taken out of state after arriving for green card appointment, say attorneys

www.theguardian.com/us-news/live...

“Even God Cannot Hear Us Here”: What I Witnessed Inside an ICE Women’s Prison Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk opens up about her 45 days in a South Louisiana processing facility—and the generous and compassionate women she met.

Rümeysa Öztürk wrote about ICE detention and the women who helped her survive. www.vanityfair.com/news/story/r...

A powerful piece by Patricia Okker, former President of the New College of Florida, on how reading American women writers can shape our current moment. This is what the humanities can do, and this is why they are so afraid of us. Free access from Legacy: muse.jhu.edu/article/959226

MIT just pubbed a study on ChatGPT users.

“Brain scans revealed neural connection collapse... a 47% reduction in brain connectivity. When researchers forced ChatGPT users to write w/o AI, they performed worse than people who never used AI at all. It's not just dependency. It's cognitive atrophy.”

Sounds awesome!

Stop the Data Rally, happening June 17th, 5:30pm, at the Ypsilanti Township Board of Trustees meeting. Meeting is at Tilden R. Stumbo Civic Center Board Room (7200 S. Huron River Dr., Ypsilanti, MI 48197)

Hey all, if you don't want a massive data center in your backyard, the folks at Stop the Data are holding a rally at the June 17th Ypsilanti Town Board meeting at 5:30pm! The rally will be at the Tilden R. Stumbo Civic Center Board Room!

Trump’s New “Muslim Ban” Wipes Out Hope for 250,000 Afghans Seeking Refuge in US The US owes Afghans a huge debt, but instead of starting to repair decades of harm, Trump is banning them from the US.

The U.S. owes Afghans and Afghan Americans a huge debt. Instead of repaying this debt and undoing the harm it has caused over four decades, Muslim ban 2.0 has been yet another deep betrayal and abandonment.

Former Afghan soldier arrested at Houston-area home by ICE, stripped of asylum protections, attorney says | Houston Public Media The soldier is one of at least 20,000 Afghans seeking asylum nationwide, having fled Afghanistan after aiding the U.S. military during the two-decades-long war there.

"A former Afghan National Army soldier in the process of applying for asylum in the U.S. was arrested last month by federal immigration agents at his Houston-area home, according to his attorney, who said the man and most of his family are being threatened with deportation."

🚨 Support Los Angeles immigrant communities 🚨

Please consider donating to one or all of the following orgs:

Immigrant Defenders Law Center: give.immdef.org/donate

LA Jail Support / Bail Fund:
account.venmo.com/u/jailsuppor...

Unión del Barrio:
uniondelbarrio.org/main/support...

What was it again that John Locke said about putting labor into the land?

I love that you, Nathan, and Nicole have this relationship. So much of the heavy lifting for my current project happened in Andrea’s company. With her at times overt and at times silent encouragement.

So true, writing bestie!

If you're working in any Victorian Studies field & would like some group support/motivation to get summer writing done, consider applying to these (VIRTUAL) seminars. You need not live in the midwestern US to apply. Seminar groups are based on topic intersections & time zones for ease of meeting.

Victorian Poetry invites submissions for its 2025 Early Career Essay Prize, which recognizes exemplary essays by untenured scholars of all ranks and affiliations (including contingently employed and graduate student colleagues). Conferred on an annual basis, the prize carries an award of $500 and publication in Victorian Poetry. Strong essays that do not win the award may also be considered for publication as recommended by the prize committee. Applications are due 4 August 2025. Scholars wishing to be considered should submit anonymized MS Word essays and brief CVs to victorianpoetryjournal@gmail.com with “Early Career Essay Prize” in the subject line. Prior to submission, consult our guidelines for authors. Winning articles will be selected according to three criteria: (1) significance of contribution to the field of Victorian poetry (including its involvement with Victorian studies and other areas of inquiry in or beyond literary studies); (2) excellence of research, interpretation, and method; and (3) efficacy of presentation. The journal continues to expand its purview to a wider compass of archives and approaches. We welcome work that capaciously (re)interprets the field's originary contexts and reconsiders Victorian poetry (broadly construed) in new, innovative, cross-disciplinary, theoretical, and / or experimental ways. For author guidelines, see the following link: https://victorian-poetry.scholasticahq.com

Excited to share the call for Victorian Poetry’s 2025 Early Career Prize! Please circulate widely. Happy to answer any questions (see the attached CFP for more details)!

My most sincere thanks to everyone who has stepped up to contribute to our legal action with AHA and ACLS to restore the NEH. More than 300 people have chipped in. Here's the link to join the fight: www.mla.org/About-Us/Sup... The fund we are using for the legal fees is Paving the Way.

Being a mom in the federal government wasn’t easy. Trump made it “impossible.” The Handbasket spoke to several moms about the series of painful choices they've had to make since January.

For Mother’s Day I talked to moms who are being put through hell because of the new administration’s policies.

“I am aware of Project 2025 and their goals of getting women out of the workforce, and this really feels like part of it.”

Read here:

"It carries on and publishes its own researches in geology, meteorology, statistics, zoology, geography, and even theology.” (1889, 47–8)

"...piers, wharves, hospitals, dispensaries, gasworks, waterworks, tramways, telegraph cables, allotments, cow meadows, artizans’ dwellings, schools, churches, and reading-rooms."

"It furnishes and maintains its own museums, parks, art galleries, libraries, concert-halls, roads, streets, bridges, markets, slaughter-houses, fire-engines, lighthouses, pilots, ferries, surfboats, steamtugs, lifeboats, cemeteries, public baths, washhouses, pounds, harbours...."

“It [the community as expressed through local or national government] provides for many thousands of us from birth to burial—midwifery, nursery, education, board and lodging, vaccination, medical attendance, medicine, public worship, amusements, and interment." ...

Feel like trotting out one of my favorite quotes in my book The Dream Life of Citizens. It's from Sydney Webb's 1889 essay "Historic." In it, he counters Herbert Spencer's 1884 diatribe against liberals granting the state more power to mitigate people's suffering and to provide public services:

You can read their fascinating essays and other gems here:
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

The Lost Orchid — Harvard University Press The forgotten story of a decades-long international quest for a rare and coveted orchid, chronicling the botanists, plant hunters, and collectors who relentlessly pursued it at great human and environ...

And congratulations to Sarah Bilston for The Lost Orchid: A Story of Victorian Plunder and Obsession. Gorgeous! www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...

Railway Infrastructure and the Victorian Novel Cambridge Core - English Literature 1830-1900 - Railway Infrastructure and the Victorian Novel

Congratulations to @nicolakirkby.bsky.social for Railway Infrastructure and the Victorian Novel. Looks amazing!: www.cambridge.org/core/books/r...

Very excited that two of our contributors to the special issue of VLC on Victorian Infrastructure that @timwatson.bsky.social and I co-edited have brand new brilliant books coming out. (1/?)

Congratulations!!!