Especially in traditions (like American evangelicalism) where there isn't really a sense of an actual continuity with Peter or anyone else and so it's purely mimetic. As in, "do this in remembrance of me" is not usually about enacting anything supernatural (a la Catholic communion)
Thanks guys, lots of good tuff to look into! I may not have worded that well, but it makes perfect sense to me in ancient religious frameworks, but I'm primarily interested in what modern practitioners (who presumably would reject a lot of these ancient/pagan logics) understand as happening
Anyway, sorry to all my classes for how I insist on ALWAYS making them critique how many versions of heroic narrative simply have no space or mythic language for a heroine because they're both cause and product of toxic masculinity
And as an extension of that, we see things like consensus building and collectivism as weak and a lack of Leadership™ because we've seen so many stories where the hero takes decisive (unilateral) action to save the day in the face of collective resistance
Whenever I teach classes that talk about Greek heroes (which is all the time), I inevitably end up harping on how gendered certain modes of heroism are and how conditioned we are by the stories we consume to think that a hero is a lone (usually male) figure saving the day
God I just love Rebecca Solnit so much. Gift link here!
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/m...
So is the implication that everyone is somehow possessed of the same spiritual dunamis as Jesus and the apostles AND that power is especially contingent on proximity? Or is it supposed to be mimicking their acts in a ritual/homage sense, a la Protestant communion, without expectation of efficacy?
(When I told them, in Bible class at my vaguely southern baptist evangelical junior high, that I was going to public school for HS, a classroom full of 8th graders and the teacher gathered round to pray for my soul's safety in such a heathen place)
One of the things that I find objectively fascinating is the idea that prayers work better via physical contact. It's been a minute since I have been part of one of these and I sadly didn't think to ask about the logic at the time but i am so curious about the imagined reason
Yessss, I wrote about the Prosciutto di Portici last summer! Such a fun artifact. 🐷
www.livescience.com/archaeology/...
So, I have just learned about this prosciutto sundial (or HAM CLOCK as I will be calling it) and I am truly obsessed with this little guy!
"The prosciutto has proved easier to describe than to explain" 😂 😂
perfect, no notes
I am extremely excited to see what insufferable Discourse™ this prompts. More or less than the Nolan Odyssey, measured either in volume or insufferability?
www.avclub.com/heated-rival...
The latest Pasts Imperfect is out, focused on the closing of humanities depts. & museums. @otavano.bsky.social discusses the U. of Ottawa, @mokersel.bsky.social on the DePaul Art Museum, @meirazk.bsky.social & @vox-magica.bsky.social on shuttering religious studies depts, & Justin Vorhis on U. Iowa.
Somehow they seem to keep getting reinvented over and over
It's now blocked on our campus but it's limited to people with school addresses and apparently it's fairly popular, though clearly not in a way that's on the radar of many faculty, here at least. It might be worth looking into your campus because this feels rife for abuse
![However, Fizz is not all helpful tips and student support. The anonymity of the app can cause problems, too. Since users do not have to attach their real names to posts, some take advantage of that and post whatever they want, no matter how harmful. While Fizz can be helpful, it can also harm a campus.
“[Fizz] amplifies rumors, pile-on, and unkind behavior …most items are more about community impact than criminal conduct,” Delgado said. Harassment and doxxing still remain a serious concern.
When people can post without accountability, it can quickly escalate into something ugly. Students may have their personal details shared without permission, leading to real-world consequences like stalking or public humiliation. Rumors, too, can spiral out of control.
As Cantu Delgado noted, there have been reports where posts escalate into “doxxing, threats or bias-related comments,” showing the darker side of the platform.
Misinformation is another big issue. If someone posts a rumor about a student or a class, it can quickly go viral, even without evidence. This can cause panic or make students feel betrayed, and without proper moderation, it is hard to control. Cantu Delgado pointed out that Fizz has similar dynamics to past apps like YikYak, where “anonymity dynamics are similar” and “the impact depends on how we use it.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:62jt6v3s6r7q7umchu753xr3/bafkreih2fnjqgnplasjrgzx6rmtnrm3epjjpufba2aagklivbpak4syemi)
So, we had an incident on our campus that's led me to learn about the latest "anonymous app where people can say whatever with no accountability or consequences" -- which is called Fizz -- and there's been basically no marketing or news coverage of it that I've seen. Wanted to share as a PSA
Henceforth, I will be describing the way that U.S. men’s hockey spectacularly squandered good will, brand recognition, and fan loyalty as “pulled a Target.”
They pulled a Target.
I mean...
LOOK AT THIS LITTLE GUY! 😍😍😍
Never giving up on my bit of announcing that something is rotten in Denmark every time Denmark takes the lead in hockey
"ATTENTION: now something is no longer rotten, we're tied!"
"OH GOD, AGAIN ROTTEN IN DENMARK!"
Happy Valentine's Day to everyone who isn't a Nazi, and especially to the trekkies.
This was what made me decide I needed to yell about this piece (I know, that's what a click-based model wants, but I got big mad about this). There are PLENTY of big money players who are actively funding reactionary institutions at the same institutions where the English program is being defunded
And quoting Leo Strauss in a piece ostensibly arguing taht political ideology shouldn't impact the study of the humanities is . . . . a choice.
BUT EVEN BEYOND THAT, it's not actually bad to think that learning should ultimately promote a better world? We can fight about how to define "a better world" (I'm at a Jesuit institution, we do a lot of fighting about what "the common good" means), but I don't think that's a bad basic orientation
To start with, when you fund race- or gender-informed scholarship (or any other social justice ideology), you are funding the disciplines/approaches/methodologies that have done the most in recent history to make us better readers of ancient texts. Period.
In what world are these "permanent" and "timeless" and "wisdom-seeking" topics not inherently political? A huge part of why Mellon funds "political" topics is that European/American scholarship has been, across the scope of its history, oblivious to how much all of these questions ARE political
I actually know something about this particular nefarious and ideologically motivated project and it simply isn't "gaseous buzzword-mongering" (something he never actually claims, but by highlighting this as an example, kinda suggests he thinks his is more buzzword-mongering than serious scholarship
I can't help but wonder if this is less about "elite academic culture" and its "disinclination to be accountable to laypeople" and think that it perhaps might be because she has no interest in what feels like a bad faith attack trying to cast the value of their org's ideals as a nefarious ideology
But there are so SO many people who study my sort of humanities, Greek and Roman literature, and turn out to have what I would say are terrible politics and morals, if that's our only sales pitch, we're in more than just budgetary trouble.
Acting like this is the "sales pitch" that is dominant across the humanities so willfully ignores so much. I don't think most people argue that the humanities necessarily make anyone A Good Person. Do they offer you the tools to be a more self-examined and thoughtful one? I'd say yes
