Bench Ansfield

🔥🔥Mail day🔥🔥

Pretty excited about this one by @benchansfield.bsky.social which I hope to write about in the near future !

New Books, by Dan Piepenbring We've recently updated our website to make signing in easier and more secure

“The hand that torched the Bronx and scores of other cities,” Ansfield writes, “was that of a landlord impelled by the market and guided by the state.”

Dan Piepenbring on Born in Flames, by Bench Ansfield (@benchansfield.bsky.social).

Andrew Cuomo couldn’t allow his first, tepid recognition of reality — that the Israeli government, with the full support of the Trump administration, is starving the people of Gaza — last more than a few hours without walking it back.

This is someone who believes in nothing.

Anti-ICE pasteup spotted in San Diego, California

Brown University is ‘functionally inaccessible’ to transgender students after Trump settlement “Everyone I talked to thought it only applied to sports. But it applies to everything," one transgender student told The Advocate.

The Trump administration effectively created a de facto bathroom ban at Brown University and none of the major media is covering it, and if they do, they character it as about sports. This is how the trans visa ban was enacted and characterized.

www.advocate.com/news/transge...

lol thanks Eileen!

Thanks, Matt!

The “deal” that Brown made with the Trump admin is much more extreme than is being reported. It includes government oversight of course evaluations and no barrier to government interference in faculty hiring.

Read it for yourself here:

www.brown.edu/sites/defaul...

Brown's faculty senate should consider abolishing course evals, if they're just going to be used as fodder for witch hunts against vulnerable faculty.

Thanks Sam!

omg someone just alerted me that it's sold out

New York Times list of 22 Books Coming in August, featuring Born in Flames: The Business of Arson and the Remaking of the American City, out Aug 19

Flyer for book launch event featuring author Bench Ansfield and interlocutor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

PHILLY!
Join Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor and me for the launch of BORN IN FLAMES!

8/21 at Uncle Bobbie's, 7pm

Tickets here: eventbrite.com/e/uncle-bobb...

@keeanga.bsky.social

Preorder BORN IN FLAMES by Bench Ansfield and a set of these beautiful stickers can be yours! Made in collaboration with Jenna Peters-Golden, + an original by Mary Tremonte @justseeds.bsky.social. tinyurl.com/4nx7rcv8

New Books, by Dan Piepenbring

Appreciate this review of Born in Flames by @harpers.bsky.social and esp the use of David Wojnarowicz' iconic Burning House
harpers.org/archive/2025...

What a graph

New: After Gaza aid flotilla volunteer & US citizen Christian Smalls was taken into Israeli custody, seven uniformed individuals beat him, choking him & kicking him in the legs, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.

Smalls is co-founder of the Amazon Labor Union.

HAPPENING NOW: a group of New York rabbis are being arrested at a protest outside the Israeli consulate calling for bringing food into Gaza, an end to the war, and return of all hostages

@newjewishnarrative.bsky.social

Yes! All you need is an order number

Folks, you are going to want to read this book that is already really well reviewed!!!

🥹

Born in Flames &#8220;A young historian&#8217;s superlative debut . . . this excellent book delivers the truth about &#8216;the burning years.' &#8212;<em>Kirkus Reviews</em> (starred review)<br /><br /> &#8220;[R]...

Preorder the book at any of these spots: wwnorton.com/books/978132...

Four stickers against a pink background: 1) “we are born in flames” written against fire, 2) two arms clutching one another with “your risk is my risk” etched upon them, 3) a woman in a bathtub with the words “my home is not your asset” written on the tub, 4) an apartment building with a fire escape and clothesline, tomato and sunflower plant, and residents waving to each other, reading “tenants built this city”

The BORN IN FLAMES stickers are here and they’re beautiful! Made in collaboration with my dear friend, Jenna Peters-Golden, + an original by Mary Tremonte
@justseeds.bsky.social, these will be sent to you free if you order BORN IN FLAMES by Aug 19th and submit here: tinyurl.com/4nx7rcv8

I’m witnessing the deliberate starvation of Gaza’s children – why is the world letting it happen? | Nick Maynard A permanent ceasefire, the free and safe flow of aid, and the lifting of the blockade are needed now – all could be achieved with political will, says UK surgeon Nick Maynard

I’m witnessing the deliberate starvation of Gaza’s children – why is the world letting it happen? | Nick Maynard

Born in Flames &#8220;A young historian&#8217;s superlative debut . . . this excellent book delivers the truth about &#8216;the burning years.' &#8212;<em>Kirkus Reviews</em> (starred review)<br /><br /> &#8220;[R]...

You can preorder from any bookstore. Here's the link to the book:
wwnorton.com/books/978132...

And shoutout to @deanspade.bsky.social for the idea!

Excited to announce a sticker giveaway for BORN IN FLAMES. Preorder by 8/19, fill out this form, and receive 4 beautiful stickers for free!!

Art made in collaboration with Jenna Peters-Golden + a Mary Tremonte original @justseeds.bsky.social

tinyurl.com/4nx7rcv8

This is unreal: Houston just made it illegal "for any person to sit or lie down on a sidewalk or on a blanket, stool, or any other object placed upon a sidewalk."

Being unhoused in public is now a criminal offense.

Sixteen Gazans, Including 10 Children, Killed by IDF While Waiting for Aid, Medics Say

It should be intolerable that this is a daily occurrence.

www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

Seems extremely bad that the military remains deployed in Los Angeles and there doesn't seem to be anything that people with power are doing about it.