This is fantastic! A clear and rigorous expression of all the faults I've felt inhered in the Viewpoint Diversity push.

Ancient Sayings #20: On gilded geckos YouTube video by Parchment and Clay

At the end of our 4th week of daily Sumerian proverbs, we arrive at the silliest one yet! What does it mean? Who knows, but it's delightful and apparently important enough to make cuneiform scribal students copy it down. #AncientSayings

Ancient Sayings #19: On standards YouTube video by Parchment and Clay

Let's talk about dirty donkeys today—or at least, ancient Sumerian proverbs about them! #AncientSayings

https://youtu.be/AIcpmnzIlZo?si=CGAuVlK6QMI-h2ZY

“The most consequential development of the 21st century is the destruction by the most powerful state in the international order of its own primacy.”

Quite the first sentence by @kschake.bsky.social

In the field of Religious Studies, we have people who are atheists and agnostics and people who are believers, but the field takes as an axiom that people are willing to look at religious texts historically-critically, which basically precludes a lot of the right today from participating in it.

Ancient Sayings #18: On hygiene YouTube video by Parchment and Clay

This week we're doing some of my favorite ancient Sumerian proverbs over on YouTube. This one will come in handy for any parents of small children. If it was good enough for the Sumerians, it's good enough for you! #AncientSayings

https://youtu.be/19pFRwGsRf8?si=D9gx1u24TVnqQsd6

Because let's face it, the better metaphor of a rising tide would be raising the minimum wage. And that would lift all boats.

Because let's face it, the better metaphor of a rising tide would be raising the minimum wage. And that would lift all boats.

Even more, I think we need to stop letting free market fundamentalists have the "rising tide lifts all boats" metaphor. What they have been doing, metaphorically speaking, is lifting their yachts out of the water with a crane and calling it the tide.

samuel beckett was born on this day 120 years ago. astonishing to think that if he had survived, and could run 100m in 9.57 seconds, he would be not only the oldest but also the fastest man in the world - together with his nobel prize for literature, an astonishing trifecta

I dont remember who said it but we need to bring back the idea of investing in basic research as a public good, and thus funded like one

Ancient Sayings #17: On comebacks YouTube video by Parchment and Clay

Ancient Sumerians had their friends' backs. That's how you get cuneiform blessings for the perfect comeback. Friends wish friends sick burns. #AncientSayings https://youtu.be/QDinGlJh2es?si=MkzaKs1m7qAaGBkb

“May you find a response at insults hurled at you during a dispute” human nature is timeless 💕

Ancient Sayings #17: On comebacks YouTube video by Parchment and Clay

Ancient Sumerians had their friends' backs. That's how you get cuneiform blessings for the perfect comeback. Friends wish friends sick burns. #AncientSayings https://youtu.be/QDinGlJh2es?si=MkzaKs1m7qAaGBkb

Ancient Sayings #16: On heartache YouTube video by Parchment and Clay

A poignant Sumerian proverb about pains of the body and heart. #AncientSayings https://youtu.be/AlstJpDyv-8?si=EGU7az55IawbMTpx

2026 Journalism Fellowship — Daniel Singer Prize Nominations are open until April 20. Apply now.

Do you know a journalist who fits the bill? The Rosa Luxemburg Journalism Fellowship will award one $30,000 fellowship to an early to mid-career journalist w/a history of progressive writing who lacks institutional support to do their journalistic work. Deadline to apply is April 20 at 11:59 pm ET.

“American higher education is facing down a process of authoritarian capture that threatens the long-term viability of our system of higher education.”

Ancient Sayings #15: On relevance YouTube video by Parchment and Clay

As we conclude week 3 of our #AncientSayings series, we find a relevant question among the Sumerian proverbs... https://youtu.be/ErOt6uQKhK4?si=COhs39cXPNwJiAAc

Ancient Sayings #15: On relevance YouTube video by Parchment and Clay

As we conclude week 3 of our #AncientSayings series, we find a relevant question among the Sumerian proverbs... https://youtu.be/ErOt6uQKhK4?si=COhs39cXPNwJiAAc

Hey classicists! Can any of you recommend books with translations of Greek myths that are aimed at a 9th to 12th grade level? I have a very precocious 11-year-old who is beyond "kiddish" renditions but maybe not ready for Wilson's Iliad served neat. Ideas?

Ancient Sayings #13: On unpleasantness YouTube video by Parchment and Clay

Some more Sumerian thoughts on negativity, but what does it mean? #AncientSayings

Ancient Sayings #12: On negativity YouTube video by Parchment and Clay

Today's Sumerian proverb speaks to the human tendency to focus more on loss than gain. #AncientSayings

Ancient Sayings #11: On discretion YouTube video by Parchment and Clay

Monday's Sumerian proverb advises against unpleasant speech. Why? #AncientSayings

The Benjamin quote is still my fave description of this — the phases don’t have to be strictly sequential. “Work on a good piece of writing proceeds on three levels: a musical one, where it is composed; an architectural one, where it is constructed; and finally, a textile one, where it is woven.”

Well done! That is good news.

“The Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 Budget proposes to eliminate the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and provides $38 million to conduct an orderly shutdown of the Agency.” — NEH.gov

The NEH has $207 million for FY2026. War in Iran? 1 billion per day. We go through 4.83 NEHs a day for what?

I Work Very Hard, And I Would Like To Try Cake By A Horse Hello. I am a horse. I work very hard at my job of being a horse. When humans say move the heavy thing, I move the heavy thing. When humans sit on top of me and pull on my head, I carry them where they want to go. The main food the humans give me is hay and oats. But I am thinking it would be nice to have a different food. I am thinking I would like to try cake. Yes, yes. Cake. I know all about it. When humans eat cake, it is in glad times. It is the food for a celebration, such as when a woman becomes 47. I have seen cake on the Fourth of July. When humans have a cake, they stand around it and clap hands and smile and say happy birthday at each other. Sometimes there are beautiful markings on a cake, such as balloons or a pink shape. Sometimes the top of a cake is on fire and a boy must blow on the fire with mouth wind. This is the scariest cake. I do not want this kind. But I will eat any other cake. Any cake that is not the fire cake that tries to kill the boy. Please understand: I do not get money for doing work. I do not get to go inside the house. All I am either doing my horse job or standing in my pen or eating food off the floor. I always do these things. But I have never once gotten cake and I would like it very much. I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children. I am more helpful to the farm. Children do not move the heavy things like me or let anyone ride on them. And yet they get cake. Maybe the humans will realize this. Maybe they will say, "You know who deserves cake? That horse. That horse whose back we are always on." Every day I dream about what it will be like if I get to eat cake. Here is what will happen. First, I will walk to the cake and putt my nose at it like hrrfff to make and stomping my hooves to make sure it is not a snake. Then I will trot in a circle to show that I am a horse and I am large. After that, I will nuzzle the cake to …

The horse op-ed is an instant classic. I can't tell you how much joy this piece gives me.

It should be taught in every introductory writing class in no small part because the horse arguments are so compelling. "I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children."

As a historian of the very ancient past, including some of the earliest known written records, I can confirm.

(I really need to do a thread on gender fluidity in ancient Mesopotamia.)

Ancient Sayings #10: On possessions YouTube video by Parchment and Clay

A proverb on the fleeting nature of possessions. #AncientSayings

elite enablers of Trump aren’t afraid of Trump, they’re afraid of what has to be done to politically neutralize Trump. that may sound like semantics, but its not.