having this thought a lot recently for no particular personal reason(s)

Personally I think "You have one shot at an academic career and too bad if that happens during a world-historical collapse in research funding" is maybe not a great long-term professional incentive structure

Two efforts to help Hampshire workers facing job loss:

General emergency relief fund: www.helphampshireworkers.com

Fundraiser for staff of Hampshire's Early Learning Center, which will also close: www.gofundme.com/f/elc-staff-...

Title page of our paper, “The Politics of Black Classification: Sociopolitical Cues and Racial Perception,” with Lauren Davenport (Stanford) and Hunter Rendleman (UC Berkeley), dated April 14, 2026. Abstract: What makes someone Black in American society today? From Donald Trump questioning Kamala Harris’s racial identity to Joe Biden’s claim that hesitant Black voters “ain’t Black,” American politics frequently brings questions of racial authenticity and belonging to the surface. Yet political science often approaches race as a fixed attribute rather than a social construction. Here, we seek to understand how Americans define blackness in social and political life. Using a conjoint experiment with a racially diverse sample that includes Black, white, and mixed race Black-white respondents, we evaluate how ascribed and acquired traits influence perceptions of blackness. The results show that inherited characteristics—particularly parentage and skin tone, which are the strongest determinants of racial classification—play a central role, while sociopolitical cues such as partisanship, neighborhood context, and spousal race also influence racial classification. Using a continuous measure, we also show that respondents make graded assessments of blackness rather than purely binary classifications, with some individuals perceived as more Black than others. Black respondents are more likely than white respondents to classify a broader set of profiles as Black, consistent with a more inclusive understanding of racial membership, yet they also place greater emphasis on shared political identity. These findings clarify how racial categories are socially constructed and why that construction carries real political and social consequences.

Our paper, “The Politics of Black Classification: Sociopolitical Cues and Racial Perception” (w/ Lauren Davenport & @hrendleman.bsky.social), has been conditionally accepted at Perspectives on Politics!

Sharing abstract below. Long time coming, but we are really proud of this paper.

More soon!

Cover of the business of racism: labor and environment in Brazil's racial Capitalism by Ian Carrillo

The Introduction of my book is currently free to read.

assets-us-01.kc-usercontent.com/f7ca9afb-82c...

Winning the Boston Marathon in my car

Lucy, a fuzzy black and tan miniature poodle, sits on a couch panting with her pink tongue hanging out

I wish I looked this cute while regulating my body temperature

Donate to Help Rohingya Refugee Families with Basic Needs, organized by Carolina S The Rohingya community in South Asia has been devastated by the withdrawal … Carolina S needs your support for Help Rohingya Refugee Families with Basic Needs

A PhD student in my department is doing fieldwork with Rohingya refugees in Delhi. She is raising money for families who have been severely impacted by massive cuts to foreign aid and by attacks by the state. She will distribute this directly as these folks have no access to banking or wage labor.

Bluesky telling me to try again

Aaliyah in 2000:

what in thee fuck is the news out of Virginia this morning. Jesus.

We’re looking for a writer We’re hiring a writer who can make the world’s largest problems understandable to our large Our World in Data audience.

Please help share what must be one of the best jobs ever. We are looking for a writer to join @ourworldindata.org to work with our fantastic team including @maxroser.bsky.social and @hannahritchie.bsky.social. £80k - £120k / ideally full time / location flexible
ourworldindata.org/hiring-write...

“This decision from a politician-turned-higher-education-administrator shortchanges Texas Tech students & hangs them out to dry in the job market.”

— Brian Evans, Texas AAUP President.

32BJ SEIU members have voted today to authorize a strike if a contract is not reached for 34,000 residential building service workers in New York City by midnight, April 20th.

The real estate industry is trying to increase healthcare costs for workers and create a two tier workforce

heated chivalry

couldn't happen to a nicer guy :)

When I rescued Miss Maude, she was 1.5 pounds of floof who would crawl up my leg to get my attention. Today, this sweet, darling clown turned 11 years old, and I simply can’t imagine a world without this perfect creature.

Honestly still in shock by its placement, but my article (and job talk paper), “Indigenous Constitutionalism,” is officially out in the Harvard Law Review. A brief thread on this project🧵

harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-13...

can someone tell us what the queer youths are listening to

Why aren't students protesting?

Now available free online through May, short essays in PS on the early Trump presidency -- based on roundtables George Edwards organized at last year's Midwest and APSA conferences. See next post for contributors.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

i KNOW it's gonna smell crazy in there

Call for Applications: Frances McCall Rosenbluth Junior Political Economy Mentorship Program | The Economic Misfit Submission formThe Political Economy (PE) organized section of the American Political Science Association (APSA) invites applications from junior scholars for participation in the Frances McCall Rosen...

📢 Frances McCall Rosenbluth Junior Political Economy Mentorship Program (2026)

The APSA invites applications for it's Junior Mentorship Program

💰 Funding: $750 participation stipend

Deadline: 1 May 2026

Read more here: theeconomicmisfit.com/2026/04/09/c...

Virginia Public Workers Make Headway on Bargaining Rights After a years-long campaign by unions, Virginia’s General Assembly passed legislation to extend collective bargaining rights to nearly half a million state, county, and municipal government employees....

After a years-long campaign by unions, Virginia’s General Assembly passed legislation to extend collective bargaining rights to nearly half a million state, county, and municipal government employees labornotes.org/2026/04/virg...

😎

In Photos: Contract faculty’s long journey to a deal

After nearly a decade of organizing, contract faculty at NYU recently ratified their first unionized agreement with the university.

📰 https://ow.ly/5ZiZ50YIG20

A huge loss, a bad sign. Plus the elimination of Hampshire College means an end to one of the best things about Hampshire: getting to take classes there on UMass tuition. (I did, all the sweeter for having been accepted to but not being able to afford Hampshire.) RIP “the Five Colleges.”

cc several swaths of academia 🥴

Screenshot of article link.

📣 ACADEMIC JOB: Manchester Law School is recruiting researchers. We are a critical, socio-legal school with specialisms in Rights, Inequalities & Justice; Regulation & Sustainability; Sports & Creative Cultures. Please consider applying and/or spreading the word. manmetjobs.mmu.ac.uk/jobs/vacancy...

not the typo in the first post. 😒

screenshot of footnote 13 (one of the real ones) from the linked and shared draft article. it reads as follows: "13 Miles Klee, "Grok Rolls Out Pornographic Anime Companion, Lands Department of Defense Contract," Rolling Stone (July 14, 2025), link address to article." Professor Smith then adds the following note alongside the citation: "If you've made it down to this footnote, stop for a minute and let that headline marinate."

**true for both real and made-up footnotes, btw. here's an early real one to @milesklee.bsky.social and, well,...oof.
🥴🙃