"To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing."
Raymond Williams

AI and the Corporate Capture of Knowledge #digitalhumanities #highered ino.to/L7FKCo9

Smithsonian Removes Label Noting Trump Impeachments

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/a...

History is being rewritten at the Smithsonian museums.

#history #skystorians

The U.S. Is Funding Fewer Grants in Every Area of Science and Medicine A quiet policy change means the government is making fewer bets on long-term science.

The U.S. Is Funding Fewer Grants in Every Area of Science and Medicine www.nytimes.com/interactive/... #highered #stem #research

The Civics Kits will extend this democratic ethos, using art and design to encourage critical engagement with civic life.

They were designed to be portable and participatory, incorporating elements such as games, instructions, and musical scores. Produced in multiples with inexpensive materials, they disrupted the exclusivity of traditional art objects, transforming spectators into active participants.

Influenced by Marcel Duchamp’s *Boîte-en-valise*, these kits challenged traditional notions of art by emphasizing interactivity, playfulness, and the blending of art with everyday life.

The Civics Kits draw inspiration from Fluxkits, developed by artists associated with Fluxus, an avant-garde art movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

Each kit engages with a central theme relevant to civic life as the United States approaches its Semiquincentennial. For this round of funding, the focus will be on five key areas: environment, history, knowledge, place, and artificial intelligence.

Civics Kits are interactive educational resources designed to cultivate civic literacy and foster engagement with democratic processes. At the heart of this initiative is the belief that creative expression and inquiry are essential to sustaining an active democracy.

I am happy to announce that Lasana Kazembe and I have been awarded a grant by the Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation to develop our project, "Civics Kits: Tools for a Democratic Future."

#humanities #arts #democracy #citizenship #education

Humanities and arts degrees disappearing in parts of UK Students from rural and disadvantaged areas disproportionally affected by subject cuts, British Academy warns

Humanities and arts degrees disappearing in parts of UK: Students from rural and disadvantaged areas disproportionally affected by subject cuts, British Academy warns www.timeshighereducation.com/news/humanit... #highered #academicsky

Hot Off The Press: Victorians in the Bookshops - 7 talks for 6 Our autumn lecture series celebrates the remarkable recent flourishing of publications on Victorian architecture and related topics.

Victorian Society's Online Autumn Lecture Series 2025: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hot-off-th... #c19 #skystorians

Also due on the 15 September are proposals for 'Terraqueous Globe: Land and Sea in the Age of Sterne' #cfp #skystorians #18thC #BSECS 🗃️

Full details at the link below:
www.bsecs.org.uk/news-and-eve...

🎉📣 Announcing the IHR Research Training Courses for October - December 2025.

Visit the IHR website to register and find detailed information on each course: www.history.ac.uk/study-traini...

First They Came For National Park Service Staff. Then They Came For the Funds. Then They Came For the Books. Where Will It End? Today The Washington Post is reporting on some of the books that National Park Service employees have flagged for review owing to their content.

First They Came For National Park Service Staff. Then They Came For the Funds. Then They Came For the Books. Where Will It End? #NationalParks #PublicHistory #NationalParkService open.substack.com/pub/kevinmle...

JUST IN: A federal judge has blocked the cancelation of $175 million in National Endowment for the Humanities grants, mass terminated by DOGE in April. She says the effort was transparent viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment.

hahaha :-)

E.P.A. Says It Will Eliminate Its Scientific Research Arm

E.P.A. Says It Will Eliminate Its Scientific Research Arm www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/c... #science #environment #publichealth #research

Let’s make it happen!

A Yorkshire terrier, looking at the camera, standing in front of a shelf of books under a window.

This is my new puppy who visited me in my office for the first time today. She was very helpful with my research.

Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun’s 1776 oval oil portrait of Karl Heinrich, Prince of Nassau-Siegen. He stands in a richly embroidered pink suit and white stockings, one hand resting on a gilded rococo desk and the other pointing to a globe. A classical column and garden foliage form the background, all framed by the oval composition.

Meredith Martin's essay “Paradise Lost” pairs Horvath’s Room for the Lost Paradise with
Vigée Le Brun’s Prince of Nassau portrait to explore rococo simulation, colonial extraction, and period room historiography:
https://loom.ly/ViyGIrs

#18thcentury #arthistory

Room for the Lost Paradise: A Symposium – by Jason M. Kelly On June 6, 2025, Resplendent Dreams: Reawakening the Rococo opened at the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) in Indianapolis. The exhibition brings together three artists—Robert Horvath, Diego Montoya, ...

Happy to announce that our essays for “Room for the Lost Paradise: A Symposium” — part of the Resplendent Dreams: Reawakening the Rococo exhibition at the IMA — are now available on Journal18 www.journal18.org/nq/room-for-...

#18thcentury #18c #arthistory #art #skystorians

Report: National Science Foundation headquarters to be taken over by HUD, displacing 1,800+ employees | ALXnow The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will reportedly take over the National Science Foundation (NSF) headquarters building (2415 Eisenhower Ave.), displacing more than 1,833 NSF emplo...

Link to original article:

www.alxnow.com/2025/06/24/r...

Bar chart titled “The Supreme Court vs. The Lower Courts: Rulings on the Trump Administration” showing three horizontal bar charts for May 1-June 23, 2025. Federal District Courts: large red bar (82 cases, 94.3% against) with tiny green bar (5 cases, 5.7% for). Circuit Courts of Appeal: medium red bar (15 cases, 68.2% against) with smaller green bar (7 cases, 31.8% for). Supreme Court: tiny red bar (1 case, 6.3% against) with large green bar (15 cases, 93.7% for). Shows dramatic reversal from lower courts ruling against Trump administration to Supreme Court ruling for it.

Since May:

Federal district courts have ruled against Trump admin 94% of the time.

Supreme Court has sided with the Trump admin 94% of the time.

A judiciary at war with itself.

"Turner has made specific requests for accommodations in the building, which was completed in 2017, according to NSF staff. These include a dedicated executive suite on the 19th floor, construction of an executive dining room, and reserved parking spaces for his five cars."

"HUD Secretary Scott Turner and Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin reportedly plan to announce the takeover Wednesday (June 25), according to information provided to journalist Dan Garisto by multiple NSF staff members. The transition will occur over the next two years."

Report: National Science Foundation headquarters to be taken over by HUD, displacing 1,800+ employees

#science #research