Alex E. Stern

"Defund the humanities to ensure that no one learns my brilliant insights are not novel" seems to be a working theory explaining a lot of techbro animus.

My god no! It was mass slaughter! In 1915, the US government counted the largest ever horse population in the US at > 21 million, which started to drop in the 1920s until the population hit 3 million in 1960 when the count ended. Horses live for 25, 30 years. This was not natural decline.

An extraordinary paragraph. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

We have strayed so so far from reading books for pizza

A TEACH-IN IN DEFENSE OF HISTORY AND MUSEUMS. Sunday, October 26th - Sunup to Sundown. Washington, DC - The National Mall, "AMERICA'S FRONTYARD". LECTURES, READINGS, PERFORMANCES, AND CONVERSATIONS IN DEFENSE OF HISTORY AND MUSEUMS. FEATURING KELLIE CARTER JACKSON, NICOLE HEMMER, DEREK MUSGROVE, NATE DIMEO, TRESSIE MCMILLAN COTTOM, AMANDA SEALES, JODY AVIRGAN, JAMES FALLOWS, MARTHA JONES, MARCIA CHATELAIN, PAUL BUTLER, NATHAN CONNOLLY, AND MORE. ORGANIZED BY NATE DIMEO (THE MEMORY PALACE) AND JODY AVIRGAN (THIS DAY). All Welcome. More Info, Sign-Up, Latest Updates https://linktr.ee/historyteachin

DC friends!! Join us on this Sunday on the National Mall for a teach-in in defense of history and museums, ft. an all-star line-up! We’ll be there from sun-up to sun-down. More info here: linktr.ee/historyteachin

M.I.T. Rejects a White House Offer for Special Funding Treatment

This is the way

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...

I’m a slowish reader, but the archival material she draws on here was so fascinating and well utilized that I sped through the piece like it was a novel.

Whether or not you work on Greater Reconstruction, this piece is worth your time.

This is a brilliant and impactful piece of Greater Reconstruction scholarship shows just how much we can learn about this transformative and truly national period when we analyze the home and other intimate spaces of nineteenth century American life.

Journal of American history article by Nicole Martin. Reconstructing the American Home: Western Boardinghouses on the Comstock Load. Published 15 September 2025.

🔥 Brand new Greater Reconstruction scholarship, hot off the press!🗃️

Situating her reader near Nevada’s Comstock Lode, Nicole Martin shows “how the idealized free-labor home at the heart of Reconstruction policy played out in rapidly industrializing economies struggling to reconcile old/new values.”

Blue states should make democracy the prevailing theme of the upcoming school year. Not just civics/social studies classes, but democracy-reinforcing lessons & experiences integrated throughout the curriculum.

Boldly educate through the crisis, don't leave children in despair, teach a better way.

Tell me again why Business Majors are more valuable than Humanities Majors?

Because structural thinking offers inoculation against authoritarianism, the Right has vilified terms that nod to structure (privilege, patriarchy, critical theory), and attacked the institutions trying to help people understand systemic problems. Refusing to use the terms emboldens further attacks.

Opinion | Concentration camps are not just part of our past, but our present and future From David M. Perry: From Minnesota’s Fort Snelling to Japanese internment camps to Florida's Alligator Alcatraz, these camps have become an American tradition.

“Someday, I hope, we’re going to have a reckoning over the horrors of this moment, but I don’t think we can do it without a clearer understanding of how this fits into U.S. history. There’s a tendency to say, “This isn’t who we are,” and I get the impulse, but history is never that simple.”

Medieval painting of someone with their emotional support dragon, c. 1503-1508. (Shows person holding small dragon’s leash)

this could fix me

Increased layoffs and demanding more from your current workers? No wonder higher ed admin is so all-in on AI.

Faculty Are Latest Targets of Higher Ed’s AI-ification A new partnership between OpenAI and Instructure will embed generative AI in Canvas. It may make grading easier, but faculty are skeptical it will enhance teaching and learning.

www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

“In the history of [EdTech] there has never been an instance of large-scale, data-intensive corporate learning infrastructure that has met the needs of learners... The goal with these technologies is to make money, not support people’s unique learning, teaching and working styles.” - Britt Paris

*taps sign*

Let me add that AI can't do this. Consuming the historiography leads to new questions leading to new sources leading to new discoveries. This is a creative act. But facts alone are never enough. Facts must be interpreted. That means immersing oneself in historians' understanding of context.
12/12

If you're organizing a conference roundtable, you can't go wrong inviting @kmkosc.bsky.social, Zoe Waldman, and Stuart Marshall

These folks did an absolutely tremendous job sharing their expertise and engaging with each other and our 40+ person audience for Insights from Indian Country: Rethinking Traditional American History Narratives. 🗃️ #SHEAR2025

The narrowing of what we imagine as "the liberal arts" to a subset of humanities subjects (literature, philosophy, art, etc.) should be rejected.

The liberal arts in fact embrace *the whole range* of non-pre-professional subjects, including the natural sciences.

That's the vision we should defend.

These are the times that try men’s souls.

A photo looking out towards the sea, with a sandy path in front and long grasses leading up to the shore. White, digital text is repeated on top of the image as follows: THERE IS ENOUGH IF WE SHARE THERE IS ENOUGH IF WE SHARE THERE IS ENOUGH IF WE SHARE THERE IS ENOUGH IF WE SHARE THERE IS ENOUGH IF WE SHARE THERE IS ENOUGH IF WE SHARE THERE IS ENOUGH IF WE SHARE THERE IS ENOUGH IF WE SHARE THERE IS ENOUGH IF WE SHARE THERE IS ENOUGH IF WE SHARE THERE IS ENOUGH IF WE SHARE THERE IS ENOUGH IF WE SHARE THERE IS ENOUGH IF WE SHARE THERE IS ENOUGH IF WE SHARE

I'll say it over and over.

I do not believe in gate keeping.

I do not believe in pulling up the ladder.

I believe in kicking the wall down like the Kool-Aid man, and making room as I go for those who come next.

Just because it was hard for me, doesn't mean it has to be hard for anyone else.

History requires deep, extensive research a lot of that research will end up not being directly relevant. You won't know that until you get in it. Research isn't just pulling a doc with all the answers, it's finding connections, it's understanding what's *not* being said, it's knowing context.

"If we work together, this can go unfold in a way they do not expect"