Eldan Goldenberg @eldang@weirder.earth

GRADS, CONGRATS, and if you are the Indiana University student who put this on your mortar board for your ceremony, please DM me so that we may figure out a way for me to buy you every last beer or cocktail you would like to consume to properly celebrate your graduation.

LB: so we have "cello scrotum" & "guitar nipple".

How about Violin Chin, Viola Areola, and Bass Ass to complete the strings at least?

Any other #MelodyMaladies ?

For #MonochromeMonday during #AmphibianWeek:
Kan Kosaki (Japanese, b.1942)
Ameno Kaeru (#Frogs in the Rain). n.d.
woodblock print, edition of 200
https://ukiyo-e.org/image/wbp/923194627
#JapaneseArt

In #Israel, thousands of protesters are marching on the Ayalon highway and police are making arrests. They want their govt. to accept the deal with Hamas.

Open letter from #UCLA Jewish Faculty and Staff with regards to the clearing of the Palestine Solidarity Encampment on campus.

#Palestine #Israel #antisemitism #StudentSpring #Encampments

https://sites.google.com/view/ucla-jewish-faculty-staff/

having a moment of gritting my teeth at the "outside agitator" narrative for campus protests when, at least locally, so much of the food/supplies/support/meat shield/etc. is coming from people in the community who don't have current affiliations, including lots of us who were former students/staff/faculty. we're being punished for having connections that permeate between those designations, and for our material displays of solidarity. it's disincentivizing students from having connections outside of campus, when on the flip side the universities are painted like some walled off compound with no investment in the social environment around them.

whenever there's a big contradiction like this one (college students are simultaneously privileged outsiders who aren't invested in the community, or punished for building strong connections with the community), that's when i start looking at where that narrative is coming from, and who benefits from the existence of that contradiction.

A new microseason in the "Beginning of summer" (立夏 Rikka) division has begun:

Frogs start singing (蛙始鳴 Kawazu hajimete naku)

This microseason will last until May 9.

I am developing a new appreciation for what @eldang deals with on a day-to-day basis and also the depth of his knowledge about how to wrest useful information from an ArcGIS instance set up by people who would prefer that you didn't have their data.

Since October 7th, I've joined protests, fundraising events for Gaza, and students on university campuses.

As a Jew and someone who has a ton of friends and family in Israel, I want to share some thoughts on claims of antisemitism in student encampments and the broader Palestinian solidarity movement:

1/17
#Israel #Palestine #Gaza #students #universities

New joint statement by members of #UCLA’s history department, compiled from testimony of faculty present at encampment during various periods and in response to last night’s police violence against students. We make 6 explicit calls of the university administration. Read at link below.

https://history.ucla.edu/2024/05/02/statement-of-members-of-the-department-of-history-in-response-to-clearing-the-encampment-2-may-2024/

#Palestine #StudentSpring #Encampments #Universities #Gaza #Education #PoliceViolence #AcademicFreedom

Biden fucked up.

1) He responded to peaceful protests in a way that greenlit further violent crack downs from University admins and cops— the ones who've been the real instigators of any "chaos."

And 2) his response was ahistorical, to boot, omitting the rich history of disruption as a core component of student-led protest. I mean, what do you think SNCC were doing sitting down at those Woolworth's counters, if not disrupting the status quo? Why do you think campus Vietnam war protests were so successful at capturing the nation's attention? Why do think Kent State happened?

"Recalling Civil Rights Era Abuses, [The NAACP Legal Defense Fund] Roundly Condemns Rising Violations Against Peaceful Protesters and Calls for Immediate Federal Intervention"
https://www.naacpldf.org/press-release/recalling-civil-rights-era-abuses-ldf-roundly-condemns-rising-violations-against-peaceful-protesters-and-calls-for-immediate-federal-intervention/

Our department statement about the shameful actions of Gene Block which put our students at risk. I have much to say about what’s been going on at #UCLA and little of it good. Block must resign.

The students at the encampment, with whom I spent a part of today, are an example of solidarity and democracy. Their right to protest on campus must be defended.

https://history.ucla.edu/2024/05/01/statement-of-members-of-the-ucla-department-of-history-faculty-in-response-to-the-attack-on-the-encampment-on-30-april-2024/

#LosAngeles #Palestine #Israel #StudentSpring #histodons