the hot dam historian (phd)

got something in the mail today

luckily it was not that triggering for me

also don't read katabasis by rf kuang unless you have truly accepted that academia is not worth it

since finishing my phd i've been reading more fiction, and now in 2026 i've already finished 26 books, all fiction. pure bliss.

Statement from the family of Alex Pretti, Michael and Susan Pretti: We are heartbroken but also very angry. Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately he will not be with us to see his impact. I do not throw around the hero term lightly. However his last thought and act was to protect a woman. The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump's murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being pepper sprayed. Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man. Thank you.

Statement from the family of Alex Pretti.

"I am a children's entertainer who specializes in face painting," writes a woman now in hiding from the federal government for witnessing a state-sanctioned street execution

🧵“How do seemingly ordinary people become agents of state murder?” This is one of the guiding questions I ask students in my graduate class on genocide/state violence. With recent events, it is a question many Americans are asking.

I do not have a definitive answer, but here is a reading list: 1/

Defenceless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.

— W.H. Auden, Sept. 1, 1939

Alex Pretti was a colleague at the VA. We hired him to recruit for our trial. He became an ICU nurse- I lover working with him. He was a good kind person who lived to help and these fuckers executed him.

White. Hot. Rage.

It’s like they read the grievances and thought, “wow,whoever this guy is, he sounds awesome.”

i give him one week and then he caves.

i do!

also comparing the maps is cool, bc you can establish to them that rome is clearly a sea based empire, while the han is land based, but the han also expand along rivers. and both empires face struggles with different climates to their own (arid, mountainous, etc.), and of course the outside invaders

my favorite part of this unit is how impressed they are with the aqueducts when all they knew of the roman empire before is the gladiators. as a water historian...i spend a lot of time discussing sewers and aqueducts and water mills 😂

i'm really excited for their DBQ (which is required) where they'll compare the uses and perspectives on technology in the roman and han empires, it's gonna be great

awesome thank you!!!

(haven't decided if this is a good enough prompt yet, but basically i want them to answer why the republic fell)

To what extent can the fall of the Republic be understood as the result of "great men" and their choices, and to what extent was it caused by broader conflicts, issues, institutions, or trends within Roman society?

BUT, i want to assign them an extra credit assignment: choose a monologue from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and film it - in any creative way or in the original form, and write a five paragraph essay with the prompt:

they're tenth graders, the unit is until the end of october, and we're comparing Han China to Ancient Rome 😏, basically the main objective is to learn what makes an empire successful, and introduce the skill of comparison into their writing.

@carlosfnorena.bsky.social if you have any suggestions 🫡

if i want my kids to write about the fall of the roman republic and the rise of the empire...what sources should they absolutely read? primary or secondary?

i am kicking myself for never taking a roman history class in college.

made a chai spice box
(from top left: black peppercorn, tulsi, candied ginger, rose petals, assam tea, fennel, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom)

thank you!

nah i just like the taste

but if you want to move away from just peat and into even better single malts: highland park, aberlour, and benriach

my recommendations are always going to start with my big three: laphroaig, lagavulin, and bowmore

for peaty scotches you mainly want to stick with the islay region, other scotches may feel like they have peat but it's usually not actual peat (sometimes it is though)

always ready to give out recs. first check out this list of islay scotches from my spreadsheet:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...