@citizenwald
Historian, Hampshire College, Amherst MA Europe C18-20, book history, historic preservation Past service: SHARP sharpweb.org, Massachusetts Center for the Book https://www.massbook.org/ Co-editor, Routledge History of Antisemitism http://tiny.cc/pb7xzz
Survey: Most Americans think their fellow citizens are bad people
www.washingtonpost.c...
Not me & here. I mean, sometimes we're silly woke here in Town of Amherst, MA but
We close off streets so amphibians can have sex
www.amherstma.gov/m/...
I call that good government
Timeline cleanse: Smetana for an era of somber headlines
He was chagrined that the comedic "The Bartered [literally: sold] Bride" far exceeded the popularity of his serious historical operas
But it IS a work of genius and joy
Here: on beer vs. love
bronze commemorative plaque dated 1923, c. 11 x 14.5 cm bespectacled bearded composer above a musical phrase from the polka in "The Bartered Bride"
Leon Platinga argues that Smetana did not create a Czech Classical music from folk elements. Rather, "his personal idiom comprised of diverse elements, some of them imitative of Bohemian folk styles, came to be accepted as uniquely representative of the nation's musical culture"
obelisk with black plaque with gold: star B. Smetana 1824-1884 tribute of flowers on the horizontal base steeples of the regothicized church in the background
close-up of bases of the now three monuments seen from the other side central monument features facsimile signature and dates of birth and death in gold on a black plaque the flanking ones feature musical phrases from Ma VlΓ‘st, again in gold on a black plaque
The grave of BedΕich Smetana (b. 2 March 1824) in Prague's VyΕ‘ehrad cemetery--burial place of the great figures of the nation--originally held a single obelisk (2008 photo). 2 added smaller monuments feature musical phrases from Ma VlΓ‘st
![postal cover
at top right
two stamps depicting Smetana with the National Theater in the background:
green 1,50 crowns, and blue 5,00
special cancellation [this one apparently dated 4 June?] for the 125h anniversary of Smetana's birth, from his birthplace of Litomysl
left postal cachet with phrase from the opera LibuΕ‘e](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:atqha7cmdeptuv7wjgwlvdbn/bafkreiahyrd6kw5yrkyekf3oe32z3ntem6d6fnshtwmsgqdkkmy6eeupxa@jpeg)
postal cover at top right two stamps depicting Smetana with the National Theater in the background: green 1,50 crowns, and blue 5,00 special cancellation [this one apparently dated 4 June?] for the 125h anniversary of Smetana's birth, from his birthplace of Litomysl left postal cachet with phrase from the opera LibuΕ‘e
2 March 1824: birth of Czech composer BedΕich Smetana, generally seen as a pioneer of "nationalist" music.
Although best known for his symphonic cycle, Ma VlΓ‘st (My Fatherland), a 125th-anniversary cover features a phrase from his opera on LibuΕ‘e, legendary founder of the nation
This is the shit I try to remember when the world seems very grim-- that in dark times (this was a covid school event) there's still so much desire for community and whimsy.
I firmly believe that humanity is good and that we can reach that potential with the right resources and community support
was originally going to put that in the post but ran out of characters :(
He alson condemned the 1956 Hungarian Revolutiom rather than the Soviet action in crushing it, which is the more significant b/c many communists/leftists broke w USSR over that one
Not to me: communists gonna communist :) And I can understand why he, given the issues with which he was concerned, and that he had recently been indicted as an agent of a foreign power, would take such a stance. That said, the complete lack of any critical stance is inexcusable
Congratulations!
So exciting.
Michael was kind enough to share an early chapter with me long ago.
Well worth waiting for this important book
beautiful! cannot wait for the snow here to disappear
One person sorry to see Stalin go was the great African American social scientist & activist W. E. B. Du Bois: "a great man," who "seldom lost his courtesy," "still the butt of noisy jackals and of the ill-bred men of some parts of the distempered West"
www.marxists.org/ref...
The western press on Stalin's death:
NY Times
Stalin Rose From Czarist Oppression to Transform Russia Into Mighty Socialist State
archive.nytimes.com/...
Sunday Times
Stalin Rose From Czarist Oppression to Transform Russia Into Mighty Socialist State
archive.nytimes.com/...
gray ticket with emblem of the USSR at upper left Whitney's name (WHITNEY THOMAS) is filled in by hand
view of the two-story reading room in Webster Hall, formerly the home of the biology department, now housing Russian and Asian studies numerous books around the walls on both stories, as well as a collection of samovars About | Amherst Center for Russian Culture | Amherst College https://www.amherst.edu/academiclife/departments/russian/acrc/description
5 March 1953: Death of Stalin
A ticket to his state funeral for Thomas Whitney. The diplomat, journalist, translator, & author collected an immense amount of material involving the history and culture of Russian and the USSR now at his alma mater Amherst College (link alt text)
5 March 1953: Death of Stalin
Jews were not sorry to see him go, either as he was about to launch a persecution that some have seen as genocidal www.jstor.org/stable...
That he suffered a stroke on the festival of Purim and dies soon afterward seemed an act of providence
5 March 1953: Death of Stalin
As Vatnik Soup already put it: Happy anniversary to those who celebrate!
I know that #Poles and #Poland will: it is the anniversary of the date (1940) on which Stalin approved te NKVD proposal to execute thousands of POWs
enrs.eu/news/katyn-m....
For my entire teaching career Iβve incorporated lots of field trips + collaborative projects + xtrnl partnerships into my classes. I prob spend at least one day each week on logistics: transit plans, building access, guest Wi-Fi logins, document sharing permissions, etc. The invisible labor of tchg.
Here in Massachusetts, the anniversary of the Boston Massacre is also Crispus Attucks day, named after the first victim, of African-Indigenous descent.
www.boston.gov/news/...
Sam Wineburg @samwineburg describes the changing fate of Attucks in textbooks
kappanonline.org/his...
The Boston Massacre was more complex than Revere portrayed it, & John Adams took on the defense of the British soldiers. Massachusetts Historical Society @MHS1791_ provides an overview of the incident & its reception, including digitized trial records
www.masshist.org/fea...
from display in Old Boston State House detail of newspaper column with illustration of four black coffins bearing skull and crossbones and the initials of those killed: Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell, and Crispus Attucks.
gray stone monument marking the graves in the nearby Granary Burying Ground Boston Massacre (U.S. National Park Service) https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/boston-massacre.htm
Revere also created the famous image of the four coffins of the victims of the Boston Massacre for the Boston Gazette, March 12, 1770. Four victims were laid to rest in a heavily attended funeral at the Granary Burying Ground on March 8, joined by a fifth soon afterward
colored engraving in gold frame description of the composition and the way it works from Gilder Lehrmann Paul Revereβs engraving of the Boston Massacre, 1770 | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source/paul-reveres-engraving-boston-massacre-1770 from Metropolitan Museum Engraved, printed and sold by Paul Revere Jr. - The Boston Massacre, or, The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street, Boston on March 5, 1770 by a party of the 29th Regiment - The Metropolitan Museum of Art https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/365208
amidst gray squares pavers brass circular metal band reading BOSTON MASSACRE SITE MARCH 5, 1770 with stars around the edge rows of cobblestones point inward to a star Boston Massacre Site | The Freedom Trail https://www.thefreedomtrail.org/trail-sites/boston-massacre-site
5 March 1770: Boston Massacre
as seen by Library of Congress
www.loc.gov/item/tod...
&
Mass Humanities
www.massmoments.org/...
Here's the Revere print, in the Old Boston State House near where the event took place: now marked by a large circular memorial in the pavement
And where DO they get these names?
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is out,
President Donald Trump announced the decision on social media and said Noem would be replaced with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.).- The Washington Post
www.washingtonpost.c...
Welp, now she can go back to shooting her dogs Β―\_(γ)_/Β―
Hurray!
Good sense and good taste prevail at least provisionally
Federal commission delays vote on Trumpβs White House ballroom project
www.washingtonpost.c...
But you can't get the East Wing back, and there remain many monstrosities in the making
#architecture #preservation
With the Chantilly iron-red hunting horn mark on the underside. 9 1/2β (24.1 cm) in diameter, 1 1/4β (3.2 cm) deep. Doyle, New York, Sale 24DB02, Porcelain from The Dalva Brothers Collection, 6 June 2024, lot 427 (part).
Stylized bird in flight.
A porcelain 'osier' soup dish manufactured at Chantilly circa 1740 and painted in polychrome colors in the kakiemon style, illustrating βthe three friends of winterβ, bamboo, pine and prunus trees with flowering branches and a perched bird with one flying overhead.
π π π
This is a really special map curator JOB working w/@en-dash.bsky.social at @bplmaps.bsky.social. Apply by March 30th. #glam #maps ποΈ
www.leventhalmap.org/about/jobs/c...
Clemenceau is eaten.
photo of interior from Architect's Newspaper The Golestan Palace was built as a fortress for the Safavid empire in the 16th century. It later served as the seat of government for the Qajar dynasty, and was renovated in the 19th century by architect Haji Abol-hasan Mimar Navai. In 2013 the palace was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. text above explains that UNESCO has sent the warring parties information on exact locations of protected sites in hopes of better protecting them Golestan Palace - UNESCO World Heritage Centre https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1422/
photo from Times of Israel People look at a building damaged in a reported overnight Iranian strike in Tel Aviv on March 1, 2026. (Ilia YEFIMOVICH / AFP) other photos in the article include the iconic concrete staircase damaged in the direct hit on a neighboring building White City of Tel-Aviv β the Modern Movement - UNESCO World Heritage Centre https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1096/ IN PHOTOS: Tel Avivβs 1930s Bauhaus Treasures Like You Havenβt Seen Them Before https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2019-07-22/ty-article-magazine/in-photos-tlvs-bauhaus-treasures-like-you-havent-seen-them-before/0000017f-f40d-d5bd-a17f-f63f96160000
Distressing damage to #UNESCO World Heritage sites in #Iran & #Israel
- 400-year-old Golestan Palace damaged by debris & shock wave
- Historic Tel Aviv Bauhaus building damaged by Iran missile hit next door
www.archpaper.com/20...
www.timesofisrael.co...
historic #preservation
screen shot of tweet from Shayan Sardarizadeh, BBC verification expert
X to strip revenue from users posting fake videos; false images of strikes on Tel Aviv viewed millions of times, UN officials Albanese, Frazier share #AI photos
www.timesofisrael.co...
Um. Do ya think maybe adopting that revenue model was not the wisest decision? π€ π
#Iran
