Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Cody Miller @hcodymiller.bsky.social · 14h

Some of the most beautiful eight words! 🤓

Reposted by Cody Miller

Jennifer Sano-Franchini @jsanofranchini.bsky.social · 15d

Announcing a three-part CCCC Reading Circle Series:

Oct 16—Discussion of Empire of AI by @karenhao.bsky.social!

Dec 10—Discussion of Enduring Digital Damage by
@dustinedwards.bsky.social!

Jan 12—Teaching Session on bringing these ideas to the writing classroom!

cccc.ncte.org/cccc/cccc-fa...

CCCC Fall 2025 AI Reading Circle - Conference on College Composition and Communication

Labor, Land, Water, and Writing: The Costs of Generative AI in the Writing Classroom These events are free for CCCC members. Not yet a member? Join today! Join CCCC for a critical, nuanced, and though...

cccc.ncte.org

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Reposted by Cody Miller

Chanea Bond @heymrsbond.com · 6d

Reasons to Teach High School English when the World is on Fire

Black girls in advanced academics who write literary analyses about “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” Queer kids who call the English Department The Fruit Factory. Allowables and Legacies by Nikki Giovanni.

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Cody Miller @hcodymiller.bsky.social · 6d

The Fruit Factory! 🤭

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Cody Miller @hcodymiller.bsky.social · 7d

You are amazing and our field is SO incredibly lucky to have you in it! 🥰

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Reposted by Cody Miller

The Baffler @thebaffler.com · 8d

In our new issue, @jenniferberkshire.bsky.social investigates the right-wing push toward “classical education,” a departure from the longstanding bipartisan agreement that school should first and foremost prepare students for the daily grind.

Uniform Policy | Jennifer C. Berkshire

Democrats must come up with a defense of public schools that goes beyond bloodless workforce preparation

thebaffler.com

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Reposted by Cody Miller

Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 7d

This is an excellent piece from @georgianndavis.bsky.social on the wave of anti-scientific censorship sweeping the country and what it means to teach honestly in the moment.

Contributor: I'm an intersex professor. Am I supposed to lie by teaching 'only male and female'?

A campaign against teachers who acknowledge realities of human biology forces a choice: Teach truth and risk your job, or lie and maybe keep it.

www.latimes.com

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Cody Miller @hcodymiller.bsky.social · 7d

A huge shoutout to one of the best to ever do it, @heymrsbond.com! My class read both of her pieces on AI in the classroom this week. Her words brought so much hope and tangible ideas to my students (and me) about teaching in this present moment. 📚🤓

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Reposted by Cody Miller

sr_toliver @srtoliver.bsky.social · 8d

🚨My new op-ed in @chicagotribune.com: What we can do when the government fails our constitutional responsibility to maintain an informed citizenry.

Full piece: www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/01/o...

#CivicEducation #Democracy #Resistance #Education #CriticalThinking

Stephanie R. Toliver: What can we do as the Trump administration sanitizes civic education?

Democratic citizenship requires intellectual courage: the willingness to encounter perspectives that challenge our assumptions.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Reposted by Cody Miller

PEN America @penamerica.bsky.social · 8d

🧵 In 2025, book censorship in the United States is rampant and common. Never before in the life of any living American have so many books been systematically removed from school libraries across the country.

Read our new report "The Normalization of Book Banning" at: pen.org/report/the-n...

Graphic for PEN America report titled 'Banned in the USA: The Normalization of Book Bans'. Features a stack of colorful books in front of a blackboard with '22,810 books banned in U.S. public schools, 2021-2025' written in chalk.

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Reposted by Cody Miller

Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 9d

Meanwhile, Des Moines students stage a walkout to protest their superintendent's detention www.desmoinesregister.com/picture-gall...

A crowd of teenage students walk on a brick path beneath trees. Some hold signs—one says "ICE MELTS UNDER RESISTANCE."

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Reposted by Cody Miller

NPR @npr.org · 9d

Tuesday is Orange Shirt Day, when communities honor the survivors of U.S. Indian boarding schools and their descendants.

'We survived, we are resilient': Remembering U.S. Indian boarding schools

Tuesday is Orange Shirt Day, when communities honor the survivors of U.S. Indian boarding schools and their descendants.

n.pr

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Reposted by Cody Miller

Reconnect Rochester @reconnectroc.bsky.social · 9d

“It only gets better if we make it better.” As part of #WeekWithoutDriving it was great to chat with Simeon Banister, President & CEO of Rochester Area Community Foundation, about public transportation in Rochester!

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Reposted by Cody Miller

Mychal Threets @mychal3ts.bsky.social · 10d

🎶 Take a look, it's in a book 🎶

🥹 After nearly 20 years... Reading Rainbow is returning to motivate, help, and encourage kids to become avid readers with new episodes, new friends, new projects, and of course... new books! Make sure to follow the rainbow 📚🌈

#FollowTheRainbow

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Cody Miller @hcodymiller.bsky.social · 10d

I also want to highlight that Dr. Thrasher's 2022 book is fantastic and you should read it if you haven't already!

us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

The Viral Underclass

**LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 PEN/JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH AWARD FOR NONFICTION****LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDALS FOR EXCELLENCE****WINNER OF THE 2...

us.macmillan.com

Cody Miller @hcodymiller.bsky.social · 10d

From Nov 2023:

"The rejection of measures aimed at transgender students was starkly evident in the defeat of school board candidates endorsed by Moms For Liberty and those who advocated for policies against transgender students."

www.erininthemorning.com/p/moms-for-l...

Moms For Liberty And Anti-Trans Republicans Suffer Massive Election Defeat Nationwide

News from hotly contested school districts and state election results poured in with one unifying theme: candidates opposing transgender rights and running on a Moms For Liberty platform lost big.

www.erininthemorning.com

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Cody Miller @hcodymiller.bsky.social · 10d

From May 2025:

"... a clear setback for the Republican-aligned movement to shape how grade school curriculums and library books confront issues of race, sex and gender."

www.texastribune.org/2025/05/05/t...

School board races across Texas deal losses for many conservatives

Issues about control of book purchases and how curriculums teach race and gender have led to change on many boards, including Keller, Katy and Mansfield ISDs.

www.texastribune.org

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Cody Miller @hcodymiller.bsky.social · 10d

From April 2023:

"Amid all the attention on this month’s elections in Wisconsin and Illinois, one outcome with major implications for 2024 flew under the national radar: School board candidates who ran culture-war campaigns flamed out."

www.politico.com/news/2023/04...

Why GOP culture warriors lost big in school board races this month

“Don’t assume that a blanket message on critical race theory or transgender issues is going to claim every district,” one GOP activist said.

www.politico.com

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Cody Miller @hcodymiller.bsky.social · 10d

From Nov 2023:

"GOP candidates in Virginia, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kansas suffered major losses Tuesday night in several local elections where voters rejected anti-trans policies by voting against Republicans in school board races."

www.newsweek.com/republicans-...

Republicans suffer crushing defeat in transgender battle

Conservative candidates running for local school board elections across five states lost in Tuesday's elections.

www.newsweek.com

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Cody Miller @hcodymiller.bsky.social · 10d

Yes, and lots and lots of school board races in the past three years have seen anti-trans candidate lose because their opponents stood up for trans kids' rights!

Steven W. Thrasher is finishing The Overseer Class @thrasherxy.bsky.social · 10d

Also note: the HEIGHT of Democratic popularity nationally was when the Dems, honorably, held an anti-trans law at bay.

Also keep in mind the most popular Dem pols in the country are Mamdani, AOC & Sanders, who are all unashamedly pro-trans.

Being pro-trans & anti-bully is a winning strategy!

Candice Huber (they/them) @candice.tubbyandcoos.com · 10d

Take note: if the Democrats sell out trans folks for this, our means they are willing to do the same to any oppressed group. The right move here is "we are going to protect vulnerable groups, so if he wants to shut down the government, let him." Dems cannot capitulate to him.

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Reposted by Cody Miller

Preeti Chhibber @runwithskizzers.bsky.social · 10d

Banned Books Week starts on Sunday, October 5—there are a ton of ways to support!

Find ways to get involved here: www.ala.org/bbooks/banne...

(If you're overwhelmed, even just checking out, buying, or elevating a banned book is helpful! Talking about them w/ the ppl in your life is an action!)

A graphic that reads BANNED BOOKS WEEK, Oct 5 - 11, 2025.

Censorship is so 1984. Read for your rights. ala.org/bbooks

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Reposted by Cody Miller

John Downes-Angus @johndownesangus.bsky.social · 13d

We should be doing everything we can to make reading into something that kids think can change their lives—make them more interesting, more stuffed with meaning, more worth thinking about deeply

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Reposted by Cody Miller

Anne Lutz Fernandez @lutzfernandez.bsky.social · 14d

I wrote about whether we can protect teachers -- the celebrities in our kids' lives -- the way we protected Jimmy Kimmel.

H/T to @thetattooedprof.bsky.social and @davelevitan.bsky.social.

From Kindergarten to Kimmel

MAGA's treatment of K-12 teachers was the warm-up act to taking down comedians

nobody-wants-this.ghost.io

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Cody Miller @hcodymiller.bsky.social · 14d

I feel that all these ghouls actually want to be is podcasters! Ted Cruz seems to spend more time podcasting or on vacation than actually being in the Senate. JD Vance was podcasting from his office the other day. Pete Hegseth loves the podcast mic. Sheesh!

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Cody Miller @hcodymiller.bsky.social · 14d

"Seventy-eight percent of Americans believe that college is 'somewhat' or 'very' important for a young person’s success. That’s a two-point percentage increase from the same poll conducted in June 2025."

wpln.org/post/poll-co...

Poll: Confidence in higher ed grows despite concerns about affordability and political bias

Most Americans believe that colleges and universities benefit society, but many are still concerned about affordability and political bias.

wpln.org

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