Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Lauren LeBlanc @laurenleblanc.bsky.social · 1d

SUCH a great and incredibly fun book.

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Lauren LeBlanc @laurenleblanc.bsky.social · 1d

Have you read Lonely Crowds: Stephanie Wambugu yet?

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Reposted by Lauren LeBlanc

Honorée Fanonne Jeffers @blklibrarygirl.bsky.social · 1d

Remember when I said something nice was coming today? Well: I was asked to write the introduction to the new edition of Toni Morrison’s BELOVED! I’m so honored and happy! Here’s the new cover—that’s my name down at the bottom!!!!

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Lauren LeBlanc @laurenleblanc.bsky.social · 1d

I worked on it a long time ago at Knopf.

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Lauren LeBlanc @laurenleblanc.bsky.social · 1d

Not so much a memoir about herself, but a fascinating book nonetheless written by Carmen Callil, a publisher who founded Virago Press, and drawn from personal ties. www.nytimes.com/2006/10/12/b...

On the Unsavory Trail of a Vichy-Era Monster (Published 2006)

www.nytimes.com

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Lauren LeBlanc @laurenleblanc.bsky.social · 1d

Ursula Nordstrom's letters have been published.

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Reposted by Lauren LeBlanc

Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 3d

Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper raised $14.5 million during the first 65 days of his new Senate campaign — a record-breaking total for a Senate challenger in their first fundraising quarter in one of the most competitive races of 2026.

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Reposted by Lauren LeBlanc

Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 6d

I think we’re really going to have to do a lot more of this. A massive deprogramming so that people can read more than ten words at a time without anxiety.

www.thetimes.com/uk/education...?

Universities teaching literature students how to cope with long novels

Critics blame GCSE English for deterring teenagers from the subject, describing the literature syllabus as boring and repetitive

www.thetimes.com

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Reposted by Lauren LeBlanc

Jessica Valenti @jessicavalenti.bsky.social · 7d

At the newsletter right now:

One of Turning Point USA’s first campus events since the murder of Charlie Kirk will be a panel with leaders of the abortion ‘abolition’ movement - extremists who lobby for abortion patients to get the death penalty

jessica.substack.com/p/turning-po...

Turning Point USA Hosts Campus Event Pushing Death Penalty for Abortion Patients

10.3.25

jessica.substack.com

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Lauren LeBlanc @laurenleblanc.bsky.social · 8d

COOKING UP A STORM is also one of my absolute favorite cookbooks of all time.

Lauren LeBlanc @laurenleblanc.bsky.social · 8d

Post-Katrina, many New Orleanians found themselves not only homeless, but also craving the very taste of home. Judy Walker started a column at the Times-Picayune to locate recipes which became a James Beard nominated cookbook of community service and love. www.southerncultures.org/article/reci...

Recipes Lost and Found

Longtime journalist Judy Walker worked as the food editor at the New Orleans–based Times-Picayune for about a year before Hurricane Katrina hit. Most of the newspaper staff, including Walker…

www.southerncultures.org

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Reposted by Lauren LeBlanc

Gautam Hans @gshans.bsky.social · 8d

I was at Columbia and on our campus newspaper when Bari Weiss first rose to notoriety for “Columbia Unbecoming.” There is something deeply cynical and depressing about this coronation of bad faith, which is of a piece of our time — and her initial crusade on campus over twenty years ago.

Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · 8d

In case it wasn’t clear, the anti-DEI crusade has never been about merit. Zero news experience. Never been a reporter. Elevated to Editor in Chief of CBS News, one of the most storied news institutions in the nation. www.mediaite.com/media/news/p...

Paramount Officially Acquiring The Free Press and Making Bari Weiss CBS News Editor in Chief: Report

Paramount Skydance will be officially acquiring The Free Press and hiring its founder Bari Weiss as editor in chief of its CBS News division, with the deal to be announced this coming Monday, accordin...

www.mediaite.com

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Reposted by Lauren LeBlanc

Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · 8d

In case it wasn’t clear, the anti-DEI crusade has never been about merit. Zero news experience. Never been a reporter. Elevated to Editor in Chief of CBS News, one of the most storied news institutions in the nation. www.mediaite.com/media/news/p...

Paramount Officially Acquiring The Free Press and Making Bari Weiss CBS News Editor in Chief: Report

Paramount Skydance will be officially acquiring The Free Press and hiring its founder Bari Weiss as editor in chief of its CBS News division, with the deal to be announced this coming Monday, accordin...

www.mediaite.com

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Lauren LeBlanc @laurenleblanc.bsky.social · 9d

oh no! I'm so sorry, Michael!

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Reposted by Lauren LeBlanc

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 9d

Sorry we had to cancel your cancer treatment, but the Secretary of Defense had to fly all the generals in so he could call them fat.

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Lauren LeBlanc @laurenleblanc.bsky.social · 11d

This takes me back!

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Reposted by Lauren LeBlanc

Congressman Greg Casar @repcasar.bsky.social · 15d

Trump: 'We are so broke 15 million people need to lose their health insurance.'

Also Trump: www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-...

New renderings show more details of White House ballroom under construction

The Trump administration announced in July that a 90,000-square-foot ballroom with a seated capacity for 650 people will be constructed in the White House's East Wing.

www.cbsnews.com

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Reposted by Lauren LeBlanc

Anita Felicelli @anitafelicelli.bsky.social · 15d

loved the prismatic novel The Wilderness. here's a profile I wrote about author Angela Flournoy in connection with the book. www.altaonline.com/books/fictio...

Why Angela Flournoy Writes About Friendship and Grief

Angela Flournoy discusses how her second novel, The Wilderness, came to be.

www.altaonline.com

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Reposted by Lauren LeBlanc

Jane Ciabattari @janeciab.bsky.social · 15d

And how an AI hallucination inspired the newest story in his collection…the last in the book.

Lit Hub @literaryhub.bsky.social · 15d

Jonathan Lethem talks to @janeciab.bsky.social about writing, revising, and seeing the world through a Marxist lens.

Jonathan Lethem on Revisiting Old Short Stories While Writing New Ones

Jonathan Lethem appears steadily in the contemporary literary livestream, He’s earned the title “bard of Brooklyn” for fiction about his native borough. He’s invented eccentric narrative voices lik…

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Lauren LeBlanc @laurenleblanc.bsky.social · 16d

not fried??

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Lauren LeBlanc @laurenleblanc.bsky.social · 16d

So glad you made it! I was able to tour the lighthouse during Open House New York back when I lived in West Harlem some 17 or so years ago.

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Lauren LeBlanc @laurenleblanc.bsky.social · 16d

I go back and erase instances of writing "I feel."

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Reposted by Lauren LeBlanc

Nieman Lab @niemanlab.org · 18d

Journalists talk to colleagues on Slack, reach sources via phone, email, and messaging apps, and file in Google Docs.

But as the U.S. government ramps up its attacks on American journalism, it’s a good time to ask: How secure are the tools we take for granted?

www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/its-...

It’s 2025. Do you know how secure your newsroom is?

"It was a lot easier, in some ways, for journalists back in the 80s and 90s, before all of these cloud platforms existed."

www.niemanlab.org

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Reposted by Lauren LeBlanc

National Book Critics Circle @bookcritics.bsky.social · 18d

NBCC board member Mary Ann Gwinn interviewed historian Jill Lepore for Kirkus Reviews about her new book, "We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution":

Jill Lepore on What the Constitution Means to Us | Kirkus Reviews

The acclaimed Harvard historian considers the complicated history of America’s foundational document.

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Reposted by Lauren LeBlanc

Soraya Nadia McDonald @sorayanadiamcdonald.com · 19d

Madison Square Garden, 1939:

Nazi storm troopers fill the aisles as the crowd of thousands sings "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the opening of the German American Bund's rally at Madison Square Garden.

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