Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sarah Porter @portersf.bsky.social · 20h

the analysis is too boring to even type out

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 20h

President Trump is considering a triumphal arch at Memorial Circle in D.C. for America’s 250th anniversary.

It would represent Trump’s most audacious effort to remake the landscape of D.C.

Trump eyes a triumphal arch to mark America’s 250th anniversary

The arch would be constructed across from the Lincoln Memorial, on a small patch of federal land currently occupied by a traffic circle.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Sarah Porter

Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · Jan 7

'Sutton Hoo & Syria: The Anglo-Saxons Who Served in the Byzantine Army?' This is one of the most exciting things I've written (so far..!). Thanks to everyone who helped.
academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-...

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Sarah Porter @portersf.bsky.social · 1d

www.spokesman.com/stories/2025...

The number of fluent Spokane Salish speakers has more than doubled after the first graduation of a pilot adult immersion program: 'This is historic'

WELLPINIT, Wash. – Felicia Pichette was overjoyed the first time her grandson told her “no.”

www.spokesman.com

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Reposted by Sarah Porter

Patrick Burrows @lpburrows.bsky.social · 1d

Leo XIV comes out swinging hard in his first Apostolic Letter, esp §§80-81, insisting on the centrality of social movements and structural change and not JP2’s restrictions of liberation theology to individual dimensions. Vatican 2 and Medellín are back.

www.vatican.va/content/leo-...

Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi te of the Holy Father Leo XIV on Love for the Poor (4 October 2025)

APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION DILEXI TE OF THE HOLY FATHER LEO XIV TO ALL CHRISTIANS ON LOVE FOR THE POOR [ Multimedia ] _____________________

www.vatican.va

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Lauren Turek @laurenfturek.bsky.social · 2d

Faith groups have filed suit against DHS for violating their 1st and 4th amendment rights, arguing that by targeting faith-based demonstrators "with violence," ICE agents are enacting a policy that “substantially burdens their exercise of religion” and violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Religious protesters say ICE threatens religious freedom in Chicago

(RNS) — Despite potential danger, religious leaders and faith activists have been a visible presence at Chicago-area ICE protests, some waving signs with slogans such as ‘Love thy neighbor’ and ‘Who w...

religionnews.com

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Sarah Porter @portersf.bsky.social · 14d

so important

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Kelly Holob @kholob.bsky.social · May 1

I’ve put together a list of funding sources for graduate students in biblical studies and early Christianity. Most of these are only available to students in the U.S. but many of them don’t have citizenship requirements. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Bible and Early Christianity US Graduate School Funding

SCHOLARSHIPS Fellowship Description Estimated Deadline Degree level Citizenship Davis Putter Scholarship Fund — Up to $15,000 for students who are active and emerging organizers in progressive movemen...

docs.google.com

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Sarah Porter @portersf.bsky.social · 14d

incredible work, kelly - thank you!

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Kevin Buist @kevinbuist.com · 14d

This is great, so glad this is happening. news.artnet.com/art-world/ci...

Meet the Historians Documenting Every Object at the Smithsonian

A group of citizen historians, alarmed by Donald Trump's targeting of Smithsonian museums, are on a mission to document their displays.

news.artnet.com

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Sarah Porter @portersf.bsky.social · 16d

hat tip to @ismipratima.bsky.social, wtf

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Sarah Porter @portersf.bsky.social · 16d

oh my GOD

Reposted by Sarah Porter

Nichole @tnwhiskeywoman.bsky.social · 16d

It sucks the way the humanities are being eroded & labeled unimportant. For every rant against a “new identity,” there is an ancient poem or painting or song or or or that tells us there is nothing new under the sun

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Sarah Porter @portersf.bsky.social · 16d

& a link to a bunch of clips from antioch in the 30s, separated for easier viewing ochre.lib.uchicago.edu/ochre?uuid=b...

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Sarah Porter @portersf.bsky.social · 16d

if you like this kind of stuff, here's one from sardis of the bath-gym reconstruction in the 60s:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBhZ...

SM2020 0001

YouTube video by Sardis Expedition

www.youtube.com

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Sarah Porter @portersf.bsky.social · 16d

sweet little documentary from the corinth excavations ca 1945. the last minute or so is ASCSA's pitch: that archaeology helps the local economy www.youtube.com/watch?v=LppD...

Ancient Corinth in 1945

YouTube video by eDesigner

www.youtube.com

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Sarah Porter @portersf.bsky.social · Sep 4

really grateful RSR took a risk and let figurative art publish as a response! if you've read mike's book, you know images are a crucial part - couldn't imagine this symposium without some.

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Esther Brownsmith, PhD @brownsmith.bsky.social · Sep 4

The new issue of Religious Studies Review is live, featuring responses to Lee Edelman and the Queer Study of Religion that include my own essay, "'She Laughs at the Future' (Prov. 31:24b): Reading Sarah's Queer Jouissance." It's available open access here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

“She Laughs at the Future” (Prov. 31:24b): Reading Sarah's Queer Jouissance

Click on the article title to read more.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Sarah Porter @portersf.bsky.social · Sep 4

beautiful symposium for a beautiful book
don't miss @postrafelite.bsky.social's cartoon about creation - a beautifully meditative way to start the morning

Monika Amsler @monikaamsler.bsky.social · Sep 4

🐣 Our SBL Review Symposium for Mike Chin’s new monograph “Life” has just been published with Religious Studies Review 51/2. Have a look here, especially if you are interested in ancient natural history or new ways of writing old history:

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/17480922...

Religious Studies Review: Vol 51, No 2

Click on the title to browse this issue

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Sarah Porter

Schmeric @schmeric.bsky.social · Aug 17

I keep seeing the media say crime is down but people feel like it is up without mentioning the role of phone notifications and social media like Nextdoor, Ring Alerts, and Facebook Groups that not only make people more aware of any crime nearby they wouldn’t have known about in the past… (1/3)

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Sarah Porter @portersf.bsky.social · Jul 29

this is great, shawn

Sarah Porter @portersf.bsky.social · Jul 19

thanks to @ktardio.bsky.social, who tipped me off to an impressive resource compiled by @fglif.bsky.social for folks seeking to publish with classics / classics adjacent journals and presses fglif.org/2025/05/06/g...

Getting Published: Supplemental Resource Package

On May 1st, FGLIF convened a panel covering the basics of getting your manuscripts published by different presses and journals! The panelists have worked together to create a supplementary informat…

fglif.org

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Tyler, from the Internet @tylerfromtheinternet.com · Jul 13

Get in loser, we're going west to diminish

On the far Western shore of Middle Earth rests the Grey Havens, One of the last bastions of the elves in this world. This is Círdan the Shipbuilder's domain. For years now he has fashioned the vessels that will take the remaining Noldor and Sindar to the undying lands of Valinor, in Arman, hidden from the mortal realm at the end of the Third Age but for those who take the ships from this harbor (the only two exceptions to this being Gimli and Legolas, and Samwise, both many years from now). One of the great ships sits at a beautiful dock: Galadriel and Celeborn stand in front of Círdan, watching as Elrond gestures to an elderly Bilbo Baggins to board. Gandalf will join them and Frodo also, after a tearful goodbye. They will sail into the sea and soon join the Valar and Mayar and all the rest of the Elves. Frodo and Bilbo's time there will feel so short, mortals in a timeless realm, but it will be peaceful and joyous and filled with food and drink and song and harmony, and be a fitting resting place for the ring bearers. And Gimli of course, the one exception to a non-Elf ring bearer granted amnesty in Valinor, because unlike the movies, in the books he is the poet and chief moral officer of the third age, and brought peace between the two long rivaled races.

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Colin Gough @classicalman.bsky.social · Jul 12

Something else for the list at Pompeii

www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/t...

The 2,000-Year-Old 'Perfume Garden' in the Ancient City of Pompeii Has Been Restored to Its Former Glory

The small garden now features thousands of roses, violets, cherry trees and vines. Experts think a perfumer may have once used the plants to experiment with new scents

www.smithsonianmag.com

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Colin Dickey @colindickey.com · Jul 10

Hey all, I have a new piece out at the New York Times, on our history of talking to the dead, from Spiritualism to daytime TV psychics to to AI Griefbots, and why we can’t stop reaching out to the Beyond.

Please enjoy!

Why Do We Still Need to Talk to the Dead?

www.nytimes.com

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Sarah Porter @portersf.bsky.social · Jul 1

consensus: it was "pretty fun"! and the ancient world was "connected but vulnerable."

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