Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · Aug 27

Great postdoc opportunity at University of Toronto! (It's super competitive but possible!) www.artsci.utoronto.ca/faculty-staf...

Find Funding

Get the latest information about external and internal funding opportunities to support your research program, including funds that support the recruitment of research trainees. Internal Funding Oppor...

www.artsci.utoronto.ca

1 1

Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · Aug 18

Now available (open access!): the article I might not have written had I not been department chair, on eighteenth century Russian rulers trying to stop people asking them for things. (Also on how autocracy works, should that be of current interest SIGH.)
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

“To Each Their Grievance Is Bitter and Unbearable”: Petitions, Autocracy, and the Rule of Law in Eighteenth-Century Russia | Law and History Review | Cambridge Core

“To Each Their Grievance Is Bitter and Unbearable”: Petitions, Autocracy, and the Rule of Law in Eighteenth-Century Russia

www.cambridge.org

7

Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · Jun 27

My music group commissioned a piece by Beverley McKiver; she was inspired by the lost rivers of Toronto and wrote us a truly lovely piece: youtu.be/FcAnjaFS9Us?...

Lost Rivers

YouTube video by Wychwood Clarinet Choir

youtu.be

2

Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · May 15

Excellent description of Cyrillic from a 19th century American traveler: "the letters are all drunk and run the wrong way, like lopsided crabs."

2 8

Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · May 12

Whew, Belinsky when he realizes he can't actually find rationality in the world around him is too relatable:

"I am weary, cold, and empty. I have no hope of any personal happiness. Woe! Woe! Life is exposed."

5

Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · May 9

There is still an awful lot of awful out there, but gosh I have enjoyed Chicago Pope day.

1 1 10

Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · Mar 5

Amazing.

The Guardian @theguardian.com · Mar 5

Canada goose fights off bald eagle in rare, symbolism-laden battle on ice

Photographer captures 20-minute clash between birds emblematic of Canada and US amid high political tensions For the second time in weeks, a Canadian icon has emerged as the unlikely victor in an existential battle on the ice. Mervyn Sequeira, an…

www.theguardian.com

4

Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · Feb 28

He then later shared the news report that Lavrov’s gift to the new president was going to be a lap dog.

1

Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · Feb 28

Once again, I am reminded of the archive security guard who, in fall 2016, asked me who I was going to vote for. Before I could answer, he said “you’re probably going to say Clinton, but Trump would be better for Russia.”

1 1

Reposted by Alison K. Smith

Susie Colbourn @susancolbourn.net · Feb 28

I need a good shorthand to describe the now regular feeling of being not at all surprised by what happens, yet still horrified and repulsed when it does happen.

2 2 18

Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · Feb 28

Also I honestly did not realize how much of a problem wolves were in nineteenth-century Russia.

4

Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · Feb 28

I wish I could say that surprised me but it totally doesn't -- it really was!

Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · Feb 28

I'm reading through 19th century mortality reports and holy shit we are so lucky to live in a world of modern public health. Why the hell would anyone want to go back to that? It is infuriating.

2 5

Reposted by Alison K. Smith

Ruth Deyermond @ruthdeyermond.bsky.social · Feb 27

Boris Nemtsov was assassinated 10 years ago today. The street outside the Russian embassy in Washington D.C. was renamed in his memory - a move instigated by a senator determined to hold the Kremlin accountable for its crimes. I wonder how he thinks that's going. www.voanews.com/a/us-bill-wo...

3 40 99

Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · Jan 16

I knew Arcimboldo painted fruit/vegetable portraits but a BOOK portrait?? Amazing. I could not love this more.

Source: samlingar.shm.se/object/465F6...

Portrait of a man made out of books! Several small books make up his face, with ribbons indicating his ear. A splayed open book is his hair/hat. A large red book makes up one upper arm, with a white and cream book with ribbons hanging out the end serving as lower arm and fingers. A blue/gray drapery behind serves as a cape.

1 5

Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · Jan 16

Today I stumbled on this stunning piece of... embroidery? I think that's the best word for this kind of needle art? ... made by Maria Christina Frosterus in Uleåborg/Oulu Finland, 1820, in the collections of The National Museum of Finland. I love it.

Photograph of a piece white on white embroidery in the shape of a star with flowers and vines around the edges; the star is divided into many smaller triangles each with its own stitch pattern.

1 1 8

Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · Jan 13

It is a bonkers take. Making music with other people is the best.

2

Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · Jan 3

Honestly the thing that might turn me into a diplomatic historian is all the snark.

1 1

Alison K. Smith @profaks.bsky.social · Jan 3

The British ambassador to St. Petersburg in 1859 on his French counterpart: "...a kind hearted and conciliatory man, but troubled occassionally with that susceptibility which not uncommonly renders a Frenchman more intent upon trifles than upon matters of serious import.."

1 1 4