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bgoldst.bsky.social
Urban & architectural historian at Swarthmore. Writing: If Architecture Were for People: The Life and Work of J. Max Bond Jr. Wrote: The Roots of Urban Renaissance: Gentrification and the Struggle Over Harlem. Architecture & race, cities, baseball, jazz.
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When I read these stories, I always look at the local media because that's the filter through which most locals are going to get their news. So it's pretty telling, looking at the front page of the La Grande Observer site, that 90% of the top is about DOGE cuts in one way or another:

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

"Simultaneously commanding and contested, Brutalist buildings are impossible to ignore, especially in this moment." Anna Kodé's excellent piece in today's @nytimes.com on Brutalism in history and in the present culture wars. I was very glad to be interviewed for the article. Here's a gift link!

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

More of this please. Local media and constituent townhalls are where it happens.

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

Cool www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/a...

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

College students are wiser than most of their elders. This is an eternal truth.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

This is without a doubt the easiest political layup that Democratic Party leaders will ever see. Should be broadcast far and wide, non-stop, @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social @schumer.senate.gov.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Winner of the 4 Nations Face Off gets to take over the losing country. 🇨🇦

submitted 2 days ago • 2 comments

That problematic plaza has never looked better!

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Gotta hand it to Louis Sullivan, who really said in the most fun way possible, "how can we make skyscrapers look cool?"

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

It's bleak, yes, but I really recommend reading through some of the r/fednews subreddit. A reminder of the immense human toll of indiscriminate attacks on the federal workforce, and of the many good people being hurt. www.reddit.com/r/fednews/

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Besides the horrific implication, it's very hard to imagine kings saying "long live the king!" about themselves.

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Just under a month to apply for @savingplaces.bsky.social @gettymuseum.bsky.social Conserving Black Modernism grants, supporting the protection of sites that exemplify the fundamental ways Black designers shaped modern architecture. Due March 14!

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

How can anyone who has been alive over the last decade be surprised that after spending 10 minutes with Putin now Trump is fully drunk on Kremlin propaganda? Truly the world's easiest mark, though unfortunately he is leading our country.

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

This is crazy, and running through the other presidential libraries it seems to be the only one closed for such a reason. Though good on the LBJ Foundation, for the extremely unambiguous reminder that they aren't participating in this hateful moment.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

In this administration of people who are just so clearly each a scotch-taped bunch of pathologies, this guy really takes the prize.

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Awaiting today's take from a VERY SERIOUS political reporter on whether the violent conquest of Canada would be better for the Democrats or Republicans, electoral college-wise.

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Big, growing crowd just west of the U.S. Capitol protesting Trump, Musk and DOGE on President’s Day. “Hey Congress, grow a spine,” they shout, gathering for a rally around the reflecting pool.

submitted 6 days ago • 369 comments

Please don't say that no one is doing anything. We're waiting for @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social and @schumer.senate.gov to catch up with their constituents.

submitted 5 days ago • 67 comments

Is there a magic number of protests or protesters after which mainstream media will begin to note that they are happening?

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Protests beget more protests as people see that its ok to express frustration openly.

submitted 6 days ago • 49 comments

Happy President's Day to all the presidents but one.

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

This moment feels like the answer to exactly why it was important to topple statues, to unname things, to erect memorials & monuments to those long overlooked & denigrated. Because those physical things are going to endure through this moment of repression & hopefully later provide a moral compass.

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

there’s a great early Shulman photo of Soriano on a hillside in Hollywood 1936, with an actual shepherd with their dogs. Early LA vibe, sheep grazing in the hills and wide stretches of empty sandy land. (source: 15 year old Socal architecture blog!) socalarchhistory.blogspot.com/2010/06/juli...

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

And here's Charles Alston's cartoon celebrating the already-amazing achievements of architect Paul R. Williams, part of his series of famous African Americans drawn for the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (Office of War Information) during the early 1940s. That's excellence.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

I haven't felt like posting architecture stuff because everything is so depressing, but I guess we shouldn't let them take our joy too. So here's something nice to look at: Julius Shulman's undated photos of the Raphael Soriano-designed Hallawell Seed Co. in San Francisco. Share something good too.

submitted 8 days ago • 3 comments