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davidsewell.bsky.social
Native southern Californian, Swarthmore alum, former Tucsonan, retired from University of Virginia Press, living in Charlottesville. Interests include the greater Southwest, Lebanon/MENA (family members in Beirut); Quaker concerns.
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In 2017 it was the white supremacists of Unite the Right. In 2025 it is ICE. The editor of Charlottesville's newspaper with a powerful denunciation. dailyprogress.com/opinion/edit...

And here I thought we left "No Irish" behind in the 19th Century. www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/20...

8 out of 10 of the colleges and universities I've ever been a student at or worked at have signed this document. That's encouraging but 10 for 10 would be even more so. (Marquette and University of Arizona, looking at you!) www.aacu.org/newsroom/a-c...

Charlottesville is not taking this ICE abduction lying down. Some Quaker activists have called for a protest. TODAY (Wednesday) 11 a.m. - 12 noon in front of the Albemarle County Court House from 11am to 12 noon. Come with signs, to protest warrantless kidnapping of one of our neighbors yesterday.

Why does Trump hate RCV so much? He’s a product of the problem it aims to solve… 🧵

Get rid of National Weather Service, no more hurricane season, problem solved. Get rid of poverty guideline team, no more poverty, problem solved. www.drugs.com/news/hhs-fir...

A beautiful essay. If you're in Charlottesville, read it. If you're not in Charlottesville, read it.

It's not impossible that in U.S. history books a generation or two from now, the name Abrego Garcia will be shorthand for the injustice of the current regime the way Dred Scott is for that of the pre-Civil War era. The next week or two may tell.

"The people must fight for the law as for the city wall." —Heraclitus of Ephesus (tr. Curd/McKirahan)

Don't fool yourself. This is what our government is doing in El Salvador. It is an extra-judicial concentration camp.

@socialstudies.org Please help us! The Journal of the Early Republic has launched a "history tracker" to document how the Trump Admin is changing/hiding history. We need your help- if you've seen a change that has not yet made news, please write in. More info: thepanorama.shear.org/2025/04/09/t...

I approve this headline! aldailynews.com/sewell-intro...

Today is the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War. Story by Abby. apnews.com/article/leba...

Refrigerator magnet from the Ben's Bells project that I brought back from last month's travel. Under the current administration, it qualifies as a subversive message.

Didn't see this when posted the other day, but Virginia Humanities is under the same sentence of defunding as all other state humanities agencies. This affects several people and projects I have worked with and is unforgivable. virginiahumanities.org/2025/04/stat...

Local news estimated 4000 which is probably closer to the total, but for Charlottesville that's a major turnout (city + county population ~ 150K). I do know that protestors lined a stretch about 1/2 mile long on this side of the road. And many local protestors had taken buses to DC as well.

“This is the most damage I’ve seen in my 41 years at Pendle Hill” said Lloyd Guindon, director of facilities and grounds, this morning in the aftermath of a devastating storm. Learn the status of Pendle Hill's campus pendlehill.org/recovery-begins-after-severe-storm/

Anyone in Tucson with an interest in Native American art should consider attending if you can—Meredith's retrospective at the Amerind is great and I imagine this will be an illustrated talk. (I'd attend if I weren't back home in Virginia now.) www.amerind.org/events/indig...

"True political strategy serves as a vehicle for moral imperatives, not their replacement. . . . [C]hoosing to speak and think in terms of moral clarity carries a certainty that no strategic gamble can provide: it means we haven't lost our souls." www.liberalcurrents.com/against-stra...

dailyprogress.com/news/local/e...

This is the first time in my 34 years of teaching that I have ever had to share this message with students & families. Sadly, I predict we’lI need to share it a lot during the next 4 years. Just so you know, things like this make teachers cry.

Was just reading John Quincy Adams' oral arguments before SCOTUS in the Amistad case and this part seems, uh, pretty relevant

"Oscar-winning Palestinian director is attacked by Israeli settlers and detained." "Palestinian co-director of Oscar-winning doc 'No Other Land,' Hamdan Ballal, was attacked by West Bank settlers and arrested by the Israeli army, according to his colleague and an NGO." www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...

Ted DeGrazia, crucifix. The color photo shows the version in the museum courtyard; the B/W is a photo by Louise Serpa from 1966 currently on exhibit. Enough differences that I guess they represent two versions, or a restoration of a damaged original. Striking stylization either way.

Decor in the restroom of Revolutionary Grounds coffee shop in Tucson, where I'm back spending ten days. A lot going on here--apparently I missed a Project 2025 protest just blocks away at Rep. Ciscomani's office. Here for restoration rather than revolution but may need a protest or two also.

Good that NARA is upholding the truth, though I wonder if this might hasten the appointment of a permanent archivist who might not be so scrupulous. meidasnews.com/news/nationa...

In 1948, Bayard Rustin called on Americans to accept their “individual responsibility” in bringing about a peaceful world. “How can we begin?” he asked. “We can begin by opposing injustice wherever it appears in our daily lives.” quaker.org/2025/03/17/w...