Profile avatar
dcatty.bsky.social
Historian, writer, professor. I work on race, politics, sports, & pop culture in the US and South(ern) Africa. Go Sox/Pats/Cs/B's/Boks! Part-time sports broadcaster. Author of 5 books, editor of another. [All opinions my own.] Will talk or write for food.
275 posts 9,895 followers 7,343 following
Regular Contributor
Active Commenter
Posts 25 Comments 25

College graduations are long and tedious and still are one of the great days at any university. Congrats to all, and don't let the assholes on social media devaluing college get you down - this was a huge day to you. Enjoy it. Be proud. You earned it!

submitted 8 hours ago • 0 comments

Reviews of April reading (Plus Tracy Chapman!) I hope you'll consider subscribing. Especially since I'm likely to self-immolate my career with some upcoming posts on third-rail issues and might need a good employment/First Amendment/Civil Rights lawyer! open.substack.com/pub/dcat/p/a...

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

So I see that we've decided to try to blend the economic circumstances of 1929-1933 with the crackdown on civil liberties of 1916-1920. Good good good ...

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

So, most of the time I think my posts here have hit the audience pretty well. This one might not: vandalizing some asshole's Tesla doesn't actually help our cause. It just doesn't.

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

Celtics have the best 3-7 in the NBA and it's not particularly close. Which is a problem for the rest of the league since their 1-2 matches up with anyone.

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

A student in my 80s MA seminar gave her presentation for her final project in class tonight. She's working on environmental justice (my students pick their own topics). She has documents from the EPA that she got weeks ago that are no longer on the government website. This administration is insane.

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

A long piece on Trump and Musk and their bullshit embrace of the White Genocide Myth in South Africa: open.substack.com/pub/dcat/p/t...

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

If I'm reading this right (I am) this administration can now send anyone - citizen, visa holder, tourist - to a foreign prison with a compliant government and ... that's it. Nothing anyone can do about it? Not an original thought, but it bears repeating: once one of us lacks due process, we all do.

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

On books I finished in March (and a couple of capsule music reviews to boot). I hope you'll consider subscribing: open.substack.com/pub/dcat/p/m...

submitted 37 days ago • 0 comments

On Berlin and way history haunts: open.substack.com/pub/dcat/p/b...

submitted 37 days ago • 0 comments

Status check: I'm a tenured full professor with an endowed chair. I should be as secure as it gets. But I also teach civil rights and anti-apartheid. I just did a Zoom interview for a prep school. Awesome job, would be lucky to get an offer, and would never have believed I'd be in this position.

submitted 43 days ago • 1 comment

I made slow cooker ribs on a weekday. That's right. I'm THAT level of chaos agent.

submitted 44 days ago • 0 comments

Say what you will about Oasis and the Gallagher brothers. But they carried themselves like pure fucking rock stars and it must have been a lot of fun to have been them in the UK in the 90s.

submitted 49 days ago • 0 comments

I'm in Berlin for a conference. here are some thoughts: open.substack.com/pub/dcat/p/t...

submitted 50 days ago • 0 comments

Is there a more reliable airport fixture than loud cell phone business guy who is deeply committed to you knowing that he is doing business loudly?

submitted 52 days ago • 0 comments

If any of you are in Berlin, I'll be there from Wednesday afternoon through Monday morning.

submitted 53 days ago • 0 comments

First international trip since January 20. Not worried about anything outgoing. Wondering what coming back to the US might be like - very slim but non-zero chance that with all my obvious privilege (white, male, straight) something, anything (woke professor?)makes getting back in a hassle.

submitted 53 days ago • 0 comments

Don't confuse your superstitions with rules I'm expected to live by. I won't stop you from those superstitions until you try to demand that they become mine.

submitted 55 days ago • 0 comments

Admittedly a shot in the dark: any of y'all based in Berlin?

submitted 56 days ago • 0 comments

I'm rewatching The Wire. A character in the episode I'm watching says, "A lie ain't a side of the story. It's just a lie." For some reason, that speaks to me these days (as do a million other lines from the show.)

submitted 57 days ago • 228 comments

What if - and hear me out - it is impossible and absurd to say that one player is absolutely the greatest of all time and that on any given day any one of 20 players could meet that standard?

submitted 64 days ago • 0 comments

Andrew Sullivan accusing someone of using ad hominem argumentation is some richly ironic and deeply un-self-aware bullshit.

submitted 65 days ago • 1 comment

Capsule review of books I completed in February (and two albums I listened to while I wrote this). Please consider subscribing! open.substack.com/pub/dcat/p/f...

submitted 66 days ago • 0 comments

It's windy all the time in West Texas. But today is different. Step outside for a minute and you will not have to exfoliate. The sound outside of my 4th floor office windows is something else right now.

submitted 67 days ago • 0 comments

So, an open-ranked history job opened at New College in Florida. Five years ago, this would have been a dream job for many in academia - public liberal arts college with excellent students and a research-friendly teaching load.

submitted 69 days ago • 1 comment