Friday Varia and Quick Hits

It’s winter in North Dakota with cold winds, old snow, and a warm fire. The early and late winter are always the hardest. In November, our bodies haven’t quite adjusted to the cold temperatures and icy wind making the 20s and 30s feel like 10 below. By April, we’ve just gotten tired of crusty snow piles and endless days without warmth. 

Fortunately, there are plenty of things happening this weekend to keep us distracted as we adapt to the new season. The Formula 1 guys will try out the Losail International Circuit in Qatar to a chorus of protests. My Ohio State Buckeyes will face Michigan State for another must win game against a highly ranked opponent. And tomorrow night Bud Crawford gets the high profile opponent that he’s been asking for in Shawn Porter as the headliner in a solid night of boxing. 

In and around sporting events, I’ll be working on syllabi for my spring semester classes, doing some reading and writing, nudging a new book into production, walking the dogs, and trying to catch bits of the ASOR annual meeting. 

I’ll also be on the look out for some quick hits and varia:

• This week’s Past Imperfects is really outstanding.

• Justinianic Plague.

• Ecclesiastical Economies: The Integration of Sacred and Maritime Topographies of Late Antique Cyprus.

• Cultural Heritage in the Realm of the Commons: Conversations on the Case of Greece.

• “Prestige or Perish: Publishing Decisions in Academic Archaeology“

• Repatriation Has Transformed, Not Ended, Research.

• Ornament Histories.

• Teaching “CRT” in an Age of White Backlash.

• the women of the black panther party mural.

• The tangled history of hip-hop and boxing.

• 1939 GM Futurliner.

• What I’m reading: Krysta Ryzewski, Detroit Remains: Archaeology and Community Histories of Six Legendary Places (Alabama 2022)

• What I’m listening to: Makaya McCraven, Deciphering The Message.