Friday Varia and Quick Hits

It’s a quiet and early Friday morning here in North Dakotaland amid the “frog days” of summer. We’re expecting some gentle rain tonight over the weekend to soften the transition from the summer to fall. Despite all the uncertainty facing our return to the classroom, the state of the nation, and a tangle web of half-finished (and likely half-baked!) projects, the first signs of fall are a welcome reminder that things will happen no matter what we do. It’s comforting.

This weekend offers plenty of things to do in the rain from Formula 1 racing to baseball, the NBA, and the NASCAR guys. Jamal James returns to the boxing ring for a shot at the WBA interim welterweight title. James is from Minneapolis and has been outspoken regarding both the George Floyd’s death and the protests that shook the city. It’ll be good to see him do well. 

I hope you all can find ways to enjoy the waning days of summer even as uncertainty and tragedy abound. Perhaps some quick hits and varia can offer a nice start to your weekend:

• AIA Seminars: Critical Conversations On Race, Teaching, And Antiquity.

• Race at Princeton.

• The OI at 100.

• Sites of Refuge in a Historically Layered Landscape: Campsin Central Greece.

• Fall of the Roman Empire Podcast.

• Shenoute’s Name.

• Walking from Dunning to the Common of Dunning.

• Arkady Martine, a recovering Byzantinist, won the 2020 Hugo Award for her novel, A Memory Called Empire.

• Facts Man.

• The Anonymous Professor Who Wasn’t.

• Land of the Free.

• The church of Profitis Elias in Thessaloniki.

• Lots of Tubes.

• The Naked Watchmaker.

• Today is Bandcamp Day. Buy some music. (Maybe some contemporary musings on traditional Greek music?)

• What I’m reading: Carolyn L. White, The Archaeology of Burning Man. (2020).

• What I’m listening to: Lee Morgan, Charisma.