Friday Varia and Quick Hits

A cool and damp week giving way to a warmer weekend feels like the opposite of most springs here on the Northern Plains where our famous seven-day oscillation typically produces warm week days and cool wet weekends. But, we’ll take it nevertheless.

My beloved Philadelphia 76ers lost last night and were eliminated from the playoffs. They fought bravely to the end, but aren’t quite ready to make the leap. I look forward to free agent magic this summer and another bite at the apple next year. Meanwhile the Phillies are quietly putting together a good start to their season and I look forward to watching them this week. I also will check out the Miami Formula 1 race and, of course, Canelo Alvarez’s annual Cinco de Mayo bout this year features the formidable Jaime Munguia atop a packed undercard of intriguing fights. 

Otherwise, this weekend will be full of grading and putting my life in order before I decamp for my annual research leave in the Mediterranean. In the meantime, please enjoy this rather short list of quick hits and varia:

• Pasts Imperfect.

• (Re)visiting the Past in the Present.

• An essay from Communal Luxury by Kristin Ross.

• Archaeological object interviews as a method to study and engage with finder-collectors.

• Brutalist Churches in ‘Sacred Modernity’

• John Malkovich and the Berengaria Hotel. 

• Studying archaeological or heritage discourses in closed Facebook groups.

• Morely on Narrative and the Paranoid Style.

• Embracing Aural Literature?

• Free John Sinclair!

• Cartier Tank Américaine.

• What I’m reading: Mark Lehner, The Egyptian Heritage: Based on the Edgar Cayce Readings. 1974.

• What I’m listening to: Kamasi Washington, Fearless Movement (2024)