Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Laura Tamman @lauratamman.bsky.social · 1d

He was (and is!) a megastar pretty much everywhere outside the USA. He just somehow never broke through here.

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Laura Tamman @lauratamman.bsky.social · 2d

The absolute worst.

Laura Tamman @lauratamman.bsky.social · 2d

Totally a thing.

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Laura Tamman @lauratamman.bsky.social · 4d

🎯 “If majority-led or resource-rich organizations are not interested in shifting the balance of power in pursuit of building solidarity, they may simply replicate the status quo and marginalize their partners. Decision-making power is especially important...” 👏🏻

dr. jordie davies @jordiedavies.bsky.social · 5d

New article: "Fundamentals of Solidarity: Race-Based Caucus Organizing in Houston" is live at Urban Affairs Review. I'm grateful to the organizers who let me into their world and work so we could produce this piece. Check it out 👇

Fundamentals of Solidarity: Race-Based Caucus Organizing in Houston - Elizabeth Jordie Davies, 2025

Grassroots organizations often espouse multiracial solidarity as a value but struggle with putting this value into practice. How can organizations, especially t...

doi.org

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Laura Tamman @lauratamman.bsky.social · 4d

Once you get to middle school NYC doesn’t have district schools - there is no “default” or “district” option. Parents must submit a list of schools and rank them in order of preference. High school involves applications, some of which are more onerous than my grad school applications. It’s bonkers.

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Laura Tamman @lauratamman.bsky.social · 5d

I was thrilled to see @paceuniversity.bsky.social PJS grad Dante Dallego on this prestigious list! What an inspiring class of journalist fellows.

Reuters Institute @reutersinstitute.bsky.social · 9d

🤩 Meet our new Journalist Fellows joining us this term:

🇦🇺 Vince Chadwick
🇺🇸 Dante Dallago
🇧🇬 Boryana Dzhambazova
🇳🇬 Patrick Egwu
🇫🇮 Salla-Rosa Gröhn
🇮🇳 Banjot Kaur
🇬🇧 William Kremer
🇲🇽 Adriana Navarro Ramírez
🇭🇷 Barbara Strbac
🇵🇸 Shatha Yaish

reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/10-jour...

Laura Tamman @lauratamman.bsky.social · 7d

Listening to the voices of these new voters is worth your time.

They are perfectly paired with perspective from the legendary John Mollenkopf who compares this moment in NYC to WW II.

@nysfocus.bsky.social @brigidbergin.bsky.social @wnyc.org

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...

How New Voters and Rising Costs Are Reshaping New York City Politics

Podcast Episode · NYC NOW · 10/04/2025 · 14m

podcasts.apple.com

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Reposted by Laura Tamman

Ryan D. Williamson @ryandane.bsky.social · 9d

This paper was a long time in the making, one of my favorites I’ve ever worked on, and is now live at SPPQ! doi.org/10.1017/spq....

Is Gerrymandering Poisoning the Well of Democracy? Evaluating the Relationship between Redistricting and Citizens' Attitudes

Ryan D. Williamson and Florian Justwan

Redistricting is often a hotly contested affair within states as the party in power attempts to maximize its chances for electoral success through injecting partisanship into the process. Previous works have evaluated how different redistricting practices can influence elections, but little is known about how redistricting can impact citizen attitudes toward government. Using an original survey with a unique experiment, we evaluate the relationship between how redistricting is performed and how satisfied citizens are with the state of democracy in the United States. We find that the mere perception of redistricting being done in a partisan manner leads to decreased levels of system support. Further-more, our models show that independent redistricting commissions tend to reduce the perceived prevalence of gerrymandering and boost citizens' evaluations of the democratic process.

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Laura Tamman @lauratamman.bsky.social · 7d

Need more of this 👇🏻

Hakeem Jefferson @hakeemjefferson.bsky.social · 7d

As I argue in the book, when we attend to respectability attitudes, which focus on & center Black ppl’s beliefs abt Black behavior, we can understand so much abt how ppl think abt a range of issues. And I think our standard ideological language, though often useful, gets in the way of this clarity.

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Reposted by Laura Tamman

Felicity Hannah @felicityhannah.bsky.social · 9d

This article manages to name her husband before it names… her.

Article reads:
Woman named as Archbishop of Canterbury in historic first

The 63-year-old archbishop-designate is married to Eamonn Mullally, with whom she has two children. Originally from Woking in Surrey, she was the UK's chief nursing officer from 1999 to 2004.

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Laura Tamman @lauratamman.bsky.social · 9d

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." -- FDR, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1937.

NYT headline: “140,000 N.Y.C. Students Are Homeless. Can the Next Mayor Change That?” Next to NYT headline “'A Hornet's Nest:' Mamdani's Gifted
Education Plan Divides
New Yorkers”

Laura Tamman @lauratamman.bsky.social · 9d

👀 “New voters in New York City made up 7% of the overall electorate in the June primary. …By comparison, new voters made up 2% of the primary electorate in 2021.” 👀

Voting is a habit - if they showed up in an off year municipal primary, they are probably coming back to the polls…

Brigid Bergin @brigidbergin.bsky.social · 10d

New voters made a serious mark on the NYC primary. How big a role did they play? gothamist.com/news/how-new...

How newly registered NYC voters are helping fuel Zohran Mamdani's campaign

Winning the primary on the single issue of affordability comes with pressure. Voters expect Mamdani to deliver.

gothamist.com

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Laura Tamman @lauratamman.bsky.social · 10d

This. Is. Amazing.

Becky Hammer @beckyhammer.bsky.social · 10d

Ooookay here we go. Bad Bunny 101 condensed into six weeks of music, reading material, and perreo

Bad Bunny 101

docs.google.com

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Laura Tamman @lauratamman.bsky.social · 11d

Had a blast at City Hall today introducing @paceuniversity.bsky.social students to All Star New Yorkers!

Thank you to the Queen of Queens herself @katiehonan.bsky.social from @thecity.nyc! (And various other Room 9 reporters who let us intrude on their day).

Laura Tamman with Katie Honan surrounded by numerous students in Room 9 at City Hall.

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Laura Tamman @lauratamman.bsky.social · 11d

Hi - I just tried to click on your syllabus but the link didn’t work. Any chance you could dm it to me? Or repost a fresh link? Or am I the idiot that can’t work the internet?

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Laura Tamman @lauratamman.bsky.social · 11d

💯

Jennifer N. Victor @jenvictor.bsky.social · 11d

This one neat trick can help you teach US politics during an institutional collapse:

Tell the truth.

That's it. Just tell it like it is. Be radical.

Reposted by Laura Tamman

Jennifer N. Victor @jenvictor.bsky.social · 11d

BBC interviewer: Is there a fundamental flaw in American politics?

Me: Absolutely. The US is operating political parties software on institutional hardware that assumes parties don't exist because checks and balances will prevent tyranny. That turns out to be wrong.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...

BBC World Service - Newsday, US government shutdown

A final vote on extending government spending has failed to pass the US Senate.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Laura Tamman @lauratamman.bsky.social · 11d

After the family summer beach trip with multiple toddlers: “How was your vacation?”

Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 12d

When you speak to parents of young children about whether their weekend was relaxing and restorative.

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Laura Tamman @lauratamman.bsky.social · 11d

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin’s statement claimed ‘Federal Plaza “has been the target of multiple threats, including assaults on law enforcement,”’ Is that true? Any reporting out there on assaults on law enforcement at 26 Federal Plaza?

Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 11d

Absolutely clear documentation of assaults on at least two journalists by ICE officers, who also caused a serious injury to a third. There must be accountability for these attacks on reporters and on their first amendment rights.

ICE agents assault amNewYork reporter at Federal Plaza immigration court; another journalist seriously injured after shove | amNewYork

ICE agents assaulted amNewYork's own Dean Moses, and allegedly attacked another journalist, on Tuesday morning as they were documenting the ongoing arrests of

www.amny.com

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Laura Tamman @lauratamman.bsky.social · 12d

People act like there is a way to predict - or retroactively evaluate with confidence - what persuades voters and why. But we don’t have many good answers to the question of how and why folks make their voting decisions.

Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 12d

Since the Ezra & Ta-Nehisi discussion is still happening: the main point I think most are missing is that Klein is saying the role of the journalist-intellectual is to do strategic politics, whereas Coates says the role of the journalist-intellectual is to tell the truth

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Laura Tamman @lauratamman.bsky.social · 12d

My students got to sit in on the city council hearing on this today as part of a pre-planned tour of city hall. I can confirm it was 🔥. The tour guide concluded in the chambers but the students said “no, we want to stay and watch the rest of this hearing!”

Noel Hidalgo 🗽❤️🚲 @noneck.org · 12d

"All New Yorkers, especially public housing residents, deserve safety and privacy — not a trade-off between the two.”– Noel Hidalgo, Executive Director of BetaNYC and Commission on Public Information and Communication (COPIC) Member

www.beta.nyc/2025/08/13/s...

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Laura Tamman @lauratamman.bsky.social · 12d

So GOOD.

David Ryan Miller @davidryanmiller.com · 13d

"Backlash Presidents" by @juliaazari.bsky.social

press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

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Laura Tamman @lauratamman.bsky.social · 13d

This is a win for the shitty-ass consultants who will now argue Cuomo has a shot, and pocket millions that billionaires will throw at them to run desperate attacks on Mamdani. The backlash effects will likely inspire even more Mamdani supporters to get out and knock doors in the final stretch.

THE CITY @thecity.nyc · 14d

NEW: After weeks of fervent denials, Mayor Eric Adams announced Sunday that he's dropping out of the mayoral race.

Eric Adams Drops Out of Race for Mayor, Refuses to Endorse Other Candidates

Lagging badly in polls, the mayor confirmed in a video that he's suspending his campaign after weeks of denying he was considering an exit.

www.thecity.nyc

Laura Tamman @lauratamman.bsky.social · 14d

I love this!

Christina Katopodis @katopodis.bsky.social · 15d

I've used student cover letters again this semester, and man these are heartbreakingly beautiful: their commitments to learn & improve themselves despite working multiple jobs; their desire to make space for everyone to speak. They're so genuine & impressive. christinakatopodis.com/pedagogy/stu...

Student Self-Assessments – Christina Katopodis, PhD

christinakatopodis.com

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Laura Tamman @lauratamman.bsky.social · 16d

He could’ve spent this general election campaign airing some vague ads and submerging himself in policy briefs behind closed doors to prep for the transition. But he is doing something entirely different here I’ve never seen before. He is educating.

Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 16d

UNTIL IT'S DONE, Ep. 2

When the Brownsville Clinic opened in 1916, it was the first birth control center in America. Its very existence felt impossible. For young women, it was a lifeline.

109 years later, the Clinic is long closed—but Brownsville mothers are still struggling.

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