Jim Casey
LightNews LightNews
banner
jimccasey1.bsky.social
Jim Casey
@jimccasey1.bsky.social
1.3K followers 850 following 300 posts
Making our way at the Center for Black Digital Research (digblk.psu.edu) with the Colored Conventions Project (coloredconventions.org) Douglass Day (douglassday.org). Co-editor, The Colored Conventions Movement (2021). Also writing a history of editors.
Posts Replies Media Videos
jimccasey1.bsky.social
People don't live tweet events anymore?

Anyways, today I am attending the very cool

"LOOKING BACK TO THE FUTURE: Realizing the "Afric-American-Picture Gallery" Symposium at Winterthur (a place that I would have never imagined hosting an event like this, truly)
LOOKING BACK TO THE FUTURE: Realizing the "Afric-American-Picture Gallery" Symposium NOVEMBER 14-15, 2025
November 14, 2025 at 2:11 PM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
These con artists have set up shop in downtown Santa Barbara. Tuition is $50,000 per year.

Their ads promise your child will

- Learn to manage an airbnb
- Pass the FBI fitness test
- Win a sailing trip to the Bahamas
Pirates & Sailing Crew Learn to sail to earn a trip to the Bahamas Ai generated picture of a child doing pudgy ups Caption says FBI Fitness Challenge Pass the FBI physical fitness test Entrepreneurship + Financial Literacy Public Sales Challenge Pitch and sell to new people in the real world With an ai generated picture of a child
October 31, 2025 at 3:30 AM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
Camelopards on Broadway - with goats from the Holy Land!
Screenshot of a newspaper advertisements showing text "Now Exhibiting at 509 Broadway, New York" and a bunch of small print. The image shows a goat and two giraffes.
August 27, 2025 at 4:17 PM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
Article is paywalled, but here's the passage
Jackson called out Thomas’ limited reading of American history, noting that he cited only a handful of late 19th-century lawsuits that mostly had to do with disputes over government pensions and employment. Jackson pointed to other debates happening at the very same time, known as the Colored Conventions. These were political gatherings where Black Americans organized for racial justice while debating the issues of the moment. In so doing, she opened the door for authentic originalists to expand the scope of who the Supreme Court considers—whether it is only the old, dead, white men who held a monopoly on power in early America who count, or indeed the entire country. Jackson pointed to the Colored People’s Convention of the State of South Carolina in 1865 to show that “rights” were understood more expansively than Thomas claimed: “ ‘Right’ is defined to be the just claim, ownership, or lawful title which a person has to anything.”
July 4, 2025 at 4:30 PM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
Not even making this up
Increase in deduction for certain Alaskan whaling captains The provision, which was added to the bill to win the support of Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, would allow a $50,000 deduction for whaling-related expenses, up from $10,000
July 2, 2025 at 1:15 AM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
Did your NEH proposal or project funding get killed off?

Please share it at this week's @ach.bsky.social virtual conference!

Testify to the impact!
Share what you had started!
Share what you hoped & dreamed!

Open to all 👇
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Help us spread the word?
A picture of two actors in 18th century clothes looking at a Macbook laptop
June 11, 2025 at 6:46 PM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
🚨 Funding is being cut for the California Digital Newspaper Collection!

The state budget for next year zeroes out all funding, which would put the entire site offline permanently.

Please fill out comments
- sbud.senate.ca.gov/members/subc...

- abgt.assembly.ca.gov/sub-committe...

Sample text ⬇️
I write to urge you to put the $430,000 for the California Newspaper Project (CNP) back into the FY2026 budget. For more than three decades, the CNP has worked to catalog, preserve and digitize our state’s newspapers. Along with tens of thousands of other Californians, I am an avid user of their California Digital Newspaper Collection (CDNC), https://cdnc.ucr.edu, a free online collection of more than 40 million pages of digitized newspapers from around the Golden State. Every year they digitize millions of additional pages through grants, partnerships with private industry, and contracts with institutions around the state. No one else in California does this work and without the state support for the CNP, no one will do it. The CDNC is the largest archive of its kind in the country. This relatively small investment from the State will ensure this unique and invaluable resource remains freely accessible to all Californians.
April 14, 2025 at 9:11 PM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
In case anyone else got this nonsense, I re-wrote the instructions. It took 5 minutes.

Let's compare my version to the draft above. I do not love my Board of Elections making it harder and more confusing for me to vote in this swing country/swing state.
ANNUAL MAIL-IN BALLOT RENEWAL NOTICE What This Is About You are getting this letter because you previously signed up to get mail-in ballots automatically for elections in Pennsylvania. These mail-in ballots expire each year. You must submit a new application to continue receiving them. If You Want to Keep Getting Mail-In Ballots: Do ONE of these things: Fill out the enclosed application and mail it back in the pre-paid envelope Go to vote.pa.gov to submit your application online (when available) Important Deadlines: Your application must arrive at our office by 5:00 PM on the Tuesday before the election We recommend applying at least two weeks early Only applications received by the deadline will be processed (postmarks irrelevant) To Stop Receiving Mail-In Ballots: Simply discard this notice - no action needed If You Want to Cancel Your Annual Mail-In Status: Fill out the "Request to Cancel My Permanent Voter Status" form Return it in the enclosed envelope OR email it to Lmstefanko@centrecountypa.gov Important: Mail-in ballot applications only renew your mail-in status. If you've moved, please update your voter registration address separately. Questions? Contact your County Board of Elections.
March 2, 2025 at 5:34 PM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
This letter from our local election board in PA is basically impossible to read.

Double negatives. Conditional statements that lead nowhere. Why is one sentence 77 words long?! Are you supposed to respond by mail, email, or online? Who knows!

Hmm, why would they want to make it harder to vote? 🤔
You are receiving this notice because you previously applied to vote by mail in a Pennsylvania election and at the time of your application you requested to be on our annual list of mail-in voters. An annual voter is someone who at one time, requested to receive either an absentee or a mail-in ballot automatically for every election you're eligible to vote in that year. Annual voters are then given a choice to renew this request each year; however, a new application MUST be submitted each year. A mail-in ballot application will not make any updates to addresses on your voter registration. If you would like to automatically receive a ballot by mail for each election in which you are eligible to vote this year, complete the application included with this notice and mail it to our Office in the postage paid, pre-addressed envelope enclosed. (DO NOT EMAIL the completed ballot application) Alternatively, once the on-line ballot application is available you can conveniently complete and submit an on-line ballot application by visiting vote.pa.gov. The deadline to apply for a mail-in/absentee ballot is 5:00PM on the Tuesday before the election; however, we do not recommend waiting until the deadline to apply. Please note your application must be received in the county board of election's office by the deadline. Postmarks do not apply. If you do not wish to receive ballots for each election held this year, simply discard this notice and do not submit an application. \f you want to be removed from the list of annual mail-in voters and no longer automatically receive an application for ballots each year, complete the Request to Cancel My Permanent Voter Status form included and either email the completed form to Lmstefanko@centrecountypa.gov or return this form to our office in the postage paid, pre-addressed envelope enclosed, do not return this form if you wish to stay on the annual list.
March 2, 2025 at 5:26 PM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
A copy of David Walker's Appeal is up for auction at Swann.

Quick! Don't tell the governor of Virginia in 1830!!

For that matter, don't tell the governors today in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Tex...
Screenshot of the item on the Swan Gallery website. It shows the front cover in green of David Walker's Appeal with an Estimate of $3000 to 4000 and a brief description and bidding options.
February 27, 2025 at 5:13 PM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
February 24, 2025 at 10:59 PM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
We're hiring at the @digblk.bsky.social!

Hiring a "Data Scientist" (very broadly defined) to collaborate on the @ccp-org.bsky.social, @douglassday.bsky.social & emerging work on Black archives & AI. Can be remote!

Info: bit.ly/cbdr-ds

We're reviewing apps this month. Help us spread the word?
A graphic that says "We're hiring" and includes the Center for Black Digital Research website (digblk.psu.edu) and Bluesky handle (@digblk.bsky.social).
February 21, 2025 at 5:15 PM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
Heartily agreed! I know people have already started teaching college classes focused on the year 2020 too.

And gotta shout out @aejohnsonphd.bsky.social's recent book, The Summer of 2020: George Floyd and the Resurgence of the Black Lives Matter Movement www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/T/The-...
Book cover showing authors: ANDRE E. JOHNSON & AMANDA NELL EDGAR THE SUMMER of 2020: GEORGE FLOYD and THE RESURGENCE of the BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT
January 25, 2025 at 5:34 PM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
Teaching "Black Freedom Struggles" this semester. Some of the material below.

Hoping these books will guide us for what's coming next week and beyond.
Photos of books with the titles: BLACK FUTURES GOLDEN GULAG Black Reconstruction in America 1860-1880 PICTURING FREDERICK DOUGLASS NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS, AN AMERICAN SLAVE REBECCA HALL Wake THE COMMON WIND JULIUS S. SCOTT
January 14, 2025 at 5:22 PM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
6 hours delayed!
January 12, 2025 at 7:35 PM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
"Editing for Social Change" - tomorrow at #MLA25!

Join us to talk about radical editing in the c19 and c21

It's an open discussion with academics & journalists, featuring Nathan Robinson of @currentaffairs.bsky.social w/ Kelley Kreitz, @jgob.bsky.social and more!

mla.confex.com/mla/2025/mee...
MLA 2025 CONVENTION Session 31 - Editing for Social Change: Pasts, Plights, and Paths Thursday, 9 January 2025 At 12:00 PM - 1:15 PM Hilton New Orleans Riverside - Compass (Riverside Complex) Description Scholars and journalists discuss the invisible craft, politics, and histories of editorship, aiming to bridge current debates in the media and in print culture studies, and explore editing’s roles within movements for social change in the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries.
January 7, 2025 at 4:17 PM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
I funded abortion access and you can too
January 1, 2025 at 12:04 AM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
Funny every year to see the @ccp-org.bsky.social still on top of the MLA Prizes page
Photo of seven people from the Colored Conventions Project and the text "Winners of MLA Prizes"
December 18, 2024 at 4:22 AM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
Still thinking about this article on the colonial logic of ChatGPT www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

In a nutshell, the word "delve" might be a tell for ChatGPT because OpenAI hired (read: exploited) people in Nigeria where the word "delve" is more commonly used
I said “delve” was overused by ChatGPT compared to the internet at large. But there’s one part of the internet where “delve” is a much more common word: the African web. In Nigeria, “delve” is much more frequently used in business English than it is in England or the US. So the workers training their systems provided examples of input and output that used the same language, eventually ending up with an AI system that writes slightly like an African.
November 11, 2024 at 6:49 PM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
This semester I'm doing three full-time jobs. Some days I can manage 'em okay. (Some!) But when they fight among themselves?? That sounds like a them problem...

(Screenshot: I have six one-hour meetings this Thursday between 12-2pm 🫠)
Screenshot of Apple calendar showing meetings on meetings on meetings
November 5, 2024 at 5:39 AM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
Old Facebook report for "I'm in this photo and I don't like it"
November 2, 2024 at 3:50 PM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
Semester 1, Me 0
Screenshot of too many messages and calendar invites
October 9, 2024 at 11:46 AM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
99% of storymaps would be easier to read as power points
A picture of a guy nobody asked
October 6, 2024 at 4:16 PM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
SAVE THE DATE: Feb. 14, 2025! 🎂

Join us in transcribing the AFAM Perspectives Collection
@Crowd_LOC!

📽️Watch the Live Broadcast
💻Crowdsource with the Library of Congress
🍰Celebrate and Win the Great Douglass Day Bakeoff

Info & registration: douglassday.org

Pls help us share?
September 6, 2024 at 4:50 PM
jimccasey1.bsky.social
I've got a new plan to save the newspaper industry
The French are as peculiar and as characteristic in their premiums. The Gaulois offered two bottles of Champagne for every new subscriber for six months. Four bottles of the Widow Cliquot for sending the Gaulois for one year! Sparkling inducement! The Figaro, not to be outdone, offered a small pocket revolver at half price for every new subscriber. Thus every reader of that paper would have a six-shooter at half cock for reading its brilliant articles for twelve months.
April 3, 2024 at 3:32 AM