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Steven Nelson

@snelsonus.bsky.social
4.8K followers 828 following 506 posts

Executive Director, Sam Gilliam Foundation; UCLA professor emeritus; and left-handed art historian who sees lots of shiny objects. Opinions expressed here are my own.

PostsRepliesMedia
Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 15h
More is more.
static.klipy.com
Tiffany's Frustrated Headache
ALT: Tiffany's Frustrated Headache
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 15h
Marco Fuentes, Cornell Class of 1985, has published a scathing open letter to University President Michael Kotikoff regarding his handling of the Cornell 7 in the Cornell Sun. More donors should follow Fuentes's example. www.cornellsun.com/article/2026...
cornellsun.com
LETTER TO THE EDITOR | An Open Letter to President Michael Kotlikoff Regarding the Chi Phi Lawsuit
Marco Fuentes ’85 sends an open letter to President Kotlikoff regarding the Chi Phi case, demanding his resignation and a series of steps to repair the University's reputation.
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
It's not a good look.
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
If you're going to cast online aspersions on someone's intellectual ability, you might want to proofread your screed for grammatical errors and typos before posting. #protip
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Another reason not to subscribe to the @washingtonpost.com.
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Monica Byrne @monicabyrne13.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"'Access journalism'" is not about the journalist having access to the regime, but the regime having longtime access to the journalist. It is a common prerequisite in mafia states." -- @sarahkendzior.bsky.social
sarahkendzior.substack.com
Gutting the Fourth Estate
The US media were willing cogs in Trump’s machine. Now he’s tearing it down.
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Last weekend at the Armory Fair... www.newyorker.com/humor/shouts...
newyorker.com
Currently on View in an Art-Fair Booth
If the art market ceases to exist, you’ll at least have a painting of Bart Simpson.
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Exactly.
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
This is Lonnie Bunch's retirement, not his resignation. As upset as some people are with his news, having worked in the Federal Government, sometimes we can be more effective from the outside than from within. I can't wait to see what he does once he's untethered. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/08/a...
nytimes.com
Smithsonian’s Secretary to Resign as Trump Tries to Rule the Institution (Gift Article)
In the face of escalating White House attacks about how museums present American history, Lonnie G. Bunch III has announced his decision to depart.
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Thank you! It's great being here with @yaelrice.bsky.social and the others. I wish you could visit.
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Gloria Steinem was one of my sheroes, a model of feminist practice and a inspiration for so many of us. Because of her, I subscribed to Ms. Magazine for years. Both deeply influenced my own thinking and writing. Rest in Power. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/03/u...
nytimes.com
Gloria Steinem, Personification of the Feminist Movement, Dies at 92 (Gift Article)
She challenged sexist assumptions, helping women develop a sense of self-worth and gain a measure of equality at work, at home and in society at large.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
This is how our government has been corrupted: 1) Donors give huge sums to elect politicians to office 2) Elected officials rewrite rules in the donors' favor 3) Donors make huge profit 4) Repeat We must get big money out of politics. It is the root of our dysfunction.
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
If I were still in academia, I would move to a Canadian institution in a heartbeat. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/w...
nytimes.com
Canada Hires U.S. Scholars From Harvard and Other Top Universities (Gift Article)
A crackdown on American academia by the Trump administration has handed Canadian universities a rare opportunity to lure some top researchers north.
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
A great development at UCLA newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ucl...
newsroom.ucla.edu
UCLA launches nation's first digital humanities department
Future-ready students, forward-looking research: The new department brings a humanistic approach to AI and other emerging technologies.
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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Judge strikes down Texas ban on drag shows, tells people offended by them ‘just don’t go’
nbcnews.com
Judge strikes down Texas ban on drag shows, tells people offended by them ‘just don’t go’
The federal judge, who cited Dolly Parton in his ruling, found that the state law violated the First Amendment.
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
I had a student who was in a serious biking accident some years ago. Her helmet saved her life.
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Library of Congress @librarycongress.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
The Library is devastated to learn of the passing of Dolly Parton, a music legend and titan of children's literacy. Her Imagination Library program has earned multiple Library Literacy Awards and, in 2018, she visited us to donate its 100 millionth book to our collection and host a story time. 🦋❤️
Dolly Parton reads to children in the Library’s Great Hall in 2018. Photo by Shawn Miller.
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Same!
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Be a Dolly, not a Donald.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Corporate Democrats are on the defensive because their campaign cash isn’t working the way it used to. Now, finally, the Democratic Party has an opportunity to once again become the party of working Americans, as it used to be, rather than the party of the wealthy elite.
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God @thegodshow.com · 19/08/2026
Call me crazy, but perhaps being related to a Senator who died doesn’t qualify you to be a Senator.
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
We do.
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Harper is also the author of The Atlantic hit piece on the Mellon Foundation and Elizabeth Alexander. When I saw his this self-indulgent, turgid personal narrative, I knew what to expect. I appreciate Baker's clarity and focus on the institution and its problems (which other institutions share).
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Andrew Baker's essay is a critical counterpart to Tyler Austin Harper's recent anti-DEI screed published by The Atlantic.
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Rae Radford @raeradford.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Absolutely! #BookSky
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Important research and soft censorship by the State of Arkansas.
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
There was a bike lane on this street. She should have been riding in it.
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
If you’re going to do this you have to know your left from your right. I saw a bicyclist coming down a sidewalk a couple of weeks ago tell a group of pedestrians she was passing on their right bit she did it on their left. As they heard her and stepped to their left, she hit one of them.
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
The seating is really good!
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Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
“ 'It is clear that the National Gallery interpreted "Color Lines’"as a problem to be solved rather than as an important academic conference,' Nelson wrote in his essay, which was published in October, a quarterly academic journal on art history."
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Ian James @ianjames.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
“Going forward, it will be easier for the National Gallery to marginalize or suppress ideas, artwork, and exhibitions that challenge the status quo. Museum staff will learn self-censorship.”
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
My grandparents had two Siamese cats that lived to be in their 20s. They were amazing.
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Tyler Green @tylergreenbooks.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
I'm a scholar and a media executive producer/host, not former staff. This comports with my professional experiences of the Trump-era National Gallery of Art.
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Shirley Wajda @stwajda.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
"Nelson concludes that such preemptive self-restriction, rather than protecting institutions, normalizes self-censorship and transforms #museums into complicit agents of authoritarian control, undermining their stated commitments to diversity, academic freedom, and the free exchange of ideas."
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Sarah J. Jackson @sjjphd.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Indeed, soft censorship as it’s called here is how censorship often works. Institutions and individuals preemptively edit themselves and each case closes the Overton window and further delimits expression
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Very glad to see this out there. Steven is an incredible leader and scholar (and, to be clear, dear friend).
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Pat McDermott @twinsetpat.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
I just finished reading Nicholas Enrich’s book about the dismantling of USAID, Into the Wood Chipper, in which he writes about recognizing where one has moral limits, about complicity. This another story about recognizing complicity. 👇🏾👇🏻👇🏽👇🏼👇🏿
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Here’s a link to the October essay: direct.mit.edu/octo/article...
direct.mit.edu
Soft Censorship
Abstract. This essay examines the phenomenon of “soft censorship” in American museums during the second Trump administration, drawing on the author's firsthand experience as dean of the Center for Adv...
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
I wrote an essay on the moving of the 2025 Wyeth Symposium from the National Gallery and the implications of such an action. Titled “Soft Censorship,” the piece recently appeared in the journal "October." Today the NYT published this article based on the essay. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/10/a...
nytimes.com
National Gallery Accused of ‘Soft Censorship’ to Avoid Provoking Trump (Gift Article)
A former executive with the Washington museum says it moved a symposium about race in art to avoid political blowback.
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
static.klipy.com
RuPaul Makes a Heart Gesture
Alt: RuPaul Makes a Heart Gesture.
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Same doorway, Provincetown, MA, 1984/2026.
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
We’re in Ptown as well!
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Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
An important reminder to a nation full of pious busybodies:
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Love the Bomb.
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Perhaps moderate/establishent Democrats should start reading the room. Voters are not swayed but their empty policy positions and are waking up to the fact that they had a part in clearing the way for authoritarianism’s ascendancy. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/06/u...
nytimes.com
Moderate Democrats Prepare for ‘War’ Against an Ascendant Left (Gift Article)
One moderate group says the progressive wins are “deeply troubling” and is planning a $15 million effort against democratic socialism.
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Kim Sajet, director of the Milwaukee Art Museum and former director of the National Portrait Gallery, interviewed in the NYT on the Trump Administration attack on the Smithsonian, particularly on Anthea Hartig, director of the Smithsonian Museum of American History. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/a...
nytimes.com
For Museum Boss Who Became a Trump Target, It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again (Gift Article)
Kim Sajet left as director of the National Portrait Gallery when she found herself in the White House cross hairs. Now she’s watching another Smithsonian chief go through it.
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
While driving though West Virginia last summer we saw dozens and dozens of signs on the road protesting the construction of AI data centers. Even folks in this reddest of red state don't want them in their backyards.
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Hoping that Yale doesn’t capitulate to the Trump administration. americanprospect.bluelena.io/index.php?ac...
americanprospect.bluelena.io
Yale loses the Capitulation Bowl
The university’s...
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Steven Nelson @snelsonus.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
static.klipy.com
Wonder Twins: Powers Activate!
ALT: Wonder Twins: Powers Activate!
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