Let's take a brief break from our infinite scrolling of toxified social media-infused rage bait and return to a simpler time when, if you wanted to know something, you could just pick up the phone and ask someone—when any of your queries came with a pre-gameshow version of the lifeline, "I'd like to phone a friend." Auburn University perfected this ideal version of the help-desk model 70 years ago and, amazingly, the students manning the landline are still on call. What kinds of questions do they answer? Here's one example: "If you died on the operating table and they declared you legally dead and wrote out a death certificate and everything, but then you came back to life, what are the legal ramifications? Do you technically no longer exist? Do you have to be declared undead by a judge?" But the questions can be about anything. While the large stacks of reference books have been replaced by a few computers, two things have remained the same. The phone number. And the fact that a human will take your call. Oxford American: The Alabama Landline That Keeps Ringing. "During the day, the phones ring about ten to fifteen times an hour. Most of the calls are from the general public. Occasionally, an Auburn student calls to ask about basketball tickets or whether their brown jacket ended up in the lost and found. As classes wrap up for the afternoon and the sun sets, the big windows that filter sunlight turn into mirrors. Calls become less frequent, so students working at the desk settle into their homework. It’s a perk of the job. By nine o’clock, the student center is quiet. That’s when people like Beulah call..." 2As Sobering as a JudgeThe battle between the Trump administration and courtroom judges just crossed a new threshold. "F.B.I. agents arrested a Milwaukee county judge on Friday on charges of obstructing immigration agents, saying she steered an undocumented immigrant through a side door in her courtroom while the agents waited to arrest him in a public hallway." NYT (Gift Article): Wisconsin Judge Arrested, Accused of Shielding Immigrant From Federal Agents. 3PhD Day"The announcement followed a wave of individual lawsuits filed by students who have said they were notified that their legal right to study in the United States was rescinded, often with minimal explanation. In some cases, students had minor documented traffic violations or other infractions. But in other cases, there appeared to be no obvious cause for the revocations." Trump Administration Reverses Course on Student Visa Cancellations. 4Weekend WhatsWhat to Watch: You don't need to be a StarsWars nut to appreciate the excellence of the series Andor on DisneyPlus. The first few episodes of season two are already out, but I'm still catching up on, and really digging, season one.
5Extra, ExtraNational Security Councigliere: Pete Hegseth's chief of staff is ousted, in the latest sacking at the Pentagon. But it's not just Hegseth. The whole national security apparatus is breaking. "The disorder at the NSC, officials told me, stems from Trump’s impatience with process, disregard for the law, and insistence on loyalty in place of expertise. They also said it reflects the president’s distrust of Waltz, a former Florida congressman and Green Beret who served in the George W. Bush administration as an aide to Vice President Dick Cheney." The Atlantic: Inside the Fiasco at the National Security Council. 6Feel Good FridayNYT (Gift Article): Penn Station’s Not-So-Secret Other Life: The People’s Dance Studio. "Smooth floors. Public restrooms. A built-in audience: The lower level of Moynihan Hall doubles as a rehearsal space for a variety of dance groups, including K-pop, salsa and Brazilian Zouk." With a restroom and a built-in audience, it also could soon double as NextDraft HQ.
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