Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar

Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.

@bomalley500.bsky.social

199 followers 173 following 45 posts

History educator in Worcester, MA. Historian of immigration and politics in the 19th-century US. NYC history. Sloppy indie rock & punk drummer. Massachusetts politics. Red Sox. He/Him/His. Essay on diss topic: tinyurl.com/cm55mm4a


Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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Thinking that history can be used to predict the future is crazy to me. I guess you can see it as a crude meteorology where you know there are certain conditions that might allow certain events to happen, but the range of stochastic variables is essentially infinite.

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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Your book was so prescient on so many levels.

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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The "history and tradition" test that this idiot invokes as replacing Lemon is such utter bullshit that I had to shut off the radio. Slavery was present with the founders--does that mean we should still have it?

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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I teach many high schoolers from mixed status families—one student wrote a piece about this for my news & media literacy class. Newcomer families are almost never the stereotypical middle-class suburban nuclear model.

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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Freaking out a bit! My old band Love Child is playing its first show since 1993 at Union Pool in Brooklyn this Sunday. Happy to report we've been rehearsing--we won't suck. Tickets here available (scroll down to June 9th at 8pm): www.union-pool.com/calendar

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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You know you’re old when the supermarket plays music you like (just heard Amy Winehouse and Nick Lowe).

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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This looks like perfection to me. Wash it down with an Aperol spritz!

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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It’s hammer time!

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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Yum!!! The Viet food in Worcester is “mid” as my students would say. That looks really good.

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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As someone born in 1970, I feel that it’s managed to hollow out and crush so much of what I used to find meaningful.

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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Very excited! Want to share that the early 90s band I played in, Love Child, is getting a great reissue treatment from the label 12XU, releasing in March. The song you can hear now, "Greedy," is from a BBC Peel Session recording and is perhaps my fave LC song: 12xu.bigcartel.com/product/love...

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Reposted by Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.

Anna O Law's avatar Anna O Law @unlawfulentries.bsky.social
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See Mark Graber's article on the history and intent of the Fourteenth Amendment Section 3 on who should be able to join the government after the Civil War and applications to the present moment. Gift link.

1 replies 4 reposts 9 likes


Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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Ahhhh! Wishing I could could get down to Bklyn this break! But alas….

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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Wow!!! That looks amazing.

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Reposted by Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.

Anna O Law's avatar Anna O Law @unlawfulentries.bsky.social
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The GOP has succeeded in framing immigration as purely restriction. The Dems need to strongly counter by insisting a well-run immigration system keeps those out who are harmful, AND lets in people who need to be here: e.g. the multi billion dollar tourism, foreign student, & entertainment/culture.

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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Counter message: Demographically we need folks to come here! If you’re counting on a Social Security check in the future, we need more immigrants.

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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I was so annoyed by that piece’s failure to mention Ulrich’s brilliant book. The story about her ripping a page out of a doctor’s office magazine as the source of inspiration sounds like BS to me.

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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An huge chunk of my paycheck goes to decent medical insurance—BCBS—for our family of four. The pediatric stuff has been fine, but I’m finding basic adult care increasingly inaccessible. My PCP left and my yearly checkup was just canceled since the provider (a PA) will be “out of the office.” WTF?

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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So glad I went and saw live music on a school night this week: one of my favorite bands of the 90s—Codeine—who I spent five weeks touring Europe with in Fall 1992 playing in a supporting band. A flood of memories and joy brought on by these stark but beautiful songs.

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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Delighted about national news but bummed about several local elections here in Central Mass. Taking solace that the MAGA state senator who won the special will be one of 4 Republicans among 36 Dems.

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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And by the time you do learn to spell it, the name will be changed! I'm a native Bostonian who still cannot spell it correctly--it still looks weird to me.

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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Starting a unit on the presidency in my AP US Gov class and asked students to give Biden a letter grade and explain their reasoning. The average turned out to be on around B-/C+. Overall they see not much bad or good; the one positive several noted were the student loan forgiveness efforts.

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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Just got my copy! Very excited to read!

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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My partner recently purchased a printer--a cheap HP. Did not know the ink is on subscription plan and once you hit the 50 pages per month, firmware shuts it down until you upgrade the subscription. How is this even legal? This pratice seriously needs to be outlawed. HP truly sucks.

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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We’re in Mass, which is blue overall, but not so much here in the center of the state, so similar vibe. Doing that where you are is fabulous!

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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In the spring we waged a successful write-in school board election campaign against a on-the-ballot MAGA/Moms fo Liberty candidate and beat her by a few hundred votes. This work matters! And I agree the national Dems don't get it. The state party helped us somewhat, though.

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Reposted by Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.

Gautham FC's avatar Gautham FC @gauthamrao.bsky.social
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I'll do one for history 1. The state wasn't important in early America 2. If you want to understand the history of federal courts start with Hart and Wechsler and Frankfurter 3. "slavery had nothing to do with law" (actual quote)

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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Just devastated to hear of the passing of Tim Wakefield, Red Sox knuckleballer. Loved the whole story of this very humble working class guy cultivating a very arcane pitch and helping the Sox win the World Series for the first time in 86 years. RIP, Wake.

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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The idea that one man will inflict misery on millions of vulnerable people (WIC, etc.) just to keep his job completely enrages me.

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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For older kids the series Hilda based on the comics by Luke Pearson is fantastic--very smart and fun. A third season is coming out on Netflix in December.

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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Just put a hard “c” in Picchu: “peek-chew.” I’m aghast that I have been saying it the very wrong way to students!

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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Related: Embarrassed that I just learned the correct pronounciation of Machu Picchu today. It means "old peak" in Quechua. The way most English speakers pronounce it (as if it had one "c") means something quite unfortunate in Quechua...

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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My old copy disintegrated long ago, so this is much appreciated.

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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The student teacher I work with snagged this copy for me from a retiring Clark professor’s giveaway pile! Many thanks, @cormacsmith.bsky.social!

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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Full Faith and Coolata Clause was violated.

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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Not an introvert but it's still exhausting for me!

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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Dying--the "wrong" one truly captures your essence!

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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Students ideas for legislation from my high school intro law course: --Six month of emergency free housing for those evicted because of job loss or medical emergency. --High school students given vote for school committee. --A tutition cap of 100K on all undergraduate institutions for a bachelors.

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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@rauchway.bsky.social Hi Eric, Could I please be added to the "What's History" feed? BTW, _Murdering McKinley_ was the first book I read for grad school for Nasaw's course on the Progressive Era at CUNY GC and I adored it. Thanks!

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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This Kubrick movie still is all I have to say about Romney's integrity and decency.

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Reposted by Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.

Matthew Guariglia 's avatar Matthew Guariglia @mguariglia.bsky.social
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I've been away from social media the last few days, but just a reminder that you should pre-order my book on the history of policing in New York and the introduction is now available to read online for free!

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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It's amazing to have so much space out here in the boonies, but the idea of cleaning a whole freakin' house still annoys the hell out of me after living most of my adult life in a tiny two-bedroom NYC apt. I don't miss alternate side parking tho.

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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I love my little 1885 red brick school building, but no AC whatsoever. Conditions today were brutal. Worcester Public Schools made the right call doing half days today and tomorrow, but all public schools are going to need better HVAC systems ASAP--many more days like this are coming in the future.

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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Hi BlueSky! I'm a public high school social studies teacher who wrote a diss on the NY state agency that oversaw immigration thru NYC from 1847 through 1880s. Played drums in several 90s indie bands. Dad of two, including a neurodiverse kiddo. 19th century migration, legal, and political history.

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Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D.'s avatar Brendan P. O'Malley, Ph.D. @bomalley500.bsky.social
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RIP Roy Rosenzweig—did not know him well but he was always kind. Excellent historian and good human. Was kind of random how he ended studying Worcester. His diss adviser was making his grad students do social histories of Mass cities in alpha order—Roy was late in the game!

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