Rebecca M. Townsend
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rmtownsend.bsky.social
Rebecca M. Townsend
@rmtownsend.bsky.social
2.6K followers 1.1K following 840 posts
Deliberation, democracy & public engagement scholar #TeamRhetoric #Commsky politics in US & #CEE #transportation, public memory, Town Meeting. Lifter. Vlach/Aromanian #WMASS @TownModerator.bsky.social
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rmtownsend.bsky.social
It has been a week and a day since this magnificent gentleman went to his final rest.
Fluffy orange cat Orange and white fluffy cat lying on his back Fluffy orange and white cat in window
November 16, 2025 at 2:41 AM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
Shay's Rebellion records Shay's Rebellion records
November 6, 2025 at 12:55 PM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
Congratulations to Sheriff Patrick Cahillane, Mass.
archivists Joseph Solis and Jeremy Berry-Cahn,
HSO Director of Records Elizabeth Stetzel and
HSO Superintendent Glen Sexton
The documents are pages from the “Register of Prisoners” and depict the arrest records of 35 members of the Rebellion who were jailed for taking up arms against the state, treason and sedition. The men held at the jail, then located on Pleasant Street in Northampton, include Luke Day of West Springfield, recognized as one of the leaders of Shays’ Rebellion. According to Samuel Edwards, reference archivist at the Massachusetts Archives: “In 1780s Western Massachusetts, unrest was brewing for several years after the Revolutionary War. The newly independent nation struggled to develop a monetary system, and issued more paper money than could be redeemed for coins, which were in short supply. Coastal merchants, storekeepers and tax collectors insisted on coin payments, which many agrarian farmers in Massachusetts did not have. “Tensions escalated as Western Massachusetts farmers felt their demands were not being met or acknowledged. On August 29, 1786, an armed protest began in Northampton at the Supreme Judicial Court and Court of Common Pleas, led by Daniel Shays and his group called the “Regulators”, who were attempting to shut down the courts so that debt proceedings could not go forward. Due to Shays’ leadership of this protest, this uprising was later called “Shays’ Rebellion”. “Throughout September and October 1786, similar actions to stop court proceedings took place throughout New England, and tensions continued to escalate through the winter between the Regulators and the state government. After suffering defeat in a battle in early February of 1787, Daniel Shays escaped north to Vermont. Later that month, on February 27, 1787 at Sheffield, the Regulators had a violent encounter with state soldiers where 30 Regulators were killed or wounded, and 3 state soldiers were killed. After this incident, many of the protests quelled. “Once John Hancock won the “Throughout September and October 1786, similar actions to stop court proceedings took place throughout New England, and tensions continued to escalate through the winter between the Regulators and the state government. After suffering defeat in a battle in early February of 1787, Daniel Shays escaped north to Vermont. Later that month, on February 27, 1787 at Sheffield, the Regulators had a violent encounter with state soldiers where 30 Regulators were killed or wounded, and 3 state soldiers were killed. After this incident, many of the protests quelled. “Once John Hancock won the gubernatorial election, many of the Regulators were pardoned, which is reflected in these original archival documents. The aftermath of these protests contributed to the creation of the federal government and the writing of the Constitution, as Federalists used the example of Shays’ Rebellion as an argument for a centralized government for the United States.” “I am so pleased that our state archivists have discovered these historically significant documents among our records at the Hampshire Sheriff’s Office, especially as we approach the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence and the influence Shays’ Rebellion had on the development of our Constitution,” Hampshire Sheriff Patrick J. Cahillane said. “The documents remind me that democracies, no matter their age, are inherently fragile and require constant, attentive care if they are to endure.” "The inmate registers from the Hampshire County Sheriff’s Office are the oldest county jail or house of correction records we have encountered in the Commonwealth,” Jeremy Berry-Cahn said. “Their survival is remarkable. We are deeply grateful to Sheriff Patrick J. Cahillane and his staff for their careful stewardship of these documents and for ensuring that they will endure for generations to come. The Massachusetts Archives is committed to preserving these records and will “I am so pleased that our state archivists have discovered these historically significant documents among our records at the Hampshire Sheriff’s Office, especially as we approach the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence and the influence Shays’ Rebellion had on the development of our Constitution,” Hampshire Sheriff Patrick J. Cahillane said. “The documents remind me that democracies, no matter their age, are inherently fragile and require constant, attentive care if they are to endure.” "The inmate registers from the Hampshire County Sheriff’s Office are the oldest county jail or house of correction records we have encountered in the Commonwealth,” Jeremy Berry-Cahn said. “Their survival is remarkable. We are deeply grateful to Sheriff Patrick J. Cahillane and his staff for their careful stewardship of these documents and for ensuring that they will endure for generations to come. The Massachusetts Archives is committed to preserving these records and will make them accessible to the public for historical research. Researchers examining Shays’ Rebellion, early incarceration in Hampshire County, or sheriff’s records more broadly are encouraged to contact us at archives@sec.state.ma.us or visit the Archives in Boston." - # - Photo .Sheriff Patrick Cahillane, Mass. archivists Joseph Solis and Jeremy Berry-Cahn, HSO Director of Records Elizabeth Stetzel and HSO Superintendent Glen Sexton, holding copies of Shays' Rebellion documents in front of the old jail, now condominiums, at 50 Union St., Northampton
November 6, 2025 at 12:55 PM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
Amazing archival discovery in #WMass

#ShaysRebellion

#Revolution250 #MA250
#TeamRhetoric
I'm happy to share the following press release we've sent to our local media: Massachusetts Archivists Discover Shays’ Rebellion Documents Among Hampshire Sheriff’s Office Records Find Represents Oldest County Jail Records in the Commonwealth Arrest records of the “Conspirators in Shays Rebellion,” an armed uprising in 1786 -1787 in western Massachusetts over the newly independent nation’s monetary system, have been discovered stored in a warehouse at the Hampshire Sheriff’s Office (HSO) on Rocky Hill Road. In late- September, Jeremy Berry-Cahn and Joseph Solis, processing archivists with the Massachusetts Archives, discovered the documents while reviewing old records that had been brought to the Rocky Hill Road location 40 years ago when the jail and house of correction moved from its previous location on Union Street near downtown Northampton. The documents are pages from the “Register of Prisoners” and depict the arrest records of 35 members of the Rebellion who were jailed for taking up arms against the state, treason and sedition. The men held at the jail, then located on Pleasant Street in Northampton, include Luke Day of West Springfield, recognized as one of the leaders of Shays’ Rebellion. According to Samuel Edwards, reference archivist at the Massachusetts Archives: “In 1780s Western Massachusetts, unrest was brewing for several years after the Revolutionary War. The newly independent nation struggled to develop a monetary system, and issued more paper money than could be redeemed for coins, which were in short supply. Coastal merchants, storekeepers and tax collectors insisted on coin payments, which many agrarian farmers in Massachusetts
November 6, 2025 at 12:48 PM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
Very glad to be here!
@g-kwiatkowski.bsky.social
@yalebooks.bsky.social
October 9, 2025 at 9:49 PM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
Photo taken of a Pride flag in July, 2019, displayed on a balcony at the US Embassy Budapest, Hungary.
A Pride flag id hanging from a wrought iron balcony of the US Embassy in Budapest. A chain link fence is in front of the building and 2 people pass by, walking in front of the building.
July 23, 2025 at 12:58 PM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
Exciting News! My book, Beyond the Cold War, is one of the six books shortlisted for The International Journal of Press/Politics Hazel Gaudet-Erskine Best Book Award 2025.

#ICA25
1/5
Screen shot: Shortlist Announcement: IJPP Hazel Gaudet-Erskine Best Book Award 2025 We are pleased to announce the six shortlisted titles for The International Journal of Press/Politics Hazel Gaudet-Erskine Best Book Award 2025. This award recognizes outstanding books that advance our theoretical and empirical understanding of the linkages between news media and politics in a globalized world in a significant way. It is given annually by the International Journal of Press/Politics and sponsored by SAGE Publications. 2025 Shortlist: 1. Avoiding the News: Reluctant audiences for Journalism – Benjamin Toff, Ruth Palmer and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen 2. Beyond the Cold War: Presidential Rhetoric in Central and Eastern Europe – Rebecca Townsend (Editor) 3. Journalism in a Fractured World – Scott A Eldridge Observed Correction: How We Can All Respond to Misinformation on 4. Social Media – Leticia Bode and Emily K. Vraga 5. Seeing Red: Russian Propaganda and American News – Sarah Oates and Gordon Ramsay 6. Talking Back to the West: How Turkey Uses Counter-Hegemony to Reshape the Global Communication Order – Bilge Yesil We received an exceptional set of nominations, and the quality of submissions made the selection process a difficult one. Our sincere thanks to all who submitted nominations, and to the authors whose work enriches the field. The winning title will be announced next month at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the International Communication Association in Denver. Congratulations to the shortlisted authors! We thank the 2025 Book Award Committee — Taberez A. Neyazi (Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Press/Politics), Kate Kenski (chair of the Political Communication Division of ICA), and Edson C. Tandoc Jr. (chair of the Journalism Studies Division of ICA), for their service and thoughtful evaluation of the nominations.
May 5, 2025 at 6:41 PM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
I was at a conference and could not attend a HandsOff protest.

I had 2 hours before leaving for home today. So I spent it at a National Park: Castillo San Cristobal in San Juan.

www.nps.gov/saju/learn/h...
Giant iguana on grass Castillo San Cristobal Rusted old cannon balls
April 6, 2025 at 1:18 AM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
Glad to discuss the @compact.org + @aacu.org Democracy Inventory Guide early today @
#AACU2025 in Puerto Rico.

April 2025, 250 years after the Am. Rev began, I honor pro-democracy activity in #HigherEd

#Revolution250
Thanks to @mathzorro.bsky.social for 📸
Woman standing and talking Woman next to a slide show slide that says Using the Democracy Inventory Guide to Stimulate General Education, Civic Learning, Civic Praxis, and Civic Poiesis...and Perhaps Civic Phronesis AAC&U CLASS Conference on Learning and Student Success
April 5, 2025 at 9:34 PM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
The back up.
Orange and white fluffy cat staring through a mouse hole cut out of a door at the top of a set of stairs
March 24, 2025 at 2:20 AM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
Laser-focused vigilance.
Tabby cat with glowing eyes peeking through a cut out mouse hole in a door at the top of a set of stairs
March 24, 2025 at 2:19 AM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
Prof. Huq said assessing whether a given development is a constitutional crisis is “generally unhelpful.”
It helps bc we can judge whether a different order is one that's so beyond the pale of our national principles and practice that we want to stop it.

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/19/u...
Screenshot of quote: “I think it’s more useful to say that this is moving us into a completely different kind of constitutional order, one that’s no longer characterized by laws that bind officials and that can be enforced,” Professor Huq said. “The law, in other words, becomes a tool to harm enemies, but not to bind those who govern. That is a quite different constitutional order from the one that we’ve had for a long time.” The contested directive was issued at a hearing on Saturday by Judge
March 19, 2025 at 11:20 AM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
Indeed!
Boop!
Chico Marx in a hat pointing up
March 16, 2025 at 11:02 PM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
Bollinger: We're in the midst of an authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government. It's been coming and coming, and not everybody is prepared to read it that way. The characters regarded as people to emulate, like Orban and Putin and so on, all indicate that the strategy is to create an illiberal democracy or an authoritarian democracy or a strongman democracy. That's what we're experiencing. Our problem in part is a failure of imagination. We cannot get ourselves to see how this is going to unfold in its most frightening versions. You neutralize the branches of government; you neutralize the media; you neutralize universities, and you're on your way. We're beginning to see the effects on universities. It's very, very frightening.
March 16, 2025 at 4:23 PM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
It would be great if by sharing these images we did not help them spead.

If you think it's awful to do what Fox is doing, then please try to take <30 seconds to blur the image.
Screenshot blurred out image of the judge in this post by Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com 30m Fox News is now displaying photos of judges who rule against Trump while hosts and Republicans attack them live on air
March 16, 2025 at 3:17 PM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
If you are going to @aacu.org CLASS, you'll want to get there EARLY! How about joining me in a Sunrise Session: "Using the Democracy Inventory Guide to Stimulate General Education Civic Learning, Civic Praxis, and Civic Poiesis…and Perhaps Civic Phronesis"?
#Democracy #CivicLearning #CivicEngagement
Screenshot of AAC&U's 2025 Conference on Learning and Student Success (CLASS) Saturday Apr 5, 2025 / 07:00AM-07:45AM "45-minute Sunrise Session: Using the Democracy Inventory Guide to Stimulate General E... Rebecca Townsend Powered by Whova
March 14, 2025 at 7:01 PM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
George W. Bush Presidential Center
George W. Bush Presidential Center statement. You + 6 689 comments 3.5K shares GEORGEW. BUSH PRESIDENTIAL CENTER AMERICA FIRST SHOULD NOT PUT RUSSIA SECOND To the dismay of those who support freedom, the world is turning toward the appeasement of dictators. It was painful to watch last week's meeting in the Oval Office, a room President George W. Bush has often called a "shrine to freedom. LINE WHITE HOUS 32 comments 127 shares GEORGEW. BUSH PRESIDENTIAL CENTER AMERICA FIRST SHOULD NOT PUT RUSSIA SECOND President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance attacked Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the democratically-elected Ukrainian president who is leading the fight against a dictatorial aggressor. MSNBC 3 You + 1.1K GEORGEW. BUSH PRESIDENTIAL CENTER AMERICA FIRST SHOULD NOT PUT RUSSIA SECOND To insinuate that Ukraine is somehow the perpetrator of the aggression,the saber-rattling toward World War l, and the impediment to peace is delusional. LMSNBC MO3LINE WNTEHOUSE 7 comments 79 shares GEORGEW.BUSH PRESIDENTIAL CENTER AMERICA FIRST SHOULD NOT PUT RUSSIA SECOND Nobody wants the war to end more than Ukrainians, who, after all, are the ones suffering and dying from Vladimir Putin's war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. LMSNBC WE 2:44F 40 comments 73 shares GEORGEW. BUSH PRESIDENTIAL CENTER AMERICA FIRST SHOULD NOT PUT RUSSIA SECOND The bombardment by Russia constant. S Peace will only come the day Russia ceases fighting. In the meantime, Ukrainians are justified in defending their sovereign territory. MSNEC Like
March 13, 2025 at 12:04 AM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
PAY EQUITY Data

(Info removed from federal website)
PAY EQUITY: WHY IT MATTERS ◦ Start at a $50,000/year with yearly 3% raise • In year 30 earn $126, 217 for total of $2.38 M • If negotiated for $5,000 higher starting salary In year 30 earn $133, 500 for total of $2.62 M . Roughly $240,000 difference over 30 years
March 7, 2025 at 3:19 PM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
WOMEN IN HIGHER ED MILESTONES
YEAR
MILESTONE
1833 Oberlin College becomes the first coeducational institution in the U.S., admitting both men and women.
WOMEN IN HIGHER ED MILESTONES YEAR MILESTONE 1833 Oberlin College becomes the first coeducational institution in the U.S., admitting both men and women. 1836 Wesleyan College becomes the first women's college in the world, 1862 Mary Jane Patterson graduates from Oberlin College, becoming the first Black woman in the U.S. to earn a bachelor's degree. 1892 The first 'Dean of Women' position is established at the University of Chicago, marking women's entry into academic administration. 1970's Princeton and Yale become coeducational in 1969, Brown in 1971, Dartmouth in 1972, and Columbia in 1983. 1980's Women achieve parity with men in undergraduate enrollment in the United States 2025 Elizabeth Kiss becomes the first female president of Union College, One rincoton University_alum complained. "What is all this nonsense about admitting women to Princeton? A good old-fashioned whore-house would be considerably more efficient. and much, much cheaper. Meanwhile, Yale University alumni worried about the distracting" offoct ol women. "Gentlemen - let's face it- charming as women are they get to be a drag if you are forced to associato with them each and every day," an alum wrote. "For God's sako, for Dartmouth's sake, and for everyone's sake, keep the damned women out," wrote a Dartmouth_Collego alum in 1970 Dartmouth undergrads even hung a "Better Dead Than Coed" banner from dorm window.
March 7, 2025 at 3:15 PM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
ACE Women's Network Massachusetts #InternationalWomensDay
At UMass
ACE Women's Network Keynote slide presentation
March 7, 2025 at 3:09 PM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
Hello. We appreciate your business. I understand you need assistance about Elon Musk's influence on the FAA? 5:09 PM Yes Read 5:10 PM Thank you so much for confirming. I am sorry to hear about this and we are also worried about this issue as an airline but they are working on this issue with FAA and on our end we are customer care and been updated about this but we do not have an option to escalate such matters as they have to do with FAA but what I can do is check if there is a complaint form so you can submit this through FAA. Is that okay? 5:16 PM
March 4, 2025 at 2:28 AM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
In 1892 a tablet honoring those "40 Friends" who spoke out against the persecution of Nurse.

Rev. Putnam's address at this link:
archive.org/details/rebe...
Stone marke with inscription "This tablet contains the names of those who at the risk of their lives gave written testimony in favor of Rebecca Nurse in 1692"
March 2, 2025 at 2:24 PM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
Rebecca Nurse House, 1885 Monument (not gravesite).
Nurse, an ancestor of my spouse, was accused, convicted & hanged for witchcraft. The jury came back not guilty and Judge Hathorne sent them back.
Photo of stone monument with three stones on it. Inscription reads: Rebecca Nurse, Yarmouth, England 1621. Salem, Mass., 1692 "Oh, Christian martyr, who for truth could die, when all about thee owned the hideous lie, the world redeemed by superstition's sway is breathing freer for thy sake today." John Greenleaf Whittier Red salt box style house.
March 2, 2025 at 2:16 PM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
Excellent show!

trupatrupa.com/about-us/
Purple lighting of a stage. Three musicians are performing with bass, guitar, and drums. A crowd watches
March 2, 2025 at 1:27 PM
rmtownsend.bsky.social
Tonight at Bowery Electric
#TrupaTrupa
Sign with Tonight 3/1 Trupa Trupa Activity Big Bliss
March 2, 2025 at 1:36 AM