When a Tennessee student makes a threat on social media and it comes to the attention of school staff, the law requires them to investigate the validity of the threat, and figure out a plan of action that supports the student, and protects their peers. @ProPublica reports on an incident in DuPont Tyler Middle School earlier this year, where authorities expelled a seventh grader without following proper procedures. The 12-year-old’s alleged threat was a screenshot of a text exchange that he says he reposted from a Spanish-language news site. It’s just the latest in a series of similar stories of children being expelled, facing felony charges, and being detained — in one case, just for making a “finger gun” gesture at classmates.

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Apartment concerts — kvartyrnyks — in Ukraine are nothing new. They took place throughout the Soviet years, where Ukrainians could read poetry, sing songs, and freely discuss the government. Veronika Romanova and Mariana Lastovyria write for @timkmak’s Counteroffensive about what it’s like to attend the 2025 version. “The existence of kvartyrnyks demonstrates how Ukrainian culture persists despite constant adversity – whether under authoritarianism or in the face of open war against it,” they write. [Story may be paywalled.]

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At the end of WWII, the Soviet Union shifted its censorship into high gear in order to minimize the corrupting influence of the West. The punishment for disseminating banned materials could be imprisonment in a gulag, or even death. But that didn’t stop the enterprising, innovative people of the former USSR. @TheConversationUS explains “bone music,” where recordings of Ella Fitzgerald and Elvis were etched into used X-ray film. “The music … suggested that a different sort of life is possible, beyond the strictures of Communist officials. How could a political system that prohibited beautiful music, many asked, possibly merit the allegiance of its citizens?”

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And finally, introducing Ruby Ibarra, a Filipina American rapper who won @npr’s Tiny Desk contest with her entry, "Bakunawa." The three-song performance features an all-Filipino band, and Ibarra sings in English, Tagalog and Bisaya, sometimes switching languages between verses. As she introduces herself, she says: "Being human is not illegal. Immigrants have been here, lived here, worked here. And this immigrant is here. From Tacloban City, Philippines, all the way to Washington, D.C., my name is Ruby Ibarra."

Link: https://flip.it/ZoSr3q

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ALT