I absolutely had to break out the cooling ring for my brief trips outside today, and while taking shelter in the AC I listened to talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was a fantastic discussion with Campbell Nancy on the historic roots of the data center industry in northeastern Pennsylvania at the Hagley Museum and Library. Campbell shows how early land speculation led to development of the energy industry in certain parts of the state, with the data center buildout as the direct successor of this legacy. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuzt4_Oz8XM

Last was “Strip Club” by Kim Price-Glynn. Price-Glynn has delivered a masterpiece, with this book belonging in the canon of work sociologies. Here, she provides a deep, holistic look at the strip club as a workplace, combining rich ethnographic field work with historical and macro background and even economic analysis of club cash flow. By revealing the pressures of this unconventional, stressful, and socially isolating work, Price-Glynn provides insight into not just this but other fields that share some of these characteristics. The shifting dynamics of pay for strippers (from employees to independent contractors to having to pay to perform) also demonstrates how less prestigious work can serve as an early warning of changes to come to other workplaces in the future. Overall, however, this work is incredible in its own right, getting into issues around gender, social norms, workplace safety, and so much more. Highly recommend https://opensquare.nyupress.org/books/9780814768532/