Free Speech and the University: A Post Script
It's the usual race to the finish at the end of the school year, and I'm not in the lead (as usual). But I've been passing significant milestones, grabbing water as I can. One was the recently completed TBS (which stands for "The Bloomington…
Not enough blossoms
Looking for Lucy
I just finished an essay that feels freestanding and that could fit in three places in my Sea of Intimacy. I can’t tell whether its potential multifarious placement is a good thing or not. “Looking for Lucy” begins in Split, Croatia, where a sign that says “Lucy” hangs outside the…
Tell me just one thing,
a thing you dream, a wonder.
Only one will do.
Who is the fool and who is the lab dog?
I suppose some books you write can give you two or three years of joy. I suppose because I’ve never written one that took me two or three years. This one’s given me a good decade, and it’s still giving. Very generous, book. Thank you, book.
Adespota on Valentine’s Day
There is no Saint Russell. So I am, as my Italian friend Vanessa once told me, adespota. Vanessa, who is from Le Marche, knew because she is too. With all the names in the world, and a limited number of saints to go around, many of us are. I love the word. It means both…
It’s what you voted for, people: “A Raid in a Small Town Brings Trump’s Deportations to Deep-Red Idaho” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/u...
Such fantastically detailed choreography throughout the sequence. Here the hands are beautiful, and I love the fact that he’s wearing a pair of glasses.
Talking Translation and AI @ St. Michael’s College
I've been thinking through the stimulating couple of days I got to spend at the invitation of Kristin Dykstra at St. Michael's College (SMC) last week. The subject of my talk, and the reason for my visit, was AI and translation. The presentation,…
Had an interaction with a former friend on Facebook. He accused me of being dismissive when I was sure what he meant was that I was being condescending. So I explained the difference to him. I did say former friend.
My book was all facts and curiosities and vignettes. A lot was interesting, but coherence kept escaping me. Then I found a direction…. russellv.com/2026/01/16/t...
I knew that Thomas Moore’s *Utopia* was first published in 1516, and that the Venetian ghetto was first formed in 1516. But the two things seem to have existed in different parts of my brain, so I never put them together and never noticed the strange irony.
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
George Orwell, *1984*
Night-time view. Large church dome. Bell tower. Several-hundred-year-old stone buildings in the foreground.
Here’s pic from last night.
Not gonna tell you where I am or who I’m with or what I’m doing now or just did yesterday or am about to do next week or whenever. Happy New Year!
It’s a baked thing like many others!
Taralli, a kind of pretzel traditional in the south of Italy.
A fresh baked batch of taralli.
A new batch.
H is for Hawk
During the breaks at the ALTA conference in Tucson at the beginning of November, I found myself often answering questions about my Sea of Intimacy. This makes a lot of sense, as it was at the ALTA in Tucson in, I want to say 2021, that I first spoke about it with friends there,…
Academics are a strange lot. Completely defined by their jobs, which means tied to their institutions of employment by reputation and affection. And, on the other hand, completely consumed by their projects, which means utterly indifferent to and independent of their places of employment.
City at last delivered three (!) trees for planting in the median out front: tulip poplar, linden, and a yet to be determined variety of oak. Good choices, city folks—thank you! The turkey vultures aren’t too picky, but I am.
My Roman History: A Review
Alizah Holstein's 2024 book My Roman History: A Memoir (published by Viking Penguin) takes a long view of the author's journey to a failed academic career as a historian of medieval Roman history. The journey is the main story, the drive and wonder behind it especially,…
In the TSA Pre security line, removing my heavy coat, I ask, “Scarf ok?” She looks at it, says without smiling, “Yes, very stylish,” then, after a beat, “Also pre-approved for TSA Pre.”
What Does ‘6-7’ Mean? Maybe Tweens Don’t Want You to Know. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/s...
They don’t want you to know because it doesn’t mean anything!
The big-hearted, the great-souled, the generous—these are being destroyed. Anger, recrimination, petty vindictiveness—these are the motives of the moment. Fifth circle sinners can’t even get to the top of the bottom.
At what point did critical thinking become sloppy jargon for paying attention?
Given his emphasis on toughness, T, so I hear, is preparing a major new higher ed initiative that, instead of diversity and inclusion, which was so Obama after all, will feature offices of adversity and exclusion. Keep your eyes peeled for ‘em.
AI and Literary Translation: A Global Consideration
I'm just back from the 48th annual ALTA conference, in Tucson, AZ, At the panel I participated in (thank you to co-panelists Lisa Bradford and Steve Bradbury!), Amy Stolls, formerly of the NEA, suggested that a short guide to the use of AI in…
