hello modernists!
my boyfriend and I have decided that this will be Moby Dick Summer (tm). what are the best editions available?

going to the Jonathan Richman show was the best decision I’ve made in a while

once again posting one of my favourite tree-related poem for tu bishvat. by Katie Farris

Sheila Heiti, Alphabetical Diaries

When Benjamin wrote about miniatures and melancholia, he was picturing me with tending to my colony of mourning geckos

satisfying fascinations with non-human creatures and tiny versions of normal-sized things at the same time

back on my nonsense— this time it’s researching how to set up a bioactive microgecko habitat

that feeling of relief when you see that you’re not the only one googling people at the conference 😮‍💨

what do punks wear to yoga? is a question that never occurred to me until today

I feel like I’m the only person in Newark airport

Perennial Chanukah/Purim question: how did we keep prune filling for hamantaschen and not sufganiyot?! Fruity but not too sweet or sticky— it’s the perfect doughnut filling

Definitely

Incredible

Fairytale of New York. Bc I’m a sucker for the Pogues, and it’s so much more than a Xmas song. The “I could have been someone etc” verse always gets me. And it feels so good to bellow “the boys in the NYPD choir etc”

just realised that Catherine Malabou provides a pretty solid theoretical explanation for the Chazon Ish's seemingly strange account of the radical transformation of one substance into another (yoreh deah 12:7) and I don't know what to do with this information

“Notre Dame is us at our best.” And it is humanity at its cruellest— the destruction of Talmud commentaries we would still be poring over. A cloud over our understanding of our central text. All the chambers of the palace of Torah that could have been and never will be. (3/3)

And so much of what we did have is lost to us forever, unlike the the boards of the Notre Dame, with knots and carpenter’s marks no one will take another look at. They see the stone edifice with the spire behind it burning. I see 10,000 Jewish manuscripts ablaze on its steps. (2/3)

Lots of feelings listening to The Daily’s episode on the remarkable reconstruction of the Notre Dame. It’s beautiful. But it reminds me of the buildings we didn’t get to make. Our Temple that burned twice— after 2000 years we haven’t been able to begin rebuilding. (1/3)

Cambridge, Mass! So weird!!

Q! what should I read to get acquainted with Lev Shestov's politics? primary and secondary sources welcome

In the past I’ve been in relationships with guys in a relatively similar sociological niche, but with whom I’ve had pretty big differences in terms of religious sensibility (I’m allergic to the word ‘hashkafa’ but here it might actually be apt)

I’ve been talking to someone about Torah and God and Life and all that stuff and it’s been… a lot. Sometimes a little nerve wracking or draining, but for the most part it’s been really special…

Having mammals snoozing in my lap has been so good for my mental health

lots of stuff out there about “giving season”

Waiting for them to realize that real balletcore is garbage bag pants and tshirts they would only wear as pyjamas

Hebrew text on a page, with upside down text and a menorah on the bottom.

Happy Hanukkah to all, but especially to Talia, who drew a menora (upside down) in a 16th century Italian manual for letter writing. More on Hanukkah in Columbia's collections here: blogs.cul.columbia.edu/jewishstudie...

it's a trying-to-be-hip hasbarist trying to own the evangelicals. don't think there are any wings of which to speak

I had to say "lanolin" in Yiddish and the best I could come up with was a translation of "skin wax"

havdalah is basically deconstructed gluhwein