Ben Wurgaft
@benwurgaft.bsky.social
writer, historian, appetite!
there is a humanistic equivalent to innumeracy besides "illiteracy."
https://benwurgaft.org/
there is a humanistic equivalent to innumeracy besides "illiteracy."
https://benwurgaft.org/
Pinned
Ben Wurgaft
@benwurgaft.bsky.social
· May 18
I have a new cool guy thing I do which is, when I see a driver weaving across lanes of highway traffic, I say "whoa check out Anni Albers over there."
actual fn I just wrote
"I paraphrase Emily Dickinson’s “The Brain—is Wider than the Sky” because that line always sounded surreal and grotesque to me, like a landscape covered by cerebrum."
"I paraphrase Emily Dickinson’s “The Brain—is Wider than the Sky” because that line always sounded surreal and grotesque to me, like a landscape covered by cerebrum."
February 19, 2026 at 5:56 PM
actual fn I just wrote
"I paraphrase Emily Dickinson’s “The Brain—is Wider than the Sky” because that line always sounded surreal and grotesque to me, like a landscape covered by cerebrum."
"I paraphrase Emily Dickinson’s “The Brain—is Wider than the Sky” because that line always sounded surreal and grotesque to me, like a landscape covered by cerebrum."
Reposted by Ben Wurgaft
Roses are redde
Noble are the manatees
For a bettir future
Teach artes and humanityes
Noble are the manatees
For a bettir future
Teach artes and humanityes
February 19, 2026 at 1:39 AM
Roses are redde
Noble are the manatees
For a bettir future
Teach artes and humanityes
Noble are the manatees
For a bettir future
Teach artes and humanityes
I'm at the deeper descent into fascism, I'm at the NYT asking "Should We All be 'House Burping?'" I'm at the combination -
February 18, 2026 at 10:03 PM
I'm at the deeper descent into fascism, I'm at the NYT asking "Should We All be 'House Burping?'" I'm at the combination -
I have great confidence in @bdralyuk.bsky.social who does the coolest stuff
I hold in my hands a finished copy of the strangest and most wonderful little book, Alexander Voloshin’s SIDETRACKED: EXILE IN HOLLYWOOD. Not officially out until April 21, but I bet @pauldrybooks.bsky.social won’t stand on ceremony. Order it now, won’t you? www.pauldrybooks.com/products/sid...
February 18, 2026 at 4:49 PM
I have great confidence in @bdralyuk.bsky.social who does the coolest stuff
Pretty remarkable that the people trying to create lab-grown meat, a network of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, did not embrace my scholarly book setting their efforts in cultural, scientific, and philosophical context while suggesting that capitalism was the real problem behind "cheap meat."
February 18, 2026 at 4:22 PM
Pretty remarkable that the people trying to create lab-grown meat, a network of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, did not embrace my scholarly book setting their efforts in cultural, scientific, and philosophical context while suggesting that capitalism was the real problem behind "cheap meat."
Caught a snippet of an interview with Wiseman - army, living in Paris, then coming back to the States to start a career, ”defaulting” into teaching at BU law - I am having generational vertigo just thinking about it.
February 18, 2026 at 2:04 PM
Caught a snippet of an interview with Wiseman - army, living in Paris, then coming back to the States to start a career, ”defaulting” into teaching at BU law - I am having generational vertigo just thinking about it.
highly educated, deeply concerned about politics, one part of my mind always on the question of how words "hook into" the objects they describe, and yet preoccupied by working the word "cloaca" into Indigo Girls songs, as in "cloaca I am to fine."
February 17, 2026 at 6:12 PM
highly educated, deeply concerned about politics, one part of my mind always on the question of how words "hook into" the objects they describe, and yet preoccupied by working the word "cloaca" into Indigo Girls songs, as in "cloaca I am to fine."
The biggest mistake of omission I have ever made as a researcher is not interviewing filmmaker Frederick Wiseman (Williams '51) for my book on Jews, admissions, and class at that particular liberal arts college. His films transfix me.
February 17, 2026 at 2:47 PM
The biggest mistake of omission I have ever made as a researcher is not interviewing filmmaker Frederick Wiseman (Williams '51) for my book on Jews, admissions, and class at that particular liberal arts college. His films transfix me.
Reposted by Ben Wurgaft
One instance where less is moa
Today I heard Paul Scofield, Senior Curator of Natural History at Canterbury Museum, give a public talk on moa resurrection and the museumʻs partnership with Colossal Biosciences (the “dire wolf” people).
February 17, 2026 at 4:39 AM
One instance where less is moa
Reposted by Ben Wurgaft
We'll miss you, Frederick Wiseman—one of the great documentary filmmakers of the past century, who lived to be nearly a century old (via @alissawilkinson.bsky.social)
February 16, 2026 at 8:55 PM
We'll miss you, Frederick Wiseman—one of the great documentary filmmakers of the past century, who lived to be nearly a century old (via @alissawilkinson.bsky.social)
European intellectual history? In this economy? Here is @joncatlin.bsky.social's excellent treatment of what has been happening in (I would say, to) European intellectual history, particularly in what my teacher Martin Jay would insist is not his "school." www.jhiblog.org/2026/02/16/t...
The Berkeley School: Critical Theory, Political Economy, and the Future of Intellectual History
by Jonathon Catlin
This essay is part of a JHI Blog forum: “The Return of Political Economy in Intellectual History.”
www.jhiblog.org
February 16, 2026 at 7:29 PM
European intellectual history? In this economy? Here is @joncatlin.bsky.social's excellent treatment of what has been happening in (I would say, to) European intellectual history, particularly in what my teacher Martin Jay would insist is not his "school." www.jhiblog.org/2026/02/16/t...
Reposted by Ben Wurgaft
utterly disgraceful behavior
February 16, 2026 at 3:48 PM
utterly disgraceful behavior
Reposted by Ben Wurgaft
Excited for this one 😊
We are super thrilled that @rachelschine.bsky.social is holding an online lecture on March 4th! DM or email @speriola.bsky.social of you want to join us 🙂 #cims
February 16, 2026 at 1:37 PM
Excited for this one 😊
Reposted by Ben Wurgaft
I really love it when my mother uses the “-not!” negation to indicate sarcasm after a claim, because it makes me feel young again.
February 15, 2026 at 4:59 PM
I really love it when my mother uses the “-not!” negation to indicate sarcasm after a claim, because it makes me feel young again.
happy Gallentine's Day! Today we celebrate writing with ink made from oak galls, often mixed with iron sulfate.
February 14, 2026 at 1:25 PM
happy Gallentine's Day! Today we celebrate writing with ink made from oak galls, often mixed with iron sulfate.
Orhan Orville
Pamuk Peck
can't unsee
Pamuk Peck
can't unsee
February 14, 2026 at 2:18 AM
Orhan Orville
Pamuk Peck
can't unsee
Pamuk Peck
can't unsee
The Art of Luge-ing Isnt Hard to Master
send tweet
send tweet
February 12, 2026 at 10:20 PM
The Art of Luge-ing Isnt Hard to Master
send tweet
send tweet
Reposted by Ben Wurgaft
Hello non-fiction writers of the internet!
If you or someone you know is feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or could use an outside reader, I still have some availability this spring for writing coaching and editing. ✨
You can learn more about working with me here:
halperta.com/categories/e...
If you or someone you know is feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or could use an outside reader, I still have some availability this spring for writing coaching and editing. ✨
You can learn more about working with me here:
halperta.com/categories/e...
Writing and Editing
Towards a better future for the humanities.
halperta.com
February 10, 2026 at 2:49 PM
Hello non-fiction writers of the internet!
If you or someone you know is feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or could use an outside reader, I still have some availability this spring for writing coaching and editing. ✨
You can learn more about working with me here:
halperta.com/categories/e...
If you or someone you know is feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or could use an outside reader, I still have some availability this spring for writing coaching and editing. ✨
You can learn more about working with me here:
halperta.com/categories/e...
what makes something "vulnerable to AI" is not the capacity of machines but the credulity of management.
Of course, it is also true that historians jobs may in practice be vulnerable to AI, because a lot of people who control the money for historian jobs probably haven’t thought much about where history comes from, either.
February 11, 2026 at 8:39 PM
what makes something "vulnerable to AI" is not the capacity of machines but the credulity of management.
What is intellectual freedom, when the very wealthy have a disproportionate influence on higher education, as they do in politics? And what is the effect (on intellectual freedom) of academic careers premised on seeking fame and public influence, with help from the very wealthy?
“…universities are becoming more reliant on wealthy benefactors. But the networks that fund research and programs can also entangle top universities with morally compromised figures… complicity and compromised institutional integrity.”
www.chronicle.com/article/a-mo...
www.chronicle.com/article/a-mo...
‘A Moment of Reckoning’: After Epstein, Higher Ed Faces Hard Questions About Its Proximity to Power
Weeks after the release of a new cache of files about Jeffrey Epstein, the fallout on campuses nationwide is coming into focus.
www.chronicle.com
February 11, 2026 at 2:17 PM
What is intellectual freedom, when the very wealthy have a disproportionate influence on higher education, as they do in politics? And what is the effect (on intellectual freedom) of academic careers premised on seeking fame and public influence, with help from the very wealthy?
BRB, trying to fit the words "a philosopher working at Anthropic" into Vampire Weekend's 2008 hit Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa.
February 11, 2026 at 1:37 PM
BRB, trying to fit the words "a philosopher working at Anthropic" into Vampire Weekend's 2008 hit Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa.
The computational humanities (das heißt, DH) attracts lots smart people, some of them admired friends of mine, but I have been a skeptic from day one.
Computational Cultural Studies replaces Literature and Cultural Studies sounds like a David Lodge novel without the humor.
This is bleak as hell. Who cares about literature when you’ve got computers?
Way to go Carnegie Mellon. Our tech oligarchs will not reward your loyalty
the-tartan.org/2026/02/09/l...
Way to go Carnegie Mellon. Our tech oligarchs will not reward your loyalty
the-tartan.org/2026/02/09/l...
February 10, 2026 at 4:13 PM
The computational humanities (das heißt, DH) attracts lots smart people, some of them admired friends of mine, but I have been a skeptic from day one.
I have never lived off the grid by hunting and gathering but I have established a surrogate activity that asserts my particular prowess: jogging to buy coffee beans and returning with them, as if a rabbit or bunch of berries (in fact, the latter is nearly true)
February 10, 2026 at 2:54 PM
I have never lived off the grid by hunting and gathering but I have established a surrogate activity that asserts my particular prowess: jogging to buy coffee beans and returning with them, as if a rabbit or bunch of berries (in fact, the latter is nearly true)
Reposted by Ben Wurgaft
Melville: I hope you enjoyed that bloody action-packed chapter! But now, a moment to consider obscure technicalities about where everyone sits in the boat, how the boat is constructed, and my personal critique of current assigned seating practices.
February 10, 2026 at 1:02 AM
Melville: I hope you enjoyed that bloody action-packed chapter! But now, a moment to consider obscure technicalities about where everyone sits in the boat, how the boat is constructed, and my personal critique of current assigned seating practices.
