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."
the philosophy of Philip Pullman's novels is by and large eudaimonistic, which is to say, concerned with figuring out what animal you daemon is.
November 10, 2025 at 6:54 PM
the philosophy of Philip Pullman's novels is by and large eudaimonistic, which is to say, concerned with figuring out what animal you daemon is.
I first posted this before the shameful capitulation of some Democratic senators, which sadly confirms O'Toole's observations about why we lack the opposition party we sorely need:
Fintan O’Toole on Kamala Harris’s campaign memoir is devastating, accurate, crucial, on what fails the Democratic Party now: www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
The Lingering Delusion | Fintan O’Toole
Kamala Harris’s memoir 107 Days succeeds at least in distilling the evasions and weaknesses of the modern Democratic Party.
www.nybooks.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:03 PM
I first posted this before the shameful capitulation of some Democratic senators, which sadly confirms O'Toole's observations about why we lack the opposition party we sorely need:
Reposted by Ben Wurgaft
We have reached the season where one of my personal views begins to have salience: That if you are sitting with a blanket and get up for any reason or amount of time, you should fold the blanket rather than leave chaos behind you, and that anyone who does otherwise is a monster.
November 10, 2025 at 12:40 PM
We have reached the season where one of my personal views begins to have salience: That if you are sitting with a blanket and get up for any reason or amount of time, you should fold the blanket rather than leave chaos behind you, and that anyone who does otherwise is a monster.
Fintan O’Toole on Kamala Harris’s campaign memoir is devastating, accurate, crucial, on what fails the Democratic Party now: www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
The Lingering Delusion | Fintan O’Toole
Kamala Harris’s memoir 107 Days succeeds at least in distilling the evasions and weaknesses of the modern Democratic Party.
www.nybooks.com
November 9, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Fintan O’Toole on Kamala Harris’s campaign memoir is devastating, accurate, crucial, on what fails the Democratic Party now: www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
OK, Jim Watson said a lot of really awful things, but at least he also said
[checks notes] "social science crap."
[checks notes] "social science crap."
November 9, 2025 at 1:53 AM
OK, Jim Watson said a lot of really awful things, but at least he also said
[checks notes] "social science crap."
[checks notes] "social science crap."
some ramen places just have a dish they should call “shrug of concession to vegetarians.”
November 8, 2025 at 2:53 PM
some ramen places just have a dish they should call “shrug of concession to vegetarians.”
you hear about how Ithaca is gorges, but less about all the _caves_ at Cornell.
November 7, 2025 at 5:57 PM
you hear about how Ithaca is gorges, but less about all the _caves_ at Cornell.
Apparently I come from a very small micro-generation.
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom/for books of collage with postcards stuck in/I’m coming now, I’m coming to reward them/first we take the Griffin/then we take Sabine!
November 6, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Apparently I come from a very small micro-generation.
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom/for books of collage with postcards stuck in/I’m coming now, I’m coming to reward them/first we take the Griffin/then we take Sabine!
November 6, 2025 at 2:03 PM
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom/for books of collage with postcards stuck in/I’m coming now, I’m coming to reward them/first we take the Griffin/then we take Sabine!
I'm currently reading the new Daniel Mendelsohn translation of the Odyssey, which brings me to another related reading recommendation - "Outis Odysseus," @martin65.bsky.social's wonderful poem about Argos, faithful hound: contrarymagazine.com/2021/outis-o...
Outis Odysseus by Catherine Rockwood | Contrary Magazine
contrarymagazine.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:54 PM
I'm currently reading the new Daniel Mendelsohn translation of the Odyssey, which brings me to another related reading recommendation - "Outis Odysseus," @martin65.bsky.social's wonderful poem about Argos, faithful hound: contrarymagazine.com/2021/outis-o...
I'm just going to take last night as a big win for faculty brats wherever we are.
November 5, 2025 at 4:57 PM
I'm just going to take last night as a big win for faculty brats wherever we are.
Nice to wake up to some good news for a change!
November 5, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Nice to wake up to some good news for a change!
imagine calling it "The Mushroom at the End of the World" and not "The Morel Economy of the Crowd," SMDH
November 3, 2025 at 7:33 PM
imagine calling it "The Mushroom at the End of the World" and not "The Morel Economy of the Crowd," SMDH
Every time I learn of a new Japanese mascot, say one whose head is a train and whose body is the flowers blooming along the tracks I think ”His feet are light and nimble. He never sleeps. He says that he will never die. He dances in light and in shadow and he is a great favorite.”
November 3, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Every time I learn of a new Japanese mascot, say one whose head is a train and whose body is the flowers blooming along the tracks I think ”His feet are light and nimble. He never sleeps. He says that he will never die. He dances in light and in shadow and he is a great favorite.”
Reposted by Ben Wurgaft
@ekphrastictactic.bsky.social has a new review article, "Field Work," in Modern Intellectual History. Just finished this morning over some coffee. An insightful piece that examines one work I'm intimately familiar with one that I'd never read before.
Field Work | Modern Intellectual History | Cambridge Core
Field Work
www.cambridge.org
November 3, 2025 at 11:08 AM
@ekphrastictactic.bsky.social has a new review article, "Field Work," in Modern Intellectual History. Just finished this morning over some coffee. An insightful piece that examines one work I'm intimately familiar with one that I'd never read before.
Whenever I'm reviewing a book and someone else publishes a review first, I think of the STNG episode, "Tin Man" in which Picard says " being first at any cost is not always the point."
You see, in this matter, The New Yorker is the Romulans.
You see, in this matter, The New Yorker is the Romulans.
November 3, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Whenever I'm reviewing a book and someone else publishes a review first, I think of the STNG episode, "Tin Man" in which Picard says " being first at any cost is not always the point."
You see, in this matter, The New Yorker is the Romulans.
You see, in this matter, The New Yorker is the Romulans.
Papadum preach! (I’ve been losing sleep)
November 2, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Papadum preach! (I’ve been losing sleep)
After any meaningful road ride it is important to do a few chores, drink a coffee, while still in your kit. This is your way of saying “hey, I’m a serious cyclist. These quads have miles in them.”
November 2, 2025 at 4:31 PM
After any meaningful road ride it is important to do a few chores, drink a coffee, while still in your kit. This is your way of saying “hey, I’m a serious cyclist. These quads have miles in them.”
Reposted by Ben Wurgaft
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Editorials on fire off the shoulder of the Crimson. I watched faculty meetings glitter in the dark near Memorial Hall. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to go emerita.
October 31, 2025 at 7:58 PM
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Editorials on fire off the shoulder of the Crimson. I watched faculty meetings glitter in the dark near Memorial Hall. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to go emerita.
ugh, academic halloween, what do you mean you're "the time my grad school frenemy attributed a book to the wrong university press in his very first published review"?
October 31, 2025 at 7:51 PM
ugh, academic halloween, what do you mean you're "the time my grad school frenemy attributed a book to the wrong university press in his very first published review"?
Reposted by Ben Wurgaft
"Dress for the job you want, not the job you have"
Here is Gregory Bovino, the man in charge of ICE agents in Chicago.
October 28, 2025 at 5:48 PM
"Dress for the job you want, not the job you have"
one tragedy of finishing grad school is that you no longer attend talks by visiting academic stars with your friends and then talk about what charlatans they are. which is why this site matters so much.
October 31, 2025 at 12:23 PM
one tragedy of finishing grad school is that you no longer attend talks by visiting academic stars with your friends and then talk about what charlatans they are. which is why this site matters so much.
today a college student told me they "loved my vibe" so I am now on top of the world, not to be dislodged by fortune or chance from my seat of great happiness.
October 30, 2025 at 9:24 PM
today a college student told me they "loved my vibe" so I am now on top of the world, not to be dislodged by fortune or chance from my seat of great happiness.
this is everything, or rather, this is what happens to everything
October 30, 2025 at 4:36 PM
this is everything, or rather, this is what happens to everything
giving a guest talk in an Italian literature course today, and the real challenging question is whether one shaves for such an occasion, or (because Italian literature) does not.
October 30, 2025 at 4:12 PM
giving a guest talk in an Italian literature course today, and the real challenging question is whether one shaves for such an occasion, or (because Italian literature) does not.