Alex Gil
@elotroalex.bsky.social
faculty of collective wonders for Yale Spanish & Portuguese. materialist spelunker and otrAmerican. he/him/colibri.
Very kind review of my translation of Césaire's lost play by Laëtitia SAINT-LOUBERT. I like that she noticed a few things others had missed. Hope someday I get to thank her in person for the kindness.
www.jwilonline.org/wp-content/u...
www.jwilonline.org/wp-content/u...
www.jwilonline.org
November 10, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Very kind review of my translation of Césaire's lost play by Laëtitia SAINT-LOUBERT. I like that she noticed a few things others had missed. Hope someday I get to thank her in person for the kindness.
www.jwilonline.org/wp-content/u...
www.jwilonline.org/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Alex Gil
Just thinking again how Democrats asked people to accept short-term suffering in order to give space to prevent long-term, worse suffering and then said, "Thanks for suffering in the short-term. You'll get to suffer long-term too so that our Thanksgiving plans don't get disrupted."
November 10, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Just thinking again how Democrats asked people to accept short-term suffering in order to give space to prevent long-term, worse suffering and then said, "Thanks for suffering in the short-term. You'll get to suffer long-term too so that our Thanksgiving plans don't get disrupted."
Ha! Doing a bit of research on the French education system under Vichy.
Would you believe me if I told you that at some point many people seriously believed that textbooks could replace teachers?
Would you believe me if I told you that at some point many people seriously believed that textbooks could replace teachers?
November 10, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Ha! Doing a bit of research on the French education system under Vichy.
Would you believe me if I told you that at some point many people seriously believed that textbooks could replace teachers?
Would you believe me if I told you that at some point many people seriously believed that textbooks could replace teachers?
Starting to sound like we're gonna have to primary a good chunk of senators. Mine are ok for now. Here to support y'alls house cleaning, tho.
November 9, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Starting to sound like we're gonna have to primary a good chunk of senators. Mine are ok for now. Here to support y'alls house cleaning, tho.
Reposted by Alex Gil
Here is how much money the trillionaire has:
He could lose 99% off his wealth and still be among the richest people on earth (top 500, easy)
He could lose 99% off his wealth and still be among the richest people on earth (top 500, easy)
November 9, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Here is how much money the trillionaire has:
He could lose 99% off his wealth and still be among the richest people on earth (top 500, easy)
He could lose 99% off his wealth and still be among the richest people on earth (top 500, easy)
Reposted by Alex Gil
I’m really looking forward to the @elotroalex.bsky.social lecture this Wednesday 12 November.
Delighted that @elotroalex.bsky.social will deliver this lecture at UAL on 12 November. He will discuss the difficulties of speaking freely under and beyond fascism, through the lens of Aimé Césaire's play about the Haitian Revolution “… Et les chiens se taisaient” (“… And The Dogs Were Silent”).
ONLINE TrAIN Open Lecture: Alex Gil
Writing Freedom Without Freedom of Expression
www.eventbrite.co.uk
November 9, 2025 at 9:54 AM
I’m really looking forward to the @elotroalex.bsky.social lecture this Wednesday 12 November.
It might become difficult to explain why AI is not a replacement for the Humboldt model. Here's the tl;dr: education is tied to *ongoing* research. Convincing the uneducated that the *ongoing* part is the key is a snooze...
and thus we approach Borges' City of Immortals...
and thus we approach Borges' City of Immortals...
Librarians told 404 Media they're being inundated with new pitches for AI library tech and catalogs are being flooded with AI slop books.
But more broadly, AI maximalism across society is supercharging the ideological war on libraries, schools, government workers, and academics.
But more broadly, AI maximalism across society is supercharging the ideological war on libraries, schools, government workers, and academics.
AI Is Supercharging the War on Libraries, Education, and Human Knowledge
"Fascism and AI, whether or not they have the same goals, they sure are working to accelerate one another."
www.404media.co
November 9, 2025 at 9:26 AM
It might become difficult to explain why AI is not a replacement for the Humboldt model. Here's the tl;dr: education is tied to *ongoing* research. Convincing the uneducated that the *ongoing* part is the key is a snooze...
and thus we approach Borges' City of Immortals...
and thus we approach Borges' City of Immortals...
Reposted by Alex Gil
The New York Times says federal agents‘ abduction of a toddler “alarmed immigrant rights groups.” How about “alarmed all decent human beings“?
November 8, 2025 at 12:40 AM
The New York Times says federal agents‘ abduction of a toddler “alarmed immigrant rights groups.” How about “alarmed all decent human beings“?
Maybe this isn't your parent's capitalism?
ICYMI: Microsoft’s charge “implies a more than $12 billion quarterly loss at OpenAI, said Firoz Valliji, an analyst at Bernstein.”
That “would mark one of the largest single-quarter losses for a tech company in history.”
@jessefelder.bsky.social $MSFT
www.wsj.com/livecoverage...
That “would mark one of the largest single-quarter losses for a tech company in history.”
@jessefelder.bsky.social $MSFT
www.wsj.com/livecoverage...
November 7, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Maybe this isn't your parent's capitalism?
🏆
November 7, 2025 at 2:01 PM
🏆
Reposted by Alex Gil
There had better be trials. And not just for the low-level thugs carrying out these orders, but for everyone up the chain of command.
If we get past this, the solution isn’t to pretend it never happened and invite Stephen Miller to Harvard’s Institute of Politics.
It’s trials w real punishments.
If we get past this, the solution isn’t to pretend it never happened and invite Stephen Miller to Harvard’s Institute of Politics.
It’s trials w real punishments.
A family friend was telling us about what her husband shared about his experience in Broadview before he was deported back to Mexico. She's been sharing to friends and family because she's just in disbelief & horror what her husband told her. She wasn't able to talk to him until he was in Mexico.
November 7, 2025 at 12:45 PM
There had better be trials. And not just for the low-level thugs carrying out these orders, but for everyone up the chain of command.
If we get past this, the solution isn’t to pretend it never happened and invite Stephen Miller to Harvard’s Institute of Politics.
It’s trials w real punishments.
If we get past this, the solution isn’t to pretend it never happened and invite Stephen Miller to Harvard’s Institute of Politics.
It’s trials w real punishments.
@cforster.bsky.social some good stuff about the paper hussle in NYC during WW2. Made me think of you. E. Jolas even threatening to sue over a paper bait and switch 🤣
November 6, 2025 at 1:42 PM
@cforster.bsky.social some good stuff about the paper hussle in NYC during WW2. Made me think of you. E. Jolas even threatening to sue over a paper bait and switch 🤣
For friends waking up in America. Voilà a truly remarkable unpublished 1943 letter by William Carlos Williams to Yvan Goll on modernist American poetry and the importance of place to poetry. Truly worth 5 minutes of your time.
Just a sample. In which William Carlos Williams goes on to crush T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound after advising Yvan Goll that ad hominem is no way to do criticism. 😂
November 6, 2025 at 1:07 PM
For friends waking up in America. Voilà a truly remarkable unpublished 1943 letter by William Carlos Williams to Yvan Goll on modernist American poetry and the importance of place to poetry. Truly worth 5 minutes of your time.
For friends waking up in America. Voilà a truly remarkable letter by William Carlos Williams to Yvan Goll on American poetry and the importance of place to poetry. Truly worth 5 minutes of your time.
Just a sample. In which William Carlos Williams goes on to crush T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound after advising Yvan Goll that ad hominem is no way to do criticism. 😂
November 6, 2025 at 1:00 PM
For friends waking up in America. Voilà a truly remarkable letter by William Carlos Williams to Yvan Goll on American poetry and the importance of place to poetry. Truly worth 5 minutes of your time.
Reposted by Alex Gil
Next week, Rosario Hubert of @trinitycollege.bsky.social at Yale!
November 5, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Next week, Rosario Hubert of @trinitycollege.bsky.social at Yale!
"Poor old Ezra, who never wrote anything original in his life..."
William Carlos Williams to Yvan Goll, Letter, July 1, 1943.
Poest are so catty. 😂😂😂
William Carlos Williams to Yvan Goll, Letter, July 1, 1943.
Poest are so catty. 😂😂😂
November 6, 2025 at 9:28 AM
"Poor old Ezra, who never wrote anything original in his life..."
William Carlos Williams to Yvan Goll, Letter, July 1, 1943.
Poest are so catty. 😂😂😂
William Carlos Williams to Yvan Goll, Letter, July 1, 1943.
Poest are so catty. 😂😂😂
Did the NYT just say that Mamdani is angry because he said he would do what he promised?
What a bunch of clowns.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
What a bunch of clowns.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
November 6, 2025 at 7:16 AM
Did the NYT just say that Mamdani is angry because he said he would do what he promised?
What a bunch of clowns.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
What a bunch of clowns.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@mattseybold.bsky.social I just read your new AV blog post about CUNY stepping in for public ed-tech. 1) Bold, love it; 2) Lina Khan, who is in the transition team, might be into it. Anyone we know has an in with her? Maybe @moacir.com who's doing digital librarian type work for the DSA...
Mamdani Win Could Be The First Step Towards Seizing The Means of Knowledge Production
Let CUNY socialize EdTech for all of us.
theamericanvandal.substack.com
November 5, 2025 at 8:43 PM
@mattseybold.bsky.social I just read your new AV blog post about CUNY stepping in for public ed-tech. 1) Bold, love it; 2) Lina Khan, who is in the transition team, might be into it. Anyone we know has an in with her? Maybe @moacir.com who's doing digital librarian type work for the DSA...
Reposted by Alex Gil
November 5, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Daaang. The transition team is lit 🔥
He had me at Lina Khan, but then I looked at closely at the old- and new-guard strategy in the mix.
www.transition2025.com?s=08
He had me at Lina Khan, but then I looked at closely at the old- and new-guard strategy in the mix.
www.transition2025.com?s=08
A New Era for NYC
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is ready to work to make New York safe and affordable for all of its residents.
www.transition2025.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Daaang. The transition team is lit 🔥
He had me at Lina Khan, but then I looked at closely at the old- and new-guard strategy in the mix.
www.transition2025.com?s=08
He had me at Lina Khan, but then I looked at closely at the old- and new-guard strategy in the mix.
www.transition2025.com?s=08
Reposted by Alex Gil
The correctest take
Mamdani got a humanities degree.
His win helps to illustrate that one of the central forces driving higher ed’s dissolution of the humanities is the fear that teaching people how power works can also lead to their interest in seizing it on behalf of the less powerful.
His win helps to illustrate that one of the central forces driving higher ed’s dissolution of the humanities is the fear that teaching people how power works can also lead to their interest in seizing it on behalf of the less powerful.
November 5, 2025 at 6:02 PM
The correctest take
"And if we embrace this brave new course, rather than fleeing from it, we can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves."
Damn. 💜
Damn. 💜
November 5, 2025 at 4:39 PM
"And if we embrace this brave new course, rather than fleeing from it, we can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves."
Damn. 💜
Damn. 💜
Yay!! Just woke up to the news. Congrats, NYC !! What a day! ❤️🫶🏼
November 5, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Yay!! Just woke up to the news. Congrats, NYC !! What a day! ❤️🫶🏼
Reposted by Alex Gil
thank you for the outpouring of support!
those of us laid off from Teen Vogue yesterday are now sharing our GoFundMe to help us cover our emergency expenses now that we've lost our incomes, as we get back on our feet.
those of us laid off from Teen Vogue yesterday are now sharing our GoFundMe to help us cover our emergency expenses now that we've lost our incomes, as we get back on our feet.
Donate to Help Laid-Off Teen Vogue Staffers Recover, organized by Lexi McMenamin
More than half the team at Teen Vogue was laid off this week by our parent co… Lexi McMenamin needs your support for Help Laid-Off Teen Vogue Staffers Recover
www.gofundme.com
November 4, 2025 at 9:17 PM
thank you for the outpouring of support!
those of us laid off from Teen Vogue yesterday are now sharing our GoFundMe to help us cover our emergency expenses now that we've lost our incomes, as we get back on our feet.
those of us laid off from Teen Vogue yesterday are now sharing our GoFundMe to help us cover our emergency expenses now that we've lost our incomes, as we get back on our feet.