Luke Jerod Kummer
@ljkummer.bsky.social
Bylines in NYTimes, WashPost, Village Voice, New Republic & Literary Hub. Wrote THE BLUE PERIOD, a novel https://amzn.com/dp/1542049970 and TAKERS MAD, an Audible drama http://adbl.co/3ttLvrr. Working on an opera.
Out today is @keachhagey.bsky.social's book "The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI and the Race to Invent the Future" a.co/d/4Y0wNCk. I was honored to help w/ research as she wrote a brilliant epic about Altman and the company behind ChatGPT. @nytimes.com called it "excellent and deeply reported." Enjoy!
May 20, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Out today is @keachhagey.bsky.social's book "The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI and the Race to Invent the Future" a.co/d/4Y0wNCk. I was honored to help w/ research as she wrote a brilliant epic about Altman and the company behind ChatGPT. @nytimes.com called it "excellent and deeply reported." Enjoy!
Mesmerized by the new scores at Willow Place last night by Alon Nechushtan, Xu Zheng, Judith Berkson, Charlie Waters, Brady Wolff & Jesse Gelanik—oh, my lucky ears! Thanks Petr Kotik and S.E.M. Ensemble!
February 13, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Mesmerized by the new scores at Willow Place last night by Alon Nechushtan, Xu Zheng, Judith Berkson, Charlie Waters, Brady Wolff & Jesse Gelanik—oh, my lucky ears! Thanks Petr Kotik and S.E.M. Ensemble!
Mars, Greenland, Gaza…. [name the fourth person, entity or thing in this sequence]
February 5, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Mars, Greenland, Gaza…. [name the fourth person, entity or thing in this sequence]
In honor of Lunar New Year we made a tuk-tuk out of cardboard boxes—don't ask me why, but it was fun.... Welcome Year of the Wood Snake!
January 30, 2025 at 2:02 AM
In honor of Lunar New Year we made a tuk-tuk out of cardboard boxes—don't ask me why, but it was fun.... Welcome Year of the Wood Snake!
A former FBI agent to @jeffwise.bsky.social in @nymag.com on how Luigi Mangione tripped up and got caught: "Most of the time, criminality involves some touch of narcissism." (Also, the tip here about bus drivers is one that reporters might swipe.)
nymag.com/intelligence...
nymag.com/intelligence...
How Cops Catch Fugitives Like Luigi Mangione
A former FBI agent spells out the methods law enforcement officials use to tighten their dragnet.
nymag.com
December 10, 2024 at 6:45 PM
A former FBI agent to @jeffwise.bsky.social in @nymag.com on how Luigi Mangione tripped up and got caught: "Most of the time, criminality involves some touch of narcissism." (Also, the tip here about bus drivers is one that reporters might swipe.)
nymag.com/intelligence...
nymag.com/intelligence...
Wrote the linked @newrepublic.com article in 2013, ~1 month after the U.S.-Russia deal to destroy Syria's chemical weapons. Today, with a decade gone by and countless dead, including in Douma, those same chemical weapons sites are being bombed.
newrepublic.com/article/1153...
newrepublic.com/article/1153...
The Secular Syrian Opposition May Be Imploding
More fallout from the U.S.-Russia deal
newrepublic.com
December 10, 2024 at 3:13 PM
Wrote the linked @newrepublic.com article in 2013, ~1 month after the U.S.-Russia deal to destroy Syria's chemical weapons. Today, with a decade gone by and countless dead, including in Douma, those same chemical weapons sites are being bombed.
newrepublic.com/article/1153...
newrepublic.com/article/1153...
These are gorgeous! Can you imagine designing and engraving lettering like this by hand?.... Check out this neat Sanborn maps project by @brandonsilverman.bsky.social!
I'm super excited to share the launch of a passion project I've been working on for a the last couple of years. It's a free, downloadable archive dedicated to the incredible art of the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps.
The link to the site along with the full backstory in the 🧵 below!
The link to the site along with the full backstory in the 🧵 below!
November 27, 2024 at 6:30 PM
These are gorgeous! Can you imagine designing and engraving lettering like this by hand?.... Check out this neat Sanborn maps project by @brandonsilverman.bsky.social!
Just saw an article on bathing in crude oil in Azerbaijan. I wrote that in ~2010:
"While I don't consider myself shy, I can't remember a situation where I've been forced to disrobe before my taxi driver, and I hesitate, which makes things even more awkward"
www.thenationalnews.com/lifestyle/tr...
"While I don't consider myself shy, I can't remember a situation where I've been forced to disrobe before my taxi driver, and I hesitate, which makes things even more awkward"
www.thenationalnews.com/lifestyle/tr...
Unrefined therapy in Azerbaijan | The National
On the road Bathing in crude oil is reputed to soothe the skin and boost energy levels. But at Naftalan, the process of immersion is a far cry from luxurious spa pampering.
www.thenationalnews.com
November 26, 2024 at 1:45 AM
Just saw an article on bathing in crude oil in Azerbaijan. I wrote that in ~2010:
"While I don't consider myself shy, I can't remember a situation where I've been forced to disrobe before my taxi driver, and I hesitate, which makes things even more awkward"
www.thenationalnews.com/lifestyle/tr...
"While I don't consider myself shy, I can't remember a situation where I've been forced to disrobe before my taxi driver, and I hesitate, which makes things even more awkward"
www.thenationalnews.com/lifestyle/tr...
Read French's "A Continent for the Taking" years ago and since then have considered it a model for marrying on-the-ground reporting with scholarship. Was equally impressed by "Born in Blackness" recently. Much looking forward to new work by @hofrench.bsky.social out next summer.
Some book news. Out next year. www.google.com/books/editio...
The Second Emancipation
The Second Emancipation, a work of Odyssean dimension, recasts the liberation of post-World War II colonial Africa and the American civil rights struggle through the lens of Ghana's revolutionary visi...
www.google.com
November 24, 2024 at 8:58 PM
Read French's "A Continent for the Taking" years ago and since then have considered it a model for marrying on-the-ground reporting with scholarship. Was equally impressed by "Born in Blackness" recently. Much looking forward to new work by @hofrench.bsky.social out next summer.
Always a fan favorite! Congrats, Lito—well-deserved!
Probably the greatest honor of my teaching career, as it is chosen entirely by a vote of the Plan II student body: The 2023-2024 Plan II Chad Oliver Teaching Award!
liberalarts.utexas.edu/plan2/teachi...
liberalarts.utexas.edu/plan2/teachi...
College of Liberal Arts | The University of Texas at Austin
Liberal Arts at UT offers over 40 majors and many top-ranked graduate programs in the social sciences and humanities taught by 750 faculty.
liberalarts.utexas.edu
November 21, 2024 at 4:03 PM
Always a fan favorite! Congrats, Lito—well-deserved!
Dr. Linda K. Jacobs' new book "Captivating Strangers" is a masterfully researched chronicle of this important and interesting community. And, as listeners of "Takers Mad" know, I find fascinating the connection between Buffalo Bill and the 'Bedouins troupes'!
www.amazon.com/Captivating-...
www.amazon.com/Captivating-...
Amazon.com: Captivating Strangers: Early Arab Immigrants in the United States: 9798339913276: Jacobs, Linda K.: Books
Amazon.com: Captivating Strangers: Early Arab Immigrants in the United States: 9798339913276: Jacobs, Linda K.: Books
www.amazon.com
November 18, 2024 at 3:50 PM
Dr. Linda K. Jacobs' new book "Captivating Strangers" is a masterfully researched chronicle of this important and interesting community. And, as listeners of "Takers Mad" know, I find fascinating the connection between Buffalo Bill and the 'Bedouins troupes'!
www.amazon.com/Captivating-...
www.amazon.com/Captivating-...
Amid her 4th-round IVF, Kat Alexander tried to jump out the window. Her friend Mara Altman wanted to help. What happened next is one of the wildest stories I’ve ever heard. Love 'This American Life'? Ever have a friend in crisis? I highly recommend ‘Episodes’: www.audible.com/pd/Episodes-...
Episodes
Check out this great listen on Audible.com. In Episodes, lifelong best friends Kat and Mara take listeners on an unfiltered journey through friendship, mental illness, and survival. Kat, a successful ...
www.audible.com
November 18, 2024 at 3:12 AM
Amid her 4th-round IVF, Kat Alexander tried to jump out the window. Her friend Mara Altman wanted to help. What happened next is one of the wildest stories I’ve ever heard. Love 'This American Life'? Ever have a friend in crisis? I highly recommend ‘Episodes’: www.audible.com/pd/Episodes-...