Steven J. Venturino
@sjventurino.bsky.social
Victorian serial fiction & early film. Wrote a book on literary theory & criticism. Silent reading is very important. www.stevenjventurino.com
Pinned
The dear small Known amid the Unknown vast. - George Eliot
Happy Birthday George Eliot!
“All honour & reverence to the divine beauty of form! Let us cultivate it to the utmost in men, women, & children—in our gardens and in our houses. But let us love that other beauty too, which lies in no secret of proportion, but in the secret of deep human sympathy.”
“All honour & reverence to the divine beauty of form! Let us cultivate it to the utmost in men, women, & children—in our gardens and in our houses. But let us love that other beauty too, which lies in no secret of proportion, but in the secret of deep human sympathy.”
November 22, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Happy Birthday George Eliot!
“All honour & reverence to the divine beauty of form! Let us cultivate it to the utmost in men, women, & children—in our gardens and in our houses. But let us love that other beauty too, which lies in no secret of proportion, but in the secret of deep human sympathy.”
“All honour & reverence to the divine beauty of form! Let us cultivate it to the utmost in men, women, & children—in our gardens and in our houses. But let us love that other beauty too, which lies in no secret of proportion, but in the secret of deep human sympathy.”
Happy Birthday George Eliot! Good times in Berlin with George and George.
Trotzdem blieb sie gemeinsam mit George Henry Lewes bis März 1855 in Berlin: ihre Unterkunft lag in der Dorotheenstraße, sie ging gelangweilt im Tiergarten spazieren, besuchte Salons, traf u. a. Varnhagen, Rauch und Dessoir. 🧵
First page of George Eliot’s first fiction—Scenes of Clerical Life—in Blackwood’s Magazine, January 1857. Then in the June issue of the same magazine her partner George Henry Lewes joins in with the first part of his New Seaside Studies.
November 22, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Happy Birthday George Eliot! Good times in Berlin with George and George.
Reposted by Steven J. Venturino
So, sort of a… Modern Prometheus?
Jeff Bezos will be co-CEO of AI startup Project Prometheus
Jeff Bezos will be co-CEO of AI startup Project Prometheus
Jeff Bezos has a new job.
buff.ly
November 17, 2025 at 4:34 PM
So, sort of a… Modern Prometheus?
Rollin's got all the feels. My upcoming virtual classes at the Newberry Library include "Watching and Reading Shakespeare's Hamlet" and "A Serial Reading of George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss." Available to all. Details to come.
November 14, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Rollin's got all the feels. My upcoming virtual classes at the Newberry Library include "Watching and Reading Shakespeare's Hamlet" and "A Serial Reading of George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss." Available to all. Details to come.
“'To read a poem as part of a justification or a rationale for a judgment of this importance shows how art can express the complexities of what we’re living through in ways that maybe other forms of speech can’t,' said [Srikanth "Chicu"] Reddy."
chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
November 11, 2025 at 10:16 PM
“'To read a poem as part of a justification or a rationale for a judgment of this importance shows how art can express the complexities of what we’re living through in ways that maybe other forms of speech can’t,' said [Srikanth "Chicu"] Reddy."
chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
Reposted by Steven J. Venturino
Hey @durbin.senate.gov, PLEASE don’t cave to Trump. There is no “middle ground” when it comes to millions losing their health insurance!!
cc: @duckworth.senate.gov @laurenunderwood.bsky.social
cc: @duckworth.senate.gov @laurenunderwood.bsky.social
November 9, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Hey @durbin.senate.gov, PLEASE don’t cave to Trump. There is no “middle ground” when it comes to millions losing their health insurance!!
cc: @duckworth.senate.gov @laurenunderwood.bsky.social
cc: @duckworth.senate.gov @laurenunderwood.bsky.social
Reposted by Steven J. Venturino
Caving on a deal that doesn’t fix health care is, and always has been, a giant betrayal of the American people.
Hold the line. Save health care. I’m a NO on anything that doesn’t extend ACA subsidies.
Hold the line. Save health care. I’m a NO on anything that doesn’t extend ACA subsidies.
November 9, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Caving on a deal that doesn’t fix health care is, and always has been, a giant betrayal of the American people.
Hold the line. Save health care. I’m a NO on anything that doesn’t extend ACA subsidies.
Hold the line. Save health care. I’m a NO on anything that doesn’t extend ACA subsidies.
Reposted by Steven J. Venturino
The excitements of an election.
November 4, 2025 at 5:11 PM
The excitements of an election.
Reposted by Steven J. Venturino
Dan Smith “Knowledge Wins” World War I Propaganda Poster (American Library Association, 1918)
movieposters.ha.com/itm/movie-po...
movieposters.ha.com/itm/movie-po...
November 2, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Dan Smith “Knowledge Wins” World War I Propaganda Poster (American Library Association, 1918)
movieposters.ha.com/itm/movie-po...
movieposters.ha.com/itm/movie-po...
On the other hand, I really enjoyed your webinar yesterday. Thanks!
October 30, 2025 at 9:52 PM
On the other hand, I really enjoyed your webinar yesterday. Thanks!
Reposted by Steven J. Venturino
(from the inbox) Less than an hour later this morning, just before 10:30 at Roscoe and Harding, feds again released gas as they were driving away, unobstructed, from a relatively small number of neighbors.
October 25, 2025 at 3:52 PM
(from the inbox) Less than an hour later this morning, just before 10:30 at Roscoe and Harding, feds again released gas as they were driving away, unobstructed, from a relatively small number of neighbors.
Reposted by Steven J. Venturino
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
October 25, 2025 at 1:39 AM
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Reposted by Steven J. Venturino
Because he’s doing his job…reporting. Because we still live in a free country with a First Amendment and a free press.
October 22, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Because he’s doing his job…reporting. Because we still live in a free country with a First Amendment and a free press.
Reposted by Steven J. Venturino
ICE agents just pulled a gun on Rep. Hoan Huynh — for alerting the community to ICE's presence.
If this can happen to an elected official, it can happen to anyone. I stand with Rep. Huynh and his right to protect our neighbors.
If this can happen to an elected official, it can happen to anyone. I stand with Rep. Huynh and his right to protect our neighbors.
ICE agents accused of pointing gun at state Rep. Hoan Huynh in Albany Park
Hoan Huynh was alerting the community on the Northwest Side to the presence of federal agents when they blocked his vehicle on a residential street and an agent pointed a gun at him and others in the ...
chicago.suntimes.com
October 22, 2025 at 9:02 PM
ICE agents just pulled a gun on Rep. Hoan Huynh — for alerting the community to ICE's presence.
If this can happen to an elected official, it can happen to anyone. I stand with Rep. Huynh and his right to protect our neighbors.
If this can happen to an elected official, it can happen to anyone. I stand with Rep. Huynh and his right to protect our neighbors.
Reposted by Steven J. Venturino
FULL STORY: “These federal agents are operating lawlessly, demonstrating utter disregard for our constitutional rights,” Ald. Mike Rodriguez said. @wttw.bsky.social
Border Patrol Agents Detain 2 City Employees During ‘Lawless’ Little Village Raids, Ald. Rodriguez Says
“These federal agents are operating lawlessly, demonstrating utter disregard for our constitutional rights,” Ald. Mike Rodriguez (22nd Ward) said.
news.wttw.com
October 22, 2025 at 9:14 PM
FULL STORY: “These federal agents are operating lawlessly, demonstrating utter disregard for our constitutional rights,” Ald. Mike Rodriguez said. @wttw.bsky.social
Reposted by Steven J. Venturino
The Treasury Department instructed employees not to share to share photos of the demolition of parts of the White House’s East Wing
Exclusive | Treasury Tells Employees Not to Share Photos of White House Ballroom Construction
Images of the demolition of parts of the East Wing went viral on Monday, and Treasury’s headquarters next door to the White House has a front-row seat.
www.wsj.com
October 21, 2025 at 2:40 AM
The Treasury Department instructed employees not to share to share photos of the demolition of parts of the White House’s East Wing
Reposted by Steven J. Venturino
That’s the other thing that baffles me about AI and creative writing, actually.
The work IS the joy for me. I don’t want to be able to snap my fingers and have a completed “product.” I want to be transformed by the process. I’m an author but I do this because I enjoy the rigor of being a writer.
The work IS the joy for me. I don’t want to be able to snap my fingers and have a completed “product.” I want to be transformed by the process. I’m an author but I do this because I enjoy the rigor of being a writer.
In terms of process, I enjoy writing but revising????? Oh, that’s my real kink. A second or third draft???? A fourth???? Making tweaks on my desktop AND my phone???? *moans* I’m a WHORE for revision.
October 20, 2025 at 2:15 AM
That’s the other thing that baffles me about AI and creative writing, actually.
The work IS the joy for me. I don’t want to be able to snap my fingers and have a completed “product.” I want to be transformed by the process. I’m an author but I do this because I enjoy the rigor of being a writer.
The work IS the joy for me. I don’t want to be able to snap my fingers and have a completed “product.” I want to be transformed by the process. I’m an author but I do this because I enjoy the rigor of being a writer.
Reposted by Steven J. Venturino
👎 👑
October 18, 2025 at 6:11 PM
👎 👑
Reposted by Steven J. Venturino
It’s going to take ages to pay all these people
October 18, 2025 at 5:39 PM
It’s going to take ages to pay all these people
Reposted by Steven J. Venturino
No literally how you having a computer read for you. Ok so, when you read, what’s written goes in your head. And that’s how you know what you read. So you need to put the words in your head, not a machine.
Imagine admitting that you didn’t do your own work and that you’re basing your claims to epistemic authority on the computational equivalent of a game of snap.
October 13, 2025 at 9:11 PM
No literally how you having a computer read for you. Ok so, when you read, what’s written goes in your head. And that’s how you know what you read. So you need to put the words in your head, not a machine.