“For too long, the university has ignored the wisdom of the donor class and hired based on academic excellence. Regrettably, this has led to the underrepresentation of discredited viewpoints in elite higher education.” www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/wer...

Fantastic interview that is very helpful for understanding the state of Israel and the extreme injustices it perpetrates. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/o...

Criminally funny, but also I'm crying inside Norway comes for the #TechBros www.forbrukerradet.no/breakingfree vimeo.com/1168468796?f...

Valentines’s Day recommendation: Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet,” in a superb new and complete recording conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. Fun fact: Prokofiev originally gave the score a happy ending where Juliet wakes up before Romeo kills himself, but was forced to change it.

Summer photos: Madrid, Athens, Istanbul, Bodrum, in that order. dstar.photodeck.com/-/galleries/...

I’m finding it difficult to believe that these are both posts on the official White House .gov website, but they are.

This is not really the right place for this post, but just came across this hilarious image based on a series of children’s books.

A seventh OUP book cover featuring one of my photos. www.daniel-star.net/photos.html

Early morning photographs from Stowe, Vermont (taken in late December 2024). #photography

"It is a spectacle of slaughter. All unfolding in plain sight, livestreamed and posted by Palestinian citizens and journalists, witnessed by outsiders, and described by Israelis themselves."

In the Boston centered novel “Moonlight Mile,” Dennis Lehane has one of his characters visit Neptune Oyster Bar in the North End for a meal and the character declares they have the best lobster roll in New England. I agree. Seminannual lunch after teaching is completed.

Our teen pup Churro, sunbathing this morning.

Mood.

A recent photo taken in Munich, and a variation on it.

Our department has been forced to suspend PhD admissions this year (and just for this year). I have commented on Daily Nous as DGS, and another faculty member has anonymously provided more details.

I have a new article out on love. It’s about why we should love people for their valuable qualities and why the importance of grace is often over-estimated. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Enjoyed visiting LMU, Munich this week to give a talk. Also enjoyed visiting a few art museums.

“On Oct. 27, *three weeks* into Israel’s punishing counterattack in Gaza, top Biden officials privately told a small group assembled at the White House what they would not say in public: Israel was regularly bombing buildings without solid intelligence that they were legitimate military targets.”

For me, 2023 was a year in which I especially enjoyed listening to classical music. Here are my four favorite classical piano albums released this year.

Winter sunlight falling on my photographs of a summer sunset in Turkey.

"Grossly disproportionate". Nir Eyal on Israel's actions in Gaza...

Last week, I took a couple of portrait photos of my BU colleagues Sunil Sharma and Roberta Micallef. Here they are.

I am happy with the way this site is going, and all the serious intellectual chatter. But fun is also important, so I might start posting fun stuff. This photo, for instance is from a recent department dinner. A significant achievement by two colleagues not in the photo!

Nick Cave concert in Boston last night was magical. Songs at the piano, with Colin Greenwood on bass guitar. One highlight was a new song: "...sometimes I see you in the evening When the sky makes no sound And I know that I will always love you In the morning when the dew is on the ground."