MESA book fair haul

En route to DC for MESA!

If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features." There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.

Zazaki language classes online Beginner to advanced, scholarships available Classes cover grammar fundamentals, real‑time speaking/listening practice, reading and writing drills, fun interactive activities (games, role‑play, music, literature) www.halbuki.org/zazaki

English #etymology of the day: the word "mocha" (as in coffee) is ultimately from the name of the city of Mocha or المخا al-Mukhā in Yemen. A port city on the Red Sea, Mocha played an important role in the historic coffee trade. "Moka pot" also has the same etymology.

My take on where we are www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/o...

“Mysticism now rules the world, the cult of blood and violence, darkness, the longing for the past, nationalism. Do you think that anything great and noble, like this book, can come out of such chaos? No; you’ll see, our time will be remembered for its barbarity and barrenness.”

Thinking about how the Israeli gov intervened to get Omri Boehm, Israeli-born philosopher and grandson of Holocaust survivors, banned from speaking at the 80th anniversary ceremony of the liberation of Buchenwald this year, because he planned to say that "Never again" is about more than just Jews.

NEW: Identity and Cultural Diplomacy of the Abraham Accords Shir Alon interrogates how the Abraham Accords normalization process has sought to transform Arab and Jewish identity in the region.

NEW: "Material Politics of Normalization" the Summer/Fall Issue of Middle East Report! A hard hitting collection of 11 essays, reviews, and interviews on the architecture of normalization with Israel, from the Abraham Accords to the Gaza Genocide. buff.ly/ZmeaAty

"Ceviche" and "escabeche" in Spanish may have a Persian #etymology. The RAE says they're from Arabic sikbāj, itself from Middle Persian sik "vinegar" + bāg "soup" (cf. سکبا).

Hunting in America - Tehila Hakimi Devoured this violent little novel in just a couple hours. It's great.

Application deadline is Monday, October 13!

Two years into Israel’s genocide, the US movement in solidarity with Palestinians is far weaker than it should be. To cut off American arms to Israel, we need to build a powerful movement oriented to ordinary Americans beyond activist circles.

I have a feeling the Urdu hajj pe jānā, literally "to go on Hajj," is calqued from English. English uses the phrasal verb "to go on" holiday, pilgrimage, etc.

My latest article "Cosmopolitan Philology and Sacred Grammar" is out in @histandtheojrnl.bsky.social. I examine the 1st Persian grammar "Minhaj al-Talab" (1660, from China), using it to think through the history of Persian philology & the relationship between cosmopolitan/vernacular & Persian/Islam.

Tomorrow at McGill!

Deleted my academia.edu account and you should too

Orly Noy doesn't mince words: "The urgent task now is to bring this holocaust to an end. But stopping it is only the first step. If Israeli society is ever to return to the fold of humanity, it must undergo a deep process of denazification."

The genocide grinds on. Israel is surrounding Gaza City, blowing up entire neighborhoods, blocking aid. 740,000 people are still in northern Gaza even as the conditions for life are deatroyed. Please help.

Please donate and share to help families being forcibly displaced from Gaza City chuffed.org/project/1494...

Please donate and share to help families being forcibly displaced from Gaza City chuffed.org/project/1494...

We have an open position for a pre-doctoral researcher in Dr. Ariane Sadjed's "Persian Jews – History, Community, Memory" team, looking at the Jewish communities of central Asia. See here for job profile and other details: applications must be in by October 1st. www.oeaw.ac.at/jobs?jh=pp87...

Looking forward to giving this talk, on some of my latest work, at McGill later this month

If you do find your name, go here to file to get your money! www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com

Just a reminder to check for your name in this list of books that OpenAI trained from. If your name is there, they probably owe you several thousand dollars. OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.

So excited about this new Assistant Professor of Buddhist Studies role at the University of Minnesota! Come live in the Twin Cities and do cool work! ✨

In Arabic (and subsequently Persian and Urdu) نقد naqd connotes both cash and criticism. The connection lies in an earlier sense of the word: testing the authenticity of coins.

JOB POSTING Assistant Professor, Buddhist Studies Religious Studies Program, University of Minnesota Area, time period, and discipline are open and it's a great place to work!

Students Hate Them. Universities Need Them. The Only Real Solution to the A.I. Cheating Crisis. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/o...

A Thai word we should borrow into English is แซ่บ saep, meaning "tasty" or "deliciously spicy." It sounds like "zap!" and is really fun to say.

Please donate and share: Healing Hands Fund is sending a neonatologist to Gaza & raising money for baby supplies. They are a small grassroots organization of pediatricians and their colleagues who have expertise and experience getting crucial health supplies to Palestine. t.co/PD8lTbYccn

Please donate and share: Healing Hands Fund is sending a neonatologist to Gaza & raising money for baby supplies. They are a small grassroots organization of pediatricians and their colleagues who have expertise and experience getting crucial health supplies to Palestine. t.co/PD8lTbYccn

My NYT op-ed this morning I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/o...

The Iranian Voices Missing From the “Regime Change” Debate Pro-war voices who insist the Iranian people would welcome a war that would spell the end of the Islamic Republic are deliberately ignoring the desires of actual Iranians. newrepublic.com/article/1970...

every single member of Congress should be pushing for Trump’s impeachment. and every single Democrat who isn’t calling for impeachment should be primaried

Bombing Iran is a terrible idea. It’s unlikely to work—and nothing could be more perilous to American democracy than going to war under Donald Trump, Robert Kagan writes.

Why everything Israelis think they know about Iran is wrong Lior Sternfeld, a historian of modern Iran, tells Orly Noy why Israel's fantasies of regime change ignore the reality inside the Islamic Republic — and risk repeating historic mistakes. www.972mag.com/why-everythi...

NO WAR ON IRAN

I cannot be hoodwinked by AI, NFTs, crypto, or any of these other stupid scams because I still remember how the Segway was supposed to change the world

"Some University of Minnesota faculty criticize hiring second-in-command without any public meetings. Unlike for past leaders, no public forums or interviews were held for the new provost. Some faculty worry about the lack of transparency and public trust." www.startribune.com/some-univers...

I don't think Jewish history is a moral teacher, nor do I think trauma is necessarily ennobling or enlightening. But I don't see how anyone can read this and not think about how, on certain holidays in the Russian Empire, mobs would march against Jews: www.france24.com/en/middle-ea...

When the Napalm Girl photo showed a child fleeing napalm in Vietnam, it fueled outrage and changed history. Today, the world watches Palestinian children burn on live stream as Israel’s final solution unfolds in Gaza, yet the west remains silent, inept, and indifferent.

I'm running a 5k to support mental health programs for Gazans. I'm almost at my goal so please donate or share getinvolved.unrwausa.org/fundraiser/6...

woah, thanks for sharing. this is amazing. it's even more powerful as a set. this link has the whole series: africa.si.edu/exhibits/sho...

Yinka Shonibare’s The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (Australia), based on the famous 18th c print by Francisco Goya. Shonibare replaced the clothes w/ Indonesian batik fabric, which also became part of West African sartorial culture via colonial routes

There should be a vegan Jewish deli called Tofu va Vohu

Arabic idiom of the day: لا ناقتي في هذا ولا جملي "I have neither she-camel nor he-camel in this" = I have nothing to do with this

LRB printed my letter of correction, the day is saved