Akhila Ramnarayan
@akhilar.bsky.social
writer, indie musician, theatre actor, educator starcracker.substack.com
Happy anniversary! "The uprising on 10 August 1680 was one of the most successful acts of Indigenous resistance against colonialism and is sometimes called the first American revolution." My July essay on contemporary Pueblo artist Virgil Ortiz and his art about past and future Pueblo revolts.
Rebecca Solnit · Diary: Before 1776
In 1848, the US seized the northern half of Mexico, from California to New Mexico, and imposed American law and the...
lrb.co.uk
Recently agreed to review a paper for a journal, based on its promising-looking abstract. Only after agreeing was I shown the author's "AI" disclosure statement. >>
For 3 long hours, all we saw was the shining surfaces of an unplumb'd, salt, estranging sea (never mind the hopeless miscasting – race/gender agnostic – and the erasure of the Sahrawi). If Americanising's your thing, O Brother Where Art Thou is more fun, less lugubrious, and the soundtrack bangs.
EMILY WILSON@emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · last mo.I wrote about the Nolan Odyssey for the LRB. I'll summarize some of my main points below, in case you don't feel like reading all that. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
So happy my (sort of) review essay on Is a River Alive? by @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social is out in the world! scroll.in/article/1082...
‘Is a River Alive?’: Radical resistance and solidarity between humans and the natural world
Robert Macfarlane’s new book is a tripartite ecological-literary tour de force.
scroll.in
Steve Kerr wore a Harvard basketball shirt after the Warriors’ win tonight: “Yes, this is me supporting Harvard. Way to go. Way to stand up to the bully.”
Took a hiatus from Bluesky but hearing about the Adobe debacle makes me hopeful. Us–1, corporate fat cats–nil.
So much profound beauty in our world. But it seems the forces unable to see beyond their own wealth, power, and egos are in the ascendant right now. It's our duty to mind ourselves and each other in these tough times, which may well get much worse. The living world depends on us never giving up. 🌍
I cannot describe how devastating it was to see a lifeless olive ridley sea turtle wash up on the shore this morning in Chennai. I tried to sing a lament over its body to honour its passing, but the words stuck in my throat.
The Indian Ocean all diamond sparkles today, for anyone who could do with some radiance.
24-hour news is so grotesque in times of crisis. I don’t know how these people live with themselves.
"Do I read the news and open myself to the images of horror and injustice and suffering and atrocity [...]? Or do I turn myself away, not to ignore what’s happening but to preserve the capacity of my heart to meet the world right in front of me [...]?" www.theporchcommunity.net/recent/2024/...
WHO BEARS THE WEIGHT - Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma — The Porch
Every day I face an impossible dilemma. Do I read the news and open myself to the images of horror and injustice and suffering and atrocity that come from every corner of the globe? Or do I turn mys...
theporchcommunity.net
Lovely piece by veteran editor-publisher Mini Krishnan on working in the pre-internet days with literary giant MT Vasudevan Nair. She draws attention through one example both to the travails of regional language writers through the decades and the unsung art of editing. scroll.in/article/1077...
‘Writing is a pleasure, an obsession’: A publisher’s tribute to MT Vasudevan Nair
Publisher Mini Krishnan recalls her long and fruitful friendship with the Malayalam author.
scroll.in
So very proud that Seattle-based poet- translator Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma, dear friend of 20 years (we first met as grad students at Ohio State), was recognised by the Tamilnadu government for his Tirukkural translation (Beacon 2024). And so glad I got to attend the award ceremony in the flesh.
Srikumar@sriku.org · 2y agoTom Pruiksma received this award yesterday from the Tamil Nadu gov for his beautiful English translation of the Tirukkural. amzn.in/d/7rbIn8v . It is incredibly hard to translate poetry like he's done, keeping the spirit of the text's form and content intact. A beautiful human being.
Okay, so there's really no content in this article at all. Hinton gave slightly different made up numbers to the same ridiculous question and the reporter jumped on that as if it were meaningful www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
‘Godfather of AI’ shortens odds of the technology wiping out humanity over next 30 years
Geoffrey Hinton says there is 10% to 20% chance AI will lead to human extinction in three decades, as change moves fast
theguardian.com
True story: crass organiser at packed book launch demands show of hands to indicate having bought the book, shames audience members who haven't. Badgering and hard sell when attendees represent a cross-section, the book is expensive, and the venue a schlep for most? Be grateful so many came, buddy.
Gaining courage for the battles that lie ahead by reading aloud lines from Arundathi Subramaniam's exquisite preface to her Wild Women (Ebury/Penguin 2024). It takes a poet to craft such prose.
"As critics debate the inroads that private capital has made into many corners of the economy and public services — in Britain and elsewhere — children’s services are a flashpoint." - Abhinav Ramnarayan & Sabah Meddings Proud of my brother for this one.🦚 #finance www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
Private Equity Is Making Big Money From UK’s Most Vulnerable
As critics debate the cost of private capital’s inroads into many corners of the economy and public services, children’s homes have become a flashpoint.
bloomberg.com
Entry #26: Nothing/everything stays the same; nothing/everything is different. What matters in the grand scheme of things? #blueskythinking
Entry #24: working in, breath, meta-awareness, negotiating moments of transition.
Grateful my quadriceps are holding up, not to mention busted patellae I ruined with years of bad road running form. Strength/resistance training actually helps. Go figure. #theatre
Yup'ik woman scientist Charitie Ropati is on the Forbes 30 under 30 list! This is so fricking cool! Love this so much! #NativesInSTEM www.kyuk.org/arts-culture...
Yup’ik engineer named to Forbes 30 Under 30 list
Charitie Ropati, a 23-year-old water engineer from the Kuskokwim Delta coast, has been named to the prestigious Forbes 30 Under 30 Education list for her work with her nonprofit education organization...
kyuk.org
Why does it ALWAYS take me two hours after I think I should go for my walk to actually go for a walk? Every. Single. Day. #procrastination
A snapshot from rehearsal (focused specifically on soundscape) for Gowri Ramnarayan's play What She Said which recuperates women's voices from the Ramayana. Here, my castmate Aarabi Veeraraghavan plays Urmila, Sita's sister. Carnatic vocalist Srividya Vadlamani makes her theatre debut. #theatre
