Ray Davis
@pseudopodium.bsky.social
Free-range essayist & online publisher at https://www.pseudopodium.org/
@davidcollard.bsky.social : "His [word aversion] paper focuses on 'moist.' What are your thoughts on that? I'm trying to think of its use in a poem and come up with nothing at all."
I thought you'd never ask!
www.pseudopodium.org/ht-20260626....
I thought you'd never ask!
www.pseudopodium.org/ht-20260626....
September 16, 2026 at 4:39 PM
@davidcollard.bsky.social : "His [word aversion] paper focuses on 'moist.' What are your thoughts on that? I'm trying to think of its use in a poem and come up with nothing at all."
I thought you'd never ask!
www.pseudopodium.org/ht-20260626....
I thought you'd never ask!
www.pseudopodium.org/ht-20260626....
Things I was frightened of as a child:
1. God's judgment
2. Being unable to rescue my family from a volcano
3. Mutually Assured Destruction
Things I was frightened of until I was 57:
1. Mice & rats
1. God's judgment
2. Being unable to rescue my family from a volcano
3. Mutually Assured Destruction
Things I was frightened of until I was 57:
1. Mice & rats
Things I was frightened of as a child:
1. The Quentin Blake illustration of the Grand High Witch's true face
2. Vampires from Black Forest Germany that sucked blood from the bottoms of people's feet which meant I could never expose my feet in bed at night
3. Mutually Assured Destruction
1. The Quentin Blake illustration of the Grand High Witch's true face
2. Vampires from Black Forest Germany that sucked blood from the bottoms of people's feet which meant I could never expose my feet in bed at night
3. Mutually Assured Destruction
Things I was frightened of as a child:
1. Monsters. So many monsters
2.The Bermuda Triangle
3. Failure
4. What if my dad flicked a cigarette butt out the car window and somehow caused the gas tank to explode?
5. Sharks
1. Monsters. So many monsters
2.The Bermuda Triangle
3. Failure
4. What if my dad flicked a cigarette butt out the car window and somehow caused the gas tank to explode?
5. Sharks
September 12, 2026 at 8:05 PM
Things I was frightened of as a child:
1. God's judgment
2. Being unable to rescue my family from a volcano
3. Mutually Assured Destruction
Things I was frightened of until I was 57:
1. Mice & rats
1. God's judgment
2. Being unable to rescue my family from a volcano
3. Mutually Assured Destruction
Things I was frightened of until I was 57:
1. Mice & rats
MAKE EL CERRITO RUST AGAIN!
Learn about Slade McCutcheon, one of the many colorful El Cerritans running for city council this year:
www.youtube.com/shorts/xYnjt...
www.youtube.com/shorts/xYnjt...
Slade McCutcheon: Make El Cerrito Rust Again
YouTube video by Laughable El Cerrito
www.youtube.com
September 9, 2026 at 2:32 AM
MAKE EL CERRITO RUST AGAIN!
Reposted by Ray Davis
RT if you’ve never had a tab of ChatGPT open, period.
RT if you've never had a tab of ChatGPT open, period.
RT if you've never had a tab of ChatGPT open, period.
September 8, 2026 at 5:06 AM
RT if you’ve never had a tab of ChatGPT open, period.
I'm not an academic but I did get this into one of my three academic publications:
September 8, 2026 at 6:52 PM
I'm not an academic but I did get this into one of my three academic publications:
Because the old-timey poets cling to Facebook & its inscrutable hide-&-seek, & the NYT doesn't notice such things, I only learned today that Rachel Blau DuPlessis has gone. But also that her poem-of-a-life, Drafts, was published in full last year.
September 3, 2026 at 9:23 PM
Because the old-timey poets cling to Facebook & its inscrutable hide-&-seek, & the NYT doesn't notice such things, I only learned today that Rachel Blau DuPlessis has gone. But also that her poem-of-a-life, Drafts, was published in full last year.
I like a lot of Dolly Parton recordings, but this one seems especially appropriate.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=6xld...
m.youtube.com/watch?v=6xld...
Dolly Parton - I Am Ready (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Sugar Hill Records
m.youtube.com
August 27, 2026 at 2:32 AM
I like a lot of Dolly Parton recordings, but this one seems especially appropriate.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=6xld...
m.youtube.com/watch?v=6xld...
"Reminding you to hang by your thumbs."
August 26, 2026 at 9:13 PM
"Reminding you to hang by your thumbs."
Reposted by Ray Davis
The last paragraph is, uh... unexpected.
EXTREMELY bizarre story. An American woman on the Isle of Lewis has been suing organisations there for not letting her bring her dog into cafes? And her legal action is being handled by the Ethnic Minority Law Centre in Glasgow?
www.stornowaygazette.co.uk/business/ber...
www.stornowaygazette.co.uk/business/ber...
Bernera groups face financial ruin from legal costs
A second Bernera community organisation is facing financial ruin due to the activities of Claire Kellerman, an American woman who has been involved in multiple altercations with businesses on Lewis, ...
www.stornowaygazette.co.uk
August 22, 2026 at 8:48 AM
The last paragraph is, uh... unexpected.
Amidst all the proper shows of love for John Crowley, I'll put a word in for possibly his least friendly story, "Exogamy", a beautifully sculpted miniature of male heterosexual horror.
August 19, 2026 at 11:19 PM
Amidst all the proper shows of love for John Crowley, I'll put a word in for possibly his least friendly story, "Exogamy", a beautifully sculpted miniature of male heterosexual horror.
"Absolutely nothing"? Au contraire:
"In Florida, Bush was reading to children in a classroom at 9:05 a.m. when his chief of staff, Andrew Card, whispered into his ear. The president briefly turned somber before he resumed reading." You think it was EASY for W. to turn somber?
"In Florida, Bush was reading to children in a classroom at 9:05 a.m. when his chief of staff, Andrew Card, whispered into his ear. The president briefly turned somber before he resumed reading." You think it was EASY for W. to turn somber?
I get that it's hard for younger folks to grasp how immediately, completely insane 9/11 made this country, so I'll just point out that George Bush, a widely despised clown, pulled 90% approval for doing absolutely nothing- liberals would attack you for suggesting he was less than infallible
August 7, 2026 at 11:33 PM
"Absolutely nothing"? Au contraire:
"In Florida, Bush was reading to children in a classroom at 9:05 a.m. when his chief of staff, Andrew Card, whispered into his ear. The president briefly turned somber before he resumed reading." You think it was EASY for W. to turn somber?
"In Florida, Bush was reading to children in a classroom at 9:05 a.m. when his chief of staff, Andrew Card, whispered into his ear. The president briefly turned somber before he resumed reading." You think it was EASY for W. to turn somber?
Prof. Christopher M. Sterba explained how #elcerrito turned out sane & livable in "Taming the Wild West in the Late 1940s: Suburban Progressives in the San Francisco Bay Area". He's kindly given permission to share the article:
www.pseudopodium.org/repress/shor...
www.pseudopodium.org/repress/shor...
www.pseudopodium.org
August 7, 2026 at 10:40 PM
Prof. Christopher M. Sterba explained how #elcerrito turned out sane & livable in "Taming the Wild West in the Late 1940s: Suburban Progressives in the San Francisco Bay Area". He's kindly given permission to share the article:
www.pseudopodium.org/repress/shor...
www.pseudopodium.org/repress/shor...
It's fun/sad to imagine a world in which Phil Nugent had the NYTBR-acclaimed best seller instead of JD Vance.
phildyessnugent.substack.com/p/my-old-sch...
phildyessnugent.substack.com/p/my-old-sch...
My Old School
Mississippi Goshdarn
phildyessnugent.substack.com
June 28, 2026 at 8:14 PM
It's fun/sad to imagine a world in which Phil Nugent had the NYTBR-acclaimed best seller instead of JD Vance.
phildyessnugent.substack.com/p/my-old-sch...
phildyessnugent.substack.com/p/my-old-sch...
Look, Mom! Longer-than-usual notes from a closer-than-usual re-reading of Flaubert's flop novel "Sentimental Education"!
www.pseudopodium.org/ht-20260626....
www.pseudopodium.org/ht-20260626....
June 26, 2026 at 10:01 PM
Look, Mom! Longer-than-usual notes from a closer-than-usual re-reading of Flaubert's flop novel "Sentimental Education"!
www.pseudopodium.org/ht-20260626....
www.pseudopodium.org/ht-20260626....
Translation studies:
www.pseudopodium.org/ht-20230620....
www.pseudopodium.org/ht-20230620....
June 24, 2026 at 3:55 PM
Translation studies:
www.pseudopodium.org/ht-20230620....
www.pseudopodium.org/ht-20230620....
Encountered un frère de @kevinboniface.bsky.social in this morning's French lesson.
March 21, 2026 at 6:48 PM
Encountered un frère de @kevinboniface.bsky.social in this morning's French lesson.
Reposted by Ray Davis
Back in 2003 when I had the good fortune of working on this series, Wiseman's career was already monumental, and that was before he made another dozen movies.
bampfa.org/program/fred...
(A website "upgrade" left this archived page in ruins but I'm sharing anyway in a moment of nostalgic weakness)
bampfa.org/program/fred...
(A website "upgrade" left this archived page in ruins but I'm sharing anyway in a moment of nostalgic weakness)
Frederick Wiseman
“Social reality is infinitely more complicated than ideology. There's no reason a documentary film shouldn't be as complex and subtle as a good novel.”-Frederick Wiseman Frederick Wiseman is not only ...
bampfa.org
February 17, 2026 at 1:09 AM
Back in 2003 when I had the good fortune of working on this series, Wiseman's career was already monumental, and that was before he made another dozen movies.
bampfa.org/program/fred...
(A website "upgrade" left this archived page in ruins but I'm sharing anyway in a moment of nostalgic weakness)
bampfa.org/program/fred...
(A website "upgrade" left this archived page in ruins but I'm sharing anyway in a moment of nostalgic weakness)
On this 3 Kings of Occident birthday, let us reflect that the world would be a slightly different & probably no worse place if Bowie had produced & starred in a movie adaptation of @jwomack.bsky.social's "Elvissey".
January 8, 2026 at 10:11 PM
On this 3 Kings of Occident birthday, let us reflect that the world would be a slightly different & probably no worse place if Bowie had produced & starred in a movie adaptation of @jwomack.bsky.social's "Elvissey".
Today I listened to some overwrought YouTube renditions of "Le saut du tremplin" by Théodore de Banville, & then read @shaenon.bsky.social's splendid "Demon Clown Diary".
sockdolager.net/demon-clown-...
sockdolager.net/demon-clown-...
Demon Clown Diary
Worked a sewer tonight. Played to lost children, luring each kid with balloon animals made from the entrails of the previous one. Killer set.
sockdolager.net
January 7, 2026 at 11:42 PM
Today I listened to some overwrought YouTube renditions of "Le saut du tremplin" by Théodore de Banville, & then read @shaenon.bsky.social's splendid "Demon Clown Diary".
sockdolager.net/demon-clown-...
sockdolager.net/demon-clown-...
A short simple satisfying memoir ending, as all the best memoirs do, with the author's birth:
graywyvern.substack.com/p/a-few-arch...
graywyvern.substack.com/p/a-few-arch...
A few archive stories
(after someone else's skeet)
graywyvern.substack.com
January 3, 2026 at 4:20 PM
A short simple satisfying memoir ending, as all the best memoirs do, with the author's birth:
graywyvern.substack.com/p/a-few-arch...
graywyvern.substack.com/p/a-few-arch...
Reposted by Ray Davis
October 23, 2025 at 7:50 PM
From "Souvenir de la nuit du 4" by Victor Hugo:
September 27, 2025 at 10:28 PM
From "Souvenir de la nuit du 4" by Victor Hugo:
Left Behind.
September 25, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Left Behind.