Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature at USC | Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. | Author of “Latin America and the Transports of Opera” | Platonic Cyclist, Public Transit Rider | 🇨🇺🇺🇸🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇬🇱🇩🇰🇵🇦🇨🇦🇲🇽🇵🇸🇺🇦🇪🇺🇻🇪🇪🇸🇮🇷https://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mliy744cdc2cA very brief report on the embassies of Denmark and Finland, which I toured yesterday as part of the EU Open House event in D.C.: they are both gorgeous — modern, warm, open, luminous. The city is lucky to have such buildings.10 May 2026 14:35 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mliy744cdc2chttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mkxxhs4j4k25A brief report on non-EU Embassy Day yesterday in D.C.: 1) The Cuban embassy & Miami-redolent Colada Shop shared a table at UDC, which bodes well; 2) You could purchase plantain chips (seen here) at the Cameroonian embassy; 3) the palatial Haitian embassy does feature a bust of Toussaint Louverture.03 May 2026 20:07 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkxxhs4j4k25https://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mk5mj54qsc2eSecond visit to Zumthor’s LACMA; late afternoon; here came the sun. Earthenware, Neolithic period, 2700-2400 BCE, China. The Lansdowne Bust of Athena of Velletri, 2nd century copy after a Greek original.23 Apr 2026 08:41 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mk5mj54qsc2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mk2mixywpk2zZumthor’s new galleries at LACMA strike me as gorgeous spaces for displaying art. The painted concrete feels sumptuous and the rupture with traditional taxonomies privileges the collection itself. Objects from multiple periods and lands become visible in ways I’d never seen before. 1/222 Apr 2026 04:03 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mk2mixywpk2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mjpdysf6d22cD.C. these days — green mansions, pace Guillermo Enrique Hudson.17 Apr 2026 16:32 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjpdysf6d22chttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mjn3tnlgus22Can’t think of any other structure as maligned as the new galleries at LACMA, except for perhaps the Eiffel Tower back in the day. Delighted, therefore, that the NYT critic has mostly positive things to say about the architecture. Can’t wait to see the place again next week, now full of artworks. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/arts/design/lacma-peter-zumthor-los-angeles.html?unlocked_article_code=1.a1A.fx-l.LnNDcQr8iXDL&smid=nytcore-ios-share16 Apr 2026 19:00 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjn3tnlgus22https://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mjbbpuj4t22qHappy to report that yesterday I was able to hike along across the creek in my local woods — first time since January, when I stupidly fell on the ice and re-injured my right knee. Spring in D.C. — far more than those pretty cherry blossoms.12 Apr 2026 02:14 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjbbpuj4t22qhttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mj4c3574g22kMy slightly cropped image of the decidedly horizontal painting Joan Miró created for Josep Lluís Sert, who kept it in his house in Cambridge, Mass. The painting now belongs to Harvard’s Fogg Museum and can be seen in “Miró and the United States,” the lovely show at the Phillips Collection.10 Apr 2026 02:37 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mj4c3574g22khttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mis2vul2zk2iStill thinking of Yuval Sharon’s stunning production of “Tristan und Isolde” last Thursday. Not sure what it all may mean, but I was riveted and can’t wait to see what he does for the “Ring.” (Now if the Met could retire that over-the-top “Traviata” and send it all to the White House…)06 Apr 2026 01:02 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mis2vul2zk2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3miibpqkwwk25Not a big fan of spring with its tropes of youth and rebirth, but the blooming flora at Dumbarton Oaks, even on this hot and gray day in D.C., almost made a believer of me.02 Apr 2026 03:37 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3miibpqkwwk25https://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mhqxsutkgc2dQuick, take that picture before he comes over and airbrushes it faux-gold! #dcproblems23 Mar 2026 21:09 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhqxsutkgc2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mhotyi2zmc2sA splendid night at the Zürich opera, with Cecilia Bartoli, whose singing and acting — passionate, joyful — are simply otherworldly, against all kinds of visions of the Nile (placid, stormy black, burning red) in Handel’s “Guilio Cesare in Egitto,” and the burnished sound of La Scintilla Orchestra …23 Mar 2026 00:55 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhotyi2zmc2shttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mhmaakbjac2yYesterday I went to the Museum Rietberg to see the exhibition of Japanese Surinomo woodblock prints. I had lunch at the museum’s cafe in the old villa of Mathilde Wesendonck whom Wagner loved and whose poetic texts he set in the passionate Wesendonck-Lieder. On the one occasion my husband and I …21 Mar 2026 23:56 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhmaakbjac2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mhjrahjto22hNo words, except to say the obvious, which is that this is the real heart of darkness.21 Mar 2026 00:22 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhjrahjto22hhttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mhbddkdf3c24Krakow is dynamic — people everywhere, cafes, shops, trams. Trying to visualize what life was like here during the Cold War is hard. Surely this blue-haired cyclist swiftly traversing Market Square has no personal memories thereof. Good for him.17 Mar 2026 15:52 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhbddkdf3c24https://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mh775eolkk2iFirst time in Kraków. Lovely city, all kinds of folks.16 Mar 2026 19:32 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mh775eolkk2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mgvmac7ylk2qFrom the Capital Weather Gang: “Falling to 33 degrees with snow, temperatures in D.C. were at least 53 degrees colder this afternoon compared with the record high of 86 degrees Wednesday. It’s the largest 24-hour dip since Reagan National Airport became the official observation location in 1945.”12 Mar 2026 23:59 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgvmac7ylk2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mgq37uec722zPosting this just because it's such a lovely image: Elizabeth P. Benson and James E. Mayo working on the first pre-Columbian collection installation at Dumbarton Oaks in 1963. Was it the best of times and the worst of times?10 Mar 2026 19:12 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgq37uec722zhttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mglonmihqc2iGuidebooks.09 Mar 2026 01:16 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mglonmihqc2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mgb2gfbhdk26Because I’m reading “Lincoln in the Bardo,” the strange novel by George Saunders on eleven-year-old Willie Lincoln’s death in the White House and temporary placement at Oak Hill Cemetery, and because I happened to be walking in Georgetown this afternoon, …04 Mar 2026 19:47 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgb2gfbhdk26https://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mg3hoamlpc2pIt’s 29°F in D.C., but it was 91° F when I was in L.A. last Friday — and it was just in the sixties in Manhattan Beach as the sun set on Saturday over the Pacific.02 Mar 2026 14:29 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mg3hoamlpc2phttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mfvpupmk4s2iBefore it had Disney Hall, DTLA had the headquarters for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) on Bunker Hill.28 Feb 2026 07:39 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mfvpupmk4s2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mfvp6bnzkk2iIt’s almost de rigueur to hate on Zumthor’s galleries at LACMA, but I already love this building. Can’t wait to see what Chardin’s “Soap Bubbles,” for instance, looks like inside it, along with so many fabulous works from the collection.28 Feb 2026 07:27 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mfvp6bnzkk2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3meu7hs7xyk2xNote to self: since you’re writing a little something on Mies van der Rohe, go write at least a little page every single day in the only library he ever designed: the Martin Luther King Memorial Library, right here in D.C.14 Feb 2026 23:48 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3meu7hs7xyk2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mejwurelj22xThe Walk for Peace reached Washington National Cathedral today. Lots of snow and ice everywhere but it was warmer than it’s been for days; the iceberg on which a bunch of us stood began to melt as we waited for the monks to arrive. There was also much warmth from the Venerable Bhikkhu Paññākāra.10 Feb 2026 21:47 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mejwurelj22xhttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mdtlstw4vs2fWashington, D.C., 6:19 p.m., 21°F | -6°C, and let’s not even mention the windchill. Must say it’s super tempting just to go down and hike a bit in the local woods, and get to see how the babbling brook is doing (it’s probably very quiet) — but I won’t.02 Feb 2026 00:31 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mdtlstw4vs2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mdr5ye7hn22qKorean Treasures at the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Arts. What an awesome show, and wouldn’t it be nice to be gifted a moon jar?01 Feb 2026 01:18 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mdr5ye7hn22qhttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mdl5ofknyc2dOnce upon a time this obelisk and its kindred monuments — Jefferson, Lincoln, even the Capitol — were somehow the promise of a less imperfect republic. These days it’s hard not to see them as anything but elegiac projections over a city and a nation under siege. It’s winter in America.29 Jan 2026 15:57 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mdl5ofknyc2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3mdbncletok2eA walk in the neighborhood to cleanse my mind, such as it is: the Howard law & divinity campus; the Levine music conservatory; the Dutch embassy; plus me by the local woods wearing a funny hat. That was about 7K steps through thick snow (“caminante, no hay camino”), sleet pelting my frozen face.25 Jan 2026 21:10 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mdbncletok2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/robertissimus.bsky.social/post/3md7i5v5ucc2xIf you’re in D.C. and the forecast calls for lots of snow and ice, you can go to the U.S. Botanic Garden and be transported the the tropics by looking at this beauty: Theobroma cacao, which means “food of the gods.” God save the cocoa tree or, as my Cuban grandmother called it, “árbol de cacao.”25 Jan 2026 00:32 +0000at://did:plc:aeqjdt3k6ogvsd5fva53yskf/app.bsky.feed.post/3md7i5v5ucc2x