linguist | medical editor | co-parenting father x3 | musician | poetry lover | eclectic in all things | ☸️ 🐀 | ex-ex-Slavist, ex-ex-academic Berkeley CAhttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3myuthtvnrc2yA new poem! shorturl.at/4eMx0 All is vanity, Qohelet (Solomon) says. And yet… The most famous lines of Ecclesiastes are the verses on how there’s a time for every purpose under heaven: “a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,” etc. But upon careful reading…27 Oct 2026 18:10 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3myuthtvnrc2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3moxvpb5q2s2aThis resonates with and amplifies some of my reflections lately. Seems like there's an active quality to this healthy surrender—e.g. listening to that inner voice within and taking risks accordingly—versus its "near enemy" of passivity or resignation. https://sashachapin.substack.com/p/should-you-be-in-charge-of-your-life23 Jun 2026 17:16 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3moxvpb5q2s2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3mlme3ombgk2uWAS IT OVER WHEN THE GERMANS BOMBED PEARL HARBOR? HELL NO! got to introduce the tween & 10-year-old to this monumental cultural deep cut today. I bet their teachers will appreciate me!11 May 2026 22:46 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlme3ombgk2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3mlc5cc7rek2kTwo things I’d like to shout out into the void today: (1) hantavirus isn’t COVID-19, and even if it was, this isn’t Feb 2020; (2) if you must monitor the situation, asymptomatic transmission is much more important than the details of exactly who got sick on the ship/plane. https://sandstoneviolin.substack.com/p/hantavirus-covid-19-this-is-not-february07 May 2026 21:17 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlc5cc7rek2khttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3mkqhstser22lInsomnia, Homer, taut sails—here I translate and comment on a lovely poem by Osip Mandelshtam that expresses this idea of everything moving by/through love. Predictably, I have Dante on the mind, who also seems fairly obsessed by this idea, although it's sorta horrifying as applied to Inferno. https://sandstoneviolin.substack.com/p/insomnia-homer-taut-sails-and-love30 Apr 2026 20:38 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkqhstser22lhttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3mko4u4tk2c2bLobotomy was banned in the USSR at the height of its international popularity. The Soviets made the right decision for a strange mix of good and bad reasons, which perhaps illustrates the importance of memetic diversity & multipolar decision-making structures as a resilience mechanism for humankind. https://substack.com/home/post/p-19583923029 Apr 2026 22:16 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3mko4u4tk2c2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3mkgmddcm4s2bMind is a sense, like the others. A tasty idea is tasty like a ripe peach, and an intellectual glutton is a glutton. As with the other senses, it’s all about what you do with it. I'm a pretty indifferent practitioner tbh, but this idea has stuck with me over the years. https://sandstoneviolin.substack.com/p/mind-as-a-sense-an-insight-from-buddhism26 Apr 2026 22:32 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkgmddcm4s2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3mjzqyxjnmc2nEtymology has a distinct flavor because it tries to establish maximal certainty about small facts, and then builds from there. As exemplified through this debate about the word “apple,” involving Eric Hamp, a remarkable linguist and person who I briefly crossed paths with. https://sandstoneviolin.substack.com/p/the-etymology-of-apple-a-methodological21 Apr 2026 19:51 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjzqyxjnmc2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3mjnqf22mic2zAlbanian is an interesting language for a lot of reasons — but a relatively little known one is the diversity of alphabets/scripts that have been used to write it, including some that were specifically invented for the purpose but never entered into widespread use. https://sandstoneviolin.substack.com/p/unique-alphabets-for-albanian17 Apr 2026 01:08 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjnqf22mic2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3mjhydm2tgk2aThe unexpected/expected decay of Zosima’s corpse had various consequences, including (146 years later) my ruminations about non-acceptance vs. rejection. The former seems to be linked to a healthy spiritual autonomy and agency, the latter—to obsessive bargaining. Also, the trolley problem sucks. https://sandstoneviolin.substack.com/p/rejection-vs-non-acceptance-in-the14 Apr 2026 18:14 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjhydm2tgk2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3mjfzc2oe5k2lTrue friendship breaks the logic of Hell. Reading Dante while listening to the soundtrack of Hazbin Hotel (with a detour via the Pogues) took me to some interesting places. https://sandstoneviolin.substack.com/p/friendship-in-hell-dante-hazbin-hotel13 Apr 2026 23:26 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjfzc2oe5k2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3mjbpme6rqk2yA rainy day activity with the kids somehow metamorphosed into the strangest (and only) movie review I’ve ever written. In a nutshell, “Super Mario Galaxy” brings out the childlike and quaint aspects of surrealism. Uncharacteristically for myself, I bring up Trump too. https://sandstoneviolin.substack.com/p/super-mario-galaxy-trump-and-surrealism12 Apr 2026 06:22 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjbpme6rqk2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3mj22a45v422jI’m not particularly interested in commenting on politics, but I did find myself thinking about how Turkic/Persian linguistic contact in Iran is an interesting echo/semi-parallel of Turkish in the Ottoman Balkans. This parallel might be worth exploring in greater depth. https://sandstoneviolin.substack.com/p/turkic-languages-in-iran-part-109 Apr 2026 05:11 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3mj22a45v422jhttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3mixjq5ya4s26In Canto XV of Inferno, Dante encounters his former teacher, Brunetto Latini, among the sodomites. He treates Latini with remarkable respect, but also puts him in his place. This resonates for those who’ve had difficult mentors (and for mentors, teachers, or parents). https://sandstoneviolin.substack.com/p/dantes-inferno-canto-xv-sodomy-and08 Apr 2026 05:10 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3mixjq5ya4s26https://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3mityzyvmsc2bToday (day 6/30) I revisited some lingering discomfort I felt with an otherwise excellent performance of Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard in Marin County. Ultimately, it’s a translation issue, but one related to emotional subtext rather than word choice. https://sandstoneviolin.substack.com/p/chekhovs-cherry-orchard-in-marin06 Apr 2026 19:34 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3mityzyvmsc2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3mirjol5btc2bHappy Life-Defeating-Death Day (aka Easter). Here’s an unusually nice Easter poem by Mak Dizdar, written from the perspective of one who stands in the shadows. https://substack.com/home/post/p-19328194105 Apr 2026 19:53 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3mirjol5btc2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3mipmplwzv22dThis game has accounted for quite a bit of my time and energy this week, so for day 4 of April’s 30-day writing challenge, I decided to see whether research on the philosophy of games could help me articulate what makes Blood on the Clocktower fun. https://sandstoneviolin.substack.com/p/blood-on-the-clocktower-part-105 Apr 2026 01:42 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3mipmplwzv22dhttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3min647lh6c2qOut of nowhere, my 12-year-old son can now destroy me at chess. I wrote out some thoughts on this sudden nano-singularity and what I can learn from losing. (Excluding, of course, how to avoid repeating chess mistakes. That’d be ridiculous.) https://substack.com/home/post/p-19313112604 Apr 2026 02:16 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3min647lh6c2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3mijwkp7rl22wDay 2 of this semi-self-imposed (along with a friend) 30-day writing challenge for April. In short, the Karamazov trial feels like it could take place on the Jerry Springer stage. And that’s a good (or at least interesting) thing. https://substack.com/home/post/p-19299666802 Apr 2026 19:23 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3mijwkp7rl22whttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3mii5vc36sc2pA friend urged me to try to write and publish a thing per day in April. Today wound up being some reflections on etymology and epistemology based on the Albanian linguist Eqrem Çabej's work. https://substack.com/home/post/p-19290080602 Apr 2026 02:28 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3mii5vc36sc2phttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3mhrnzbifrk23Peak parenting experience: introducing my sensitive, thoughtful 4th grader to "The Man in Black", explaining what makes it so cool, and being met with considered appreciation rather than eyerolls.24 Mar 2026 03:46 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhrnzbifrk23https://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3mhdsej2kvk2vThis dinergoth piece is getting attention elsewhere with much wailing-and-gnashing-of-teeth, but it's neat. It aligns with some things I've observed, puts them in a bigger picture, echoes how I see my kids starting to explore the world (for better or worse). https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/american-diner-gothic18 Mar 2026 15:26 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhdsej2kvk2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3mewikk6wx226War, war, what is it good for? ... According to an editorial I'm editing today, training higher-quality trauma surgeons 😬15 Feb 2026 21:36 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3mewikk6wx226https://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3meooyiasmk2cSomewhat lost in the discourse hubbub, this is huge news - increasingly seems like we're committing to trying a private response (or lack thereof) to climate change. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/climate/trump-epa-greenhouse-gases-climate-change.html?unlocked_article_code=1.LlA.69Sb.5RJFjj-mTtq7&smid=tw-share12 Feb 2026 19:10 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3meooyiasmk2chttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3mdmltz7gzc2eIt's been a difficult week on multiple levels — and having a Thursday with two @catherineproject.bsky.social discussions of Dante and Dostoyevsky with groups of incredibly thoughtful readers has been the absolute highlight of it. Tremendously spirit-lifting. (And completely free.)30 Jan 2026 05:43 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3mdmltz7gzc2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3mcusva2zys25It's mildly trippy to be editing a paper by East Asian researchers where "USSR" is used as an acronym for ulnar superficialis slip resection. The world moves on, life-changing institutions for some are random historical footnotes for others, and so forth.20 Jan 2026 18:45 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3mcusva2zys25https://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3ma4pmk3jmc2cSomehow I never watched the classic James Bond movies — and I'm delighted to find that the most charming part of "From Russia with Love" is the background footage from early 1960s Istanbul.16 Dec 2025 17:52 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3ma4pmk3jmc2chttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3m5c3abbymc2bI was noticing today how I still get ~1-2% of my editing work in .doc, not .docx, format, even nearly 20 years after the .docx format was released. Kinda interesting re: technology obsolescence cycles, maybe especially for technologies that generally fly below our conscious radar screen10 Nov 2025 16:48 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3m5c3abbymc2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/sandstoneviolin.bsky.social/post/3m4btjqerd22uIntroducing the 4th grader to some (recorded) late night talk shows: "Is Stephen Colbert a bear? A cold bear?"28 Oct 2025 21:05 +0000at://did:plc:ygty6cpuw5mvti5chjd47lea/app.bsky.feed.post/3m4btjqerd22u