I had a consultation with a writing coach recently because I recently wrote myself into an impasse and needed help. I published this person’s work many years ago, and while I don’t know her well as a person, I see that she has skills and sense, and this is what I wanted, especially from someone… Continue reading Writing as Gift
Month: October 2023
When Dragons Show Themselves
I finally managed to formulate my thoughts on translation as a practice in a more coherent and systematic fashion. It only took about eighteen years. The first idea came out in a Poroi essay published in 2005 after a conference at the University of Iowa on empathy. It seems to have been viewed 540 times… Continue reading When Dragons Show Themselves
Pop Quizzes and Ordering Quizzes
This semester’s Introduction to Russian Culture is smaller by choice than the last several years, as we did not have a graduate student who could teach it with me. So I lowered the cap to 40 (from the usual 60) and have been teaching it solo. This, I admit, is easier from the standpoint of… Continue reading Pop Quizzes and Ordering Quizzes
September Light
Very cool to see the places of the plays when I release a new song on SoundCloud, as the algorithms do their work. “September Light” is a new 3-minute piece I released a couple of days ago, inspired by the sharp but fragile, delicate light in the Northern Hemisphere at the end of September, which… Continue reading September Light
Russell Scott Valentino 