If you haven't seen/heard this excellent interview of Geoff Bertram (by Melanie Nelson) yet, the implications of this bill are even more damning that most of us against it think. https://melanienelson.substack.com/p/geoff-bertram-what-the-regulatory…
I shared insights from research on AI's impact on undergrad creators by my collaborators Greg Nelson and Troy Schotter in an interview with Devin Daigneault for FoxABC Maine about the upcoming #MaineAIconf Friday 13 June.
Calamus 26 We two boys together clinging
This is one of the gayest of the Calamus poems, a fantasy of two men against the world, full of life and ardor. I should be all over this in my gay reading!
Instead I see a darker form of Americanism here. "Power enjoying ... Armed and fearless ... No law less than ourselves". It's classic American individualism fantasy, a repudiation of community and law. Armed, at that.
On top of that I trip over the "North and South" part every time I read this. In 1860 when this was published we were just steps away from a Civil War after 10 years of enormous tension. I don't blame Whitman for wanting unity, his whole program in Leaves of Grass is American unity. All I can think is how there's no moral equivalence between the North and South. But Whitman wasn't an abolitionist and this poem reflects that.
Sorry for not reveling in the gay, maybe it's the ICE and California National Guard news affecting my reading today.
I appreciate the idea that you can respond to tickets really fast, but when it is obvious some sort of LLM is being used to respond and not answering the question asked, it is worse.
I'm looking at you https://clicks.tech
Plex asked me again tonight
I've really been moved by Edward White's death and the tributes to him being written. His books have meant a lot to me as a gay man. I wrote a blog post with more links, many also shared on @…
Calamus 25 The prairie-grass dividing
Whitman's celebration of simple men, of men from "inland America", of those who are unimpressed by Presidents and Governors. It's a romantic sentiment but in 2025 also feels a little naïve or condescending.
But as always I'm here for the gay stuff. Which starts explicitly enough
[I] Demand the most copious and close companionship of men
Well OK then! Me too. Maybe you could read that in a non-sexual way but then Whitman gets lusty
[I demand] Those with a never-quell'd audacity—those with sweet and lusty flesh, clear of taint, choice and chary of its love-power
My goodness, is that hot! At least to start, it's a shame he tames it seeking out men "chary of love-power". At least he recognizes their love power! I'll take the taint, thank you.