Sam Spinner

After 140 years, MLN will have a regular issue devoted to Yiddish, Hebrew, and other Jewish languages. I don’t know about you, but I’m excited! Please help us get the word out and please send me your work.

What's the title of that Borges story about the professor whose Zotero library has more topic folders than files?

I’m curious about the meeting at Google Maps where they decided to go all in on vocal fry.

I'm looking forward to learning some Yiddish with @mlnjournal.bsky.social's new Yiddish & Hebrew issue (edited by @samspinner.bsky.social and launching in January). I'm already getting emails like this from authors 🙂 One of the best parts of my job-- constant contact with many languages!

Homer was a chant bot whose epic language model was built from the uncredited work of thousands of bards.

Horses getting in to their Ram, Assateague Island.

Maybe the traffic signs should be in horse?

The beach read for our times: “Pride and Prejudice and Machine Learning”

Johns Hopkins doctor recommends eating more Yiddish literature.

How do I get my computer to notify me when there are NO new messages?

www.nytimes.com/2026/07/09/s... "Buchmendel" #1 was by Stefan Zweig. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchmen...

Scholars of Jewish literature, thought, and culture: Please share and consider submitting to our inaugural Yiddish & Hebrew issue edited by @samspinner.bsky.social

Extended deadline! Please share with scholars writing about Jewish literature, thought, and culture. This inaugural issue will be edited by @samspinner.bsky.social

Congratulations! Fabulous news.

Scholars of Jewish languages and literatures: You still have time to submit to our inaugural Yiddish & Hebrew issue edited by @samspinner.bsky.social

Happy sesquicentennial! Can’t wait to see what the next 150 years bring.

Here's my new blog post about Jewish dance cards and a recent UCL bicentennial event where we learned Edwardian ballroom dances from a Jewish dance card in @uclhjslibrary.bsky.social to the same tunes that were performed in 1909. #UCL200 In partnership with @uclhjs.bsky.social and the UCL IJS.

I’m teaching in 15 minutes. Frantically working on an updated lesson plan.

Can’t let snow get in the way of skiing.

When’s the slow-skating competition coming on?

Anyone can win a silver medal. You just have to come in second.

One of several articles in our new issue that feel especially timely. Through an analysis of literary texts, Barnwell looks at how information is recorded, represented, and trusted (or not).

Apparently the answer to more artificial intelligence is less natural intelligence.

Looking forward to tomorrow's 'Come Fill Your Dance Fill Your Dance Card'. Hosted by @uclhjslibrary.bsky.social, @uclhjs.bsky.social and the IJS. We're all booked up, but you can sign up for the waitlist (or let us know if you'd like a similar future event). www.tickettailor.com/events/uclin....

Yiddish was spoken by 5 million of the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Yiddish is an absolutely crucial language for Holocaust research. This Holocaust Memorial Day, you can support Yiddish at universities facing cuts to the Humanities, including UCL. 🧵 1/4

I like how AI is totally ambivalent about being right. Here we go from the right answer directly to spectacularly wrong answers.

Do you teach/research gender/sexuality w/ German sources? Have you had access issues or needed to translate sources yourself bc English versions don’t exist? Fill in this survey (by 2/15) to identify core texts for an anthology of translations in scientific & literary sexology between 1890 & 1930.

Merry Christmas! Roland Clark's incisive interview of my new book juts dropped. Perfect listening fodder for your digestive run, neat 32 min: newbooksnetwork.com/people-witho...