Monica Vale

Spoiler alert: I don’t use AI in my writing, and the more and more I hear about the effects of AI, the less and less desire I have to use it under any circumstances. 🧵

So thrilled to hear that Anne Carson got the Nobel Prize in Literature!! Her translations have been life changing for me and I refer back to them often. I love her work. Congrats, Anne! <3

I now log into Bsky maybe once or twice a week and looking at the Trending is exhausting. KKK converse ad? Sounds about 2026 honestly.

Ugh yesterday Dolly, today Tim Curry? Noooo :(

Pomodoro style livestream tomorrow (8/20/26) at 5pm CST! I'll be spending the time getting some reading and research done. If you have some things to mark off your to-do list, feel free to join!

At one point, the book, Yesteryear, says something about twisting something repulsive or sick into a delicacy and that is how I’d describe the book. Sick, but you can’t help but consume it. Devour it. A very interesting read..

Given the amount of Telemachus/Antinous art I've seen on my feed, it appears it’s actually Robert Pattinson whose face launched a thousand (online) ships.

This is the ONLY Blanche I recognize.

I saw “Kit Conner cast as Cyclops” trending and my brain is still in Odyssey mode and I genuinely thought for a second that another Odyssey adaptation had been announced

A part of England has the chance to do something absolutely hilarious today. Go, Count Binface!

I’ve never looked at a Michigan Map so intently before today, and I’ve never noticed how many lake islands there are in that state. Nothing like an election to get a better sense of a state’s geography 🤪

Hooray, my state actually doing something good. Too bad that the politicians that put shit like this on the ballot keep getting elected… Missouri keeps electing progressive policies but anti progressive politicians—it’s infuriating.

Seems like an appropriate way to wrap up a wild week in classics is an Onion article about ✨the discourse✨

I read Discontent by Beatriz Serrano in one afternoon. I really enjoyed this book, and may identify with this protagonist than I’d like to admit. 😅 It truly put to words the existential dread of having to work in a capitalist world with such snark. I definitely recommend! #booksky

Boy do I have a deal for this guy.

Robert Pattinson's Antinous is definitely one of the best parts of the movie The Odyssey. I'll be the annoying friend in the group chat using this GIF to death:

"I have learned that you get a lot more out of classics if you allow it to be a disruptive challenge to self-serving modern certainties, rather than turn it into an untouchable ancestor in whose shadow you should count yourself lucky to sit." Seems poignant to remember as folks watch The Odyssey.💙📚

Another great thread from a translator of The Odyssey, this time on the cover which features the “Ladies in Blue” fresco from Crete.

The belly-aching, whining shade of Homer's Agamemnon in the Odyssey thanks Nolan for his service to revamp his cool factor:

🚨Get HADES II for 30% off, and the original HADES for 70% off, now till next week on Steam!🌖 Now's a great time to battle beyond the Underworld and get to know that Odysseus guy everybody's been talking about, plus dozens more from Greek myth.⛵️ Links in the replies⤵️

My mom died two weeks ago, and while I'm not ready to get into *all* the ways that impacts me, I DID want to briefly talk about how I wasn't anticipating how damn *exhausting* the grief process is, at least for me. I'm feeling it accurately as the beginning of a new week is here, yet again.

Finishing this weekend by continuing “Son of Nobody” by Yann Martel—which I’m enjoying immensely. It’s one thing for a novelist to retell a Greek epic, but another thing to create their OWN epic *and* tell the story of the translator at the same time. #booksky #currentlyreading