“Hell has a gate with an inscription on it and everything, it’s famous” […] –Arthur Chu, Twitter, October 25, 2018
Tweeting with Dante (2018)
On January 1, 2018, Pablo Maurette tweeted an invitation to a “massive, open, simultaneous reading” of the Divine Comedy, one canto each day, for the beginning of the year 2018. #Dante2018 sparked a viral phenomenon, in which readers across Latin America posted quotes, images, photos, reflections, and other comments on their reading as they kept up with the canto-per-day challenge.
See the tweets at #dante2018.
See also this article in La Stampa about the phenomenon, especially in Latin America and with Spanish speakers (in Italian).
And see Jorge Carrión’s reflections on the viral phenomenon in the NYTimes Spanish edition (essay in Spanish).
The Tenth Circle: Bedtime
“Bedtime – the hour that we spend all day counting down to. The curtain call to our kids’ shitty antics and incessant demands, so we can finally pour ourselves a drink and peruse Netflix for that perfect movie or show to serve as background noise while we scroll Facebook and fall asleep on the couch. Except bedtime is almost never the time we parents have chosen for bed. Oh, no. Kids are determined to not go gentle into that good night and to rage against the dying of the light.
“While most just flip their kids the bird under their throw blanket when little Jimmy comes stomping down the stairs for another goddamned glass of water, funny parents on Twitter are tweeting what we’re all thinking.
I like when someone else puts my kid to bed because then their night is ruined instead of mine.
— Lauren Mullen (@DraggingFeeties) April 14, 2017
I tucked my kids in last night and said, "See you in the morning!" and then we laughed and laughed. Saw them 16 more times before sunrise.
— Ash (an female) ⚪️ (@adult_mom) March 9, 2016
“Twitter parents know. Twitter parents understand. Twitter parents are also losing their effing minds one failed bedtime routine after another.” –Serena Dorman, Sammiches & Psych Meds, 2017.
You can check out all twenty-two tweets here.
Stilnovo e Oulipo
“Come avrebbe reagito Dante Alighieri davanti all’Oulipo? Scopriamolo su Betwyll con #Stilnovo a settembre, preparandoci alla mostra ‘Il volto di Dante, per una traduzione contemporanea.’ […]
“Giocheremo a #Stilnovo sperimentando un approccio diverso, oltre al consueto: ogni giorno leggeremo e commenteremo una parte della poesia seguendo una delle regole elaborate dall’Oulipo e messe in pratica da Raymond Queneau nei suoi Esercizi di stile. Ogni giorno, i partecipanti potranno perciò trascurare nei loro tweet e twyll l’uso di particolari lettere (lipogramma), oppure riscrivere la strofa al passato remoto, o ancora commentarne il contenuto con un tweet formale e burocratico, facendo paragoni gastronomici o cromatici.”
Brussels as a “hellhole” (according to Donald Trump)
[…] “Now Donald J. Trump has upset the already beleaguered people of Belgium, calling its capital, Brussels, ‘a hellhole.’ ” […]
“A Twitter user using the name Berlaymonster (Berlaymont is the headquarters complex of the European Commission in Brussels) posted what appeared to be a modified version of the Wikipedia entry for Dante’s “Inferno.” The list of chapters showed Limbo, Lust and Gluttony. The fourth chapter? Brussels.” […] —Dan Bilefsky and Claire Barthelemy, The New York Times, January 27, 2016
Berlaymonster, Twitter, January 27, 2016
some of the comments to the tweet: