An e-mail announcement from Sonya Oskolskaya (СА Оскольская) on 10/21:
The Institute for Linguistic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences is pleased to announce the conference “Caritive Constructions in the Languages of the World”, to be held in Saint Petersburg, Russia on April 21–23, 2020.
The conference aims to bring together studies on caritive (a.k.a. abessive or privative) constructions in different languages.
Two pieces of news, from wildly disparate parts of my life, but both with Mormon connections.
First, a gay porn sale from the Lucas studios, from their MormonBoyz.com specialty site: tons of deeply transgressive LDS mansex, framed as daddy-son sex to boot; also with lots of images of men kissing, which I happen to find very satisfying.
Second, the news from Salt Lake City, where the 92nd annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of America is drawing to a close today — an event that brings with it meetings of sister societies, among them the American Dialect Society, sponsor of an annual Word of the Year competition, a kind of public lexicographic circus with voting from the floor. The overall WOTY winner this year, announced on the 5th: fake news, in two different senses. Details on this and the other winners below.
Following on yesterday’s appreciation of artist Calder Zwicky, I was led to check out Zwickys in New York City. There aren’t a great many, at least from the Swiss migrations to America in the 18th through early 20th centuries; Swiss immigrants from those days went first primarily to farm country (some details below), and their descendants (like me, and Calder Zwicky) then moved to seek new lives in urban areas. However, among the Zwickys of New York I did come across sound mixer Chuck Zwicky.
(Some plain talk about male bodies and man-man sex, but nothing extravagant. Use your judgment.)
Yes, I will make a connection, via my guy Jacques Transue: our anniversary is National Coming Out Day, that’s today. Marky Mark will be involved (because sexy underwear), and finger pointing (thanks to Portlandia) and Kyril Bonfiglioli and men’s ties.
… with gusto, always gusto.
In three days, my friend Steven Levine will be 60. On to his diamond years! A homoerotic scruff collage for the occasion:
(#1)
(Assemblage by Robert Cumming for my own 60th birthday, at the turn of this century.)
A recent plaint from Aric Olnes (who is now 51) on Facebook:
Ugh. That moment when a retailer automatically spits out post-transaction coupons for Centrum Silver and laxatives! WTH, fifty is fifty! Sigh. Damn you, Walgreens.
Fifty is a cut-off point (at least in the U.S.) for the seque from middle age (beginning at 40 or 45, depending on who you read) to senior status (entered at 60-65, depending on who you read). There are “50+” organizations of many types, and the AARP takes members beginning at 50 — so it’s clearly not literally an association for retired persons (instead, it provides a kind of anteroom to retirement and true senior status).
It’s two weeks of birthdays, of friends, ending today, with my own: #76, an American patriotic number (1776!) and a nice composite of the really square 4 and the really prime 19.
