Jim was born just a few months before J.F.K. was shot and killed. In his own words: “My first day was good and I’ve never looked back. After some early years in France, teen years in Minneapolis, undergraduate and graduate studies at Reed College, Columbia University and UC Berkeley, I landed a steady paycheck at Wellesley College, where I have been Professor of French for years. Besides planting several hundred trees and working to spare traditional lands of the Oneida Indian Nation (where I acknowledge I live) from agrochemicals, I spend my time moving between family and friends, and translating/writing on such writers as Dominique Fourcade, Emmanuel Hocquard, Yves Bonnefoy, André du Bouchet, and Jacques Dupin. Poetry: I write it when it really hurts (all the time) and when it feels good (sometimes). If I could fulfill one dream before I die: translate the complete works of Nathalie Quintane, though the age differential is slightly unfavorable. Epitaph: see above.”