coldhearted scientist وداد

Setting the tone for these uneven notes on various forms of subtle and unsubtle abuse and resistance is Morphological Confetti’s fascinating post on the 1741 New York slave rebellion, in which poor whites were co-conspirators.

1. The good news this week, of course, is that Jerry Falwell is dead. The Field Negro has a picture of him going down the chute to that red-hot land.

2. The AAUP has released its report on Louisiana universities’ post-Katrina behavior. Blagueur provides links and discussion. I have not yet discovered what sort of concrete impact the report may or may not have.

3. I have come across a good literature review on emotional abuse at Springtide Resources. A short excerpt: Nicaragua is the only country where emotional abuse is recognized as a crime. It is part of what is referred to as Law 230. The law indicates that acts of violence need not leave physical scars and recognizes psychological damages as well. The literature indicates that psychological damages include anxiousness, inability to sleep and living in fear. [Emphasis added]

4. A third American Catholic man has approached me with the line: Because you are not Catholic, and are therefore not directed by God, you have no reason to refuse my request for an extramarital affair / no strings attached fling / “no strings attached” (for him) long term arrangement. For the third time I retorted that that service is something he would have to buy from someone who is selling, and for the third time, my interlocutor has been very surprised.

I do not know what is going on: I had never been made this sort of proposition before, but in the past six months they have rained upon me. Perhaps it is because I now wear reading glasses, and am expected to lower my standards. I clearly remember the moment in my late twenties when married men started to assume that, not being married yet myself, I was affair material.

In any case, I find this very irritating, because it is so insulting.

5. Meanwhile, speaking of fortyish women having affairs, an apparent pimp-ess has visited this site, probably to pimp her book, of which I disapprove; perhaps some kinder and cooler heads than mine could join this discussion.

6. Finally, I am biting my nails to avoid telling a friend what her estranged husband said to me when I ran into him eight months ago – essentially that he was after her money and would malign her as much as he needed to in order to get it. Now she says he is spreading rumors about her. She does not have a lawyer yet and given what he said to me, I think she needs one. But I do not wish to intrude, upset, or direct, and I do not know whether her husband meant what he said. Still I want to speak, and I would if I knew how to phrase it. Is it ever advisable to speak in these matters, do you think?

7. Post-semester exhaustion hit me yesterday, and it is still hitting. My view of the matter is that I work for an abusive institution, in an abusive atmosphere, in an abusive culture, and we are all expected to treat this as normal, and that is draining. East of the Rockies virtually every interaction, or so it seems to me, is a power struggle. This is the main reason to move westward, where the wind sweeps the high plains with ancient songs and the sun sets in the sea.

Axé.