Month: December 2007

Barbara Lee

21/12/2007

Observe OneVoicePAC. It is excellent. Then in that spirit support the people of New Orleans. Then read Momo on the triumph of the corporate university and feel your blood run cold. Axé.

More Outsourcing

20/12/2007

From 02138: Because, in any number of academic offices at Harvard, the relationship between “author” and researcher(s) is a distinctly gray area. A young economics professor hires seven researchers, none yet in graduate school, several of them pulling 70-hour work-weeks; historians farm out their research to teams of graduate students, who prepare meticulously written memos … More More Outsourcing

Robert Jay Lifton

19/12/2007

Here is a small excerpt from one chapter of a book by Robert Jay Lifton. The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the thought-terminating cliché. The most far-reaching and complex of human problems are compressed into brief, highly reductive, definitive-sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed. These become the start and finish of … More Robert Jay Lifton

Amazing

18/12/2007

You may not be able to tell because I wrote my posts ahead of time, but I am in California. I have been here for several days and I will be here for several more days. What I have to say on this location is: 1. It is its own country, entirely different from anywhere … More Amazing

In Which I Am Ginger

18/12/2007

I scored 100% intoxication, 75% hotness, 50% complexity, and 50% craziness! “You are Ginger! You’re sweet and spicy. You’ve got an exotic flair, sexy even. People sometimes use you for interesting purposes. Once you let your guard down, you’re quite juicy and very good for people. Some claim that you’re medicinal. Break me off a … More In Which I Am Ginger

Cibeles

17/12/2007

My favorite ancient deity is the Anatolian creator goddess Kybele. She is also said to have been the spouse of the Titan Chronos and progenitress of the Olympian gods. Her celebrants are the Korybantes. Her crown has the form of a wall, and she is accompanied by lions. Here is Kybele in her fountain in … More Cibeles

Leni Reifenstahl

16/12/2007

I  Today’s featured post, on the caste system in India, is by Ridwan. I recommend it and its fascinating videos. I have also seen, out of professional “deformation” as we say, the film of Love in the Time of Cholera. I do not recommend it. It is weak and I feel somewhat polluted by it. … More Leni Reifenstahl

On the Right to Opine

15/12/2007

I Here is the First Amendment to the United States Constitution: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of … More On the Right to Opine

Trilce XIX

14/12/2007

I am closing in on final grades for my very last class. The music for this is by Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, and other stars. For it we thank the Azgoddess. You should really click on the link. Being nearly finished with grades is so inspiring, I can almost recite a Christmas poem: A … More Trilce XIX

Et encore…

13/12/2007

As the assiduous reader will know, a great deal of my intellectual, emotional and creative energy is spent on two  activities: irrigating a desert and understanding what follows here. Notes 1. Abused people are under the illusion that if they learn to obey more perfectly, accept abnegation more completely, the pain will stop. 1.1. If … More Et encore…