Tonight I went to class, the studio class I take in the art department, and told the professor for the second week in a row that I was too tired to start a new project, but could only revise old projects, because I was teaching five classes and doing administrative work and had a research … More “You should not be able…”
Hard is the picky work of keeping up with all your (required) course websites, all your e-mail, all your files, all the files and folders in different formats on the computers of which you will likely have more than one. That is true drudgery and when people say research and writing are the hardest things … More Other Hard Work, and Class Resentment from Me
I am starting to get punchy on this topic of difficulty and I declare that plenty of things are actually better hard – the table at which I write, for example. I think people who cannot handle difficulty should just hang it up. The hardest thing for me about academic jobs is listening to the … More Comme c’est dur, cher
I am about to put in 15 minutes each on four or five projects, each of which in fact deserve several hours. 15 minutes each is what I have for them today, so I will put in the 15 minutes so as to have started. It is my distinct impression that doing the 15 minutes … More On Cutting Corners
I think the easiest part of our jobs is teaching upper division and graduate courses. But that is only easy if you have a good research background and are engaged in research. Research and writing, and this kind of teaching are not hard. They do take specialized knowledge and advanced skills but that is a … More And it’s hard, and it’s hard, and it’s hard…
My grant is finally in for internal review, yes! We are asking for $175,000 over two years and our institutional match is very large, so we are shaking it and breaking it, as it is said. Now they will read it and then we will revise it; on 25 October it goes to the state, … More Governor Jimmie Davis
I woke up this morning with the answer: the reason I so resent people insisting that research and writing are so hard is that they are bent upon converting creative and intellectual work into drudgery. There are already enough truly tedious tasks in the world and in our jobs, and enough tedious aspects to manuscript … More Ecco
Who is really served by the earnest insistence that we continue trying to prove that what we do is work? It is a losing battle if it cannot be won in a routine, bureaucratic way, so why worry about it? The people who envy the job and the workers will continue to do so, and … More Rubén Darío
I am going to win $175K and with it I will buy, inter alia, the Menéndez Pidal history of Spain. The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs knows it and is kissing me with this kind of piropo. Axé.
That was the title of a famous essay by George Steiner on a rather different topic but I am talking about things in school that are hard in terms of work, grades, publishing, and so on. When I was an undergraduate, the scientists thought the humanities were “easy” for two reasons, one real and one … More On Difficulty
coldhearted scientist وداد 