I can already tell what my report will be, I did nothing all week but grade furiously, work for courses that bring memories I would rather not have. I did figure out how, for the first time ever, to give a seminar next fall that will both fit departmental needs AND student interests AND my … More That Writing Group, Again
The other post would be a description of a workplace dominated by lower classmen terrified and resentful about the language requirement, new assistant professors concerned about research and teaching evaluations, and serious about the language program and worried about tenure, and instructors and adjuncts resentful that there were any assistant professors at all and who … More Et encore
I should have a flyer placed surreptitiously under everyone’s door saying “Don’t fret — organize,” but I will have a sticker made to put on student compositions and it will say: DON’T TRANSLATE, COMPOSE! Axé.
I do not have time to say why these population groups are also to be criticized much more than they are already but I owe you posts of vitriol against adjuncts, student affairs officers, counselors, and psychotherapists, especially in our region, and I will give one anecdote to explain why: My student was recruited by … More And now: against adjuncts, and against counselors and student affairs officers as well
I really have spent years in frozen silence over these and similar non-issues, unable to think entirely clearly because I had been essentially hit over the head. With every new indiscretion about this I improve, so this weblog will be very outrageous for at least the rest of this week. My trauma here at Vichy … More Why I spend so much time trying to recover from the brain injury it is to deal with too many really immature, manipulative, and irresponsible people.
They hired three people and gave us difficult circumstances. Soon our question each day was this: what will we find we have done, in the normal course of doing our jobs and also attempting to create conditions in which our jobs can even be done as specified, that will turn out to have offended the … More On why obedience was survival
…and part of why I used to start shaking when my building on campus came into view. Scene: Today, my office with me behind schedule, coming from meetings, getting ready for class, not finished grading, trying to make some executive decisions on how, exactly, to handle the six hours of classes I was about to … More This is the kind of low-level drama I so dislike
You have to obey, obey, obey, do exactly as you are told, because we know the method and we also know the culture and we are sure that only if you obey, obey, obey, will you not be tossed out in the street. The idea was always to learn to obey better, and if you … More Coda on obedience
I am having more realizations than I have time to explain but I will note them so I do not forget. 4. On making it fun by taking authority and making it work for you. Anything that seems like drudgery has to be reformed, and if you are stuck on your project, there is something … More Insights Four to Seven
I never got comfortable teaching certain kinds of classes for the same kind of reason as some people, on purpose, do not learn to type: they do not want it to be their destiny. It would be easier if I got comfortable anyway. How to do this is the question, how to make the person … More Insight Three
coldhearted scientist وداد 