I keep insisting, and I am sure I am right, that you in fact learned how to do academic work if you have a degree from anything like a reputable institution, and that you got it from the program itself. Where else do you get advice? This is the submerged question, since much of the … More Coda on advice and its sources I
The right to desire to aspire to feel inspired is a human right I am surely the first to articulate, but that I have not invented since it is eternal. These are the main pieces of academic advice I have received: – Do not think you will get a job – Obey to get tenure – … More Coda on the right to desire to aspire to feel inspired
Pace the dolce far niente and Paul Lafargue (who, as I have just learned, was born in wealth on a coffee plantation in Santiago de Cuba) we will ask the question: do you think anyone has the right to desire or to aspire to inspiring work? Or, should people simply be grateful for “the opportunity to … More And another public opinion poll
Z: Did you enjoy Madison? Person from Houston: Yes, but it was really hard. Z: How so? Is it really as cutthroat as one sometimes hears? Person from Houston: No. It was that I had to learn how not to defer to men. You are not expected to do that there, and doing it does … More Another dialogue, another fact
Person: This is like being in Mexico in the 1820s. Z (laughs): Perhaps it is really about 1830 (if this is Mexico). There has been a post-Independence civil struggle. Only the winning leaders were not killed. Of the peons and civilians, I am the only one left standing, although I am wounded. All the other … More A dialogue, and one fact
This went medium well. I am glad I was as prepared as I was, down to the last drop. What I want to say is that as I train myself to be as obsequious as is considered meet, I train myself out of the authority to finish any writing project, too. I first noticed this … More Event, part 1
My accomplishments for today include seeing that I must move myself from the space of conquered person to the space of equal. The first step up was prisoner of war, as opposed to conquered person. Then I thought, what about free soldier from the other side. Then I thought I might go the whole way, … More Review session
“Qui vous donne envie de vivre, qui donne envie de la suivre, jusqu’au bout, juqu’au bout.” I am looking for a Moustaki song from the same era which ends, but does not begin in Greek. It is a happy song, not a solemn song. If you know it, I want it. Axé.
ALGUIEN, 1888-1973 She paid for us to go to college, not having been able herself. She says of her parents: They were both very good people who brought out what was most futile in the other, which is quite a tragic situation. If you have a good person and a bad person, that is one … More Des femmes
“Sandinista” is the word they used to use here for people who wanted progress and disagreed with the old President. One could not afford to voice such disagreement but “Sandinistas” could be identified if one looked closely. They would flash covert signs of comprehension. As you will remember, sandinistas were clandestine. I learned from the … More “Sandinista”
coldhearted scientist وداد 