Iansã

Benjamin Matveevich

24/09/2016

That is the first name and patronymic of my great-great grandfather, the immigrant. His dissertation director was Alexander von Humboldt. Axé.

I love theory yet do not understand structuralism, semiotics, poststructuralism or Lacan in any adequate way. (Literary studies are said to have been ruined by “theory” but it was theory that attracted me to them.) I wish I understood suture, as I know it is important in all the texts that interest me. Where is … More Suture

Des articles, des livres

21/09/2016

Rereading the literate Andean past. Then, Manigot on Haiti: Library shelves sag under the weight of books on Haiti, old and new. Many were written by Haitians in the nineteenth century. They are exceptional studies challenging racism, but they also probe and dissect with honesty and candor the causes of Haiti’s repeated failures at sustained … More Des articles, des livres

Synopsis of Postman, “The end of education”

21/09/2016

The “school problem” has two dimensions, as he sees it. One is the engineering aspect: the means by which young people acquire an education. The other is the metaphysical aspect: the underlying purpose or mission — the “end” — of education. Postman believes that the debate over the future of America’s schools focuses too much … More Synopsis of Postman, “The end of education”

Postman on the intellectual vacuum in which a Trump arises

20/09/2016

But television is a speed-of-light medium, a present-centered medium. Its grammar, so to say, permits no access to the past. Everything presented in moving pictures is experienced as happening “now,” which is why we must be told in language that a videotape we are seeing was made months before. Moreover, like its forefather, the telegraph, … More Postman on the intellectual vacuum in which a Trump arises

I will write this

19/09/2016

I have been thinking hard about what to do with all my prison material and knowledge and realized, I am not really in a position to increase activism in a truly meaningful way, and/but I should write a series of Atlantic-type (perhaps) articles on what I know. I never feel I know a great deal … More I will write this

No es fácil

17/09/2016

I want to say that for 25 years I have been visiting a death row prisoner in Louisiana. This started as an offshoot of some activism — it was never my intention to become sole emotional support for a condemned man — but it has happened. It has been pointed out to me that my … More No es fácil

Quiere y no quiere su color

14/09/2016

Quiere y no quiere su color mi pecho, por cuyas bruscas vías voy, lloro con palo, trato de ser feliz, lloro en mi mano, recuerdo, escribo y remacho una lágrima en mi pómulo. Quiere su rojo el mal, el bien su rojo enrojecido por el hacha suspensa, por el trote del ala a pie volando, … More Quiere y no quiere su color

The week, the week

11/09/2016

Syllabus revisions, website revisions, e-gradebook grading, grading in general, course planning, and maintenance of gradebooks are now constant. Tuesday write on site is a constant. Two bureaucratic documents are left to be done, and more regular writing on That Article needs to be done. There is now also a bureaucratic question to be asked, and … More The week, the week