Before living here I wouldn’t have said stealing was the essence of Cajun culture, but they have done everything they could to convince me that that is exactly what it is; they just use tourist paraphernalia to mask their wickedness. And the worst thing I ever heard at UL was a Cajun professor justifying hiring … More Inflammatory but secretly accurate
Are the differences between Cajuns and other white Southerners actually so great? We know the atmosphere and vibration are different, and we can cite Catholicism, Tabasco sauce, French roots, accordions, and so on as specific signs of cajunisme. But in terms of the grievances they cite, don’t others have them? They lost their land and … More And
I wondered for years what my chair meant when he would insist I was oppressing the instructors. They were licensed to harass me, but I wasn’t doing anything to them except support them academically in every way I could, as he had asked me to do. Still, I kept hearing that I was oppressing them, … More Also
It’s my birthday! For my birthday, I will try to act henceforth as though I loved myself. It’s a very good project. What would it feel like to refuse to engage in arguments with others over my being and my right to exist? What would it feel like if I were immune to claims that … More December 24
I should stop tearing myself apart over this, I would like to be immune from it, but it feels as though I need to understand it so I can get it out of me. There is a fine line between thinking too much and thinking enough, I know. I don’t want to nurse resentment the … More Et encore
I am looking for fellowships for certain classes of students, in particularly non-US graduate students at US institutions. One for fieldwork in a third country (i.e. fieldwork they couldn’t just do while home on school breaks, let’s say they’re from Japan and are doing a U.S. PhD in Latin American Studies). One for work in … More Fellowships
I would love to say to tourists: Aspects of the Cajun adoration to which I object include the fleur-de-lys and the nostalgia for empire, along with the desire to parlay that into becoming kings in a new, corporate empire. If you want credit for being a poor peasant and you’ve decided to become a king’s … More Further sacrilege
I am not going out on any limb for any student of any kind, ever again. They can be abused, stalked, whatever, by other faculty and I will not stand up for them. The reason is that every person I have ever really stood up for, and sacrificed for (because the system does abuse you … More In which I have had it
90-100: good grammar, good content80: has the required length and has both content and a concept of grammar60: you appear to have read, and you are writing, but only a little and with many errors50: you appear to have read, but you are not able to write in a way someone who didn’t speak English … More Those cheating grades
They’re either dogeared, or I’m not going to read them, and if I can stand to get rid of them, they must go. Ghattas, Black waveHemingway, For whom the bell tollsLunn, Marxism & ModernismMudimbe, The surreptitious speechTatum, Assimilation blues—, Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria? Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 