From a Cajun friend: “There is a certain variety of active ignorance that is treated as virtue by white Louisianians. You hear them browbeat each other over their shitty beers at get-togethers, etc.” That’s exactly it. On French vs. Spanish, Spanish is far more cosmopolitan, and French is far more standardized.Spanish has more tenses, more … More The political analysis
I wonder if my exasperation with the non-disabled students who claim to have a personality or “learning style” making it impossible for them to do the work in Spanish 4 has to do with repressed anger at an administration who also claims to be impaired and require indulgence. I mean, they’re encumbered and limited by … More Still on that topic
I seem to see the forces in the university who press to dismantle programs and work against students and faculty as a truly lethal threat. And because they wrap themselves in the Cajun flag and say they are poor oppressed Cajuns trying to support other Cajuns, and play Cajun music, I end up angry at … More So what have we learned?
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
coldhearted scientist وداد 