This post is not going up in order, because as soon as I write it I am going to press “publish.” So chronologically it follows three posts that are still coming up and which were in fact written before it. However I am putting it up now to announce now an important and irrevocable policy … More Post Out of Place
A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is brilliant, and better than the play or the movie. Williams’ introduction (included in the Signet edition, the one I read, and surely in at least some others) really is essential reading for any writer. * R means rage, resentment, regret, resistance, and of course Reeducation. Today my … More Reading for Pleasure Wednesday: Tennessee Williams
I In Reeducation, when I requested that we take a more realistic and less destructive approach, I pointed out with rhetorical intention that if we continued on our current path, I would need psychotropic drugs. I was finding it difficult to inflict as much pain upon myself as Reeducation required, and had I been capable … More Spa
2 Samuel 18:33 is the relevant text. The images in the video become secular from 1:30 forward. The song is truly beautiful, and the video is very well worth watching all the way through. * From today forward there are five things I shall not ask myself to do again, as they are too painful … More Absalon Fili Mi
…I just cannot stand alcoholic rants, or people who present convoluted reasons why I should manage them. I attempted to manage one some hours ago and I am well aware that I am throwing it right back, and that in that sense I am mimicking it. But I am outright allergic. These rants, and their … More Ello es que…
Dear visiting colleague, I place you far above my head and if you ask me for a letter I will pour out my brain. I so wish we could recruit or retain you or any people so sane and active as yourself. –Yours very truly, PZ. Dear former colleague, if we could cover expenses and … More Letters One Might Write
ELLE I think one of my students is on drugs. It is the only thing that would explain her erratic behavior and the mysterious reasons given for it. I recognize her behavior because I had mysterious problems too — mysterious because I did not understand them or their cause — as a result of my … More On Abuse and Addiction
Heresy In my experience the decorous things to say are that teaching is fun, writing is work, publishing is difficult, service is boring, and administration is oppressive. I was always warned to say I was not interested in teaching, because women who taught would never be taken seriously as researchers. In my actual experience it … More A Second Heretical Post, a Story, and a Question
1. Here is one Norman Savage’s comment, written today, on a recent post here: Since Google cannot discern the wheat from the chaff, one of your pieces landed in my email alerts. I’m an old fuck, been around writing, reading and publishing for a very long time, but your piece, your writing, your bullshit, is … More All My Detractors
Have you seen all my glorious recent posts? Today I have been derailed and I feel as I often do after a day on campus — except that I have not been on campus. It had to do with arguing about whether or not I should negotiate. WHITEMAN TWO I said, I have realized that … More A Drinking Whiteman
