I have a major issue with these basic language courses and I have to figure out what all goes into it. I will do so in a fragmentary way as I do not have time to sit down and think about it. But this needs a solution. 1. I am afraid to think about them. … More I have an issue, and it is abusiveness again
My colleague says it is a uniquely authoritarian institution in a highly authoritarian culture and region. She compares it to Mexico in the 1820s but after reading an article about Argentine culture under J.M. Rosas as cruel and terrifying I am starting to wonder whether we are really 1840s Argentina. “Just get a book, dear.” … More On why it is difficult for us to feel relatively whole and to get things done in a normal fashion
They love to read, that is why. So they do in fact use it to procrastinate. I would rather write. If I am able to sit down and read, it means I am in the real zone and I am working very well. Every attempt I have ever made to write without reading first has … More On why people think reading is procrastination
…if it has become a space of oppression, one naturally does not wish to enter it. I fear lower division courses and this fear paralyzes me for them and thus for everything. That is why I keep saying, you have to take authority. WAIT, I SEE: the issue is the lack of authority in course … More On fear of starting work
I have just discovered by chance that someone in my main department is using a graded reader I used to use at the sophomore level as the textbook in a senior level survey course. I do see why — it has abridged and modernized versions of the classics. I was using it in the lower … More On how I could make my life easier
1. It assumes your primary goals in life are suburban, and are house-driven rather than field-driven or research-driven. 2. It either assumes you are so interested in your work that you will put up with anything, anything at all, in order to do it, OR that you are in fact not interested in it and … More One more insight about the assumptions in standard academic advice
If you are not from the US you may not realize that people in the US hate unions nowadays, but now they do. Hate unions. You know, those organizations that brought you child labor laws, the 8 hours day, the minimum wage, the weekend, and more? They hate them. They see union members as time … More Why do people hate unions?
I have a committee-type role that ends in summer and that I am fairly sure I will be asked to renew. Remind me to say no despite how interesting the committee is and how educational. There are other interesting and educational activities. I also want to be reminded not to plan the language courses I … More Otro recordatorio
“They do not have your back the way a normal administrator would.” This is the problem, yes. Unlike my interlocutor I am not surprised at this, but I will say that the feeling of instability one has living under caudillos in addition to the fact thereof is truly detrimental to progress. Look at any history … More Quotation of the day
I never thought I could justify having post traumatic stress disorder but now from the outside, after more than twenty years, I can see how it had to be this and how like a war or similar set of disasters the roots of it really were. I had it long before arriving where I live … More Other states, or, an example of why education and research are good for people personally and not just as career training and certification.
