They hired three people and gave us difficult circumstances. Soon our question each day was this: what will we find we have done, in the normal course of doing our jobs and also attempting to create conditions in which our jobs can even be done as specified, that will turn out to have offended the … More On why obedience was survival
…and part of why I used to start shaking when my building on campus came into view. Scene: Today, my office with me behind schedule, coming from meetings, getting ready for class, not finished grading, trying to make some executive decisions on how, exactly, to handle the six hours of classes I was about to … More This is the kind of low-level drama I so dislike
You have to obey, obey, obey, do exactly as you are told, because we know the method and we also know the culture and we are sure that only if you obey, obey, obey, will you not be tossed out in the street. The idea was always to learn to obey better, and if you … More Coda on obedience
I am having more realizations than I have time to explain but I will note them so I do not forget. 4. On making it fun by taking authority and making it work for you. Anything that seems like drudgery has to be reformed, and if you are stuck on your project, there is something … More Insights Four to Seven
I never got comfortable teaching certain kinds of classes for the same kind of reason as some people, on purpose, do not learn to type: they do not want it to be their destiny. It would be easier if I got comfortable anyway. How to do this is the question, how to make the person … More Insight Three
Large projects are slightly frightening and to do them, or start them, you have to have authority in them. It is all very well to say, break them into small parts, but if you have renounced authority in these projects then you cannot begin. It is not a question of procrastination but of authority (and … More Insight Two
I remember discussing difficulties managing work days with another new assistant professor who had observed professors more closely than I had. He said: “Your problem is that you are not hiding enough.” At the time I did not think this was a comprehensive enough answer and I did not fully understand it. But it has … More “You are not hiding enough.”
Another reason people think they cannot work in small pieces of time is that they do not see research as something you can relax with in a casual way. I used to do it in a relaxed way, most of the time, but then later I started to do it as relaxation. It was the … More Another revolutionary statement: on research as relaxation
I have to, now that I am in that writing group. The goal is to actually put as much time into it as my contract stipulates, namely 30% of 60 hours or 18 hours per week. This, of course, can be reduced in some weeks since the consideration is that it is a 40 week … More On putting research first
I will eventually stop reacting to this piece, but not until I have said all I have to say about it. I have been listening to this advice since the first time I heard the Emeritus Professor give it to a student. I was still in elementary school then, so it was a long time … More On senses of place
coldhearted scientist وداد 