“But this is the United States!” is a manner of speaking; things are not supposed to be that way, I know. So one can use that phrase as an exasperated exclamation or, if one is idealistic, as the expression of a goal. Yet some appear to have believed things truly were not that way. Is … More “But this is the United States!”
“It is impossible to do, but it is what you must do to prove you are a minimally worthy person. It also the best/the worst thing in the world to do, but either way, it is the only way to prove you are worthy to live. “After making tenure at a place like Yale or … More Academic advice
These days, it’s hard to recognize that America. The wage stagnation that began in the late ’70s has since bestowed on us the kind of income inequality more typical of a third-world oligarchy. The real minimum wage is less than it was in 1968, and the richest 1 percent of Americans take home nearly 25 … More That America
There is no present or future, only the past, happening over and over again, now. EUGENE O’NEILL, A Moon for the Misbegotten. Axé.
Theme. I finally understand why the academic advisers keep saying to cut corners on teaching: they don’t teach beginning or general education courses, or if they do, they have TAs or at least graders. I know exactly how to do a good job on an upper division or a graduate course without overworking but there … More More fuming at academic advice and about curriculum
1- I wish people would realize how unoriginal this speech is. I wish they would realize that just because they think they are a Latin Lover, I am not entertained by the standard speech. I am bored and pained by it at this point, having heard it to0 many times, from so many over the … More New faculty, and/or their spouses II, or, I am an American Puritan. More on some pesky señoritos
This is what they always say: 1. The United States is terrible because it does not have the right kind of café, because it has more poverty than they expected in a rich country, because it is a world power with oppressive policies. 2. Driving is a terrible imposition, and traumatic. 3. Academia in US … More New faculty, and/or their spouses I
I have been ranting and raving all semester against the idea that we should emphasize that we are working, working, working, that our work is work, and so on. I have been ranting and raving against the idea that we should resent those for whom things look easy. I enjoy the presence of those for … More Postscript on “Golden Boys”
When I took my PhD exam I was concerned about passing so I gave it all I had. The committee was impressed, saying they had known I was competent but not that I was good, because I had always been so noncommittal about everything. That, of course, was because I had always been told it … More On not committing
As we know, if I watched television and went to church then I would understand the culture I live in and I would be better equipped to defend myself against it. Now I have discovered by chance another element in the education of our Reeducators: See, we were raised on 1980s movies and sitcoms, and … More Sources of Reeducation
coldhearted scientist وداد 