Professor Zero, Redefined
18/05/2010
–Should faculty be included as stakeholders in decisions about content for their courses?– I was asked. In the past, we would have had the collective power to laugh at such things. Axé.
Category: Banes
A Chilling Translation
12/05/2010
Summer has arrived here. I can tell because spring clothing has stopped being functional. I do not really like air conditioning, but I use it. Following on a comment by Hattie I had a thought: is the meaning of the sentence “Do not focus on your work, take care of yourself” actually “Do not focus … More A Chilling Translation
Reviewing Reeducation
08/05/2010
I dislike invasion very intensely, yet I am easily invaded. This became evident in the third grade when I could not handle a classroom bully. My mother realized it was destructive and asked whether I would prefer to home school for the rest of the year. I said yes and experienced a great sense of … More Reviewing Reeducation
Vendredi Noir
30/04/2010
Today a major oil slick from the Macondo Prospect will probably make landfall below New Orleans. You do not know it, but I am not really a professor — I am a landman from Pointe Coupée. I have worked in various branches of the oil and gas industry and my clients have included Halliburton, Enron, … More Vendredi Noir
Dat Whiteman
29/04/2010
The counselor told the student that he had made the choice to join the National Guard and now had to “take responsibility” for the loss of his leg. What do you want to bet that earlier on, a similarly trained counselor told the student it was his patriotic duty to join the National Guard so … More Dat Whiteman
An Academic Wednesday: Was Your Graduate Program Bad For Your Health?
28/04/2010
In graduate school, we were once visited by a former co-T.A. who was now faculty elsewhere. She said, “Enjoy these days — they are the best of your lives!” I took this comment as the sort of formulaic thing Old Bambis have to say to Young Bambis, and left it at that. Many years later, … More An Academic Wednesday: Was Your Graduate Program Bad For Your Health?
Academic Mondays: Des Autodidactes
26/04/2010
How often do autodidacts appear as literary characters? How are they portrayed? Why do they fascinate? When are autodidacts liberated and liberating, and when are they impostors? How can you tell an impostor from a harbinger of new ideas? How do I, not an autodidact, explain to an autodidact who could be a harbinger of … More Academic Mondays: Des Autodidactes
Singing at Work Wednesday: Take This Hammer
21/04/2010
“Take this hammer / carry it to the captain / tell him I’m a-gone. / If he ask you / was I runnin / tell him I’s a-flyin’. / I don’t want no / bread and ‘lasses / It hurts my pride. / If he ask you / was I laughin / tell him I’s … More Singing at Work Wednesday: Take This Hammer
Distress Alert
19/04/2010
…Eye, nose, and throat irritation; headaches, loss of coordination, nausea… I can do outdoor painting with no trouble, but the oily sealant I finally found to put on the porch caused an allergic reaction costing $111 and a few bad days, as we know. Then, in a moment of madness, I started painting the kitchen, … More Distress Alert
Blackguard: “She Does What Her Cunt Hairs Dictate”
18/04/2010
I am now asked not to try to change peoples’ ways of communicating and I wonder what this directive means or to what event it refers. Last year that Blackguard informed me that one of our colleagues was too old and ugly to be raped, but that I was not yet. I said, I beg … More Blackguard: “She Does What Her Cunt Hairs Dictate”
