MIND AND MATTER This is Mark Griffith. I had a class from him in translation as an undergraduate and then later, in graduate school, a reading class on Horace. He is a good professor but what makes him unique in my life is that he was the only person, student or professor, who without need … More On academia and cultural exceptionalism
A national magazine is taking my piece. Certain local officials did not know who they were dealing with at all, at all, and I am not finished yet. Axé.
I have to work on my NEH Letter of Intent this week. I am saying this because when I shut this computer down I will have to close the document, I am likely to forget about it. I have to remember IILI and LASA deadlines as well. Here is a lesson in logic by the … More La semaine
Warning! For the past four years I have not been invited to vote on tenure, fourth year review, or hiring. I am not the only one and I had decided not to take it personally. When I am on these committees they tend to vote my way, not because I have the power to force … More Symptoms of neoliberalization and complicity
It is not a great film but I liked it, perhaps because it was cathartic; that summer was traumatic for Nick Carraway and really, trauma and interpretation are the topics of this journalistic article I have been writing. I want to publish its two versions and a follow-up partly as revenge or payback for academic … More The Great Gatsby
Time time time: to some extent it is true, one is as harried as one wants to be. My overwhelmed friend teaches community college, 15 hours of class a week, 3 courses 5 days a week, plus meetings, office hours, planning, grading, and the exhaustion of working in a turbulent institution. That is of course plenty … More Fugue states
In 1869, Nietzsche was appointed professor of classical philology at Basel University. Like most junior faculty, he was bedeviled by meager wages and bore major responsibilities, such as teaching fourteen hours a week, Monday through Friday, beginning at 7 am. He also sat on multiple committees and covered for senior colleagues who couldn’t make their classes. … More Nietzche on the tenure track
This post is a footnote to the Spanish Professor’s excellent discussion of the case of Rebecca Schuman, who has taken a certain amount of abuse lately and of whose situation I am now somewhat better apprised than I have been. I have a few non-Power points to make. 1. Schuman is in German. Do you … More Rebecca Schuman
These shoes are the Merrell Evera Shift and they are heels for biking. I do not need them but I have decided I should indulge my shoe obsession at the planning level as much as possible. I am still learning what I can wear, so this is not a fetishism, it is research. One thing … More Le soleil
…and it is the last time, since I am not giving anyone the benefit of the doubt again. One keeps hearing about how assistant professors are mistreated but what about the one I got the job for, and got housing for, and who then, in his first year at the university, left said housing crawling … More In which I am exploited or mistreated by a clueless assistant professor
coldhearted scientist وداد 