Postscript on Time

So it seems that what people are eternally learning is that you do not need large blocs of time in which to do work, you just need to actually use the time you have. The claim of needing large blocs of time is a delaying technique. I agree, but with one caveat: they do not … More Postscript on Time

José Miguel Wisnik

Years ago I took a class from this interesting professor, on Mário de Andrade and music. Before Reeducation I did a lot of things like that. Reeducation was not able to believe we could have had any kind of rich experience in our past, and yet we did. Axé.

Vignette

Z may be pale, but she is nonetheless Mexican. She has been working in departments of Spanish and Portuguese since 1978, and studying in them since 1974. Z:  This student not only wants to be exempt from coursework, she is also disruptive and invasive. She interrupts everyone, not just me. In class she will not … More Vignette

El sur

I keep seeing professors advise each other on the wise use of time. One must not spend too much time on anything, because one must progress, I know. But I protest. I am not recommending that people assign too much time to anything in particular. I have just always found that realistic estimates, for time … More El sur

David A. Bell

It is one thing to say that universities have problems. It is another to argue, as Taylor is effectively arguing, that the universities are the problem—that the system that allegedly began with Kant (in fact it began much earlier) has reached the end of its intellectual and social usefulness, and needs to be swept away … More David A. Bell

On Pacing

I have always been told I was surely taking too much time with things, must have spent too much time, or must be planning to spend too much time. This is particularly true of teaching activities. If I created the handout I created, it must have taken too much time. If I read a new … More On Pacing

sabotage (n.)

1910, from Fr. sabotage, from saboter “to sabotage, bungle,” lit. “walk noisily,” from sabot “wooden shoe” (13c.), altered (by association with O. Fr. bot “boot”) from M. Fr. savate “old shoe,” from an unidentified source that also produced similar words in O. Prov., Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and Basque. In French, the sense of “deliberately … More sabotage (n.)