One of the main reasons wealth makes people unhappy is that it gives them too much control over what they experience. They try to translate their own fantasies into reality . . . an enervating and disappointing pastime . . . learning and growing are very difficult with wealth because they depend on experiences in … More An interesting perspective.
Now we have perfected our reconstruction plan but my friend had the right analysis — the perfect storm came up. I am glad I still have a job, I really am, but we are half the size we were a month ago and the landscape looks quite bare. One is glad to have work and … More Katrina, that is the word, and Tantalus
…also involved is the question of being mugged by the victims, or by those who would become victims. Being pushed and pummelled by people who were feeling weak and who were not making good decisions, but whose continued good will I really needed, is of course my oldest story. At work one can add to … More More notes on being mugged
Eres, oh cuerpo oscuro, el siempre amado, desnudo lecho en que los días fueron y el placer de las noches donde ardieron el sueño, la pasión y lo sagrado. Por ti conoce el alma lo creado: las formas de las cosas bajo el día, tu desnudez más pura y la alegría de sentirte en la … More Alegría del cuerpo
…to describe how I feel. It is said that bad things come in groups of three, and we have had three. That means the storm is over. But, this is how you kill departments: take faculty, take programs, and take funding, always saying each act is unrelated to the others (and, of course, that to … More Mugged is the word
I congratulate today, especially: a) all Pell grant recipients and others who graduated despite very difficult circumstances; b) all current and former members of the armed forces of the United States, despite my disagreement with their mission; c) anyone who has had to work offshore or at other forms of rough oilfield work, either before … More Upon graduation
Race walking around the park the runners always say I am good looking but more charming was the humble community agricultural worker, harvesting flowers and berries with me: «Now, if you were my girlfriend, you would have flowers all the time.» Axé.
Para ver que todo se ha ido, para ver los huecos y los vestidos, ¡dame tu guante de luna, tu otro guante perdido en la hierba, amor mío! Puede el aire arrancar los caracoles muertos sobre el pulmón del elefante y soplar los gusanos ateridos de las yemas de luz o las manzanas. Los rostros … More Nocturno del hueco I
This is for the people who got letters denying tenure this semester, or terminating them at third or fourth year review. For grant proposals not funded, and especially for labs that lost their grants. It is for the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, brilliantly organized, and the Oregon teachers out on strike tonight. Axé.
We have had the Devil to pay lately, here in Maringouin. We have lost some people and a program. The above song sings to the 1964-84 Brazilian dictatorship that in spite of it, tomorrow is another day. And in life generally, we had so much advice on how to get things done. I, however, have … More The Devil to Pay in the Backlands
coldhearted scientist وداد 