December 10

Read the call to action from the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund and WoC PhD‘s useful post on the latest planned demolitions of public housing in New Orleans. Be there December 10 if you can, donate if you can, but also call your legislators. The call list includes many not from Louisiana. This means that people … More December 10

Five Things

This evening I have been told two things, to wit: 1. Our students are a disaster area and we should cave to this situation. I disagree. They are a disaster area because they have not been required not to be, or more importantly, because they have not been shown, rather than just told how not … More Five Things

In French

This evening our art show opened in Lafayette. I got lost along the Bayou Grosse Tête on the way and it was very interesting. There were high cane fields, a little ridge which I believe leads to Grand Coteau and beyond, small almost Caribbean style plantation houses, large trailers, and a genuine Bengal tiger in … More In French

An Academic Culture

If your parents believe that you can pass 15 credit hours’ worth of college level work by merely attending class, they can insist that you also work full time, because 40+15=55. If your parents insist that missing class to drive them to the doctor or babysit your sister’s children should be an “excused absence” from … More An Academic Culture

Anschluß

Now I am going to give back one of those exams, on which once again every one has made, essentially, either an A or an F. It is depressing. People with F’s will, as usual, have a great deal to say about how it is the fault of the textbook or other materials, or my … More Anschluß

On Grading

Unless you are in the honors program or a graduate student, in which cases situations vary, you can tell me your class and a little bit about your life; I will then guess what your grades are and be right. I hardly need to see your work, because I have diagnosed you by class and … More On Grading

Charming News

One is advised against repeating the news in one’s blog, as this merely turns the ether into an echo chamber. However there is so much news, and each piece of it is so overwhelming, that I cannot refrain from pointing out that there are now veterans who, having accepted enlistment bonuses and now having been … More Charming News

Reassigned Time

Last month Reassigned Time was called “selfish” for planning to go on the market for a job she may like better than the one she has. I find it is very strange how often professors are told they are selfish, arrogant, or childish to want other jobs and/or other careers. But it is true. The … More Reassigned Time

Globalization

The New York Times 11-26-2007 FOLLOW LINK TO FASCINATING PICTURES AND AUDIO Workers in Haora, India, have few protections while making manhole covers for Con Edison and some cities’ utilities By HEATHER TIMMONS and J. ADAM HUGGINS NEW DELHI — Eight thousand miles from Manhattan, barefoot, shirtless, whip-thin men rippled with muscle were forging prosaic … More Globalization