I do not know whether it will be interesting as this mural, but the new date for the annual meeting of the Louisiana Conference of the AAUP is April 21, from 12:00 to 3:00. The meeting will be held on the Tulane University campus, in the Faculty/Staff Dining Room of the Lavin-Bernick Center for University … More AAUP

Oso Raro illustrates his description of this blog with a still from Alberto Gout’s film Aventurera (Mexico, 1949). Actually Ninón Sevilla’s dress would fit me just right and is in my style. I like his general description of the blog, too: This blog is the most like poetry than any of the others here, a … More Aventurera

Now that the House of Representatives opposes the Iraq war, the military has provided guidelines on what troops should say to reporters. Commanders advise their soldiers that they should talk about the things that they know,” [Christine Wormuth, a defense analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies] said. A truck driver, for instance, … More What Troops Should Say to Reporters

SERIOUS “There is absolutely no attempt on the part of the Army or this agency to deny soldiers any disability benefits or to push them off on the VA,” said Col. Andy Buchanan, the agency’s deputy commander. NOT When a vampire expert allegedly seduced a tipsy UC Irvine student four years ago, he inadvertently set … More Antics Serious and Not

I received this e-mail and have been meaning to report about it, for the interest of Louisiana faculty. The Board of Regents has an ambitious agenda for the upcoming legislative session. The following link is to a story in the Baton Rouge Advocate. This quotation is from that story: “Leaders of Louisiana higher education are … More Incroyable

Northern Russia is home to more than 40 indigenous peoples, all of whom have their own language. But many of them are on the brink of extinction. Fayina Lekhanova has a broad face with a flat nose and dark, deep-set eyes. She looks exactly like the Eskimos I remember from the books I read as … More On Citizenship and Language Death

In case you do not know, Barack Obama is on Facebook and if you are on Facebook, you can Poke him, send him Messages, and invite him to be your Friend. I have Poked him and invited him to be my Friend. I am hoping he will accept. I know that in non-Facebook parlance, “poke” … More Postmodern

Our featured post for today is Asabagna’s Into the Heart of Darkness, on vulture funds. Asa refers to two BBC articles on the devastating activities of vulture fund Donegal International in Zambia. The Zambian instance at least received substantial news coverage. Oxfam is working on the case, and we can help. But awareness of this … More Vulture Funds

This is the sign of the new blog year: I have been located by a long lost and very important friend. This is auspicious in general, but especially apt for today because it was with her that I first went to throw the cowrie shells. Check out the ultra-cool “Mirandola, Mirandolina” and her children, and … More A Sign

This is my anniversary, and I am very happy about it. Do you want to know who I am? See my first post. When I started this weblog, I did not expect anyone to read it. I did imagine readers, if only because I wanted to write something readable. I did not expect to find … More Professor Zero