A friend in business writes: I learned a new acronym yesterday during training. It is BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China), and it points to the hottest emerging markets, just waiting to be tapped. Did someone not already tag these markets as hot and emerging, and tap them as best they could from the sixteenth through … More BRIC

People say that the penchant for “political correctness” is getting worse, but I have just discovered the most blatant case of heteronormativity I have seen in quite some time, and in a school textbook, no less. It is combined with poor pedagogy as well. Normally I do not teach foreign language courses, but this semester … More Sobre la llamada corrección política

It appears that the AAUP will recommend censure for Loyola University of New Orleans, for violations of academic freedom and tenure in the wake of Katrina. Read all about it. It would be ideal if the Administration awoke now, rather than later. Axé.

I was going to post about Anna Nicole Smith, and then did not because I decided everyone else would. But Colorado Bob says, let us all contact media and tell them to stop speaking badly of her. I agree. Bob gives these addresses at MSNBC: dabrams@msnbc.com KOlbermann@msnbc.com countdown@msnbc.com letters@msnbc.com viewerservices@msnbc.com There is further information on … More Anna Nicole Smith

I. Whether or not it is true that the Internets are places wherein false identities are projected, I do not think this is the cause of blog wars. I think the blog wars are caused by the fact that people do in fact speak in their true voices, and that this makes them sensitive. This … More One Thousand Questions and a Question

The other spirit I have at my back is Ogum, who is among other things a blacksmith. And if there is one thing I do not like, it is invasion. I am very relaxed in most situations, but try to invade me and Ogum and I will smite you with all our might. Ogum is … More Ogum Wears Blue

New York Times – February 5, 2007 – Bob Hébert: The term “time warp” could have been coined for this rural town of 11,000 residents that sits beside, and just a little below, the Mississippi River. A remnant of the sugar-plantation era, the region’s racially troubled past is always here, seldom spoken about but inescapable, … More Gary Tyler II

New York Times, February 1, 2007 – Bob Hébert: On the afternoon of Oct. 7, 1974, a mob of 200 enraged whites, many of them students, closed in on a bus filled with black students that was trying to pull away from the local high school. The people in the mob were in a high-pitched … More Gary Tyler I

One of the two spirits I have at my back is Oxum, a river of sweet water. Why, oh why, do I write as I do? Curious readers, desperate ones even, demand to know. I have been asked this question before, and I have answered it extensively, explaining many aspects of my narratological art. Follow … More Oxum Wears Gold

As I learned to speak, I also learned to associate with ‘Anglo’ culture coldness, a strange and perverse taste for histrionics, unnecessary drama, and a rampant disrespect for other beings. At the same time I associated the other culture we had in evidence, a Mexican one, with warmth, expressiveness, respect, and poise. These are stereotypes. … More Iansan Wears Red