February 16th is the eighth anniversary of this blog; February 17th is the anniversary of my feeling it had actually started. February 17th also marks six months that I have been un-depressed. That was the pre-written post I had planned to have come up now. It is ironic because really I am coming off a … More febrero
Jacques Lacan proposed as the axiom of the ethics of psychoanalysis: “Do not compromise your desire.” I am using this quotation for other purposes but you should follow the link and read the article, which has turned me into a Žižekite. It now being the 17th, I am six months un-depressed and I think I will … More Lacan, Žižek
“She opens the world of words and makes you think you have created it yourself.” That is what a good student said about me but these characteristics are not appreciated by all. In any case, I think I should write an essay about the last two days I have spent thinking about the introduction to … More I will write another meta-academic essay, or two
Verbal distinctions should be valued, since they stand for mental – intellectual – distinctions. Yet one feels it is somehow a pity that the word “poet” should have been split asunder. For nowadays when we speak of a poet, we think only of the utterer of such lyric, birdlike notes as “With ships the sea … More The Telling of the Tale
The students have never read any fiction before, of any kind, in any language. What I should be doing is having story hour. In my elementary schools, after lunch, the teacher would read high quality, age appropriate books for a whole hour. I should conceive of this course the way I do of the extracurricular … More How I should be teaching the introduction to the study of literature
This is for the renditions flights. I am not sure about the location of CIA prisons or torture centers. Axé.
In addition to teach I must print those letters of recommendation and mail them, update syllabi and websites, write other letters, put oil in the car, and answer the telephone. I believe I will start doing 15 minutes of research or writing a day, because the idea of finishing these things first makes life too … More Tuesday and Wednesday
Here is a view of the prison entrance, with its guard tower–a fairly old photograph, I think, but within my time. I am always amazed to actually arrive. Initially it was because this place is so famous (here is a picture of Leadbelly there in 1934), and also because it was so hidden the first … More Angola
I watched a film set near Torgau, in Eastern Germany, in 1980. I remembered that in 1977, in Easter week, in a frozen Copenhagen I went to the Soviet embassy to a ask for a visa. I remember what it looked like, and the guards’ regalia, going in, but I do not remember the rest. … More Torgau
I had this strange sensation Thursday night, of safety. I am not one of those who fear places, but I never felt safe in this town … which is a reason why I have poor concentration. And suddenly I had this feeling come over me. Friday I filled out my annual report. Now I will … More Les nouveautés
coldhearted scientist وداد 