C’est tout fini

I cannot tolerate further work on this abstract so, despite my dissatisfaction with it I am sending it in. This is the literary version; the Spanish version will be more sociological. Its title is El lado oscuro del mestizaje: raza y estado en tres textos decimonónicos, and I like that better. This was hard to … More C’est tout fini

Tracking work, again

So far today I have done the following: 8:45 e-mail 9:00-10:45 prepare one class (efficiency high, but this was not quite enough time, as it turned out) 11:00-12:15 teach said class 12:15-1:00 office hours, during which I met with a colleague and a student to create a new outreach program and also worked on an … More Tracking work, again

Light reading for while students take finals

An interesting review of developmentalism and dependency theory. Students do not get enough research training and what I now do in these hybrid senior/graduate courses is precisely at the level of what I did in Comparative Literature 1A, 1B, and 40, the freshman and sophomore courses I taught as a graduate student. Marc Bosquet is … More Light reading for while students take finals

Students of iron

1. Moved out at 16, worked full time the last two years of high school, living in an apartment with roommates. Does not feel $30,000 per annum for a hard job is bad pay. 2. Working as a stocker at Office Depot, which he calls “a place of blood, sweat and cigarettes.” Invents and executes … More Students of iron

Et plus encore

I go into these crises of fear — “fear of extreme violence,” said a diagnostician — if I do not serve everyone perfectly, or if I thwart someone else’s wishes for the sake of my own survival. Many of those who have seen me in person do not imagine these things because I am so … More Et plus encore

Veracruz, Ver.

Has anyone been to Veracruz lately? My original plan was to arrive at 11:23 AM, go through customs and then go directly to the bus station, where I would have coffee with milk before catching a bus south to Alvarado. Then there would be a local bus or truck to Tlacotalpan, where Mexico is said … More Veracruz, Ver.

“The Real Truth”

Readers, don’t worry, these are catharsis posts. I realize how Gothic they sound but I have absorbed many decades of dire warnings and discouraging words. Every post in which I expel my hatred  for the various weak beings with whom I have attempted diplomacy as they tried to pull me into the graves they sleep … More “The Real Truth”