This has come up before, but it is time once again on this bright, academic Monday to talk about college and graduate majors we thought about, but have decided against, so far. My general thought for today is that students need more serious advising than they get. By advising, I do not mean direction, nor … More Your Alternate Majors
I need help with this. Anyone who would like to, please read and comment. You are also free to use any of my ideas in your own work. Note 1: All readings have to be short and fairly simple, since this particular student population does not have the same level of facility in Spanish that … More Notes toward the Spring 2013 Introduction to the Study of Hispanic Cultures
It seems to me so far that the current reverb exercise, in which one reflects each day, intends to foster creative activity. The implicit assumption that one does not already appreciate sunsets and make things bores me a little. I feel asked to prove once again that I can do artistic things and enjoy walks … More On Creativity (A Contrarian View)
It was a refusal of ventriloquism. One could say it was Didion’s “failure of nerves.” It also coincided, alas, with Reeducation’s distortions, Reeducation’s idea that nerves should fail. But far more fundamentally it was a refusal of ventriloquism. My attempt to interpret it as a “failure of nerves” in the sense of that senseless Reeducated … More Definitivamente
All literature is foreign somehow, and all foreign literature, or literature written in foreign languages, and literature from other eras, is more foreign. The feeling of being in a struggle with someone else for — you, over you. The feeling of having to explain yourself, again and again. The feeling of having to explain really … More And So
I have an advertiser at $200 per annum who reminds me that I cannot stop posting. This means each post, at one post a day, is worth approximately $0.55 USD. I feel like Virginia Woolf, commenting on the economy of a small college for women in Three Guineas, or like Thackeray and other writers who … More Bound to the Masthead, or, Honorarium Slavery
Are you aware of the trope in which people say they went to their exclusive graduate program because they did not know what else to do? It is true of many to some degree, especially if they started at a young age; saying “I did not know what else to do” often means something more … More On Boasting
The honorary treasurer of the Rebuilding Fund had her eyes fixed on that. ‘What is the use of thinking how a college can be different,’ she seemed to say, ‘when it must be a place where students are taught to obtain appointments?’ ‘Dream your dreams,’ she seemed to add, turning, rather wearily, to the table … More Three Guineas
1 I do not now manage my time as I would like to, due to (a) my Reeducation related disability, (b) what my assigned schedule is, and (c) what customs are in this culture. And I tend to be flexible and relaxed, yet structured. But this culture expects almost complete flexibility, at least from women; … More Academic Mondays: Robert Boice?
Are paranoia and a marked taste for intrigue especially great in Spanish speaking cultures? Are these French and Italian characteristics as well? Mediterranean generally? Why is the Portuguese faculty the most reality based? I realize I am suggesting very broad generalizations but I have reason to ask these questions. I will be grateful for all … More A Question on Paranoia
coldhearted scientist وداد 