1. As we know, in Reeducation I was considered unfeeling. To prove I was not, I was directed to renounce the intellectual life. 2. I have already realized before that “unfeeling” only meant “not histrionic” and “frighteningly bright to a man like me.” Now I realize that what it meant more fundamentally was that I … More Repaso
Here is a small excerpt from one chapter of a book by Robert Jay Lifton. The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the thought-terminating cliché. The most far-reaching and complex of human problems are compressed into brief, highly reductive, definitive-sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed. These become the start and finish of … More Robert Jay Lifton
As the assiduous reader will know, a great deal of my intellectual, emotional and creative energy is spent on two activities: irrigating a desert and understanding what follows here. Notes 1. Abused people are under the illusion that if they learn to obey more perfectly, accept abnegation more completely, the pain will stop. 1.1. If … More Et encore…
Hattie of Hattie’s Web said in a comment here: “There is so much pain and craziness already in your students’ lives that they can’t endure the pain and craziness of learning a foreign language.” This is, in fact, the problem. I have been trying to figure out what problem I should address – laziness? illiteracy? … More Hattie Cracks the Mystery
I It seems that now we must teach many more things at once in each course. This semester I taught three courses, to wit: A senior/graduate course in Comparative Literature, A senior course in English, and A sophomore course in Spanish. About the Spanish course I have already railed at great length. We must now … More Still More Teaching
History usually defies measurement and exactitude and a unifying theme or “organizing principle,” and hence it is difficult to define “the biggest themes” in my course. I want to bring into the historical consciousness of my students men and women ordinarily left outside the framework of the American experience, mostly “ordinary” working-class people who did … More Leon Litwack
James Baldwin died November 30, 1987, twenty years ago today. I was having a traumatic semester and I did not take note of his passing, but he has always been one of my favorite writers, so I will take note of it today. This post is intended as a James Baldwin Video Aggregator. CSPAN Baldwin … More James Baldwin
I There is a good website for the trial of ex-President Alberto Fujimori, for very serious human rights violations in Peru. The trial begins 10 December 2007 in Lima. This video has a slightly anti-Asian frame (Fujimori fled to Japan and claimed Japanese citizenship at one point, and he is known in Peru as “El … More Alberto Fujimori
Tower of Babel – Western Epistemology, by Jennifer Cascadia. A snippet: “Rational thinking has become a lost art, and catering to one another’s ‘perceptions’ by treating all perceptions (no matter how outlandish) as if they were already valid components of reality itself has become more common. In other words, social interactions have become politicised. . … More On Perception and Reality
Esta tarde llueve, como nunca; y no tengo ganas de vivir, corazón. Esta tarde es dulce. Por qué no ha de ser? Viste gracia y pena; viste de mujer. Esta tarde en Lima llueve. Y yo recuerdo las cavernas crueles de mi ingratitud; mi bloque de hielo sobre su amapola, más fuerte que su “No … More Heces de César Vallejo
coldhearted scientist وداد 