1. To be trusted at least minimally. Not to have it assumed, for instance, that because you may be X, you will surely oppose and work against Y. 2. To be respected/appreciated at least minimally. For example, not to be told that while your field needs representation for reasons having to do with accreditation, it is … More What do you need in order to work in peace?
The answer to this question is easy. If they say research is not part of your job description it is not too bad. You can do research as your hobby and even keep a lot of it off the version of your vita you give them. If they say research is part of your job … More How do academics get alienated from their work?
…what has been going on. There is a certain kind of bad situation I can usually only tell I have because of how I feel from it, not what I see. You have to believe your senses. And I, if I am flashing back as I have kept doing intermittently for about three weeks, am … More Now I see
The right to desire to aspire to feel inspired is a human right I am surely the first to articulate, but that I have not invented since it is eternal. These are the main pieces of academic advice I have received: – Do not think you will get a job – Obey to get tenure – … More Coda on the right to desire to aspire to feel inspired
Z: Did you enjoy Madison? Person from Houston: Yes, but it was really hard. Z: How so? Is it really as cutthroat as one sometimes hears? Person from Houston: No. It was that I had to learn how not to defer to men. You are not expected to do that there, and doing it does … More Another dialogue, another fact
Here is a bronze statue of one of my ancestors. I could visit it in Vicksburg. That is one of those places where, when I go through, I can hardly believe I am there. It serves espresso now but Mark Twain would recognize it. Like Natchez it stands on bluffs above the Mississippi, on U.S. … More Vicksburg Blues
Every once in a while I spy on my grandfather’s family. They were the lords of Wye House in Easton, Maryland, est. 1659. This was where Frederick Douglass grew up, back when he was just Fred Baily. He describes my ancestors in his Narrative. Wye House was known for its hospitality, having housed among many … More Frederick Douglass
I have to go, I am late, but these are the things I want to discuss: – Astrology for academic job seekers. I am not joking. Location matters a great deal, for instance, although not in the ways people claim. There is a great deal else you can learn from your chart about what to … More Being and Place
The theory of this weblog is to remake oneself from the ground up and on that theory I am looking at job ads. Here, oddly, is one for which I am qualified, based on what I have become. I would reboot entirely, in a different key, and the current book project would work very well … More Du travail
I think the attitude that is going out of style is the one defined by military mores. That view of ‘human nature’ is that it is raw material, out of which something can be shaped, drawn and/or crystallized. The contemporary view is the opposite one. According to this, we are all born with wonderfully perfect, … More On the current culture, this comment is fascinating
coldhearted scientist وداد 