I keep discovering that my experience with Reeducation is legion, and uncovering new evidence of why Reeducation is or was a program designed to lead backward in life. As we know, one of the more obvious anti-teachings of Reeducation was that one should not act to solve problems (this was “controlling”), but should ruminate upon … More Rewind
These are men’s Wrangler relaxed fit straight leg jeans. Mine are black and they look like a designer item on. Seriously. They cost $17. Women should buy men’s jeans, they are cheaper and you can find a cut which will fit. Nobody should buy designer jeans. Buy work jeans, they are better designed and better … More Fashion Alert
I can tell it is January because I am spending a certain amount of time giving people tips for handling their first campus interviews. Mostly what I am telling them is to calm down. If there is anything they forget to ask now, they will have a chance to ask it later. I am good … More On Being Where One Is
Ehrenreich believes the rise of professionalism was, and remains, perhaps the greatest of all generators of middle-class insecurity. The creation of “the professions” was designed as much to keep people out as to let them in, with each generation forced to fight for admission to the club. Unlike the truly wealthy who could guarantee that … More Reading for Pleasure Wednesday: Barbara Ehrenreich, Mário de Andrade
This is the twelfth day of Christmas and the feast of the Kings. I am buying a fishing license and going fishing. It may do me good. I am plagued with nightmares about the coming semester which wake me each hour, so that I do not sleep. This has been going on for six days. … More Fishing
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
Bad: “She gave up tenure to follow her husband, and she should be rewarded for this.” Better: “She gave up tenure to follow her husband, and it is our gain.” Lagniappe: name that -ism, or that logical fallacy. “If this candidate is local, her supporters cannot be objective. The only possible basis for support any … More Is This Sexism?
I Today’s featured post, on the caste system in India, is by Ridwan. I recommend it and its fascinating videos. I have also seen, out of professional “deformation” as we say, the film of Love in the Time of Cholera. I do not recommend it. It is weak and I feel somewhat polluted by it. … More Leni Reifenstahl
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
coldhearted scientist وداد 