What shall we be when we grow up? * This is a kaleidoscopic post. It was a narrative post, but now it is kaleidoscopic. * People have been trying to convince me I am insane for decades. * In Reeducation, we were taught that there was a choice between being happy and being right. If … More Des fragments de Z
Back home in Mexico, the Atenco protestors have been released after four years, by Supreme Court decree, Gott sei Dank. Three minor politicians were ambushed in Oaxaca, with two being killed and one malherido; elections are Sunday. Over here, these autodidacts on my Facebook page are elaborating a grand theory of the universe without enough … More Mr. Casaubon, and Some Autodidacts
The modern university is sustained by academic freedom; it guarantees higher education’s independence, its quality, and its success in educating students. The need to uphold those values would seem obvious. Yet the university is presently under siege from all corners; workers are being exploited with paltry salaries for full-time work, politics and profit rather than … More Cary Nelson
After Hallowe’en and my birthday, this is my favorite holiday. It is the midsummer or midwinter feast, depending on your hemisphere. On the night of June 23-24, you build fires and jump over them. In northern climes, summer swimming begins today. * I have some advice on the city of Oaxaca de Juárez which is … More Sankt Hans, Mais Uma Vez
I posted condolences to the condolence page of Carlos Monsiváis, the “eccentric and ubiquitous” intellectual and journalist, but they were generic. I did not say that I met him without knowing who he was when I was asked to give him a ride in Riverside, California, and that we got to our destination early and … More Carlos Monsiváis
Someone with a PhD about two weeks old, and not from the most prestigious institution at that, and a publication or two said to me, “I know you think you have caught a big fish by hiring me, so I am going to take the role of center forward here.” It was not the right … More What Not to Say At Work
This music video could be good to use in class. I must teach Spanish literature from 1700 to 2010 soon, a topic about which I do not know enough to create a non-stiff survey. I usually teach it with a set of representative texts. I survive it, but I am not truly current in this … More Río Ebro
The top kill may be happening right now, and there will be or is a live video feed of it. I was so concerned the night Hurricane Gustav came in a couple of years ago, and that so pales in comparison to this. I have a photograph in my dining room of Katrina refugees waiting … More Academic or Wage Slave
Google the title of this post if you do not know what I am talking about. It is an interesting story, but I have another. One day long ago I was sitting at a large table in the LSU Student Union, because my office was too small for this work and the then new hangout, … More Dominique Homberger
In graduate school, we were once visited by a former co-T.A. who was now faculty elsewhere. She said, “Enjoy these days — they are the best of your lives!” I took this comment as the sort of formulaic thing Old Bambis have to say to Young Bambis, and left it at that. Many years later, … More An Academic Wednesday: Was Your Graduate Program Bad For Your Health?
coldhearted scientist وداد 