On Autonomy

1. I am still busy flying the Barack Obama flag. Obama lost in Louisiana almost 2-1, but that does mean more than one in three people are Obama voters, many of them young. They say things like: I was born in 1988. When I heard Obama had won the election, I felt that a great … More On Autonomy

On Mental Slavery

I knew the first week of my first job that I did not want to be a professor, at least not in the kind of institution – and there is an archipelago of them, rather like a gulag – to which I was now bound. I looked about me and was horrified: all the other … More On Mental Slavery

Chola soy, y no me compadezcan. Jacques Derrida. Paroles en liberté

Now I am writing a pre-piece of my new book and trying not to ignite my usual set of literary academic writing reactions, having to do with wishing I had always been doing more of this, and also wishing that when I decided I preferred to move on from it that I had honored my … More Chola soy, y no me compadezcan. Jacques Derrida. Paroles en liberté

On Being A Professor

Introducing Dr. Curmudgeon. I wish I had had his confidence when I was his age. Here’s the story. I’m 35 years old. I’m going into my fourth year of teaching at a small university somewhere in America. I get to discuss big ideas and controversial notions on an almost daily basis. I get to ask … More On Being A Professor

Alert. En Vida

Everyone needs your time and money right now, I know. But it is important to DEFEAT MEASURE 11 IN SOUTH DAKOTA and women there need your help. Consider it, and consider phone banking for Obama this weekend. One point of phone banking now is to get people to vote early – that is that much … More Alert. En Vida

And Continuing

I have had another of those conversations with someone who likes teaching, in which I said I did not. But when I told her WHAT I was teaching she turned up her nose. “In my university we have other people to do that.” I thought, “Well, I rest my case.” But my graduate student does … More And Continuing