Dear Z, Now that I have seen the madre patria I have a different and deeper understanding of you. I have much to recount, but I am distracted by the beauty of this place. — and I have spent a truly glorious day after the interview in — and later in —. We stopped for drinks … More An e-mail I received
This is the other reason for my general fatigue and mental fog; I keep forgetting that we undergo all this bullying every day. In extremely clear instances of it I get flashes of insight, this is paradigmatically abusive behavior, but most of the time it is just how people are and I do not understand … More Male violence
— direct method or versions of it: not rule then application, but example then explanation then expansion — emphasis on conversation, being able to converse; spontanaeity — emphasis on writing whole sentences — not fixated enough on accent marks, spelling, small grammar issues: yes, they irritate me, but no, not seriously — too intolerant of … More Things wrong with me as FL teacher
People do not realize that many decades ago at Berkeley they decided freshman composition should also be given by (many) departments other than English. They have it in Rhetoric, Dramatic Art, Comparative Literature, and now all of these departments. This means that English is more immune to being asked to staff these courses with adjuncts, … More On the adjunct crisis
One of these is needed. Axé.
In an institution long ago there was a full professor who called himself “Lalo,” as a result of which we nicknamed him “Teddy” so we could talk about him and not be understood. “Teddy” sounds nothing like his real name. Cross-appointed, Teddy disapproved of my friendship with a professor in his other department. Walter F. Pitts … More Authoritarian manpulations…
I will order books from Interlibrary Loan. I will finish my Peruvian abstract and make the plane reservation. I will work more on my vita. I have enough to say to fill several books. I will go to the Home Depot and buy eight concrete blocks, each four inches high. I will repair shoes, and … More Jeudi
“You must take care of yourself (and not your work).” Some fallacies inhere in this sentence (depending on how it is used). #OccupyHE Axé.
I said I would give a senior/graduate level course called Raza y palabra, on race and writing in Spain and Latin America, 1486-2014. This happened in a flash of inspiration and I do not now remember my concept clearly. The title is entirely too ambitious, and there is entirely too much potential material. I must … More Mon cours
→It is the gaslighting and the undermining, even more than the lack of a research culture. My claustrophobia. I did not say this myself, but someone else said my problem was having to work at too low a level. (He said something much blunter than that, about having to work “seven categories” beneath my capability.) I … More Just to be sure I remember…
coldhearted scientist وداد 