Dolce anno nuovo

01/01/2014

So, as I have announced elsewhere, my key word for 2014 is power, remembering that one does in fact have power. In Reeducation we were to be powerless, to succumb to the effects of our worst experiences, and to disbelieve our own perceptions because we were, it was alleged, born with permanent defects that meant … More Dolce anno nuovo

2014

29/12/2013

So I am now over it. Over the current bout of nostalgia for places and activities and lives I missed. Over my rage at having succumbed to the pressure to renounce these things. I still say that what I do not like about professors is that they are not aware of any other interesting jobs–they … More 2014

La grande bellezza

28/12/2013

It may not be possible for all to see the epoch-making Hockney exhibit at the DeYoung Museum, as I have done, but more can perhaps see this film, which exists in a similar vein, the next generation of realizations and images. Seriously. Axé.

On Utah

27/12/2013

The reason I am this irritated, of course, is that California is this beautiful and I am in exile. In any case, it turns out that before becoming a teacher in California my grandmother was one in Washington, Oregon, and before that, Utah, all in the first years of the twentieth century. In Utah she … More On Utah

And so you can see

26/12/2013

…that I am really angry about being pushed to things by people who know nothing of what they are discussing and of me. They think that academic jobs are nice, that all other jobs are wicked, and that I have no skills. Yet it is very important to them that I have an academic job. … More And so you can see

Now I see

26/12/2013

One of the things about academic jobs is that you need to be a good caretaking type. I am not interested in this and would not go into it professionally but I can see that people who are interested in geriatric care, care of disabled children, and so on, are people better suited to most … More Now I see

Postscript and note to Dame Eleanor Hull, updated

23/12/2013

3/- It’s gorgeous here, and Dame Eleanor should come back. I have discerned that “take a job, any job” means, to some, “you may have to take jobs in places as horrible as Madison or Ann Arbor.” I have also discovered that the people who think there are only academic jobs, simply have no information. … More Postscript and note to Dame Eleanor Hull, updated

La belle vie

23/12/2013

I have escaped to California until further notice. Rural Louisiana is entirely too hard to take but check this out: I wrote an entire book review on the plane, because the world of reason begins (people do not understand this, but they just do not know) at the Texas state line. All bets are off … More La belle vie