My university likes honor societies. In college I was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and I joined it, to the amusement of those who felt a true aristocrat and rebel would turn it down. I did not intend to join further societies, however. Here I was first invited to join Phi Beta Delta, and felt … More In which I request your views
I wrote most of my dissertation in São Paulo, Brazil, where people did not find it strange that one should make progress. There was something marvelous in this. Nobody sighed in the background, nobody suggested it should not be done. One of my friends did remark on my “strange capacity to keep working on things [I] do … More Things I learned in São Paulo
I have no middle name and was always told I could choose my own. I toyed with this as a child but in the end could not choose just one. My youngest brother, who is adopted, chose his own name in the end but made it out of pre-existing elements: his name in high school … More Ouidad
“If you can think of the mind as having one hundred ergs of energy, and the average man uses fifty percent of his energy dealing with the everyday problems of the world — just general kinds of things — then he has fifty percent more to do creative kinds of things that he wants to … More What I mean, #4
The post of the day is from Clarissa and gives step by step instructions on how to deal with my ex — who actually said, when I left, that I had no right to do so since I did not have his permission. I said this to him: 1. I am not responsible for your illness, … More Poesía y guerra
It is strange Occupying this name, coldhearted scientist, since it does not go with the blog concept — which was (a) an anonymization game, I was speaking from beyond the grave and beyond our culture, and (b) a project designed to enable myself to rise up in real life. All the names I have had … More Sondé miroir
DJ: You begin the book with a quote from Edmund Randolph, General Washington’s aide-de-camp and the country’s first Attorney General, speaking to the Constitutional Convention: “Our chief danger arises from the democratic parts of our [state] constitutions.” It should be no surprise to those well-read in American history that our founders were critics of democracy. … More On democracy in America
This is what I wrote on these matters in a post yesterday: What is it about the Freyre apologists? 1. Arrogance: they are an enlightened elite and everyone else is unsubtle. 2. Argument by authority: because of their identity they have special knowledge nobody else can have. 3. Apologetics: they have excuses for everything; only they … More Exceptionalism, nationalism, fascism, totalitarianism, identity politics, and authoritarian discourse
My classes are brilliant today because I am so well prepared and because I decided to be in a good mood — and also because I am a really good lecturer and discussion leader. The reason I am so well prepared is that I am prepared specifically, but also generally, based on years of study … More La rebelión de las masas
Once again, I like The Compleat Academic because it is realistic and does not condescend. It does not assume incompetence, and it does not recommend fear. If I were a linguist I would you go through what is mostly said to graduate students and assistant professors and study the vocabulary. It is about how you … More What I mean, #3
