This is what they always say: 1. The United States is terrible because it does not have the right kind of café, because it has more poverty than they expected in a rich country, because it is a world power with oppressive policies. 2. Driving is a terrible imposition, and traumatic. 3. Academia in US … More New faculty, and/or their spouses I
Some of my first Danish friends could never quite understand US politics because we do not have a parliamentary system. Why the President did not resign, why the government had not fallen, they would ask. Technically they knew the answers to these questions but they did not feel these answers. In the US some common … More Horizons of political understanding and expectation
We have accomplished so much this semester. I started this weblog in 2006 because I wanted to learn to speak. In 2009 I said I was going to end it because I felt ready for my PhD examination: the blog had accomplished its purpose. I did not end it, though. Now I feel as though … More Mictlantecuhtli
We have had the last class! We are finished! I have a lot of papers and five finals to write and give, but I have finished! Axé.
After many years of struggle our problems were solved, not because we won at last but because an administration came in that had no interest in obstructing our work. In the meantime we worked on slow reforms and tried to follow the advice there is about how to rise above things. But the fact is … More Even more on academic advice
I have been ranting and raving all semester against the idea that we should emphasize that we are working, working, working, that our work is work, and so on. I have been ranting and raving against the idea that we should resent those for whom things look easy. I enjoy the presence of those for … More Postscript on “Golden Boys”
All right, I will say this and then finally go, it is almost 7:53 AM and I should have been in the office already. But I was thinking of how I would formulate something I want to discuss with an administrator and my thought stream had a byproduct: on European culture as a culture of … More An interesting button of thought
I do not “manage time” as well as I once did and it is because at a certain point, I realized it was not possible. I do not have the power to make the kinds of decisions I have been able to make on use of time I have had in other academic jobs I … More A Radical Thought on Time Management
December! An excellent month! A month of culminations and clarity and brightness! It’s December first! Axé.
Here are some reasons why, once again: 1. The faculty: warring instructors and adjuncts, all overworked, and the assistant professors they are trying to bully so they won’t stay and who are terrified. Me, with a lot of other responsibilities and minimal interest in foreign language teaching, especially in this atmosphere. 2. The students: some … More I still dislike foreign language teaching!
coldhearted scientist وداد 