I really like both of my projects and I really like research and writing. Really like them. I like them when I am not torturing myself about them or allowing myself to be tortured in the rest of life. I like them when I look at them, not at my directors and detractors. I am … More On Emerging
You have to put a lot of time into work, and you have to accept that it takes a lot of time. I have to reject the advice of that Emeritus Professor and several others, that one must work as superficially and as quickly as one can. That only translates to rushing, suffering, fatigue, and … More On Identity in Work and Play. On Pace. On Ignoring Mistreatment
It is Friday, so we are wearing white, and it is the weekend, so we must sing. I sing that today, rather create a new post here, I will work on cleaning up the many posts at my seminar. Meet me at this bookstore, Rio Vermelho branch. Axé.
For 2010 I am adopting Undine’s resolutions. * There is one more thing to say, since there are some weeks in which I spend more time processing what happened the week before than I do participating in further events. The reason it is hard for me to move ahead after some major form of mistreatment … More Resolvido, e mais uma coisinha.
This book on Bahian poet Jacinta Passos really is worth reading. I should discuss Passos and the book in greater detail at some point, but for now I will say only that Passos has a marvelous concept, “established disorder,” which refers in effect to authoritarian situations. A Peruvian professor of history has written a book … More Reading for Pleasure Wednesday: Dalila Machado
This evening I went to a fancy movie theatre with a good, if small book store and a fancy café sharing its space. Suddenly I could tell I had been living too much in the slums because the upscale nature of everything was so unfamiliar. I was not quite sure I belonged at first. Lula, … More Lula, The Movie
In Reeducation we were to accentuate the negative. We were to find our faults and our weak spots. Admit, accept, confess, apologize, make amends, promise to improve, and on, and on. For me, though, that kind of negative approach makes improvement hard. History matters but fretting about it is pointless — although one of Reeducation’s … More Positively
There is a breeze, and I am over my crisis. This is, as we know, a mystical town full of spirits who jangle at you or sweep through. As usual, I have had a multifaceted crisis — it always involves a house, a writing project, and an arbitrary power from home — and have discussed … More Tropical Breeze
Three reasons I am exhausted are: 1. The material situation, dealing with this house. 2. The psychological situation, dealing with the owner of the house and the caretaker. 3. The psychological situation, dealing with my “friend” who was going to pick me up from the airport. Since these situations began to wear upon me, my … More On Attitude
I have not gotten enough done these past two weeks, or enjoyed myself much, but I have learned something, perhaps, about vacation rentals; you really need guarantees and you must ask many apparently anally retentive questions because if not, you will lose. It is odd but the worst renter I ever had was someone I … More Caveat Emptor: On “Vacation” Houses
coldhearted scientist وداد 