coldhearted scientist وداد

Academic Issues From A Very Contrarian Point of View Monday: On Rights for Non Tenure Track Faculty

30/11/2009

Do you think all the kind articles about how adjuncts and other non tenure track faculty should be well treated is part of the abolition of tenure generally? An old colleague of mine thought adjuncts, instructors, and non tenure track faculty should have non ideal working conditions precisely so that they would either go on … More Academic Issues From A Very Contrarian Point of View Monday: On Rights for Non Tenure Track Faculty

Straitjackets of Normalcy

29/11/2009

I have so many things to do that it is hard to know where to start. It is hard to know where to start because realistically, there is not enough time to accomplish it all — if there were, I could start anywhere. I would prefer to just start anywhere but I must first discern … More Straitjackets of Normalcy

The Average Mentality?

28/11/2009

Someone said the typical person does not think at all about the common good, the point of view of anyone else, or doing what is right. They only do what they want, and they are so oblivious to the existence of any other way of operating that they do not realize that this is what … More The Average Mentality?

Reading for Work: Grades

25/11/2009

People do not like to grade papers but I always find it interesting except when I did not create the assignment, do not agree with it, did not create the course goals, do not agree with these, do not find them feasible, do not know what they are, or am unsure whether there is any … More Reading for Work: Grades

Reading for Pleasure Wednesday: Interlibrary Loan

24/11/2009

So many people speak of the wonders of Interlibrary Loan and I do understand them, but nothing can substitute a library full of actual books. I just read an article to which I would not have had access had it not been for the Internet — but which could not have been written with only … More Reading for Pleasure Wednesday: Interlibrary Loan

Introducing: Academic Mondays

23/11/2009

Following the suggestion of a reader, we will now have an open thread each Monday on a current academic keyword (e.g. “excellence”) or on other topics of very broad interest to academics. Today’s question is: what did you not learn in graduate school that you most wish you had? My answers are: how to teach … More Introducing: Academic Mondays

En hiver: Archpriest of Hita

22/11/2009

It is winter, and key limes are thick on the branches. Garlic is blooming, and soon there will be bright kumquats. Picking oranges, seeing how the tree branches had bent under their weight, I realized that the globes on Christmas trees represent fruit. Every winter we quote from the Archpriest of Hita. This year we … More En hiver: Archpriest of Hita

How Long, Lord? How Long?

20/11/2009

It is of course Friday, so we should be wearing white, and it is the weekend, so we should sing. I sing that I used to be surprised at what was happening. Then I was shocked, and then angry. After that I was sad, and then I was ashamed for a long time. Next I … More How Long, Lord? How Long?

Reading for Pleasure Wednesday: Miguel de Cervantes

18/11/2009

Now we have discussed the Quixote, about which I do not always think, and I have decided to read it again. I learned as well that tuition at Brooklyn College in the late forties was $3.75 per semester. Axé.

Home Improvement

15/11/2009

It is the weekend, and I should be singing; but I am out of songs at the moment except for C.V.’s poem to be read and sung. I sing that the idea that you should somehow rise above an abusive workplace and produce is a malevolent and false truism. Of improvements made recently at work … More Home Improvement

Writing in Memory of Paulo Freire