The ocean is large and full of currents. You wade in slowly and then strike out swimming as the sea floor falls beyond your depth. You tread water, breaking through waves to open water where you can steer your course. The first island stands on the horizon, partly shielded from view by spray and rocking … More Starting to Write is Like Swimming
I am slow, so I am late to St. Patrick’s Day. Consider this, on Leonardo da Vinci and slowness. Faster than me and sometimes premature, the Emeritus Professor sent me the poem that follows after one of my exams, I do not remember now whether it was the M.A. or the Ph.D. Only now has … More William Butler Yeats
For St. Patrick’s Day we will continue to study new Orleans, which is also an Irish city. It was beautiful and sunny, and with daylight savings time starting so early now, the light lasted a long time. I found a cypress end table for the deck, paid off the carpenter who fixed the door, and … More Faubourg Tremé 2
One The most interesting e-mail I received today said: “Dear Professor Zero, Thank you so much for sharing your manuscript. I have read exhaustively on this subject and yours is one of the very most useful pieces. It is so surprising you have not yet been able to place it.” On this issue see paragraph … More Further Advice to New Faculty
I am on sabbatical and could easily do as I see fit, namely work in the morning and evening, play in the afternoon, and sleep at night. In reality I work in the afternoon and night, play in the evening, and sleep in the morning. Notice how I choose to work at the hours of … More On Self Injury
I think I finally see what it is to be a professor. It means you have a project that is yours. You see where it extends and begins to take shape through mist. It is all outside you but it flows to and from you. I always said this was the project I must undertake … More The Contours
My featured post of the past for today is actually from March 13, 2006. Of interest in the post are the comments on authorship, anonymity, and voice. I feature it as part of my attempt to move all of my original blog to a more solid archive, and also in lieu of writing a new … More Ides of March
Please note and comment – and if you can, help improve the translation. This appears to be a foundational text in the construction of whiteness. Vi, debe de haber tres días, en las gradas de San Pedro, una tenebrosa boda, porque era toda de negros. About three days ago on the steps of Saint Peter’s … More Quevedo: Boda de Negros
On Eggplant If you are roasting it whole to make baba ganoush, you should prick it with a fork first so it does not explode in the oven. Otherwise, no matter what you will ultimately do with your eggplant, you should first cut it open or slice it. Now salt it, put it on paper … More Notes from Z’s Kitchen
Some time ago I taught the novel I am studying now. Its characters are classified by color according to a complex system of differentiation, and of concern to many is whiteness: attaining it, increasing it, limiting it, maintaining it. A student came to ask me about the classification system, which she had not entirely grasped. … More Global Whiteness
coldhearted scientist وداد 