Reflecting back over the past, the problem with my functioning within a different [N. Ed.: or in my vocabulary, alien] culture has been specifically: trying to use a lot of mental power to treat what I consider to be peripheral issues seriously, whilst treating the very serious issues in my mind as if they were … More A Good Description of Reeducation
I am having an excellent semester despite certain problems I can see brewing in one class. Part of the reason for this semester’s excellence, however, is that I am again teaching Spanish literature, which works like a charm. By Spanish literature I mean the great, unknown literature of Spain, a country in southern Europe. This … More Spanish Literature II
From Short-Circuit Signs: [I]t is hard not to notice how often standardized tests come up as examples of good, or at least acceptable, assessment – ironic because faculty are exhorted to take this stuff seriously on the grounds that doing otherwise will mean federally mandated testing. Sounds like a Foucauldian nightmare/farce, right? It gets worse … More Precisely
I have more or less finished Barbara Ehrenreich’s Fear of Falling and as I say, despite being somewhat dated – it came out in the late 1980s – this book really is worth reading, as it explains a great deal. My early education was fraught with lessons about race and ethnicity. One needed fashions which … More Reading for Pleasure Wednesday: Barbara Ehrenreich
§ I am not one of those people who “loves” teaching or who became a professor so as to teach. As I always say, had it been my desire to teach, I could have stayed at home or chosen a place I wanted to live. Yet I experience a flash of longing when the zydeco … More Work Ethics
I have a conference in San Diego just after the semester ends. Especially since the university will not pay for the trip, I want to combine it with a vacation in California – I am not sure how long a vacation. Now I am trying to decide how to plan just the conference part of … More In Which I Need ‘Input’
To be discussed. See also this clip (“In a small town like this you have a choice between Hell and Jesus, and grief is better than nothing”) and this one. Meanwhile it is Carnaval time and Mardi Gras Day is almost upon us. It is very early this year and I am not paying attention, … More Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus
Elizabeth David could really cook. I am not an accomplished cook, but sometimes I think I channel her. Here is something you can do with pork chops, thick ones without bones. Rub them with salt and pepper, strew them with fresh chopped herbs, and douse with a small amount olive oil and fresh lime or … More Elizabeth David
A friend informs me that I am in utter rebellion against superficiality. It is interesting that she puts it that way; I would have only said I did not like superficiality. But it appears I am in utter rebellion against it. Reeducation said I was unfeeling but, I now discern, only meant I was not … More On Authenticity
Out of patriotism and in the spirit of my resolution to see more movies, I have been to Little Chenier. I found it melodramatic and stereotype driven, and the accents are very poorly done. Then again, it is apparently very hard to represent southern Louisiana without resorting to exoticist trope. I did like the beautiful … More Little Chenier
coldhearted scientist وداد 