The Iron Lady - Scariest movie of the season

Today, I went to see Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I am not a big fan of the book trilogy (although the first one is my favorite), but the movie was excellent. Feminema has an excellent post about it, and I can't add much more to it, except that I liked Daniel Craig more than she did. Before the movie started, I saw a trailer of what looked like the scariest movie of the season: The Iron Lady. It's the story of Margaret Tatcher, with Meryl Streep playing her. The trailer was surreal for anybody who knows how destructive Margaret Tatcher was. The trailer was a mixture of comedy where her character comes off as a mixture of Julia Child and Donna from Mamma Mia, nationalistic patriotic bullshit where the woman is braver than all the men together (and for the record, and I can write about it in another post, I am very happy that England won the war against Argentina in 1982), and supposedly feminist tale. It was terrifying. I took a look at the few reviews available at Rotten Tomatoes, and most of them point to the complete absence of politics from the plot. In a movie about Margaret Tatcher!!! What's next? The love story on Nancy and Ronald, without references to politics? Scary stuff...

Healthy weekend in Southern California...

A little background first. My FIL and my MIL divorced (in very friendly terms) around 20 years ago. My FIL remarried sometime later, and his second wife passed away 2 years ago. He is now dating again and, well, his new girlfriend is quite a character. She is his own age (68-70 years old), Japanese-American, really friendly and enthusiastic about everything, and an eating-healthy and exercise nut. Thankfully, we didn't get to see the exercise part, but the eating-healthy... Oh my...

We spent the past weekend with them. They live in Long Beach. On Saturday, we woke up relatively early, because they had to go to their oil painting class in San Pedro. B. and I went along, and entertain ourselves for 4 hours in downtown San Pedro. It has changed quite a bit, with new shops and coffee houses, though it is still not completely gentrified. B. comment was "Bukowski would be rolling in his grave". But I've never read Bukowski, so I can't comment on the reference. We had a good time, just walking around, and later we join my FIL and his girlfriend and went to a Thai restaurant, where she decided to order only one appetizer and one entree for the four of us because we were going to be eating more soon. From there, we went to watch the sunset at a particular place, and then went to Redondo Beach Pier, where she bought 8 oysters and 4 clams for the 4 of us. At that point, I decided to say that I didn't really like raw oyters, so I bought myself some mediocre paella just to fill my stomach. Overall, however, we had a good time.

On Sunday, we woke up and she was already in the kitchen, preparing breakfast: miso soup and tofu. I am not kidding. I open the fridge trying to find something else, without luck. Only raw vegetables and unidentifiable things with the labels written in Japanese. Miso Soup and Tofu it was, then (thankfully, she hadn't banned coffee from the house). Seeing how things would turn out, B. and I made an escape to Belmont Shore, where we had lunch at a taco place. Soon, we got a phone call from my FIL: he wanted to join us (alone). So the three of us were soon drinking beer and chips at a pub. Before we went back home, we smuggled a few burgers with us, just in case. Overall, I had a good weekend. But I've never encountered anybody so extreme in her eating habits. That being said, she is a really funny and upbeat person, and I believe she has been great for my FIL. And he has lost 30 pounds and join a gym. And looks happy, which is the most important thing. But I'll take preventive measures next time I go visiting them. Like bringing some cereal along for breakfast, and filling snacks. I just can't eat that healthy!!!

First Day in California

As the good political junkie I am, I spent my first day in California visiting the Nixon Presidential Library & Museum in Yorba Linda. I had never been there before. It was quite interesting. The whole museum is, as you would expect, quite a hagiography of the man. Except the last gallery, which deals with Watergate. That exhibition is very even-handed. They play all the tapes, and give you the chronology of the events. So you go from reading about a "great" Statesman, often "misunderstood", to a Nixon that is a paranoid anti-semite. I've always found Nixon (and LBJ) two of the most fascinating figures of American politics in the XXth century (which is in no way related to what I think about their policies). This visit just added another layer to him (interestingly enough, Oliver Stone's Nixon is probably the director's best and most complex movie). Today, I'll probably hit a beach, just to see the ocean...

California, here I come!!!!

Tomorrow night, I will be going to sleep at my MIL apartment. Yes, I'm leaving for California tomorrow morning. I'll spend almost two weeks in LA (I think I mentioned many times how much I love that city), and then 4 days in San Francisco, as guests of friends. I am so happy to be out of this cold weather. Yeah!!! I'll be blogging often, so keep coming.

Los Violadores, Todos Tus Muertos... Punk in Argentina

After my recent post regarding essential books and DVDs for those of us who love punk rock, a reader emailed me asking for suggestions about the best Argentine punk albums. Always happy to comply, here are some of the most iconic albums in Argentine punk history.

First, a personal explanation. The first Argentine punk groups were formed in 1979-1980, during the dictatorship, and it flourished in the underground music scene of (mainly) Buenos Aires around 1983, with the return of democracy. At that time, a was a child. I got involved in the scene in the early 1990s, where I was always reminded by old timers that now things were not as they used to be, back in the old days (isn't it always like that?). To my surprise, Wikipedia has an entry (in English) on Argentine punk. It will give you more context. The most important Argentine punk bands were probably Los Violadores, Todos Tus Muertos, and Flema. The one that achieved the most commercial success was Attaque 77.

I got to see Los Violadores in its original formation, and they were amazing. So were Todos Tus Muertos before the singer decided that he wanted to do reggae instead of punk (and thus became a boring band). Unlike the more political lyrics of these two groups, Flema's songs were just an ode to self-destruction, something than the lead singer practiced in his every day life (he died in 2002 after jumping out of a balcony. Nobody knows if it was a suicide or he was just too f**cked up). I saw Flema on stage a few times, and that gives me bragging rights. But the shows were awful, since the singer was always too drunk to even try to put on a show. Attaque 77 were a good imitation of The Ramones. Nothing less and nothing more.

If I had to recommend some albums, I would suggest:

From Los Violadores, their first three albums: "Los Violadores" (1983), "¿Y ahora qué pasa, eh?" (1985), and "Uno, dos, ultravioladores" (1986). Listen to their song Represion, included in their first album, and imagine what it must have been to perform it during the dictatorship.

From Todos Tus Muertos, their first three albums also: "Todos Tus Muertos" (1988), "Nena de Hiroshima" (1990) and "Dale Aborigen" (1994). My favorite song: Gente que No, from their first album.

There is also a hard-to-find compilation, Invasion 88, that features many punk bands that were popular in the late 1980s. I used to own a copy, but I lost it at some point with my numerous moves.

If you are interested, Amazon has "Best of..." of many of the Argentine punk bands. You can give them a try if you want...I hope this is helpful for my reader and for everybody else.

*Headdesk*

*POOF*

One year anniversary!!!!

Wow...It's been a year. I started this blog on December 10th, 2010, with two short posts. I didn't really know what my goals were, and said it in the first post. It was an exploration. I probably envisioned it as a mostly academic blog, but along the way, I started finding my voice. So the blog became a mix. It has some brief, banal posts, long political essays, reflections on teaching, a lot of discussion about bibliography for undergraduate level classes, annotations on film, and personal anecdotes. It started slowly, and took off around April, when the readership increased 300% in a month. It was in June when it became mildly popular. And I have more readers now than I ever thought I would.

I learned a lot this year. I encountered academic bloggers with trajectories similar to mine, and others who described experiences completely different to anything I ever went through. I finally got rid of a certain guilt/inferiority complex for finding more pleasure in teaching than in research. I am a good scholar and an excellent professor, and I am damn proud of it!!! I forged connections that even led to participating in an grant proposal (and I learned about this too). I started reading other blogs, not just academics. In short, I think I formed a small community that I didn't have a year ago. And I am very happy for that.

Who knows what shape this blog will have in the future? So far, it's been a great personal outlet, and I am very grateful for that. And for all my insightful readers. Cheers!!!

Letters of recommendation for Grad School

A few weeks ago Bardiac wrote an excellent rant on the absurdity of some questions you need to answer in the recommendation forms from some graduate programs. Currently, I'm in the process of writing letters of recommendations for one particular student, who is applying to 8 different graduate programs in Spanish. I wholeheartedly agree with Bardiac complaints, and I have encountered a few of them myself. And I have others.

What does "Professional Maturity" mean, exactly? The applicant is not "mature" in the profession, that's why ze is applying to grad school. Another one I worry about is "Teaching Potential" (I think the options were outstanding, above average, average, below average, unknown). The student in question had three classes with me, and in two of them ze had to do a presentation and lead a class discussion for 20 minutes after the presentation. And ze was great. But that is the only fact I have to base my opinion on. Considering that the student is applying to a field where most funding comes from Teaching Assistanships to teach language courses, I would be worried to mark that field as "unknown". But seriously, how many professors can honestly answer that question? Another one I encountered was "emotional stability". Huhhh? Ze seems fine to me, but I am not hir friend. There are plenty of cases where students can maintain a facade of "I have everything under control" while in reality they may be a train-wreck.

Finally, I realized (it was my fault, not the student) that one school requires both the online recommendation and snail mail. I can obviously print the letter I wrote for hir and mail it. What worries me is the first part, where they have different categories and you have to rate the student as Exceptional, Above Average, etc...I can't figure out how to retrieve the online form. I know I answer honestly to all of them. But what if there is a difference between how I rated the student on the online application and how I rate hir on the print one. Would it hurt hir chances at that school, because they would consider I am not a reliable reference?

I am sure I'm worrying in vain, but this is the first time as a professor that a student ask me for a letter of recommendation for Grad School in my field, so I worry. We'll see.

New one credit course offering - "Critical thinking and cheating"

No, I still haven't recanted from my previous post. I still miss my students. However, I am more convinced every passing day that universities should offer a one credit course entitled "Cheating and Critical Thinking", or something similar. Seriously, the only thing that I hate more than cheating is dumb cheating. I consider it an insult to my intelligence. A course like this would expose students to all the ways that cheating can be caught. Sometimes, I can't believe the stupidity demonstrated.

I can't go into specifics on this one, but here is an advice to students, in case you are reading. Plagiarizing a research paper doing a copy and paste of a book published by freaking Duke University Press is a bad idea!!! If you have been a less than stellar student, it's an even worse idea. Actually having those paragraphs translated to Spanish by somebody who is obviously good at what s/he does increases the already high possibilities of raising suspicions. I can't write in that kind of academic language. If you got a B- in Spanish composition, you can't either.

I miss my students...

As awesome as having a sabbatical is, today I realized that I miss teaching and the interactions with students. This afternoon was the senior students capstone project presentation (all majors are required to write a 15 pages research paper and then do a presentation on it in Spanish). One was excellent, another one was OK, one was mediocre, and I better don't say anything about the last one (we have more than 4 majors a year, but they usually write their capstone project in the Spring). But I really enjoyed just listening to them, asking them questions, interacting with the students. Of course, I wouldn't change this sabbatical for anything in the world, but I am a natural born teacher, and I am ready to go back to the classroom in January. Bring it on!

Remind me of this post when I inevitably start complaining on the Spring.

Back to where it all started...

My husband and I met on March 2006, at a music show, the concert of the grandson of a certain American music legend. That day, I was the date of somebody who would become B. future roommate. Obviously, that went nowhere, because on July 2007 B. and I got married. Yesterday, we went to see a show by the same musician. We had a blast. We even briefly participated in the mosh-pit, despite our ages and bourgeois respectability. It was awesome.

The Way (2010), Martin Sheen, and the School of the Americas

I haven't seen the movie The Way, directed by Emilio Estevez with his father Martin Sheen as the main actor, despite the fact that it got great reviews and it is playing in the art movie theater around the corner from where I live. The topic was not attractive to me. No matter how well done they are, "inspirational" stories are not for me. As described on imdb.com,

"The Way" is a powerful and inspirational story about family, friends, and the challenges we face while navigating this ever-changing and complicated world. Martin Sheen plays Tom, an American doctor who comes to St. Jean Pied de Port, France to collect the remains of his adult son (played by Emilio Estevez), killed in the Pyrenees in a storm while walking the Camino de Santiago, also known as The Way of Saint James. Rather than return home, Tom decides to embark on the historical pilgrimage to honor his son's desire to finish the journey. What Tom doesn't plan on is the profound impact the journey will have on him and his "California Bubble Life".

I still don't know if I will go and watch it, but I may change my mind. And I just heard a story about Martin Sheen that made me gain a new appreciation for him (not that I ever had a problem with him, I just didn't have any opinion about him).

My institution has a student group that goes every year to the School of the Americas protest. For those readers who do not know what the School of the Americas is, here is the long Wikipedia entry. The short version is that it is a United States Department of Defense educational and training facility at Fort Benning near Columbus, Georgia. What kind of educational training does it specialize on? It has trained Latin American military and law enforcement personnel in "national security defense" mechanism. More bluntly, techniques on quashing dissent, physical abuse, torture, and every kind of human rights abuse you can think of. In Argentina, my uncle and my grandfather had in 1976 the "opportunity" to experience first hand the effectiveness of such a training. And no, they were not the Army officers applying it, but were on the receiving end. Every November, there is a public demonstration of protest in front of Fort Benning. There is where our students go, with a faculty member that accompanies them.

A few days ago, the faculty member that went with the students this year told me that ze had seen Martin Sheen in the protest. Both ze and some of the students had seen the movie The Way, and had thought it was fabulous. They were a little shy of approaching him to tell him so, because they thought it could be inappropriate, but they finally got the courage to approach him. He was really nice and polite to them, and told the students that he admired them. That they were also on a pilgrimage, that any time you put yourself into a situation in which you risk changing that it is a pilgrimage. And that, if you are lucky, you will change—and realize it.

I thought it was an amazing answer. I still don't know if I will watch The Way, but the anecdote revealed a side of Martin Sheen I didn't know. And my students experienced something really important thanks to him.

Question to my readers regarding prejudice and bigotry...

I have a question for my readers:

In your opinion, what kind of prejudice and/or bigotry is accepted (or at least tolerated) within so-called progressive groups, without being actively challenged by other members of that group if one of them expresses such a prejudiced or bigoted opinion? Why do you think it happens?

I'd really like to know your point of view, since I'll never ceased to be surprised.