Last Fall, my dissertation advisor contacted me. There is a regional conference taking place at my alma mater in the next few months. My advisor wanted to put together a panel with some of his former students. He asked me if I was interested, and I said yes. I thought it was a good excuse to go back and see some people again, and I also liked my advisor's idea of putting together a panel with his former students (I had a very good relationship with him). So I sent the proposal, and it got accepted.
My experience in grad school was mostly good, although it ended on a bittersweet note. On the good side, I had really caring professors. They gave as good advice while treating us like human beings with lives. I got a TT job straight out from grad school (as did everybody else in my program that was in the market that year). I met B. my last year and was married 11 months later. On the bad side, my last summer there a beloved professor passed away unexpectedly. During the last year of grad school I had a falling out with somebody who had been my best friend there, and that hurt me more than you can think and also introduced an element of awkwardness in the relationships I had with some other people.
Back to the conference. Yesterday I received the tentative program, and I realized that I wasn't the only one who'd think attending the conference would be a good excuse to go back to my alma mater. So did the person I had a falling out with, and a few other people with whom it became awkward to hang out because of this first person. Basically, I'm going back to my alma mater, but the memories of the bad things will also be present. Maybe I'm still resentful of how things went down, maybe I haven't gotten over it yet, but I wish such person wasn't there. Since yesterday, I've been feeling anxious about the whole thing. I know it won't be bad, but I wish I could avoid interacting with said person and a few others. And I know it won't be possible. Blerghh...Not happy
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Argentine Spanish Slang Dictionary
My husband, always willing to improve his Spanish, just sent me the link to an Argentine Spanish Slang Dictionary blog. I haven't gone over it yet, but I thought it can be an amazing resource for Latin American literature college professors (sometimes it can be hard to explain certain terms), or for any other person trying gain a broader knowledge of Argentine Spanish. Enjoy!
Monday, January 30, 2012
Best/worst student excuses...
A few years ago, there was a hilarious thread at the CHE with the most amusing student excuses instructors had received. Some of the best ones were those that turned out to be true. I can't find the thread now, but I still remember one where a student was not able to take and exam because he had witnessed a crime committed by the mob, and now they were after him. The instructor contacted the police, and it was not a lie!!!
My anecdote doesn't even come close, and it was absolutely BS. But I think that today, I may have heard the worst student excuse of my career, so far. A student came to me demanding to re-schedule the quiz they have on Wednesday, because ze was going to be out of town for a basketball game. I told him that it was not a valid excuse, and that since the lower quiz grade gets dropped, he could choose that one to skip and there would be no consequences. "But I am a basketball management major, and it's a class requirement that I attend the game," ze protested. I told hir that if hir professor send me an email confirming it and asking for a make-up quiz, I would give it to hir. As you can imagine, I am still waiting for the email. And no, there is no basketball management major at my institution.
What are the best/worst/more memorable excuses you've ever received? Were they true or a lie?
My anecdote doesn't even come close, and it was absolutely BS. But I think that today, I may have heard the worst student excuse of my career, so far. A student came to me demanding to re-schedule the quiz they have on Wednesday, because ze was going to be out of town for a basketball game. I told him that it was not a valid excuse, and that since the lower quiz grade gets dropped, he could choose that one to skip and there would be no consequences. "But I am a basketball management major, and it's a class requirement that I attend the game," ze protested. I told hir that if hir professor send me an email confirming it and asking for a make-up quiz, I would give it to hir. As you can imagine, I am still waiting for the email. And no, there is no basketball management major at my institution.
What are the best/worst/more memorable excuses you've ever received? Were they true or a lie?
First Acceptance Letter
Today, I received an email from my former student, the one I've been advising on her applications to grad school. Not only had she received her first acceptance, but the Spanish department at that university was going to nominate her as their candidate for a university-wide fellowship. I brought me back to when I received my first acceptance to a PhD program(though that was a voice mail left at my parents' apartment in Argentina, I was living there then). The thrill and the excitement. My student is so happy, and so am I!!!
Friday, January 27, 2012
RBOC - job search, my parents, and tickets to Argentina
It's Friday! Only one more meeting, and I am going home. Yey!!! A few random thoughts:
- As I've mentioned before, my department is conducting a search for a TT position in a language other than Spanish. All the principal faculty in the department has a vote in the decision. It has been an illuminating process so far, being on the other side of the hiring process. At the beginning of the week we got together for the first time to rank candidates in 3 categories: A, B and C. A were the best candidates, B were the candidates that were OK if none of the top candidates work out, and C are the candidates that we rejected outright (for the record, I was a B candidate for the position I currently hold. You never know what can happen in these searches). Candidates ranked as A are the ones who will get the initial phone call. Because what the department is looking for is very specific, there weren't many applications (a little over 40). I had 7 A candidates, probably 15 B candidates, and the rest were C. I was very meticulous doing my ranking, and, for me, it was clear and obvious who was an A candidate and who was not. As you may imagine, everybody had different ideas. I think there were 2 candidates everybody agreed were in the top category. An hour and a half of discussion ensued. I think two more of my top candidates made it into those who will be interviewed by phone. But it was really interesting to hear the opinion of all my colleagues regarding the rest of the candidates. Nobody was being picky or irrational, they just have different visions of what a good candidate is. That being said, a few comments:
a) Dear candidate: Thank you very much for the application, but we are not the University of X. In fact, University of X is 100 miles away from us (I checked, and University of X is looking for a somehow similar position, so it could be that the candidate forgot to change to whom s/he was addressing the cover letter)
b) Dear (different) candidate: We asked for a candidate in some of the languages that my department teach. It's great that you could fill in the obvious gap (hir words) we have because we don't teach Russian, but that is not what we are looking for.
- My parents are coming to town in a few weeks. Thank God they know how to entertain themselves (though they do not drive). I've run out of ideas of what to do with them. They come every year, and I love it. But after you've been in this city more than once, there aren't that many things to be done around here that do not involve a 2 hour drive.
- The prices of round trip flights to Argentina are getting higher every year. So far, I haven't find anything below $1400. I paid $1050 last year, and even less before that. Uggg... My dream of vacationing in Europe for a few weeks will never become true unless I give up going to Argentina one year, and I am not willing to do that. I need my yearly three weeks Buenos Aires fix in order to be able to be happy in the United States.
But to end on a high note: It's Friday, yeah!!!!
- As I've mentioned before, my department is conducting a search for a TT position in a language other than Spanish. All the principal faculty in the department has a vote in the decision. It has been an illuminating process so far, being on the other side of the hiring process. At the beginning of the week we got together for the first time to rank candidates in 3 categories: A, B and C. A were the best candidates, B were the candidates that were OK if none of the top candidates work out, and C are the candidates that we rejected outright (for the record, I was a B candidate for the position I currently hold. You never know what can happen in these searches). Candidates ranked as A are the ones who will get the initial phone call. Because what the department is looking for is very specific, there weren't many applications (a little over 40). I had 7 A candidates, probably 15 B candidates, and the rest were C. I was very meticulous doing my ranking, and, for me, it was clear and obvious who was an A candidate and who was not. As you may imagine, everybody had different ideas. I think there were 2 candidates everybody agreed were in the top category. An hour and a half of discussion ensued. I think two more of my top candidates made it into those who will be interviewed by phone. But it was really interesting to hear the opinion of all my colleagues regarding the rest of the candidates. Nobody was being picky or irrational, they just have different visions of what a good candidate is. That being said, a few comments:
a) Dear candidate: Thank you very much for the application, but we are not the University of X. In fact, University of X is 100 miles away from us (I checked, and University of X is looking for a somehow similar position, so it could be that the candidate forgot to change to whom s/he was addressing the cover letter)
b) Dear (different) candidate: We asked for a candidate in some of the languages that my department teach. It's great that you could fill in the obvious gap (hir words) we have because we don't teach Russian, but that is not what we are looking for.
- My parents are coming to town in a few weeks. Thank God they know how to entertain themselves (though they do not drive). I've run out of ideas of what to do with them. They come every year, and I love it. But after you've been in this city more than once, there aren't that many things to be done around here that do not involve a 2 hour drive.
- The prices of round trip flights to Argentina are getting higher every year. So far, I haven't find anything below $1400. I paid $1050 last year, and even less before that. Uggg... My dream of vacationing in Europe for a few weeks will never become true unless I give up going to Argentina one year, and I am not willing to do that. I need my yearly three weeks Buenos Aires fix in order to be able to be happy in the United States.
But to end on a high note: It's Friday, yeah!!!!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Back to the teaching routine after a sabbatical
Last week, I started writing a post with a sum up and some reflections of my semester on sabbatical. I do not seem to be able to finish it (and I don't need to be Freud to understand why). I guess that post will come when I write the official report about it for the higher ups in the administration. In the meantime, here are some random thoughts after three weeks back on the normal routine.
It has taken me three weeks to regain my teaching mojo. The first week was torture. I had lost one of the things that make me a great teacher: incredible amounts of patience. I was being impacient with students. I'm embarrassed to confess that on the second class, I told a student in my SPAN 101 course that she was welcome to come to my office hours whenever she wanted, that's what they are for. However, since she had never taken Spanish before, I didn't understand why she wanted to make appointments to come twice a week to my office to improve her Spanish accent: she didn't speak the language, so she didn't have an accent!!! (I apologized the following class). Yesterday, as a contrast, a student came to my office because he had trouble understanding something. He left with a smile, saying: "Oh, thanks so much. This [specific point he didn't understand] is so much easier than I thought". That's when I knew that Spanish Prof was back.
That being said...
Dear student: no, I can't send you the assigment before the weekend. I haven't written it yet. That is why I said I would give it to the class on Monday, with more than enough time to complete and return it.
To half the students in my Civilization class: if one of the questions of the first assignent you had to turn in was "How do the new theories about issue X influence contemporary debates about controversial topics Y and Z?", don't answer explaining what the new theories about X are. That's not what I asked, and you are not using your brain.
Overall, it took three weeks, but I've started enjoying teaching again. That's a gift and a talent I never want to lose.
It has taken me three weeks to regain my teaching mojo. The first week was torture. I had lost one of the things that make me a great teacher: incredible amounts of patience. I was being impacient with students. I'm embarrassed to confess that on the second class, I told a student in my SPAN 101 course that she was welcome to come to my office hours whenever she wanted, that's what they are for. However, since she had never taken Spanish before, I didn't understand why she wanted to make appointments to come twice a week to my office to improve her Spanish accent: she didn't speak the language, so she didn't have an accent!!! (I apologized the following class). Yesterday, as a contrast, a student came to my office because he had trouble understanding something. He left with a smile, saying: "Oh, thanks so much. This [specific point he didn't understand] is so much easier than I thought". That's when I knew that Spanish Prof was back.
That being said...
Dear student: no, I can't send you the assigment before the weekend. I haven't written it yet. That is why I said I would give it to the class on Monday, with more than enough time to complete and return it.
To half the students in my Civilization class: if one of the questions of the first assignent you had to turn in was "How do the new theories about issue X influence contemporary debates about controversial topics Y and Z?", don't answer explaining what the new theories about X are. That's not what I asked, and you are not using your brain.
Overall, it took three weeks, but I've started enjoying teaching again. That's a gift and a talent I never want to lose.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Is Newt Gingrich a secret Fidel Castro's agent?
...because I certainly think so after reading the transcript of the interview he gave today to Jorge Ramos, the most popular reporter from Unvision. As an aside, although I really do not like Jorge Ramos most of the times, I have to applaud him for what was probably the toughest questions anybody made to a Republican candidate (the mainstream American media should be ashamed). Read the whole transcript, or, even better, watch the interview on YouTube, to see how irritated Newt was at the end.
Back to the interview. Jorge Ramos started mentioning a quote Newt made in a previous debate, that a Gingrich presidency would not tolerate "four more years of a Cuban dictatorship". So Ramos asks:
Jorge Ramos: But if the U.S. bombed Gaddafi, is it fair to do the same thing with the Castros?
I am quoting Newt Gingrich response entirely:
So, if I am reading this correctly, Gingrich is saying that at the moment there is no need to bomb Cuba, because you do not have a case of a popular uprising as it was the case of Libya. Then, he can't resist to criticize Obama for being "intrigued" with Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, etc, but not "noticing" Cuba. He then explains that if there was a genuine legitimate uprising in Cuba, his presidency would of course be on the side of the people. And here comes the scary part:
Back to the interview. Jorge Ramos started mentioning a quote Newt made in a previous debate, that a Gingrich presidency would not tolerate "four more years of a Cuban dictatorship". So Ramos asks:
So what will you do? Will you invade Cuba? Are you proposing the killing of the Castro brothers, as the U.S. Army did with Osama bin Laden? What’s the plan?First, Gingrich responded by invoking Thatcher, Reagan and the Pope John Paul II and their role in breaking down the Soviet Union through psychological and economical measures, and covert operations (as if the US hadn't tried those in Cuba previously).
Jorge Ramos: But if the U.S. bombed Gaddafi, is it fair to do the same thing with the Castros?
I am quoting Newt Gingrich response entirely:
No, I think at the moment you don’t need to. If you watch — I mean first of all, in that case you had an uprising. Now, I would say bluntly — because I find it fascinating that Obama is intrigued with Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria, but doesn’t quite notice Cuba. Now, I will just argue if there was a genuine legitimate uprising, we would, of course, be on the side of the people. And we should be prepared to be on the side of the people. But in that sense I don’t see why Cuba should be sacrosanct, and we should say, “Oh, don’t do anything to hurt” — you know, we’re very prepared to back people in Libya. We may end up backing people in Syria. But now Cuba? Hands off Cuba. That’s bologna. People of Cuba deserve freedom.
So, if I am reading this correctly, Gingrich is saying that at the moment there is no need to bomb Cuba, because you do not have a case of a popular uprising as it was the case of Libya. Then, he can't resist to criticize Obama for being "intrigued" with Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, etc, but not "noticing" Cuba. He then explains that if there was a genuine legitimate uprising in Cuba, his presidency would of course be on the side of the people. And here comes the scary part:
And we should be prepared to be on the side of the people. But in that sense I don’t see why Cuba should be sacrosanct, and we should say, “Oh, don’t do anything to hurt” — you know, we’re very prepared to back people in Libya. We may end up backing people in Syria. But now Cuba? Hands off Cuba. That’s bologna. People of Cuba deserve freedom.Am I reading it incorrectly, or Newt Gingrich is actually saying that if there was a popular uprising, the United States would be ready and willing to bomb Cuba? Scary...and if I were a leader of the opposition in Cuba, trying to overthrow Castro's dictatorship, I would read this and be very concerned about the unintended consequences of my actions. I don't think many Cubans living in Cuba, no matter how anti-Castro they are, would like their country being bombed by the United States. If I was a leader of the opposition in Cuba, such a declaration would certainly paralyze me for a while. And that is why I was asking if Newt Gingrich is a secret agent working for Fidel Castro.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Latin American crime fiction is not cool...
...or so seem to be the thought of U.S publishing houses. We are not Scandinavian countries with their noir bestsellers. For my course on Contemporary Latin American crime fiction next semester, I've been doing some research on what has been translated and what has not, and the results show very little interest to translate Latin American crime fiction into English. The logic behind what is translated and what is not is weird, too. From Argentina, very few canonical novels have been translated: Ricardo Piglia's Plata Quemada is translated, and so is Juan Jose Saer. Saer and Piglia, though, have a special status in the canon of Argentine literature, and they have probably been translated because they are considered "serious" writers, not because of the genre in itself. There is no Juan Martini in translation (El Cerco and Puerto Apache being my favorite novels), nor has Feinmann's classic Ultimos Dias De La Victima
been translated. The same applies to Juan Sasturain. I've found two Argentine authors translated: Ernesto Mallo and Guillermo Orsi. Both are good (I prefer Mallo to Orsi), but none of them is very well known, even in Argentina. Thanks to a recent article in The Economist regarding Argentine fiction, I discovered two things:
a) that Carlos Gamerro's El secreto y las voces has been translated into English. I haven't read the translation, but if you read Spanish, it's one of my favorite Argentine books from the past 10 years.
b) a new name: Matias Nespolo, whose first book, Siete maneras de matar a un gato, has just been translated. I had never heard the name, so I asked my mother if she could buy me a copy of the book in Argentina and send it to me. A complete failure. She couldn't find the book in any Buenos Aires bookstore. Oddly enough, she found it on a Spanish bookstore that sells online and ships to the United States. But you can find the English translation on Amazon, even for the Kindle!!! Since I will be teaching the class in translation anyway, I order it last week in English. We'll see.
From Mexico, most Paco Ignacio Taibo II (the canonical figure par excellence) crime novels have been translated. So have Leonardo Padura Fuentes series with inspector Mario Conde in Cuba (I highly recommend all of Padura Fuentes novels). You can also find the most popular Brazilian writers (Rubem Fonseca, Patricia Melo, Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza) in translation. That is not the case in Chile. Yes, Roberto Bolaño's novels have been translated, and you could classify some as crime fiction. However, he was a literary and marketing phenomenon that far exceeded any category. Ramon Diaz Eterovic, for example, has not been translated. Nor has, in the case of Colombia, Santiago Gamboa.
I am still really excited to prepare and teach the course. It will be a little more difficult than I first thought to design the syllabus, though.
If I made any mistake regarding what has been translated or not, please correct me. There is nothing I'd love more than to discover translations I did not know existed.
been translated. The same applies to Juan Sasturain. I've found two Argentine authors translated: Ernesto Mallo and Guillermo Orsi. Both are good (I prefer Mallo to Orsi), but none of them is very well known, even in Argentina. Thanks to a recent article in The Economist regarding Argentine fiction, I discovered two things: a) that Carlos Gamerro's El secreto y las voces has been translated into English. I haven't read the translation, but if you read Spanish, it's one of my favorite Argentine books from the past 10 years.
b) a new name: Matias Nespolo, whose first book, Siete maneras de matar a un gato, has just been translated. I had never heard the name, so I asked my mother if she could buy me a copy of the book in Argentina and send it to me. A complete failure. She couldn't find the book in any Buenos Aires bookstore. Oddly enough, she found it on a Spanish bookstore that sells online and ships to the United States. But you can find the English translation on Amazon, even for the Kindle!!! Since I will be teaching the class in translation anyway, I order it last week in English. We'll see.
From Mexico, most Paco Ignacio Taibo II (the canonical figure par excellence) crime novels have been translated. So have Leonardo Padura Fuentes series with inspector Mario Conde in Cuba (I highly recommend all of Padura Fuentes novels). You can also find the most popular Brazilian writers (Rubem Fonseca, Patricia Melo, Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza) in translation. That is not the case in Chile. Yes, Roberto Bolaño's novels have been translated, and you could classify some as crime fiction. However, he was a literary and marketing phenomenon that far exceeded any category. Ramon Diaz Eterovic, for example, has not been translated. Nor has, in the case of Colombia, Santiago Gamboa.
I am still really excited to prepare and teach the course. It will be a little more difficult than I first thought to design the syllabus, though.
If I made any mistake regarding what has been translated or not, please correct me. There is nothing I'd love more than to discover translations I did not know existed.
Monday, January 23, 2012
How to make your students uncomfortable
Ask (in English) your SPAN 101 class if I, SP (a white Argentinean) am Hispanic or not...Conduct the discussion in English...Relax and listen to the answers (or better, start asking one by one because very few will volunteer). It made for a really interesting conversation.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Best quote I read regarding Paterno's death.
After feeling nauseated with all the "mourning" regarding Paterno's death (including Facebook acquaintances that went to Penn State), I finally found (also on Facebook), the most concise and accurate statement that suns up my feelings.
"In honor of Paterno's death, turn a blind eye and do nothing today" - E.R
"In honor of Paterno's death, turn a blind eye and do nothing today" - E.R
Friday, January 20, 2012
Dream course . . . Contemporary Latin American crime fiction in translation
If nothing changes and everything goes as plan, it looks as if I will get to design and teach my (almost) dream course next semester. It's one of those university-wide literature requirement that every student has to take (we have a really heavy core curriculum here), with a very vague name (not exactly this, but something like "Ethics, Society and Literature"). It is taught in English, and both the English department and the Modern Language Department offer sections of it. Everybody gets to teach whatever they want, as long as it somehow fits the title. If nothing changes, I'm teaching it next semester, and I want to make it a course on Contemporary Latin American crime fiction. I said it's an "almost" dream course because I will be restricted to whatever has been translated into English. Ideally, I would just do Argentina. For some reason, not that many "canonical" contemporary crime novels from Argentina have been translated (while most of Leonardo Padura and Paco Ignacio Taibo has, I believe). So I need to do more research on what's available, but I get to teach one of my favorite topics!!!!
I'm beginning my research into what's been translated. Do you know of any specific Latin American crime novel (from, say, the past 30 years) that have been translated? Any help will be appreciated.
I'm beginning my research into what's been translated. Do you know of any specific Latin American crime novel (from, say, the past 30 years) that have been translated? Any help will be appreciated.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Guillermo Shakespeare, a threat to national security...
Thanks to a post Clarissa wrote, I found out two days ago of a whole list of books banned in Tucson schools because of Arizona state-wide ban on teaching ethnic studies. Among those dangerous books that need to be taken away from susceptible minds we can encounter Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years
, Paulo Freire's classic Pedagogy of the Oppressed
and 500 Anos Del Pueblo Chicano / 500 Years of Chicano History: In Pictures
. The biggest surprise was to find among the banned books Shakespeare's The Tempest
.
As I said, I found out about it on Tuesday. The assigned reading for my Latin American Civilization class for Wednesday was Gustavo Verdesio's essay "Mapping the Pre-Columbian Americas: Indigenous Peoples of the Americas and Western Knowledge", a chapter in Sara Castro-Klaren's A Companion to Latin American Literature and Culture
. The topic of the importance of thinking how we represent the past in the present is constant in the article. And the timing as to when I found out about Tucson's ban couldn't be better. An example from Verdesio's article:
Very few of them, however, could figure out why they banned The Tempest. There are some explanations on the comments of Clarissa's post, but I am not sure I would give that much credit to the public officials that compiled the list. I'm not sure they would realize how dangerous the themes of oppression present in The Tempest could be in the "wrong" hands (Mexican-Americans?), and I am sure they have no idea how influential that book was in Latin American political thought (Google José Enrique Rodó and Roberto Fernandez Retamar if you don't know what I am talking about).
What do you think?
, Paulo Freire's classic Pedagogy of the Oppressedand 500 Anos Del Pueblo Chicano / 500 Years of Chicano History: In Pictures. The biggest surprise was to find among the banned books Shakespeare's The Tempest. As I said, I found out about it on Tuesday. The assigned reading for my Latin American Civilization class for Wednesday was Gustavo Verdesio's essay "Mapping the Pre-Columbian Americas: Indigenous Peoples of the Americas and Western Knowledge", a chapter in Sara Castro-Klaren's A Companion to Latin American Literature and Culture
. The topic of the importance of thinking how we represent the past in the present is constant in the article. And the timing as to when I found out about Tucson's ban couldn't be better. An example from Verdesio's article: [we need to] realize how important are the narratives we produce in the present to create a past that suits our community's - whatever community one belongs to - needs in the present, and how those pasts one invents are going to determine the futures that will actually happen or take place in real life. (38)So I sent my students the link to Salon's article on the topic, and then in class we also explore the publisher's website for the book Rethinking Columbus. We had a wonderful and lively discussion where they started to remember how little they were taught about Columbus and the Conquest in high school (let alone Native-Americans before the arrival of Columbus), and how much of it was probably a myth. I couldn't have asked for a better framing for the whole course, in the sense of starting to think critically and to question the knowledge they receive and the assumptions they held.
Very few of them, however, could figure out why they banned The Tempest. There are some explanations on the comments of Clarissa's post, but I am not sure I would give that much credit to the public officials that compiled the list. I'm not sure they would realize how dangerous the themes of oppression present in The Tempest could be in the "wrong" hands (Mexican-Americans?), and I am sure they have no idea how influential that book was in Latin American political thought (Google José Enrique Rodó and Roberto Fernandez Retamar if you don't know what I am talking about).
What do you think?
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Leadership, leadership, why is everybody supposed to be a leader?
Classes started a week and a half ago, I have the lesson plans for all my classes for the next two weeks, and still, I am officially behind as far as work goes. Different reasons:
1) a report for a committee that I need to write but I am clueless because I didn't attend the meetings last semester because of my sabbatical. It has involved a lot of detective work to trace what this people are even talking about.
2) A search my department is conducting. Not my language nor my field, but I have to read all the applications for next Tuesday departmental meeting. The deadline to submit the applications was January 13th, so this week we've had a ton of applications at the last minute. I can't really blog about it, but as a tip, make sure that 3 out of 4 letters of recommendation you submit are NOT written in a language other than English.
3) Last but not least, and related to the title of this post: I am part of a committee that interviews the students that apply for a service learning program abroad. There is a pretty standard set of questions designed by the director of the program, and there is one that always gets me: What type of leader are you? A question for a 19 year old student!!! Besides, why should everybody be a leader? Or want to be one? I mean, there are already talks that when my Chair term as Chair ends we might need to conduct an external search, because nobody in the department wants to be Chair. You are taking a group of 10-15 students abroad, in a very special program where they'll be roughing it up a bit and they'll be in close contact for more than a month. If everybody feels s/he is a leader, it would be a nightmare to control. In fact, I give extra consideration to the few students honest enough to say that they don't believe they are leaders.
"Forming informed leaders for the future" and sh**t like that are blurbs that appear in almost every college brochure I've seen. I've even heard if proposals to create a PhD in Leadership studies (???) Are we trying to model a generation of insufferable, immature people? I will declare it out loud: I am not a LEADER, nor do I aspire to become one.
1) a report for a committee that I need to write but I am clueless because I didn't attend the meetings last semester because of my sabbatical. It has involved a lot of detective work to trace what this people are even talking about.
2) A search my department is conducting. Not my language nor my field, but I have to read all the applications for next Tuesday departmental meeting. The deadline to submit the applications was January 13th, so this week we've had a ton of applications at the last minute. I can't really blog about it, but as a tip, make sure that 3 out of 4 letters of recommendation you submit are NOT written in a language other than English.
3) Last but not least, and related to the title of this post: I am part of a committee that interviews the students that apply for a service learning program abroad. There is a pretty standard set of questions designed by the director of the program, and there is one that always gets me: What type of leader are you? A question for a 19 year old student!!! Besides, why should everybody be a leader? Or want to be one? I mean, there are already talks that when my Chair term as Chair ends we might need to conduct an external search, because nobody in the department wants to be Chair. You are taking a group of 10-15 students abroad, in a very special program where they'll be roughing it up a bit and they'll be in close contact for more than a month. If everybody feels s/he is a leader, it would be a nightmare to control. In fact, I give extra consideration to the few students honest enough to say that they don't believe they are leaders.
"Forming informed leaders for the future" and sh**t like that are blurbs that appear in almost every college brochure I've seen. I've even heard if proposals to create a PhD in Leadership studies (???) Are we trying to model a generation of insufferable, immature people? I will declare it out loud: I am not a LEADER, nor do I aspire to become one.
Link love in the middle of the week . . .wine, Mitt Romney, SLAC, body image and grad students
Because I haven't done it in a while, and I want to spread the love.
1) I'll keep drinking my glass of red wine after a stressful day, health benefits or not.
2) I don't always agree with this blogger, but this post is spot on. Don't judge Mitt Romney on morality, judge him on the bases of public policy. Though, I would add (and this is not present on the post), it could become an interesting opportunity to discuss, from a political and economic point of view, the type of "creative destruction" capitalism that Romney advocates and that many Americans seem to embrace as a article of faith. In the current economic situation, I'd like to see how the public reacts.
3) feMOMhist has a series of posts on what is it like to teach at a non-elite SLAC (or similar equivalents). A must-read. You can find her reflections here, here and here. Fie adds her two cents on the interdisciplinary work possibilities she's found at her current institution.
4) If You're Fat, Then What Am I? Miriam on body image.
5) recent PhD wonders: Do current grad students have no research skills whatsoever, or was it a random oddball? The former, I am afraid.
1) I'll keep drinking my glass of red wine after a stressful day, health benefits or not.
2) I don't always agree with this blogger, but this post is spot on. Don't judge Mitt Romney on morality, judge him on the bases of public policy. Though, I would add (and this is not present on the post), it could become an interesting opportunity to discuss, from a political and economic point of view, the type of "creative destruction" capitalism that Romney advocates and that many Americans seem to embrace as a article of faith. In the current economic situation, I'd like to see how the public reacts.
3) feMOMhist has a series of posts on what is it like to teach at a non-elite SLAC (or similar equivalents). A must-read. You can find her reflections here, here and here. Fie adds her two cents on the interdisciplinary work possibilities she's found at her current institution.
4) If You're Fat, Then What Am I? Miriam on body image.
5) recent PhD wonders: Do current grad students have no research skills whatsoever, or was it a random oddball? The former, I am afraid.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Same Time, Next Year - AP reader
Another obscure reference, just to say that, as I did last year, I have accepted the short-term gig of being an AP Spanish Language Reader this upcoming June. The job is not exactly pleasant, but the pay is good and you really have all your costs covered, so you spend very little money on your own. I'll make sure to use the stipend on something more pleasant than assembly-line type grading. An experience that, nevertheless, I believe everybody should go through at least once in their life.
Beware of "reflections"...
In fact, too many "reflections" and very little action will transform you into the laughingstock of a community. It will invite unpleasant comparisons. Moreover, too many "reflections" and very little action can get you fired. And that is a good thing.
Yes, I know this is a cryptic post. But I had to write it.
Yes, I know this is a cryptic post. But I had to write it.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Dear student, in case you were not aware, today is MLK day
Therefore, I'm not surprised that you did not find me in my office when you stopped by this afternoon. Actually, I'm surprised you were even able to access the building. I thought they were closed during national holidays. And despite your phone message (they get forwarded to my email), I will not get back to you tonight. I can't think of anything so urgent that it cannot wait 12 hours. In fact, for the future, I suggest that you actually mention what is so urgent that you need to contact me ASAP (that's how it sounded on the phone). Otherwise, I'll just think you are exaggerating and don't know proper boundaries. I'll get back to you tomorrow,
Best,
SP.
Best,
SP.
About Tim Tebow... an outsider perspective
After New England Patriot's impressive victory, I'm sure we will see less public discussions about Tim Tebow. Before the wave disappears, though, I would like to add my two cents. Last weekend, Historiann had a controversial post regarding him. I participated in the discussion, so you can read some of my opinions in that thread. There were a few other things, though, that I didn't write because I thought it would derail the discussion. But here they are:
1) As a foreigner, I find puzzling that nobody questions Tebow's chastity claims. Am I too cynical? There are so many evangelical Christians that claim purity, chastity, etc, and then it is revealed that reality is nothing like that. Maybe the answer is that Tebow's personal life is nobody's business (it is true that he revealed to be a virgin after being asked by a journalist), but since he has been so vocal about his Christianity and his conservative values, I think questioning his claims is fair game.
2) Related to the previous point, a good question would be what does "virgin" mean in this context? Again, I do not expect a journalist to quiz him on this. However, I've seen to many examples where "virgin" or "chastity until marriage" means "everything but sexual intercourse". That, in my opinion, is problematic from a variety of points of views (health, feminism, etc). To be honest, only if "virgin" means "everything but sexual intercourse" do I believe his claims. Again, many may say none of my business. But from somebody who has participated in an ad for the (according to the Southern Poverty Law Center) hate-group Focus on the Family, and who doesn't believe in abortion even if the mother's life is at risk, I think that questioning his claims is fair game.
So there are many reasons why I really dislike Tim Tebow. I articulated some of them at Historiann's post. Above all, I don't like him because I just don't believe him. But maybe it's just my cynical, foreigner perspective. With some luck, he won't be an issue next Football season. And that would be a good thing.
1) As a foreigner, I find puzzling that nobody questions Tebow's chastity claims. Am I too cynical? There are so many evangelical Christians that claim purity, chastity, etc, and then it is revealed that reality is nothing like that. Maybe the answer is that Tebow's personal life is nobody's business (it is true that he revealed to be a virgin after being asked by a journalist), but since he has been so vocal about his Christianity and his conservative values, I think questioning his claims is fair game.
2) Related to the previous point, a good question would be what does "virgin" mean in this context? Again, I do not expect a journalist to quiz him on this. However, I've seen to many examples where "virgin" or "chastity until marriage" means "everything but sexual intercourse". That, in my opinion, is problematic from a variety of points of views (health, feminism, etc). To be honest, only if "virgin" means "everything but sexual intercourse" do I believe his claims. Again, many may say none of my business. But from somebody who has participated in an ad for the (according to the Southern Poverty Law Center) hate-group Focus on the Family, and who doesn't believe in abortion even if the mother's life is at risk, I think that questioning his claims is fair game.
So there are many reasons why I really dislike Tim Tebow. I articulated some of them at Historiann's post. Above all, I don't like him because I just don't believe him. But maybe it's just my cynical, foreigner perspective. With some luck, he won't be an issue next Football season. And that would be a good thing.
Friday, January 13, 2012
"I mean, this is the US, not some Banana Republic"
...was the phrase I heard from a very good friend (let's call her L.) over the phone a few days ago. And I had to make an effort to let it pass without responding in a sarcastic tone. I didn't say anything because a) she is a good friend and b) I've heard similar phrases from people I consider left-wing progressives before. They always fail to realize how naive (to be kind) such a statement is. And potentially offensive.
I've known L. for many years. She is American, my age, progressive, politically conscious. To sum up, a really cool gal. She is originally from North Carolina, where she also went to school, but moved to Knoxville, TN two years ago. As I said, we were on the phone a few days ago, and she was complaining about the ineptitude and corruption of some members of the police force in her city. Apparently, there is a scandal and a judge is also involved. Though I know absolutely nothing about Knoxville, I have no reasons to doubt what she was saying. After a long rant, she finished with the phrase "I can't believe what's going on. I mean, this is the United States, not some Banana Republic". And I had to breathe deeply, and contain my annoyance. I know nothing about the level of corruption in Knoxville, nor in North Carolina, where she grew up. However, I've never understood that belief in public authorities that Americans usually have. Or the belief that because this is the United States, this things shouldn't happen. Specially when it's applied at the city level. I mean, corruption of city officials and law enforcement agents is one of the main topics of many classic noir novels!!!
I do recognize, though, that while many citizens are able to acknowledge the corruption at the city level, when we are talking about the Federal Government, it's a whole different attitude (the vitriolic attacks towards the Obama presidency and the Tea Party beliefs notwithstanding). In that respect, I've been constantly surprised by what I came to call the "born-again virgin" mentality of many Americans I know, the blind trust that theirs is the best country in the world, the system works, etc, etc. I honestly couldn't believe the surprise and anger many Democrats I knew had when it was revealed that the Bush administration had lied regarding WMD. How could the president lie to the country? "Ehhh...haven't you heard of this guy called Nixon? I think he did it before". And that's the most famous one. I didn't want to get into things such as the Iran-Contra affair during the Reagan administration, to name another episode of corruption at the highest level of the Federal Government.
To be clear, by no means am I trying to deny the level of corruption that exist in other, less developed countries. Argentina is a good case of a country where corruption reaches incredibly high levels. But it really bothers me when US progressives I know say a phrase such as the one that titles my post. It demonstrate a dangerous level of naivete and cognitive dissonance regarding US political affairs, and an attitude of moral superiority that I don't think they are entitled to.
I've known L. for many years. She is American, my age, progressive, politically conscious. To sum up, a really cool gal. She is originally from North Carolina, where she also went to school, but moved to Knoxville, TN two years ago. As I said, we were on the phone a few days ago, and she was complaining about the ineptitude and corruption of some members of the police force in her city. Apparently, there is a scandal and a judge is also involved. Though I know absolutely nothing about Knoxville, I have no reasons to doubt what she was saying. After a long rant, she finished with the phrase "I can't believe what's going on. I mean, this is the United States, not some Banana Republic". And I had to breathe deeply, and contain my annoyance. I know nothing about the level of corruption in Knoxville, nor in North Carolina, where she grew up. However, I've never understood that belief in public authorities that Americans usually have. Or the belief that because this is the United States, this things shouldn't happen. Specially when it's applied at the city level. I mean, corruption of city officials and law enforcement agents is one of the main topics of many classic noir novels!!!
I do recognize, though, that while many citizens are able to acknowledge the corruption at the city level, when we are talking about the Federal Government, it's a whole different attitude (the vitriolic attacks towards the Obama presidency and the Tea Party beliefs notwithstanding). In that respect, I've been constantly surprised by what I came to call the "born-again virgin" mentality of many Americans I know, the blind trust that theirs is the best country in the world, the system works, etc, etc. I honestly couldn't believe the surprise and anger many Democrats I knew had when it was revealed that the Bush administration had lied regarding WMD. How could the president lie to the country? "Ehhh...haven't you heard of this guy called Nixon? I think he did it before". And that's the most famous one. I didn't want to get into things such as the Iran-Contra affair during the Reagan administration, to name another episode of corruption at the highest level of the Federal Government.
To be clear, by no means am I trying to deny the level of corruption that exist in other, less developed countries. Argentina is a good case of a country where corruption reaches incredibly high levels. But it really bothers me when US progressives I know say a phrase such as the one that titles my post. It demonstrate a dangerous level of naivete and cognitive dissonance regarding US political affairs, and an attitude of moral superiority that I don't think they are entitled to.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
A story to put your own stress in the right perspective
I know this is an extreme story, and by no means do I intend to minimize the stress that many of you may be feeling because of work, family issues, relationships, etc. But I found it quite amusing, so I thought I would share it with you.
When B. and I were in Southern California, B. got in touch with a high school friend of his. She is married, but they have no kids. They still live in the area, so they invited us over for dinner one night. It was a very pleasant night. She works in human resources for some company, and the husband has a high executive position in the area of customer service for a big corporation. During dinner, we were talking about personality types, psychology tests and how to interpret them, etc. I am usually quite skeptic about those tests, but I didn't say anything since B.'s high school friend seemed to be a big believer in them. The husband was telling us his personality type according to one of this tests, and explaining that the test measures how you are in "normal" situations and in "stressful" situations (I'm probably using all the wrong vocabulary here, as I am paraphrasing as I understood it. But feel free to correct me if you know what test in particular I'm talking about).
His personality traits under "stressful" situations were quite negative (no compassion, for example). Considering that he had a job that sounded stressful to me (in charge of a sector of customer service for a big corporation), I asked him how did it play in his daily life and in his job.
"Oh," he answered, "it's usually not a problem at all, because only rarely do I feel stressed out in my job".
ME: "Really? Because to me, your job sounds really stressful. Do you do some kind of yoga, or meditation, or something that helps you keep stress at bay?"
HIM: "Oh no, nothing like that. It's just that I used to be an undercover narcotics cop, so I was in situations where people were yelling at me and had guns. Now, every time a client yells at me, I just remind myself 'S/he doesn't have a gun,' and that's enough for me to stay calm. I let them yell, and when they are over venting I just ask them: 'Ok, I understand how this is affecting you. Can we focus on the problem now?'. And that is what makes me really good at my job".
I was impressed and speechless at the same time. Again, as I said in the beginning, this is an extreme story and not really applicable for the majority of human beings. But it did make me look at stress in a different perspective. And to say the least, it's a pretty amusing story.
When B. and I were in Southern California, B. got in touch with a high school friend of his. She is married, but they have no kids. They still live in the area, so they invited us over for dinner one night. It was a very pleasant night. She works in human resources for some company, and the husband has a high executive position in the area of customer service for a big corporation. During dinner, we were talking about personality types, psychology tests and how to interpret them, etc. I am usually quite skeptic about those tests, but I didn't say anything since B.'s high school friend seemed to be a big believer in them. The husband was telling us his personality type according to one of this tests, and explaining that the test measures how you are in "normal" situations and in "stressful" situations (I'm probably using all the wrong vocabulary here, as I am paraphrasing as I understood it. But feel free to correct me if you know what test in particular I'm talking about).
His personality traits under "stressful" situations were quite negative (no compassion, for example). Considering that he had a job that sounded stressful to me (in charge of a sector of customer service for a big corporation), I asked him how did it play in his daily life and in his job.
"Oh," he answered, "it's usually not a problem at all, because only rarely do I feel stressed out in my job".
ME: "Really? Because to me, your job sounds really stressful. Do you do some kind of yoga, or meditation, or something that helps you keep stress at bay?"
HIM: "Oh no, nothing like that. It's just that I used to be an undercover narcotics cop, so I was in situations where people were yelling at me and had guns. Now, every time a client yells at me, I just remind myself 'S/he doesn't have a gun,' and that's enough for me to stay calm. I let them yell, and when they are over venting I just ask them: 'Ok, I understand how this is affecting you. Can we focus on the problem now?'. And that is what makes me really good at my job".
I was impressed and speechless at the same time. Again, as I said in the beginning, this is an extreme story and not really applicable for the majority of human beings. But it did make me look at stress in a different perspective. And to say the least, it's a pretty amusing story.
Scary noises at dawn
Apparently noise really is the theme of this week. Last night, B. went out to have dinner and a drink with his buddy Steve. Although the three of us usually hang out together, this was obviously male-bonding time, so I stayed home. A little before midnight, B. calls me to tell me he is really drunk (and by the way he was slurring his words, he really was), so he was crashing at Steve's couch and driving back home in the morning. "No problem," I replied, happy to have a husband that is smart enough not to engage in drunk-driving. I went to sleep soon thereafter. Noises in the kitchen woke me up at 5 am. I was half asleep, but I kind of freak out to hear noises inside my apartment. I finally went to see what was going on, and there was B. writing a note for me. \
He saw me and said: "SP, I'm so sorry I didn't call you last night to tell you that I staying at Steve. I got really drunk and then passed out before I had the chance to do it. I hope I didn't worry you too much. I woke up there an hour ago and realized you would probably be furious with me, so I came home as soon as I could".
I just stared at him, and then started laughing. "B., you did call me last night to tell me you were not coming home. I wasn't worried".
B: "Really? Then I am really happy I decided not to drive home last night, because I have no recollection of calling you".
And that's how my day started.
He saw me and said: "SP, I'm so sorry I didn't call you last night to tell you that I staying at Steve. I got really drunk and then passed out before I had the chance to do it. I hope I didn't worry you too much. I woke up there an hour ago and realized you would probably be furious with me, so I came home as soon as I could".
I just stared at him, and then started laughing. "B., you did call me last night to tell me you were not coming home. I wasn't worried".
B: "Really? Then I am really happy I decided not to drive home last night, because I have no recollection of calling you".
And that's how my day started.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Online peer-reviewed journals
Today I ran into a (tenured) colleague from another department (in the humanities, but neither English nor History), and ze asked for my advice. Ze said that they were evaluating the tenure file of an assistant professor, and the candidate had a few publications in online peer-reviewed journals. My colleague (a full professor in hir mid-50s) confessed that at first, ze looked at those publications with suspicion, but later realized that ze knew nothing about online peer-reviewed journals, so ze decided to ask around for tips on how to judge such publications (and I guess ze came to me because I'm in my mid-30s). The episode illustrates both the evolving nature of online journals, and how older generations are not necessarily able to judge publications in such venues appropriately. In fact, I've avoided submitting to online journals during my tenure track because I was afraid I would encounter somebody that would dismiss them entirely. However, this doesn't mean that I do not respect online scholarship. Quite the contrary. On my post on Hispanic Studies journals, I put the journal A Contracorriente among those I consider very good. The journal is very specific on its focus and scope:
Going back to my anecdote, the advice I gave to my colleague was multiple: a) ask somebody in another institution, in that specific discipline, and maybe of my generation, what his/her opinion of the journal is, b) take a look at the editorial board of the journal. It can be quite telling c) Even if it's not your field of expertise, read a few articles in the journal and ask a colleague to do the same. That can give you an idea of the quality of the work published there.
The encounter got me thinking about the reputation (or lack of thereof) that online peer-reviewed journals have in academia. I would like to open this post for a discussion of online peer-reviewed journals. For the field of Hispanic Studies, I will name a few. I've already mentioned A Contracorriente. I believe Ciberletras is a good journal for a grad student to start publishing, and that is the reputation it has. The advantage is that Ciberletras sometimes publishes well-known scholars, so that gives an article published there a little more prestige. Transmodernity has two things in its favor: a) it's published by eScholarship and is part of the University of California and b) an excellent editorial board. It has only published one issue so far, so I would keep an eye on it to see what it becomes. The blog Hispanic Studies Journals has some interesting discussions regarding other online journals. As an example of online journals with poor reputation, see the comment thread about Polifonia and Dissidences.
If you are in the field of Hispanic Studies, what online journals do you like? Which ones do you think have prestige? Which ones would you tell a colleague to avoid?
If you are in another humanities field (English or History, for example), what is the perception regarding scholarship published in online peer-reviewed journal? I am really curious about it. Is it accepted? Are there any online only journals that are consider either "Very Good" or "Top" journals? How do you feel about it? Have you submitted to any online journal?
By the way, just to make it clear, when I write about peer-reviewed online journals I am referring to peer-reviewed journals that appear only in an online format.
Founded in 2003 as a refereed, electronic journal designed to stimulate left-wing sociohistorical analyses of Latin American literature and to counteract the relativism present in poststructuralism and postmodernism, A Contracorriente evolved, shortly thereafter, as a journal dedicated to Latin American studies. It aims to foster intellectual debate about Latin American politics, history, economics, literature and culture from left-wing and Marxist points of view.If you are interested in that perspective (and I am), I believe a great number of articles published there are either very good or outstanding.
Going back to my anecdote, the advice I gave to my colleague was multiple: a) ask somebody in another institution, in that specific discipline, and maybe of my generation, what his/her opinion of the journal is, b) take a look at the editorial board of the journal. It can be quite telling c) Even if it's not your field of expertise, read a few articles in the journal and ask a colleague to do the same. That can give you an idea of the quality of the work published there.
The encounter got me thinking about the reputation (or lack of thereof) that online peer-reviewed journals have in academia. I would like to open this post for a discussion of online peer-reviewed journals. For the field of Hispanic Studies, I will name a few. I've already mentioned A Contracorriente. I believe Ciberletras is a good journal for a grad student to start publishing, and that is the reputation it has. The advantage is that Ciberletras sometimes publishes well-known scholars, so that gives an article published there a little more prestige. Transmodernity has two things in its favor: a) it's published by eScholarship and is part of the University of California and b) an excellent editorial board. It has only published one issue so far, so I would keep an eye on it to see what it becomes. The blog Hispanic Studies Journals has some interesting discussions regarding other online journals. As an example of online journals with poor reputation, see the comment thread about Polifonia and Dissidences.
If you are in the field of Hispanic Studies, what online journals do you like? Which ones do you think have prestige? Which ones would you tell a colleague to avoid?
If you are in another humanities field (English or History, for example), what is the perception regarding scholarship published in online peer-reviewed journal? I am really curious about it. Is it accepted? Are there any online only journals that are consider either "Very Good" or "Top" journals? How do you feel about it? Have you submitted to any online journal?
By the way, just to make it clear, when I write about peer-reviewed online journals I am referring to peer-reviewed journals that appear only in an online format.
Syllabus, a new peer-reviewed journal
Today I found in my inbox an announcement for the launch of a new peer-reviewed journal: Syllabus. Here is the link to the announcement. And here is the homepage for the new journal Syllabus. The details seem a little vague yet, and I will probably wait until they publish a few issues to submit something. However, I will follow the development with great interest. As any reader of this blog knows, I am a perfectionists as far as syllabus goes, always looking for new material and improving my syllabus from previous semesters. In addition, a great number of people land in my blog with keyword searches related to Latin American studies course materials. I also know that many of the bloggers I read are very involved in syllabus design. That I why I wanted to alert everybody to this upcoming journal. You may find it interesting, and you may even find it as a good avenue for publishing (specially if you work at a teaching college). Pass the word around, too.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Noise, noise, the theme of the week, and it's driving me nuts...
As I briefly mentioned in my last post, there is a lot of construction going on in my institution. I'm lucky that my classrooms are nowhere near the construction sites (other colleagues are less fortunate), but my office is. As a result, yesterday was very difficult for me to work there (I'm also extra-sensitive to noise because of my ADD). Last night, after I came back from work, I decided to stay home today and work here to avoid the chaos and the noise at work.
Today, I was woken up at 8:00 am by a very loud noise. It turned out that my landlord had decided that it was tree-trimming day. "OK," I thought. "Change of plans. It looks like I'll go to my office after all". So I get up, have breakfast, take a shower, and get ready. But on my way to the garage, I found posted on the entrance door to the building a note from the landlord informing all the tenants that as a consequence of the tree-trimming activities, the driveway would be close. Therefore, those who hadn't moved their car onto the street before the workers started would be unable to access the car (or actually, to get it out of the garage). F***cking landlord (he is famously sloppy). He had posted the note AFTER I came back from work last night (at around 6 pm). I would have taken the bus to work, but I have to be somewhere else in half an hour, and it would be extremely time consuming. As a result, I've spent the whole day trying to work at home, with earplugs, and now a major headache. I'm edgy and irritated. I want silence!!! And I'm late for my next engagement. GRRRR...
Today, I was woken up at 8:00 am by a very loud noise. It turned out that my landlord had decided that it was tree-trimming day. "OK," I thought. "Change of plans. It looks like I'll go to my office after all". So I get up, have breakfast, take a shower, and get ready. But on my way to the garage, I found posted on the entrance door to the building a note from the landlord informing all the tenants that as a consequence of the tree-trimming activities, the driveway would be close. Therefore, those who hadn't moved their car onto the street before the workers started would be unable to access the car (or actually, to get it out of the garage). F***cking landlord (he is famously sloppy). He had posted the note AFTER I came back from work last night (at around 6 pm). I would have taken the bus to work, but I have to be somewhere else in half an hour, and it would be extremely time consuming. As a result, I've spent the whole day trying to work at home, with earplugs, and now a major headache. I'm edgy and irritated. I want silence!!! And I'm late for my next engagement. GRRRR...
Monday, January 9, 2012
Minor annoyances...+ how a student guessed I was from Argentina
The first day of classes after my sabbatical went through pretty smoothly, although there were some minor annoyances. On the plus side, I came up with a joke that I told in my 2 language classes that had everybody laughing out loud (I can't tell it without revealing some real life information). That broke the ice instantly. In addition, my students in my Latin American Civilization class, though quiet, seemed interested in the class, in the way I designed the syllabus, and in the objectives and overall framework of the course.
On the minor annoyance side: I told my language students that I check their transcripts and placement scores, so if they placed higher than 101, they shouldn't be there. I told them that I went over 1 by 1, just to make sure that everybody was were they were supposed to be. I still found 10 (out of 40) students lying, writing in a form that they had placed in 101 when that was not the case. Annoying... It means 10 emails that I need to send to inform them that they have to drop the class. Time-consuming. Another not so cool thing of the day was that not only did I have a committee meeting the first day of class, but the conference room where it took place was right near a construction site. There was the constant noise of a crane and construction workers repairing the asphalt for the whole meeting (hour and fifteen minutes), so I left with a nasty headache. And let's not get into the committee meeting in itself... Anyway, on the balance, a good day.
Comment of the day: I asked my two SPAN 101 classes if they had any idea where I was from (all of these in English, of course). The second class of the day had no idea, but in the first class a student instantly guessed correctly, Argentina. I asked him how did he know, and he said he didn't, but that my last name didn't sound very Hispanic (it's Jewish), so that's how he guessed my nationality. Considering the amount of Spanish immigration into Argentina, the student did not follow a very accurate rule. But it was a good intuition, for sure.
On the minor annoyance side: I told my language students that I check their transcripts and placement scores, so if they placed higher than 101, they shouldn't be there. I told them that I went over 1 by 1, just to make sure that everybody was were they were supposed to be. I still found 10 (out of 40) students lying, writing in a form that they had placed in 101 when that was not the case. Annoying... It means 10 emails that I need to send to inform them that they have to drop the class. Time-consuming. Another not so cool thing of the day was that not only did I have a committee meeting the first day of class, but the conference room where it took place was right near a construction site. There was the constant noise of a crane and construction workers repairing the asphalt for the whole meeting (hour and fifteen minutes), so I left with a nasty headache. And let's not get into the committee meeting in itself... Anyway, on the balance, a good day.
Comment of the day: I asked my two SPAN 101 classes if they had any idea where I was from (all of these in English, of course). The second class of the day had no idea, but in the first class a student instantly guessed correctly, Argentina. I asked him how did he know, and he said he didn't, but that my last name didn't sound very Hispanic (it's Jewish), so that's how he guessed my nationality. Considering the amount of Spanish immigration into Argentina, the student did not follow a very accurate rule. But it was a good intuition, for sure.
And the syllabus is done...
...and off to teach my Latin American Civilization I class I go. I did not reinvent the wheel, but the syllabus feels more streamlined than in its previous incarnations. The Jesuits are out. So is Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (I know it's heresy, but I am really bored teaching her). I will spend more time discussing civilization vs. barbarism through the issue of cannibalism in the "New World". I also discovered the short documentary Sentinels of Silence (1972). It's only 18 minutes long, and narrates Pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is stunningly beautiful, so it will go well with readings on the topic, that can be rather dry otherwise (mostly because I don't know much about the subject, so I tend to go for simple).
Every time I start a class with a re-designed syllabus, I feel nervous. This semester, the stakes are higher since these will be the last batch of students evaluations that will go into my tenure review file. Fingers cross!!!
Every time I start a class with a re-designed syllabus, I feel nervous. This semester, the stakes are higher since these will be the last batch of students evaluations that will go into my tenure review file. Fingers cross!!!
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Random creepiness...
By chance, I just found out what is the new name the the infamous Blackwater private security company has now adopted. I knew that after the all the publicity surrounding the shooting of Iraqi civilians in 2007, in 2009 they had changed their name to "Xe Services LLC". They have changed their name again. Do you know what the new name is? Academi. Doesn't it sound like somebody's idea of a sick joke? It's kind of creepy, if you ask me.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Do I need to return my official feminist badge?
Yeah, yeah, I know... skip the jokes on whether they give you an official feminist badge when you declare yourself to be a feminist. Talking seriously, I consider myself a feminist but, as you may infer if you read some of the posts labeled "feminism", my questions, concerns and idea differ from some mainstream US feminism (whatever that means). But, as feMOMhist has written for her own case, I am not interested in defining feminism for anybody but myself. I am not even sure I would be able to articulate such a definition, either. This holiday season, however, I found myself in the middle of a situation that made me uncomfortable, and made me question my own feminism.
As you know, B. and I spent three days in the Bay Area. We stayed with a couple and their kids. I barely know them, but the female part of the couple had been friends with B. from his own college years. Let's call her M. M. is a high level executive in a big and well-known corporation. She is powerful, successful, ambitious, and very happy of all of this. Her husband (E.) is a stay-at-home father, in an arrangement that seems to suit them both. On one side, I admire her thrive and determination, how she went up the corporate ladder because of her own talent and hard work, in an atmosphere that was hostile and sexist more than once. However, after three days of being there, I was more than annoyed with her. She drove me nuts. Why? A few reasons.
- There is a limit to the number of stories I can hear about how she crushed her male opponents, who were incompetent ass***les, and showed her bosses how she, the woman, was the one able to solve the problems. After a while, I lose the feminist angle and I just hear another soul-crashing, winning is everything corporate executive.
- For her, everything is a project to be accomplished or solved. No matter how minor it is. Otherwise, she has no interest in the situation.
- She tried to bond with me over "women" stuff (shopping, shoes, etc). I can talk (and enjoy doing so) about those topics for a certain amount of time. After a while, I get bored and I don't have much else to say. Furthermore, it's hard to talk about shopping, clothing and shoes with somebody who doesn't blink at spending $700 on a pair of Jimmy Choo at Nordstrom. What can I say? "Yeah, this Naturalizer shoes I bought last month are really cool"?
- After the "fun" women topics were exhausted, she lost complete interest in me. She would listen to me politely, made some brief comment, and then move on to another topic. Never once did she ask me anything that demonstrated a minimum of interest about myself, or that she had been paying attention to whatever I had been saying. Even if she didn't care, it's not so hard to do. I'm "exotic" enough where you can pretend an interest in my upbringing, my country, my education, whatever. Just fake it, and you'll be fine. But she couldn't do it. Frankly, at the end, I was offended that the only way she could think of talking to me was asking me if I wanted to plan a trip to a shopping mall. She was being the sexist here.
So I know I am a feminist. But it feels weird to be so annoyed at a woman who has accomplished so much on her own terms, and probably broke more than her share of glass ceilings in her professional career. Or maybe I'm just a difficult person to relate to, who knows?
Anyway, I had to vent somewhere. Any insights, dear readers?
As you know, B. and I spent three days in the Bay Area. We stayed with a couple and their kids. I barely know them, but the female part of the couple had been friends with B. from his own college years. Let's call her M. M. is a high level executive in a big and well-known corporation. She is powerful, successful, ambitious, and very happy of all of this. Her husband (E.) is a stay-at-home father, in an arrangement that seems to suit them both. On one side, I admire her thrive and determination, how she went up the corporate ladder because of her own talent and hard work, in an atmosphere that was hostile and sexist more than once. However, after three days of being there, I was more than annoyed with her. She drove me nuts. Why? A few reasons.
- There is a limit to the number of stories I can hear about how she crushed her male opponents, who were incompetent ass***les, and showed her bosses how she, the woman, was the one able to solve the problems. After a while, I lose the feminist angle and I just hear another soul-crashing, winning is everything corporate executive.
- For her, everything is a project to be accomplished or solved. No matter how minor it is. Otherwise, she has no interest in the situation.
- She tried to bond with me over "women" stuff (shopping, shoes, etc). I can talk (and enjoy doing so) about those topics for a certain amount of time. After a while, I get bored and I don't have much else to say. Furthermore, it's hard to talk about shopping, clothing and shoes with somebody who doesn't blink at spending $700 on a pair of Jimmy Choo at Nordstrom. What can I say? "Yeah, this Naturalizer shoes I bought last month are really cool"?
- After the "fun" women topics were exhausted, she lost complete interest in me. She would listen to me politely, made some brief comment, and then move on to another topic. Never once did she ask me anything that demonstrated a minimum of interest about myself, or that she had been paying attention to whatever I had been saying. Even if she didn't care, it's not so hard to do. I'm "exotic" enough where you can pretend an interest in my upbringing, my country, my education, whatever. Just fake it, and you'll be fine. But she couldn't do it. Frankly, at the end, I was offended that the only way she could think of talking to me was asking me if I wanted to plan a trip to a shopping mall. She was being the sexist here.
So I know I am a feminist. But it feels weird to be so annoyed at a woman who has accomplished so much on her own terms, and probably broke more than her share of glass ceilings in her professional career. Or maybe I'm just a difficult person to relate to, who knows?
Anyway, I had to vent somewhere. Any insights, dear readers?
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Kind of creepy...
As you may know, my department is conducting a search for a TT position beginning August 2012. It's not a Spanish position, so I haven't been highly involved in it. Today, however, I decided to go over the applications already received. Some were excellent, some were a stretch as far as the desired qualifications, and some were obviously unqualified (like somebody who got hir Masters in 2011, so it's impossible ze will have a PhD in the near future). But there was one cover letter that I couldn't finish reading. In the first paragraph, it contained the sentence "I believe I am the ideal candidate to join the Modern Languages Department promising and warm family". Uhhh? Is it me, or do you also find that phrase kind of creepy? I couldn't pinpoint why, exactly, beyond the fact that it sounds unprofessional. But it's more than that. By the way, the candidate is American, so it is not a case of cultural differences. I just couldn't get pass that sentence, so I didn't find out if ze had the ideal qualifications or not.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
RBOC - minor observations and deep thoughts of the week
- Last week, somebody landed on my blog with a keyword search in Hebrew. Unfortunately, I didn't save it and now I can't find it. So I wonder a) what did it say, and b) how could it have linked to a blog written in English.
- Many people I know are heading to the MLA right now. Not me. I don't particularly like conferences, specially huge ones. I've had a more attentive and responsive audience at smaller venues. If I had to pick one big conference to attend, it would be LASA. But I hope to be able to avoid the MLA unless I'm in the job market or interviewing applicants. I'm pretty shy when I'm by myself in social or professional situations where I don't know anybody. And at the MLA, most people are on edge because they are looking for work, or because they'd rather be with their families. The timing just sucks.
- My institution needs a new PR department. They already had problems a while ago with an incident that made the news and was not well handed. Now, the campus is filled with new posters promoting the university. The best (unintentional) hilarious one: a blurb about modern times and traditional educational values accompanying the image of a young, smiling, gorgeous priest (seriously, he looks like a model) surrounded by involved students who do not want to miss a word of what he is saying. I cracked up laughing spontaneously when I first saw them.
- Assigning the movie "Tintin" for extra credit for a high school French class(the movie, with no requirement to research and go back to the original strip) is not appropriate, in my opinion. For me, it's another example of the trend of how students have to be "entertained". I wouldn't have a problem with it if rigor wasn't sacrificed in the process. And we are talking about a very good high school, by the way. Maybe I'm just a cranky old fashioned professor. But my extra credit project for my Modern World History class when I was in high school was reading Gunter Grass' "The Tin Drum" and write a report on it.
- Many people I know are heading to the MLA right now. Not me. I don't particularly like conferences, specially huge ones. I've had a more attentive and responsive audience at smaller venues. If I had to pick one big conference to attend, it would be LASA. But I hope to be able to avoid the MLA unless I'm in the job market or interviewing applicants. I'm pretty shy when I'm by myself in social or professional situations where I don't know anybody. And at the MLA, most people are on edge because they are looking for work, or because they'd rather be with their families. The timing just sucks.
- My institution needs a new PR department. They already had problems a while ago with an incident that made the news and was not well handed. Now, the campus is filled with new posters promoting the university. The best (unintentional) hilarious one: a blurb about modern times and traditional educational values accompanying the image of a young, smiling, gorgeous priest (seriously, he looks like a model) surrounded by involved students who do not want to miss a word of what he is saying. I cracked up laughing spontaneously when I first saw them.
- Assigning the movie "Tintin" for extra credit for a high school French class(the movie, with no requirement to research and go back to the original strip) is not appropriate, in my opinion. For me, it's another example of the trend of how students have to be "entertained". I wouldn't have a problem with it if rigor wasn't sacrificed in the process. And we are talking about a very good high school, by the way. Maybe I'm just a cranky old fashioned professor. But my extra credit project for my Modern World History class when I was in high school was reading Gunter Grass' "The Tin Drum" and write a report on it.
So, about this thing called work
...it's not coming along so well, I've realized. At least the preparation and the administrative part of it. A semester on sabbatical plus two and a half weeks in California and I've become a disorganized mess. Two examples:
1) Yesterday, I was at my office finishing the syllabus for my Latin American Civilization I course, when a colleague stop by and asked whether I would put a certain activity in the "service" category or in the "teaching" category. I looked at him confused, and asked him why he wanted to know such a thing now. "Oh, I'm finishing the annual review. They are due on Thursday. Don't you remember?" Well, obviously I didn't. In previous years, they were due in mid-December, but they changed it for some unknown reason. Of course, I had completely forgotten. So, here is my question for my readers: would you put in the teaching or in the service (to the department) category all the work I did last semester advising a former student on which schools to apply for grad school according to hir particular interest, and then reading and giving suggestions on the writing sample ze will send with hir applications?
2) For some weird reason, since I arrived to my institution, classes always have started on a Monday at 4:30 PM. Since I have always taught on a MWF schedule, that has always mean that I've started teaching on a Wednesday. Again, for some weird reason, this has been changed this semester, and classes start the following Monday. I found out about it last night. Of course, now I have to change all the dates in my syllabus, because they are all wrong. Grrr....
How are the preparations for the new semester going for you? I hope that better than mine.
1) Yesterday, I was at my office finishing the syllabus for my Latin American Civilization I course, when a colleague stop by and asked whether I would put a certain activity in the "service" category or in the "teaching" category. I looked at him confused, and asked him why he wanted to know such a thing now. "Oh, I'm finishing the annual review. They are due on Thursday. Don't you remember?" Well, obviously I didn't. In previous years, they were due in mid-December, but they changed it for some unknown reason. Of course, I had completely forgotten. So, here is my question for my readers: would you put in the teaching or in the service (to the department) category all the work I did last semester advising a former student on which schools to apply for grad school according to hir particular interest, and then reading and giving suggestions on the writing sample ze will send with hir applications?
2) For some weird reason, since I arrived to my institution, classes always have started on a Monday at 4:30 PM. Since I have always taught on a MWF schedule, that has always mean that I've started teaching on a Wednesday. Again, for some weird reason, this has been changed this semester, and classes start the following Monday. I found out about it last night. Of course, now I have to change all the dates in my syllabus, because they are all wrong. Grrr....
How are the preparations for the new semester going for you? I hope that better than mine.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
My family, the History lovers
During the holiday season, B. and I spent 3 days in San Francisco. We stayed with L., an old friend of B,. and her husband. Because of her job as a high executive at a very well known corporation, L., her husband and their 3 kids spent 16 months living in London. They came back to the US last August. One night, we were talking about their experiences living in a foreign country. L.'s husband told the story of how one night, while entertaining at their home, they were slightly drunk so they decided to see who could name US presidents and British prime minister in backward order (from Obama/Cameron and then back). L.'s husband said he was embarrassed because he made it to FDR in the case of the United States, and to Margaret Thatcher for the UK. Three of their British acquaintances, on the other hand, had not only been able to name correctly the British prime ministers from Cameron back until Chamberlain, but also from Obama to Hoover in the case of the United States.
"Oh, for the United States is easy," I said, and proceeded to enumerate the US presidents in backward order until Hoover. For the UK, I knew as much as my host (and of Chamberlain - Churchill, but no idea of who or how many came between Churchill and Margaret Tatcher). I then added that I could probably not do the same exercise for my own country, Argentina. From 1930 to 1945 were pretty chaotic times, so I would probably miss a few presidents, how long they lasted, and who governed after whom.
I spoke with my parents yesterday, and I mentioned the anecdote to my father, an avid History reader (when my father met B. for the first time, his idea of making small talk with B. was to start chatting about the US civil war. According to B., my father knew much more than he did, and B. is a very educated and knowledgeable person). "Oh, but that's really easy," said my father, and then went on to name all the US presidents in back order from Obama to Woodrow Wilson. And then he added: "I could probably do it for the UK too, but I am not sure who came between Harold Wilson second time in office and Margaret Thatcher". I told him to hold on, look for my Ipod and went to the Wikipedia page with the list of British prime ministers. He then started the list, and, save for that minor gap (it was James Callaghan, by the way) it was 100% accurate. My father knows the list of UK prime ministers from Chamberlain to Cameron. Some may think it's useless knowledge, but I was impressed. After finishing the list, he added: "I think I can do it with France, too". But it was enough for me. I'm still impressed.
"Oh, for the United States is easy," I said, and proceeded to enumerate the US presidents in backward order until Hoover. For the UK, I knew as much as my host (and of Chamberlain - Churchill, but no idea of who or how many came between Churchill and Margaret Tatcher). I then added that I could probably not do the same exercise for my own country, Argentina. From 1930 to 1945 were pretty chaotic times, so I would probably miss a few presidents, how long they lasted, and who governed after whom.
I spoke with my parents yesterday, and I mentioned the anecdote to my father, an avid History reader (when my father met B. for the first time, his idea of making small talk with B. was to start chatting about the US civil war. According to B., my father knew much more than he did, and B. is a very educated and knowledgeable person). "Oh, but that's really easy," said my father, and then went on to name all the US presidents in back order from Obama to Woodrow Wilson. And then he added: "I could probably do it for the UK too, but I am not sure who came between Harold Wilson second time in office and Margaret Thatcher". I told him to hold on, look for my Ipod and went to the Wikipedia page with the list of British prime ministers. He then started the list, and, save for that minor gap (it was James Callaghan, by the way) it was 100% accurate. My father knows the list of UK prime ministers from Chamberlain to Cameron. Some may think it's useless knowledge, but I was impressed. After finishing the list, he added: "I think I can do it with France, too". But it was enough for me. I'm still impressed.
Monday, January 2, 2012
A very subjective ranking of Hispanic Studies journals in my field
The blog Hispanic Studies Journals has a very interesting discussion on what are the best journals to publish in the field of Hispanic Studies. The list of journals discussed does not include top journals that aren't exclusively in Hispanic Studies (PMLA, MLN). Though a general list probably could be done, I thought it would be useful to engage in that exercise but narrow the journals to my own field of expertise: contemporary Latin American literature and cinema (with an emphasis on urban cultural productions, from Argentina and Mexico in particular). For example, Hispanic Review is a top tier journal, but I probably will never publish there because its approach and scope is very different from mine. On a similar vein, if you are a colonialist I imagine that publishing in Colonial Latin American Review is a must, but it is obviously not a journal that I will submit to in the near future. Before I start, a few remarks:
- This is a US-centric list. It does not include British journals for two reasons: a) I do not have great knowledge of them and b) the only time I submitted to a British journal it came back rejected (nothing wrong here, it happens) and with 4 pages of the nastiest comments I've ever read. I'm still traumatized about the experience.
- I am sure I'm leaving behind a lot of very good journals. I'm constructing the list based on the journals that are more relevant for my research, so I read the most.
- I make no claim about the circulation and impact of these journals outside the US academia. - Some of these journals only publish articles on Latin American topics.
- A worthwhile exploration would be an analysis of academic journals in the field based in Latin America. There are some really good ones, but I don't know enough about the topic to write extensively about it.
- A lot of people consider Hispania among the best in the field, but I've never understood why. In my opinion, it is between very good and good at best. So now, my very "subjective" list:
Top Journals
Revista Hispanica Moderna
Revista de Estudios Hispanicos
Revista Iberoamericana
Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispanicos
Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies
Revista de Critica Literaria Latinoamericana
"Very Good" Journals
Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies
A Contracorriente (online journal)
Studies in Latin American Popular Culture
Hispamerica (some would not agree, but I really like it)
"Good" journals
Chasqui
Confluencia
Hispania (?)
Revista de Literatura Mexicana Contemporanea
So here is my list. As a disclaimer, I've published in "Very Good" and "Good" journals, and I've had an article rejected by a "Top" Journal. My aim for the near future is to publish at "Top" journals. Please, feel free to disagree or to add your own list, that reflects your opinions and your field of expertise. What about those of you who are in English or in History? Would you like to do a list? I would be interested in the ensuing discussion.
- This is a US-centric list. It does not include British journals for two reasons: a) I do not have great knowledge of them and b) the only time I submitted to a British journal it came back rejected (nothing wrong here, it happens) and with 4 pages of the nastiest comments I've ever read. I'm still traumatized about the experience.
- I am sure I'm leaving behind a lot of very good journals. I'm constructing the list based on the journals that are more relevant for my research, so I read the most.
- I make no claim about the circulation and impact of these journals outside the US academia. - Some of these journals only publish articles on Latin American topics.
- A worthwhile exploration would be an analysis of academic journals in the field based in Latin America. There are some really good ones, but I don't know enough about the topic to write extensively about it.
- A lot of people consider Hispania among the best in the field, but I've never understood why. In my opinion, it is between very good and good at best. So now, my very "subjective" list:
Top Journals
Revista Hispanica Moderna
Revista de Estudios Hispanicos
Revista Iberoamericana
Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispanicos
Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies
Revista de Critica Literaria Latinoamericana
"Very Good" Journals
Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies
A Contracorriente (online journal)
Studies in Latin American Popular Culture
Hispamerica (some would not agree, but I really like it)
"Good" journals
Chasqui
Confluencia
Hispania (?)
Revista de Literatura Mexicana Contemporanea
So here is my list. As a disclaimer, I've published in "Very Good" and "Good" journals, and I've had an article rejected by a "Top" Journal. My aim for the near future is to publish at "Top" journals. Please, feel free to disagree or to add your own list, that reflects your opinions and your field of expertise. What about those of you who are in English or in History? Would you like to do a list? I would be interested in the ensuing discussion.
The Versatile Blogger Award!
So, I'm back in the Midwest, finally able to resume regular posting!!!
Last Wednesday, after 4 days without accessing Internet, I logged in. I had a few posts ideas in mind: My two radically different Christmas experiences (Thai restaurant and Mexican-American family within two hours), Why I find very hard to have female friends (related to different definitions of friendship) and Academic journals for scholars in my field (it will come up pretty soon). I checked an Argentinean newspaper, and found out that our president, Cristina Kirchner had been diagnosed with cancer (luckily, a curable form of thyroid cancer). That added another possible topic to write on. And then, I went to Clarissa's blog, where I saw that she had nominated me for The Versatile Blogger Award! Since she assured me that there was no deadline to write the post, here it is, a little later than usual.
Here are the conditions of the award:
1) Nominate 15 fellow bloggers
2) Inform the Bloggers of their nomination
3) Share 7 random things about yourself
4) Thank the blogger who nominated you
5) Post the award badge.
I don't think I will be able to nominate 15 fellow bloggers, not because I don't read enough blogs or because the ones I read are not wonderful, but because I tend to read focused blogs: political blogs, academic blogs, etc. So here are the ones that I nominate:
1) Miriam Mogilevsky, from Brute Reason. A 20 year-old blogger, a junior at Northwestern University, Miriam writes about feminism, her struggles with depression, her education, and many other topics. Her voice is unique. Not only does she write beautifully, but her posts are always tough-provoking and go against the grain. I hope she keeps blogging for a long time.
2) Renee, from Womanist Musings. This will probably come as a surprise to her, since I've never commented on her blog. But I read it faithfully. When I first discovered it, the phrase "I am a committed humanist" in the description of herself won me over. But she is much more than that. She is a woman of color, a pacifist and an anti-racist. She writes about feminism, race issues, politics and GLBT affairs. Her posts are insightful and brilliant.
3) FeMOMhist. Though technically the blog is an exploration of what it means to be a mother, an academic and a feminist, FeMOMhist has extended her reach beyond this goal. Her history posts from October 2011 are a classic that everybody should read. And her fashion taste is impeccable.
4) Didion, from Feminema. Films, TV shows, popular culture, feminism and, occasionally, academia. Enough said. After watching Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I was going to write a post on it. Until I saw Didion's discussion on the film, and there was nothing I could add to it (except that I like Daniel Craig better than she does).
So, 7 random things about myself:
1) As any regular teenager, I did my share of things behind my parents' back. Throughout the years, I told them most of them. The only thing I've never confessed was that for a 3 year period, I would go to see soccer games at the stadium almost every week. My parents never allowed me to go, because they thought it was too dangerous. It wasn't then, but it is now, so what's the point in scaring them?
2) The worst date of my life was in Argentina. I went out for a beer and a movie with a former co-worker. We had always flirted while we were working together. We ran into each other a year later, and he invited me out for a movie and a beer. He turned out to be a filo-nazi that collected Nazi memorabilia.
3) When I was 12, I had read every Agatha Christie book ever published (I think they were around 80).
4) I got my driver's license for the first time when I was 32 years old
.
5) The thing I like the most about living in the Midwest is the beer. Argentine beer is awful. My current city is a paradise.
6) I am subscribed to Lucky Magazine and Glamour.
7) I hate pot. Not out of moral reasons, but because it makes me paranoid. Go figure.
Last Wednesday, after 4 days without accessing Internet, I logged in. I had a few posts ideas in mind: My two radically different Christmas experiences (Thai restaurant and Mexican-American family within two hours), Why I find very hard to have female friends (related to different definitions of friendship) and Academic journals for scholars in my field (it will come up pretty soon). I checked an Argentinean newspaper, and found out that our president, Cristina Kirchner had been diagnosed with cancer (luckily, a curable form of thyroid cancer). That added another possible topic to write on. And then, I went to Clarissa's blog, where I saw that she had nominated me for The Versatile Blogger Award! Since she assured me that there was no deadline to write the post, here it is, a little later than usual.
Here are the conditions of the award:
1) Nominate 15 fellow bloggers
2) Inform the Bloggers of their nomination
3) Share 7 random things about yourself
4) Thank the blogger who nominated you
5) Post the award badge.
I don't think I will be able to nominate 15 fellow bloggers, not because I don't read enough blogs or because the ones I read are not wonderful, but because I tend to read focused blogs: political blogs, academic blogs, etc. So here are the ones that I nominate:
1) Miriam Mogilevsky, from Brute Reason. A 20 year-old blogger, a junior at Northwestern University, Miriam writes about feminism, her struggles with depression, her education, and many other topics. Her voice is unique. Not only does she write beautifully, but her posts are always tough-provoking and go against the grain. I hope she keeps blogging for a long time.
2) Renee, from Womanist Musings. This will probably come as a surprise to her, since I've never commented on her blog. But I read it faithfully. When I first discovered it, the phrase "I am a committed humanist" in the description of herself won me over. But she is much more than that. She is a woman of color, a pacifist and an anti-racist. She writes about feminism, race issues, politics and GLBT affairs. Her posts are insightful and brilliant.
3) FeMOMhist. Though technically the blog is an exploration of what it means to be a mother, an academic and a feminist, FeMOMhist has extended her reach beyond this goal. Her history posts from October 2011 are a classic that everybody should read. And her fashion taste is impeccable.
4) Didion, from Feminema. Films, TV shows, popular culture, feminism and, occasionally, academia. Enough said. After watching Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I was going to write a post on it. Until I saw Didion's discussion on the film, and there was nothing I could add to it (except that I like Daniel Craig better than she does).
So, 7 random things about myself:
1) As any regular teenager, I did my share of things behind my parents' back. Throughout the years, I told them most of them. The only thing I've never confessed was that for a 3 year period, I would go to see soccer games at the stadium almost every week. My parents never allowed me to go, because they thought it was too dangerous. It wasn't then, but it is now, so what's the point in scaring them?
2) The worst date of my life was in Argentina. I went out for a beer and a movie with a former co-worker. We had always flirted while we were working together. We ran into each other a year later, and he invited me out for a movie and a beer. He turned out to be a filo-nazi that collected Nazi memorabilia.
3) When I was 12, I had read every Agatha Christie book ever published (I think they were around 80).
4) I got my driver's license for the first time when I was 32 years old
.
5) The thing I like the most about living in the Midwest is the beer. Argentine beer is awful. My current city is a paradise.
6) I am subscribed to Lucky Magazine and Glamour.
7) I hate pot. Not out of moral reasons, but because it makes me paranoid. Go figure.
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