Some time ago I begged people to stop writing stupid things about adjuncts, because I am unable to stop myself from responding and thus I take time away from writing for money. Therefore every time you write something stupid about adjuncts, you are taking food from my child’s mouth. Today my hackles have been raised […]
It is your fault! The arrogant libertarian troll (aka Jason Brennan) argues that (1) adjuncts should have known what the risks were and how bad the system is and (2) they have better options. In other words, adjuncts, it’s your own damn fault. Adjuncts should have known how hard it is to get a decent […]
Appropriate Shock, Sadness, Anger Donation to Syria Relief or Doctors Without Borders Inappropriate Noting the hypocritical silence of those who only care about Palestinians when they are harmed by Israelis, which, while being a trenchant observation, makes you look petty if it’s your only reaction to epic suffering
Last week The Economist ran a special section on higher ed. (Speaking of capitalism, I was late getting to the report because I was busy with this.) It’s surprisingly self-contradictory for a magazine that prides itself on its clarity of thought. Here are just a few things the report gets wrong: 1. It blames the […]
From Karl Marx: A Biography, by David McLellan: “Whether Marx himself possessed anti-semitic tendencies is a matter of much controversy: certainly a superficial reading of his pamphlet On the Jewish Question would indicate as much; and his letters contain innumerable derogatory epithets concerning Jews; but this does not justify a charge of sustained anti-semitism.”
Here’s the backstory: Vitae started a column, “Dear Student,” in which professors kvetch about the irritating things that students do every single semester, like not bothering to buy the textbook or not showing up to class. Some guy says that he will no longer write for Vitae because said column is “student-shaming.” Someone else says […]
Some guy named Jason Stevens, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Dallas, wrote about National Adjunct Walkout Day. He is so insanely wrong about so many things. Allow me to briefly take you through his “argument.” (Briefly because I have deadlines.) He starts by proclaiming his adjunct bonafides: I’ve been employed as an adjunct […]
What is National Adjunct Walkout Day? Today, adjuncts throughout this great land will be doing teach-ins, slow-downs and yes, walking out. Not because they’re greedy or lazy or they want something for nothing. They simply want to be paid a fair wage. OK, what is an adjunct? An adjunct is a professional college […]
It marks the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. The “b” in “Imbolc” is silent. The day is associated with Brigid, the Irish goddess of poetry, who also, while mourning for her son killed in battle, invented keening. Brigid is a “triple deity”—she has two sisters named Brigid. The day […]
An excerpt from my unpublished travelogue about Poland, in honor of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. As the bus left the station, my breakfast was trembling in my belly. I hadn’t slept much, maybe four hours. It was going to be a bad day, clouded by fatigue and dyspeptic twinges. Then I […]