I was lucky to encounter a real manifestation in Madrid. I didn’t want to leave the country without filming a real manifestation to show my students.

On this occasion, people were marching to celebrate the International Day of the Working Woman (“You are working women, right?” a waiter asked us at a restaurant. “In that case, congratulations!”) and protest sexism. Spain has made amazing strides in its fight against sexism since the end of the woman-hating dictatorship of Franco in 1975. Today, in terms of gender equality, Spain has left not only all other Spanish-speaking countries but also the US far behind in the dust.

It was, of course, very entertaining to see Soviet flags at a manifestation against sexism and in defense of reproductive rights. Given that under these very banners Stalin had issued a law that punished both women seeking abortions and doctors performing them by death, the presence of the banners at this particular manifestation was pretty hilarious. The protesters justified this strange choice with a slogan saying, “There is no fight for gender rights without a class war.” Well, as you can see, these are all very young people. They have all the time in the world to read their history textbooks.

“Without feminism there is no Socialism” the slogan behind the flags says. Yes, tell that to the Soviets, the Cubans, or the Chinese.

In the middle, you can see the flags of the Spanish Republic (the red, yellow, and purple.) What the purple flag means I have no idea.

“No to sexist salaries!” and “Paying for the King and his mistress? I’m fed up!” said these slogans.

“Neither yes-men nor yes-women” and “No to domestic violence irrespective of gender or age.”

I would keep filming but my sister didn’t appreciate my journalistic enthusiasm. “You are a pregnant woman!” she said in a terrifying whisper and dragged me away.

Once again, every fool and his monkey has a mile-long opinion on how academics should do their jobs. The New York Times has continued its assault on higher education by publishing a rambling, stupid piece by some strange creature called Friedman who mistakenly believes his uninformed rantings on higher ed are so useful that they need to be shared with the general public.

This is how the piece starts, demonstrating from the beginning that its author is a sad, useless blockhead:

I just spent the last two days at a great conference convened by M.I.T. and Harvard on “Online Learning and the Future of Residential Education” — a k a “How can colleges charge $50,000 a year if my kid can learn it all free from massive open online courses?”

I’m not sure if Friedman is really an idiot or is just faking to be one better to complete the corrupt assignment he has been given by his worthless rag. Can he really fail to realize that the prestige and the connections people pay for when they hand over $50K per year for an Ivy League diploma are not awarded by any stupid MOOC*? I understand that the real journalism, the kind where people did some sort of research before publishing their outpourings, is dead and gone. But would it have killed Friedman to call any job recruiter and ask whether s/he would find it easier to place a candidate who has a BSc or a BA from Princeton or a piece of toilet paper from a MOOC?

We all know that I’m not a huge fan of the Ivies (to put it mildly). However, the problems of Harvard – and of any actual college – do not exist on the same level as the problems of MOOCs. People who want to waste their time on MOOCs should, of course, feel free to do so. I hope for their sake that somebody somewhere is clueless enough to offer them some sort of a job.

I keep hearing (especially from Inside Higher Ed) that my dislike of MOOCs comes from a sense of fear and envy. I’m supposed to be terrified of MOOCs’ brilliant performance that is about to push me out of my job. Supposedly, the moment the students experience the joy of reading some crap online together with 25,000 other people, they will not want me any longer.

Friedman and Co can stop worrying about me and other real educators, however. These journalists are projecting their own very well-justified fears about their profession dying out onto other professions. Contrary to their beliefs, however, the value of a real degree from a real educational institution will continue to grow. Let the lazy waste their time and energy on MOOCs if they have nothing better to do with their lives. They will be easily defeated in the competition of life by those who made a smarter choice.

* “A massive open online course (MOOC) is an online course aiming at large-scale participation and open access via the web. MOOCs are a recent development in distance education and often use open educational resources. Typically they do not offer academic credit or charge tuition fees. Only about 10% of the tens of thousands of students who may sign up complete the course.”

When my sister and I were visiting the Monastery of the Barefoot Nuns in Madrid, we had a shared mystic experience involving a painting of Princesses Catalina Micaela and Clara Eugenia.

Here are the princesses:

 

If I have a daughter, I will call her Klara Eugenia. And if I have a son, N. will choose a name. Also, if I have a daughter, I will probably have to become Catholic (because of the mystic experience). So I hope Catholics get a semi-decent Pope this time around.

From a student’s reading response:

It took me a while to realize that these characters are mother and daughter. The mother constantly humiliates her daughter, criticizes her, and makes her feel horrible about herself. This is just not how mothers act.

I think this student should let everybody know the name of the planet she comes from.

From a student’s essay:

The protagonist of the novel is addicted to her abusive relationship with her husband. This is like an addiction to coffee, which is a dangerous drug that can cause untold damage to an addict’s health.

The student is probably from some sect, right?

There is another curious breakdown in the way people react to the news of a pregnancy.

Group I.

With a beatific expression on their faces:

“Oh, you are SO going to love this! This will be such an amazing experience for you. The first time your baby smiles or recognizes you. . . that is simply priceless. And then you can observe her discovering the world. Like the first time she sees a tree or a kitten and looks so happy. . . And you will be discovering the world together with her. Of course, life is in no way meaningless without a child but with a child there are so many new and great experiences.”

Group II.

With a sadistic gleam in their eyes:

“Ah! Now you are going to see! Forget all about publishing or reading books. You won’t get to read a book in years! Or traveling! No more traveling for you, ha ha! And all of these expensive imported olive oils you keep buying. Pshaw! It will be just the Dollar Store for you from now on. And forget about having time to cook or money to go to good restaurants. Get used to take-out pizza and Ronald McDonald. Ha ha ha!”

This is obviously a canard but it’s still funny. See this map that supposedly shows the top 10 most commonly searched terms on porn sites around the world over a 6 month period.

The reason I think it’s a fake is because no matter which country or continent you press, the search terms all come up in English and demonstrate a lack of inventiveness that makes me think a single person created them all. Just look at the search terms for Ukraine and you’ll see I’m right. Also, the high incidence of the term “milf” in the countries of the Mediterranean is kind of suspect.

I’ve seen this map referenced on a variety of sites as a reliable source of information. This just goes to show how many people are incapable of envisioning cultural differences.

Men and women react in different ways to the news of a pregnancy.

Clarissa: I’m pregnant.

A male friend, colleague, acquaintance: Oh, that’s amazing! Congratulations!

————————
Clarissa: I’m pregnant.

A female friend, colleague, acquaintance: Is this something you wanted?

Clarissa: Yes, this was planned.

A female friend, etc.: Oh, that’s amazing! Congratulations!

From a student’s essay on a XIXth-century work of literature:

The protagonist’s best friend, however, does not belong to the middle class. He is part of the aristocracy. This becomes obvious when we discover that he goes to the theater. This is not something that middle class people do.

Staying calm and happy during pregnancy is extremely important. This is why I’ve been avoiding pregnancy manuals and discussion websites like the plague. I don’t need endless lists of what I shouldn’t be doing, eating, watching, reading, or thinking. I believe that all this hype created around pregnancies is just a way for many women to feel important for the first time in their lives. Since I feel plenty important already, I don’t need the drama.

Unfortunately, my OB-GYN’s office believes it’s a good idea to give all pregnant clients the hugely popular What to Expect When You Are Expecting manual as a gift. I had nothing much to do while waiting for an appointment, so I opened this scary book. And what a mistake that was! Within seconds, I discovered that I had already failed to do a ton of crucially important things before conception even took place. It turns out, there is a to-do list from here to the moon that you need to complete before conceiving.

After perusing less than 2 pages of the manual, I already felt like a humongous failure and a horrible excuse for a woman.

As you can imagine, I never opened the manual since then. I eat, do, watch and read whatever I want. As a result, I feel extremely happy and stress-free. And that’s what really matters.