A student writes in an essay (based on some lying crapola report from Cuba) that Cuban system of education and Cuban medical care are phenomenal and people flock from all over the world to enjoy them. Unlike the student, I’ve been to Cuba and know for a fact that its system of education is non-existent and its medical care is horrifying and cruel.

He found an enormous bunch of idiot American “scholars” to confirm this belief, too.

There is nothing I can do or tell myself to prevent my blood pressure from going up when I see shit like that. And I already have gestational hypertension.

A student writes:

I can identify with the protagonist of Bombal’s House of Mist because I am a woman and, like all women, I want a man to love me and desire me sexually.

I have really got to wonder where she has spent the last 25 years of her life.

This goose that sits on her eggs in front of my office reminds me of me. But the really good thing is that I can carry my egg inside myself and am not forced to sit on it motionlessly for hours. I’m also quite happy that I have just one instead of the five or six the goose is expecting.

OK, I dislike Douthat more than most but the following passage is simply disgusting:

Or see converts to Catholicism such as Ross Douthat who act as self-appointed Catholic purity cops, while America’s cradle Catholics reject many (or all) of the doctrinal items on offer in the Church cafeteria.

So upholding a faith stupidly and non-reflectively just because Mommy and Daddy told you to and you never grew up enough to question their right to impose a faith on you is better than consciously choosing your own worldview? Seriously? What the fuck does it even mean to be a “cradle Catholic”? Brrrr, I’m disgusted.

If one converts as a matter of conscious choice, then, of course, one is more likely to take the faith seriously than those who just follow it by rote without ever giving a second thought to why they “believe” these things.

Is there a better psychoanalytical checklist than the ten commandments? I haven’t been able to find one. Irrespective of what one does or doesn’t believe, this list is the perfect way to keep tabs on one’s psychological health. See for yourself.

I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

It is definitely psychologically unhealthy to idolize anything or anybody outside of one’s own inner life.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work.

Honor thy father and thy mother.

 The only road to psychological health is to analyze your family scenario instead of pretending immaturely that it has no influence on your life.

Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

 Nothing causes more psychological harm than repressed guilt and anxiety. Absolutely nothing. Avoid doing anything that will make you experience these feelings.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s.

Envy is a psychologically destructive emotion that leads to a variety of unpleasant psychosomatic symptoms, from heartburn and ulcer to even worse things. Stop envying, concentrate on yourself.

Of course, it would be great if having a sense of humor were also on this check-list.

In 1998, my father traveled to the US for the first time. He met with his new business partner who was showing him around Orange County, California. In the process of getting to know each other, they discovered that they disagreed about an issue pertaining to world history.

What really shocked my father was that disagreeing about this did not turn him and his business partner into mortal enemies. They had the discussion and their relationship did not sour as a result. For the culture were we come from, that was unheard of.

I had a similar culture shock when after a class on women’s subjection during the dictatorship of Franco, a female classmate overtook me in the street. “This is horrible!” she burst out passionately. “I can’t imagine being prevented from working! That would be the worst!” Young women back in Ukraine did not say such things.

I also experienced culture shock the first time I heard N. say in a melancholy voice, “Well, that was fate.” Since then I discovered that Russian people say this phrase 5-6 times a day.

And then I experienced it in Kingston, Ontario when I discovered that all restaurants and bars (I mean, all 2 of them) closed by 9:30 pm.

Have you experienced any instances of culture shock?