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Bloggiversary Q&A

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Clarissa

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People, the blog turned 6 yesterday, and I didn’t even notice. 2,800,000+ hits, a crazy number of posts and comments, readers from every country in the world, and, I insist, the best group of regular commenters anywhere. This April Fool’s Day joke of six years ago has been very serious for quite a while.

Let’s celebrate the bloggiversary and our collective achievement with a traditional Q&A session. You ask me anything you want and I answer.

Scroll down for new posts because I’m making this one sticky.

six year anniversary

22 responses to “Bloggiversary Q&A”

  1. Anon for this one Avatar
    Anon for this one

    Is your husband comfortable with your vocal position on Russia and Ukraine? Does it cause any tensions in your marriage?

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      When we first got together, we had a few conversations where I explained why I was not Ok with colonial mentality and made it very clear that he was either going to ask questions and learn or there was no possibility of our relationship continuing. N used to have the habit of making very well-meaning, completely innocent statements that were quite offensive. Like, for instance, “But Ukraine is not really a country.” Or, “So what use was that independence of yours, anyway?” But he realized that he had to abandon this habit and he did.

      Recently, we’ve had to come to agreement as to the terminology I was using to discuss the situation. He said that when I called the invaders “Russians” or “your people”, that was painful. So we agreed that I’d call them “citizens of the Russian Federation” (which, mercifully, is just one word in Russian.)

      Communication is above all, my friends! 🙂

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      1. Clarissa Avatar
        Clarissa

        P.S. In the spirit of full disclosure, I also abstain from listening to my war song “We buried the Moscovite like a dog by the side of the road” at home. Not that N would understand the lyrics but still.

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        1. cliff arroyo Avatar
          cliff arroyo

          “I also abstain from listening to my war song “We buried the Moscovite like a dog by the side of the road””

          Ah, the sacrifices people make for love…..

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  2. The TVlists Avatar
    The TVlists

    happy 6 years!

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  3. Stringer Bell Avatar
    Stringer Bell

    Happy anniversary. I only discovered your blog in your third year but I’m here to stay!

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  4. JM Avatar
    JM

    How is The wire going? )))))))))

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      We are on Season 3, and we are loving the show. Brilliant writing, great acting. This is what television should be about!

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  5. Shakti Avatar
    Shakti

    How’s your Seinfeld chain going?

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Not that great at this point. The largest chain I’ve had this year was 13 days long. So it’s mostly 3-10 day long chains at the moment. But I still hope to create a 150-day-long chain this year.

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  6. Pen Avatar
    Pen

    How’s your research going? (Not networking, I swear! I just like hearing about other people’s research. :))

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      I never suspected you of the evil networking activity. 🙂

      It’s going but I can’t wait for the semester to end so that I don’t have to be distracted from writing my useless meetings and boring paperwork.

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  7. alexander Avatar
    alexander

    What do you think of the Ellen Pao verdict?

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      I’m not very interested in these bizarre games of the ultra-rich. And I find it strange that people who don’t have two pennies to rub together (I don;t mean you, obviously) are so passionate about hedge fund managers and their faux drama.

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  8. Evelina Anville Avatar
    Evelina Anville

    I had no idea this blog started out as an April Fool’s Joke! I always thought you started blogging to reduce your blood pressure. Anyway, I would be interested to know what are some moments that stick out in your mind as “blogging milestone?” What are your favorite posts or comment threads? Least favorite? Why? Do you anticipate continuing to blog for a while?

    Oh and Happy Anniversary! 🙂 🙂

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      The April Fool’s Joke is a later explanation attached to the whole thing retrospectively. When I started blogging, I didn’t even notice that it was April Fool’s Day.

      The most puzzling thing about blogging is that the posts that require the greatest effort and that please me the most invariably attract no interest. While the ones that take no effort and that I forget 2 seconds after posting them tend to attract crowds for years to come.

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  9. Jones Avatar
    Jones

    I only came here because I thought there’d be cake in this post …

    After six years, still no cake?

    [the cake was always a big fat hedgehog-shaped cakey lie]

    🙂

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    1. Shakti Avatar
      Shakti

      Well at least the post didn’t offer you death. :p

      The imaginary cake is great. It’s delicious and moist.
      🙂

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  10. Pen Avatar
    Pen

    What are your thoughts on the opt-out program in NYS primary and secondary schools as a method for attempting to make the state reevaluate its method of evaluating teachers?

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      I’m not sure I’ve heard of it. Who is opting out of what?

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      1. Pen Avatar
        Pen

        Parents, supported by the teacher’s union, are opting out of having their kids take the standardized tests–the ones whose grades don’t actually go into the students’ records–next week. The students are all between third and eighth grade. The hope is that if enough people don’t take it, the state will be forced to reconsider its policy of using these tests to justify firing teachers.

        An example:
        http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2015/04/07/opt-movement/25433719/

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          Here is the problem with this idea:

          Those who believe the state is going about it the wrong way, including the state teachers union, see Albany’s entire education framework as vulnerable and hope to topple it through mass civil disobedience by students ages 8 through 13.

          These are very small children who cannot engage in “civil disobedience.” They don’t even have the full rights of the citizens yet. So in reality, it’s disobedience organized through them. This is an enormous burden that is being placed in very young kids. Adults are shifting their responsibility onto the children, and that’s just not OK. 13 is not that bad, but 8 is the age of the second major crisis of separation of the child from the parents. I’m afraid that the damage to the kids will outweigh any benefit to them because, really, it’s not the kids who suffer because of this testing.

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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