Schadenfreude 

Did you, folks, hear how Trump humiliated the congressional Republicans by berating them for passing the “very cruel” AHCA? And the poor dumb buggers only voted for it to support him. 

Dandelions

Where did all the dandelions go all of a sudden? Are they no longer in season or whatever? I have a child here who loves to pick dandelions and accepts nothing instead. 

She also loves to watch the bunnies we have in the back yard. The only problem is that when a bunny runs away, she wants me to pick her up and chase after it. Which is not very realistic. 

Don’t Forget to Ask

And a few hours after signaling my willingness, I already have my first review request. 

Moral of the story: it doesn’t hurt to ask. 

Gender Identity

The doctor’s office just asked me what gender I identify with. Weird. 

Our Crazy Guy

Hey, the Bellville shooter seems to have gone to my school. A future Bernie supporter at our university, it’s no wonder he went bonkers. 

The Belleville Freak

Wow, a Bernie supporter from Belleville, IL did a mass shooting in Virginia. Thank you, freakazoid, for guaranteeing we will never hear the end of “Liberal Nazis!” screeching.

Corbyn = Trump

This demographic doesn’t care that Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t look like a conventional politician (they like it), or about things he did before they were even born. They just want the constant tension that pervades their lives – the tension that comes with having virtually no financial security – to be lifted.

And how exactly is he going to do that? By bringing in more refugees who, by any measure, need more help than 25-year-olds in 2-year unpaid internships? By straining the damaged welfare net even more? By reversing Brexit and thus removing even this sad little defense against fluidity?

How can you save the nation-state certainties by eroding the nation-state?

This is why I’m saying that Corbyn is the British equivalent of Trump. They both exploit the anxiety born of fluidity to rise to power and promote even more fluidity. Forget rhetoric and TV-friendly special effects. Look at the results. 

Reviews

My former thesis advisor published over 120 book reviews throughout her career. This is very encouraging because I want to get into book reviewing (of academic books, I mean). By the end of this calendar year, I will have 18 published articles and 2 books, so I don’t think anybody will decide that I’m reviewing to pad my CV. I want to do this as a hobby. So I just wrote to review editors of 3 journals offering my reviewing services.