[Russian] A sensational investigative report on the people who organized the fatal crash of flight MH17. Tons of photos. Here is the report in English. 

Neoliberal mothering.

If it’s slavery in Louisiana, then it’s slavery in Arkansas, as well. You just can’t pick and choose, at least not in the same week. I, for one, have no idea why it would be any better to have convicts just sit in their cells staring at each other, but it’s not like these denunciations ever come accompanied by an alternative plan. 

“Are others discovering worry and guilt within the constant barrage of new information and advice?” wonders one of IHE’s resident drama queens. My answer is no, I’m not because I figured out a long time ago that worry and guilt don’t reside inside articles and FB posts. They come from within human beings. 

Jonathan Mayhew wrote a brilliant piece on virtue-signaling. Jonathan’s blog is flourishing this summer. 

Did people identify with the professor at Evergreen because “they identify with him racially, and some feel similarly victimized by a changing culture that sometimes challenges or de-centers their whiteness”? Or should the person who wrote the linked piece have his head examined?

A really good article on the politics of clothing in the US.

So. Will the UK vote for its own Trump tomorrow?

Today Putin shared with the public a fantasy of beating up a gay man in the shower. Then he declared that he doesn’t have bad days because he isn’t a woman. 

Don’t you sometimes get a feeling that world leaders are competing for the title of the biggest clown? 

I rarely wonder about a writer’s politics but I’m curious about Richard Russo’s. Does anybody know?

The novel I just read by him represents a brilliant, convincing, talented and overwhelming argument against tenure. Tenure is what destroys his characters professionally and personally. So I wonder.

People, if you are in the mood to read a long and brilliant article on Black Lives Matter, here it is. It’s seriously brilliant. 

People have been telling me for years to read Richard Russo’s Straight Man. I resisted because I don’t like the genre of academia novels and I especially dislike humorous novels. Finally, however, I gave up and read the novel and, as much as I tried not to, I fucking loved it. I didn’t find it funny, though. I found it terrifying because it hits too close to home.

Just the other day, somebody was telling me on Facebook that professors who lead no intellectual life, do no research, and only teach some recycled intro courses don’t exist. Russo’s novel was written 20 years ago and it’s precisely about this kind of professors. And yes, it’s the 1980s and the 1990s that gave us this model and it still won’t die. Seriously, are there any academics reading this blog who haven’t seen what happens to their colleagues when they stop living the life of the mind, stop reading, stop writing? We all know the problem is ubiquitous but we don’t like to say it because it’s politically inconvenient. 

This is a risk we all run. Intellectual stagnation can happen to anyone. And when it happens to really smart people, they go nuts like you can’t imagine. But you will be able to if you read this great novel. 

I want to put my response to the question of “How can it help to cure the problem just by understanding it?” in a separate post because many people don’t even know that it’s possible.

My friend, you are right, it is like magic. I have no idea why the magic happens but it does.

Imagine a person who has an addiction. It’s a serious addiction, it’s been going on for years, and it’s getting worse. And then the person goes into psychoanalysis, talks, figures it out and. . . He’s cured. Addiction is gone.

Imagine a person with 3 addictions, 5 self-destructive behaviors, and all central bodily functions compromised (eating disorders, sleep disorders, etc.) And then all of a sudden, it all begins to fall away and she can lead a normal life. No addictions, no self-destructive behaviors.

That’s how it works. And I wouldn’t have believed it had I not experienced it myself. I have no idea why understanding the problem has such potency but it does.

Of course, it all begins with a person wanting to get better. And as you say, if they don’t, that’s all there is to it.

Mind you, though, you can’t do it on your own. It takes professional help. It’s like dentistry. Tooth hurts like a sad m-fucker, you go to a dentist, she does something, tooth doesn’t hurt.

A very informative article on UK’s terrorists. I’m speechless, folks. 

In Canada, a dark-skinned woman speaks against high school classes on “white privilege” because everybody else is too chicken.

The desire of some servile Canadians blindly and stupidly to imitate Americans is sad to watch.

The best productivity trick I have right now is to forgive myself for not doing enough. Ideally, the forgiveness should happen every day or I will be eaten alive by feelings of guilt for not doing as much as I should. The summer is at fault because I don’t have to be at work and feel like I need to be doing an insane amount of things to make use of the free time.

I have a notebook that I use every evening to go over all of my daily achievements to stave off the guilt. It works but not as great as I’d like it to.