Clarissa's Blog

On top of everything else, I got rejected for my grant. But it’s actually a good thing because, to be honest, I haven’t read a single thing pertaining to the project since I applied. Which tells us I’m not very interested in it. 

I liked it when I was applying but then I found my new favorite author, and now I’m obsessed. It’s like when I met N. After the first date, I knew it was him or nobody. And it’s been like that ever since. 

Investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated after exposing the Panama papers. This kind of stuff has been going on since 1989 but now that it’s possible to squeeze the assassination in the same sentence with “Trump”, maybe somebody is going to notice. 

Is it against the rules to heat up mango lassi? I asked for it to be warmed up at the buffet but the workers reacted like I would if somebody asked me to serve chilled borscht. They conducted a consult and arrived at the conclusion that it can’t be done. Does warming it spoil it in some way? 

Here in Illinois, the entire campaign against Rauner consists of pointing out that somebody who contributed his campaign also contributed to Roy Moore’s. Once again, it’s an effort to substitute policy with outrage. Why not speak instead of the damage Rauner did to the state and the alternative ways our candidates will handle things? 
Literally, all I’m seeing right now in terms of efforts to unseat Rauner is cheap Facebook outrage about completely inane things. The fellow devastated the state’s economy but that message isn’t getting out. Instead, we hear how he once stood next to somebody who stood next to somebody who was the subject of an outraged tweet, and can you believe it, that evildoer. It’s so ridiculous.

Klara’s first Spanish word is “terremoto” (earthquake.) She pronounces it perfectly. 

We are reading this bizarre book about a family that goes on a picnic and never manages to eat anything or have fun because the only adult there is completely useless. The family has a dog called Terremoto. Klara decided that it doesn’t make sense for a dog to be called that and persuaded me that Terremoto is one of the girls in the story. Why she chose this particular girl and why she decided Terremoto can’t be a boy is a mystery. I’d so love for her to be able to explain but she isn’t even 22 months old yet. 

I find it absolutely fascinating how she figures out these things. 

I’m stunned with the number of ridiculous rumors that have proliferated recently about my alma mater. Wherever I turn, people tell me the most outlandish, crazy stories that none of witnessed first-hand. Everybody heard something from somebody that heard something from somebody else. 

It’s scary how easy it is to destroy reputations once you start playing the game of “broken phone.” Rumors, exaggerations, fantasies, hints – it’s all totally nuts. It’s especially disturbing that the people who so avidly spread gossip are scholars or scholars-in-the-making. We are supposed to care about evidence, knowledge, truth. 

It’s sad to see people descend into the depths of insanity just because it feels nice to gossip. I spent half a day today trying to make folks see reason but it’s useless. 

So as you know, out Chancellor decided not to give us our backpay as a union-busting tactic. The money has been approved by the Board of Trustees and disbursed to the school, yet this one. . . individual is choosing to keep it hostage. 

On Wednesday, there was a big award ceremony at our university. Union people showed up with a huge framed certificate and said they wanted to award it to the Chancellor. The poor . . . individual got all proud and climbed onstage. The union folks said that the framed paper was actually the text of the email he sent back in summer to the university community promising that we’d be getting our backpay soon. And they asked him if he was willing to comment. Obviously, he had nothing to say. It all got in the papers and on social media.

I’m very proud of my union. 

Every week now we get reports of racist incidents on our campus. I’ve been here for 8 years, and there was never anything like this. Our student demographics have not changed, the tenor of instruction was not changed. But all of a sudden people started coming into the classrooms and the dorms and the shared areas to find racist slogans written on blackboards, doors, bulletin boards, etc. And I mean really vicious racist shit.

So what changed? I think we all know the answer. Students are mostly very young kids, teenagers many of them. I’m not trying to justify them but the young are like sponges. They absorb what’s in the environment and react to changing social norms. The perpetrators will be discovered, castigated, and probably expelled. But what about those who taught them that this vile shit is ok? When will they be punished?

Somebody writes on FB:

“My neighbors have 7 kids and 4 dogs they adopted from shelters. Their house is always very clean, and every time I come by they serve freshly baked cookies. The kids are all great students, and are very responsible and good-mannered. The parents are always cheerful and happy. I think they must worship Satan.”

I concur and need to add that they must also be very lonely. Who’d want to be friends with this walking reproach of a family?

I had no idea dance classes meant we need to get a pink leotard, a pink tutu, pink tights and pink ballet shoes. 

Plus, I got the feeling they expect Klara to stay at the lesson without me. Which is not happening. Are there really any 2-year-olds who agree to stay at a strange place with strangers without their mama? ‘Cause I haven’t met any such kids.