A student came up to me to share that after a 23-year-long wait, he will finally become a citizen. I almost started crying because it’s so touching and I’m in a weakened state right now.

Also, I’m so sick that I imagined that I had forgotten to switch of the stove and had to drive all the way back home to check. Turns out I didn’t forget to switch it off.

I can’t wait for my next class to make me feel more like myself.

I’m so sick it’s scary. I met a colleague before class and tried talking to him in Spanish but it was useless. Nothing but a weird jumble was coming out.

Still, the moment I entered the classroom, perfect Spanish started pouring out of me. It’s like a switch was flipped. Then, I left the classroom and again everything was in a fog.

N shared his secret fantasy with me. 

“You know what I’d love to do?” he said with a dreamy look on his face. “Just sit there and do abstract algebra. But I feel guilty because it seems so self-indulgent.”

“And I’d love to just sit there and study the history of Luso-Brazilian literature but I also feel guilty,” I said. 

We are perfect for each other. 

The problem with the football player who didn’t stand during the anthem is that there is zero point to these competitive sports other than promotion of the nation-state. They were created to foster patriotism and to promote emotional attachment to the nation-state. And the players today get enormous payouts because they help fans experience the ecstasy of nationalism.

Other than this, they serve no purpose whatsoever. For the players, shitting on the trappings of nationalism is like cutting off the hand that feeds you. 

Every August I fall sick. For decades, literally. And it’s always the same stupid cold. So annoying. 

Russia is going to spend a cool billion dollars on the 2019 Krasnoyarsk Winter Universiade Games. 

No, they aren’t dumb. Putin’s crony oligarchs are getting antsy about the economic crisis, so Putin will let them steal most of this billion in government contracts they will get. 

The population will be told that these games are crucial to uphold Russia’s worldwide prestige and stick it to the Americans. 

That the Americans are not very aware of the 2019 Krasnoyarsk Winter Universiade Games will not be mentioned. 

Trump: Hillary Clinton is supported by the most radical groups of Leftist progressives! She is a radical!  

Somewhere, the most radical groups of Leftist progressives are collapsing with laughter. 

This funny post reminded me how I, not a morning person by any stretch, asked a colleague from Argentina when it was OK to call her. 

“Just don’t call too early in the morning,” she said. 

“Sure!” I said and called at 2 pm. 

“I told you not to call at this ungodly hour!” the Argentinean moaned. “You woke me up! Freak!” 

You absolutely cannot prevent the addressees of trigger warnings from freaking out and experiencing “crippling anxieties” and “violent illnesses”. There is nothing any layperson can do to prevent that. You can’t do that with trigger warnings, you can’t do that through not mentioning certain things, you simply can’t do anything about their feelings.

Their reactions are not about you and you don’t control them in any way. This is why these warnings are counterproductive. They promise what you can’t deliver. 

The best strategy is to refuse to engage with these forms of extreme self-manifestation in any way. 

People keep saying, “But what’s the harm in a simple short statement?” What’s the harm in letting an epileptic believe that you can prevent him from having a fit in your classroom? What’s the harm in letting a bipolar person believe you can prevent her from having a manic episode during a lecture? 

The harm is that people begin to think that the origin of their illness is you.