Clarissa's Blog

Hey, that sounds like one enlightened and cool state. The governor is a Democrat, isn’t he? Is it a blue state?

Do they have a university of interest to me?

For those who fear that I ate a boxed Mac and cheese and expired, please don’t worry. I haven’t tried it yet. It’s back to school after a 16-month break tomorrow and I’m busily preparing. But I will have a lot to say after I get ready. 

P.S. I just bought myself one of those tiered tiffin lunch boxes because I don’t feel like I’ll have time to leave my office for lunch this semester. Tiffin boxes look so cool!

Bernie Sanders has established a PAC to promote his revolution. While I certainly applaud the idea, I don’t believe he’ll be very successful. After you spend the whole campaign riling people up against incrementalism, it’s not easy to pivot into the “yay to incrementalism!” that this PAC presupposes. 

Santa Clauses make miracles, and that’s what people expect from them. A Santa Claus who requires you to do work is no Santa at all.

Folks, do you know what I really want to try?

Mac and cheese. 

It’s a part of life that escaped me completely, and I’m insanely curious what it tastes like. But it’s only ever served on kid menus so I never get a chance. 

So I’ll make one out of a box, for a more complete cultural experiment. 

I’m reading National Review, and hey, it’s a fun magazine. A much better way than Marie Claire to pass the 3 hours it takes to get my hair under control at the salon. 

A tiny example:

The Supreme Court has mandated gay marriage everywhere. 

You can just imagine people forced to gay marry at the behest of the Supreme Court. There is also a great article on how Latinos are on the verge of turning Republican. They are almost there! Wait for it, wait for it! Just a second! Almost there! It’s coming! 

No, not really.

Well, maybe next time. 

This article titled “Coding White Trash in Academia” made me want to vomit. People read this kind of ridiculous, self-pitying garbage and actually believe it. And it’s all lies invented by a manipulative, dishonest, entitled prick.

Half of academics are immigrants. Another 40% come from humble roots. All of my favorite, superstar professors came from such poverty that even my Soviet origins felt like royalty. Hey, at least my parents could read and write. 

Curiously, my colleagues and mentors who grew up in poverty, misery, dictatorships, war zones, areas with no schools, religious cults, etc never come out with self-congratulating rants like the linked piece. 

It’s ok to be a repellent, judgmental asshole, like the linked author is. But everything comes at a price, and repellent assholes need to accept that the price of their assholery is that people shun them. This has nothing to do with their class, gender, sexual orientation, or immigration status. All it has to do with is their nasty personality. 

But it’s easier to blame non-existent class condescension in academia than to accept that people can’t stand you because you are a nasty character. 

It blows my mind how concisely and clearly scholars of mathematics write (on general subjects, nit mathematics. I can’t evaluate how well they write on mathematics). There are many people in English, Comparative Literature, Philosophy and History who should take writing classes from them.

Maybe reviewing the work of local mathematicians was not the best service appointment for me to get. The very first document they provided me with starts with the words “classical non­-Euclidean geometry.” My eyes glaze over in extreme boredom immediately.

It all started back in 1991 when hopeful Ukrainians looked to the US to support their struggle for independence from oppressive Soviet rule. President Bush came to Kiev. . . and delivered his shockingly pro-Russian speech that has been nicknamed “Chicken Kiev Speech.” 

Bush made it clear that he expected Ukraine to remain under Russia’s degrading and exploitative tutelage. He was so eager to promote Russian colonial interests that he even departed from the text of the speech he was supposed to give and inserted an aside about the “suicidal nationalism” of Ukrainians.

Since then, the pattern remained in place: Republicans in the White House were always eager to defend Russian colonialism. Senator John McCain was planning to change that but he failed to get elected. 

This wasn’t even that long ago yet many people already forgot how desperate the US Republicans were to preserve the Soviet Union. Of course, they wanted to see it modified under Gorbachev but they were eager to protect its territorial integrity.

Lane-splitting is now legal in California. This is horrible and a nightmare for careful, calm drivers.