Lucia Etxebarria is a very well-known Spanish writer. She is also one of those people who create drama and scandal with every breath they take. So when she decided to write her very well-researched and serious book about the economic crisis in Spain,  she also managed to get on a reality TV show and then immediately get kicked off it right around the book’s release. So nobody really noticed the book, which is just sad.

Author: Lucia Etxebarria
Title: Liquidacion por derribo
Year: 2012

Poland and Spain held elections whose results moved both countries further down the anti-EU road. In Poland, this meant a move to the right, while in Spain this was a move to the left.

The left / right distinctions don’t matter that much any longer, though. They were a feature of the nation-state and are becoming irrelevant at the same pace as it disintegrates.

I’ve been hoping to see a real alternative to Spain ‘ s two leading parties for a while. And now that this alternative appeared, I couldn’t be more disappointed. The new party chose the lazy way of stoking the useless fires of anti-EU resentment instead of doing the actual work of party – building.

Of course, this is really great for the US because the only real competitor it has on the world stage is checking itself out of the game to chase after a fantasy.

Whenever I hang out with people, I always hear things like, “If only I had your potential / talent / publication record / capacity for research, etc., I would be doing XYZ.”

I appreciate the compliment part but dislike the criticism it introduces. I don’t want “a more exciting life.” I’ve had enough upheaval to last me 5 lifetimes. All I want right now is to be left in peace with my research.

“What possessed you to plant sunflowers?!?” Basia exclaimed. “Sunflowers symbolize Ukraine, and you’ve got to know that whenever there’s something Ukrainian, somebody will try to take it away. So of course the rabbits and the deer are trying to eat them!”

The barriers that exist between full-time and contingent faculty members are very unfortunate. But whenever I try to breach them, I discover myself in the midst of such a negative, overwrought environment that I can’t take it for very long.

I just had to listen to an endless discussion of how everything is horrible and our university is about to be closed down and finally just gave up on trying to reach out to contingent colleagues.

The area stricken by intense forest fires in Russia has grown fivefold. Fires now rage on 120,000 acres of territory.

Nobody in Russia is doing anything about this tragedy. An ecological catastrophe of enormous proportions is happening but nobody gives a damn.

The fires are raging to the East of the Urals, and this is a region in Russia nobody cares much about. For all of their anti-Western bluster, Russians only have interest in what lies to the West of Moscow, and the more Western it is, the better.

While I’m getting ready for a party, please read this optimistic article about the sadness and desperation of religious fanatics.

I’m glad they are realizing how irrelevant they have become.

The organizers of the Oxford conference want to make it as laid-back, relaxed, and informal as possible. With that goal, they are sending us endless emails with lists of rules that are supposed to keep the whole thing laid-back. Not a single thing remains unscripted and uncontrolled in this search for relaxation.

A second place for the talentless Russian singer?

Pathetic suck ups. It is absolutely ridiculous that Russia was even allowed to participate. Now, of course, Putinoid propaganda is making a huge meal of it, saying that this means Europeans support Russia.

I’m very disgusted with stupid Europeans. These people have no historical memory, no self-respect, no principles. They deserve everything they get after kissing Putin’s ass this way.

After an insane amount of time spent dithering, I finally bought my ticket.

From July 10 to July 14, I will be staying in Oxford, and then from July 14 to July 16, I will be in London at a yet undecided location.

I’m very dedicated to the goal of enjoying the UK this time around. A visit to the Globe theater that somebody suggested on the blog sounds like a brilliant idea. I checked the website, and it seems like Richard II will be on. Of course, I’d have preferred a different Richard but still.