The concepts of “company culture” and “employer branding” are all the rage today. This is a curious feature of the fluid economy where workers are more fluid than employers and it’s the employer’s task to create some rootedness. There are careers being made in teaching employers how to self-brand in an appealing way to retain workers. There are TED talks, conferences, workshops, and companies that specialize in company culture. It’s absolutely fascinating.

Folks, have you heard about Alfie Evans? What a horrible story. For the first time in my life, I feel good about Pope Francis who is trying to help save Alfie.

Moved by the prayers and immense solidarity shown little Alfie Evans, I renew my appeal that the suffering of his parents may be heard and that their desire to seek new forms of treatment may be granted.

— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) April 23, 2018

I hope the British courts listen to the Pope and everybody else who is begging for Alfie’s life and let him go.

God. That it should come to this. Where are the disability rights advocates? This is monstrous.

Everybody here knows what I do and understands how much it tinges my perception of the Hispanic people. I feel warm and fuzzy when I simply just hear the word “Mexican.”

I understand, though, that nobody is required to share my feelings. Cultural differences exist and people can feel wary or anxious about those who are different. The day before I had to take my first class in Latin American culture, I threw a fit because I suspected there would be Hispanic women there, and I was terrified of them before ever meeting a single one. And then I started hanging out with Hispanic women to learn Spanish and discovered these were my favorite people in the world.

So what I suggest when you are bothered by a culture is to spend some time in a friendly interaction with people whose culture you find threatening or icky. You might completely change your mind. Or not, you never know. But it makes sense to try.

This suggestion, of course, only pertains to reasonable, mentally healthy folks and not obsessed paranoiacs like T.C. Boyle. God, this fellow hates Mexicans with the power of a million fiery suns. His Mexican characters are not only “rapists and murderers” – which they are – but they also burn down half of California and destroy a beautiful library of 6,000 volumes. The metaphor couldn’t be clearer: Mexicans are so uncivilized that they destroy knowledge, culture and beauty.

They also kill a cat. Like in, they cook it and eat it. A little boy’s pet cat. And it’s a really nice cat, too. If even I, a person who is indifferent to cats, felt a pang when she was killed and eaten by Mexicans, that means the cat was portrayed in the novel as a really nice, friendly animal who didn’t deserve this fate.

And then they eat more pet cats.

I can only conclude that the author is obviously mentally unwell because his hatred of Mexicans makes Trump look like a passionate admirer of the Mexican culture. Again, I’m very willing to recognize the million and one problems of the Mexican culture. But it’s simply crazy to present the Mexican people as these irredeemable, useless, stupid folks who destroy everything they touch. And eat cats after doing it.

The novel’s parallel story of clueless American liberals I’m not even discussing because it’s been done a bizillion times in US literature and I’m so over it.

Reading this book was a powerful experience because it isn’t often that you encounter such raw, pulsating hatred spewed out with unflagging intensity over 449 pages. I’m very opposed to teaching this book in high school because the literary quality is nil and kids this age are not equipped to resist a text of such great intensity and such a simplistic worldview.

Once again, thank you, reader el, for giving me a copy. I’m very glad I read this book.

Klara: You don’t have makeup today, Mommy.

Me: I have some makeup on my face. Just a little bit.

Klara (in a comforting voice): It’s ok, Mommy, don’t worry. We can wash it off with water.

——————-

Me: Look, there’s a squirrel.

Klara: Squirrels eat acorns. I don’t eat acorns because I’m not a squirrel. I’m a little girl. If I eat acorns, my tummy hurts, I throw up and Mommy has to clean my bed. I get sick, and I can’t go to school or to the park. I eat food. I can’t eat acorns, Mommy.

I’m sure I offered her this information in bits and pieces but it blows my mind that she could synthesize them into this long and complex narrative. I teach adults who can’t do that.

There are some sites who are less extreme and which moderate violent comments, but I have visited no site that would provide real kind of psychological help for those men who suffer in loneliness.

This is a very dumb statement. You can’t provide psychological help to people who don’t actively seek it. You can provide psychiatric care against people’s will if you have them committed. But you can’t provide “real kind of psychological help” to strangers online who don’t think they need such help. You can’t even provide it to dearly beloved people you know very well in person. Only qualified professionals can provide such help to people who ask them to offer this service.

Another thing: people who don’t think they have a psychological (as opposed to a psychiatric) problem don’t have a problem. “You have a problem because your behavior bothers me” is a nonsensical statement. If you are bothered, the problem is yours. And you can either remove yourself from the interaction or accept the situation. Because you can’t “cure” somebody else.

As for the rest of the post, “women are horrible” is as popular of a narrative as “men are horrible.” The absolute majority of people who engage in it don’t harm a fly. Venting about these feelings either in oral conversation or in writing is actually a good thing. If a person is not inclined towards violence, no amount of angry websites, violent movies or video games can “make them” violent.

Inside Higher Ed picked up the story of Carbondale’s plan to exploit unpaid professors.

Unless Carbondale issues a formal retraction and makes a public apology soon, this won’t end well for the already struggling university. Nobody wants to send their kids to a school that gets the worst press in the country all the time.

The boozy stewed rabbit came out beyond delicious.

It has one of those huge bottles of red wine in it per 2 rabbits. I stewed it with carrots and peas and served it over my signature lentils with kale. The only bad thing about it is that it’s impossible to stop eating.

P.S. It’s not a cheap dish, though. Altogether, it comes to $40. But it will feed us for 3 days because it’s two whole rabbits and a ton of vegetables.

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grant

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