Refugee

"The refugee should be considered for what it is, namely, nothing less than a limit-concept that at once brings a radical crisis to the principles of the nation-state and clears the way for a renewal of categories that can no longer be delayed."
Giorgio Agamben

This is a good one

Reading the Readings

"In the readings I have read, I learned that before the war, during the pre-war, Hitler didn't have any friends at the time. His life was lonely."

The Good and the Bad

Damn.
Happy Birthday K.

Is This A Joke?

I'm afraid it is not. As if I don't already think our president is a nut When I read things like this I wonder how long this can go on. I know, this is called Grand Standing. However, I am seriously concerned with the future of this country. I don't want to live in a monarchy, and I know that even university students are more concerned with their hair than their fate.
Why is it that we place so much emphasis on the Rugged Individual when it comes to making money, but NOT when it comes to making positive change. "Oh, what can once person do?" they say to me in class. I guess all one person can do is recycle and go forth and make money.

Everyday is a Siege of Terror

My former advisor told me this of school a few years a go. How true.
We have very little staff at the moment, this segues neatly with the faculty situation. On Wednesday I had to teach two classes, and I wanted to have people write on the board, so I needed two additional dry erase markers. This really should not be a big deal. Really. It shouldn't. However, I had to speak to two different people, and fill out an official Requisition Form to borrow markers. The lady who made me fill out the form at first told me I couldn't have them since I'm teaching for a different department. I have learned to keep asking the same question (as if I don't understand) until a person capitulates in exhaustion. Eventually, she stopped typing, and we went to the cabinet of crap. She looked at a cup containing about a dozen markers, and said, "No, we don't have them!" "They're right there," I said. Then, she wanted to give me Sharpies. For fuck sakes!
I finally got some markers. I went to class, and most of them failed to copy down what went up on the board. Dang kids.
I realized while watching Cops this evening that what they do is no different from what I do, though I'd like to think I'm not as racist as the cops are.
As my mother says, "Fuck them if they can't take a joke."