Today I yelped in pain all day on Facebook and it seems to have helped. It all comes down to: I can’t allow myself to serve infirm entities, or sacrifice identity for them (my mother, BJA, to some extent ISB, RSA, Xica, other minor instances, but my mother, Barry, and I guess Terry Mayers, come … More Voice
Clarifying even more: you’re an American, and you have a Ph.D., and you speak Spanish, and we hate all of that, and it hurts us personally, and you need to try to understand that. THIS was the message and I, sincere to a fault, tried to understand it, allow for it, heal it. In the … More Today
I need to develop thought on catalanisme, Catalan nationalism, its liberating and repressive dimensions. This, and the way brasilidade is articulated and sold (especially in Bahia), would be interesting points of comparison to cajunismo (by which I mean to indicate not Cajun culture tout court/altogether, but the fetishization of it that has been developed and … More Sobre nacionalismos
A reminder. A Capricorn life is work and doing heavy lifting for others, without gratitude. But love and esthetics are important and must be honored. With Gemini rising, it is important to choose the discomfort of concentration. Do not let other people dissipate your life, and do not allow them to interrupt work. Gemini rising … More That astrological reading
I literally need shots for COVID, flu, and pneumonia, and should remember. In the meantime, there is also this, from a friend: “The state has gone all in on workforce preparation as their central model, and don’t agree that research or excellence do anything to help that. Universities as centers of innovation and economic development … More Inoculation
That feeling when you realize everything around you is designed to align your perspective with that of authority. It’s what I realized this month about Cajun culture, how the attempt to be kind to it and enjoy it is wrongheaded, I cannot make peace with it and it can never include me, because it is … More My research project
I’m going to have some self-respect this semester. That is the most fundamental thing the Cajuns took from me. I’m taking it back. YES my field has validity, YES I am a valid person, NO I am not ashamed to be research faculty, NO I am not oppressing you. YES I believe in shared governance … More As in
Trying to turn myself into someone who can live with the Cajun victim narrative … it’s the same operation as in 19th century Latin American literature, they are trying to say the perpetuation of slave society is liberation. I will work on this. Axé.
“The rural bars that played the music were not exactly accepting of all peoples. Living in New Iberia for over a decade now has really opened my eyes to the horrific inequality that exists. Both the poor and wealthy white here propagate violent white nationalism. The justice system (under a very religious Catholic majority) allows … More On Cajun culture, from a friend
…but is this too violent? Abuse and misogyny are endemic in Cajun culture. If you do not know this, it is because you are sheltered. That is why the idealization of this culture in the tourist literature—that many now take for academic history–is intolerable to me. Do not sing me one more damned song. * … More I want to say it on Facebook…
coldhearted scientist وداد 