Urban Honking

I have been working like a skunk; it is a beautiful feeling. I can’t say enough good things about it. I have been wondering why I find my work so unbelievably satisfying–it’s unlike any job I have ever had in my life, in that sense, even teaching, which I love. I wake up every morning […]

I just graduated from a PhD program in the humanities (woohoo!) and I actually have a job, but I really don’t want it. Before you roll your eyes, since I know no one has a job in this economy, let me tell you that it’s a 1-year appointment in the department I just graduated from, […]

The other day I came home and saw my husband’s to-do list on the shelf in the entryway. It said: – bird sounds – ebirds – Man Ray translation Since quitting academia he has developed a passion for birding. He bought a double CD called “Birding by Ear” and is now difficult to go on […]

Last night I “taught” the last class of the year. I put “taught” in quotation marks because the class consisted of an enormous African dance and drumming troupe coming in and forcing all 150 of my students to dance and sing. It was so fun and I loved it; even the rude handsome jocks who […]

Although I have never personally been a user of the much maligned typeface Comic Sans, I recently found there are actually appropriate uses for the font. Many Portlanders fondly remember the goats grazing over on Southeast Belmont Avenue. They were fun and quirky, yet thoroughly practical in keeping the grasses down—a great example of Portland doing things right. Well […]

I am on my computer at an establishment that is in between a grad student bar and a semi-nice restaurant and I don’t know if it is weird that I am on my computer. No one else is in here. Oh the etiquette perils of modern life. I just consumed a full order of nachos […]

It is now truly the countdown to summer vacation. Our last day of school is April 27, if you can believe that! – only four more seminars – only three more undergrad lectures – only two more discussion sections – only eighteen thousand more committee meetings As you know, I have a number of non-school-related […]

A few days ago I pushed through into a new (bad) phase of this hip dysplasia situation, and now I really can barely walk. All of a sudden! In the past it has flared up and then faded back down to a manageable level, but this flare-up is lasting longer than ever before and I’m […]

As part of my job I routinely receive solicitous email from various corporate entities who are trying (successfully) to prey on higher education in various ways. The emails are uniformly poorly written, with misspellings and typos, but they also manifest a really chilling kind of circular meaninglessness that I think characterizes most biz-speak in our […]

I have been reading about capital mobility and floating exchange rates and how the privatization of the educational system will bring an end to racial discrimination for 1.5 days and I needed a break so I came here to the co-op to get myself a “gigantic crunchy salad,” which I succeeded in doing and which […]