Q: Why so cranky/are you depressed/mentally ill? The etymology of crank is a good one – the “crazy person” is related to the person who is angry, upset, sad, unsatisfied, or hysterical (women 99% of the writings say). I’ll take the crazy but not the mentally ill – it’s a very old and sad tactic…

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Up at 6, drinking the flavored coffee I love, reading an essay on Poetry.org, feeling happy. Feeling much happier than I did yesterday leaving the restaurant, hearing, “Thank you and come back and see us,” knowing as I did the overwhelming evidence this would be my last trip to Burlington, VT, a city that I’ve…

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The vision quest is the primary model of composition that undergraduate students use. A vision quest, roughly defined is a ceremony involving sleep deprivation, possible chemical enhancement of the body, and an appeal to the universe to reveal a good word, a path, a mission or purpose to the participant. This is a ritual primarily…

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I never just turn on a TV unless I’m in a hotel by myself. It’s a strange thing to experience cable when you don’t regularly have it. After this quick trip I realize that if I had cable TV I would never accomplish anything because bad cuts of ancient films that I like are always…

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The first full, free weekend in a while is bound to come with some snags. I let the day pretty much run away with me, my starship, a few quests, and a whole lot of farming in No Man’s Sky. Time just blows by me without any measure when I’m playing that. But I did…

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Recent events at my university have tanked my faith in the institution. It’s at a very, very low point. It’s not just my institution; it’s all universities. It seems that at every university, decisions are being made about fantasy students who are in fantasy positions. It’s like fantasy football without any actual football to ground it.…

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Wishing I had saved my first draft which Squarespace deleted for me when I clicked “post,” but I would also like to have a nice hot glass of that Moroccan tea – green, with a lot of mint, and tons of sugar, too hot to hold, served in tiny glasses. It’s the way I started…

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I feel like I just posted here, but clearly that’s not true. Being here makes the time slip by so quickly. I’ll sit down to do a simple task like grade or read something and hours will fly by. We’ll arrive at the school for our teaching day and it will be 2PM before I…

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For those of you keeping track of my whereabouts, I am enjoying my first morning in Rabat in 2017. I have had a lot of mornings in Rabat over the years, but each trip comes with its own set of adjustments. Reflecting on adjustment and how frustrated I get when things don’t go the way…

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Had a great day today but nothing really exceptional happened. Taught and talked with colleagues. An alum came by and we caught up. Worked on arguments and thought of myself as very lucky to have a lot of great people involved in our debate program. It’s good to watch others teach and speak about something…

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