Just Because ...

Zero 7 - Destiny
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Done!

The first draft of my last chapter is done. Now I have to send it out to my friends first and go another round or two of edits and revisions for clarity before I send it to my committee.

*whew*

It's finally taking shape and I can see the end now.

Dissertating

Chapter Update: After a concerted effort this past week and a half, I think my chapter is 90% done, and if all goes well, I will meet my deadline. But there is a problem. There was one part of Justice Thomas's dissent about the phrase, "freedom from," reminded me of something I read from awhile ago. Instinctively, I knew it was enormously significant so I went about my library looking for the book, and my notes. The problem was that I couldn't figure out who wrote it. So I spent some hours browsing through the web -- Google Book -- until I finally found it. The book is Michael Clifford's Savage Identities: Political Genealogy After Foucault (2001).

And I lost that book this past year when I moved to Washington, DC.

Doesn't that suck?

Anniversary

Do you know what today is?

It's our Anniversay!

Yep, it's 7 years today!

Tony Toni Tone Videos | Movie Clips | Chicago MLS

Another "Monica?"

What is it with Washington controversies and the name "Monica?" *shrugs*

I took a break again from writing and tended to my usual mix of answering emails and surfing the web. The more I read about Monica Goodling, the more I became absolutely disgusted. And what is it with Republican lawmakers praising her for her courage to offer testimony? She is by no means a person to be praised -- she needs to go to jail. The damage she, and many others, have done to the Justice Department is staggering.

But at least I can find comfort and solace from Bill Maher's take on Monica Goodling and what she represents. Besides, I have to laugh, otherwise I'd be crying all the time.

Unbelievable!

A colleague of mine posted a comparison of his professional biography (under a pseudonym) with that of Monica Goodling, the former #3 DoJ official who recently resigned amidst controversy and has testified against Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez that he was fully aware of the firings of the US attorneys. The comparison of their resumes is utterly astounding.

And who says meritocracy doesn't matter anymore?

HEROES Season Finale

It was damn good. I like watching movies/series with multiple storylines and characters whose narratives parallel with each other. What I always look forward to is the finale, how well the storylines intersect at the end and as a segue into next season. And the season finale of HEROES was pretty damn good. Check out the episode, How to Stop an Exploding Man, online.

And here is the rest of it.

12

12 more days to my deadline and I'm at the cusp of a foul mood. From now until the end of the month, I will be stressed out, overcaffeinated, sleep deprived, and if I was still smoking, I'll be a walking chimney.

Despite all of this, I found this quotation from Philip K. Dick oddly comforting.

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."
- Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Perpetually Dissertating

Every now and then I come across writing tips from various bloggers, writers, "how to's," and what not. Most of them seem to be common sense, and some are so vague that they are practically useless. But the one thing that does catch my eye is when the practice of writing is thought of as a ritual or routine. My dissertation advisor described writing like working out. You just have to integrate it with your daily routine. Like working out, there will be days that will be productive; and others that are not. Either way, it's the routine that is important.

Along that theme, I read something similar from Freelance Switch about a morning writing routine which seemed really insightful especially since I now have "a morning" to write now. But I refuse to wake up at 4:30am. That's way too early. =P

Create a Morning Writing Ritual
in Productivity by Leo

If you’re like most writers, you procrastinate. You have a hard time getting started writing, unless you’re seized by a burst of inspiration. Instead, you might do some “research” online, fiddle with your to-do list, or work on a number of other tasks instead of doing the writing you need to do.

If you’re having trouble getting your writing done, try creating a morning writing ritual. You can get a lot more done each day, as an early boost of productivity will spur further productivity throughout the day.

Why create a morning routine? A few reasons:

1. It gets your most important task out of the way. This assumes, of course, that your writing is your most important task, or at least one of them. But if it is, you don’t want to put off that task till later — do it first, and then you can check that off your list!

2. Stuff can get crazy later in the day. If you put your writing off until the afternoon or evening, other stuff will come up throughout the day that will interfere with your plans. And a lot of times, that stuff is urgent, pushing back your writing until the next day — when the process is repeated. Do it early, before the rest of the world gets in your way.

3. It’s peaceful. Mornings, for me, is the quietest time of the day. The kids aren’t up, there’s no hustle and bustle, the phone’s not ringing, the television’s not on. It’s just me and the cat. The sun is rising, and the day is new and beautiful. It’s the perfect time for great writing. Even if your morning writing ritual starts when you get in the office, it’s still the quietest time of the day for many offices. And quiet is good for writing.

4. You can relax later. Once you’ve got your writing done, you can goof off without guilt! Guilt-free goofing off is priceless.

5. Routines ensure that things get done. Without order is chaos. And while many of us writers enjoy chaos, it’s not always the most productive way of doing things. If you have a specific routine, with a specific order of doing things, and it becomes a habit, you know that what needs to get done will get done. It’s simple and effective.

So how do you create a morning writing ritual? Well, that’s different for each person, but here’s what works for me:

1. Prepare the night before. When you first wake up, you’re not always thinking right. Prepare for your morning writing ritual when your thinking is clear, in the evening, and your morning will start off so much better. How can you prepare? Get your writing tool out and ready to go — whether that’s your word processor (Google Docs for me) with your document open and ready to go, or your favorite writing pad and pen, have it out and set up. Next, clear away all distractions (this is a later step, but it’s good to get it ready now). Prepare the stuff for your coffee or tea, or whatever you like to have in the morning, so that it’s ready to go when you wake up. Anything else you can think of that you’ll need, get it ready. Also: know what you’re going to write, and have your pre-writing prep done as well.

2. Set a time to start. I like to wake up at 4:30 a.m. every morning, and get writing at 5:00 a.m. after getting my coffee ready, using the bathroom, eating some toast. But your wake-up time may be different. Whatever time you choose, set a fixed time to get started with your writing. Now when that time comes, brook no delay or excuses. Start on your writing right away. No excuses!

3. Get your coffee first. Before you start writing, it’s good to have an enjoyable morning beverage or snack, such as coffee or tea or toast or a bagel or a smoothie. Whatever you enjoy, have it right before you start writing. This will make the entire ritual an enjoyable one, and one that you look forward to each morning. Give yourself a reason to jump out of bed!

4. Don’t check email or RSS feeds. This is the biggest mistake many writers make. They check their email, or read their Google Reader or Bloglines. Even if you tell yourself it’s just for 10 minutes, you will get inevitably sucked into that hole of distraction and time-wasting from which no writer returns. Do not do this. Trust me. It has ruined many a productive day for me. Tell yourself that you cannot check email or feeds (or whatever your distraction of choice is) until you finish your writing (or at least 1 hour of writing). Seriously. Don’t do it.

5. Clear away all distractions. Related to the above, but clutter on your desk and your computer should be cleared off to remove any visual distractions. Turn off email notifications and the phone and anything else that might pull away your attention. I like to clear off my desk and I’ve removed everything from the walls that might distract me. Focus is key!

6. Just write. OK, you’ve got your coffee, you cleared away your distractions, and your writing time has come. It’s time to crank out the copy. If it helps, set a timer for 30 or 45 or 60 minutes, and try to write as much as possible during that time. You can do 30-10 intervals — 30 minutes of writing and 10 of break time (check email or walk around), followed by another 30-10 interval. Repeat as necessary. They key is to maintain focus — every time you feel pulled away from writing, stop, and pull yourself back. Just crank.

7. Celebrate when you’re done! Finished writing your piece or the chunk you wanted to write for today? Hooray! Now give yourself a reward. This should be a part of your ritual. The reward is the pleasurable ending, the completion of the sandwich, with the writing being the meat (or hummus or tofurkey, if you’re a vegetarian like I am). Sandwich your writing ritual in pleasure, and you’ll be more likely to do it every day.

8. Practice. This ritual will not become a habit right away. It will take focus and energy to do it at first, but after a fortnight or so, it should become an established routine and things should start to go smoothly. Ahhh! Productive and enjoyable writing!

The List of "Don'ts" for Students

I should be back to writing, but I had to do a double take on this one. By way of Orcinus who got it from Progressive Historians, it's a 26 point guideline called, "Don'ts for Students" published in 1981 by ... the North Carolina Moral Majority. Yep, it's a piece of Jerry Falwell's legacy. Orcinus called it the best summary of "the educational messages fundamentalist high school kids get from their parents and elders."

After I read it, I reminded myself that this was one of the reasons of why I teach -- well, 26 of them anyway. Although #24 seemed to be okay, but I'm skeptical of its intentions which still includes all 26 of them.

Don'ts for Students.

1. Don't get into science-fiction values discussions or trust a teacher who dwells on science fiction in his/her "teaching."

2. Don't discuss the future or future social arrangements or governments in class.

3. Don't discuss values.

4. Don't write a family history.

5. Don't answer personal questions or questions about members of your family.

6. Don't play blindfolded games in class.

7. Don't exchange "opinions" on political or social issues.

8. Don't write an autobiography.

9. Don't keep a journal of your opinions, activities and feelings.

10. Don't take intelligence tests. Write tests only on your lessons. Force others to judge you on your own personal achievement.

11. Don't discuss boy-girl or parent-child relationships in class.

12. Don't confide in teachers, particularly sociology or social studies and english teachers.

13. Don't judge a teacher by his/her appearance or personality, but on his/her competence as a teacher of solid knowledge.

14. Don't think a teacher is doing you a favor if he/she gives you a good grade for poor work or in useless subjects.

15. Don't join any social action or social work group.

16. Don't take "social studies" or "future studies." Demand course definition: history, geography, civics, French, English, etc.

17. Don't role-play or participate in socio-dramas.

18. Don't worry about the race or color of your classmates. Education is of the mind, not the body.

19. Don't get involved in school-sponsored or government-sponsored exchange or camping programs which place you in the homes of strangers.

20. Don't be afraid to say "no" to morally corrupting literature, games and activities.

21. Don't submit to psychological testing.

22. Don't fall for books like "Future Shock," which are intended to put readers in a state of panic about "change" so they will be willing to accept slavery. Advances in science and technology don't drive people into shock. It is government and vain-brain intrusions in private lives, which cause much of the unbalance in nature and in people.

23. Don't get into classroom discussions which being: What would you do if....? What if....? Should we....? Do you suppose....? Do you think....? What is your opinion of....? Who should....? What might happen if....? Do you value....? Is it moral to....?

24. Don't sell out important principles for money, a scholarship, a diploma, popularity or a feeling of importance.

25. Don't think you have to associate with morally corrupt people or sanction their corruption just because "society" now accepts such behavior.

26. Don't get discouraged. If you stick to firm principles, others will respect you for it and perhaps gain courage from your example.

Fujiya & Miyagi

During my break from my morning session of writing, I came across this music video that was mesmerizing. I can't tell if it's cgi, but it was pretty fun to look at with a cool beat. It was definitely a nice break.

And here is the rest of it.

Deadlines = Neurosis

I have two deadlines rapidly approaching -- one is self-imposed and arbitrary, the other can't be renegotiated. If I miss the latter one, then I lost an opportunity. The first deadline is my chapter and I told my advisor that I should have it for her review at the end of the month. That's 15 days from now. I'm almost done with the review of incitement and true threat jurisprudence, but I'm missing two very important sections: an analysis of Virginia v. Black case, and my own analysis of true threats, burning crosses, state power, and First Amendment protections. By the way, my current draft is already at 58 pages, so there's still quite a chunk to do before the end of the month, and already I'm entertaining the idea of pushing my deadline back another week.

"Must resist the thought!"

The second deadline is much later in July 15, 2007. That's close to two months from now which gives me some room to work, but the days can quickly turn into weeks and the next thing I know I'm out of time again.

The hard part about writing is organizing my time. I know writers who have multiple deadlines measured in terms of days (sometimes hours!), but can manage to meet them all so long as your time is managed correctly and efficiently. Of course, this is assuming you don't have writer's block, but even then, there are exercises for getting over that constraint. It also helps when you have little or no other obligations other than your writing. This is where my dissertation committee and many friends and colleagues rightfully warned me about the dangers of teaching: it is a time sink. Teaching will take up your time, time spent away from writing, and in the end, an unfinished dissertation is just that -- not finished.

[As I write this, I am also mindful that time spent here writing this post is also time spent away from my dissertation ... which is the initial reason why I started this blog (and numerous others), but I digress.]

I think that's why I've been fairly aggressive, even aloof and dismissive, at student requests for reviews of their final grades. I feel the pinch of the first deadline, and I need to be focused. I got my last paycheck, my job is done for the semester, and now I have to do my mine. After all, students are not the ones who will hire me. It's a committee of faculty and sometimes administrators. I can be accommodating and friendly to students all I want, but if I don't have those three extra letters after my name, then I will not get hired full-time. And I really don't want to be part-timing for the rest of my life.

As a result of my heightened anxiety due to my deadlines -- it may as well be neurosis -- I have to alter my writing schedule. I'm thinking of a 3 part split in the day: 3 hours in the morning, 3 hours in the afternoon, and 1 hour at night for a total of 7 hours per day. When I was teaching I could only spend, at best, 2-3 hours a day, 4 days a week, which is not much time so this schedule will be a substantial change. But between my time for writing, and time for everything else, I have to choose the former. It's the only way I can meet my deadlines, arbitrary or not.

DONE!

I officially submitted my last grade to the one student who left for military duty, but was still enrolled in my course. I was advised to simply put "Stopped Attending" and the date, and leave it to the bureaucracy to sort it out. Other than that, I am officially done with the semester. Hooray!

I also answered all the emails from students and their follow-ups. I've had no other emails since 2pm so pending the next 24 hours, if there are no other occurrences, then I am free!

Philip K. Dick

I always find something profoundly elegant in Philip K. Dick. I'm liking this quotation.

"Sometimes the appropriate response to reality is to go insane."
-- From Valis (1981), Philip K. Dick, science fiction author

Still Loose Ends

Only 10 hours after I submitted my final grades did the first trickle of saddened and disappointed emails from students started to appear. Then a stream. Not a flood, but I definitely have to wade through my inbox and start responding to their emails.

I called the Registrar's Office yesterday for clarification on the one student who was called to duty. I got transferred three times before I gave up. I called again today and I finally got someone who knew what to do ... sort of. She basically said to double check with the Dean's Office, but it's possible he either forgot to send in his paperwork or it's still being processed. At any rate, submit a "SA" designation or "Stopped Attending" and things will be sorted out later.

I still have one other student who's become an annoyance ... Actually there's 2-3 from both sections but this is one student who only showed up twice in the whole semester. He never turned in any of the online assignments, didn't take any of the short exams, took the midterm and failed, and, emailed me on the day of the final exam to explain (again) what had happened and then he asked if there's any way he can receive an incomplete(!).

I was floored at the audacity of his request!!!

I waited a week before I responded. I was busy correcting papers after all. But then this past Tuesday, he sends me another email indicating an "urgent matter" that "requires my attention."

"Back off, Sparky. Your 'urgent matter' is precisely that -- your's alone. Not mine."

Despite my grumbling, I responded. In cases like these, you almost have to respond because they'll keep hounding you. And so I did:

I'm truly sorry to hear about your continuing family problems, but this is an extraordinarily bad situation. First, I have not had any contact from you since the two emails from the beginning of the semester and the midterm regarding your situation. I responded each time encouraging you to keep me apprised and if there were continuing problems that you let me know immediately so that we can work out an alternative schedule. But there was no email follow-up or anything else since your last email and note from the midterm exam. Second, it really does not help your case when you send an email the day of the class's final exam. It doesn't give me adequate time. And third, according to our policy, a student has to be passing the course in order to qualify for an incomplete. You have not submitted any other work aside from the midterm, which was a failing grade, so therefore, I cannot give you an incomplete.

As a result, there is very very little, if any, I can do to help you now. The only thing I did was to submit a "never attended" report noting a last attendance of February 14, 2007. I'm not sure what our university policy is regarding "never attended" designations but I'm hoping it might give you some leeway in whatever you option you have left.

I'm sorry if this is not the news you expected but there is very little else I can do.

Show what he did wrong as evidence of fault. Place yourself on the high moral ground. Conclude that there are no more options left and that it is out of your hands. Short, simple, and to the point. I thought that would be the end of it but just yesterday, I get another email from him.

And I could not stop swearing up a storm after I read it. It was one line that blew me away:

However, I have recieved an incomplete before in 2 different classes where I did not do much work at all and completed them over the summer, it was a similar situation as this one.

*Sighs* How many different ways can I say "NO" to someone? Let's see ...

"No. Whatever agreement you had with other professors is with them alone. This is not a similar situation. This is my situation with you."

"No. You will not receive an incomplete."

"No. I am not the nice guy everyone thinks I am."

"No. I do not get paid enough to deal with this nonsense."

"No. This matter is over. There is nothing more to say."

Did that work? Let's try again.

"NO."

Still no effect.

"NO! Dammit."

*Sighs* Bloody hell.

Just One More ...

Grading is done ... sort of. I was done last night after spending another round reading the essay section of the exam. Some were exceptionally good, while others ... should have showed up to class when we discussed the essay question.

So after 8 hours or since I posted my grades, I already have 4 students seeking clarification. That's fine. None are actually complaining about their grade, but the day is still young.

I couldn't sleep again today. I woke up early with thoughts about my chapter again. I was going over what I needed to do today. Not surprisingly, most of it was about my chapter. On a positive note, I did receive my last two books from Amazon.com. I ordered a ton of replacements after I lost a set of books in the mail when I moved from Los Angeles. I'm still a little peeved about that one. That's several dozen books of intense close reading with all sorts of marks and notations that is not so easy to replace. The books are as I got most of them replaced in the past several months. But to go over and replace the notations? That's hard.

Anyways, I picked up two new books by feminist sociologist Carol Smart: Feminism and the Power of Law (1989), and Law, Crime, and Sexuality: Essays in Feminism (1995). I got around to Smart by way of another feminist sociologist, Vikki Bell, in her book, Interrogating Incest: Feminism, Foucault, and the Law (1993). Bell acknowledges the influence of Smart's analysis of the law as a "disciplinary" mechanism, a juridico-discursive conception of power that has characterized feminist analysis of power and politics:

... [the] law is only central and important to the extent that we accept its self-definition.... [Smart] regards the law as a discourse which has a privileged position from which to exercise power. Within the parameters of the legal method, the law 'is able to refute and disregard alternative discourses and to claim a special place in the definition of events.' The argument is that although other knowledges and other interpretations of events are articulated both within the legal process and outside law, they are only selectively 'heard.' The law exercises its power to disqualify knowledges and definitions of events through the notion of a legal method. Frequently, other knowledge is heard only to the extent that it can be recast as pertinent to legal issues. If not, it is excluded. For example, in a rape case, the woman's knowledge of events is only 'heard' when it touches upon what the law sees as relevant (10).

Both Smart and Bell are firmly situated in Foucauldian feminist analysis of power and subjectivity, a critique of the body and sexuality away from naturalized conceptions to constructed representations. Their work, and subsequently mine as well, calls attention to the ways in which the law is more than a repressive mechanism (i.e., mode of punishment), but also constitutes a mechanism of normalization.

Anyways, I seem to be jumping ahead since both Bell and Smart are going to be used in my conclusion about the intellectual and political relationship between political science and cultural studies. But first things first: finish my last chapter before the end of the month.

Oh wait ... I still have to take care of 1 student in my class who was called away to duty mid-semester (hence, the title of this post ... hehe). He's still enrolled in my course so I need to call the Registrar's Office for clarification on what to do about his status. I hope it's just an administrative oversight.

WTF???

So I get home and find that my internet is restored. Hooray!

I check my messages and I get an email from a student who's never turned in any of the homework assignments because he doesn't check his email. He asked if there is anything he can do now.

WTF???

I email him back telling him to turn in whatever he has *now* otherwise I'll have to grade with what I got. And it's not pretty.

I cannot wait until this semester is officially over.

The Internet Gives Me Life

I wanted to submit my final grades this morning, and at least get an early start on the day, but my internet provider went out. I would've just left it alone and hoped it would work itself out, but I had to call technical service. I couldn't leave my time to chance after coming back from writing. And so I called and went through the usual computerized interface, got transferred to a technical operator and waited ... and waited ... and waited ... until I finally got a human being to answer. I informed him that my internet service was out and that I did the usual troubleshooting (turn off the modem, wait 30 seconds, turn it back on, etc. etc.). He was polite and courteous.

And he told me to turn off the modem, and wait 30 seconds to turn it back on. *sighs*

After several more minutes of troubleshooting my home computer, he finally tested the line, contacted the local administrator, and finds out that the local network was experiencing a shutdown. It will take 3-4 hours before the service could continue again. My episode with technical assistance took over an hour.

I didn't lose that much time, but it certainly was an inconvenience in the morning. Maybe it was fortuitous because I looked over my final grades and I decided that I ought to have another round to be sure. The results still looked a bit dodgy.

@Liz

Go get your light sabre and meet me on the playground after school on Monday. And if you don't show up I'm telling my mom on you. =P

Or better yet ... *switches over to Liz's blog* ...

My Life as a Hip Hop Dancer

Earlier in the semester, a student asked me what I was like when I was younger. It was a very innocent question from a very curious student. I initially responded with, "Well back in high school when break dancing first started ... " And then my voice trailed off at the sudden realization that I was around when hip hop, break dancing, and rap was in its infancy. It dawned on me, especially when a colleague of mine said that 2/3 of his students never seen Star Wars, that I felt suddenly ... old.

SCREW IT!

Anyways, towards the end of the semester, I thought it would be fun to answer the student's question with a YouTube clip, and I emailed the class with an explanation -- just an entertaining distraction during finals.



Most of the students loved it. But would you believe that several them emailed and asked me if I was one of the dancers???

If I tried to do anything remotely like a full fledged dance routine, I think I would have a herniated disc and severe muscle pain for weeks. I may be old, but I'm not stupid.

Besides, I'm a bit more handsome then the dancers. =D

Grading

So after the first completed round of grading, the results are rather mixed. That may be a good sign because it means a better spread distribution from the midterm grades. But there are some unusual quirks. My Wednesday night class had a fairly predictable outcome. Heavy on the B range, and no failures with the exception of one student but that's a different case.

However, my Tuesday/Thursday class was ... "unusual." The exceptional students did rather well, but some faltered on their performance and even went as low as receiving a C+ on the exam. Then there are students who had a C/C+ going into the exam, and received a B+/A- for their final. The section was top heavy in the A/B range with a 3 or 4 failures. Also, the Tuesday/Thursday section had their exams the day after my Wednesday night class sooooooo ... I can reasonably assume these positions: 1) some students talked and exchanged notes, and thus, performed well, 2) some students for whatever reason had their priorities elsewhere and thus, did poorly, or 3) I really did make my exam too difficult(?). Now, the latter point was an attempt to distinguish the "A" students from everyone else, so I did throw some curve balls. I don't deny that strategy may have influenced the outcomes. But, as intended, the "A" students did pick it up so in essence I did my job. As for the rest, there was a general decline in performance accordingly. I can't say I'm totally shocked and surprised at these results, but it is a rather interesting comparison with my Wednesday night section.

I still have one, perhaps 2, more rounds for reviewing my initial results and finalizing it for submission. It's all on the essay portion of the exam and the hard part is grading the average responses -- the ones who tried, got some good ideas, but for whatever reason, is just okay. The easy ones are the really intelligent, and the really horrendous -- and there were quite a few that I thought came from beyond left field. Anyways, I need to get this done and out of the way so that I can get back to my research and meet my deadlines.

Belfast to the Middle East

Taking a break from grading, I surfed the web for random stuff when I came across this piece from Rootless Cosmopolitan (love the title) by way of Matthew Yglesias from his Atlantic Online blog. It's a fascinating read on the brokering of a peace agreement in Northern Ireland and its implications for the Middle East.

What Belfast Teaches the Middle East

Yes, yes, I know, Northern Ireland and the Middle East are entirely different situation, and things that worked in one place are not going to necessarily work in the other. Nonethless, in this week’s historic Northern Ireland unity agreement, there are certain universal principles from which anyone looking to broker a peace deal anywhere ought to learn.

The original Good Friday agreement ten years ago was brokered by very different parties to the ones who have now joined a unity government. On the Catholic side, it was the SDLP of John Hume who was the dominant voice at the table, while the Ulster Unionists of David Trimble represented Protestant loyalists. But the electorate eventually rejected those parties, and each community chose more uncompromising parties — the Sinn Fein on the nationalist side and the Democratic Unionists on the loyalist side — to represent them at the table.

The government of Tony Blair did not flinch or give up hope, it pressed on, pushing the chosen representatives of both communities into a process that led to agreement. And the agreement may be far stronger than its predecessor, in that it was brokered by hard men on both sides and that has left no significant rejectionist constituency on either side.

The implications for the Middle East should be obvious: Palestinian voters have chosen Hamas to represent them; imagining that Hamas could be excluded from any peace process is not only absurd, it is self-defeating and dangerous.

The grownups of Europe and the Arab world understand that; that’s why they’ve backed the unity government that has drawn Hamas and Fatah together in a single administration. But the hard-line Likudniks who still write the Bush Administration’s policy are still hard at work on schemes designed to split the Palestinians in the naive hope that Hamas can be sidelined.

Conflict Forum reports that there are detailed plans in place to marshal new economic, political and security efforts aimed at smashing Hamas and boosting President Abbas. The very scary clowns who churn out these plans in Washington labor under the illusion that they can manipulate the process through the selective application of sanctions and resources in a way that will prompt the Palestinian electorate to reject Hamas and restore Fatah. Yeah, right, just like all those sweets and flowers the Iraqis have thrown at U.S. forces over the past four years.

If the berserkers like Elliott Abrams in the Administration are not curbed, they will succeed only in destroying the Palestinian Authority and bringing anarchy to its domain, ending all prospects of peace for Israel, and — in that phrase that has become popular on the Republican primary speech circuit — almost certainly “following America home.”

Forever Queen!

So over the weekend, my partner and I were watching a special on the musical genius of Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen. It was called Freddie Mercury: Magic Remixed, and it aired on Logo, the LGBT channel from MTV Networks. It was a really good documentary, a kind of "True Hollywood Story" biography highlighting the career and life. What I didn't know was that Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara, of South Asian heritage(!).

That was a huge surprise! And it depicted Mercury's anxiety over his racial identity as well as his sexual one -- how he tried to hide it as much as possible, and his general reluctance to acknowledge it in public.

After watching the documentary, I went on YouTube to look for old Queen videos and I came across one that I remember very well. "Under Pressure" with David Bowie in 1981. My partner saw it and she said that the music video was shot in the style of an experimental film -- something to do with visual thematic repetition ... or something like that.

It demonstrated yet again that I am not a film theorist. But I like the video, and I do miss the music of Freddie Mercury and Queen.

"Call for Papers"

Just as I was about to sign off, I get this CFP announcement for the Journal of Asian American Studies. I HAVE to submit something and get my publishing record started.

Journal of Asian American Studies

Special Issue: Asian Americans and Violence

Please note the early deadline: July 15, 2007


This special issue invites essays that address the relationship
between race, culture, and violence as it pertains specifically to
Asian Americans. Extra consideration will be given to essays that
consider this topic broadly, and that focus on Asian Americans not
only as the objects of violence but also its agents. For instance,
essays might address questions like: What does it mean for Asian
Americans to be perpetrators as well as victims? What effect does
this have on our understanding of gender roles and gender relations?
What affect does this have on representations of Asian Americans?
How important is it for us to define violence broadly to include
domestic abuse, public policies that abandon large groups to
premature death, or war? How does focusing on violence help us to
understand transformations in the structural position of Asian
American racial formations? The primary occasion for this special
issue is the recent shooting at Virginia Tech. As revelations of the
shooter’s racial and ethnic identity led to expressions of worry
about a racial backlash, we are reminded of the ways in which race
and violence have long been inextricably linked to one another in the
U.S. But when the shooter turns out be Asian American, adding Seung-
Hui Cho’s name to a list that includes Chai Vang, Andrew Cunanan, and
Gang Lu, we are compelled to consider how complex this link can be.

Catching Up

With the end of the semester around the corner, I figure I should take care of some outstanding errands like a former student who asked me to read over a story she wrote awhile back. It's a wonderful story, but I still need to sharpen my comments.

As I sit and write on my laptop, CNN has a short special on "Asians in America" by Veronica De La Cruz. I forgot that May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

I dedicated almost 3 hours to writing my chapter yesterday, but I only produced one, maybe two pages to my chapter. Not so hot. I didn't have a writing block per se, but I think I got distracted with other tangents that was well beyond the parameters of the chapter. I got to stay focused.

The Last Week

It's Monday. I'm doing my usual thing of dragging myself out of the house and working at a cafe. My favorite cafe has been either Murky Cafe or EuroMarket. I think both are Korean owned. Murky has the best coffee around, while EuroMarket has a bit of everything - food, desserts, wines, etc. Both, however, have free wi-fi access, and that is a big plus for me! Anyways, for the first time in a long while, I really don't have to worry about what to do for lecture this week. Other than exams and their final grades, I will be free (!) ... to continue finishing my dissertation.

*sighs*

It's almost over. Last week, my dissertation advisor sent me an email with the subject line "Hi" and a very concise message that read: "How are you doing?" In other words ... when am I going to be done?

I wrote back giving her a summation of my chapter, the argument that I was working on, and a projected date of completion with a reasonable deadline for my conclusion. At the end of this month is when I should be done with this chapter, and a month afterwards to finish my conclusion. And definitely some more time with edits and revisions. Nothing is ever that simple from a dissertation advisor.

Holy crap I only have 3 weeks left to finish this chapter!

Hate Crimes Bill (H.R. 1592) Passes ...

... in the House but the President has already signaled an intent to veto it before it even reaches his desk. There's a good synopsis on CNN.com about it. The bill would essentially expand federal powers in assisting state and local law enforcement in prosecuting hate crimes, and, add sexual orientation as a protected category.

Under the House bill, the definition of a hate crime would expand to include gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability. Local law enforcement officials would be allowed to apply for federal grants to solve such crimes, and federal agents would be given broader authority to assist state and local police. Federal sentencing guidelines would also be stiffened.

This is why this bill has been lagging in Congress for over 6 years. A fairly strong coalition of evangelical, socially conservative, Christian fundamentalists, who form President Bush's political base, have been successful in preventing the passage of this bill from day one. And get this: they believe that such a bill would threaten their First Amendment rights to religious freedom and public expression -- that is, their right to publicly espouse their vitriolic attacks on gays, lesbians, and sexual minorities. Give me a break!!!

As the blog, Town Called Dobson, simply asks:

When did murdering gays become religious expression?