those crazy academics
Yes, I'm finally catching up with my non-university readings so that's why you are getting all this. I did save the best for last. Check out the "Academics: Still Totally Lame"
post over at Cosmic Variance, which discusses a
Chronicle article on what "guilty pleasures" academics have.
Then, read the comments which include: There are plenty of professors who like dressing up in gender-inappropriate undergarments, using cocaine, kabbalah, shooting assault rifles, etc. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that on balance, academics have an above-average level of perversity and general weirdness. (Proof: they’re fairly imaginative people with loads of time on their hands.) But their continued employment rests on their seeming to be respectable.
Or, something to look forward to: Ah, but once you have tenure it's all edible panties, firearms and blow.
and dodgy-behaviour:Has NO ONE here ever gotten drunk/stoned with one of his/her professors?
Good grief, what is the world coming to?
Oh, and the comments at the original Chronicle article include this by "Musclememor":Skipping my classes to cruise for young gay dudes
Strip clubs and gun running, snorting crushed quaaludes
Stealing department chairs' gold wedding rings
These are a few of my favorite things
When the urge strikes
When the day's long
When I'm feeling caged
I simply skip off to my favorite things
And leave my TA's
Enraged
Ditching a conference to drink with a minor
Poison-tipped arrows I'll fire at a shriner
Undergrads — they're all just fodder for flings
These are a few of my favorite things
Grading by chance, to make students' lives tragic
Sorcery, witchcraft, and vampire blood magic
Parking on homeless folk, plucking off wings
These are a few of my favorite things
Thank you Cosmic Variance, the Chronicle and random academics. I've been born again. Really. ETA: And from
the Guardian, via
Crooked Timber, the utterly (un)predictable guilty pastime of Anthony Giddens is....wrestling.
Labels: academia, guilty pleasures, students are not really for teaching, very clever people
Friday? Already?
1. Lots of people want to use science fiction to teach IR. Everyone who doesn't apparently places those who do in the category "geek."
2. For some reason, every time I'm in Chicago, I end up at the same cafeteria-style restaurant. I'm never the one who thinks to go there. It's odd.
3. For the record, stretching to push in a tack is the same motion as stretching to grab something from a high shelf. Both are not good for my back. That little popping sound? Definitely a bad thing.
4. Academic bar conversations are a hell of a lot funnier when one is on muscle relaxers and a schedule three narcotic.
5. Q: How many academics does it take to find a pizza place in Chicago?
A: One more than we had last night.
6. I have one hour to finish a presentation for a paper that's so bad I couldn't bring myself to send it to the discussant ahead of the panel.
It's possible that WeberMan was right. Four papers at one conference is not a good idea.
Labels: academia, conferencing
Actually, I know why they call it the Windy City.
1. Have managed to fit eight days worth of stuff, including various dvds and books, into a small suitcase, a neon green duffle, and my laptop case.
2. Have used my sister's favorite t-shirt to make my computer all shiny and clean.
3. Have updated my hostel reservations to make space for my mum, who has decided to join me for the weekend. (She will use any excuse possible to spend time in Chicago. Much like me.)
4. Have gotten out clothing to wear on the train. Decided on head-kicking boots, for obvious reasons.
5. Have finished one paper, almost finished two more, and given one up as a lost cause for which an outline and a poster will have to be sufficient.
6. Have caught up with rss feeds. Feel like I'm bailing a rowboat using a spoon. May need to edit the subscriptions.
7. Have charged various things that need charging, read various things that need reading, and reserved various things that need reserving.
8. Have gotten a cool new haircut, a pair of great earrings, my great-grandmother's costume pearls, and a very nifty heirloom ring (about which there is A Story) from my mother. Am well equipped to be funky and bohemian while wandering the city this week.
9. Have plans to revisit old haunts (Lincoln Square, Unabridged Books, Rogers Park, the Green Mill, and the Art Institute) when not sitting in panels or the hotel bar. Shall not be eating in any overpriced tourist establishments.
10. Have already seen all of the Chicago Top Ten Attractions. Have also seen the next 15 on the list. And most of the following 20.
Suspect that I am not the intended audience for such things.
11. Shall be rooming with Fantastic Fellow Grad Student and sundry others. Shall be drinking with many other academics.
Shall also, at some point, give three presentations and a poster session. And sleep. Maybe.
Labels: academia, conferences, list
