Cooler than You: Stupid Things I Say and Do

I really have little, if anything, in me to say about the NYC bombings this weekend.  Yet, parts of me feel the urge to pontificate . . . of course, there's also the questions from a couple of close friends wanting to know when I'll ponder. When 9-11 happened I was teaching a course--we were covering the Comstock Laws--and when Saddam Hussein was captured I was shoveling my car out of a blizzard.  When he was executed I was in rural Virginia for a holiday and packing, as I was headed to my first trip to Turkey that January.  When Osama Bin Laden was captured I was doing laundry in an urban, city 'hood fashion.   I pontificated here, probably one of the better ones . . . or not.   When bombs, of pressure cookers and burner phones, went off in NYC I was home . . . reading literature on Chinese American restaurants, blaring some "empowered women's mix" from Apple radio, and rotating with edits on a grant application to finally finish my Aegean Sea cultural st...

I apologize.  Below is the email I just received . . . I have removed the multiple links for continued donations.  Read below for my response. And if you did not know, I am an Obama supporter.  I continue to be one.  This email, from the Democratic committee, is just poor form. Annessa — We're reviewing supporter records in advance of the final Federal Election Commission deadline and noticed you haven't yet made a contribution to protect President Obama and a Democratic Senate. I pasted your supporter record below: Supporter record:  21746160 Most recent:  none Suggested:  $5  Election Day:  22 days If you are concerned about Republicans defeating President Obama and taking over the Senate, time is now short.  This is the final FEC deadline before the election. More than 20,000 supporters have contributed in the last week alone, can you join them? [Redacted links for donations] Thank you for your time and commitme...

A decade ago I was in grad school, working toward a Phd, and I was teaching my first class at Hofstra.  It was my first semester adjuncting, to supplement my stipend from TAing . . . those days are always filled with many things, ideals, and outright fears.  My 8-o-freaking-clock classes passed on, and I came to know my colleagues . . . Perhaps I should note that I am not the "famous" adjunct who got arrested that term.  In class. Yea, a favorite professor brought in a civil war weapon, and some shit called the Nassau poe poe saying there was a sniper on the Hofstra campus.  John was hauled off in silver bracelets.  *Excuse me while I laugh--like a retarded jackass--at the very fine memory of the chair telling me to not bring weapons to class . . . at John telling me the tale of having to the call the chair to bail him out . . . at the talk on campus.  Good times.* None-the-less, to this day I get jitters when giving my lecture involving the Comstock La...