Post your asides here

[mahagonny]

Heads up there, colleague: 'antiracism' training is controversial. It's sweeping the nation and a good half of us are not in the mood to be swept. Now might be a good time to find yourself a sense of humor.

[ergative]

Can't we just not engage?

[FishProf]

Swing and a MISS!

[mahagonny]

tired lightning...hmm...

[lightning]

YAAAWWWWN.

[FishProf]

You say that, but you don't really mean it.

[mahagonny]

You say that, but you don't really mean it.

No, I do mean it.

If the fora says 'don't stalk or insult other posters' then they clearly don't mean it. However, I am not complaining about someone violating rules. I haven't read the rules.

[FishProf]

You say that, but you don't really mean it.

No, I do mean it.

If the fora says 'don't stalk or insult other posters' then they clearly don't mean it. However, I am not complaining about someone violating rules. I haven't read the rules.

Duuuude, it's not all about YOU.

[Parasaurolophus]

Anyone who thinks this place is 'hard left' is sorely deluded. Perhaps they should practice some of the 'viewpoint diversity' they preach and become better acquainted with people who are actually at the far left end of the political spectrum.

[mahagonny]

Anyone who thinks this place is 'hard left' is sorely deluded. Perhaps they should practice some of the 'viewpoint diversity' they preach and become better acquainted with people who are actually at the far left end of the political spectrum.

All you had to say was 'it's not 'hard left' it's something else. You didn't have to say 'deluded.'

Y'all don't like the terms 'hard left' 'liberal elite' 'woke' and such. They are not necessarily compliments. Your friend James Carville gets that, and explains things, all except why he's still a registered democrat.

https://www.vox.com/22338417/james-carville-democratic-party-biden-100-days

[Parasaurolophus]

I'm probably among the furthest-left here. That much is true, I think. But I have two further facts that don't care about your feelings: (1) my particular political positioning is not very widely shared here, even if most posters are broadly leftish (I don't know that that's true, but it's plausible to me as long as we anchor 'leftish' to the imaginary centre), and (2) there's still a fair bit of stuff to my left. Spend some time with anarchist collectives--as I have, incidentally--and you'll see. Or, you know. Other countries with strong social-democratic movements.

Edit: To be clear, what I'm saying is that while 'far left' may accurately describe me (I don't think it does, but I'm happy to embrace it), it is definitely not an accurate description of the general sentiment on these boards. There's far more 'viewpoint diversity' here than you seem to realize.

[mahagonny]

Edit: To be clear, what I'm saying is that while 'far left' may accurately describe me (I don't think it does, but I'm happy to embrace it), it is definitely not an accurate description of the general sentiment on these boards. There's far more 'viewpoint diversity' here than you seem to realize.

There might be, and if so I'd be more pleased than not, but the furthest-left still gets a wide berth.

In general society, the whole nauseating wokeness-PC culture-'antiracist' mania is welcome for now because all it has to do to duck scrutiny is be preferable to Donald Trump and his reckless speech.

[mahagonny]

Someone gets to be controversial when I say they are. Not before.

[namazu]

I really enjoyed this turn of phrase:

right now my textual pillow is big and squishy and it needs to go to bed.

[RatGuy]

I can't remember where I read it, but one prof had a brilliant take on this. There were 2 due dates for a paper; early and final. Papers submitted by the "early" date would get detailed comments, and would be returned so students could revise and resubmit. Papers submitted by the "final" date would just get graded; no comments at all. The few students motivated enough to submit by the early date would read the comments and benefit; the vast majority who submitted at the "final" date didn't care about comments, and the prof didn't need to waste time on them.

Maybe I'll try that sometime. My policy now is that if students want to meet with me, I'll happily read anything they give me and discuss ways to improve it with them.

I posted about this Jedi Mind Trick in the Grading Thread last month. And I do hold meetings with students if they want special feedback. I also dedicate one day to an "optional workshop," usually about a week before the "first" deadline. In this workshop I ask students to read parts of their drafts aloud, and I'll make notes on the sheet they've given me. Students are allowed to attend without a draft (so as to just listen and/or ask questions). The workshop means that to get feedback students need to start working on the project early. It also means that the "I don't know where to start" students get a good chance to hear how others are progressing.

So often the students who submit before the "first" deadline are students from whom I've already seen project drafts, and I've got an idea of their direction. It also allows me to say "don't email me with a paragraph to ask 'am I on the right track,' because I won't. That's what the class workshop and office hours are for." My goal is to reinforce good study habits in them, while eliminating the trouble (and guilt) of dealing with or not deal with last-minute slackers.