Professor Kim READ FIRST: Why Dorothy Kim Hates Me , The Color of the House of the Lord It’s back to class for those of us who teach in medieval studies, and my medievalist colleague Dorothy Kim , Assistant Professor of English at Vassar College ( pictured in 2014 ), wants to make sure you understand the stakes . The medieval western European Christian past is being weaponized by white supremacist/white nationalist/KKK/nazi extremist groups who also frequently happen to be college students. That does sound bad. But, wait, it gets worse! Don’t think western European medieval studies is exceptional.... ISIS/ISIL also weaponizes the idea of the pure medieval Islamic past in their recruiting rhetoric for young male Muslims. If the medieval past (globally) is being weaponized for the aims of extreme, violent supremacist groups, what are you doing, medievalists, in your classrooms? Because you are the authorities teaching medieval subjects in the classroom, you are, in fact, ide
FB: thanks. This has been a very enlightening theme.
ReplyDeleteI've become horribly aware that addictiveness probably runs in my family. I have a number of siblings who ... ermmm ... like their drink too much, and that has been an issue for me too. Though not as much as my tendency to get sucked into compulsive interests that have no benefits in the real world: playing Go on the Internet, editing Wikipedia, or answering questions on Yahoo! Answers.
But lately I took up accordion (and I mean weird accordion - Russian B-system button-key accordion). The compulsiveness has manifested in assiduous daily practice: I feel uneasy if we're away somewhere and I can't do it. And it has benefits: I'm up to a level where I can play in public, and enjoy doing it. People find it surprising and cool.
These traits can be harnessed.
Ray: You are most welcome! Thank you for sharing your experiences with me. It's powerful stuff, addiction. We have drinkers in my family, too, but I'm starting to see that it's a bigger issue, not just about drinking. It's anything that we use to suppress feelings that we would rather not have. But if we allow ourselves to feel them and understand why we have them, then we can actually address what is upsetting us. Which is hard. But ultimately healing. It's such a fine line between passion and compulsion, it's, well, sobering.
ReplyDeleteAnd musically stimulating! Congrats on your playing!