yyt

it is a taunt i can tell. while i am here trapped in levels of hell that are unknown even to dante in this worthless position of chair, the sunday magazine of the new york times has an issue voyages in america - meaning the u.s. while my summer is spent stupidly smiling as policies are passed from above through me to the faculty using me and other department heads as buffers for anger aimed at those in the exalted heights of deandom - more deans and deanettes than brasil had generals in the 70's and 80's. i find that when an opinion is called for, it is really a mandate not a debate - unless one agrees with the edict then it is a fruitful discussion.

while i cannot even escape to do my small outings playing bus tag around chicagoland, i read of boating the erie canal, jonathan raban motoring the coast of the upper farwest. i even see salgado's oh so stereotypical distanced snaps of the north as a taunt. "where the land is still pristine" oh please. then again he is in the north doing what he pleases and i am not.

i receive an email from a minor cbc presenter telling of his plans surrounding his 60th birthday, celebrating it in st. john's then off to london to visit friends returning to the cod factory in pouch cove to take up his usual residency for the rest of the month.

meanwhile i get an email asking - read telling - me if the class sizes can be raised to 15.