Day 280: Beard or No Beard?

I need some input on physical appearance in the context of academic job interviews, videlicet (I guess in the US you say viz) facial hair. I am contemplating shaving off my beard. What began as an exercise in laziness now has taken on experimental forms and I do want to see how long I can grow it. However, I am getting mixed reactions on my beard (including from myself). I personally find it rather annoying, except for the times I go running by the lake (makes my face warmer, which is important when running in Chicago) and when I want to be cozy (old jeans, flannel shirts, a book and, well, my beard as face blanket). Then, I heard that beards are all the rage for Hipsters at the moment (guess I haven’t been over in Wicker Park in a while). Some of my students told me they liked it, but then those students also live in Wicker Park. At the conference this weekend, someone told me that I looked like an 18th century German thinker with the beard while giving my talk, which, I believe, is in the US still an insult (regarding the difficulty of Hegel’s Phenomenology and such–which was technically published in 1807–but I think the remark was intended to go into the Hegelian/Marxian, hence 19th century, rather than into a Kantian, direction–actually, I have no idea, if Kant had spectacular facial hair at some point). So: I cannot really decide and figured I would make my decision contingent upon the job market.

Should I get some interviews, I wonder if beardless, or very beardfull would be the better way to go. Do schools want young and fresh (i.e. cleanly shaven), or serious and contemplative (i.e. bushy bearded). I guess it depends on the school–for some traditional programs I should probably add a pipe to the beard and for other schools I should shave and show off some of my tattoos (well, actually that may not be the case except for two schools I am applying to that do VERY non-traditional stuff).

So, I may just defer to the majority. Any suggestions: beard or no beard for the job market?

Day 279: No Underwear

After a few weeks that were very busy again (and after another weekend spent at a conference–this time here at UIC) I took a close look at my apartment today, something I haven’t done in a long time. Result: I really need to do some cleaning and a LOT of laundry (since it is getting too cold here to keep going commando). After this conference, I was actually looking forward to having some time for other kinds of writing again (i.e. an article I have to finish, as well as further revisions to my dissertation). It seems, though, that I will first have to devote some time to housekeeping and grocery shopping (which will probably also be good for my health, since pizza by the slice and other forms of takeout, the only food I have been eating for the last few weeks, probably does not contain the nutrients my body needs at this point).

Quick report on this conference: my argument that biopolitics is an analytical paradigm utterly unsuited for the analysis of contemporary power structures (and the ways they are exercised) did not keep people from giving papers on contemporary power/political issues that were based on an uncritical use of this very concept, there were some scary talks fetishizing empiricism and reducing issues of power in governmental information gathering to a problem of trust and informed consent, and some male participants insisted on being referred to as “she” (which I sadly could not consider as revolutionary an act as I was apparently supposed to). Overall, it was a good conference, however annoying the overall praise of a politics of diversity may have been (which too many people still seems to think results in some form of liberation, not realizing that it is actually the politics of neoliberalism).

I will now go grocery shopping and buy some healthy things that will hopefully help me finally get over my cold, which, per Anna’s suggestion (my favorite this far), means: brandy. cheers y’all

Day 261: Job Talk

This Friday I will be giving my mock job talk. Our department makes us do this to prepare for the real thing. Strangely enough, I am more freaked out by this one than by the real thing. I have no problem talking in front of large crowds and have done so at dozens of conferences. However, there is something unsettling about a room filled with all of your professors, friends and colleagues, who all expect you to do well (especially my diss director will not be happy with anything less than a stellar presentation)–but I guess that’s good and really forces me to work on it. Sad part: I haven’t had time to work on my talk yet (I’ll start immediately after I’ve posted this). I need to get together a 1-hour, ca. 25-30 page talk and I can’t quite decide what I should talk about. This is in part due to the fact that a) it is at this point increasingly difficult for me to tell which parts of my diss people might be interested in and b) whatever part I choose, I will have to cut it substantially and therefore be again confronted with the question which parts are the most interesting ones and which ones I should cut. My dissertation is sadly not  a traditional one, since it is not separated into what you would consider clearly separate chapters. It is more of a large, complex logical argument for a new hermeneutic system for the study of contemporary culture and of postmodernism (which I argue are significantly different), which develops over the progress of the chapters. It is hence difficult to select a section for a talk without summarizing all previous chapters (and I cannot use chapter one, since writing sample and job talk have to be different). Eh, it’ll work out somehow.

Other than that there is not much new stuff to report. I have to get a haircut today (and possibly shave off that big beard I’ve been growing as an index of my hermit existence) and I need to start figuring out what to wear (I will actually have to wear a suit etc.–yuck–well, I got some nice ones earlier this summer).  I hope that I will have made substantial progress on the talk by tonight, so that I’ll be able to leave the house for at least a little while to go see the Boystown Halloween Parade (which will be on Halsted, hence only a block away from my house)–I hear it’s, well, fabulous!

A propos Halloween. I actually decided to leave the house on Saturday night for a Spanish department Halloween costume party. My friends and I decided to get up early, worked away as long as we could, then met at a coffee shop to figure out our costumes. The costume store we went to gave us nothing, really. Just a lot of slutty costumes for girls who decide to fight sexual repression for one day a year and jump on the chance to look like hookers in training and a lot of lame (mostly overly masculine) costumes for men. Even Bakhtin would be sad to see the US-carnivalesque deteriorate into simply a low-budget softcore porno for a nation of otherwise sexually and morally repressed people. In any case, the store did not have what we were looking for and the Spanish Inquisition idea turned out to be too expensive. Hence, we decided to have a pow-wow over the greasiest Chicago beef we’ve had in a long time. Result of brainstorming: we’ll dress up as Sigmund Freud, carry a Slip n’ Slide and hence be a bunch of Freudian slips. We figured that way we would at least win the prize for the lamest, most grad-student-y costume (which everyone else either greets with: “what???” or “Oh, my God” followed by shaking of the head that simultaneously expresses disgust and pity). Actually, the initial plan also included a different costume for our vertically challenged (i.e. short), Italian friend Eugenio, who, we thought, was perfectly suited to dress up as objet petit a. Sadly, he did not share our excitement about this possibility. But, long story short, we dressed up as Freudian slips, which sadly excluded the Slip n’ Slide (turns out, they are quite difficult to find in the fall/winter), which was replaced with actual women’s slips we decided to wear (nice satin/lace combination). Despite the fact that they were very comfortable and we got a lot of support from the people in Boystown (which is where the party was), wearing short, satin-y women’s underwear turned out to be quite cold in all the wrong places, but then that’s probably just one of the many potential problems you’ll face when you dress up as Freud in women’s underwear. (Oh, I just remembered, as the night progressed we also developed a dance that included a burlesque-show component of Freud meets Trotsky–“we will bring your perrrrmanent rrrrevolutionnnn.”–but that is something I should probably not describe in too much detail.)

Ok, back to job talk. Freutsky out.

Day 254: Online Backup

Sending out lots of application and preparing my job talk for next Friday. Also, took my students on a field trip to the Museum of Contemporary Art last night. Good times. Saw the “Collection Highlights”–part of MCA’s 40 year celebration. Took pages and pages of notes–fantastic(!) stuff in the collection (may have to write about it at some point). Lectured as we walked through the museum and at some point realized that people kept joining our little tour (old couples, whom, despite my tired brain yesterday, I identified at some point as non-students–“Hey, you’re not in my class, are you?” “No, is that ok?” “Yeah, what the hell.”)–so I couldn’t stop lecturing at that point (and no one even tipped me 🙂 ). In any case, I haven’t had a lot of time for anything else, including blogging. Today, thus, a post that is actually more a question to all of you than a proper post:

can anyone recommend a decent, safe, free, unproblematic online backup service?

I am getting too paranoid about losing my diss and buying and hiding memory sticks makes me feel too much like a digital squirrel preparing for winter. I know there is ibackup, that MSN has some free service and that google may be offering similar online space. Again, I don’t need much, so the space offered by any of the free sites will most likely not be an issue. I just want my baby to be safely tucked away, so I can sleep again at night. Any suggestions, warnings, etc.?

Day 249: Sleepless in Chicago

Damn, I’m tired. Had to pull an all-nighter to catch up on writing, grading and applications. Am exhausted. Will go to the Überstein Hofbräuhaus with a friend later tonight to unwind. Yes, that’s right! Überstein. Seems appropriate: I’m über-tired and definitely have an itch for stress-escapism by getting über-drunk (which, considering the amount of work that needs to get done tomorrow, is not a possbility).

Be that as it may, contrary to what Robert Frost may claim, fall (not spring) seems to be the mischief in me: there is a job opening at Regent University. Do you think I should apply? There certainly is lots of “über” at that place (not the good kind, though). I wonder if I can put a notion in their heads. But, über-Pat probably, “moves in darkness as it seems to me // Not of woods only and the shade of trees. // He will not go behind his father’s saying…”

???

Day 238: In the Country of Last Things…

…is an absolutely fantastic novel. One of Paul Auster’s less well-known works, this little book may just be his best one (as far as I am concerned). Turning away from the all too recognizable obsession with postmodern philosophy bordering on the openly Derridean that characterized the New York Trilogy (which he pulls off admirably in City of Glass, yet slightly less so in the following two novels and which becomes somewhat of a nuisance in later novels such as The Music of Chance), with Last Things Auster has produced a novel that does not quite abandon the project of interrogating postmodern subjectivity, however, it represents it in a refreshingly original light. Plus, this post apocalyptic, quasi-epistolary novel is so beautifully crafted that one is willing to forgive occasional retreats into the poststructurally-inconsequential. Maybe it is the post apocalyptic genre that allows authors to construct images of heartbreaking beauty and anguish while representing our present at the same time in ways that are more poignant and more meticulous than those produced by straight-up realism. I only have very little time to write this, but if you like Paul Auster and if you also liked Octavia Butler’s Parable series, you will certainly fall in love with this remarkable little book (and also find a suprisingly substantial amount of food for political discussion). Just in terms of Auster’s bibliography: this novel follows the New York Trilogy and is succeeded by Moon Palace (it is hence part of Auster’s late-80s oeuvre).

***EDIT: wow, the Chicago Marathon turned into a catastrophe. I went outside at 8 this morning to watch it for an hour and already at that early point in the day felt for the runners, due to the heat. I just heard that they actually stopped the race after one death and more than 350 hospitalized runners (the numbers are still climbing). Here the story posted immediately after the cancellation, which includes several videos of the race and its aftermath (I assume the story will be updated and the numbers corrected): http://cbs2chicago.com/local/local_story_280071653.html

Day 231: Hands Hurt.

Typing not easy. Helped a friend move all day yesterday. I am now calling this one “The Deadliest Move V. 2.0.” Wow. I’m in pain. Shouldn’t have done it hungover in retrospect. Had a little freakout on Friday night due to what seemed to be an unmanageable workload (I did get a LOT of work done last week, hardly slept but still this was not enough). Hence, decided to solve the problem by saying, “fuck it all” and went to the Oktoberfest with two friends. The fest was pretty sucky, so we decided to go to a “German” bar down the street that just opened. It’s called “Prost–Deutschland/Chicago” and apparently re-created Germany based on the movie Beerfest. German Massbier. Drinking out of boots. Chanting. Everybody ridiculously drunk. Sad place, yet we decided we had to fit in or be labelled uncool. Since that would have been tragic considering the social importance of the people making up that specific discourse field, we drank. Lots. Biked home (bad idea). Got up at 8 a.m. and took a bus downtown to help my friend (the busride was a walk on the edge as well). Finished moving after midnight last night. Got up relatively early today to do work.

That’s all I have to report. I feel like ass. And not like a nice one. Can’t blog in more detail. Must preserve remainder of mental ability for writing. Poor decision making this weekend. Should not drink. Should not have friends. I.e.: should be a better grad student.

Day 225: Glimpses of the Real

I had a relatively productive weekend. I got a lot of studying done, made revision outlines for my job material and read the latest volume of Ex Machina (not bad but no Y). I took a break last night to drink some beer and watch the Bears lose (in retrospect not the kind of relaxation I had hoped for). My only problem this weekend surrounds a question of (political) subjectivity in a situation of the presence of a total discourse of the Other that cancels out (logically) any discourse of the Other (which is supposed to be good). Yet, this creates serious problems for the project of thinking political subjectivity itself and tends to represent to me a kink in the symbolic that may give us a (terrifying and paralyzing) glimpse of the real. The logical problem is much like this well-known kink in the symbolic, so riddle me this:

Consider, the dilemma of someone trying to create a catalogue which includes only those catalogues which make NO mention of themselves within their own covers (in other words, a catalogue would be selected only if it did NOT include its own title in the list it provides of other catalogues). Should that person include the title of the catalogue he or she is making in the latter’s list? If he or she does not decide to include it, then it too will be a catalogue which does not contain itself as an entry and which therefore should be included. If, on the other hand, he or she decides to include it, then it will be a catalogue which DOES include itself as an entry and which therefore should not be included. What is the catalogue maker to do?

Day 207: The Dark Knight (teasers)

Already found trailers/teasers for the new Batman movie (The Dark Knight–release: July 2008). It’s a sequel to Batman Begins, as the previous movie directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale as Batman (I really like Christian Bale as an actor anyway–no and not just because of his portrayal of Patrick Bateman–the movie also features a bunch of other actors I generally tend to like, such as Gary Oldman and Maggie Gylenhaal). I am not a huge Batman fan (or a fan of any comic/movie adaptation of comics, excluding works by Alan Moore, or Brian K. Vaughan), but Batman Begins was not bad. Also, I have a strangely personal relationship to this new movie: it seemed to follow me throughout Chicago. When I still lived downtown they filmed right in front of my house, beneath the El tracks, in Lower Wacker, etc. When I moved up here they began filming in Lakeview, renting out entire houses/condo buildings, closing down entire streets and lighting up huge sections of the neighborhood during the night (which also recently happened for the filming of a new Angelina Jolie movie–something about car racing and a beefy Dodge Viper) and shut down a part of West Chhicago last week, since they decided to blow up an entire abandoned factory. The Batman crew was/is very secretive about all of this, trying not to let people know what it is they are filming, but if there are hundreds of people in a neighborhood lighting it up all day and blocking the access to my coffee shop with dozens of film trailers people begin to wonder. Upside of all of this, though: they had lots of catering tables standing around and since the security people were too busy making sure people could not see any part of the filming process, take any video they would later post on youtube, or even find out details about the film, I was often able to grab dinner for myself in the form of some muffins and fruit without anyone noticing. I am now officially a fan of big budget movies filmed in my neighborhood. Oh, and on a very different level: just as this new one, Batman Begins was filmed in Chicago and I do enjoy the city as shown in the movies. There is no US city that is more Gotham than Chicago, dark, brooding, large, threatening, crazy architecture (but, if need be, also all fluffy, cute and filled with nice people–apart from North Clark/Wrigleyville and frat-boy Cubs fans, of course). Ok, so here the trailers:

Day 206: Brian K. Vaughan…

… has been on the writing staff of Lost for over a year now (executive story editor!). Why does no one tell me these things? No wonder season three was better again than the slightly underperforming second season. (For the uninitiated: Vaughan is young, brilliant, handsome and responsible for, among other things, Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina and The Pride of Baghdad. And now Lost. Very impressive.)

What else..hmmm.. let’s see. Labor Day weekend was slightly boring. I had to do a lot of work, I did not get to barbecue, which may have annoyed me even more than having to stay inside all day during this beautiful weather…oh, and labor in the US remained exploited–nothing new, thus. Last night I went rollerblading, realized that I need new wheels and bearings and was shocked to find out how expensive those are in the US. Damn! I may have to wait until next season to get them. I may just have to spend the few remaining warm days running–crap skating was the only speed-fix I was able to get here. Ok, gotta run to the coffee shop again and continue reading. Oh, I am currently re-reading the Preacher series before I sleep. He, he. Fantastic!