more from the genre I hate

Remember, I despise the “damn kids these days” genre of cranky professor complaints, and reserve it only for truly jaw-dropping moments.

From a student today, after being told he was in trouble for plagiarizing 15% of his final paper:

“Sorry Doctor, but I thought we were allowed to plagiarize up to 20%.”

asher kay on Lingis the person

asher kay responds to my Lingis/Latour post with some more Penn State “Inside Baseball”. (I’m sure Cameron will have something to say about this.)

http://sevenless.org/blog/?p=125

What asher kay’s story nicely captures is this… Some academics are professional gatekeepers. They are there to tell you that you might not be quite up to snuff. They circle you like drill sergeants on inspection day: “Your shoes aren’t shined… There’s lint on your shoulder… I SAID STAND AT ATTENTION SOLDIER!!!… That’s better… Now guard this trash can until I come back.” They feel that they are hoarding a precious resource and you have to prove yourself before they share any of it with you.

The Lingis model was different. He can be a harsh man in his own way at times, and some have felt it. But he’s not a professional gatekeeper. He thinks the world is big enough for all of us. He’d take our term papers and immediately fly off to Cuba or the Philippines, and to the gatekeepers that would seem like irresponsibility. But whereas the gatekeepers would eye you coldly while handing back your paper, covered with often needless red ink, Lingis would send you a detailed 3-page commentary on your paper from Bangkok, Rio de Janeiro, or the Galapagos Islands. Moreover, he was even willing to *receive* work in these places! My M.A. paper was sent to “poste restante” in either Guatemala or Honduras, I don’t remember which. Somehow he got it and read it, and somehow I *knew* he would get it and read it.

And if he thought your paper was publishable, he would tell you so, and if he thought it was crap he’d probably find some surprisingly polite and oblique way of telling you so. And Lingis can be extremely harsh about work that he doesn’t like (he ridiculed the first question I ever asked in a graduate school class, but we got over that quickly), so I think asher kay should take it as a genuine compliment that Professor Lingis urged publication of his student work.

There was something *empowering* about Lingis as a teacher. His classes were not the most organized that I’ve ever taken, but it didn’t really matter– taking a course with him was less about learning a certain amount of material, and more about enlisting to hang out with Lingis for a semester, in class, in bars after class, and in the frequent house parties he used to throw. And you’d learn a lot just by seeing what he did himself, how he lived and worked. And most often, anyone who wanted him as a friend for life could have that too.

He’s still surely the most interesting personality I’ve ever encountered (I’ve been saying that since our first meeting 19 years ago). And if you wanted to learn how to tap into your inner phenomenologist and poet and write tons of pages naturally and pleasurably without the least whiff of academic careerism, then Lingis was your man. I can’t imagine having lived without meeting him, and there are only a few people we can say that about in a lifetime.

Gibbon quote of the day. May 22.

An old story well told:

“…Severus treated the man whom he had doomed to destruction with every mark of esteem and regard. Even in the letter in which he announced his victory over Niger he styles Albinus the brother of his soul and empire, sends him the affectionate salutations of his wife Julia, and his young family, and entreats him to preserve the armies and the republic faithful to their common interest. The messengers charged with this letter were instructed to accost the Caesar with respect, to desire a private audience, and to plunge their daggers into his heart.”