Terry Eagleton

Mr. Eagleton takes his own whack at academia.

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“What I would say about the university today,” he says, “is that we’re living through an absolutely historic moment – namely the effective end of universities as centres of humane critique, an almost complete capitulation to the philistine and sometimes barbaric values of neo-capitalism.”

This sounds rather like tragedy – if, that is, we really stare at the abyss. If so, is there the possibility of new life? Is there yet hope for the university? Eagleton smiles and quotes Kafka: “‘Yes, there is an infinity of hope, but not for us.’”

-- John Schad, "Interview: Terry Eagleton" at The Times Higher Education

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Lorie and Jill

I thought that was Kay with Pop, coming for an irregular visit on a Sunday, but I was mistaken. It is Lorie. My window blinds are shut, and I only have a little viewing rectangle, which enables me to see only the bottom half of anyone on the driveway. I saw that walker being swung out the car door and then a stout pair of legs, and I assumed it was Kay. I understood that Lorie is having a difficult time healing, but I had not associated her with the use of a walker, not knowing that it has become her walking-aid of choice.

Jill is also here with Pop, without her Jack. I am surprised to see that Jill, too, seems to have become quite stout from the waist down, which seems like a quick and rather sudden decline. Is middle-age falling particularly hard on her? They are busy in the "office", and Pop comes to the big room and suggests that we go and refill our water jug, taking advantage of the fact that we have guests and do not have to leave the house unattended. On the way in the car, I ask if they are doing Internet stuff. Yes, Jill is helping Lorie and Pop do their taxes online.

By the time they leave, I have my window blinds open. I want to take a better look at what is going on with Jill, and I am in for an eye-popping surprise. She is so big, top and bottom, that she appears to be pregnant. Could that be? Jack and Jill are in their forties. It is a bit old to have another kid, but I would think it more probable than the idea that she just suddenly got fat and blew up into a whale, though middle-age can be awfully tragic.

Hillary

Maureen Dowd's column is about the tension in her campaign between the attack dogs and the clean-cut professionals, but what I really like about her offerings this Sunday is the cynical encapsulation of Hillary's campaign status: "Hillary hasn’t announced a 2016 campaign yet. She’s busy polling more than 200 policy experts on how to show that she really cares about the poor while courting the banks." And Hillary is our liberal Democrat, our champion in the political ring. And so the world runs away.

[Source: Maureen Dowd at The New York Times]

The Natural World

Random Pictures

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