Friday, April 14, 2006
(8:00 AM) | Adam Kotsko:
Friday Afternoon Confessional: Stockholm Syndrome
I confess that I didn't realize until yesterday that it was Holy Week. I confess that my lack of piety has stemmed primarily from a desire to minimize outside demands on my time and that I may well end up going to church more regularly when I move to the new place in Lincoln Square, which is only a block away from a Catholic church. I confess that even though I am not a big fan of the way things are run in the Catholic Church, I don't see the use of joining another denomination unless there is some really good reason for it.I confess that I can see the horizon of never having to take a class again, and it looks pretty good. I confess that in a certain way, I look forward to the exam stage, because a lot of the stuff I'll be reading is stuff I've "been meaning to read" but might never otherwise read. But I'm getting ahead of myself here, which is the worst possible thing for a grad student to do.
I confess that yesterday I got a ticket for parking on the street during a street cleaning, and I'm not angry or upset about it, even though I was in Hyde Park Tuesday through Thursday and had no opportunity to move my truck, nor indeed to learn of the impending street cleaning. When I objectively break a law that makes sense, getting a ticket is not a big deal (although the money end of it is annoying) -- it's just getting tickets for things like parking on the street as such that get to me, that is, tickets that seem to work at a more basic ontological level.
I confess that my experience of giving an in-class presentation Wednesday night has given me some confidence that I might someday experience at least some moderate success in teaching. (I've heard that this will apparently be required at some point if I'm going to be a professor -- they don't really give more detail than that.) I confess that I used the chalk board for the first time in said presentation.
I confess that this weather makes me much happier. It's nice when it doesn't feel like the world itself is against me. I confess that that feeling has been central to my experience as a born-and-bred Midwesterner and that sometimes I take perverse pride in the bad winters that I've lived through -- but they seem to not be doing the "harsh winter" thing anymore.
I confess that I too commonly use Stockholm Syndrome to explain everyday events.
