Newsflash: Famous Male Writers Like Porn!

Thank God for Oxford! If it weren't for their diligent academics, working endlessly to bring us enlightenment, we might never have learned that Franz Kafka had a collection of porn. I know what you're thinking. Kafka? The saintly Kafka? A man who likes porn? I know!

Even today, the pornography would be "on the top shelf", Dr Hawes said, noting that his American publisher did not want him to publish it at first. "These are not naughty postcards from the beach. They are undoubtedly porn, pure and simple. Some of it is quite dark, with animals committing fellatio and girl-on-girl action... It's quite unpleasant[1]."

"Academics have pretended it did not exist," Dr Hawes said. “The Kafka industry doesn’t want to know such things about its idol."

A round of applause for Dr. Hawes who has revealed unto us mortals that which the "Kafka industry" would hide from us! A hero of Truth!

[1]That right there tells me we know just how Dr. Hawes likes his tea. Given the British tendency towards understatement we must assume that his porn collection is dated, back-boarded, bagged, and massive.

Waxing Pre-Nostalgic

Perhaps because I'm 75% done with my time in Korea and I finally got a break from the place I'm finding ways to appreciate my current home. Another great thing about Korea: my neighborhood. I'm sure this is not limited to my neighborhood but with my limited experience living in other Korean neighborhoods I'll limit my comments. Dry cleaning here is great. I just had two dress shirts, slacks, and a dress delivered to my door from the dry-cleaners for $12. The great part about the delivery is that it's walking distance. I wouldn't even mind going to pick it up but, whenever they can, the closest place will attempt to make a delivery. In the mornings when they are delivering (and quite possibly making pick-ups) a guy will walk around the buildings singing out the words for 'dry cleaning' in Korean. It's soothing because he sounds like a monk and sort of chants it out - a devotee of the Temple of Presentability.

Good Things About Korea (in pill form)

Often I tend to bitch about the negative aspects of living in Korea: the absence of the use of lines, the shoving, the slapping of children and so on. Today I am here to tell you that there are good things too! Like birth control! At the second pharmacy I tried I was able to walk in, show the label of my bc from America and get an almost identical chemical compound from the pharmacist. First, I was able to do this without a prescription![1] Second, a six month supply cost me $34 and change! I should add that I think that my continuance of bc is absolute evidence that I am secretly an optimist because the only thing I'm at risk of right now is immaculate conception (Hi, mom!).

PS, at work yesterday I got to shout, "Charlie, don't clothesline other students, please!" Charlie is one of our students who really needs special attention that I think other teachers aren't giving him so I've been cultivating a relationship (that sounds bad, I know, but there's not another word) with him to encourage him to speak and behave better.

[1]This is both good and bad. It is certainly good for me here because I am terrified of the idea of getting an OB/GYN checkup here. So it's good because access is important for all people. The ease of access to bc is bad to the extent that the prescription requirement does encourage women like myself to go to the doctor every year. Sadly, in America, annual exams are monstrously expensive at a regular doctor. A checkup with my physician in DC would cost, without insurance, hundreds of dollars for a basic checkup, interview, and STD testing. That is ridiculous. These preventative checkups should not be prohibitively costly yet they are and it is contributing to unnecessary illness, death and pregnancy among many, I'm sure.

Curses!

I just realized that I forgot to bring the Spamalot Collector's Edition SPAM home with me. It's sitting in a drawer in the bathroom of the hotel room we were in...Lying in wait for someone in need of pork-based salvation to discover it; like an edible Gideon's Bible.

I Was Rarely Asked to Babysit

Every so often Penny Arcade gets at the essence of a problem I have experienced; this comic is one of them. When dealing with children I am often torn between expediency and honesty. I think it gets at the heart of why I am a nerd. I do not, by nature, deal with singularities. Any given issue appears to me like the intersection of thousands of threads to be teased out and followed. Dammit, there might be wolfmen; we don't know. I think this is why many people find conversations with me annoying. Not only do I perceive things as tangled masses, I'm passionate about it. I want to comb through it and I will jump on the couch to emphasize my point.

My Polynesian Adventure[1]

I had a pleasant trip to Hawai'i. Seeing my parents was very good and takes some of the edge off the guilt of my new plan to not immediately return to America when I finish my contract.

In Hawai'i the prohibitions on smoking are very serious. Smoking in public is quite limited and at the Polynesian Culture Center[2] smokers were relegated to the parking lot and only the deepest, darkest corners of the campus. It seemed, in general, that there is far more regulation in Hawai'i than in the continental US. Because of the importance of the beaches for tourism and the more delicate environs of the islands there are a lot of regulations about cleanliness and environmental protection. I couldn't imagine such a level of government imposition being tolerated in many other parts of the US. I am wondering if the fact that Hawai'i is so far removed from the mainland has a significant affect on how residents react to government regulation and levels of tolerance. After all, in the continental US you can just go to a neighboring state (possibly even country!) if you don't like certain laws (sales tax rates, liquor laws, pesky regulations on what constitutes sex with a minor etc.). I think that, much like New Zealand, Hawai'i's distance is beneficial on a social level[3] because of the protection that distance affords the natural beauty and because most residents and businesses can't reasonably threaten to move next door and hold the state hostage to their demands on regulations and taxation.
[4]
My father and I went to one of the botanical gardens on the island. Naming this has to be the highlight of someone's botanical career:


[1]Alternately: America, F*ck Yeah!
[2]Run by Mormons!
[3]Less so if you are an escaped criminal. A female convict released under the protection of her lawyer made a run for it and scaled a fence to relative freedom. She was caught within two days because, really, where was she going to go?
[4]These are just musings, I know the issues are far more complex than this and that I would need far more than seven days of mooching around Waikiki to make any firm conclusions.

"So, Are You Saying That We're All Just, Like, Really Excellent Sheep?"

I do have some critical thoughts on William Deresiewicz's article on The Disadvantages of Elite Education. Thanks to, I believe, Meg for pointing it out to me. The start of the article is a little irksome as it's, from my perspective, condescending and elitist*; however he does touch on some very interesting ideas, including the importance of solitude, at the end of the piece.

*Some elements of which I have been guilty.