When I was a student, I was used to seeing and sitting in classes with lecturers who looked exactly just like him. Unkempt, long beard, hair uncombed. But my most beloved professor in my college days was even worse. On top of being unconcerned about how he looked, he was also a chain-smoker. This gave him an awful smell. Putting all that together, it’s not a surprise he was often mistaken to be a fishball vendor and sometimes just plain vagrant. When he was not in the classroom, he was smoking somewhere in a corner in the campus, picking fishball, and picking his nose in public.
He’s often cast as a terror professor in mathematics, but that had nothing to do with abusive behavior. He was, in fact, always soft-spoken and a frequent comedian. He was described as terror, because flunking as many as 90% of the class in differential equation was, for him, as ordinary as the sun disappearing close to night time.
He’s often cast as a terror professor in mathematics, but that had nothing to do with abusive behavior. He was, in fact, always soft-spoken and a frequent comedian. He was described as terror, because flunking as many as 90% of the class in differential equation was, for him, as ordinary as the sun disappearing close to night time.
I loved the humanities a lot, but because of him I decided to return to school, get another degree in math, a masters degree in math, teach math and write math and science books. He is very old now, I am told. When I met him as my professor in a calculus class, he looked like a hermit. This means he must be close to 90 years old by now.
I rarely dress and come to school like a hobo now. But for decades, I was a member of a class of teachers like him. The hobo club. I made peace with people’s triviality with appearances after decades of receiving their torments. For so many years I hid a burning desire to avenge myself. I prayed to God never to place me in a position of authority, because if he did, my first business in school is to fuck everybody who picked on how I dress and come to school. That fierce and grim spirit occasionally light up in my mind, but I try to be cool. I swear.
Believe it or not, I came to make peace with these torments with the help of biology. I was intrigued by the fact that its always women who picked on how my pants, shirts, and shoes looked. I can’t help but conclude their sensitivity to appearances must be sex-specific. It must be specific to the female sex. Yes, it is, I discovered. Why it came to be that way is a long story in evolutionary biology and psychology.
I rarely dress and come to school like a hobo now. But for decades, I was a member of a class of teachers like him. The hobo club. I made peace with people’s triviality with appearances after decades of receiving their torments. For so many years I hid a burning desire to avenge myself. I prayed to God never to place me in a position of authority, because if he did, my first business in school is to fuck everybody who picked on how I dress and come to school. That fierce and grim spirit occasionally light up in my mind, but I try to be cool. I swear.
Believe it or not, I came to make peace with these torments with the help of biology. I was intrigued by the fact that its always women who picked on how my pants, shirts, and shoes looked. I can’t help but conclude their sensitivity to appearances must be sex-specific. It must be specific to the female sex. Yes, it is, I discovered. Why it came to be that way is a long story in evolutionary biology and psychology.
To all my past tormentors, peace be with you, suckers. You are all still in my list. It’s never been my longing to hold authority over other people. I was an athlete for close to 20 years, and much that I do today is teach and write. When one has a preoccupation like that you’d never aim to hold positions of power or authority in organizations. Like a hermit, all I wanted is to be left alone so that I can compose my thoughts for my classes and manuscripts.
But if I end up holding one, God help me when they place you under my power. I pray to God to exorcise me from my demons. I never prayed to God ever since I turned adult. If ever I did, I pray only for one thing, for God to hold my demons down.
But if I end up holding one, God help me when they place you under my power. I pray to God to exorcise me from my demons. I never prayed to God ever since I turned adult. If ever I did, I pray only for one thing, for God to hold my demons down.