And I was also afraid that once people think they can come through, they'll be popping in, saying "oh, would you mind, I don't want to walk through the room to get to my seat"

Oh, they will totally do this. Don't give a fucking inch.

I may have a lower-than-usual opinion of people today, but I know the above statement to be true.

Yeah, I let someone use the outer office for a coatroom for an event one weekend, came in to find that they'd moved furniture, etc. I told them that they needed to come in and move the desk back where it was supposed to be (they moved it about a foot, which makes using the door awkward if there's more than one person). Think that happened?

Vortex, can you put a large bookcase in front of that door in the future so that people forget you have it?

Scrappy, I wanted to say a big thank you again for your advice re: what to write to my chauvinist lecturer for mythological sources for art class. I just copy-pasted the "I felt the instructor was not open to interpretations of myth which were different that his own. His interpretations seemed to be uniformly conservative and biased against women in particular" remark you suggested, AIFG.

Finally. Phew.

So, thank you!

Shir, have you had any luck asking about that paper? Cause, if you can't get an introduction then having a Buffista librarian ask is totally a good way to go.

Incidentally, if you know of cases of people refusing to deal with individual academics on boycott grounds, please let me know. Because while I don't support an academic boycott at the moment, I know some who do, and that is not the way it is supposed to work. It is supposed to be an *institutional* both boycott of Israeli institutions, and a refusal let citizens of Israel take place in non-Israeli institutions. It is not supposed to be an individual to individual boycott. Now as I said, I don't think an academic boycott is particularly good idea at the moment. But the point here is that if somebody who is taking part in such a boycott is refusing to deal with individual Israelis this kind context, they are doing it wrong and should be called on it.

Note again this is separate issue from the boycott itself. While I think the boycott itself is wrong, or to be exact the wrong type of boycott, people who are sufficiently convinced to take part in it are probably not open to those arguments. But if they are carrying out the boycott improperly, extending it where it is not supposed to go, they might be persuaded or publicly shamed.

Wow. I felt kind of eh this morning. I knew I had a cold, suspected I'd coughed all night.

Now I feel like I've been run over by a truck. I'm going to bed.

Feel better, vw.

In the WTF students file -- Student sends an email to a professor (that copies me and about 20 other people/programs) that says "I am sending this e-mail to request for a recommendation letter, Sir. Please attach the letter to the reply to this e-mail and forward to all. I do not need to be copied. Thank you sir." WTF kid? I need letterhead and an actual signature, this won't cut it.

Then, he sends an email (again, to me and a bunch of other programs) with a bunch of PDFs attached and says "Here's all of my other stuff" that includes an essay that he didn't even bother to personalize for each program. Can I at least get a cut and paste for the name of the program?

I tell him that he needs to mail the stuff to me, per the instructions on the website and he says "can't you accept an electronic copy" I want to reply "If I wanted to, you wouldn't be getting the damned email. Now print your shit out and put it in an envelope"

Oh! Oh! I know! "(Student's Name) is reasonably familiar with email and how the internet works. He is relatively good at spelling, though I haven't corresponded with him enough to gauge his tense and subject-verb agreement. Thank you for your attention."

This is your requested recommendation. You may attach it to your other electronic material and submit it as you see fit.

loves Beverly