George Harrison is conducive to syllabus building. I've spent the past 5 hours writing up lectures and lesson plans for both my Wisco and city jobs -- all the while listening to (over and over and over) a George Harrison mix dm made me a number of years ago. I re-discovered the mix while thoroughly cleaning my car out on Sunday. (The interior of my car, as many can attest to, was a microcosmic post-apocalypse wasteland.)

Sunday, after cleaning my car, I read and heavily annotated Plato's "Apology." After I finished "Apology" (which I read once many years ago) I actually exclaimed, "God that was good!" It was good. I found it arduous and boring when I was nineteen, but at thirty -- exhilarating. Ah, the joys of age. If everything I found boring at nineteen is that exciting now, hell, I need to re-read/re-watch/re-do/re-listen to a lot of stuff . . . Anyone have a copy of Crime and Punishment? Life of Brian? A time machine so I can attend Thanksgiving dinner in 1995? Paula Cole's debut album?

Started teaching at my city job last night. My students are great. Earnest and shy. But . . . um . . .the neighborhood . . .yeah. Gonna need some mace. On the "first day survey" I prepared for my students, many of them listed "moving out of the neighborhood" as their motivation to attend college. Can't see why. I mean, if you can disregard the empty lots, post-8:30 p.m. gunfire and small roving bands of dogs, it's a perfectly nice neighborhood.

Fortunately, I work the "night shift" with a few other grad school comrades.

It's no coincidence that our boss sent only those of us with cars to this particular campus. I now regret mentioning that I have a car. If I continue work for this institution, I can guarantee I "won't have a car" come spring semester . . . even if I do have a car, I won't.

The way the City of Chicago neglects its neighborhoods is an abomination. Really. The city could afford millions and millions to build a fancy/futuristic park in The Loop. The city could afford to introduce a bill banning foie gras, but the city can't be bothered to take care of their disenfranchised residents. It is shameful.

On this topic, there are two Links of the Day.

One is for a priority Chicago project (recently completed): THIS

The other is for a Chicago neighborhood I taught in last year: THIS.