Looking forward

Like Thomas Kuhn ("Paradigm Shift"), Francis Fukuyama ("End of History"), and C. P. Snow ("Two Cultures"), Benedict Anderson is destined to be remembered solely for coining a catchphrase which everyone (including myself) quotes without really understanding. Well, I'm nearly done with Imagined Communities and can happily report (and feel smug about it at the same time) that nations are not just imagined communities, but imagined, limited, and sovereign communities. It's a dense read -- Anderson really likes quoting Dutch, Indonesian, French, German, Tagalog, and Spanish sources without translating them (my feeble French gets me by sometimes). That said, his erudition, wit, and historical-mindedness are a pleasure to behold and imbibe. But more on him and the book in the future, if ever.

Moving on. I am free until Monday, when my &^%*$! "Enrichment Programme" at NIE starts. Visits to ITE (why?) and Tuas Naval Base (why??). Talks on financial literacy and giving money to NTU (are they kidding?). Why can't they just give us time off -- to prepare our lessons, to go on holiday, to idle? Or at the very least, they could limit the "Enrichment" to a handful of days, instead of two freakin' weeks. Anyway, I will be there in person, but absent in spirit: an iPod, laptop, DVDs (time to watch Lord of the Rings again?), and books should help me pass the hours. Or I could just not turn up, in a stunning act of civil disobedience.
Posted by kungfuzi at 6:55 pm |