Deep In the Heart of Texas
Giddyup, pardners, because Derek has moved west. Yup, the rootinest, tootinest hombre blogging west of Cliopatria has moved to the Lone Star State. Shiner Bock, the Midland Rock Hounds of the Texas League, and Permian Panthers Mojo all are in my backyard here in Odessa, where I have taken a new tenure-track gig at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. I move on to a better university system, with higher pay, more serious commitment to research (while still firmly committed to teaching), more supportive, friendly, and, well, collegial colleagues, and no more sub-zero winters.
I’m teaching in the same areas – Modern US with some Modern Africa, and I'll have chances to incorporate my work on terrorism as well as my usual race, politics and social movements, and possibly (hopefully?) some sports. I decided to get settled in early and to teach a summer class, a new course I have designed called “Current Issues and Historical Perspectives,” which allows me to blend two of my passions – history and current affairs. In a five week course, each of the first four weeks will have a theme: Terrorism, the Middle East, and Israel; Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality in the United States; Chaos in Africa; and the 2004 Election. The fifth week will be devoted to our final class project, which I think will be a group-written HNN-type piece. We will read a daily newspaper, (The Dallas Morning News, as I want there to be a somewhat local component, getting the Times here is a hassle and a bit expensive for students, the Odessa American is simply too limited, especially for the international topics, and I figure using the Dallas paper gives me some credibility that using that liberal rag from New York City might not.) and several websites. Each week also has a book attached that will give a historical context in well-written and engaging style, to supplement any lectures or other talking that I do. These include Thomas Friedman’s From Beirut to Jerusalem, Terry Anderson’s The Movement, Bill Berkeley’s The Graves Are Not Yet Full, and Zachary Karabell’s The Last Campaign. (All three available at the usual sites, plus at finer bookstores everywhere. All three are worth owning.) Each week they will have an assignment due Thursday, ranging from an op-ed piece to a reading response to a class debate, and we will close off with the group project (Rick Shenkman, are you reading? Publish their essay!).
We’ll see how I do with West Texas. The Midland-Odessa metroplex has an airport, so I’m only a connection in Dallas or Houston from being just about anywhere I want. The population base between the two cities is such that there are restaurants, there are minor league sports teams, and there is a lot more to do and more options (often on the consumerist side – no lack of chances to buy stuff with my filthy lucre) than in my last tenure-track outpost (the one prior to my being spoiled in Charlottesville. Sigh. I'll miss Charlottesville.)
Meanwhile today’s projected high is a mere 97 degrees. The projection for the next ten days does not have us surpassing a hundred, nor does it have us plummeting below 95. But it is, as they say, a dry heat (which from what I can tell means that it is too damned hot for anything with water in it to survive before being burned off) meaning that my pale self is gonna do some frying. But at least tonight I can see the Rock Hounds for a buck if I go to McDonald’s and get the sponsor’s coupon. I see Big Mac in my future. Giddyup.
By the way – UTPB are the Falcons, and yes, we have to wear those puke orange colors too. State law, you know. And I’ve always wanted to say this: “Don’t mess with Texas,” which may be second only to “Live Free Or Die” in the pantheon of vaguely surly state quotations.