s. wallerstein
@s--wallerstein.bsky.social
Trabajador en Codepu durante la dictadura. Militante Frente Amplio. Feminista. Judio no sionista. Estadounidense residente en Chile desde 1979. Vivo sin tele, Santiago centro. Cuestionando.
Social gatherings of academic philosophers are awkward, not because philosophers are necessarily awkward, but because they're in competition with one another and that competition is not completely transparent as it would be among, say, salespeople.
December 7, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Social gatherings of academic philosophers are awkward, not because philosophers are necessarily awkward, but because they're in competition with one another and that competition is not completely transparent as it would be among, say, salespeople.
Almost everyone I'm close to, including my two sons and myself (not my wife), are either academics or have taught in higher education for some time. I don't find them to be awkward, but maybe that's what I'm used to. My brother-in-law did graduate work in phil and he's socially very likeable.
December 6, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Almost everyone I'm close to, including my two sons and myself (not my wife), are either academics or have taught in higher education for some time. I don't find them to be awkward, but maybe that's what I'm used to. My brother-in-law did graduate work in phil and he's socially very likeable.
that's an answer that only a philosopher would give. you're a "natural" philosopher.
December 5, 2025 at 8:21 PM
that's an answer that only a philosopher would give. you're a "natural" philosopher.
The famous opening scene of Saturday Night Fever shows Travolta walking down the street with a paint can.
December 2, 2025 at 3:12 PM
The famous opening scene of Saturday Night Fever shows Travolta walking down the street with a paint can.
I got that from a book that might interest you, A Short History of Stupidity by Stuart Jeffries. It has interesting stuff on Socrates, on Eastern views of stupidity, on Flaubert, some stuff on eugenics and IQ that didn't interest me and stuff on social media and Trump that I haven't gotten to.
December 1, 2025 at 10:34 PM
I got that from a book that might interest you, A Short History of Stupidity by Stuart Jeffries. It has interesting stuff on Socrates, on Eastern views of stupidity, on Flaubert, some stuff on eugenics and IQ that didn't interest me and stuff on social media and Trump that I haven't gotten to.
Flaubert said that stupidity consists in seeking a conclusion.
December 1, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Flaubert said that stupidity consists in seeking a conclusion.
"Yes, I taught English, how did you guess that?", I said.
"Only teachers say things like that", she answered.
"Only teachers say things like that", she answered.
November 30, 2025 at 9:04 PM
"Yes, I taught English, how did you guess that?", I said.
"Only teachers say things like that", she answered.
"Only teachers say things like that", she answered.
I used to buy bread every day and one day I greeted the cashier with "good afternoon". "It's Mr. Good Afternoon", she replied. "Doesn't everybody greet you'", I asked. "No" was the reply. "Greeting someone is the minimum of respect we owe others", I said. "Teacher", she said. cont
November 30, 2025 at 9:03 PM
I used to buy bread every day and one day I greeted the cashier with "good afternoon". "It's Mr. Good Afternoon", she replied. "Doesn't everybody greet you'", I asked. "No" was the reply. "Greeting someone is the minimum of respect we owe others", I said. "Teacher", she said. cont
Don't good manners have a moral dimension? I don't mean eating your peas with a fork, not a spoon, but saying "thank you", "you're welcome", "excuse me", "´please", etc., in the right circumstances.
November 30, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Don't good manners have a moral dimension? I don't mean eating your peas with a fork, not a spoon, but saying "thank you", "you're welcome", "excuse me", "´please", etc., in the right circumstances.
At midnight I send a bunch of whatsapp to friends and family wishing them a happy new year, take the stronger of my two sleeping pills, put plugs in my ears to drown out the music from the neighbors and go to bed.
November 30, 2025 at 11:52 AM
At midnight I send a bunch of whatsapp to friends and family wishing them a happy new year, take the stronger of my two sleeping pills, put plugs in my ears to drown out the music from the neighbors and go to bed.
Yes, and that's one of the reasons for Trump.
November 29, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Yes, and that's one of the reasons for Trump.
When I say I "saw the Beatles", that's literal. We bought the cheapest tickets in Shea Stadium. My friend John and I spent the whole concert guessing at what song they were playing because of all the girls screaming. We had binoculars so we could see the Beatles clearly
November 28, 2025 at 6:20 PM
When I say I "saw the Beatles", that's literal. We bought the cheapest tickets in Shea Stadium. My friend John and I spent the whole concert guessing at what song they were playing because of all the girls screaming. We had binoculars so we could see the Beatles clearly
The Beatles 1965
Rolling Stones 1965
Miles Davis 1970
Chick Corea 1974
Keith Jarrett 1976
Rolling Stones 1965
Miles Davis 1970
Chick Corea 1974
Keith Jarrett 1976
November 28, 2025 at 5:09 PM
The Beatles 1965
Rolling Stones 1965
Miles Davis 1970
Chick Corea 1974
Keith Jarrett 1976
Rolling Stones 1965
Miles Davis 1970
Chick Corea 1974
Keith Jarrett 1976
It's interesting that Hendrix has stood the test of time. He's very 60's.
November 26, 2025 at 11:27 PM
It's interesting that Hendrix has stood the test of time. He's very 60's.
My parents didn't use them either, at least during that part of childhood I recall clearly, let's say, from 5 years old on. Maybe they did when I was 2 or 3, but I suspect not.
November 25, 2025 at 4:24 PM
My parents didn't use them either, at least during that part of childhood I recall clearly, let's say, from 5 years old on. Maybe they did when I was 2 or 3, but I suspect not.
I've never used any of those words in my lifetime, neither as a child nor as an adult.
November 25, 2025 at 3:21 PM
I've never used any of those words in my lifetime, neither as a child nor as an adult.
I was hardly a juvenile delincuent, but I was once suspended from high school for a couple of days for sneaking out of a boring documentary movie my class was seeing and sneaking into a neighboring room where they were showing the movie "Grapes of Wrath".
November 24, 2025 at 4:36 PM
I was hardly a juvenile delincuent, but I was once suspended from high school for a couple of days for sneaking out of a boring documentary movie my class was seeing and sneaking into a neighboring room where they were showing the movie "Grapes of Wrath".
Some weirdos thrive. Others sleep on park benches. For a weirdo to thrive, they need basic 9-5 discipline, to get up when the alarm clock rings, to commute to someplace they don't want to go, to smile at people they detest, to jump when they're told to jump. Otherwise, the park bench.
November 23, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Some weirdos thrive. Others sleep on park benches. For a weirdo to thrive, they need basic 9-5 discipline, to get up when the alarm clock rings, to commute to someplace they don't want to go, to smile at people they detest, to jump when they're told to jump. Otherwise, the park bench.
The perfect Christmas gift would be that Trump and Vance both resign. Trump commits himself to a psychiatric hospital while Vance enters a Zen monastery. New elections are held and someone reasonable and honest is elected.
November 23, 2025 at 4:38 PM
The perfect Christmas gift would be that Trump and Vance both resign. Trump commits himself to a psychiatric hospital while Vance enters a Zen monastery. New elections are held and someone reasonable and honest is elected.
I was so out of it during hi school that I, except for a dance movie like Footloose, don't find the genre appealing. Hi school was the low point of my life, the most lonely, the most despairing, the most self-hating. At the end of hi school I began to reinvent myself and college was fine.
November 23, 2025 at 1:26 AM
I was so out of it during hi school that I, except for a dance movie like Footloose, don't find the genre appealing. Hi school was the low point of my life, the most lonely, the most despairing, the most self-hating. At the end of hi school I began to reinvent myself and college was fine.
I saw Footloose with Kevin Bacon. Good music, great dancing, not much of a plot. In any case, entertaining.
November 23, 2025 at 12:25 AM
I saw Footloose with Kevin Bacon. Good music, great dancing, not much of a plot. In any case, entertaining.
It's about a kid in high school. It's one of the few films I know that deals with the traumas that highly sensitive teenagers go through, because in my experience at least, adolescence is the most sensitive stage of life. The so-called high school movies don't reflect my experience of those years.
November 22, 2025 at 3:01 PM
It's about a kid in high school. It's one of the few films I know that deals with the traumas that highly sensitive teenagers go through, because in my experience at least, adolescence is the most sensitive stage of life. The so-called high school movies don't reflect my experience of those years.
How about Ordinary People, directed by Robert Redford?
November 22, 2025 at 1:24 PM
How about Ordinary People, directed by Robert Redford?
In Chile you enter directly into a university career. No one wanted to study to be an English teacher (low pay, low status), but they were kids who didn't score high enough on exams to study medicine, law, economics or engineering, which pay better and are high status. So zero motivation.
November 18, 2025 at 5:19 PM
In Chile you enter directly into a university career. No one wanted to study to be an English teacher (low pay, low status), but they were kids who didn't score high enough on exams to study medicine, law, economics or engineering, which pay better and are high status. So zero motivation.