Fall 2011 semester launch

So the new semester starts in two days and my summer's work remains incomplete. I'm mainly wrestling with the subtleties of my paper on Susan Fainstein's new and wonderful book, The Just City. I am trying to argue that her strategy is weakened by her overemphasis on pragmatism and underemphasis of the Just City's utopian potential. It's a counterintuitive argument that depends on showing that her call for justice is not utopian but with a little twist could be. It also must show that she is misapplying Andre Gorz's nonreformist reforms strategy. It's an engaging and frustrating challenge for it's one of the first times that I'm directly grappling with long term political strategy.

I must work out the certainties soon, though. With three new classes, their attendant readings and preparation, and four thesis students, my time will be precious and limited. But I'm excited at the same time. But before I start teaching my university classes, I am going to read why Gorz says the university should be destroyed!