but everything we write is either: too liberal, too insurrectionary, or too vague. Until anarchists stop being jerks to one another, no amount of writing will mean anything at all.

— anon (obv) commenting on Open Letter To Occupy Chicago

I’m practicing what I try to teach: we can criticize, deconstruct, and point to contradictions and multiplicity until the sun goes down but can we reconstruct a reality in which we can all live and breathe more freely?
We risk being torn down, criticized and dismissed. All that I’ve done aplenty. It’s a practice you learn to be a scholar. You do it to your own writing and your ideas, too. I’ve started taking more care where I was once careless. Love and generosity are what I’ve gained as a writer that I never learned as an academic. For me, this is truth. For you, maybe not.

— Notes on teaching historical research and writing [via]