An indication of what I have to put up with on a daily basis. And don’t think that the Brussels attack made the material “relevant” to anyone. Brussels? What’s “Brussels”? Anything to do with brussels sprouts? (Well,  yes, as it turns out.)

It reminds me of the time we were studying Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow one semester in the same course. I stood in front of 35 blank faces, dragging them through the material. Finally, seventy-five minutes later, another frustrating class had come to its doleful end. The class filed out in relief, except for one irritated student, who walked up to me with an odd look on her face. Finally, the dam broke, and she burst out with: “Professor, what the fuck is ‘Jim Crow’? And why does this lady not like white people?” I’m happy to report that I was able to answer one of those questions to her satisfaction.