Photo credit: Paul Townsend Editor’s note: Go here to read parts I-III. By 1980 I had learned to cope with my PTSD and didn’t need the alcohol crutch anymore. I still had anger issues and did some pretty crazy things mostly because I didn’t fear death….
Jimmy Gabacho
151 Articles
Gabacho– according to the Dictionary of the Spanish Royal Academy– is derived from an old Provençal word “gavach,” meaning a person from the foothills of the Pyrenees who spoke incorrectly. These days, it means “outsider,” somebody who just doesn’t fit in.
Jimmy Gabacho
5 Min Read
I was busy over the holidays getting classes ready for the spring semester. I revised my notes, rewrote exams and prepared the syllabi. After I found out that the textbook cost 125 dollars, I tracked down each reading on the internet and created a virtual…
Jimmy Gabacho
6 Min Read
After this experience, I have to say that I am glad not to be on the market these days. When I was on the other side of the table, I wondered if the committee called candidates just to laugh at our desperation. I’ve since lost count of how many jobs I applied for, but I do recall the recurring question that often comes to me in dreams: “Why would you like to work at our university?” The obvious answer was “because I need a job!”
Jimmy Gabacho
4 Min Read
Photo credit: Jase Curtis He looked out at the parking lot of the mini mart where he’d been working since he came back to be with his sister and her children. He never liked Florida in the summer, but the rest of the year it…
Jimmy Gabacho
6 Min Read
Photo credit: Paul Townsend I It must have been 1969 when I heard the song “Hair” on the AM radio. The song begins when a woman asks a man why he is so hairy. It was the so-called Age of Aquarius, when tribes of hippies…
Jimmy Gabacho
9 Min Read
Kid, have you rehabilitated yourself? Arlo Guthrie, “Alice’s Restaurant” One of the jobs I have on campus is serving on the Disciplinary Committee. I think we call it Student Rights and Responsibility Committee, but we dish out punishments to deal with students that violate university…
Jimmy Gabacho
2 Min Read
[photo credit: Richard Rutter] Job Search Blues Things have been tough all over in the Humanities job market. Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that job seekers are getting any better at hunting for a place to work. In fact, some of them have gotten progressively…
Jimmy Gabacho
1 Min Read
The Job Description Me: Why the hell are we looking for someone who does this shit? This first thing that an applicant needs to remember is that the purpose of the job search is not to change what a department does. It is to make…
Jimmy Gabacho
2 Min Read
Soon after the announcement goes out, the applications begin to roll in. Ours requested a cover letter, curriculum vitae, writing sample, letters of recommendation, and university transcripts. The last of these is to verify that our hire actually has the credentials
Jimmy Gabacho
2 Min Read
William Zinsser once wrote, “Clutter is the disease of American writing. We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills and meaningless jargon.” The comment is especially true in the case of
Jimmy Gabacho
11 Min Read
Up to this point I haven’t written much of anything about the hotel where we were staying. Punta Mita sits at the tip of a peninsula north of Puerto Vallarta in Nayarit. This stretch of land is pretty isolated. The advantages are that the guests can avoid the tequila-addled tourists found in the larger cities and enjoy some peace and quiet. The disadvantage is …
Jimmy Gabacho
2 Min Read
Up to this point I haven’t much of anything about the hotel where we were staying. Punta Mita sits at the tip of a peninsula north of Puerto Vallarta in Nayarit. This stretch of land is pretty isolated. The advantages are that the guests can…
Jimmy Gabacho
3 Min Read
Rumors have been flying across the internet regarding the whereabouts of Jimmy Gabacho. He hasn’t posted anything since March and was last seen in a seedy airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, getting ready to catch the Cape Air flight 269 heading to the West…
Page 1 of 12
Next