1.
This is Professor Zero, writing in memory of Paulo Freire. Here we keep our eyes on what is essential, and throw out the trash.
My name is derived from those of the Comandante Cero (Nicaragua) and Delegado Cero (Selva Lacandona).
My age is zero, because I was just born. Zero is a Mayan number.
Professor Zero thinks from the ground up, and stays close to the bone.
2.
I have said a little more about myself in Why I Am ‘Mexican’, and about my writing persona in Professor Zero and Me. Writing Is Like Walking discusses the emergence of the Professor Zero site in greater detail.
3.
The header image here is from a picture I took in the market at Chichicastenango, Guatemala, in late 2002. The smoke is from incense, being used in a pre-Christian ceremony inside the church. The mist is evening dew.
My true portrait is detail from the Casa de la Muerte in Copán, Honduras. I took this photograph in February, 2003.
4.
The Delegado Cero is also known as the Subcomandante Marcos. The term Comandante Cero is not designed to refer to a specific person. There is more information on these matters in Sergio Ramírez’ memoir Adiós muchachos.
5.
The Subcomandante Marcos, as you know, is a masked character, and refuses to have a fixed identity. I am that kind of narrator.
6.
There is a character in this site known as Da Whiteman, and a class of people (not necessarily white, straight, or male) known as whitemen. These are authorities and managers, but also condescending and conformist speakers.
7.
G raphics in this site of Emiliano Zapata and the UFW flag are by the Unapologetic Mexican, and are used by permission.
Axé.
Thanks for linking to my blog, I like the idea of dedicating a blog to the memory of Paulo Freire. I had the pleasure of listening to him speak in London some years ago at the Institute of Education – something I will always remember.
I had the pleasure of teaching Freire in some introductory courses in composition at UC Irvine. One of the best things I was able to do with him, was have students design a school and courses along the lines of his thought.
I’m looking forward to reading more of your writing!
Professor,
I wasn’t sure where/how to contact you re: the picture link you have in your sidebare for the UFW. I searched their site and cannot find the code. Would you be willing to share it with me for my page?
It’s from the Unapologetic Mexican, who also did my banner. Used by permission, but I’ll bet that if you ask, he may give permission to you, too. A tribe of blogs could appear, with the UFW logo by Nezua.
–Z
Thank you!
Hello, ProfCero:
I just posted something that might be of interest to you. It would be fantastic to have your contribution, if you have any insights or inspiration.
http://intimationsofubiquity.blogspot.com/2007/03/language-did-i-just-say-that-out-loud.html
Regards,
Matt Elmore
FYI my e-mail is profacero@gmail.com, it’s listed in TALK but, I suppose, should also be listed here.
Matt, I looked at your post and yes, I am sure there is a term for what you are talking about and that it is an old Latin term, but I do not know what it is. I tried to say this on your blog, but Blogger was blinking and would not let me post a comment!
What a wonderful writer and blog I have just found here! Looking forward to reading more – glad you came by and left a note at my place.
-T
Gracias, Theriomorph! A professional writer says my writing is good … hmmm … maybe I really should break out of the academic mold.
Of course you should post it. It’s very funny.
I followed a google on Sonia Johnson to this site, What serendipity–i really enjoyed the music, movies and art links. I studied the work of Paulo Freire in the 1980′s while studying communications at USP in Sao Paulo and am happy to see that he continues to be admired today. Who is interested in him this day and age in our tragically, horribly flawed EEUU, and what practical implementation is happening? Probably none…at least he still exists in grad schools…
Hi Meia Oito and welcome! I was also at USP for a while in the 1980′s, I wonder if our paths crossed.
Freire existed in my teaching statement for tenure, and I have more undergraduates than graduate students – many more. I should find a way to actually *teach him* – there’s an idea, actually, I’m not sure in what course it will be allowed (of those I have), but I’ll work on it.
I try to actually use Freirean techniques to some extent but most students nowadays want much more traditional, much more authoritarian teaching and *do not* want to be engaged (they want to pass tests, or engage in very structured “hands-on” activities … but the low level kind, more what you’d use in a school than what you’d use in a university). Sigh… but ah, well.
P.S. Meia Oito – now I see what you’re suggesting I should actually add here – this post!
http://profacero.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/should-i/
Glad you enjoyed. I tried it out, actually, and realized it doesn’t fit quite right with the discourse here or in the sidebar. I think it’s quite funny too and I need to find a place to put it where it can be referred to generally – not buried in a post. I’ll work on that!
I was googling for the lyrics to “Voi che sapete” and yours was the first site that popped up. First, thank you for looking up and writing down the text of that beautiful aria, and secondly, compliments on your very interesting blog. I have read several of your newer posts and share your concern about the future of countries like Peru. Thank you for sharing your experiences and thoughts!
hi,
thanks for linking, just noticed the “incoming link” in the dashboard
Professor Zero, hola–
I need your permission to read your posts on
“Professor Zero and Me” and “Why I am a Mexican.”
May I read them, por favor.
Thanks,
Natasha
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Hi Merisi and Colono and Natasha! Natasha, I’ve unlocked the old Professor Zero blog, so everyone can see those posts now.
Merci, I feel like you’ve given me keys to the attic of your old house. Merci, merci!
Servida – y bienvenue!
P.S. if you send me an e-mail address I can make you a designated reader, i.e. one that can read it even if I lock it. (I might do it again for various reasons including copyright … which I’m more concerned about than I was now that you’ve given me the idea of publishing it as a novel.)
I am now adding an honorary author to this blog, C. A. Vallejo. I am not exactly sure yet what an honorary author is, but I am working on it. We may involve ourselves with some additional avant-garde authors.
P.S. By “author,” you realize, one means author, not narrator. And note that I the scribe am neither author nor narrator, I am a mere interpreter and performer of an ancient text. So the author lies very far removed. We have several honorary authors, and various major intertexts of which the most important is the Popol Vuh.
P.P.S. The subtitle of the blog is “writing in memory of Paulo Freire” but the lemma is probably “liberating ourselves from authoritarian blackmail.”
I see from my dashboard that you’ve linked to me, Professor. I’d say thankyou, but when I follow the link, WordPress insists the post does not exist. If this is just a permissions issue I’d be intrigued to see what you had to say, as other things that you say are fascinating to read.
Hi, TenthMedieval! Yes, it wasn’t in a post, it was a link to my blogroll, which I then removed to my other blog at http://sptc.wordpress.com!
I have changed my name to 13 Tochtli, the name of my stela, although I have some doubts about this. The Professor Zero name fits the narrative construction of the blog, with which I still identify — I just identify less with the name as it is in English. I am not sure what to do and I welcome reactions.
OK I like this. The Professor Zero concept stays but the blog title is Xiuhtecuhtli, who reigns over the trecena in which I was born: http://www.azteccalendar.com/trecena/Tochtli.html
I think my day sign would be 1 Tochtli, so that’s me.
This blog will be layered like an archaeological site or a temple, so there.
It has come out that this blog foments and supports thought crime. I should add this to one of the official descriptions of it.
Today I changed my name to Miclantecuhtli, after having been Z-Xiuhtecuhtli for about a year (13-Tochtli did not last long). And WordPress is not letting me post comments, because I changed my name (apparently), so I am having to post from Twitter. So odd.
And today, I give up. Jarrett figured out who I was, I revealed to the Spanish Professor on purpose, I had revealed inadvertently to Servetus some time ago, and now I have made the same mistake I made on Servetus’ blog multiple times on Mayhew’s. This blog and sptc, and z blackground which is supposed to be a repository of posts from two earlier sites on blogspot, which were not to be associated with one another, either, are not planned as part of my work identity … this one is self psychoanalysis and sptc is there to coax me into work I find problematic by treating it as play.
So humor me, y’all, I am not I, but Z as far as these sites are concerned. But if you must know or do know, and you want to check out some course blogs, these are two I need to share with that Spanish Professor in any case:
http://cinemanovo.wordpress.com [a current course, actual course blog]
http://spanish203.wordpress.com [a repository of notes on teaching ideas for two intermediate courses]