Post illness ramblings

I’ve been home for a week, grappling with a particularly vicious and unrelenting case of the flu. I suppose this comes as a forceful reminder of how good it feels to simply not be sick. To be able to take a deep, cleansing breath and not hear the rattling of phlegm or succumb to another agonizing bout of coughing. Oh well, at least I have time to write again.

I have to admit it’s been a while. A long while. My last entry was over half a year ago, made in the aftermath of my latest entanglement with the inequities (iniquities?) of this administration. Many months have passed since then, and I’d like to think I’ve come to live a quieter sort of life. Or relatively quieter, to be more accurate — at least I’ve managed to avoid appearing in further televised inquests at Camp Crame…

Not that I haven’t been up to the odd bit of “subversive activity” — to borrow a term from my last tongue-in-cheek conversation with my former professor, Philip Alston. I have continued to participate in the usual legal engagements with the government and its officials (always on the other side, which of course, is invariably and inevitably the “right” side, just ask any of my clients). For the most part, however, I’ve come to devote more time to teaching and research, the bread and butter concerns of my academic persona.

I’m not sure how long this phase will last, of course. For one, I cannot honestly say that I have accepted — or perhaps more accurately, resigned myself to — living out my days as a cantankerous college professor, striving to spice up my writing and conversation with a bit of Left (though not too Left) politics, all the while working on building up a respectable paunch on faculty luncheons and seminar buffets. In addition, I do not know if I can actually live with myself if I sit out all the good fights I am sure will come. I’ve never been able to simply sit on the sidelines and cheer while others engaged in what I felt were worthy struggles. My one big vice, unfortunately, and my undoing in all likelihood.

Well, what will come, will come. In the meantime, I suppose I should focus on shaking off the last stubborn vestiges of the flu, and getting back to work and, hopefully this time, regular writing.