Let me guess, Sleeve: you're a twenty-something white guy who is the smartest person at your job but didn't have the patience for those phonies at college?

Meaning is where we make it, my friend, and there's much to be made in classrooms and texts and dialogue and presentations and libraries and campuses, etc. Millions have found it in those places, but I completely agree it's not for everyone, and some have really bad experiences. One person's encounter with a disciplinary tradition is another person's brainwashing.

One thing that most Humanities professors I know hope to cultivate in their students is a greater depth of empathy and of different perspectives and experiences. I don't want my students reading Flannery O'Connor, for example, and seeing nothing but her apparent racism. Similarly, I hope in the future you learn to read other experiences, especially expressions of loss, without contempt or condemnation.

I would probably say the same to you in person if you were in my classroom. Probably not if you were insensitive to me, but certainly if you directed it to a peer. If this is who you are IRL, my friend, you can be better than this.

Thanks for reading and responding, Sleeve, and all the best to you.