Didn't Feel Well Yesterday

I had a wonderful long Memorial Day weekend, but yesterday was a strange day at work.

Mostly, I was upset at the news of the UCLA shooting, which starting breaking around 10:30am. My office hours were busy, and then the campus fire alarm went off and faculty, staff, and students had to exit the buildings for about 20 minutes or so until the all clear was given. News trickled in, and by the time I went to teach my first class reports indicated that the shooting was a murder-suicide.

My classes were fine --- I have one section of American government and one section of international relations on Mondays and Wednesdays. (I felt a little out of it in my IR class, though, since my usual preparation was thrown off by the strange morning. Sometimes it takes a little more to get back in the swing of things, in any case. Oh well, I'll hit it out of the park during Monday's class.)

Plus, Milo Yiannopoulos ended up cancelling the talk he was going to give on campus, as he was apparently personally affected by the shooting and didn't think it was appropriate to hold a debate. (Trolls were blaming him for the shooting on Twitter, unsurprisingly.)

Gustavo Arellano, the editor of the O.C. Weekly, who was scheduled to debate Milo, did speak solo it turns out, talking about corruption in Orange County. He's an interesting guy, not the least his public profanity. He gave a shout out to this feature piece at the magazine, "Who Wants to Free a Southern California Serial Killer? Orange County DA Tony Rackauckas." I don't care for local politics that much, so it was educational for me.

(I also had a nasty bout of acid reflux late yesterday afternoon, which didn't come under control until later in the evening. So there's that.)

I'll have more blogging tonight, and then over the weekend. Next week's finals week and then I'm out for the summer. I'm looking forward to some time off from teaching.

And thanks to everyone who's been shopping at my Amazon links. As noted, I've been plowing the proceeds back into my own reading habit, so thanks again.

Have a great day.