Campus Characters: Vol. II

The Curmudgeonly Professor:

He’s a professor of Philosophy who’s been teaching here for as long as anyone can remember. Over the years a few (or a bit more than just a few) nuts has come loose, and the old prof can often be seen walking on campus in scruffy-looking attire, in deep conversations with imaginary beings. The sulk on his face expresses pure and utter contempt for…everything. Inside the classroom, disagreeing with him is treading in dangerous territory; you just do not want to go there. And forget humor,  of which he posses no sense of whatsoever, so any attempts at being funny on your part will immediately be interpreted as mockery and ridicule, and he will retaliate. Casual conversation outside the classroom is advised against, too. An innocent, friendly “Hi Prof!”can launch him into an unstoppable series of tirades on topics ranging from what is wrong with the university, to why he disagrees with Aristotle, to how his divorce proceedings are going.

The Feminazi:

She once almost bit a classmate’s arm off because he made the mistake of trying to help with adjusting the finicky classroom air conditioning system, which was surely a condescending act carrying connotations of postmodern male hegemony, and as such deserved punishment and scorn.

By the wayCampus characters Vol I  is here.

On flipping family members the bird

Yesterday, during yet another battle with the perpetually horrible Cairo traffic, I got a phone call from my cousin that goes something like this:

Cousin: Hey Hani what’s up!
Me: Nothing much. Just pulling my hair out in traffic.
Cousin: I know. You just passed me and gave me the finger.
Me: Was that YOU?!
Cousin: Yep.
Me: Next time don’t cut me off you bastard!
(actually, I apologized, but that’s what I should have said :) )

Et tu, Brute?