what success feels like

I've been teaching Foucault's Discipline & Punish. Today a student walked into class and said to me, "After reading this, I feel like I've been living a lie."

I think I broke his head. Mission accomplished, and we haven't even hit the panopticon yet. I feel pretty great about it, particularly since I've been struggling to explain Foucault's attempt to demonstrate the historicity of 'the individual' as a category.

I told this story to a couple of friends who are advanced graduate students in my department. Every single one of them cheered when I got to the end of the story.

I just think it's funny that my friends and colleagues are congratulating me for breaking this poor kid's head. What a strange little collectivity we are.