Sunday, August 3, 2025

The Truth Banishes Fear!

From Student to Professor and Back Again, By Farooq Kperogi

The New Diplomat
Writer

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The Hidden Signals in Oil Markets

Asia’s oil demand is growing faster than major agencies forecast, led by India and Southeast Asia’s emerging economies. China is rapidly restructuring its supplier base, favoring Brazil while cutting ties with U.S. energy. Kazakhstan’s refining expansion and chronic overproduction raise major questions about its future in OPEC+. I’ve been following the oil market closely this…

Oil Falls Below $70 as Sentiment Sours

A poor U.S. jobs report led to a broader sell-off on Friday, with leading stock indices falling from record highs. Friday, August 1st, 2025 Buoyed by Trump’s Russia threats and news of Indian state refiners curbing purchases of Russian crude, crude oil futures have been trending above $70 per barrel throughout the week, settling on…

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When I first began teaching here in the United States several years ago, I was frequently mistaken for a student. Initially, it gave me some pause.

Yet, by the time I reached my 40s, the mix-ups ceased, and I found myself worrying instead that I now looked conspicuously older—too seasoned to be mistaken for a student.

Yesterday, however, at a university symposium on the U.S. presidential election and its implications for the African diaspora, where I was a speaker, a staff member (in American academia, “staff” refers to non-teaching employees, while “faculty” denotes academic staff) mistook me for a student and directed me to the student sign-in register!

(She was mortified and apologetic when she realized that I was not only a professor but one of the three featured speakers at the symposium).

Rather than taking offense, however, I felt oddly flattered. After all, when a sartorially conservative, gradually greying, 51-year-old-year-old professor is mistaken for a 20-something-year-old undergrad, there’s a certain charm in it.

I’ve gone from being unnerved in my 30s at being seen as a student, to fretting over the visible passage of time, to feeling gratified by a mistake I once resented. Human beings, aren’t we complex, curious creatures?

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