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PAGE 28 (Four panels)

Panel 1: DAPHNE BOSSELSEG (“Daphne”) sits in a coffeehouse, being interviewed. There is coffee on the table in front of her. Daphne is a dark-haired, dark-eyed, intense-looking youngish woman who wears a dark cable sweater and blue jeans.

Daphne (1): The bitter truth is, I’m facing a lifetime of asking “Do you want fries with that?”

Comment (1): “Do you want fries with that? Is a stock phrase in American English, the question asked by a fast-food counter worker. By extension, to have to ask the question means having a poorly-paid, unenjoyable, and low-status job. It can be translated either literally or with an equivalent phrase in the target language.

Translation (1): La triste verdad es que me espera toda una vida de trabajo mediocre.

SUBTITLE (2): Daphne Bosselseg, prospective subject.

Translation (2): Daphne Bosselseg, sujeto potencial de estudio.

Panel 2: Front panel of the first edition of Galileo’s Dialogue Concerning the Two World Systems, over which are layered the captions of Daphne speaking.

CAPTION – DAPHNE NARRATING (3): I wrote an award-winning Ph.D. dissertation in the history of science. “One of the best of your generation,” my advisors told me.

Translation (2): Escribí una tesis doctoral galardonada en historia de la ciencia. “Una de las mejores de tu generación”, me dijeron mis asesores.

CAPTION – DAPHNE NARRATING (4): But thanks to yahoo state legislators and asshole STEM billionaires, there’s no funding for humanistic research like that anymore.

Comment (3): “Yahoo” is an American colloquial expression for a crude, ill-educated, and unsophisticated person, usually one of rural or small-town origins. “STEM” is an acronym for “science, technology, engineering, and mathematics,” and in this context might refer to someone who got rich making technology, but who is ignorant and also likely contemptuous of humanistic learning.

Translation (3): Pero gracias a unos legisladores estatales brutos y a unos imbéciles multimillonarios en el campo de la ciencia, tecnología, ingeniería y matemáticas, ya no hay fondos para investigaciones humanistas como esa.

Panel 3: Daphne back in interview position. She looks glum and pensive.

Daphne (5): No one with money wants to fund knowledge anymore. They all want universities that do nothing but make a compliant corporate workforce.

Translation (5): La gente con dinero ya no quiere financiar el conocimiento. Todos quieren universidades que no hagan nada más que formar una fuerza laboral corporativa obediente.

Panel 4: Daphne being interviewed. She has brightened up, just a little.

Daphne (6): But now I have a chance at something.

Translation (6): Pero ahora tengo la oportunidad de hacer algo.

Daphne (7): If I can’t write part of the history of science, then perhaps I can be part of the history of science.

Translation (7): Si no puedo escribir una parte de la historia de la ciencia, entonces tal vez pueda ser parte de la historia de la ciencia.

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