from _The Labyrinth of Solitude_

We withdraw into ourselves, we deepen and aggravate our awareness of everything that separates or isolates or differentiates us. And we increase our solitude by refusing to seek out our compatriots, perhaps because we fear we will see ourselves in them, perhaps because of a painful, defensive unwillingness to share our intimate feelings."

--Octavio Paz

In the Fall 2006 CPFA News Sandra Baringer relates this description of "a certain subset" of Paz' Mexican countrymen to contingent--part-time--faculty.