On the question of how college professors get alienated from their work I do have one really simple answer, they do not have a safe space in which to do it. I just got one, after not having had one since graduate school except for a period of about two years. During that safe period it took about a year to make sure it was safe, so I only got one year out of it. Afterwards, on visiting jobs and while traveling, I have experienced some safe moments but they were never enough to do more than finish panting and uncurl my bones. You have to have the impression that you can be who you are without being killed; if not, you will not be enough of who you are, publicly enough, to get enough done.
In any case, now that we have defined my psychological problems almost ad nauseam and now that I appear to have been granted a safe space, I would like to begin discussing my research problems as such.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 