So I am now over it. Over the current bout of nostalgia for places and activities and lives I missed. Over my rage at having succumbed to the pressure to renounce these things. I still say that what I do not like about professors is that they are not aware of any other interesting jobs–they … More 2014
…that I am really angry about being pushed to things by people who know nothing of what they are discussing and of me. They think that academic jobs are nice, that all other jobs are wicked, and that I have no skills. Yet it is very important to them that I have an academic job. … More And so you can see
One of the things about academic jobs is that you need to be a good caretaking type. I am not interested in this and would not go into it professionally but I can see that people who are interested in geriatric care, care of disabled children, and so on, are people better suited to most … More Now I see
3/- It’s gorgeous here, and Dame Eleanor should come back. I have discerned that “take a job, any job” means, to some, “you may have to take jobs in places as horrible as Madison or Ann Arbor.” I have also discovered that the people who think there are only academic jobs, simply have no information. … More Postscript and note to Dame Eleanor Hull, updated
I have developed this principle before but I do not always apply it, as I am careless now and because solidarity and also familiarity with the contingent faculty makes me too egalitarian. But you should not listen very much to other assistant professors or to instructors and adjuncts. They are the ones who most wish … More Serious advice to new faculty
I am in so much pain, I don’t know what to do. I just dropped a family heirloom by mistake and broke it, which adds to the tragedy and is also why I am still concerned about whether or not I am safe to drive to Houston. I cannot allow people, in this university but … More I am suffering, and I want to stop
“I love this club because it never meets or does anything. I can list it on my resumé, but it does not take any of my time.” That is how faculty treat committee work, as well, and how philanthropists treat board work, I suppose. We are in fact training the students early and well. #OccupyHE. … More More from the students
I need to go but I am sitting through the last of my Spanish 201 related pain so that when I start driving, I will at least not be so distracted that I inadvertently crash the car. While I wait for that, I might as well discuss the issue at hand. I have been saying … More This is what it is like to be a professor, why I do not particularly respect most professors, and why I do not think academia is “the best profession in the world”.
1/- I am truly terrified of what the experience may be as we move once again toward uniformization of those lower division courses, if this is done superficially, as it surely will be. The last time, we signed in blood, so to speak, saying we would obey. Years later I found out by chance that … More Also
“I was in this course to fulfill a requirement. The course was clearly designed for students who wanted to learn the material, and there were students in it who did want to learn the material, or who were willing to do so. It was taught as though everyone were expected to learn the material. This … More One last thing: a student evaluation.
