It Finally Happened

This New Year's Eve blog post has been pre-empted by more family fun. I promise, I'll do a meme of some sort shortly.

I have a t-shirt that friends always ask me about. Not necessarily because they like it, but because I've lived in some fairly conservative places, and they worry that people will react badly to it.

The shirt which looks a bit like the one to the left has, until today, never drawn comment.

Not from my father, a career military man. Not from any of the Armed Forces folks in the town I grew up in. Not in any of the conservative places I've lived. I've worn it concerts, to art galleries, to dinner and drinks. Its been seen in the park and on front porches and on long pointless walks all over the place.

So you can imagine my surprise when my uncle walked into the house this morning, took one look, screwed up his face, and said, "That's an interesting shirt."

"Yes, it is," I replied, noncommittally. I knew it wouldn't go well but damned if I'd be the one to start it.

"Is that the philosophy of your school?" he asked.

Now, I couldn't help it, and I started laughing. "You'd have to go a long way to find a university that adopted Soviet era socialism as its philosophy. Or did you mean Soviet Russia as the school's philosophy? Because that doesn't make any sense. Anyway, my school is Catholic, and there aren't a lot of socialist or communist or Marxist Catholic institutions in U.S. if anywhere"

"I just don't see why you'd wear THAT shirt," he said, clearly offended by my laughter and unconvinced that there weren't hundreds of universities out there teaching the tenets of Marxism in hopes of overthrowing this glorious American way of life.

And what else could I say? Where would I begin?

I Dot Da Vlu

I'm home sick today.

This is, of course, a rotten way to spend a vacation. But if you've got to be sick, being around family isn't a bad place to be. The entire time I've been home, my mother has been in cooking mode: like so many mothers out there, food is equated to love. And so she cooks, even when she knows all of us guests aren't planning on being around. My father, shrunken by 70 years, is still puttering around the place.

What I love about them - and what the crazy uncle and I are struggling to find - is some degree of peace over differences of opinion. My parents have long accepted that I think about the world differently than them - not so much that they don't try to put me in the molds they always envisioned for me, but enough that they don't throw tantrums when I refuse to fit them. And most days they don't mind talking out those differences even if neither of us likely to change our minds. That's pretty impressive, really, and I often take that for granted.

Anyway, I've been thinking about doing some of the memes I've seen floating around or revisiting some end-of-year meme that I did previously. We'll see whether I actually get the energy up for that or not. For now, I'm going to go eat some more toast and drink some more tea. If I don't say so before, Happy New Year.

Job Tracking - Week 16

Okay, I know I said in last week's post that there wasn't going to be a posting this week, but there was a lot of activity before I left town. So this is another pre-recorded post with the latest details added in.

More rejections. But, more importantly, two on-campus interviews scheduled. One of them required me to purchase the ticket out, a rough request around the holidays, but fortunately I stumbled into a good deal. So now I've got a few things to do over the break aside from write a conference paper, put together my syllabi and cope with the family. But it'd be poor form to complain at this point.

Here are the numbers for this week:

Total # of academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified: 23/25
Total # of non-academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified 0/0
COST OF THE SEARCH
Total spent in U.S. dollars on applications: $192.90
Average cost in U.S. dollars per applications: $14.95
Total spent in U.S. dollars on travel, etc: $150.99
Total amount in U.S. dollars reimbursed: $0
WHERE THE CALL CAME FROM:
The Chronicle of Higher Ed: 9
HigherEdJobs.com: 0
Other online service (listserv, etc): 14
Friend/Colleague: 2
Personal Research: 1
THE JOB IS IN THE DETAILS
Total number of paper submissions: 19
Total number of e-submissions: 4
Total weight in pounds of application packets: 22.13
Total number of recommendation letters requested: 48
Total number of requests for references: 5
Total number of "proof of teaching excellence" packs : 9
Total number of requests for Teaching Philosophy :11
Total number of research packs: 13
Total number of transcripts requested: 3
WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING
Total number of acknowledgments of receipt: 20
Total number of confirmed reference contacts: 0
Total number of phone interviews: 2
Total number of conference interviews: 0
Total number of on-campus interviews: 2
Total number of offers: 0
Total number of rejection letters: 6
Total number of canceled or unhired positions: 1

And that said, I don't expect another update on jobs until a week or two after the New Year. Hope you're all surviving the holidays!

How Was It Again?

Ah, family.

Having been home for two days, I recall now, so clearly, why I only ever invite one of them at a time to visit me. This should be a rule, really, as while I love them dearly, the only thing that keeps us from being a Greek tragedy is monotheism and a distaste for olives.

Before I left for home, I went out with some friends, and they asked a seemingly inevitable and harmless question: are you excited for your trip home? In that moment, I found myself doing what my father does when asked about something uncomfortable. I attempted to re-do whatever I was doing just before the question was asked, only this time slowly and mentally counting off to myself all the details of it.

At least I assume that's what it is my father is doing.

"Yes and no," I finally said. How do you adequately express your love for family - a true social norm - and your distress at the potential of a long-time visit without seeming bitter or mean or spiteful? Maybe it can be done, but it's tough to do over brunch. The very act of going to brunch, I think, is an attempt to put some sheen of civality on that doesn't allow for - or at least doesn't want to recognize - this sort of sentiment. My family, as you may surmise, are not brunchers.

The trip this time is different than usual, and so my apprehension also differs. My crazy Republican uncle is in town, and this adds an entirely different level of madness to the house here. There is a weird dynamic between my mother and uncle. I've spent the last two days trying to come up with an appropriate metaphor for it, but so far nothing quite sticks:

• They are like East Coast and West Coast gangsta rappers at an awards ceremony. We are the uncomfortable person giving an award in the midst of their meeting on stage. At any moment, homages to "Scarface" will be given; glocks will be drawn, held at absurd Tarantino angles; threats will be issued. It will either end with someone dead and a martyr for subculture or with an awkward acceptance speech.
• It is like dinner with rival snarky reality-TV judges, except minus the British accents and glossy veneer of metrosexuality to make them more palatable. Each must have the last say. Each spends the evening looking for offense. No one appreciates the pie.

None of these things seems to work, really. Already, barely 48 hours in, most of the family is incapable of speaking directly to each other, and instead must relay messages in an obscene version of Chinese Telephone.

"Tell your uncle I don't feel like going to walk around downtown."

"Let mom know Jessica won't be by to pick up the baby until tomorrow."

"Tell my sister that I've had more interesting pie in math class."

Okay, only I would've made that last statement, but only because I find pi references hysterical when they allow me to escape from my job as familial interventionist. Honestly, I just needed twenty minutes to check out of having to translate and wash away the acid-tongue sensibilities of all these messages.

What is most frustrating to it all is that I'd come up with a quick way out of this for everyone two hours in: an excuse for my uncle to go home early (because he clearly doesn't want to be here), an excuse for my parents to let him without appearing to be bad hosts (because they clearly don't want him here), and an excuse for me to not have to translate for the last hours of their visit. But familial politeness demanded - and ordinarily, I would think this was a Southern trait but the folks in question are both definitely of Yankee persuasion - that any such excuse or use of logic be dismissed.

"Oh, no," my mother said, as I presented the option, "then who knows when we'd get to spend some quality time together?"

I knew I hate the phrase "quality time." Now I know why. When else indeed?

Happy Holidays

While I wait with baited breath to see what the weather's like for flying tomorrow, I thought I'd take a moment to wish anyone still reading the happiest of holidays. If nothing else, grading should be over for just about everyone.

1:17 AM

I am suddenly over-committed for the end of January. Naturally, I must procrastinate.

I have nothing particularly interesting to tell. I have not made a great use of the break; I'm struggling through "The Monsters of Templeton," hoping to finish it before I head home to visit the family on Christmas day. The annual spate of bad holiday TV has been on, and so I can't even claim to have watched much of that.

I have spent the week taking small drives - long ones lead to things like me screaming in my car and flipping grandmothers the finger (honestly, I'd feel bad about it if they were even close to being good drivers around here). I have committed to eating every cookie I am given, and this is fortunate as two of my neighbors seem to have entered a cookie-making war. I have made great strides at organizing the vault that is my room. It now looks less like a bunker after a bombing. Still, the break seems wasted so far.

There is a paper to be put together, a faculty research presentation to be drummed up, and syllabi that need to come together.

Words are failing me. I've been trying to write a letter - now there's a second to be written - and they refuse to come together, to echo even a little what I'm trying to say. How many new ways to say "thinking of you" can there be before they sound hollow and forced?

My dog is sleeping in the chair, and I feel guilty that I have to put him in the kennel while I head home. My flight is on Christmas day - anyone lingering around the Detroit airport: I'll be the bored one with the Mac and the attitude. I'll likely be starving. Cookies will, in defiance of my cookie-war attempts at appeasement, be more than welcome. My parents are stressing because my crazy Republican uncle is coming to visit over the holidays. Fights can be expected at hour four. This year they decided they didn't want to do gifts, which helps me a little but doesn't make the holidays feel any better, really. For oh so many reasons, I'm less excited about heading home than I feel like I should be.

The wind outside is picking up. The apartment is a galleon in a storm, creaking as it sails along. But it does sail. Any moment now the phone will ring. The message it brings - even before the voice on the other end speaks - will be that joy will find you, whether you believe it or not, whether you are hidden or snowed under or in the midst of loss or whatever. Any moment now, the song will come on the radio that makes you sing a different tune.

The time will come.

The Tyrany of Snow

I'm a Southwestern boy. Or a kid of the South Plains. I prefer Summer. Then Spring, then Fall, in that order. I'd leave the fourth option blank if I could.

I don't like the winter.

I do not understand the snow or the hold it has over people. I've only rarely truly wished for a White Christmas. I've had occasion to live in it, ample experience driving in it. I've camped in it and made forts in it. I've had snow ball fights and caught snow flakes on my tongue. And at the end of it all, I still don't understand the love of snow.

---

It occurs to me that perhaps my problem with snow is really tied to questions of photography.

But later, learning photography, trying to get anything to work in the crisp white was a nightmare. On film, snow either burns too brightly, reflecting all manner of light and making everything else that much hard to capture or it washes everything out. There is a lot of compensation that has to go with taking pictures amid the white stuff.

That unpredictability frustrates me to this day, and now it extends well beyond trouble with photography. Snow disrupts driving and parking and playing with my dog and lots of things.

But I do think it really started with that question of how to deal with snow in pictures.

---

Okay, okay. I'm not trying to say there's nothing good about snow.

Certainly when I was a kid, I liked snow. Even growing up in Texas, I did wish for it on occasion: just a dusting in my home town could shut things down for days. There was a magic to snow that certainly appeals to kids. Every time there was the rumor of snow, I was sure this time would be the big one: weeks out of school, snowmen at every house. Of course, I also believed I'd one day own a car that could turn into a robot. By and large though, most of us have learned to leave those childish snow dreams behind. Sure, we still hope for a snow day, but aside from that, snow is more nuisance than blessing.

Don't believe me? Come shovel out my car the next time I'm stuck in a drift.

Yeah, that's what I thought.

If you're one of the snow fascists - those folks who can't hear anyone say anything negative about it - this is as close an acknowledgment as you'll get from me that you're not completely touched in the head. Enjoy your hollow, snow covered victory.

---

Sitting in the car, waiting for the heat to catch up and for the blood and warmth to return to my hands, I wondered why I would have done this. The list of "should haves" and excuses grew out of control, like a bean stalk in a fairy tale

• should have worn gloves ("But I can't photograph in gloves.")
• should have brought the 35 mm ("But cold weather is hard on the gears.")
• should have brought someone with me ("But there's no one here.")
• should have called someone ("But what to say?")
• should have called more often ("But who has the time?)
• should have... ("But...")
  
• should have... ("But...")
  
• should have... ("But...")
  

Shouldn't snow, shouldn't winter stop these things from sprawling so?

---

It feels like people have been extolling the virtues of snow to me for years. It's so beautiful, they say. I think they've missed it. Snow isn't beautiful. Things you can see through the snow are.

There's a difference.

Cover everything in snow, and everything becomes the same white-washed idea. Cover it all in snow and there's no distinction, no nuance: only a blanket of indistinction making the world over in the same bland image. Snow covers us. Snow forces us in. We wait snow out and when it leaves, resume our lives. Imagine snow as a metaphor for anything oppressive, and you're starting to get the picture.

It isn't snow that's beautiful. It is what peeks through that is. Even the most ordinary object, refusing that yoke - that sameness - becomes something more and finds its beauty.

The beauty is in resistance: this is the lesson of snow.

Job Tracking - Week 15

A quiet week here, not surprisingly. One more rejection, one more acknowledgment. This will also be the last job tracking post til after the New Year, as I'll be away and won't be able to track anything sent by mail (or much by phone). I don't imagine most schools will be contacting anyone though.

More significantly, one of the positions I had in the queue I was getting set to apply for announced earlier this week that the position was canceled due to budget problems. So it's finally happened for me.

Here, as always, are the links to last week's numbers. And here are the numbers for this week.

Total # of academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified: 22/25
Total # of non-academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified 0/0
COST OF THE SEARCH
Total spent in U.S. dollars on applications: $191.90
Average cost in U.S. dollars per applications: $8.72
Total spent in U.S. dollars on travel, etc: $0
Total amount in U.S. dollars reimbursed: $0
WHERE THE CALL CAME FROM:
The Chronicle of Higher Ed: 9
HigherEdJobs.com: 0
Other online service (listserv, etc): 14
Friend/Colleague: 2
Personal Research: 1
THE JOB IS IN THE DETAILS
Total number of paper submissions: 19
Total number of e-submissions: 3
Total weight in pounds of application packets: 22.13
Total number of recommendation letters requested: 45
Total number of requests for references: 5
Total number of "proof of teaching excellence" packs : 9
Total number of requests for Teaching Philosophy :10
Total number of research packs: 13
Total number of transcripts requested: 2
WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING
Total number of acknowledgments of receipt: 18
Total number of confirmed reference contacts: 0
Total number of phone interviews: 2
Total number of conference interviews: 0
Total number of on-campus interviews: 0
Total number of offers: 0
Total number of rejection letters: 4
Total number of canceled or unhired positions: 1

I'll likely blog a bit between now and the return of job tracking posts, but just in case I forget, happy holidays to all of you.

Rolls Down Hill...

Some days I wonder why my students write so badly, why they rely on such strange and shoddy logic. And then, every now and then, I see little things that suggest some possible excuse.

We're having a weather moment here today. I imagine lots of places are. For me, it isn't much of an ordeal since my grading is done, and I'm down to my own errands which can be completed in my own time. I'd intended to head up today, but I can read as well here, particularly since the roommate is gone. And since the weather's bad enough, there's no sense in being out. So imagine my joy when I saw this in my inbox:

Anticipating an improvement in current weather conditions, all university offices will close today (Friday, Dec. 19) at 1:30 p.m.

Yes, that's right. The weather is getting better, so we'll close things down. Is it any wonder my students struggle with making an argument?

Keeping It In Perspective

So my grades are in, just under the deadline. I managed to write meaningful comments for 43 separate research projects, plus grading for my other two classes. I came home, cracked a beer, started my attempt at red beans and rice, and generally prepared to celebrate just a little.

And then, three hours and 13 minutes after my grades were turned in, the first grade complaint arrived.

Ahhh, higher education: thank you for keeping my head in the right place.

Job Tracking - Week 14

I'm envious of all of you who are done with your finals and your grading. Oh so envious. Envious enough that I want to call you a choice word or two. But I won't. I'm fairly certain that earlier this term I knew grading would come back to bite me when I bit off an overload and kept assignments as they were set up before that overload. I've been fairly smart here at the end, having come up with a pretty well-defined rubric for the final project that will make commenting easier - and on this assignment I've got to because it leads into Senior Projects.

But I'm still envious.

Job-wise, things have been quiet. No new interviews set up, and one more rejection. We're at the part of the job process that is the worst for me - the part where there is possibility but not so much that it is safe to invest too much into thinking about things. I've largely handled things differently this year. Both phone interviews were with places that I know some folks, but this year I've decided no one outside of the blog and one or two friends will know anything about the interview process. This is because:

1. I hate explaining to people over and over again things like how I don't know when I'll hear, and I don't know if I'll move there, etc.
2. The more you talk about something, the more you invest in it, and I don't want to go through the wave of depression that follows the unsuccessful job search for me.

But that doesn't actually mean I don't invest. Both phone interviews went great, and I liked both schools and the faculty I talked with. But I REALLY liked one of the schools and the faculty. So much so that I've been trying to figure out the academic equivalent of having my best friend pass the department a note at lunch asking them to check yes or no whether they like me or not. If they say yes, I'll go to the dance but be too embarrassed to actually say anything to them until the last dance. If they say no, I'll go goth - so goth, film studies faculty would shun me if we ever crossed paths.

I hate the waiting.

This is the part that I need help with in the job process. I'm okay with the rejections now; there's a point where you numb to it because you've learned the numbers are largely against you. It's the near-misses that are fatal to me. And there's a lot of road left for those near-misses to happen all over again. These were just phone interviews, after all, so even if I make this cut, there's one more that has to happen.

One good thing that has come out of this process is an idea for a possible course that I proposed with one of the schools that will also work for an upcoming conference and for a recent call for papers I saw from a journal. It'd be nice to come out of this with a little evidence of research since I feel like I get so little done. In any case, enough of my angst (for this week anyway). There's grading yet to do. For anyone still making the comparisons, here's the link to last week's numbers. And here's, then, are this week's grand totals.

Total # of academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified: 22/25
Total # of non-academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified 0/0
COST OF THE SEARCH
Total spent in U.S. dollars on applications: $191.90
Average cost in U.S. dollars per applications: $8.72
Total spent in U.S. dollars on travel, etc: $0
Total amount in U.S. dollars reimbursed: $0
WHERE THE CALL CAME FROM:
The Chronicle of Higher Ed: 9
HigherEdJobs.com: 0
Other online service (listserv, etc): 14
Friend/Colleague: 2
Personal Research: 1
THE JOB IS IN THE DETAILS
Total number of paper submissions: 19
Total number of e-submissions: 3
Total weight in pounds of application packets: 22.13
Total number of recommendation letters requested: 45
Total number of requests for references: 5
Total number of "proof of teaching excellence" packs : 9
Total number of requests for Teaching Philosophy :10
Total number of research packs: 13
Total number of transcripts requested: 2
WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING
Total number of acknowledgments of receipt: 17
Total number of confirmed reference contacts: 0
Total number of phone interviews: 2
Total number of conference interviews: 0
Total number of on-campus interviews: 0
Total number of offers: 0
Total number of rejection letters: 3
Total number of canceled or unhired positions: 0

Interestingly, I still have no word of any canceled positions, but I expect - as is the case at my current school - that some of those decisions are being held off until after the New Year and actual budgets are come out.

If you're still grading, stay strong. If you're done, be quiet about it. Seriously.

Exam Interlude

Is it bad that I wanted to offer as a bonus question an over/under bet for my students about what time the late person would appear for the final exam? As a side bet, we could have tried to determine whether they would have brought a writing utensil or not.

I think it would've worked, though you could only do it once before someone tried to fix the bet. And, of course, there's the dubious nature of it...

How Much I Hate Writing Finals 2008

Because it was so cathartic last year:

75) The following citation represents what type of source:
Yupe, P & Aisle, P. (2008). Juvenile Humor Never Gets Old. New York: Pun & Bros.

A) magazine
B) book
C) film
D) personal communication

Wondering...

Do you think people who get upset about seeing signs that say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" also get upset when hotel signs say "Welcome!" rather than something like "Welcome, Interstate Managers!"?

"Hello? Is It Me You're Looking For?" - Thoughts on Phone Interviews

I've been promising hither and yon to talk about phone interviews, as I've had a few this year (and a few last year, and a lot of them way back when). I thought I'd even blogged previously about them, but perhaps not as the closest I could come up with was this.

Talking about phone interviews is tricky, for me at least. Whenever I complete one, anyone I've been foolish enough to tell immediately asks "Oooooh, how did you do?" The truth is, if I don't spontaneously combust and no one on the other end seems to, I don't know how you know how you did. One of the biggest problems of the phone interview is that you lose all manner of cues from people and are left with tone of voice and how long the silence is to determine what the outcome is. Worse, you're being interviewed in a situation with some arbitrary number of people all of whom you feel the need to focus on while they all only have to pay attention to you.

It is also difficult to tell how you did in this type of interview because the group dynamic itself is something you can't predict. I used to feel like any interview I had that didn't feel conversational was a failure. If I spent a half hour with folks on the phone, and we didn't end up talking like old friends, I felt like the interview was a failure. To my surprise, though, I got call backs from those sorts of interviews as well. The simple fact of the matter is that some groups - and some individuals - simply communicate in ways we can't predict, and so finding ways to beat ourselves up for imagined failings is the wrong path to go down.

One thing I've learned the hard way to do with phone interviews is to stop worrying about how I did and to start focusing on how they did. One of the unspoken truths of the phone interview is that it is is as much about them as it is about you. If you approach it that way, the whole game is changed.

Obviously, there are some things to do and some things to expect in a phone interview that will make life easier. The first thing is that you can make the format work for you: if you don't feel comfortable in your dress clothes, you don't have to wear them. If you don't like your office, you can ask to be called somewhere else. That's crucial, actually: you should make sure that the time and place of the interview work for you. It's okay to assert yourself, and it's okay to ask questions. On my first phone interviews, I was nervous about asking people to repeat themselves, but when I first conducted a phone interview, I realized just how bad the reception often is. Asking for clarification is never a bad idea.

You can't mistake those comforts for preparation, of course, You know that there are questions that are likely to be asked, and there's no substitute for having done some research in the beginning. Some questions you should expect include:

• Why are you interested in working here?
• What courses can you teach for us?
  
• Where is your research headed?
  
• What are your strengths as a teacher/researcher?
• What are your weaknesses?
  

And there are ways to research those things that will help strengthen your interview position. Look at the course catalog and be able to reference particular courses. Have a research statement ready to go. Look at faculty profiles and look for places where there is commonality. Have a story about a good moment in the classroom ready to go. Have a story about a rough moment that you survived planned out, too. If you have developed a syllabus for those courses, have it nearby in case they want specifics about things like assignments or books. If you haven't, be prepared to talk about what you would emphasize. Having thought about those things will take care of most of the discussion on their own. And when they're out of the way, odds are that it will be your turn.

When I helped conduct a phone interview, the worst thing that happened was for us to reach the point where the chair asked "Do you have any questions for us?" and the person being interviewed said no. It came across as lack of interest and maybe even lack of preparation. And worse, it gives up the most useful part of the phone interview for you: your (first) chance to get a sense of whether the job will work for you.

There are two broad types of questions I like to ask on interviews: questions that focus on specifics about employment and questions that focus on the fit of the department. I like to start with the specifics and end with the questions about fit.

Some questions about specifics that you might ask about:

• what is the teaching load
• what are the tenure expectations
• what research and travel support is available
• is the position definitely funded or is there a chance it might be pulled (this is my first question this year, and if there's a chance it might be pulled, my next question is what the chair's sense of the chances of that are: the longer the pause before their answer, the worse the odds)
• what are the students like (if you can't find demographics before the interview, this is a good time to ask about them)
• what are the facilities like if you have any specific requirements

Reminiscing about job interviews at a conference a few years ago, a much more experienced colleague told a story about how the university they were teaching at stopped funding office supplies. If you've reason to be concerned about that - either you're coming from someplace where that happened or you've reason to think it could happen where you're interviewing (maybe the state's budget is problematic, maybe the school is very small) - write out a tactful way to ask it and put it in this section.

Once that's done, it's time to start thinking about how to assess whether you fit in with the department. Here's where you ask some of the same types of questions you've likely been asked:

• what are the strengths of the department
• what are the weaknesses
• where is the department going in the next five years
• what sorts of programs are in place to help new faculty? housing? student loans?

Odds are, the committee is going to answer the same way you did - generally and trying to make negatives into positives. But part of what you want to do in these moments is to listen to how they try. Do they interact with each other? Are there long, awkward pauses? Are they using phrasings from an opposed point of view? Do they respond to the things you say or seem to ignore them?

With that in mind, your last question should always be about what the process is for hiring this position from the moment the phone hangs up - when (roughly) do they expect to notify people of the outcome? What will happen next? Asking those questions will help save quite a bit of anxiety for yourself in the long-run (after all, the job market creates plenty without you finding ways to help it).

Obviously, there are other questions you can ask - and you should think about things specific to your discipline or the position - but coming in with those things in place makes the chances of an interview going successfully - meaning no one spontaneously combusts - much more likely.

Job Tracking - Week 13

Let's see....the week's been quiet, at least for the week before finals. There isn't a lot of movement in terms of applications since last week. But a second phone interview, which is good. I'm plotting a post shortly about phone interviews - hopefully I'll have that out sometime tomorrow afternoon.

The bigger news is that I just got some movement on the book manuscript; both of my editors have acknowledged they are well into the thick of it and that they like what they've seen so far. They didn't say a lot, honestly, but I appreciated that they checked in and let me know how things are going and gave me a time frame for when I'd hear from them next. In a week where I've had to (sadly) resurrect my knowledge of customer service from days in the corporate world to try and explain to administration that something they need to consider when they talk about transparency is actually letting the thing being made transparent look in on an actual process.

So, on the off chance my editors (or any editors) are reading this blog: thanks for keeping in touch. It's appreciated, as it's made tackling my first book a little less daunting.

Here's this week's numbers.

Total # of academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified: 20/25
Total # of non-academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified 0/0
COST OF THE SEARCH
Total spent in U.S. dollars on applications: $169.97
Average cost in U.S. dollars per applications: $8.50
Total spent in U.S. dollars on travel, etc: $0
Total amount in U.S. dollars reimbursed: $0
WHERE THE CALL CAME FROM:
The Chronicle of Higher Ed: 9
HigherEdJobs.com: 0
Other online service (listserv, etc): 14
Friend/Colleague: 2
Personal Research: 1
THE JOB IS IN THE DETAILS
Total number of paper submissions: 17
Total number of e-submissions: 3
Total weight in pounds of application packets: 20.96
Total number of recommendation letters requested: 39
Total number of requests for references: 5
Total number of "proof of teaching excellence" packs : 8
Total number of requests for Teaching Philosophy :8
Total number of research packs: 12
Total number of transcripts requested: 2
WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING
Total number of acknowledgments of receipt: 17
Total number of confirmed reference contacts: 0
Total number of phone interviews: 2
Total number of conference interviews: 0
Total number of on-campus interviews: 0
Total number of offers: 0
Total number of rejection letters: 2
Total number of canceled or unhired positions: 0

So that's things here. I'm sure I'll have more to say now that finals week has started to settle things down.

A Musical Response to Proposition 8

So, while I'm working on a post about phone interviews, here's a little filler post about Proposition 8. It's pretty funny, though I'm disheartened to hear that even tolerance gets reduced to economic incentives.

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Out of the Mouths of Babes...

So, we've been doing a lot of things post-racist event on campus. So far, the most useful has been a series of events that have unfolded as conversations among students. The faculty have tended to start these out, raising points and asking questions, but the majority of the discussion has been between them. And it's been fascinating to hear what they have to say to each other and about how the university does work and how it should.

Culled from those moments and from student responses to the various events. Here, briefly, are the things they've suggested would greatly improve the campus environment and their interactions with faculty on race:

• "Don't lecture us. Have a conversation with us."
• "Look me in the eye when you talk to me. No matter what, don't flinch from us when you're talking, especially when it's about something like race."
• "Don't start with a stereotypical assumption about us when you want to talk about how problematic they are."
  
• "Don't make me the example of anything. I don't speak for my race or my gender or the place I come from."
• "Find ways to help us meet other students. If you really believe interacting with other cultures matters, make it a priority and don't be heavy handed."
• "We don't expect you to be perfect so don't try to be. Let us know you're making an effort and let us know when you don't know the answer."
• "Realize that diversity is relative. We don't come from where you come from. What seems like too little to you can seem like a lot to us."
  

I've got my own thoughts on these, but I thought I'd put them out there more or less in the form the students gave them to me because I think they provide some good food for thought. What was interesting to me was how pragmatic some of them were able to be about this. I spent 20 minutes talking with a student a few nights ago who tried - successfully - to impress on me how easy it would be to mix up the class just a little bit so that people had to step outside of their comfort zones.

"Better Be Home Soon" - Still Another Damn Music Meme

Yes, dear readers, it's time for another damn music meme. There are a million reasons why, but I'll just a list a few:

• Because a teaching overload is most truly felt at the end of the term
• Because there is an administrative need to make the term feel extra-productive by cramming in extra meetings into the final days
• Because the weather is working its foul magic on me, making me sleepy and sniffly and easily distracted

And so, here are the rules:

Put your iTunes or MP3 player on shuffle

1. For each question, press the next button to get your answer
2. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
3. Tag 10 friends who might enjoy doing the game as well as the person you got the note from.

So, as per the usual, I'm not tagging anyone, and though this is a nonsense meme, when it works, it really works. I"ll let you be the judges though.

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
"Begin the Begin" - R.E.M.

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
"Graveyard" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
"That Old Black Magic" - Keely Smith & Louis Prima

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
"Roadrunner" - Joan Jett

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
"What Would Wolves Do? " Les Savvy Fav

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
"Smokestack Lightning" - Howlin' Wolf

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
"My Poor Bran" - the Foo Fighters

WHAT IS 2+2?
"Not About Love" - Fiona Apple

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
"Science Fiction Double Feature" - Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
"Sweet Jane" - Cowboy Junkies

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
"God Damn Job" - the Replacements

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
"About a Girl" - Nirvana

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
"Second to None" - Phoenix

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
"Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold" - Robert Earl Keen Jr.

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
"Land of 1,000 Dances" - Wilson Pickett

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
"Televisor" - Morningwood

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
"Love Removal Machine" - The Cult

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
"Oceans" - Pearl Jam

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
"Horse to Water" - R.E.M.

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
"Darts of Pleasure" - Franz Ferdinand

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
"Porchlight" - Neko Case

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
"Sex Mad Roar" - The Clash

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
"Crazy Love" - Van Morrison and Ray Charles

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
"Only the Good Die Young" - Billy Joel

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
"Wichita Skyline" - Shawn Colvin

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
"Straight, No Chaser" - Miles Davis

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
"Sky Blue Sky" - Wilco

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
"Better Be Home Soon" - Crowded House

Job Tracking - Week 12

Okay, well, I don't have any new job information to report really. I got another rejection, though it wasn't entirely surprising. It is probably premature to think about there being a pattern to the rejections, but so far both of them came from Research I schools. I think my time at an SLAC has pushed me past my research expiration date. It's frustrating, not because I necessarily want to be at an R1 but because I wanted to be at a school where I could do more research than I can here on a 4/4 load.

But having spent the holidays with a number of academics at bigger schools, I can tell you that I don't feel completely bad about it because of the stories I heard them telling. Every single one of them was at a name R1 - though they weren't all at the same one - and every one of them was in a department much bigger than mine. But every one of them was swimming in departmental and university politics in a way I don't have to. I do like that I don't have to spend my time jockeying for position here; I suppose the sacrifice is that I don't necessarily get to teach to my strengths or push ahead with research. It was interesting, in those conversations, to see how many people were in similar situations to myself - financially strapped, not quite so thrilled with their jobs or locations, and frustrated at how little option is available in the market. Want to watch a group of academics' ears perk up? Say, as the wine is being poured, that you're going to look for jobs outside of academia after the New Year.

And of course some of this week was spent dealing with the phone interview - making sure I knew a bit about the department and what they're about. The school doesn't seem a great fit academically, but it's a tremendous fit in terms of my personal life. So I'm trying to decide how I'll juggle that if things move to the next level.

In any case, here's last week's post, to help with this week's numbers.

Total # of academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified: 19/25
Total # of non-academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified 0/0
COST OF THE SEARCH
Total spent in U.S. dollars on applications: $169.97
Average cost in U.S. dollars per applications: $8.95
Total spent in U.S. dollars on travel, etc: $0
Total amount in U.S. dollars reimbursed: $0
WHERE THE CALL CAME FROM:
The Chronicle of Higher Ed: 9
HigherEdJobs.com: 0
Other online service (listserv, etc): 14
Friend/Colleague: 2
Personal Research: 1
THE JOB IS IN THE DETAILS
Total number of paper submissions: 17
Total number of e-submissions: 2
Total weight in pounds of application packets: 20.96
Total number of recommendation letters requested: 39
Total number of requests for references: 5
Total number of "proof of teaching excellence" packs : 8
Total number of requests for Teaching Philosophy :7
Total number of research packs: 12
Total number of transcripts requested: 2
WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING
Total number of acknowledgments of receipt: 15
Total number of confirmed reference contacts: 0
Total number of phone interviews: 1
Total number of conference interviews: 0
Total number of on-campus interviews: 0
Total number of offers: 0
Total number of rejection letters: 2
Total number of canceled or unhired positions: 0

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. More soon.

More Filler...

"Hi. Curmudgeon here, and I'm still away. And so, another pre-recorded message.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it is a staple of our culture to begin stuffing Christmas down your throats...ugh...stuffing.

Anyway, if you haven't been hearing Christmas mayhem since Halloween, here's the best Christmas thing I"ve seen so far. I can't decide if I like the line "don't let mankind bogart love" more than the line about asking Jesus for his stash back.

Willie Nelson rules.

I promise I'll be back soon. In the meantime, enjoy."

Thanksgiving

"Hi again. Another pre-recorded blog post to tide you over while I'm away.

Today, in case you missed it, is Thanksgiving here in the states. And though I'm away from home, my dog in the kennel, and I'm no doubt lethargic on someone else's couch having had my fill of the the things that matter on Thanksgiving: mashed potatoes, stuffing, and pumpkin pie.

And so, I'll leave you with a quick list of things I was thankful for two nights ago. Assuming nothing drastic changes, it's safe to say I'll still be thankful for them even as I'm very likely currently suffering from my own inability to turn down nearly anything that can have gravy or whip cream put on it.

I'm thankful for:

• late night phone calls
• the release of "Chinese Democracy" which I haven't heard and probably won't buy but because it provides a useful metaphor for something which seemed unlikely but eventually turned up anyway. It's Guns'n'Roses answer to that one friend we all have who never arrives until 2 minutes before the party's over
• visiting friends and friends visiting
• any chance to sleep late
• all things that haven't gone wrong that could've
• all the the things that might yet go better

Make your own lists and call your own friends and family. Happy Thanksgiving."

This Is a Recording...

"Hi. This is Dr. Curmudgeon. I'm not here right now, but I didn't want you to be lonely while I was away, and so I have created this 'pre-recorded' blog post to cover for me while I'm away.

I saw this over at Academic Cog's who saw it over at New Kid's. And since I'm a sucker for personality tests and the like, I thought I'd run The Doctor Isn't through the Typealyzer to see what the blog's personality is.

You should know that my own Myers-Briggs test varies - usually between ENTP and INTP, but there are others - so this might not be so far off.

In any case, I will be back shortly to fulfill all my usual blogging duties. Later!"

ISTP - The Mechanics

The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.

The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.

A Pre-emptive Thanksgiving Well-Wishing

Somehow I hit my 300th post and didn't realize it. This is 301. Go, me!

Anyway, I'm off for Thanksgiving, and I don't imagine I'll be blogging till I've returned (though one never knows). And so, dear readers, I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving wherever you are.

And if you're still reading and need something to do, feel free to click this link and learn to the draw the turkey that's gracing this post. Now you've got one more marketable skill to put on your resumes and CVs.

Don't laugh.

The economy's taking a downturn, and you need every marketable skill you can get. Seriously. There are probably a lot of jobs out there for folks who can draw a turkey. Someone's got to paint political portraits, after all.

So, once more, Happy Thanksgiving!

Cravings

Spending the holidays away from home year after year hasn't gotten so much easier. One year at a graduate school Thanksgiving celebration, I showed up with tamales - a staple around any holiday back home no matter who you are. Everyone stared and wondered, and at the end of the evening, I had nearly two dozen tamales to take home for myself.

For whatever reason, I've been craving mole, which frankly is a recipe that's more involved than I care to deal with. Growing up, my friend Greg's mother would make mole maybe once a year - usually around Christmas. Rare treats are often the best. In grad school, my friend John made it for us once - he was a chef, an under appreciated genius in kitchen who could tell the nastiest stories over a meal and make you love it. Chefs, he said, told the worst stories, the sickest jokes nightly to make the evenings pass. I thought perhaps he was exaggerating until I read Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London, and saw that even back in the early 1900s that tendency was there.

One of the things I like about Thanksgiving is that it is like the best moments of grad school: it's people around each other because they really like each other. Grad school Thanksgivings are the best because everyone chips in what they can - mostly in terms of alcohol - and a good time is had by all. That's how Thanksgiving has always been though. When I was growing up, on the holidays, I'd spend time with my family and then would wander down the street to my best friend's place. We'd spend the day, like all teenage boys, eating our weight and glaring at the world, secretly in love with our own surliness and a world that let us be.

It was when I was a teenager that I discovered one of the truths of my life: that I like a certain amount of suffering with my pleasure, a little spice with my sweetness, some surliness in a world that'll feed me and nod knowingly. Those are the things I'm craving right now.

But like I said, making mole is more than I can deal with.So the closest I've managed to get is brownies with green chilies. What can I say? Something about the combination of sweet and spice just does it right now. And I'll be heading out to see some grad school friends in a few days - not all of 'em, sadly, but it's a start. Maybe I'll take 'em some tamales and chili brownies and see if I can't capture the full experience.

Job Tracking - Week 11

The real problem with teaching five courses instead of four has presented itself. Maybe it wouldn't always be this way, but the way my overload has worked is that two of my normal four courses are heavily stacked in terms of student workload - and hence, my grading load - at the end of the term. And it is an additional section of one of these courses that I picked up this term. Effectively, I'm in the midst of directing 44 different independent research projects. During a normal term, that number is at 30. The difference is overwhelming at the moment, and nearly everything has been lost in the shuffle to keep 44 separate student-conducted trains on the track.

I am pooped.

And so there hasn't been much done on the job front this week. But the big news is a phone interview. The school is on the edge of one of my dream locations, and I've got some interesting ties in the area, so I'm hoping that will give me some edge later on. At some point in the not-too-distant future, I'll write a little bit about phone interviews. But if there are any other interview-related topics that people are thinking about, let me know in the comments and perhaps I'll tackle one of them.

And with that, here's the week's numbers (and, of course, you can compare with last week's post by clicking here):

Total # of academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified: 19/25
Total # of non-academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified 0/0
COST OF THE SEARCH
Total spent in U.S. dollars on applications: $169.97
Average cost in U.S. dollars per applications: $8.95
Total spent in U.S. dollars on travel, etc: $0
Total amount in U.S. dollars reimbursed: $0
WHERE THE CALL CAME FROM:
The Chronicle of Higher Ed: 9
HigherEdJobs.com: 0
Other online service (listserv, etc): 14
Friend/Colleague: 2
Personal Research: 1
THE JOB IS IN THE DETAILS
Total number of paper submissions: 17
Total number of e-submissions: 2
Total weight in pounds of application packets: 20.96
Total number of recommendation letters requested: 39
Total number of requests for references: 5
Total number of "proof of teaching excellence" packs : 8
Total number of requests for Teaching Philosophy :7
Total number of research packs: 12
Total number of transcripts requested: 2
WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING
Total number of acknowledgments of receipt: 15
Total number of confirmed reference contacts: 0
Total number of phone interviews: 1
Total number of conference interviews: 0
Total number of on-campus interviews: 0
Total number of offers: 0
Total number of rejection letters: 1
Total number of canceled or unhired positions: 0

I'm guessing you're all also swamped at the end of the term, so here's hoping you're getting through it okay. More soon.

Grappling with Post-Election Racism

One of the lurking undertones of the past several days has been the flurry - yes, a flurry - of racist activities that have played out on my campus and what to do about them. As I mentioned previously, there was at least one incident of racist graffiti here. I'd thought us fortunate that we'd avoided some of the more high profile problems that have happened at Lehigh. But there's certainly plenty of evidence to suggest that the problem is pretty wide.

As I mentioned in the most recent Job Tracking posting, the university's response has been a big focus of mine over the last week or so. And it has been a positive experience - maybe the most positive experience - of my dealings with the university. Let me explain, and maybe offer some food for thought about what I'm learning about dealing with this as we go (and, of course, I'd love to hear what others are doing).

Following the scrawling of the graffiti, I found myself more frustrated than ever about things here. And a few colleagues and I began to talk about that frustration. Thankfully, one of my colleagues wasn't content to wallow and began rattling chains of the powers that be. Very quickly, those powers responded. More quickly, in fact, than I've seen them respond to anything here ever before. A group of concerned faculty convened, many of whom had expressed similar concerns and all of whom had ideas about things that could be done and frustration that the university hadn't done enough (it's response was essentially to have the graffiti quickly removed and to send an e-mail condemning the act and promising an investigation to the university).

Let me pause here because the group demographics are interesting. This isn't meant as an indictment, but I did find the demographics interesting: the entire group consisted of untenured faculty and all from the Liberal Arts side of things. Make of it what you will.

Part of why this excited me is that it's the first time I feel like there's some sense of community among the faculty here - even if it is just the young faculty. But it was also the response of the administration which felt like a first to me: they admitted that they were caught flat-footed, that they weren't sure how to best deal with it, and that they'd not done a good job of integrating the faculty and student life responses to the problem. And then, the ideas were heard and the group of young faculty were given a blank check (at least from a policy standpoint).

Some of the ideas we're proposing:

• a signed statement from concerned faculty, making a stronger statement and discussing our ideas and asking for input
• a retreat with student leaders - particularly from varying political viewpoints
  
• workshops for RA's and other student life leaders
• a day where faculty would be asked, in unison, to take some time from class to tell a personal story related to these divisive tensions
• asking for some of those stories - and from any interested students - to be put in a series of campus media outlets to help personalize the consequences
• a similar set of mediated statements about why the election of an African American matters to a similar variety of people
• a rally in honor of MLK and the inauguration
  
• a series of brown bags and discussions over the next few months to continue this discussion

What I like about the range of ideas, in particular, is that it suggests the university realizes this is not a one-time problem and that one event isn't going to come close to dealing with it. And I like that it seeks ways to bring students into the discussion rather than relying on lecturing to them or the hopes that they'll all magically turn up at some amorphous campus event. I like that it invokes a sense of unity - among faculty, where it's lacking; among students; and among the campus as a whole.

Where I'm concerned, however, is that I and other colleagues have continued to talk with students while these things are taking shape, and we're hearing a number of student concerns. First, students are upset because events are still happening - these actions are more pervasive than any of us thought. But the other student concerns about what's been done are telling, and I think should be factored in anywhere that is dealing with this sort of problem. What students have told us so far boils down to the following:

• sending an e-mail was seen as a weak response, particularly as few students check the campus e-mail accounts. One student noted that there's an entire system in place for the discussion of parking problems and inclement weather, but the best we could muster was an e-mail for this
• little discussion of what an investigation entails or what the consequences could be has been problematic
• that discussion has been something quotes, at best. While these events have been talked about in class, most students feel like they've been talked to rather than with. They don't feel like they've been given a voice, and many of them are frustrated that they don't know how they should deal with problems like this on their own.
  
• timeliness is a factor. One frustration that they've expressed is that when it has been addressed, it has been days or even a week after, and that disappoints them
• there's a fear that the same racist fears might be shared by faculty. As one student put it, "I had a faculty member talk about 'you people' to me. And you expect me to take the university's commitment to stopping racist behavior?"
  

Hearing these things has been a lot of unpleasant food for thought for me. In the next meeting I'm attending, I'm going to push even more for some speedy interim actions to be taken, particularly actions that give students an entry into the discussion. We've forgotten, I think, that this generation of helicopter-parented kids.

They want input and direction. They're used to participation. Of course, they're going to require a different mechanism for dealing with crisis.

And so it is up to us to plan accordingly.

Job Tracking - Week 10

Bigger fish are being fried this week than jobs. There's been a lot of discussion about the racial tensions flying around here. But there are some ideas that I feel good about the things that are being discussed (there'll be a post coming about this shortly, I think). That's taken up most of my free time, and fortunately, there's not been any pressing deadlines for applications.

But the bright side is that there have been some new job openings that I've found, so my goal to have 25 applications out is still a possibility.

Here's last week's totals. And the numbers for this week are as follows:

Total # of academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified: 17/25
Total # of non-academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified 0/0
COST OF THE SEARCH
Total spent in U.S. dollars on applications: $148.37
Average cost in U.S. dollars per applications: $8.73
Total spent in U.S. dollars on travel, etc: $0
Total amount in U.S. dollars reimbursed: $0
WHERE THE CALL CAME FROM:
The Chronicle of Higher Ed: 9
HigherEdJobs.com: 0
Other online service (listserv, etc): 14
Friend/Colleague: 2
Personal Research: 1
THE JOB IS IN THE DETAILS
Total number of paper submissions: 15
Total number of e-submissions: 2
Total weight in pounds of application packets: 19.69
Total number of recommendation letters requested: 33
Total number of requests for references: 5
Total number of "proof of teaching excellence" packs : 8
Total number of requests for Teaching Philosophy :7
Total number of research packs: 11
Total number of transcripts requested: 2
WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING
Total number of acknowledgments of receipt: 15
Total number of confirmed reference contacts: 0
Total number of phone interviews: 0
Total number of conference interviews: 0
Total number of on-campus interviews: 0
Total number of offers: 0
Total number of rejection letters: 1
Total number of canceled or unhired positions: 0

More soon!

Nevermind the Wine, Bring on the Cheese

Sure, there's a lot of serious things happening in academia, and I'm on the job market, and my students are freaking out.

But - particularly as I'm about to head to yet another Friday afternoon administrative meeting - I don't want to spend a moment talking about any of those things. And also, I note that the level of commenting has dropped off on my blog and on many others, and this bothers me a little because, really, who wants to just shout out into the void?

Clearly, for both of these reasons, something pointless and fun is required.

So I'm thinking lots about mix-tapes and CDs lately and, in a conversation the other night, was trying to get to what the cheesiest 1980s's pop I-like-you song would actually be. Be prepared to support your answers. I won't give my pick(s) since I'm (often) obtuse in these things and so it once took an entire mix tape of songs for me to clue in to just how much someone liked me.

I Can't Decide...

...exactly how many ways this headline indicates a story that is not and never should be news:
Anne Hathaway's ex-boyfriend not enjoying prison
God help me, internets, why am I forced to see this stuff?

Watching "Body of War"

I'm halfway through "Body of War" on the Sundance Channel, and it's a heart breaker, worth the time to watch it. If you don't get Sundance, and you can't find a copy, you can purchase it online (if you purchase it from Pearl Jam.com, and 25 percent of the DVD sale will go to Tom Young, the injured vet who is the focus of the film).

I've got to say that the care with which this is handled is amazing. There's sensitivity and there's even some humor that comes through from those involved. What's most impressive - and distressing - is how elegantly and succinctly group-think worked in regards to the Iraq war. One of the amazing things about the documentary process is the moment where editing shows you just how pervasive the rhetoric was: the President, then senators, then us, repeating the same phrases as though saying them enough, loud enough could make them true.

There's an image that was just shown of a widow keeping watch over the body of her husband the night before his funeral, and it brought tears to my eyes. It's followed by the voice over of the President joking at a press dinner about not being able to find weapons of mass destruction. And then the realization that those who made the call were insulated from its effects.

It's distressing to see just how many times the question "What will it cost?" is asked, and how often the full range of what a war might cost - the costs beyond dollars and cents - was never even part of the discussion.

I won't tell you much more about it, but I do strongly encourage you to give it a viewing.

While My Tea Gently Steeps

I knew it was going to be a rough day when, even after coming in from running the pup this morning and taking a long, hot shower, my voice couldn't come above my "I'm very angry but must not give any indication by raising my voice" level. How could anyone expect me to function over the course of the day when I couldn't even sing along to "Fat Bottom Girls" in the car on the way to campus?

My throat seems to be the place that all sickness starts with me. Usually, once a term around the time the weather changes for good, it acts up. But today was beyond the usual level. What's strange about it is that usually getting sick makes me feel like I'm moving slow, but everything I've done today and everywhere I've been has felt like I'm trying to move at warp speed in a crowded area populated by clones of my arthritic grandfather. Maybe that's just the nature of the area I live in. Scrawled on the back of a postcard that never got sent, I found this failed haiku a few nights ago that seems to some up some of my experiences while out and about:

sour faced grandmothers
shrunken, radiate in slow
nods, their disapproval

That's how the day feels (okay, really, that's how the last few years have felt).

And so I wasn't surprised when I came home to find I was going to have to, yet again, go at Verizon. But to do it without a voice? Even my mug of hot tea wasn't enough to cut through all of it. Verizon's made an enemy of me. Having signed up for a bundling package with them, they've manged to mess up and demand overpayment on my bill each of the first three months I've been with them. Worse, the company's customer service sets new lows every time I'm forced to call them. And I'm forced to call them almost weekly now, trying to get the credit for the over-payments applied properly. It's funny because customer service is one of the places I'm least "Curmudgeon," having worked for years in similar industries and so, recognizing that it usually isn't a person at the other end of the line who deserves the ire and that patience usually wins the day. But this is honestly trying me, and I'm ready to swear off ever working with Verizon. And I'd certainly recommend to anyone else considering them to never work with them.

The day wasn't all bad, of course. I found some new positions to apply for, which is pretty exciting. And most of my students are set for the next term. I've dealt with the study abroad folks and the students who are failing out of my graduation-gateway course.

The term is winding down and winter has arrived. There are trips on the horizon - to see friends at Thanksgiving and family at Christmas. Those are the things I'm trying to focus on. Even if I can't belt out Queen first thing in the morning.

Ways to Induce Job Panic: A List

The following is a list - though only a beginning - of ways to give one's self job panic. I write this as a cautionary tale to others on the market. Do these things at your peril.

1. Post a list of jobs you've applied for where you can see it easily anytime you look up from work
2. Speak with a colleague who doesn't like their job but has failed or refuses to try to get out
3. Find information on the job on a Wiki
4. Fail to information on the job on a Wiki
5. Create a Google Earth map of places you have applied. Consider the desirability of these places in relation to your publication record
6. Show a friend any aid in your job search (the Google map, the list of jobs etc). Allow them to speak
7. Tell a family member or a friend you have applied to a job near them
8. Tell a colleague you're applying then attend a meeting where you offer some part of a vision for the future of the place you are trying to leave
9. Tell one colleague but not another
10. Review your applications after they have been sent

I'm certain I'll be adding to this list. No doubt you all know of some things I'm missing.

Job Tracking - Week 9

You know, searching for jobs always seems like a theoretical exercise until one of two things happens: you get the first contact for an interview or you get the first rejection.

This week, the job search got it's first injection of reality: the first rejection.

You can approach the job rejection a few ways. My first inclination is always to try and figure out why. But this is a virtual impossibility, particularly when you're receiving an early-process rejection. I tend to break rejection letters into two categories: early-process and late-process. Early-process rejection letters are the ones that come while the search is still being conducted - they let you know you didn't make the cut. Late-process, come further along - usually after someone's been hired.

Early-process rejections almost never tell you anything useful, and you'll drive yourself crazy trying to figure anything out. Because they give so little information and because the process itself is likely not completed, there's no easy way to make sense of it. At least late-process rejections give you the chance to figure out (eventually) who got the job, and sometimes that helps and sometimes it doesn't. All this letter gave me was a polite acknowledgment - and only just, because the attempt to avoid giving information or reason for complaint leads to a bureaucratic simulacra of politeness that looks like the real thing but that never quite satisfies -
and an idea of how many applications there were (more than 150).

It's a competitive market, folks. And so all I can do is get back on the horse and wait to see what's happening with the other applications that are out there. It helps that I've received a few of these letters before, and that this school was applied to largely because it was a Name School and in a place that, rumor has it, I'd probably have enjoyed.

I also dropped a position from consideration this week. I decided that I'll keep the number listed in the total identified, but that I won't be applying. There are a few reasons why, all of which came from deeper research into the department and the school. A few recent articles - the last six months - in The Chronicle have made it apparent that the school is in the throes of some things I'd rather not have to deal with. And a look at the department made it clear that their view of the topics they're asking for someone to teach are mapped on to the field don't mesh with where I see it.

And so, onward! Here's last week's stats. And here's the numbers for this week:

Total # of academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified: 17/20
Total # of non-academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified 0/0
COST OF THE SEARCH
Total spent in U.S. dollars on applications: $148.37
Average cost in U.S. dollars per applications: $8.73
Total spent in U.S. dollars on travel, etc: $0
Total amount in U.S. dollars reimbursed: $0
WHERE THE CALL CAME FROM:
The Chronicle of Higher Ed: 3
HigherEdJobs.com: 0
Other online service (listserv, etc): 14
Friend/Colleague: 2
Personal Research: 1
THE JOB IS IN THE DETAILS
Total number of paper submissions: 15
Total number of e-submissions: 2
Total weight in pounds of application packets: 19.69
Total number of recommendation letters requested: 33
Total number of requests for references: 5
Total number of "proof of teaching excellence" packs : 8
Total number of requests for Teaching Philosophy :7
Total number of research packs: 11
Total number of transcripts requested: 2
WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING
Total number of acknowledgments of receipt: 14
Total number of confirmed reference contacts: 0
Total number of phone interviews: 0
Total number of conference interviews: 0
Total number of on-campus interviews: 0
Total number of offers: 0
Total number of rejection letters: 1
Total number of canceled or unhired positions: 0

No new applications out this week, either, though I do hope to get the last two out shortly. It's one of the crunch times of our term, so I'm feeling okay about it. Besides, two applications are quick to do now.

Until next week...