Friday, February 15, 2008

Stuff...

-- First of all, I hardly know how to say this, but my condolences to the NIU campus community. There are a lot of people out there thinking of you.

-- More bad news, though fortunately not THAT bad, from the Beloved Alma Mater. I don't want to blog about it too specifically, for fear of becoming even less pseudonymous than I already am, but Alert Readers can probably figure it out. I will say that I'm disappointed and angry, though unfortunately not surprised, at Recent Developments, but proud of the response from the current crop of students. And I really need to e-mail some of my old professors...

-- One of my students from last semester talked me into participating in the staged reading of The Vagina Monologues that she was organizing. I was a little dubious at first, but it ended up being a really neat experience, and we had a totally packed house (by tiny-little-liberal-arts-college standards) and raised $100 or so for the women of New Orleans. Cool.

-- Another student dropped by my office this morning with her copy of The Merchant of Venice. "I haven't quite finished the reading for today, but I have what is probably a really stupid question ... is this a comedy?" Heh. Not a stupid question at all. I think we'll be talking about it for the next week. The Shakespeare class continues to be awesome and delightful. I can't believe they pay me for this. (Of course, both comp classes have just turned in their first set of papers, so by the end of this weekend I will know exactly why they pay me for this.)

-- Resounding silence on the job-search front. I had three campus visits, the last of them almost two weeks ago, and from what I know about the timelines of the various searches, I think it's now a safe bet that I'm not anybody's first choice -- including New SLAC's. And it is probably time to start applying again now that spring jobs are being posted, but ... I SO don't feel like it right now. Sigh.

7 comments:

Sisyphus said...

Ah, good luck with all the job stuff! Are you done with this thing after this year, or can it be renewed for another?

And I hear ya on the whole don't wanna do the job app process again ---ugh.

Fretful Porpentine said...

If they don't hire me for the tenure-track version (and right now it's looking like they won't), I'm done.

What Now? said...

Hmm, I wonder if perhaps we went to the same Beloved Alma Mater? Mine is going through reaction to a Decision that has students, alums, faculty, etc. in quite the tizzy. I've been emotionally affected by the Decision and the Reactions in a way that I hadn't really anticipated.

Fretful Porpentine said...

Indeed, I think we might have gone to the same school! Does yours have a statue of the founder that looks a little like Darth Vader?

heu mihi said...

I don't know what Decision you're referring to, but I *believe* that I had a friend who spent a year teaching at BAM, and reported some Issues in her dept. Which would not have been your dept. Anyway, no idea what you're talking about, really.

But I'm sorry about the job business. I have this vision, though, of all the jobs being linked to some single decision somewhere along the line--we're all waiting for one person to commit to one job, and then the whole chain reaction will follow.... I hope that something good shakes down for you soon, though! I'm sure it will in the end!

What Now? said...

We are indeed fellow alums! How fun. And how sad to think of what the school is going through at the moment.

Also, I got so caught up in Beloved Alma Mater business in my last comment that I neglected to say how sorry I am for the silence on the job front. I've been there, and I empathize heartily. It really, really sucks.

Fretful Porpentine said...

What Now -- Awesome! And I knew that statue had to have some sort of use beyond modeling silly hats (it took me a while to think up something that was both unmistakeble and unGoogleable).

Heu mihi -- Thanks. It would be nice if I'm next in line in the chain reaction, for sure...