Historiann

Wow, there sure are a lot of P.O.W.’s in my readership these days–Pissed Off Women, that is.  (I think I’m learning why right-wing talk radio is so popular:  conflict, conflict, conflict!  You P.O.W.’s are energized by conflict!)  Well, as a charter member of the P.O.W.’s, I thought as a public service I would provide you with a roundup of all of the links I’ve been getting over the past few days from bloggers who are sisters in outrage (just in case you haven’t seen them, check out “Ummm, you e-mailed *me* for advice, remember?“ and, ”Faculty women are just toys for your pleasure and/or scorn,” in case you missed them.)  So, before we slip into our turkey-induced and wine-and-pie exacerbated Thanksgiving comas, let’s mainline some rage and consider the many things we’re not so thankful for in this academic lifetime:

• Dr. Crazy at Reassigned Time is probably the queen of the P.O.W.’s right now–go read.  It’s rantalicious!  Here’s a free sample:  “I no longer fret so much when a student finds me rude, for example. I’m not sure that’s actually a good thing: I think it just gives me license to actually be rude to students. But even though the frequency has lessened, it’s not like I no longer face these things. And learning to deal with them has been an extra part of learning this job, one I wasn’t trained to learn and one that has taken time that might better have been spent elsewhere.”  Yes–like reading and writing books, for example?  Just one of those things that takes us longer to do because of the inequitable demands placed on women faculty.  Yes, my darlings:  Embrace the rude.  Be the rude!  Live the rude.
• Ann Bartow from Feminist Law Profs chimes in to inform us that because she’s got mad skillz with actual value in the marketplace, she gets requests for assistance from random strangers weekly, not just occasionally like us science and humanities types.  Says Ann, “[a] couple of times each week I get calls and e-mails and in person visits from people asking for free legal advice or representation, and when I refuse to provide same, a tirade. Most are random strangers, but others are part of the University committee. Many angrily claim that they were given my name by someone who promised I would help them- isn’t “public service” my job? And of course it is, at least partly, but I get to choose the kind of public service I want to do, and helping nasty jerks with legal problems isn’t too high up on the list.”  You don’t say!  (And, who the hell is promising your assistance to these lovelies?)
• Many thanks to the Global Sociology Blog, which has picked up the discussion here and here, as has Anglachel.

Hum along with me now, after Nancy Sinatra, “this door was made for shuttin’, and that’s just what it’ll do.  One of these days this door is gonna shut all over you.”  (Or, substitute, “this phone was made for ringin’,” as in, ringing off the hook and not being answered by a P.O.W.)

Feel free to send me photos of your closed office doors and phones merrily ringing away!

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Wow–Someguy really gets around.  Check out this post at Female Science Professor–it’s like the live-action version of the folie-a-deux e-mail exchange with the male student who thought he was entitled to treat me like teh Google (h/t Erica):

I was sitting at my desk, and my office door was open, as it almost always is when I am in my office. A young man walked into my office and started talking to me, without any introduction. My first thought was that perhaps I am losing my mind faster than I think I might be — perhaps I have met this person and just don’t remember? Perhaps I am supposed to know this person? But no, it became apparent during the conversation that we have not met before.

Random Young Man (RYM): An International Scientist [names person I have never heard of] will be visiting in July for a few days and would like to start a collaboration with Scientists here. Are you interested in working with him?

FSP: That’s hard to say without more information. What is his specific field of research?

RYM: I’m not exactly sure (ed. note:  you’re not sure?  And yet you’re serving as his emissary?), but he has done some work on X [names research field that is not even remotely related to my research].

FSP: In that case, no, but there is another department at the university that does research in that field.  (ed. note:  Duh!  Were you just trolling for open doors, dude?)  Perhaps you can find someone there who would be interested in meeting this scientist.

RYM: So you’re not interested in working with International Scientist? He is coming a long way and he really wants to collaborate with scientists here.  (ed. note:  Well then, he should have done a little advance work, shouldn’t he?  Let me guess:  he’s the kind who relies on secretaries and grad students to do this for him, isn’t he?  Does he work in a cave, or does he have e-mail access and Google?  Even non-specialists could use these primitive tools to ensure that he has people here ready to greet him.  How is this FSP’s problem, or even your problem?)

FSP: No, I am not interested in working with him. From your description, there is no overlap whatsoever in our research interests.

RYM: So you never work on anything outside your narrow field of research?  (Ed. note:  yeah, pal:  ever heard of tenure?  Do you think they give that to people who teach only “Intro to Earth Science?”)

FSP: No, never.

What a tool.  As for me, I’m highly doubtful that a really big-shot International Scientist would have to rely on Chuckles here to drum up an audience and group of “collaborators” for his super-fabulous and extremely important visit to your campus.  (And I’ve been contacted by a highly placed former official in the Nigerian government who told me he’s got millions of dollars he wants to share with you, if only you can lend him a sum of money to hold in escrow while he waits for the money to be deposited into his account.) 

As Female Science Prof. says, “Apparently [all I] do [is] sit at my desk just waiting for random people to stop by and ask me to do random things, and then insult me when I refuse. “  Well, yeah–who do you think you are, baby?  You oughta smile more too–what a shame you don’t, with such a pretty face.  Don’t you broads have any sense of humor?

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Rose at Romantoes and Erica (a.k.a. “Cleanser”) at the good old daysfound some fun little gizmos for blog analysis last week, so I decided to put Historiann.com through the wringer too to see what we’d have left over to hang out on the clothesline.  Here’s what the random and non peer-reviewed internets have to say about chez nous:

• This blog is probably written by a man, “however it’s quite gender neutral.”  Yes, there’s a 59% chance that I’m a man!  (I guess most blogs that contain the word “feminist” and “feminism” over and over again are written by angry men, and not angry women?  Wev.)  The program must have a grammar-based rather than a content-based algorithm.
• This blog is worth $47,421.36.  Not bad for a very part-time job.  (Actually, that number is disturbingly close to what I earn at my day job!  When those lines cross, I’m outta Baa Ram U., baby.)  Of course that website doesn’t tell me who precisely would pay me $47K+ for my blog–but I’m sure that once I’ve resigned, I’ll have lots of time to figure that out.
• The typealyzer analysis was disturbingly accurate in some ways, and comically off-base in others.  Apparently, I am a “mechanic.”  Here goes:

“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.” 

That’s me, for the most part, and this blog has become something of an agony column this semester, not to mention all of the posts on academic bullying that have proved so (unfortunately!) popular.  So, what else?

“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.” 

Fun?  Sure.  Action and risk–oh my, no.  The most adventure I get is hunting for a parking space Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings at Baa Ram U., and the biggest risk I take is the occasional cup of black coffee after 3 p.m.  I live in a happily predictable routine, and actually prefer it this way, after working so hard and spending so many years wondering if I would ever have the kind of professional and family life I enjoy now, at the same time and in the same state.  ”Risk” at this point would mean severe illness or disability for me or the illness, disability, or loss of a friend or family member, and I can live without that kind of drama, thanks very much. 

Here’s what’s kind of funny:  Erica is an engineer, and Typealyzer says her blog is written by a “Performer,” you know ”[t]he entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don’t like to plan ahead — they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.”  And I’m the “mechanic!”  (Those of you who know me in real life will have a laugh at that one.)  Sorry, Erica–I’m just as baffled as you are, although I think your blog is “especially attuned to pleasure and beauty,” not to mention humor and retro-domesticity, which is why I love it!  Oh, and Rose and Tom:  you’re “Performers” too!

Run your blogs through the wringer and let me know what you find.  (I’ve already checked some of you out–there are a lot of “Performers” on my blogroll!)

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Because that last letter in the mailbag was such a buzzkill (but thanks very much for all of the supportive comments!), here’s a very polite someone with very nice problems.  Hotshot Harry (who is a historian) has a question about juggling prospective publishers:

Howdy Historiann,

I sent my book proposal out recently, and I now have two presses interested in my book project.  I had sent the proposal to one, hadn’t heard back for a short while, then sent it along to another colleague for review.  This other colleague forwarded it to his editor.  In the meantime, press #1 got back to me with a “we’re interested, but could you clarify a few things?” so I did.  No sooner did I ship the proposal off to press #1 did press #2 contact me to express interest.  What to do?  I want/need the thing off my desk (for sanity and extended contract purposes), so I don’t want push one off only to risk losing the other “upon further review.”

I normally wouldn’t lose to much sleep over this, except for the fact that friends helped make contacts with each of the presses.

Yours,

Harry

It seems to me that Harry’s problem is really two:  how to juggle interested prospective editors, and how to manage the friends who generously helped Harry make contacts with both presses.  First, the easy problem:  have a glass of wine before bed and stop losing sleep!  You’re lucky to have such helpful and supportive friends, Harry, and I don’t think that they’ll really be disappointed when you go with one press over the other.  They will understand that only one press can publish your book, and they should be pleased (and not to mention impressed) that two presses are interested in your project.  That fact alone will ratify their judgment that you are a worthy scholar and friend–and most sensible people realize that different presses are better for some projects than for others.

Secondly, the slightly-less-easy “problem” of how to manage two editors who have signaled interest in publishing your book.  At this stage, Harry, it’s just a proposal, and I think that editors and presses know and understand that savvy authors will be talking to and circulating their proposals among more than one press.  Signaling their interest in your book proposal is just an invitation to a second date, not a marriage proposal (or book contract!  As you suggest, they can change their minds at any point, too.)  While most authors end up making their decision about which press to go with at the point they send out their manuscript, I’ve heard that it’s OK to send your manuscript out to two presses at the same time so long as you notify them that you’re doing so.  (In other words, you don’t want Obnoxious University Press to ask someone to review your manuscript, only to have that reviewer inform them that she’s already reviewing the same manuscript for the University of Pretension Press.  That would definitely be bad form.) 

But, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in lo these many, many years in academia, it’s that no two people’s paths to book publication are the same.  And, I’ve only submitted one manuscript to one press and published one book, so what the heck do I know?  Not much.  I’m eager to hear what my erudite and accomplished readers think, especially those of you with more publication experience, those of you who work (or have worked) in publishing, and those of you who have recently submitted book manuscripts (I’m thinking of you, Notorious Ph.D. and Bittersweet Girl, in particular.)  Readers:  can you advise Harry how to handle his happy problems?

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UPDATED BELOW

From the Historiann mailbag, this time from a student at Baa Ram U. whom I don’t know and have never had any correspondence with before:

I was hoping you could give me some reading suggestions for a biography on these three people: A definitive biography on Washington, Franklin, Jefferson. Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated,

<Someguy>

That’s right:  no salutation, no explanation about who he is or what his interests might be.  Just the one-line e-mail above.  My reply:

Dear <Someguy>,

Do I know you?  Have we communicated previously?  I have no recollection of having met you before, nor do I have any idea as to why you might ask me these questions.  Please forgive me if we have met before–you might perhaps remind me of the circumstances.  Your note is so informal, without salutation, introduction, or explanation that I’m afraid you have mistaken me for someone else.

I would be happy to help you if I had more context for understanding your interest in these topics, and why you are consulting me.

Yours Very Sincerely,

<Prof. Historiann>

Here’s his reply:

I’m sorry for the informality.  I’m a student at CSU with some interest in studying history as a hobby.  I figured your dept would be a great resource so I contacted Prof. <HistoryChair> about who in your dept I could contact about reading suggestions for some of my interests.  He gave me your name as one of those people.  I have a book on the American Revolution that I’m reading and was thinking ahead about biographies for some of the people I’m interested in.  I was hoping you could give me your thoughts about which biographies are best for Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin.

Thanks,

<Someguy>

Still no salutation, but whatever.  My recommendations:

Dear <Someguy>,

There have been a number of recent popular biographies of these figures (as there always are!)  The major ones are by Joseph Ellis (who has written about Washington and Jefferson) and Gordon Wood (Franklin).  These are very traditional biographies, although they’re written for a wider audience.  I think there are more interesting biographies out there than just these, however.  For example, you might want to read Nancy Isenberg’s recent bio of Aaron Burr, Thomas Jefferson’s VP and the guy who shot and killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel.  I think her approach and interpretation of the early Republic are more interesting than Wood’s or Ellis’s books.

Good luck, and I hope you find more books you enjoy.

<Prof. Historiann>

Someguy wrote back, again without salutation or signature:

What do you think of the biography of Jefferson “American Sphinx”?

My reply:

Dear <Someguy>,

I understand that it’s the custom in text-messaging not to include a salutation or a signature, but it’s not appropriate in e-mails unless you are an intimate or a family member.  I don’t answer your questions in that fashion.

I am not a fan of Ellis’s work, because I think he’s a hagiographer rather than a critical historical biographer.  His book came out the same year as a much better book about Thomas Jefferson and his relationship with Sally Hemings and the Hemings family by Annette Gordon-Reed.  Gordon-Reed happened to be right about Sally Hemings and Jefferson, and Ellis was wrong.  (He
calls Sally Hemings “a tin can tied to Jefferson’s shoe,” or something like that,
as I recall.)  Ellis was inappropriately invested in “defending” Jefferson from charges that he was involved in a decades-long liason with a woman he owned, and that blinded him to historical facts.

Gordon-Reed has a new book out on the Hemings family that might be an interesting companion to your other, more traditional biographies of white, male “founding fathers.”

Best,

<Prof. Historiann>

You knew this was coming, right?

Thank you for responding, but at the same time it is not your duty to counsel others on how to conduct themselves via email.  I was never rude or inappropriate in any manner.  I’ve had many professors and others I’m not well acquainted with who email me in the same fashion.  There are many customs and practices and no single one is correct.  You are the first person I’ve had an email exchange with that feels the need to reprimand me about email etiquette.

I’m a 33 year old man who doesn’t need to be told how to conduct myself.  I do just fine.  Hopefully, in the future you will be more relaxed with not only students, but any person who may be interested in talking to you about history.  You will find that you shut out a lot of people in life by conducting yourself in this manner.

My reply:

Dear <Someguy>

Thanks for your frank reply.  I’ll bear that in mind the next time a complete stranger writes to me to ask for my professional advice.

<Prof. Historiann>

Oh yeah, you know it!  His extremely thoughtful reply:

Good.  By the way, using sarcasm doesn’t mean you’re justified in your response.  You’re the only professor I’ve ever contacted who views people that are asking a simple question about books as “complete strangers” as opposed to “someone I can help who has an interest in history”.  I wasn’t asking you to have lunch with me.  You’re response to this situation doesn’t match the context.  And don’t worry I won’t recommend that any other “complete strangers” contact you for any guidance.  There are far more personable people to talk to in this world. Please do not email me any longer.  I will no longer read any emails from you.  I’ve already wasted enough time on this nonsense.

That’s right.  Apparently, I have no right to set boundaries about contact with students.  I’m a mere female with a permeable body, and I’m just here to service the needs of male students, who of course can set all of the boundaries in our correspondence.  I don’t even know what my job is, apparently (“it is not your duty to counsel others on how to conduct themselves via email.”)  And did you like how he asks me to stop contacting him, as though I was consulting him for his advice?  Thanks, Someguy, for setting me straight!  I’ve wondered lo these many years why I have no friends, no family, and no meaningful relationships in my personal or professional life!  It’s all because I “shut out a lot of people in life by conducting [my]self in this manner.”  I was just waiting for you to e-mail me!  I have no other life or job responsibilities than to serve as an instant response help-line for people who want to read about eighteenth century America!

Fortunately, this is the first such exchange I’ve had with a student at Baa Ram U.  He’s 33 years old, and apparently doesn’t feel we have anything to offer him about how to conduct professional correspondence.  E-mail is no longer a de facto informal means of communication as it was in the 1980s and 90s.  I think it’s the standard in most industries for how business is done.  Good luck with that attitude, pal.  The next time I get an e-mail without a salutation or explanation from a stranger, I’ll just chuck it in the SPAM file.  Lesson learned:  no good deed goes unpunished.

UPDATE, 11/14/08:  I forwarded the correspondence to the Chair of the Philosophy department, who then wrote to say that she’d contact the student’s advisor and “see if we can’t have a chat with him about this.”  She said that she’s been addressed quite rudely by male students in the past too, “so I know exactly how you feel, and I assume that [a male faculty member] would never be spoken to that way, either.”

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Did you hear the one about how McCain campaign advisers said that Sarah Palin is so dumb that she thinks Africa is a country?  Didja? 

Smell the truthiness (via Rye and Patriotism)!

Which just proves, once again, that one can serve up absolutely any $hit sandwich about Sarah Palin and our misogynistic political culture will swallow it and say, “thanks, that was scrumptious!  May we have another?”  I suppose it’s nice that both the right and left wings in this country agree on something, but I had hoped that the post-partisan unity schtick would involve more than just gynophobia.

The sad thing is that the whole “she thinks Africa is a country” gag is an old gag by the king of the Masshole comics of the 1980s and 1990s, Jimmy Tingle.  I heard Tingle tell that one in a club in Cambridge back in 1996, only it went, “Europe:  excellent country!”  You’d think that the clowns running FOX, MSNBC, and other cable news channels would have checked the source out before running with the story.

Well, we can all look forward to lots of prominent feminist women in key positions in the Obama administration who will change the way we look at women in power.  Just look at the women he’s appointed to manage his transition:  Rahm Emanuel and John Podesta, for example.  And all of the women who have been named as possible Treasury Secretary picks:  Lawrence Summers, Jon Corzine, Robert Rubin, Paul Volcker, and Timoth Geithner.  That’s a bunch of high-powered broads for you!  You show ‘em, girls.

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How bad is it out there?  From my extremely non-scientific perusal of my blogroll, it sounds like some of you are seeing evidence of the economic crisis in your universities’ budgets and in job opportunities (that is, in vanishing job opportunities).  I hear gossip in the hallways about searches being cancelled–Sisyphus for one is freaking out over the academic job market.  The New York Times and Bloomberg.com report that even wealthy institutions have instituted budget cuts and hiring freezes (h/t Gabriela Montell at the Chronicle of Higher Education‘s blog, On Hiring.  Dear readers, have any of these unfortunate things happened to you or at your university?  I rely on you to keep me informed–here in my sunny little corner of the Great American Desert there is just a sense of overall foreboding, but no specific bad news yet.

Just in case, maybe we’d better start reading up on feed sack dresses.  (Check out the ca. 1960 version of cotton bag dresses, shown above!)  Who says poverty can’t be stylish?

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A frightful story from the Historiann.com mailbag!  Readers, get ready for a shock:

At a ( very small, international humanities) conference recently, I was in the audience at a panel on my research interests, and I was aghast to hear the panel organizer deliver a paper that appeared to be directly lifted from a journal article I published nearly two years ago.  The author of the paper mentioned my book, but never referenced the article I wrote on the very same highly specific topic with the same highly specific argument that she presented in the first half of her conference paper.  (And yes, I’m pretty sure she saw me sitting there in the audience!)  The second part of her paper brought in another case study that I haven’t written about, but she again used the same argument to frame that evidence.

I wasn’t sure what the appropriate response would have been, so I remained silent.  Did I do the right thing?  How does one respond when one’s work is being plagiarized in real time before one’s eyes?  What does your vast and learned audience think I should have done in this case?

I should add, the person who “borrowed” my work was in correspondence with me about this very subject three years ago and knew I was working on it, although my work was published before anything of hers was, and in a prominent journal.  Furthermore, my article won a prize.  She is basically a peer, although she is not tenured at her institution and she is not hugely influential in her field.  We both have published books, and I am tenured.

I am considering writing her an e-mail to let her know that I recognized my work in her paper without being necessarily confrontational.  What can I do at this point? 

Gentle readers, has this ever happened to you?  How did you handle the situation?  (Please tell me that cheaters never prosper!)  I guess my main question is, given that both of the above scholars have encountered each other before at this same very small, international conference in a very specific field in the humanities, what kind of idiot would try to steal Wendy’s research in public like that?  Even if Wendy didn’t attend the conference this year, other scholars in their very small field would probably have noticed this scholarly faux pas too.  What should Wendy do now?

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It’s a busy, busy week here at Baa Ram U. and Historiann.com HQ, so I’m going to let my friends do the blogging for me.  If like me you want to savor Betsy Markey’s schadenfreudelicious victory (by TWELVE POINTS!) over Marilyn Musgrave last week, click on over to GayProf’s meditation on Obama’s victory and California’s passage of the anti-gay amendment, and read his discussion of gay marriage and gay divorces over at Center of Gravitas:

Several years ago, an eight-year relationship that I was in ended quite badly. When my Liar Ex (Who Told Many Lies) decided that he no longer loved me, he also decided that I warranted as much consideration as a used Kleenex in a wastebin. Though certainly imperfect, legal mechanisms exist for heteros to divorce in ways that provide mediation and balance to an otherwise emotionally impossible event. I did not have access to any of that legal recourse.

Therefore, I was left to either battle it out with the Liar Ex on my own (something that I was too hurt and tired to do) or to bow to his decisions and whims. He saw nothing unfair in the fact that I struggled to pay both rent for my own place and also half the mortgage in the house where he lived (and where I didn’t reside for over 1.5 years). On the contrary, he astoundingly imagined that he was the real victim in that situation. Isn’t it interesting that, no matter how outlandish and hurtful our actions, we never can see ourselves as the villain in the story of our own lives? When it came to the division of our meager positions, his notion of “fair” was that anything I owned before we met was “mine” and anything that we bought after we met was “his” (unless he clearly didn’t want it). We won’t even get into the question of ownership of debt. Had the state recognized our relationship in the ways that it recognizes equivalent hetero relationships, institutional structures would have existed that would have protected me from a truly callous and self-centered ex.

GayProf is a dewy 29 and holding, so he may not have thought about this yet, but marriage may become more important to people as they leave their devil-may-care twenties and thirties behind and enter their ohmigod-be-careful forties and the who-will-care-for-me fifties, sixties, seventies, and beyond.  Survivor’s benefits and rights, and who makes end-of-life decisions, were at the forefront of marriage rights cases, not the admittedly more fun and picturesque decisions about what kind of wedding to have and where to register for which china patterns.  (If only marriage was just a big party, all of the time, with presents!)

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Our GOP Congressional representative in the 4th Congressional District, Marilyn Musgrave, who got beaten like a rented mule last week by her Dem challenger Betsy Markey (by TWELVE POINTS!), has yet to telephone the victor to congratulate her or even to concede the election, according to the Denver Post.  Sez Colorado Pols,

The tenor of Musgrave’s always-shrill campaigns suggested she took them personally, but at the end of the day it’s just business.  [2006 GOP Gubenatorial candidate] Bob Beauprez went down much harder and was talking to the press the next day. For the sake of any viable political future she may hope to have, it’s probably time to ease off on the pity party, step out on the farmhouse porch and take a few questions. A token gesture or two to help your erstwhile opponent’s transition also wouldn’t hurt.

On the other hand, maybe Musgrave will ransack the DC office, burn the files, and cut all the phone lines. Not the greatest career move, but it sure feels good.

This tracks with everything I’ve heard about La Musgrave.  When she’s in Colorado, she never leaves Fort Morgan.  She won’t let the sun shine on her in Greeley, Fort Collins, or Loveland.  And, back during her 2006 campaign, I heard from a politically involved student that she was “afraid” to visit Baa Ram U. because she thought she’d be attacked by our students.  Leaving aside the ridiculousness of that so-called fear, what kind of attitude is that for a Congresswoman to have about the people of her district?  That’s been Musgrave’s attitude her whole career–serving the interests of George W. Bush and Republicans in Congress, and pissing on her constituents from a great height. 

Stay classy, Marilyn.  It makes it all the more fun to watch your flameout.

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