Historiann

Maybe procrastination has saved me again?  I was going to buy a brand-new, decked-out Prius this winter until the news broke that the 2010 Priuses are going all HAL on people.  Creepy.  Maybe it’s not such a good idea to make machines that think they’re smarter than us?  Every time I get a new computer, I have to spend hours deselecting everything that Microsoft has automatically preselected for me without my consent, from the damned “grammar check” to the display of my folders, etc.  (I miss my Macs!)

Maybe I’ll go ahead and give my old car that oil change that’s 3 months and 1,500 miles overdue, and wash it for the first time in 10 months, since it looks like I’ll be driving it for a little while longer.  (I’ve been known to go for oil changes just once a year, or every 8 or 9,000 miles!)  Its tires are worse than bald, it looks like someone must be living in it, and it smells like a fart, but aside from the driver’s side front and rear windows not going up and down as they should, the thing has really given me zero mechanical trouble in the eight years I’ve owned it.  (And it was 4 years old when I bought it–so it owes me nothing, not even windows that go up and down when I press the button, especially considering my chronic neglect and/or abuse.) Continue Reading »

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(Via The Daily Beast.)  “I want my daughter to live in a world where everyone’s decisions are respected.”  Good on you, Sean James and Al Joyner. 

It’s like I always say to my women’s history students:  Continue Reading »

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A friend of mine submitted an article to the Journal of the History of Sexuality early in the fall semester.  Within six weeks, he received two readers’ reports and a notification from editor Mathew Kuefler of a provisional acceptance if the revisions requested by the readers were made.  Over winter break, my friend revised accordingly, and found out by the middle of January that his article was accepted.  Total time from initial submission to final acceptance:  four months to the day.

Now, my friend’s article was pretty polished–it was originally sent out to another journal, which took more than a year to reject it on the basis of one reader’s report.  (Not cool.)  Still–kudos to Prof. Kuefler for his speed and efficiency, and kudos too to the readers who must have read and responded to the article in an extremely timely fashion.  Continue Reading »

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Here’s a good article from her series Winning Tenure without Losing Your Soul at Inside Higher Ed by Kerry Ann Rockquemore, “Balance is a Myth.”  Some of the commenters are angry or disappointed to hear this, but I think she’s right:

Most tenure-track faculty members I work with seem to believe that they can achieve harmonious balance in their lives during the tenure-track years. To me, this is a problematic expectation because the structure of tenure-track life is one in which there’s far more work to be done than time in any given day. Let’s be clear — if you have a stay-at-home partner who does the vast majority of household labor and child-care, you may be able to achieve balance in your life during your probationary period. But most of you are juggling multiple roles and care-giving responsibilities above and beyond new course preparations, heavy teaching loads, multiple service assignments, and ever-increasing research expectations. And you’re often doing so with little social, financial, technical, and/or professional support in your departments, as well as varying in levels of assistance at home. In this context, the expectation of a balanced life seems just plain unrealistic. I’m not saying this is the way things should be, but unfortunately this is often the way things are. And when we operate in the world according to how things should be, we can end up feeling like one of my mentees, who recently confided: “trying to achieve balance is just one more thing I feel like I’ve failed.”

Right on.  “Balance” as a goal in life always seemed too fuzzy and Oprah-esque to me anyway.  Continue Reading »

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Sock it to me!

You’re a busy professional looking to diversify your skill set and to secure another income stream.  (Or, that’s probably how you’d describe yourself in jargony self-important business resume language.)  So, “[i]n this time of job insecurity, the question may have occurred to you: Should you consider part-time teaching as a way to improve your finances and expand your career opportunities?“  After all, “[t]he need for part-time professors, known as adjuncts, is high right now. Education is one of the few areas of the economy that has been expanding, partly because so many of the unemployed are returning to school.”

Well, why not?  You’ve got something to offer.  “[b]ecoming a teacher can be rigorous and time-consuming,” but really–anyone can do it, especially if you’re aiming for post-secondary ed, where we’ll let anyone teach!   ”[A]t the college level, part-time teaching is a realistic option for some professionals. Postsecondary schools are often willing to be flexible about academic credentials in return for real-world expertise.”  But, “[y]ou may not want to pursue teaching part time, however, if your motivation is mainly financial. The pay for adjunct professors is usually low, and the work can be challenging. Still, the nonmonetary rewards that come with teaching can be substantial.” 

Since the job is so fun and rewarding, and anyone can do it, you won’t mind the low pay now, will you?  Think about the children!  Plus, anyone can do it.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to mix up a Harvey Wallbanger and warm up the TV set–Laugh-in is on tonight.  Continue Reading »

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