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 Profschimes 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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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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An Umble Pie, as found in Susannah Carter’s The Frugal Housewife, or Complete Woman Cook (1772), 111-112:

Take the humbles of a buck, and boil them, and chop them as small as meat for minced pies, and put to them as much beef suet, eight apples, half a pound of sugar, a pound and a half of currants, a little salt, some mace, cloves, nutmeg, and a little pepper : then mix them together, and put it into a paste ; add half a pint of sack, the juice of one lemon and orange, close the pie, and when it is baked serve it up.

Keep this one in mind while you’re field-dressing your buck this year, boys and girls!  (This one’s for you, Erica:  I double-dog dare you to make this pie!)  Won’t that make for an unforgettable dish this year at the Thanksgiving table?  I admire the determination not to let a sacred scrap of protein go to waste.  Yea, verily:  we are a slothful and prodigiously wasteful generation!

I bring this to you not in mockery or with an attitude of mock-sophistication encouraging laughter at colonial palates, but rather in the sperrit of thanksgiving for modern kitchens with electricity-powered refrigerators and freezers, and petroleum-fueled trucks to bring us fresh fruits and vegetables from California and Florida all winter long.  These marvelous technologies are largely responsible for the fact that we no longer have to rely on salts, pickles, and prodigious amounts of sugar and fat to preserve fresh foods.  Here are a few “receipts” for you vegetarians and vegans that suggest the lengths to which eighteenth century women went to preserve fresh vegetables:

To Keep Green Peas Till Christmas, p. 152:

Take fine young peas, shell them, throw them into a cullender to drain, then lay a cloth four or five times double on a table, and spread them on ; dry them very well, and have your bottles ready, fill them and cover them with mutton suet fat ; when it is a little cool, fill the necks almost to the top, cork them, tie a bladder and a lath over them, and set them in a cool dry place.

This pea-preservation is akin to making potted meats (as the English say), or rillettes, rillons, and pâtés, which were invented to preserve meat without refrigeration, and all relied on a thick layer of goose (or other animal) fat to keep it well.  I guess all of that “mutton suet fat” on top doesn’t make these peas a vegetarian dish exactly, but the next one surely is, borrowing from salt fish preservation techniques:

To Keep French Beans all the Year, p. 152-53:

Take young beans, gathered on a dry day, have a large stone jar ready, lay a layer of salt at the bottom, and then a layer of beans, then salt and then beans, and so on till the jar is full ; cover them with salt, and tie a coarse cloth over them and a board on that, and then a weight to keep it close from all air ; set them in a dry cellar and when you use them, take some out and cover them close again ;  wash them you took out very clean, and let them lie in soft water twenty four hours, shifting the water often ;  when you boil them do not put any salt in the water.

I like that final reminder not to salt the beans further.  Both of these methods of extending one’s garden bounty into autumn and winter would seem to run the risk of being destroyed by mold, but then again blanching or cooking them like potted meats would make them more vulnerable to other kinds of rot.

Something I’ve observed over the years is that very few professional historians are historical reenactors too.  The Society for Creative Anachronism and Civil War battles are things we steer clear of, at least as participants, perhaps because we have no illusions about the glories of the past.  I appreciate the work that dedicated reenactors do, and I admire their interest in using their hobbies to educate other people about history, but it’s not how I want to spend my weekends and vacations.  Give me refrigeration, vaccination, sterile surgery, central heat, ice cubes, and all of the wonders of the modern world.  I like it here.  I’m not going back.

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Here’s some good news (for a change!)  My employer, Baa Ram U., will begin offering domestic partner benefits to faculty and administrative professional employees on January 1, 2009.  Moreover, it was decided by a unanimous vote of the Board of Governors.  So, we can all rest assured that if CAM the Ram (at left) has a Ram partner, they will be insured equally.

Maybe I’m entirely wrong that this state isn’t rapidly changing.  (But, let’s not get carried away by foolish optimism, shall we?)

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The Chronicle of Higher Education has a major article out now on bullying in the academic workplace, “Academic Bullies.”  I was interviewed and extensively quoted in it, so if you’re curious, you can read it to learn the heretofore undisclosed location of my first tenure-track job.  (Many thanks to the article’s author, Piper Fogg, who provided Historiann with the free link.  Piper is a young go-getter with her eye on the main chance, so look for her byline in other high profile publications in the years to come!)  I think the article is a good overview of the problem, it offers some possible solutions, it points to resources for people who find themselves in similar straits, and my hope is that it will draw attention to what many of us in the academic blogosphere know is a major problem in our work environments.

These boots of Historiann’s were made for walkin’, and I’ve never regretted my decision to walk out of that university, saddle up Old Paint, and ride on out to Baa Ram U.  I hope those of you who are still stuck in a bullying environment are busy photocopying your CVs and dossiers and will all have good luck on the job market this year.  Changing jobs is not possible for everyone–family obligations, medical issues, spousal employment, or other factors mean that not everyone is as free as I was to change jobs, but I strongly believe that it’s the shortest and fastest route to preserving your career as well as your physical and mental health.  Institutions always have more money and time than individuals, and if your department or college administrators are unwilling to intervene effectively on your behalf, then you owe them nothing.  You’ve already put up with more than should have been expected of you.

For those of you just tuning in, or finding yourself in newly desperate circumstances, here’s a roundup of my major posts on academic bullying:

Workplace bullies and the academy, March 28, 2008

Academic bullying and discrimination round-up, yee-haw!, April 10, 2008

Don’t sue–run for your lives! (part I), June 24, 2008

Don’t sue–run for your lives! (part II), June 25, 2008

Academic workplace bullying:  run away, indeed!, June 27, 2008.

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We’ve had some recent reader complaints that Historiann has been remiss in posting pictures of cute cowgirls lately, and we agree.  (Although, don’t you think that real-life North Country Gal, Rootin’ Shootin’ Sarah Palin counts just a little bit?)  So, here you go complainers!  Didn’t we overhear you complaining about the coffee and beans at a Dude Ranch out thisaway, too?

Give the people what they want, I always say, so here’s a little roundup of news, previews, and advice on the academic blog circuit:

• Tenured Radical was on the job all summer long, working on her series of posts containing advice for both job seekers and search committees.  Yesterday she offered a post about applying for jobs when you already have one.  For those of you behind in your mandatory TR reading see these posts on how to write a great letter of application, and (for those interviewing hapless young victims) how to write a good job ad and how to be a good search chair.  Next up, she promises advice to search committees as to how to evaluate a pool of applicants.  
• Adjunct Whore (who is really Tenure-Track Whore now) has had a couple of really bad weeks, but all is well and order has been restored in her universe.  Still, I sympathize with her fears that both her body and her blog had been taken over by hostile invaders.  As a family member of mine famously says, “After 40, it’s all patch, patch, patch!”
• Squadratomagico is back home from Burning Man, and we all eagerly await photos and descriptions of what she saw there, (especially any Barbie- or other doll-related displays, natch.)
• At Romantoes, Tom Rose explores his her hatred of the “mawkish and bombastic” Bob Seger in “Shutup in Aisle Five,” while Rose and also writes “Meet the New Right, Same as the Old Right, now STFU.”  (What is it with the shout-outs to shutups at that blog?)  I guess I would say that it’s refreshing to hear at least one major party in this country speak out against sexism, however disingenuously–I’m just really sorry it’s not the Democratic Party! 
• Cakewrecks does it again, with some cakes that make taxidermy for household pets look like a classy afterlife.  (So it’s not an academic blog–but you all don’t post enough photos of stupid cakes on your blogs, so what’s a girl to do?)

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Well, it’s all over.  My first, and much-anticipated sabbatical, the one I had to wait for for ten years.  Classes don’t start until Monday, but the meetings start today, so I’d say my sabbatical is over.

Oddly, I don’t feel depressed about it.  The thought of teaching again seems kind of appealing, and it will be good to see my colleagues on a more regular basis.  (Imagine–I actually like my colleagues!  Well, most of them, and you know what they say about absence making the heart grow fonder…)  I got a lot done last year on my new book, in spite of doing way more work for the Berkshire Conference than I thought I’d be doing.  It was nice sleeping in until 6:30 a.m. and being able to work at home.  Although I was probably better rested and less stressed out, since I didn’t have to wake up at 4 or 5 a.m. to meet a manuscript deadline or finish my class prep, as a naturally happy and optimistic person I wasn’t any happier on a day-to-day basis.  (And I would imagine that people who have a much lower happiness setpoint won’t become happy people while on sabbatical.)

Sorry–gotta run.  I’ve got a meeting to get to!

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There’s just too much good news out there to report on this week!  So just lay down and relax.  You might feel a little pinch at first, so just take an extra-big swallow of that mason jar-sized Pisco Sour, and it will be all over before you wake up!  Just tell yourself that the nurse on the right is holding a swizzle stick.

• Senator Hillary Clinton will not only be a featured speaker at the Democratic National Convention, her name will be put in nomination so that her delegates can vote for her (h/t TalkLeft).  Senator Barack Obama said, “I am convinced that honoring Senator Clinton’s historic campaign in this way will help us celebrate this defining moment in our history and bring the party together in a strong united fashion.”  Right on, Senator.  Imagine, if you will, how it would have looked for the most successful second-place presidential primary finisher in recent Democratic Party history not to be on the first ballot, when every other also-ran and his delegates had the privilege of voting for him at least on the first round?  Not good.  This is how the game is played, boys:  with malice toward none, and with charity to all.  It’s Barack Obama’s party now, and it makes him look more confident and in command when he embraces his former opponents and can recognize their achievements appropriately. 
• Here’s an article at Inside Higher Ed by a dean who is both thoughtful and savvy.  While there will be malcontents everywhere no matter what you do, I think fewer faculty would immediately assume bad faith on the part of an administrator who had entertained them in his own home and served them food he cooked himself.  As he writes, “[d]irect eye-contact, open mouths and exposed teeth also have defined a few faculty meetings over the course of my career. What better way to convey shared governance than by sharing food with the director serving colleagues a lunch that he prepared?”  (See the recipies he includes at the end of the article!)
• Also via Inside Higher Ed, a federal judge has ruled that the University of California gets to set its own admissions standards.  Here’s why:  “In a history course the university rejected, the text instructed students that “divine providence” is the source of all of history and that historical figures needed to be evaluated based on their “religious motivations,” in contrast to university expectations of the range of analyses high school students should learn. A science course was rejected for using textbooks that characterized religious doctrine as science and for failing to teach the scientific method.”  While I understand the frustration of the Calvary Chapel Christian School, which initiated the lawsuit, and its allies at the Association of Christian Schools International, I don’t understand why they’d even permit their students to apply to godless, heathen institutions like the University of California anyway.  Who needs their secular humanist indoctrination?  But seriously folks, as one commenter sympathetic to UC said, “[t]his is about quality and comparability and making sure students aren’t set up for failure.” 
• Oh, and the nurse instead of the usual cowgirl to illustrate our roundup today?  Historiann.com friend and commenter Fratguy is having surgery tomorrow, so this pinup nurse is for him.  Feel better soon, Fratguy! 
• Et vous, mes amis?  What good news do you have to share with the old gang at historiann.com as we glide gracefully into the last weeks of summer?  Did you win an award?  Did you get a book contract?  Did you read a good book?  Did you have a great vacation?  Share it!

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Via Inside Higher Ed, we learn this fine summer morning that Baylor President John Lilley, who merrily tried to fire so many junior faculty this year (and disproportionately women faculty, natch!), was himself $hitcanned yesterday.  It so rarely happens that we get to see an administrator so destructive of faculty hopes and dreams get his comeuppance–so let’s savor the moment.  (See these old posts on Baylor, for more background.)

IHE reports that “the regents had offered Lilley the opportunity to serve out his five-year contract as the board began a search for a new president. He rejected that offer.”  Well, good on all of them for not prolonging the misery.  But, check this out:  “Lilley, 69, said he was retired ‘as of this morning’ and returning to his home in Reno, Nev. Prior to coming to Baylor, Lilley had spent four years as president of the University of Nevada at Reno.”  Hmmm…remember all of those lawsuits by current and former staff and faculty at at UNR I told you about a few weeks ago?  Well, let’s hope he stays good and retired as of now. 

Time’s up, cowboy.  You fell off the bull.  No points for you.  (But welcome new readers from Inside Higher Ed!)

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