The two first items on my Google Reader today: Tina at Scatterplot, writing that misfortunes highlight how lucky I am, and A. over at On My Commute, who is feeling lucky no longer putting off the inevitable. A double-whammy of good advice to quit whining and get some perspective — coincidence, or just good luck? So as I grind through the end of one more semester, no job on the horizon, but a very generously-funded fellowship, a great group of scholar-friends, and hours every day to do work I deeply enjoy, I think — eh, not the worst life in the world, not by far.
You are currently browsing the archive for the Jobs category.
But now I’m back. I was buried in work, and then occupied with rebelling against work, then suffering from post-rebellion malaise. Now I’m returning to work, happily, maybe even with some enthusiasm. Since last we spoke, I finished a draft of my introduction, which felt significant. Though I will undoubtedly have to change it quite a bit once everything else is written, I felt at some point here in the middle of the dissertation that I needed some direction, and writing the intro seems to have served that function. Speaking of intro’s, next on my to-do list is revising the intro for the anthology Patricia and I began editing oh so many years ago. But, finally, the review process is over and a contract is on the way. University presses, take your time much? I’ve been re-reading the articles, and making some notes for the authors, and that is the kind of work I really enjoy, thinking about people’s writing, and ways to help the brilliance shine through. On the top of my procrastination list right now is the R&R for an article that I just got back. Can’t… bear…. to touch it. But I will get to it soon, else this roll I’m on rolls off and leaves me and the article behind.
In other news: Looking for a job in a recession? I don’t recommend it. I got I think my 7th notice yesterday that a job I applied for has been callled off, not to mention the handsome pile of rejection letters that has accumulated. I wonder if Obama’s plan for federally-funded highway construction projects might include some post-doc positions… I still have a handful of active applications, but I’m making Plan B’s, which I’m feeling good about, and I’m in the very lucky position of being able to renew my funding next year, should it make sense to sit on the diss and wait to defend until something else opens up. I will say this about applying for jobs — it makes me really enjoy and appreciate time spent on the diss. The dissertation is a pure delight compared to preparing job applications. Pure delight.
3 paper jams, and 2 paper cuts. But I love my Mother, so I carried on with printing on the back side of scrap paper despite such obstacles. But more importantly, after clearing the second jam, as printing resumed, I thought to myself: Did somebody let a horse into the computer hub? Or did someone ride a horse over to school? But it was just the printer, giving off some weird but undeniably horsey smell. Why would a printer smell like a horse? I can only imagine the deal CUNY cut to buy these machines.
Meanwhile, I seem to have helped inspire a hateration fest against the Socrumormill over at Scatterplot. I don’t regret it. I promise myself this time it’s real, I’m quitting you Rumormill. I keep coming back to you with a forgiving heart and open expectations, and every time you leave me feeling bad about myself. No more. I’m getting my groove back and moving on.
Detoured on my bike ride home, went along the westside path and flopped down on the lawn at the Christopher Street Piers for a little time in the sun/away from the computer. Then, biked across town and treated myself to a dinner of gourmet hot dogs and roasted brussell sprouts, because that is the sort of dinner you can have in NYC. Upon returning home, got back to work on polishing up/polishing off my Teaching Statement. I’m nearing the homestretch on prepping job applications . . . they will be leaving my grubby little hands by the end of this week, I swear to it. And not a moment too soon — I think my eyes are starting to go. I have to set my Word docs view at 145% to be able to read without everything going fuzzy. I gave my eyesight for a job in Sociology! What will Sociology give me?
I think I am finally back in working order post-ASA. Phewf, that conference really took it out of me–that’s alotta days to be on all the time. Nonetheless, I have to say, overall, a good sociological time was had by all. I think I got everything out of this conference you should–meeting new people, reconnecting with people you’ve met before, hearing some good talks, hearing some iffy talks that make you feel good about your talk, not getting lost and locked out of your hotel room.* I know there’s lots of debate about the usefulness of the Employment Service interviews, but I definitely recommend doing it–a brutal but effective education in learning how to describe your work and how to connect quickly and effectively with different personality types, scholarly backgrounds, etc. I got kind of sad about how worried some of the other grad students waiting for interviews seemed. I found my true hippie nature coming through: Hey, everything is going to be fine, it usually is, you gotta stay positive there’s a long haul ahead. As Dean would say, you gotta womanifest the best.
In other, technical matters: Anyone having trouble (or success?) subscribing to The Skinny Malinky through an RSS feed? I hear reports of trouble in cyberspace.
*See International Association for Science, Technology and Society Annual Meeting, Baltimore, 2006.
Members of the undergraduate honors program: Business skirts, high heels, oxfords, pants, suit jackets, ties, button-downs, brief-cases.
Grad students doing employment service: Pants, skirts, ties, shirts, sports coats, suits, khakis.
First & second year grad students: T-shirts with slogans, sneakers, hoodies, no deodorant.
Just graduated assistant profs: Cute going-out outfits.
Assistant profs: Shirts, no ties, dresses, khakis.
Recently tenured: Shorts, t-shirts.
Associate profs and up: Hiking hear, printed scarves, buggies with grand-children, loose & comfortable.
I’m in Boston, at ASA. Arrived yesterday. The rough start to my ASA adventure included: waking up yesterday with a nauseating migraine; a bus driver who got lost leaving NYC and entering Boston, making us late and unable to attend the panel we were arriving for; a panic that I might puke on the bus; a near-accident that involved the bus-driver slamming on the brakes and swerving into another lane. I don’t know if you have ever been on a bus that has had its brakes slammed on, but it doesn’t slow the bus down much. Upon arrival in Boston, I discovered there had been a mystery flood in the bus luggage compartment, and my bag and all of its contents were soaking wet. My precious interview outfits! A few loads of laundry and beers later, I calmed down, and dragged Greg and Rachel to the Scatterparty. We made a few new friends, speculated on the identity of various anonymous bloggers, and had a nice chat with one of my favorite soc bloggers.
Today has been much smoother. My talk went fine, I’ve done a few interviews that were fun and not scary, and I’m feeling pretty good. The conference is in several hotels, but they are all connected by a gigantic mall! I am heading to the food court now.
Dean is working on me to work on my powers of positive thinking, and along those lines, I’ve decided to assume I will get a real job for next year, despite some indications to the contrary. A corollary to this is that I will, most likely, be leaving NYC in about a year. I think I am okay with this. I think, actually, maybe it is what I want. All told, I’ve lived here 9 years and some months, and lately I have been feeling ready for a new setting, a new set of streets to figure out, a new set of future favorite hang-outs to discover. So in preparation for what feels like a probable departure, and in order to balance out some of the stresses ahead that are necessary precursors to leaving (finishing the diss, going on the market, getting a few more publications out, finishing the diss), I’ve decided every week to do at least one special NYC thing. I want to get back in touch with some of the wonderful parts of this city that are not always easy to access when you’ve gotten used to this place and caught up in the mundane details of everyday life. This week, a double-header launch. First: Tuesday night, for seasonal inspiration, went to a free screening of Wet Hot American Summer at the McCarren Pool. I didn’t mind the crowds, and I LOL’d plenty. My future husband Ted said the screening was the most hipsters you could possibly gather in one place, in the epicenter of hipster culture, doing the most hipsterish activity imaginable. I noted that if a bomb was dropped on us, American Apparel would go out of business. Second: Tonight, sick of myself and my dissertation and my office, abandoned my books and walked to MOMA, stopping along the way to eat an expensive but delicious sandwich in Bryant Park. I didn’t realize it was Free Friday until I got to the museum–the crowds were kind of unbearable. But then I found a quiet corner on the third floor, an exhibit from the drawings collection, with nobody but me and a handful of Europeans to quietly enjoy the works on paper. I saw a few favorites–Malevich, Albers, Maholy-Nagy. Something about one work by Kandinsky got me sentimental, a mood I’ve yet to shake.
The temperature seems to have returned to something resembling a habitat suitable for human life, which I’m happy about, as I’m planning to be out and around on my bike later. Though first I need to fix a flat — the second in one week! Defying everything I know about having (and keeping) a bike in NYC, I leave my bike locked up downstairs in front of my building, and no trouble has ever come my way. But if I wind up with a third flat I’m going to begin to suspect sabotage. Yesterday, a long but fun day doing manny duty with Greg for the twins (by the end of the day we were all covered in popsicle juice; sharing a popsicle with a one-year old in 90something degree weather is not a neat affair.) I am no longer so tired after our Tuesday babysitting gig that I can’t do anything but get in bed with Pringles and my laptop tuned to Hulu, so I actually got some satisfying work done last night. A flurry of re-visiting some old favorite readings — Rajan’s Biocapital, Chow’s Protestant Ethnic, some pieces in Global Assemblages — plus some time with Aihwa Ong’s recent book on neoliberalism, which I’m finding quite helpful. Something I’m sorting out right now: the limits of ephochal readings of Foucault (such as “disciplinary society”) and some reasons we might want to concentrate instead on descriptions of technologies that (as Ong characterizes neoliberalism) can be deployed within any sort of political regime. This seems consonant with a Deleuzeun understanding of “diagrams” (abstract, mobile), despite some of the responsibility Deleuze bears for encouraging epochal readings (his “society of control.”) Meanwhile, the soc blogosphere is rife with advice these days for the would-be job candidate — Newsocprof, Scatterplot, Rethinking Markets — which I’m really appreciating. “Going on the market” seems sort of terrifying, but completing a set of discrete tasks feels do-able.
Recent Comments