NOVEMBER 2024

Only two weeks of class remaining – one on either side of Thanksgiving.  Talk about a whirlwind!

SONG INSPIRATION

November’s blog is inspired by Glorilla’s LET HER COOK.

FINISHING THE RAT RACE – EXTERNAL GRANTS AND JOB APPLICATIONS

I’m down to my last application for tenure track positions.  Although it’s possible other positions may trickle in over the next month or two, I suspect – like last cycle – the bulk of job posting has concluded.  I can’t wait to finish the application process.  Applying for jobs is a job in itself and it has consumed every weekend since the start of the semester.  Furthermore, I can’t deny feelings of resentment as I wrestle with being in my mid-thirties without stable employment.  Keeping the imposter syndrome and paranoia at bay is mentally exhausting.  On the flip side, I have a strong application (one up side to repeated job cycles) and way more experience than last year.  I am cautiously optimistic, but I have started considering contingency plans if this goes belly up.

Another element to securing a future in academia is building an externally funded research program.  To that end, I’m involved in several external grants.  Those grants are either submitted, in progress, or ramping up.  The plate is never empty but the cup runneth over.  Don’t get wrong – I have a lot of fun proposing cool science with great people in exotic locations.  I’m still inspired and excited by our planet and the phenomenal processes in the cosmos.  But damn – ya boy is tired.

WRITING UPDATE

One casualty of the busiest semester since I defended my PhD has been writing – on all fronts (except external grants).  My next first author manuscript has been on the backburner although I expect progress to pick up in the coming weeks.  Those results look fairly interesting, but I likely won’t get it to my co-authors until early 2025.  Thankfully, I’m on a few other papers and I’ve made an effort to adequately contribute to those.

In the creative realm, the progress has been worse.  Over the summer, I edited approximately 30-50 pages per week.  Since September, I’ve edited only 10 pages per week which forced me to push back my ambitious timeline of having novel 1 ready for alpha readers in January 2025.  Instead, it’s likely I won’t finish first round revisions until summer 2025.  It’s understandable given my actual job takes priority.  I hope to pick up the pace during the winter when work is slower.  I’m not upset, but I am ready to have a fresh set of eyes on this mess.

LIVING IN RESISTANCE…AGAIN

Unfortunately, we have to participate in the Hunger Games again.  The next four years will represent a time of grassroots organizing, moral resistance, and fighting to protect the least of us.  We have done it before in our respective communities and we shall do it again for we have little choice.  It’s easy to feel powerless…defeated…worn out.  And there’s definitely time for resting…reflecting…recharging.  And then we stand up, dust ourselves off, and continue bending that barely malleable moral arc of justice.  For me, it’s important to create safe havens for my students to learn, work, express themselves, and create something they can carry with them.  Additionally, I’ll have to keep my own community – which encapsulates multiple axes of identity – active and safe.  Sadly, we’ve been down this road before.  However, what came out of those struggles were robust movements rooted in inclusivity, equity, social justice, workers’ rights, and so on.

CURRENT BOOKS AND SHOWS

Recently finished reading:  The Housekeeper and the Professor

Currently reading:  A Modern History of Japan; Frequently Asked Questions About the Universe

Recently finished watching:  Abbott Elementary (s2); For All Mankind (s2-3); Rings of Power (s2)

Currently watching:  Abbott Elementary (s3); For All Mankind (s4); Great British Bake-Off (s12 – in the US); Saiki (s2); The Acolyte; The Floor (s2)

Thank you for reading!  The final blog of the year is scheduled for Thursday, December 12^th.  Until next time….