If nothing else, my work tonight has shown me that I have a LOT of reading to do. I have been wanting to write all day, but the process has been SLOW. I couldn't figure out where to start, what else needed to be done, besides finishing that one section on my figure's early Congressional career. But I knew that finishing one section would not complete the chapter--there was still much revision work to be done.
So I started at the top--sentence one. And have been working my way through the document, using my own eyes and comments that I received on my early seminar drafts of the chapter. The primary area that my professor's comments addressed that I had not yet fulfilled in the paper was dealing with the genre of campaign autobiographies. Between drafts one and two I added some scholarly sources on the campaign autobiography, but really have not found a lot of theoretical work in the area. I think in my earlier readings of my professor's comments, I overlooked the recommendation to theorize rather than look for theories. What I need to do is read a bunch of autobiographies and the theorize about characteristics that are consistent with the genre to show how my subject does or does not deviate from our generic expectations in her work.
This means I have some serious reading to do. Using my professor's recommendations, I need to take a look at five books. I don't have to read them closely, but I do need to get a good feel for the works for comparative purposes. Sigh. This is going to push back my plans somewhat on completely this Chapter by the 21st.
But to keep myself as close to my deadline as possible, I am going through what I have so far with a fine-tooth comb, adding footnotes and using bold font comments to indicate places where I need further citations or additional information. I am doing as much rewriting and language-tweaking as possible. So hopefully, I can get through this entire thing tonight.
After tonight I will have three things to do:
1) Complete the section on the campaign autobiography as a genre.
2) Fill in the empty footnotes and boldface comments.
3) Write a solid conclusion.
It will definitely be feasible to complete #2 and 3 by the 21st, but I'm not so sure about #1....Sigh
Updated 2:04 AM--make that a Double Sigh. I made it through the pages I have written and what I need even more than a solid conclusion is an entire section on political philosophy before the conclusion--I'm talking 5-7 more pages. Sigh Sigh.
Sweet
| You Are Mud Pie |
 You're the perfect combo of flavor and depth Those who like you give into their impulses |
Back on the Grind
Despite the quiet fog I was in yesterday, I got some good work done on my new course syllabus. My cable internet was acting up last night so I couldn't finish what I'd started, nor could I start on what I needed to do on my dissertation. So today is a fresh start. My goal is to finish a section on Chapter Four and to push what I have written towards a final revision on this draft. I probably won't make my goal to send this thing out by the weekend, but if I do what I need to do today, it could definitely go out next week. My advisors are leaving town on the 21st so I want to have it in by then.
Silence
Something took my words away today. Like a smooth pickpocket--I didn't even feel it happen. But for most of the day, I've sat here (and a myriad of other places) in silence. Looking, waiting, wishing that my words would return. But they haven't. At the end of the day, I simply don't know what to say. And the words are not just missing from the piles of papers that should be growing my (pe)degree--today they have been missing from my life.
I always try to recognize silence as a gift. Many choose to grieve the loss of words as something that has not yet been found, but I always try to embrace silence and be still. Today I moved and lived without words. Today I listened and I learned. I read today. I made fudge. I walked. I smiled and I cried.
The beauty of silence and stillness is that it does not have to be paralysis, such as that which strikes the depressed or the grieving or the lonely. There can be much life and productivity--even in the deepest silence. A blade of grass grows in absolute silence--I imagine it barely disturbs the air around it. It grows up quietly, it doesn't rush, it doesn't fuss, it doesn't shout it's disappointment at it's meager accomplishment. But it lives, it continues, it continues to grow in silence Too often I think, we ignore the tremendous potential for growth there is in silence. We shift uncomfortably under its weight as if it might crush us, when in fact, it may rest with us to sooth us or free us or strengthen us. Although the pages of my dissertation didn't move, and no one saw or heard the changes in me today, I know that in my silence today--I grew.
I always try to recognize silence as a gift. Many choose to grieve the loss of words as something that has not yet been found, but I always try to embrace silence and be still. Today I moved and lived without words. Today I listened and I learned. I read today. I made fudge. I walked. I smiled and I cried.
The beauty of silence and stillness is that it does not have to be paralysis, such as that which strikes the depressed or the grieving or the lonely. There can be much life and productivity--even in the deepest silence. A blade of grass grows in absolute silence--I imagine it barely disturbs the air around it. It grows up quietly, it doesn't rush, it doesn't fuss, it doesn't shout it's disappointment at it's meager accomplishment. But it lives, it continues, it continues to grow in silence Too often I think, we ignore the tremendous potential for growth there is in silence. We shift uncomfortably under its weight as if it might crush us, when in fact, it may rest with us to sooth us or free us or strengthen us. Although the pages of my dissertation didn't move, and no one saw or heard the changes in me today, I know that in my silence today--I grew.
New Publication Plan
I was going to work on sending off one of my previous seminar papers for publication this month, but it is looking like it is going to need a little more work than I previously anticipated. Even though it is one of my best papers, it is outside of my discipline and I need to change the intro and conclusion to account for other recent publications and to make it more relevant to the field (which is not my primary field). So instead, I'm going to get back to work on a co-authored piece I have. It needs lots of work too, but it is in my field and I already have some reviews on it. I think it will be easier to revise since I have directions on what needs to be changed. And my co-author is looking for me to do the bulk of the work before we send it out again, so I might as well do that now before I graduate and am no longer able to use the resources at our institution. Always feels good to have a plan.
Post-Birthday Blues
I had a great birthday weekend, but I'm sad it is over so soon. I needed more time to celebrate. I did something I hadn't done in years--went roller skating. That was too cute. I did some grown up things too and got some great gifts (including my Bluetooth), but I'm just sad its over. Reality is back and the dissertation awaits me. I know I deserve some time off to some extent but it's really crunch time for me. I really want to make the May graduation deadline, which means a March defense--yikes. And I'm a little anxious that I haven't heard anything back from my chairs all week on the last thing I sent them. I have some job related thoughts as to why that is but I hope my thoughts are incorrect. I really gotta hit it this week so I can meet my deadlines for the month. If I can be wrapping up Chapter Five by New Year's I'll feel MUCH better about this whole thing. We'll see. I know I don't have to rush as far as my job goes, but I am feeling the pressure of my internal clock right now...And Dr. John is gone so hence, the post-birthday blues....
Celebration Time!
Ok, the day could have been more productive on the writing end. I didn't write a thing and that sucks. BUT I did do a lot of reading today in my primary texts for this chapter and that felt so good. It gave me a lot of good ideas for avenues to take this chapter to the next level. But enough of that work stuff for the week. It's birthday celebration time. My best friend is taking me to dinner tonight. Dr. John will be here tomorrow and we're doing some joint birthday celebration activities. And then Sunday (my actual birthday) my mother is cooking a big dinner for the family and my good friends.
I know I should be working, and I might even read some more when I get back from dinner tonight. But I am DETERMINED to have a good time this weekend!!
I know I should be working, and I might even read some more when I get back from dinner tonight. But I am DETERMINED to have a good time this weekend!!
Distracted
That article must have really gotten my teaching-blood flowing. I've had my future classes on the brain all night. Started my new course syllabus--came up with some good themes. I decided that I want to have all my courses for next year mapped out before the summer is over. Yes that's right, it is not enough for me to just focus on the dissertation. I need at least 10 other things to do. But seriously, as soon as the dissertation is done, I want to make sure I'm set for next fall and the following spring. I'd like to have this done before June so I can actually have a summer to relax and not stress about school. I might even get a job at the mall.
Diss word count tonight: 47 (yikes)
Diss word count tonight: 47 (yikes)
No Creativity in Higher Ed?
I read an interesting article today by a student at UNLV who argues that a college education often stifles creativity. Take a look. I do know a lot of professors who spend time regurgitating material, and it seems to be a problem likely to occur in the large lecture big institution courses (just from my experience in a Big School environment). I imagine certain disciplines/fields are more vulnerable to this than others (professional programs such as in this student's business classes). So there could be an assumption that liberal arts classes encourage more creativity, but I think that depends on the professor and the course. I would hope that our class discussion and the types of texts I want to use will spark creative thinking--but that has to be balanced against assignments/tests/quizzes and grading which does tend to promote more standardized (YUCK) learning and memorization. I think.
This piece got me thinking--good--and I want to make sure I'm doing as much as possible in my new courses in the Fall to discourage just rote memorization and promote creativity. So I'm tossing a question to the academeblogosphere--How do you encourage creativity in your classroom???
This piece got me thinking--good--and I want to make sure I'm doing as much as possible in my new courses in the Fall to discourage just rote memorization and promote creativity. So I'm tossing a question to the academeblogosphere--How do you encourage creativity in your classroom???
Slow Night
So the bad news about a new toy--you don't want to work, you want to play. I am STRUGGLING to keep from making this an extended birthday weekend. I'm tempted to be like my undergrads up North and say that the weekend begins on Thursday. But that's just not right!! I sluggishly wrote about400 words tonight and that's all I could muster. I'm going to try to hit the library tomorrow morning to look up some things. We'll see.
It's Here! It's Here!!
Inspired by Russian Violets, I got myself a new phone for my birthday. My old phone was great but they discontinued it a long time ago. I will miss it--but it was time for a serious upgrade. And thanks to my upgrade and online discounts, I got a seriously expensive phone for next to nothing!
Taaa Daaaa (Click here for fancy demo)...
I could have gotta a Palm or a Blackberry, but I don't need anything else in my life to connect me to work--birthday toys should be fun and this is definitely a FUN toy!! Next stop--Bluetooth....
Taaa Daaaa (Click here for fancy demo)...
I could have gotta a Palm or a Blackberry, but I don't need anything else in my life to connect me to work--birthday toys should be fun and this is definitely a FUN toy!! Next stop--Bluetooth....
Decent Workday
It wasn't outstanding, but I got my pages done. The quality of the writing could have been better today, BUT writing is writing at this point. I did have some fun looking through old New York Times articles. I had a few Dave Chappelle--"Man that was racist"--moments, but hey those were the Times. The times where you could be publicly racist and it was cool. Those days are definitely on the return--I miss the late 80s/early 90s when folks were trying to learn to be sensitive to their own racisms (pre-"PC"). I always chuckle when I see that Cosby Show episode where Denise was teaching Olivia -- don't say Black but African-American, don't say White but Caucasian. Poor Olivia couldn't even pronounce the words--but that was the in thing then. But that's another post, I'm rambling--going to bed early.
It's Sinking In
The official job offer paperwork is here. A draft of my new department's teaching schedule just arrived today. It's starting to sink in that come August, I will be a professor. I'm doing my best not to think about my new classes too much--that could be a GREAT way to procrastinate on the dissertation. (And I will take a pretty significant pay cut if I don't finish the dissertation by August so let's keep our eyes on the ball!)
But I am really excited about my new classes. My chair and I were on the same wavelength regarding my course preferences for the fall. I'm teaching two undergraduate classes--one is my old standby that I've done a million times and the other will be a new course in a very traditional area of our field. My chair is sending me some review copies of books I might use for my standby course (one of which I always wanted to use at my previous institution but wasn't allowed to!). I doubt I will have a textbook for the new course--I'll be teaching a series of speeches and it is hard to find one book that has them all. So I think instructors for this course typically use a combination of electronic sources to get the job done.
I'm excited about designing my first new course. I'm telling myself that I won't think about it until at least January because I know how much energy I put into those sample syllabi for my teaching portfolio--too bad I didn't make one for this class though. But what is REALLY exciting me is the course size. I found out today the caps on my sections--15 and 25. That is just beautiful to me. I've never taught classes this small during the year, I think I had one or two summer sections this small and that's it. I'm going to have to do some major tinkering in my standby syllabus to account for the reduced class size--I'm used to cramming a lot more into a little space, but know I can take lots of time and do more in-depth work!! This is going to be such a refreshing change and hopefully a fun start to being a professor.
But I am really excited about my new classes. My chair and I were on the same wavelength regarding my course preferences for the fall. I'm teaching two undergraduate classes--one is my old standby that I've done a million times and the other will be a new course in a very traditional area of our field. My chair is sending me some review copies of books I might use for my standby course (one of which I always wanted to use at my previous institution but wasn't allowed to!). I doubt I will have a textbook for the new course--I'll be teaching a series of speeches and it is hard to find one book that has them all. So I think instructors for this course typically use a combination of electronic sources to get the job done.
I'm excited about designing my first new course. I'm telling myself that I won't think about it until at least January because I know how much energy I put into those sample syllabi for my teaching portfolio--too bad I didn't make one for this class though. But what is REALLY exciting me is the course size. I found out today the caps on my sections--15 and 25. That is just beautiful to me. I've never taught classes this small during the year, I think I had one or two summer sections this small and that's it. I'm going to have to do some major tinkering in my standby syllabus to account for the reduced class size--I'm used to cramming a lot more into a little space, but know I can take lots of time and do more in-depth work!! This is going to be such a refreshing change and hopefully a fun start to being a professor.
Get It Done
Just. Get. It. Done.
Hit my dissertation writing goal for the night. I wrote 3 new pages on the subject of Chapter Four and did some good reorganization/revising work on the draft. I created a space for a brand new section--I'm not sure how much time I'm going to need on it, but I do know that it will require me to read a book. Sigh. Required reading is a good thing though, I haven't read enough at all lately. But I'm done for the night; now I can have some dessert.
Hit my dissertation writing goal for the night. I wrote 3 new pages on the subject of Chapter Four and did some good reorganization/revising work on the draft. I created a space for a brand new section--I'm not sure how much time I'm going to need on it, but I do know that it will require me to read a book. Sigh. Required reading is a good thing though, I haven't read enough at all lately. But I'm done for the night; now I can have some dessert.
Birthday Wishes
Today I have to wish a very Happy Birthday to Dr. John--a beautiful, intelligent, wonderful man I am so blessed to know. I hope you have a BEAUTIFUL day and I can't wait to see you soon.
Also a very Happy Founder's Day to the men of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Congratulations on reaching 99 years of service to the community.
Also a very Happy Founder's Day to the men of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Congratulations on reaching 99 years of service to the community.
Clean Up Day
Saturdays--good for laundry, cleaning, and organization, oh and Christmas tree decoration. It was one of those Saturdays for me.
I hadn't anticipated finishing that chapter yesterday so today was a regrouping and goal setting day. I spent some time looking over the draft I have so far for Chapter Four. It needs at least 20 more pages of analysis and a LOT of rewriting--especially since I am adding an additional text to the analysis. So if I work on 2 new pages and 1 page of revising a day, I should be in good shape to get this next chapter out to the advisors before they go away for break. I did a good bit of work today updating my references and looking for new sources. I definitely need to make a library trip this week to check out that reference book I used before. I need some more references/news reports from the 70s on my subject.
Also, now that I have my life freed from the job search, I want to get back to my publication goals. I have a great paper from an English seminar that I would love to get published. It's not exactly in my area but I think it was one of the best pieces I wrote during graduate school. I wrote it in 2003 so I spent some time today researching the novel to see what had been written on it lately. Two pieces have come out since I wrote my seminar paper, one of which begins to touch on some of the issues of genre I discuss in my paper. But I think I can incorporate that and use it as a perspective to "continue the conversation" on this particular text. Perhaps the editors will disagree, but I won't know until I send it out, right? So I'm going to read the two new articles in more detail tonight before I go to bed, figure out how to incorporate them, and then start the work of revising this piece to send out by the New Year.
Other than that, today has been a good day to relax and watch football. I was glad to see Georgia win the SEC title. But I'm a little disappointed by the USC/Texas hype--I'm not sure if either of those teams would be so great if they were in stronger conferences. Now don't get me wrong, Reggie Bush is PHENOMENAL but I mean really--should you win CHAMPIONSHIP games with 60+ point margins? Just sayin--doesn't seem right....Off to watch Florida State finish off Virginia Tech and read these articles before bed.
I hadn't anticipated finishing that chapter yesterday so today was a regrouping and goal setting day. I spent some time looking over the draft I have so far for Chapter Four. It needs at least 20 more pages of analysis and a LOT of rewriting--especially since I am adding an additional text to the analysis. So if I work on 2 new pages and 1 page of revising a day, I should be in good shape to get this next chapter out to the advisors before they go away for break. I did a good bit of work today updating my references and looking for new sources. I definitely need to make a library trip this week to check out that reference book I used before. I need some more references/news reports from the 70s on my subject.
Also, now that I have my life freed from the job search, I want to get back to my publication goals. I have a great paper from an English seminar that I would love to get published. It's not exactly in my area but I think it was one of the best pieces I wrote during graduate school. I wrote it in 2003 so I spent some time today researching the novel to see what had been written on it lately. Two pieces have come out since I wrote my seminar paper, one of which begins to touch on some of the issues of genre I discuss in my paper. But I think I can incorporate that and use it as a perspective to "continue the conversation" on this particular text. Perhaps the editors will disagree, but I won't know until I send it out, right? So I'm going to read the two new articles in more detail tonight before I go to bed, figure out how to incorporate them, and then start the work of revising this piece to send out by the New Year.
Other than that, today has been a good day to relax and watch football. I was glad to see Georgia win the SEC title. But I'm a little disappointed by the USC/Texas hype--I'm not sure if either of those teams would be so great if they were in stronger conferences. Now don't get me wrong, Reggie Bush is PHENOMENAL but I mean really--should you win CHAMPIONSHIP games with 60+ point margins? Just sayin--doesn't seem right....Off to watch Florida State finish off Virginia Tech and read these articles before bed.
Sending This Bad Boy Off--TONIGHT!
Man I got some Great work done today. I didn't stick to my goal of writing two new pages, BUT, I revised the entire Third Chapter (which is Chapter Six). It reads a lot better to me, but I know the analysis could use some more teeth. To me, it has definitely reached the--I need some feedback--stage. I can't look at it anymore, but at least it is as clean as it is going to get. It feels good to be getting something off my desk again. This means that starting tomorrow I can dig fully into Chapter Four. My goal is to get that one off my desk by Christmas, take a week off for the holidays, and then devote January Chapters Five and Seven. Ok, I'm getting ahead of myself again. One more spellcheck and I'm sending this bad boy off TONIGHT!!
Small Steps--Good...
I conquered the fear of PDSS (Post Dissertation Separation Syndrome), and after coming back from job search mania to the diss, I feel good about what I accomplished tonight. My goal was small, and will stay small for the next few days as I get back into the groove. I am reminded through this process of reacclimation tonight that writing is work. Darn it.
Thursday's end product--10 pages of revisions and two new pages. That will be my goal for Friday as well. The chapter I'm revising is 30something pages, so if I stick to this goals for a couple days, I can send Third Chapter back to my chairs by Monday. (Don't ask me why I started revising with Third Chapter instead of Chapter One or Two). I'm sure they will love to see something from me!! So glad the work is getting done again--yeah!!
Thursday's end product--10 pages of revisions and two new pages. That will be my goal for Friday as well. The chapter I'm revising is 30something pages, so if I stick to this goals for a couple days, I can send Third Chapter back to my chairs by Monday. (Don't ask me why I started revising with Third Chapter instead of Chapter One or Two). I'm sure they will love to see something from me!! So glad the work is getting done again--yeah!!
My So Called (ABD) Life
There is a new design for the blog in the works (nothing too flashy because I'm still learning CSS), but the name is the same. Job in hand and all, I am still ABD--can't lose sight of that point (especially since a significant portion of my new salary depends on my PhD). So this is still my so-called ABD life. And today is the first of the month; time to get back on the dissertation grind.
Today, I'm back in full-time dissertation mode. It's been a little while since I've written anything new so my goals for today are to:
1) Write at least TWO new pages on any chapter in the diss.
2) Get back to those revisions of Chapters 1-3.
In the words of Jay-Z--I'm not a businessman, I'm a BUSINESS, MAN--so let me handle my business damn...
Today, I'm back in full-time dissertation mode. It's been a little while since I've written anything new so my goals for today are to:
1) Write at least TWO new pages on any chapter in the diss.
2) Get back to those revisions of Chapters 1-3.
In the words of Jay-Z--I'm not a businessman, I'm a BUSINESS, MAN--so let me handle my business damn...
Professor Mon (More Job Hunting Advice)
I have a job. I have a job. I have a job. I have a job.
No matter how I say it to myself or how many times I say it, it doesn't quite seem real yet that I have a job. My new chair called me Professor Mon today and it just sounds too good to be true. I have a job.
This has been a crazy first job search, but now that it's over I can say that it worked out great. The very first school I applied to gave me my first interview and my first offer. And today I happily accepted. Everything about this position was earlier than what is normally done in my field, and I knew that if I was a top candidate for job, there was a chance that I would receive an offer before other positions in my field even started interviewing. But I applied knowing all of this because it was really an ideal situation for me coming from an R1 that was far from home. I knew I wanted a good professional experience, a serious change of scenery, and a place where I felt welcomed culturally and socially. Throughout my whole job search, my biggest problem has not been about finding places I liked, but about figuring out what type of institution I really wanted. I applied to just about every type and I'm not sure that was the best thing for me to do.
Job Hunting Tip #1: Figure out what you want ASAP, preferably before you go on the market. One of my mentors told me that I could have any job that I wanted and she was right, but I took a while to figure out what it was that I wanted. She told me to figure this out before I went on the market, but the market season came up so fast I thought the answer would "come to me" as I applied. That's a bad way to go about a search. My confusion created some unnecessary noise once I started receiving invitations to apply to some top R1 schools and early interviews. I started to go with the places that wanted me rather than with what I wanted. I was influenced by what other people wanted or thought best for me rather than what I wanted--bad idea.
Job Hunting Tip #2: Know Yourself.
I went into graduate school for one reason. My undergraduate experience. I loved my professors, loved the liberal arts environment, and I wanted to get my PhD so I could return to that kind of place in the future. More than anything else, that drove the decision I made today and I'm glad that was a deciding factor.
Job Hunting Tip #3: Remember This is a Beginning.
Throughout the dissertation process, I've heard folks say--"remember that this is not your magnum opus"--"it is just a start to your professional career"--"you don't have to try to do everything now." I think that the dissertation and a first job have strong parallels. What you do with both has to do with your own personal goals. For those who have goals to be the next big name in the field, what they do with their dissertation and where they take their first job is of the upmost importance. I've never had the goal of being the next big academic. I want a space to write and a life of teaching--so I chose a job that will give me those things at a place where I can BEGIN my professional career. I think first jobs, like dissertations, are the source of angst if they are viewed as the "well this is it" point in one's life in the academy. Both are important starting points but neither has to be the determining factor in the rest of one's career. As my mentor says--if you are excellent in what you do, you can have the things that you want.
So it's pretty close to official, I'll be a professor beginning in fall 2006 and I'm excited about this new beginning in my career. This gives me a great new deadline for my dissertation work--it takes some of the old pressure off and puts a new, I think more positive, pressure on. Before I wanted to be done primarily so I could leave my graduate school life behind--that motivation is still there, but now I want to be done so I can start my new life with a clean slate.
No matter how I say it to myself or how many times I say it, it doesn't quite seem real yet that I have a job. My new chair called me Professor Mon today and it just sounds too good to be true. I have a job.
This has been a crazy first job search, but now that it's over I can say that it worked out great. The very first school I applied to gave me my first interview and my first offer. And today I happily accepted. Everything about this position was earlier than what is normally done in my field, and I knew that if I was a top candidate for job, there was a chance that I would receive an offer before other positions in my field even started interviewing. But I applied knowing all of this because it was really an ideal situation for me coming from an R1 that was far from home. I knew I wanted a good professional experience, a serious change of scenery, and a place where I felt welcomed culturally and socially. Throughout my whole job search, my biggest problem has not been about finding places I liked, but about figuring out what type of institution I really wanted. I applied to just about every type and I'm not sure that was the best thing for me to do.
Job Hunting Tip #1: Figure out what you want ASAP, preferably before you go on the market. One of my mentors told me that I could have any job that I wanted and she was right, but I took a while to figure out what it was that I wanted. She told me to figure this out before I went on the market, but the market season came up so fast I thought the answer would "come to me" as I applied. That's a bad way to go about a search. My confusion created some unnecessary noise once I started receiving invitations to apply to some top R1 schools and early interviews. I started to go with the places that wanted me rather than with what I wanted. I was influenced by what other people wanted or thought best for me rather than what I wanted--bad idea.
Job Hunting Tip #2: Know Yourself.
I went into graduate school for one reason. My undergraduate experience. I loved my professors, loved the liberal arts environment, and I wanted to get my PhD so I could return to that kind of place in the future. More than anything else, that drove the decision I made today and I'm glad that was a deciding factor.
Job Hunting Tip #3: Remember This is a Beginning.
Throughout the dissertation process, I've heard folks say--"remember that this is not your magnum opus"--"it is just a start to your professional career"--"you don't have to try to do everything now." I think that the dissertation and a first job have strong parallels. What you do with both has to do with your own personal goals. For those who have goals to be the next big name in the field, what they do with their dissertation and where they take their first job is of the upmost importance. I've never had the goal of being the next big academic. I want a space to write and a life of teaching--so I chose a job that will give me those things at a place where I can BEGIN my professional career. I think first jobs, like dissertations, are the source of angst if they are viewed as the "well this is it" point in one's life in the academy. Both are important starting points but neither has to be the determining factor in the rest of one's career. As my mentor says--if you are excellent in what you do, you can have the things that you want.
So it's pretty close to official, I'll be a professor beginning in fall 2006 and I'm excited about this new beginning in my career. This gives me a great new deadline for my dissertation work--it takes some of the old pressure off and puts a new, I think more positive, pressure on. Before I wanted to be done primarily so I could leave my graduate school life behind--that motivation is still there, but now I want to be done so I can start my new life with a clean slate.
New Look Needed for New Attitude
My time away from the blog + Big changes in my professional and personal life +
New attitude towards the dissertation = Contemplation about a new design for the blog.
I'm thinking about it--but apparently the blue should stay:
Updates and regular dissertation writing and blogging to resume by December 1st!!
New attitude towards the dissertation = Contemplation about a new design for the blog.
I'm thinking about it--but apparently the blue should stay:
| Your Blog Should Be Blue |
 Your blog is a peaceful, calming force in the blogosphere. You tend to avoid conflict - you're more likely to share than rant. From your social causes to cute pet photos, your life is a (mostly) open book. |
Updates and regular dissertation writing and blogging to resume by December 1st!!
Job Hunting Advice
I have been collecting advice on a wide variety of areas from a wide variety of scholars in the job hunt--here are a few nuggets--
Negotiating 101
Take your time. This is an important decision. NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE VALUE OF A GOOD QUALITY OF LIFE. While some scholars may look down on a decision influenced by location or weather or surrounding culture, if these things are important to you, do not allow others to devalue their importance. Being in an environment where you are happy and comfortable will make you a more productive scholar/teacher.
Also consider how this institution might fit into your future career goals. Will this be a good starting point for where you want to go later?
Make sure you ask LOTS of questions. Does the university have a good insurance plan? Are there possibilities for spousal hires? What is the departmental/institution attitude towards family-planning? Will the service obligations be a burden in your first few years in this new position. Find out EVERYTHING you need to know.
On Taking a Position Your Committee Might Not Like
"You must really work hard to detach yourself from the opinions of others. It is easier to develop a habit of mind to do this now rather than later. If you don't, you will self-destruct."
On Job Market Advice
Listen to what everyone has to say, and then don't. Follow your heart and make what you think is the best decision for you. Remember that "the only way to navigate academe is to be so excellent that everyone leaves you alone."
That's all for now--more as I continue to collect advice.
Negotiating 101
- Start with your base salary. Your base salary will determine a great deal about how "high" you can climb in the future. Many opportunities, like summer teaching, are determined by a percentage of your base salary. Consider your market value to the department and the institution and argue from there. Know what you are bringing to the table and how you will contribute. Try to get $$ added on to your base salary first before negotiating one-time $$ offers. Talk about future increases based on merit and cost-of-living.
- Make sure you have adequate start-up money for your office/lab. Computers and space should also be a part of this conversation.
- If you can't get more $$ added to your base salary work to secure other funding opportunities--summer research stipends/grants, conference travel funds, library budget, lab maintenance/upgrade funds, etc.
- Find a teaching load agreement that is comfortable for you. If your position covers other duties (administration, heavy service/advisement, curriculum development) talk about having your teaching time reassigned to account for those duties. It may also be useful for you to secure a cap on the number of students in your courses.
- Remember: "An institution that really wants you bad will work hard to protect you when you get there."
Take your time. This is an important decision. NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE VALUE OF A GOOD QUALITY OF LIFE. While some scholars may look down on a decision influenced by location or weather or surrounding culture, if these things are important to you, do not allow others to devalue their importance. Being in an environment where you are happy and comfortable will make you a more productive scholar/teacher.
Also consider how this institution might fit into your future career goals. Will this be a good starting point for where you want to go later?
Make sure you ask LOTS of questions. Does the university have a good insurance plan? Are there possibilities for spousal hires? What is the departmental/institution attitude towards family-planning? Will the service obligations be a burden in your first few years in this new position. Find out EVERYTHING you need to know.
On Taking a Position Your Committee Might Not Like
"You must really work hard to detach yourself from the opinions of others. It is easier to develop a habit of mind to do this now rather than later. If you don't, you will self-destruct."
On Job Market Advice
Listen to what everyone has to say, and then don't. Follow your heart and make what you think is the best decision for you. Remember that "the only way to navigate academe is to be so excellent that everyone leaves you alone."
That's all for now--more as I continue to collect advice.
Wow, What's Next?!
It has been a crazy few weeks. I'm unpacking only to repack again. I miss writing. My dissertation is calling me and I was glad to get a few moments of writing in here and there at the airport; but, I am in need of some serious writing time soon. Won't be today.
I had a great visit and a great conference. I got exactly what I went to the conference to get as well as a few other invitations to visit campuses. I know I'm very blessed and I'm excited about next year already. Now the next phase for me is tricky--negotiations--and checking out comparable opportunities.
Just a quick update--regular dissertation blogging to return soon (I hope). Happy Thanksgiving Holidays!
I had a great visit and a great conference. I got exactly what I went to the conference to get as well as a few other invitations to visit campuses. I know I'm very blessed and I'm excited about next year already. Now the next phase for me is tricky--negotiations--and checking out comparable opportunities.
Just a quick update--regular dissertation blogging to return soon (I hope). Happy Thanksgiving Holidays!
Packing Up
Ok, now comes the fun part--packing up for the rest of the month. Fancy-Smanchy University Affair to pack for. Campus Visit to pack for. National Conference to pack for. Oh, and then there's Thanksgiving. Fun Fun Fun. I'll have about 40 hours combined in there somewhere between these trips to do some possible unpacking/repacking but I want to keep this as organized a venture as possible.
I will be on a serious blogging hiatus for the next few weeks as I try to get a JOB.
I will be on a serious blogging hiatus for the next few weeks as I try to get a JOB.
PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE
The Talk is done. The teaching gig is organized. Just practicing away. But to keep things interesting--I'm catching a cold. Of course. Just when I need to talk, I can't breathe.
But the show must go on. Lots of early bedtimes for me for the rest of the week.
Before I enter some medicated sleep tonight, I need to print out all my conference papers as well so I can start practicing those. I figure I'll look at them mostly in the hotel while I'm on campus and in the airports--they'll be my spare minute readings until I get through this visit.
So much fun being an academic--really it is.
But the show must go on. Lots of early bedtimes for me for the rest of the week.
Before I enter some medicated sleep tonight, I need to print out all my conference papers as well so I can start practicing those. I figure I'll look at them mostly in the hotel while I'm on campus and in the airports--they'll be my spare minute readings until I get through this visit.
So much fun being an academic--really it is.
Keeping the PowerPoint
I decided to fix up my notes into a real PowerPoint. Thanks abd me for the confirmation. I have some compelling pictures that I'm analyzing in my dissertation, so I'll share those with the audience. The other slides just have very short points (1-3 words) that summarize my overall project and research agenda. I think it looks pretty good. But I had one of those, this-is-why- sometimes-you-need-to-be-on-campus moments today; I need to actually see how the pictures show up on a projector (are they big enough, bright enough, etc.). Fortunately, Dr. John is going to get me into a classroom on his campus so I can see it. (Dr. John saves the day again!)
Everything is coming together and I'm feeling comfortable with the presentation more and more. The teaching time will be fine--I get to speak with some smart students about one of my favorite historical figures. I'm looking forward to that. I have a few more days to prepare, actually I have longer than that before the actual visit, but I have to run out of town for a bit before I go to campus, so I want to get everything down by, oh, tomorrow. Come Wednesday, I'm going to be packing up basically for the rest of the month! I guess I should try to get a little more dissertation work done before I go too huh.
Everything is coming together and I'm feeling comfortable with the presentation more and more. The teaching time will be fine--I get to speak with some smart students about one of my favorite historical figures. I'm looking forward to that. I have a few more days to prepare, actually I have longer than that before the actual visit, but I have to run out of town for a bit before I go to campus, so I want to get everything down by, oh, tomorrow. Come Wednesday, I'm going to be packing up basically for the rest of the month! I guess I should try to get a little more dissertation work done before I go too huh.
Research Talk--PowerPoint or Handout??
Or neither?? Sigh. I did something that I never do. I made a PowerPoint of a my presentation to help me get my ideas on paper. I used blank slides to show some pictures I was planning to talk about during the presentation, and white slides to jot down some notes for myself. I never actually planned on doing a full blown PowerPoint. This was just all a part of my inventional process to get thinking on this thing, and to help me nail down my talk so I don't have to carry notes. I RARELY speak from extended notes, maybe some quoted material but that's usually it--presentation outlines stay in my head after a couple days of practice.
Anyways, tonight when I opened the file, I realized that it actually looks like a PowerPoint. Now generally, when I teach students about visual aids, I try to encourage them to keep aids as VISUAL as possible. I think PowerPoint works best when most of the material is not plain text. Well, I'm in the humanities so I don't have any snazzy stats to turn into a graph or a nice machine to diagram. So I would be violating my own rule in a lot of ways to give this presentation. BUT, it's a long talk, and let's face it, it's easier for an audience to get through a talk when they have something to look at. So I'm torn. Should I give a PowerPoint "supported" presentation? Or would that just go against all my instincts as a classically trained humanities scholar??
I think I've ruled out a handout. I hate when my students do handouts and they always get thrown away. So why go through the motions of wasting paper. And then there is always the--well how many do I need--question. No handout.
PowerPoint is still a maybe.
Anyways, tonight when I opened the file, I realized that it actually looks like a PowerPoint. Now generally, when I teach students about visual aids, I try to encourage them to keep aids as VISUAL as possible. I think PowerPoint works best when most of the material is not plain text. Well, I'm in the humanities so I don't have any snazzy stats to turn into a graph or a nice machine to diagram. So I would be violating my own rule in a lot of ways to give this presentation. BUT, it's a long talk, and let's face it, it's easier for an audience to get through a talk when they have something to look at. So I'm torn. Should I give a PowerPoint "supported" presentation? Or would that just go against all my instincts as a classically trained humanities scholar??
I think I've ruled out a handout. I hate when my students do handouts and they always get thrown away. So why go through the motions of wasting paper. And then there is always the--well how many do I need--question. No handout.
PowerPoint is still a maybe.
Homework Day
A productive day of "getting my homework done." I was given more information today on upcoming Important Visit--particularly details about my teaching presentation. I now know what class I'm teaching in, have a better idea of what the students know, and where I'm coming into the mix. So I have a couple ideas in mind--just need to pick one--by say, tomorrow. I've also spent a lot of today researching the department and the faculty on a more in-depth level. Ran across a couple of published pieces that got me thinking about my dissertation so I followed those rabbit trails--came up with a few more articles that could support the diss. But overall it's been good so far just to read over pieces from different aspects of my field, and I'm learning a lot about my field in general by reading the works of this group. Kudos to teacher-scholars. The last major item on the agenda was that I came up with a pretty hefty list of questions that I want to be sure to ask during my visit--this visit is very much about information seeking for me, so I want to be sure all my questions get answered. I'm feeling very neutral about the whole process--I think its going to take a few more days for nerves and adrenaline to kick in. Maybe after I nail down this talk this weekend. We'll see.
More Revisions--Job Talk
I'm just revising away this week. I got through Advisor #1's changes last night. It's going to take a few more days to tackle the requests of Advisor #2, who is on this citation rampage with my work. She was kind enough to indicate that she may have gone overboard about wanting citations and that I could ignore some of her requests. Whew. But I haven't been in the scholarly literature of my diss for a while so it will be good to work in the trenches for a few days.
In the meantime, I'm awaiting more news from Campus Visit School to find out what topic I should be teaching on for my presentation. And I'm thinking that I'm going to spend the weekend working on my job talk. I have a rough idea of what I want to do in my mind, but I need to discuss it more with Advisor #2 who is the job search guru. The school wants to hear about completed research, dissertation update, and future research, so I'm thinking about a past-present-future approach. Something like that. I'm anxious to get to work on it so I may start today...
In the meantime, I'm awaiting more news from Campus Visit School to find out what topic I should be teaching on for my presentation. And I'm thinking that I'm going to spend the weekend working on my job talk. I have a rough idea of what I want to do in my mind, but I need to discuss it more with Advisor #2 who is the job search guru. The school wants to hear about completed research, dissertation update, and future research, so I'm thinking about a past-present-future approach. Something like that. I'm anxious to get to work on it so I may start today...
Research Award!!
I am feeling so blessed this evening. Just when I needed it most, I received an email letting me know that I've received a Top Student Paper Award for one of the papers I'm presenting at this month's Major Conference. I've never received an award at this conference so I am just THRILLED. What a wonderful way to start the month!! Since you all keep insisting that I need to celebrate, I think I will!!
One More Out My System
Ok, this application thing has to stop. I just sent out one more. I think having all these deadlines over my head has been extremely distracting to my writing (although I did do some revising tonight also--felt good). Part of me is pushing to complete them so I can get back to my normal so called life.
So I sent out the one postdoc that was due in November. It was an eletronic submission, so barring the "I wonder if they'll get it"-cyber-anxiety, it felt good to get that off my desk. I've decided to jettison the next two postdocs that are due, neither of which are located anywhere I'm really prepared to live (even for just a year). Taking those two out of the mix means that (in theory), I don't have to even think about a postdoc application until mid-December. That clears out November for me to get ready for my first campus visit, pull together this dissertation stuff, and get geared for the national conference. Those three things are more than enough to keep me occupied this month.
So one more out--one more opportunity to be not as broke as I am right now. Exciting stuff.
The waiting continues.
So I sent out the one postdoc that was due in November. It was an eletronic submission, so barring the "I wonder if they'll get it"-cyber-anxiety, it felt good to get that off my desk. I've decided to jettison the next two postdocs that are due, neither of which are located anywhere I'm really prepared to live (even for just a year). Taking those two out of the mix means that (in theory), I don't have to even think about a postdoc application until mid-December. That clears out November for me to get ready for my first campus visit, pull together this dissertation stuff, and get geared for the national conference. Those three things are more than enough to keep me occupied this month.
So one more out--one more opportunity to be not as broke as I am right now. Exciting stuff.
The waiting continues.
All Gone!
The assistant professor applications are officially complete. I put the remaining applications in the mail this morning and I am D O N E with that part of my job search. Feels good to have that out of my hands for a little while. Now the wait begins. Sigh.
On to revisions
....the job talk
....the teaching presentation
....oh yeah and Fourth Chapter.
On to revisions
....the job talk
....the teaching presentation
....oh yeah and Fourth Chapter.
Sleepy Sunday
Today was truly a day of rest. No regrets about the good sleep--just positive plans for the week to come. Two major things to tackle--revisions on the diss and working on my presentations for my upcoming campus visit.
Until Monday--more rest.
Until Monday--more rest.
Done with Job Hunt--Phase I
Well almost. I've finished all five of my letters. But I just realized one of the positions is for a non-tenure track job so I'm pulling that one. I must have completely read over that in the ad. Sigh. Monday will be the official end to the first half of my job "hunt" when I put these applications in the mail! Total number of asst. prof. positions applied for to date: 10.
Shortly, but not today and probably not this week, Phase II of the process will begin with the hunt for a postdoc. Given the increasing number of job ads I've applied for, I'm thinking that I will cut the number of postdocs down to the ones I REALLY want/can't pass on. Anticipated postdoc applications: 5 or 6 (I'm still debating one)
Got some good work done today--I'm pleased about that. But unfortunately my allergies have been acting up all day and I had to take some medicine. I'm incredibly groggy now--I'll have to start in on dissertation revisions tomorrow.
Shortly, but not today and probably not this week, Phase II of the process will begin with the hunt for a postdoc. Given the increasing number of job ads I've applied for, I'm thinking that I will cut the number of postdocs down to the ones I REALLY want/can't pass on. Anticipated postdoc applications: 5 or 6 (I'm still debating one)
Got some good work done today--I'm pleased about that. But unfortunately my allergies have been acting up all day and I had to take some medicine. I'm incredibly groggy now--I'll have to start in on dissertation revisions tomorrow.
Revising Day
In the spirit of this morning's quiz, today is all about revisions. My last five cover letters for assistant professor positions are now drafted and in need of polishing. At least four are pretty close to completion and just need proofing. The fifth one still needs a little work. Hopefully the whole endeavor won't take more than two hours.
Rest of the day--dissertation revisions. I am going to spend all day and probably all tomorrow evening revising Chapters One through Three. My advisors sent me some good comments so I am hoping to get myself back in dissertation mode by going through them. I'm praying that this will be good momentum to get me into Fourth Chapter on Monday.
Rest of the day--dissertation revisions. I am going to spend all day and probably all tomorrow evening revising Chapters One through Three. My advisors sent me some good comments so I am hoping to get myself back in dissertation mode by going through them. I'm praying that this will be good momentum to get me into Fourth Chapter on Monday.
How Did They Know??
Ok, the picture is ALL wrong, but,
You are a Revisionist Historian. You are the Clark
Kent of postmodernists. You probably want to
work in a library or in social services. No
one suspects you of being a postmodernist...
until they read your publications!
What kind of postmodernist are you!?
brought to you by Quizilla
(seen it on dr. b's spot)
This one is just too true. Now how the questions and my answers added up to this, I'm not smart enough to know. But I did go into academe because of my first seminar in history of public address as an undergraduate. The class focused on histories and historiography and it was the first space in which I was able to research a question I'd had all my life up to that point--where are the Black women in "history"?? I've been writing histories ever since. Pretty neat quiz....
You are a Revisionist Historian. You are the Clark
Kent of postmodernists. You probably want to
work in a library or in social services. No
one suspects you of being a postmodernist...
until they read your publications!
What kind of postmodernist are you!?
brought to you by Quizilla
(seen it on dr. b's spot)
This one is just too true. Now how the questions and my answers added up to this, I'm not smart enough to know. But I did go into academe because of my first seminar in history of public address as an undergraduate. The class focused on histories and historiography and it was the first space in which I was able to research a question I'd had all my life up to that point--where are the Black women in "history"?? I've been writing histories ever since. Pretty neat quiz....
Good Week
Personally, mentally, professionally, this has been a good week. My trip to the mountains was EXCELLENT. Just getting settled back in--little tired--but feeling very invigorated to get some work done.
I'm finally feeling like I'm getting a handle on this job search--I don't feel stressed about it anymore and I'm getting in gear for my first campus visit. I'm going to get a few more applications ready over the weekend to go out on Monday (I'm thinking at least four more). And most importantly, this weekend I will get back into the groove of the most important thing I should be doing right now, my dissertation. I need to spend some serious time on my revisions. My advisor put some things in the mail to me so I need to handle that ASAP. Then I can get back to Fourth Chapter. I'm behind on it, but as long as I can get that tackled before National Conference in November, I'll feel okay.
Time to focus.
I'm finally feeling like I'm getting a handle on this job search--I don't feel stressed about it anymore and I'm getting in gear for my first campus visit. I'm going to get a few more applications ready over the weekend to go out on Monday (I'm thinking at least four more). And most importantly, this weekend I will get back into the groove of the most important thing I should be doing right now, my dissertation. I need to spend some serious time on my revisions. My advisor put some things in the mail to me so I need to handle that ASAP. Then I can get back to Fourth Chapter. I'm behind on it, but as long as I can get that tackled before National Conference in November, I'll feel okay.
Time to focus.
On Location
Applications-Applications-Applications. I've been focusing probably a little more than I would like to on my applications; I've sent four out this week and I'm feeling very good about that. Four more to go this week, and then I'll be starting to switch gears to work on my postdoc applications.
Sigh.
I'm writing on location--taking a little break this week in the mountains. It's cold outside, but I'm staying warm and enjoying this time to myself....More writing when I get back to the South.
Sigh.
I'm writing on location--taking a little break this week in the mountains. It's cold outside, but I'm staying warm and enjoying this time to myself....More writing when I get back to the South.
Working Weekend
Well, Wilma rained on my plans to be in Florida tomorrow. I was looking forward to a week of writing in the Florida sun. But I've found a much more appealing Plan B for travel so I'm still going to get out of the house and write on location for a few days. And yes, it's top secret--I don't want anybody botherin me.
This weekend is another fun-filled writing weekend. Goals are simple:
--Finish reading those autobiographies!!
--Finish research cover letters to send out applications on Monday morning!
--Create interdisciplinary letter so it can go out by Friday!
--Start Chapter 1-3 revisions.
--Pack for the roadtrip.
Pretty straightforward weekend. Let's see how much I can get done!
This weekend is another fun-filled writing weekend. Goals are simple:
--Finish reading those autobiographies!!
--Finish research cover letters to send out applications on Monday morning!
--Create interdisciplinary letter so it can go out by Friday!
--Start Chapter 1-3 revisions.
--Pack for the roadtrip.
Pretty straightforward weekend. Let's see how much I can get done!
Being Scholarly/Being Me
It's a difficult thing, I think, to be a young academic. I'm still enjoying life in the "real world" and I find it demanding sometimes to live up to the expectations of being "scholarly." So generally speaking, I don't--I'm just me. Sometimes silly, sometimes cool, sometimes poetic, always still me. Fortunately, I'm a nerd so it's not too hard to be scholarly sometimes too.
But lately, I've needed an extra push to be scholarly. Today's push came from Dr. John, a generous soul and my kindred academic spirit. He asked me to look over some work he has in progress for a pub., and I found myself quite engaged in his writing. Completely different field, completely different style (manual) and approach, but absolutely riveting. And arguably, Dr. J's work has a lot more real world application than my own, and I'm always inspired by scholarship that does something. Editing was a good scholarly activity and gave me a good filter through which to internalize the advice I was giving out as well as the advice I've been getting lately. So I've been building on this scholarly momentum, courtesy of Dr. John's very exciting and forthcoming article, and I'm back to the grind of my cover letters. I'm still perfecting the research letter. My advisors near and far have weighed in, and again comes the tension--to be scholarly while still being me.
I am admittedly a storyteller, especially when I write. My undergraduate advisor once described my writing style as paratactical (or some similar Greek word I cannot define or spell with any confidence), and told me that my writing tended to pull my reader from the beginning of the story to the end. Not necessarily linear, but more circular in nature (even though a circle is a line too). She warned me that some scholars would be suspicious of the seductive nature of my writing, and that the dominant (patriarchal!) desire for a more linear style might lead to some future criticisms and rejections. And this is true, people generally love the way I write, but often there is a curmudgeon who won't flow with me. So whenever I write for "scholarly" outlets, I always find myself checking to make sure I am writing in my own voice, and I'm always resisting in some way the push to change. Usually this process occurs quietly in my brain, but today the battle has been noisy.
Most of the scholars I invited to critique my most recent letter gave me the same advice. Express your ideas with more confidence, reduce the touchy-feeling language, clean up the grammar, etc. But one categorically eliminated the story-telling nature of my letter. This reviewer completely cut out my voice, and recommended that I subscribe to a more conventional form of letter-writing which boiled down to introduction, dissertation paragraph, additional scholarship/pubs., teaching, conclusion. I read, re-read, and I'm still reading the comments. This is a person whom I admire GREATLY, and who has supported me from Jump. So there has been a very vocal discussion in my brain all day--do I go the scholarly route or do I work to keep what is mine?? On a previous letter, this reviewer had said that my "anecdotes were colorful, but the letter was too long." Here again, the push is to cut, compress, and conform. And I'm resisting.
At the end of the day, I've decided to keep my letter as is. For better or worse, the writing style in my letter is a very strong representation of my scholarship. It's clear. It's colorful. It's personal. It's powerful. It's me.
But lately, I've needed an extra push to be scholarly. Today's push came from Dr. John, a generous soul and my kindred academic spirit. He asked me to look over some work he has in progress for a pub., and I found myself quite engaged in his writing. Completely different field, completely different style (manual) and approach, but absolutely riveting. And arguably, Dr. J's work has a lot more real world application than my own, and I'm always inspired by scholarship that does something. Editing was a good scholarly activity and gave me a good filter through which to internalize the advice I was giving out as well as the advice I've been getting lately. So I've been building on this scholarly momentum, courtesy of Dr. John's very exciting and forthcoming article, and I'm back to the grind of my cover letters. I'm still perfecting the research letter. My advisors near and far have weighed in, and again comes the tension--to be scholarly while still being me.
I am admittedly a storyteller, especially when I write. My undergraduate advisor once described my writing style as paratactical (or some similar Greek word I cannot define or spell with any confidence), and told me that my writing tended to pull my reader from the beginning of the story to the end. Not necessarily linear, but more circular in nature (even though a circle is a line too). She warned me that some scholars would be suspicious of the seductive nature of my writing, and that the dominant (patriarchal!) desire for a more linear style might lead to some future criticisms and rejections. And this is true, people generally love the way I write, but often there is a curmudgeon who won't flow with me. So whenever I write for "scholarly" outlets, I always find myself checking to make sure I am writing in my own voice, and I'm always resisting in some way the push to change. Usually this process occurs quietly in my brain, but today the battle has been noisy.
Most of the scholars I invited to critique my most recent letter gave me the same advice. Express your ideas with more confidence, reduce the touchy-feeling language, clean up the grammar, etc. But one categorically eliminated the story-telling nature of my letter. This reviewer completely cut out my voice, and recommended that I subscribe to a more conventional form of letter-writing which boiled down to introduction, dissertation paragraph, additional scholarship/pubs., teaching, conclusion. I read, re-read, and I'm still reading the comments. This is a person whom I admire GREATLY, and who has supported me from Jump. So there has been a very vocal discussion in my brain all day--do I go the scholarly route or do I work to keep what is mine?? On a previous letter, this reviewer had said that my "anecdotes were colorful, but the letter was too long." Here again, the push is to cut, compress, and conform. And I'm resisting.
At the end of the day, I've decided to keep my letter as is. For better or worse, the writing style in my letter is a very strong representation of my scholarship. It's clear. It's colorful. It's personal. It's powerful. It's me.
Wilma
The women of the storm season have been serious. Wilma has shut down my plans to go to Florida this week coming up. I'm sad, but I'm safe, so not complainin. Just gotta come up with some alternate plans--I was looking forward to going mobile with the diss. Some impressive pictures of Wilma here.
I'm Still Smart
Early morning reminder of my intelligence (or lack thereof).
I'm not a morning person--I rarely do any writing in the morning because of it. Actually I rarely do much of anything in the morning besides roll over. Most people who know me know that I say good morning around 12 noon. But seeing that my hair was becoming quite unruly, I gathered all my energy to get my hair managed this morning. 8:30 in the AM. Gracious. The last time I got up for an 8:30 appt. on any regular basis was for Freshman Biology--and even that was a tag-team effort. (Story for another day). But my motivation to get up this early was high for a number of reasons. 1) My regular stylist, who is really the only man on earth I trust with my hair, is not working this week, therefore 2) I wanted to get up extra early to check out this new place my mom recommended to me, so 3) Since it is a Black hair salon, I wanted to get in before the normal rush to make sure the stylist had plenty of time and could concentrate on my hair. Nothing worse than an hair accident during rush hour--you're mad, you're annoyed, and you're stuck in your seat for another two or three hours at least.
So I walk into this really cute shop--I must say it's one of the nicest hair salons I've been in down here with mostly reasonable prices. As soon as I walk in and introduce myself, the stylist recognizes me--"you're Mon #1's daughter, aren't you." So we go through the Southern song and dance--"yes ma'am"--"you look just like her"--"yes ma'am"--"I haven't seen you in years, you are still so tiny"--"yes ma'am." But this stylist added a new hook to the song--"I hear you are still smart." (Record screeches to a halt in the background). Still smart?
Why is it that whenever you add the word "still" to something, the statement becomes a pseudo-question. You still short. You still pretty. You still look good. You still fat. You still married. You still at that job. I remember the first time I heard an older woman say to a friend of mine, "Girl, you still got them big 'ol hips I see." 1) Where were they supposed to go and 2) She lives with them every day so I'm sure she didn't need you to point them out. So apparently, I'm still smart. And for the record, I'm still Black, I'm still tiny, I'm still broke, and I'm still standing. And I'm ok with that.
**Oh and my hair. Going early was great--I was in and out in a little over an hour which is an hour less than normal. The end result looks good--but the technique was not great--I'm used to getting my hair whacked off, but I don't usually feel the whacking part....**
I'm not a morning person--I rarely do any writing in the morning because of it. Actually I rarely do much of anything in the morning besides roll over. Most people who know me know that I say good morning around 12 noon. But seeing that my hair was becoming quite unruly, I gathered all my energy to get my hair managed this morning. 8:30 in the AM. Gracious. The last time I got up for an 8:30 appt. on any regular basis was for Freshman Biology--and even that was a tag-team effort. (Story for another day). But my motivation to get up this early was high for a number of reasons. 1) My regular stylist, who is really the only man on earth I trust with my hair, is not working this week, therefore 2) I wanted to get up extra early to check out this new place my mom recommended to me, so 3) Since it is a Black hair salon, I wanted to get in before the normal rush to make sure the stylist had plenty of time and could concentrate on my hair. Nothing worse than an hair accident during rush hour--you're mad, you're annoyed, and you're stuck in your seat for another two or three hours at least.
So I walk into this really cute shop--I must say it's one of the nicest hair salons I've been in down here with mostly reasonable prices. As soon as I walk in and introduce myself, the stylist recognizes me--"you're Mon #1's daughter, aren't you." So we go through the Southern song and dance--"yes ma'am"--"you look just like her"--"yes ma'am"--"I haven't seen you in years, you are still so tiny"--"yes ma'am." But this stylist added a new hook to the song--"I hear you are still smart." (Record screeches to a halt in the background). Still smart?
Why is it that whenever you add the word "still" to something, the statement becomes a pseudo-question. You still short. You still pretty. You still look good. You still fat. You still married. You still at that job. I remember the first time I heard an older woman say to a friend of mine, "Girl, you still got them big 'ol hips I see." 1) Where were they supposed to go and 2) She lives with them every day so I'm sure she didn't need you to point them out. So apparently, I'm still smart. And for the record, I'm still Black, I'm still tiny, I'm still broke, and I'm still standing. And I'm ok with that.
**Oh and my hair. Going early was great--I was in and out in a little over an hour which is an hour less than normal. The end result looks good--but the technique was not great--I'm used to getting my hair whacked off, but I don't usually feel the whacking part....**
Going on the Market, Con Accent
Today I had a good talk with one of my dissertation advisors about my diss and about my job prospects. She and I mostly converse via email, so it was nice to connect via phone again. And the first thing she says to me--"I love the accent." It's been at least 10 years since I've been told I have an accent and apparently, "it's cute." I knew that being home was rubbing off on me, my rate of speech is faster and the tone of my voice is higher at times--but I hadn't thought about the accent part. I'm cool with it now and in many ways it was a nice compliment. When I was younger, I took pride in the fact that everyone told me I didn't sound like a Southerner--I hated being from the South as a kid. But the longer I was away from home for my degrees, the more I missed the South and the more I identified with being a Southerner. Now the Southeast feels like home, and for the first time, I'm ready to embrace an important marker of being home--the good ol' Southern accent.
BUT
I had not thought about being on the market with an accent--especially a "cute" one. As if I didn't have enough markers of difference already. As I mentioned previously in Becoming a Professor, there are quite a few issues that prospective faculty of color must consider. Now consider the various perceptions, misconceptions, and potential exoticism of a (cute) Southern accent. Granted, this issue could never be as severe as the challenges faced by non-native English speakers. But the compliment I received today is a good conversation starter for thinking about social roles and stereotypes. I wonder if this is still an issue in today's society. The issues of accent/voice relates to my post from yesterday on women in leadership. Studies of women politicians and women in corporate leadership have shown that women with high, "cute" voices are not taken as seriously as women with more low tones in their voice. Do you notice that sports networks rarely hire women with higher voices as anchors--if you're a woman with a high voice you are (literally) on the sidelines. But anyways, it strikes me that theremight still be some residual stereotype that someone who sounds too "cute" is therefore not intellectual. Have we, as contemporary forward-thinking academics, transcended that?? I wonder.
BUT
I had not thought about being on the market with an accent--especially a "cute" one. As if I didn't have enough markers of difference already. As I mentioned previously in Becoming a Professor, there are quite a few issues that prospective faculty of color must consider. Now consider the various perceptions, misconceptions, and potential exoticism of a (cute) Southern accent. Granted, this issue could never be as severe as the challenges faced by non-native English speakers. But the compliment I received today is a good conversation starter for thinking about social roles and stereotypes. I wonder if this is still an issue in today's society. The issues of accent/voice relates to my post from yesterday on women in leadership. Studies of women politicians and women in corporate leadership have shown that women with high, "cute" voices are not taken as seriously as women with more low tones in their voice. Do you notice that sports networks rarely hire women with higher voices as anchors--if you're a woman with a high voice you are (literally) on the sidelines. But anyways, it strikes me that theremight still be some residual stereotype that someone who sounds too "cute" is therefore not intellectual. Have we, as contemporary forward-thinking academics, transcended that?? I wonder.
What's a Girl Gotta Do
Ok, too much dissertation on the brain. Yes I study women in leadership so I'm biased, but I'm disturbed that there are virtually no women in this "famous leader" quiz. Of course, when I took the quiz they said I was the woman so I looked to see what other options there were. No other women. Very disappointing but leads to some important questions for me...
What does a woman have to do to be considered a "leader"? If this quiz defined it--apparently you have to practically be a saint. Who are the women we most commonly associate with leadership? What do they have in common?
Obviously, these quiz is not serious and the images invoked are iconic. But maybe my real question is--why aren't more women iconic images of leaders? I mean for me, I would think that Harriett Tubman for example would be a great icon of leadership. Leadership in the face of adversity--leadership for the cause of freedom--hallmarks of iconic leadership right?? Why is it that we still have a such hard time seeing women in the public role? I mean look at all the flack Hillary and Condoleezza get compared to their male counterparts-and they do even have to "do" anything--just existing seems to be enough to send someone on a talking heads rampage. The days in which women could not speak in public have long passed in most of the world, but still here in the US there is still a resistance to see women as leaders. Why???
What does a woman have to do to be considered a "leader"? If this quiz defined it--apparently you have to practically be a saint. Who are the women we most commonly associate with leadership? What do they have in common?
Obviously, these quiz is not serious and the images invoked are iconic. But maybe my real question is--why aren't more women iconic images of leaders? I mean for me, I would think that Harriett Tubman for example would be a great icon of leadership. Leadership in the face of adversity--leadership for the cause of freedom--hallmarks of iconic leadership right?? Why is it that we still have a such hard time seeing women in the public role? I mean look at all the flack Hillary and Condoleezza get compared to their male counterparts-and they do even have to "do" anything--just existing seems to be enough to send someone on a talking heads rampage. The days in which women could not speak in public have long passed in most of the world, but still here in the US there is still a resistance to see women as leaders. Why???
Getting Back on Track
Getting a campus invite has really stunted my progress on other things. But finally, I got a little wind tonight to plow away on these cover letters. So far I have the major research school letter done--on to the interdisciplinary one.
My Tip of the Week: Being on the market while writing a diss is no fun. Back to work.
My Tip of the Week: Being on the market while writing a diss is no fun. Back to work.
Going to Campus
It's (almost) official. I'm going to my first campus. Fresh on the market and I'm going to a campus. I'm stunned to say the least. I've been trying to focus on writing for the past couple days, but my mind is racing. Gotta work up a research presentation and a teaching demo. Gotta find out what I need. Gotta open up some days in my schedule. Gotta go shopping. Gotta breathe.
I have to get some writing done this week. I am completely out of my rhythm right now and it is annoying me. Fourth Chapter is calling. I'm carrying around the autobiographies I need to read and I often open the pages--but reading hasn't been happening a lot lately. I have a lot of family stuff going on right now that is not helping me to focus, but I MUST get it together this week. Gotta breathe.
I have to get some writing done this week. I am completely out of my rhythm right now and it is annoying me. Fourth Chapter is calling. I'm carrying around the autobiographies I need to read and I often open the pages--but reading hasn't been happening a lot lately. I have a lot of family stuff going on right now that is not helping me to focus, but I MUST get it together this week. Gotta breathe.
Needs Meme
I should be in bed. So why not do my first meme. As seen on CultureCat--Do a Google search for "[Your first name] needs":
Mon needs little introduction.
Mon needs her family and her friends.
Mon needs to do something with that hair. (quite true)
Mon needs to cut her hair. (i get it!)
Mon needs to lose 10 kgs. (i'd disappear)
Mon needs an urban tattoo. (ummmm, no)
Mon needs to rest again. (can it wait until after the PhD)
Mon needs a meal. (who you tellin)
Mon needs a cook. (even better)
Mon needs prayer. (always)
Mon needs a job. (sigh)
Mon needs to do what's in her best interests. (Amen!)
Mon needs to shine. (perfect)
Mon NEEDS to go to sleep.
Mon needs little introduction.
Mon needs her family and her friends.
Mon needs to do something with that hair. (quite true)
Mon needs to cut her hair. (i get it!)
Mon needs to lose 10 kgs. (i'd disappear)
Mon needs an urban tattoo. (ummmm, no)
Mon needs to rest again. (can it wait until after the PhD)
Mon needs a meal. (who you tellin)
Mon needs a cook. (even better)
Mon needs prayer. (always)
Mon needs a job. (sigh)
Mon needs to do what's in her best interests. (Amen!)
Mon needs to shine. (perfect)
Mon NEEDS to go to sleep.
Frankie Works, I Don't
Tonight I'm thinking about people who do real work. Even though I'm up at 2:00AM writing on my dissertation, I've been told that this is not real work--well more accurately, this is not a real job. After much internal debate, I've decided to defer to my good friend Frankie who has a real job. Several of them as a matter of fact. Actually, at one point recently, Frankie had four jobs--two full-time jobs and two part-time jobs. How is that possible? Even she hasn't figured that out yet--she's still recovering from the intermittent periods of falling asleep--fully dressed--kneeled by the couch--with all the lights in her place, on.
Back to the point. Frankie is a young, vibrant, single woman. She's not raising any Bebe's kids--she's not taking money from one credit card to pay another--she's not spending excessive amounts of cash on men, booze, or drugs. She's just regular people with regular bills. And the reality is that regular people have to go to work everyday (and sometimes more than once a day). Frankie is a young professional with a new(ish) car and aspirations of returning back to graduate school so she can go into Higher Ed administration. Good for you Frankie. In the meantime, she holds down several (not sure how many she has at the moment) important jobs--helping real people with real issues. And no, I'm not being sarcastic--you just knew I was about to say she works at McDonalds right. No, I really mean it, Frankie helps people. Abuse, mental illness, physical and emotional handicaps, Frankie has seen it all. That my friends is real work. That is a real job. Frankie is a beautiful person for going back to her job every day. Some people couldn't do it. I wish she could see the strength that she has inside her--I see it--it's real, she's real, her work is real. Let's have a reality show that follows Frankie around. Now that's some reality instead of some kids having $400,000+ Super Sweet Sixteen Parties--because that ish AIN'T real.
And on another note--Hollywood and Reality TV ain't got NOTHING on Frankie's parents. They recently celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary. 44 years of real marriage and real beautiful Black love at that. Now that too, is real work.
So after years of fighting, tonight after much consideration, I concede. Frankie, you are right. I do not have a real job and I do not do real work.
(So quit your gloatin, and get back to work--cuz I know you on somebody's clock right now. Love you soror!)
Back to the point. Frankie is a young, vibrant, single woman. She's not raising any Bebe's kids--she's not taking money from one credit card to pay another--she's not spending excessive amounts of cash on men, booze, or drugs. She's just regular people with regular bills. And the reality is that regular people have to go to work everyday (and sometimes more than once a day). Frankie is a young professional with a new(ish) car and aspirations of returning back to graduate school so she can go into Higher Ed administration. Good for you Frankie. In the meantime, she holds down several (not sure how many she has at the moment) important jobs--helping real people with real issues. And no, I'm not being sarcastic--you just knew I was about to say she works at McDonalds right. No, I really mean it, Frankie helps people. Abuse, mental illness, physical and emotional handicaps, Frankie has seen it all. That my friends is real work. That is a real job. Frankie is a beautiful person for going back to her job every day. Some people couldn't do it. I wish she could see the strength that she has inside her--I see it--it's real, she's real, her work is real. Let's have a reality show that follows Frankie around. Now that's some reality instead of some kids having $400,000+ Super Sweet Sixteen Parties--because that ish AIN'T real.
And on another note--Hollywood and Reality TV ain't got NOTHING on Frankie's parents. They recently celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary. 44 years of real marriage and real beautiful Black love at that. Now that too, is real work.
So after years of fighting, tonight after much consideration, I concede. Frankie, you are right. I do not have a real job and I do not do real work.
(So quit your gloatin, and get back to work--cuz I know you on somebody's clock right now. Love you soror!)
Commemorative Stamp for Hattie McDaniel
In early 2006, the USPS Black Heritage Series will issue a new stamp in the honor of Hattie McDaniel, the first African American to win an Academy Award. I'm happy to learn that Sigma Gamma Rho will be a part of the work to honor our distinguished soror, and I wish I could be in Chicago for the unveiling event this weekend. (The man in all the movies, Terrence Howard, is scheduled to be a part of the unveiling). Kudos to Sigma's International Grand Basileus, Dr. Mynora J. Bryant, my dear International First Grand Anti-Basileus, Joann Loveless, Soror Frances Frazier, and everyone in this important tribute.
I recently read that there is a new scholarly monograph out on Hattie McDaniel, and that the author has been working to recover Soror McDaniel's missing Academy Award. I will have to check out that book for my next "fun" reading project. I would love to use something on McDaniel for a future course...
I recently read that there is a new scholarly monograph out on Hattie McDaniel, and that the author has been working to recover Soror McDaniel's missing Academy Award. I will have to check out that book for my next "fun" reading project. I would love to use something on McDaniel for a future course...
Back on the Blog
For whatever reason, I needed a break from the blog. Things are well here. Third Chapter is DONE. I'm proofreading it today and I'll send it out later. I finished up my "real" website, and although I want to make some changes to the design, I'm not going to mess with it anymore for a while.
I think my hiatus from the blog has been largely to keep myself from going on and on about recent developments in my professional life. I've received some excellent feedback on my first application, and I'm being moved along in the job search process. I am going to respect the process and not go on about it here. But I'm happy to be getting a bite even though I'm a young ABD'r. I think this speaks well for the future. We'll see what happens. (Thanks for all the encouraging notes on my applications!)
In the meantime--I'm proofreading today. Shoulda done it this weekend but I was tending to the professional stuff. Starting on Fourth Chapter tomorrow. I have a draft started (about 20+ pages), but I need to go back and read the two texts that the chapter centers on. The focus of this chapter is on two autobiographies written by an African American woman politician. I haven't read them in a while so that will get me started back.
Still need to work on my dissertation abstract and get cranking on my next round of cover letters. I have 3 applications due at the end of the month--more cover letter fun!! YEAH!!
I think my hiatus from the blog has been largely to keep myself from going on and on about recent developments in my professional life. I've received some excellent feedback on my first application, and I'm being moved along in the job search process. I am going to respect the process and not go on about it here. But I'm happy to be getting a bite even though I'm a young ABD'r. I think this speaks well for the future. We'll see what happens. (Thanks for all the encouraging notes on my applications!)
In the meantime--I'm proofreading today. Shoulda done it this weekend but I was tending to the professional stuff. Starting on Fourth Chapter tomorrow. I have a draft started (about 20+ pages), but I need to go back and read the two texts that the chapter centers on. The focus of this chapter is on two autobiographies written by an African American woman politician. I haven't read them in a while so that will get me started back.
Still need to work on my dissertation abstract and get cranking on my next round of cover letters. I have 3 applications due at the end of the month--more cover letter fun!! YEAH!!
Two Applications OUT!!
It's rainy, it's cloudy, some tropical storm type weather here. But I am having a sunny day. My teaching portfolio is bound and looking nice (simple, clean, professional if you ask me). And more importantly, my first two job applications are in the mail. For the next 6 positions or so, I only need to write cover letters. I made copies of all the additional teaching materials I need and I have my transcripts, so all I have to do between now and November is write some more letters. Fun. Then I'll start writing research statements/plans for my postdocs. More fun.
But no raining on my parade. I'm happy to have those two things off my list. The good people at USPS promise delivery of my applications by Friday so I am happily ahead of the deadline. Yeah me. Back to work on Third Chapter now...
But no raining on my parade. I'm happy to have those two things off my list. The good people at USPS promise delivery of my applications by Friday so I am happily ahead of the deadline. Yeah me. Back to work on Third Chapter now...
Well You Betta Work Hard
Finally, that teaching portfolio is done and going off to the presses. My writing sample is all picked out, printed out, and ready to go. In the morning, I'll make a trip to a printer and see quickly I can get this portfolio put together. If I can get it done tomorrow, my first two applications will be in the mail tomorrow. Tomorrow is a D-Day (Deadline Day) -- Third Chapter is going out the door too....
I'm feeling so good right now, I thought I'd take a time out for a little story about the hard work of being an academic for those in the listening audience...
My mother, God Bless Her Nonacademic Soul, looked over my portfolio materials this evening. I had charts and graphs for my teaching evaluation data and piles and piles of paper. Now perhaps it is because my mother knows that I work in words and not in numbers that she put on airs of being impressed.
"You did all this?" she asks, looking at me sideways with skepticism.
"Yes, mother, I told you I've been really working on this portfolio," I reply, feigning to be hurt by her disbelief.
She pauses, flips some pages, and states in a way only a Southern Black woman can, "Well...You BETTA work hard." Because of course, her eyes say, she hasn't raised me to do otherwise.
"I'm doin my best mom."
She hands me back the thick wad of papers and smiles--"Good." I find comfort in her finality, not feeling in the mood to answer the "when you going to send off some more chapters" inquiries.
But as I turn to get my things together to go, she reminds me why Nonacademic Souls are often wiser than Academic ones.
"They ain't gonna read all that stuff are they." Not a question, but a statement.
"No mom," I sigh defeatedly, "probably not."
I'm feeling so good right now, I thought I'd take a time out for a little story about the hard work of being an academic for those in the listening audience...
My mother, God Bless Her Nonacademic Soul, looked over my portfolio materials this evening. I had charts and graphs for my teaching evaluation data and piles and piles of paper. Now perhaps it is because my mother knows that I work in words and not in numbers that she put on airs of being impressed.
"You did all this?" she asks, looking at me sideways with skepticism.
"Yes, mother, I told you I've been really working on this portfolio," I reply, feigning to be hurt by her disbelief.
She pauses, flips some pages, and states in a way only a Southern Black woman can, "Well...You BETTA work hard." Because of course, her eyes say, she hasn't raised me to do otherwise.
"I'm doin my best mom."
She hands me back the thick wad of papers and smiles--"Good." I find comfort in her finality, not feeling in the mood to answer the "when you going to send off some more chapters" inquiries.
But as I turn to get my things together to go, she reminds me why Nonacademic Souls are often wiser than Academic ones.
"They ain't gonna read all that stuff are they." Not a question, but a statement.
"No mom," I sigh defeatedly, "probably not."
Close Call
I made checklists for all of my job applications, but realized tonight that I left an item off my checklist for the Job #1 application--a writing sample. This Job #1 application package is going to be the death of me. I keep telling myself it will be easier from here on out, but it seems like my thickest package is the one that has to go out first. The Job #2 call only asks for a letter and a CV, but Job #1 wants everything plus some Bi-Lo coupons. Nevertheless, disaster avoided. I'm tinkering over this portfolio (STILL) and then I need to decide on a writing sample.
Constance Baker Motley
This is out of my usual routine, but I want to dedicate some space to important woman who has passed away.
From _The New York Times_, September 29, 2005
Constance Baker Motley, Civil Rights Trailblazer, Dies at 84
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Constance Baker Motley, a civil rights lawyer who fought nearly every important civil rights case for two decades and then became the first black woman to serve as a federal judge, died yesterday at NYU Downtown Hospital in Manhattan. She was 84.
The cause was congestive heart failure, said Isolde Motley, her daughter-in-law.
Judge Motley was the first black woman to serve in the New York State Senate, as well as the first woman to be Manhattan borough president, a position that guaranteed her a voice in running the entire city under an earlier system of local government called the Board of Estimate.
Judge Motley was at the center of the firestorm that raged through the South in the two decades after World War II, as blacks and their white allies pressed to end the segregation that had gripped the region since Reconstruction. She visited the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in jail, sang freedom songs in churches that had been bombed, and spent a night under armed guard with Medgar Evers, the civil rights leader who was later murdered.
But her métier was in the quieter, painstaking preparation and presentation of lawsuits that paved the way to fuller societal participation by blacks. She dressed elegantly, spoke in a low, lilting voice and, in case after case, earned a reputation as the chief courtroom tactician of the civil rights movement.
Gov. George C. Wallace of Alabama and other staunch segregationists yielded, kicking and screaming, to the verdicts of courts ruling against racial segregation. These huge victories were led by the N.A.A.C.P.'s Legal Defense and Education Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall, for which Judge Motley, Jack Greenberg, Robert Carter and a handful of other underpaid, overworked lawyers labored.
In particular, she directed the legal campaign that resulted in the admission of James H. Meredith to the University of Mississippi in 1962. She argued 10 cases before the United States Supreme Court and won nine of them.
Judge Motley won cases that ended segregation in Memphis restaurants and at whites-only lunch counters in Birmingham, Ala. She fought for King's right to march in Albany, Ga. She played an important role in representing blacks seeking admission to the Universities of Florida, Georgia Alabama and Mississippi and Clemson College in South Carolina.
She helped write briefs in the landmark school desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 and in later elementary-school integration cases.
Judge Motley was a tall, gracious and stately woman whose oft-stated goal was as simple as it was sometimes elusive: dignity for all people. Her personal approach was also dignified. When a reporter wrote that she had demanded some action by the court, she soon corrected him:
"What do you mean 'I demanded the court'? You don't demand, you pray for relief or move for some action."
Charlayne Hunter-Gault, whose admission to the University of Georgia was engineered by Mrs. Motley's legal finesse, described her courtroom cunning.
"Mrs. Motley's style could be deceptive, often challenging a witness to get away with one lie after another without challenging them," she wrote in her book "In My Place," published in 1992. "It was as if she would lull them into an affirmation of their own arrogance, causing them to relax as she appeared to wander aimlessly off into and around left field, until she suddenly threw a curveball with so much skill and power it would knock them off their chair."
As a black woman practicing law in the South, she endured gawking and more than a few physical threats. A local paper in Jackson, Miss., derided her as "the Motley woman."
In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed her as a judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York at the urging of Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York, a Democrat, and with the support of Senator Jacob K. Javits, a Republican. The opposition of Southern senators like James O. Eastland, a Mississippi Democrat, was beaten back, and her appointment was confirmed. She became chief judge of the district in 1982 and senior judge in 1986.
Constance Baker was born on Sept. 14, 1921, in New Haven, the ninth of 12 children. Her parents came from the tiny Caribbean island Nevis at the beginning of the 20th century.
Her father worked as a chef for various Yale University student organizations, including Skull and Bones. She attended local schools in what was then an overwhelmingly white community.
One of her first experiences with discrimination came at 15, when she was turned away from a public beach because she was black.
She read books dealing with black history and became president of the local N.A.A.C.P. youth council. She decided that she wanted to be a lawyer, but her family lacked money to send their many children to college. After high school, she struggled to earn a living as a domestic worker.
When she was 18, she made a speech at local African-American social center that was heard by Clarence W. Blakeslee, a white businessman and philanthropist who sponsored the center. He was impressed and offered to finance her education.
She decided to attend Fisk University, a black college in Nashville, partly because she had never been to the South. In Nashville, she encountered a rigidly segregated society, and brought her parents a poignant souvenir: a sign that read "Colored Only."
After a year and a half at Fisk, she transferred to New York University. After graduation in 1943, she entered Columbia Law School, where she began to work as a volunteer at the N.A.A.C.P.'s Legal Defense and Education Fund, an affiliate of the National Organization for the Advancement of Colored People that Mr. Marshall and his mentor, Charles Houston, had created in 1939.
After she graduated in 1946, she began to work full time for the civil rights group at a salary of $50 a week. She worked first on housing cases, fighting to break the restrictive covenants that barred blacks from white neighborhoods.
Also in 1946, she married Joel Wilson Motley Jr., a New York real estate broker. He survives her, as does their son, Joel III, who lives in Scarborough, N.Y.; three grandchildren; her brother Edmund Baker of Florida; and her sisters Edna Carnegie, Eunice Royster and Marian Green, all of New Haven.
Mr. Marshall had no qualms about sending her into the tensest racial terrain, precisely because she was a woman. She said she believed that was why she was assigned to the Meredith case in 1961.
"Thurgood says that the only people who are safe in the South are the women - white and Negro," she said in an interview with Pictorial Living, the magazine of The New York Journal-American, in 1965. "I don't know how he's got that figured. But, so far, I've never been subjected to any violence."
Mr. Meredith's admission to the University of Mississippi in September 1962 was a major victory for the civil rights movement. Mrs. Motley worked on the case for 18 months before Mr. Meredith's name was even seen in the papers.
She made 22 trips to Mississippi as the case dragged on. Judge Motley once called the day Mr. Meredith accepted his diploma in 1963 the most thrilling in her life.
She said her greatest professional satisfaction came with the reinstatement of 1,100 black children in Birmingham who had been expelled for taking part in street demonstrations in the spring of 1963.
In February 1964, Mrs. Motley's high-level civil rights profile drew her into politics. A Democratic State Senate candidate from the Upper West Side was ruled off the ballot because of an election-law technicality. She accepted the nomination on the condition that it would not interfere with her N.A.A.C.P. work and handily defeated a Republican to become the first black woman elected to the State Senate. She was re-elected that November.
She remained in the job until February 1965, when she was chosen by unanimous vote of the City Council to fill a one-year vacancy as Manhattan borough president. In citywide elections nine months later, she was re-elected to a full four-year term with the endorsement of the Democratic, Republican and Liberal Parties.
As borough president, she drew up a seven-point program for the revitalization of Harlem and East Harlem, securing $700,000 to plan for those and other underprivileged areas of the city.
After becoming a federal judge in 1966, Judge Motley ruled in many cases, but her decisions often reflected her past. She decided on behalf of welfare recipients, low-income Medicaid patients and a prisoner who claimed to have been unconstitutionally punished by 372 days of solitary confinement, whom she awarded damages.
She continued to try cases after she took senior status. Her hope as a judge was that she would change the world for the better, she said.
"The work I'm doing now will affect people's lives intimately," she said in an interview with The New York Times in 1977, "it may even change them."
From _The New York Times_, September 29, 2005
Constance Baker Motley, Civil Rights Trailblazer, Dies at 84
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Constance Baker Motley, a civil rights lawyer who fought nearly every important civil rights case for two decades and then became the first black woman to serve as a federal judge, died yesterday at NYU Downtown Hospital in Manhattan. She was 84.
The cause was congestive heart failure, said Isolde Motley, her daughter-in-law.
Judge Motley was the first black woman to serve in the New York State Senate, as well as the first woman to be Manhattan borough president, a position that guaranteed her a voice in running the entire city under an earlier system of local government called the Board of Estimate.
Judge Motley was at the center of the firestorm that raged through the South in the two decades after World War II, as blacks and their white allies pressed to end the segregation that had gripped the region since Reconstruction. She visited the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in jail, sang freedom songs in churches that had been bombed, and spent a night under armed guard with Medgar Evers, the civil rights leader who was later murdered.
But her métier was in the quieter, painstaking preparation and presentation of lawsuits that paved the way to fuller societal participation by blacks. She dressed elegantly, spoke in a low, lilting voice and, in case after case, earned a reputation as the chief courtroom tactician of the civil rights movement.
Gov. George C. Wallace of Alabama and other staunch segregationists yielded, kicking and screaming, to the verdicts of courts ruling against racial segregation. These huge victories were led by the N.A.A.C.P.'s Legal Defense and Education Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall, for which Judge Motley, Jack Greenberg, Robert Carter and a handful of other underpaid, overworked lawyers labored.
In particular, she directed the legal campaign that resulted in the admission of James H. Meredith to the University of Mississippi in 1962. She argued 10 cases before the United States Supreme Court and won nine of them.
Judge Motley won cases that ended segregation in Memphis restaurants and at whites-only lunch counters in Birmingham, Ala. She fought for King's right to march in Albany, Ga. She played an important role in representing blacks seeking admission to the Universities of Florida, Georgia Alabama and Mississippi and Clemson College in South Carolina.
She helped write briefs in the landmark school desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 and in later elementary-school integration cases.
Judge Motley was a tall, gracious and stately woman whose oft-stated goal was as simple as it was sometimes elusive: dignity for all people. Her personal approach was also dignified. When a reporter wrote that she had demanded some action by the court, she soon corrected him:
"What do you mean 'I demanded the court'? You don't demand, you pray for relief or move for some action."
Charlayne Hunter-Gault, whose admission to the University of Georgia was engineered by Mrs. Motley's legal finesse, described her courtroom cunning.
"Mrs. Motley's style could be deceptive, often challenging a witness to get away with one lie after another without challenging them," she wrote in her book "In My Place," published in 1992. "It was as if she would lull them into an affirmation of their own arrogance, causing them to relax as she appeared to wander aimlessly off into and around left field, until she suddenly threw a curveball with so much skill and power it would knock them off their chair."
As a black woman practicing law in the South, she endured gawking and more than a few physical threats. A local paper in Jackson, Miss., derided her as "the Motley woman."
In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed her as a judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York at the urging of Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York, a Democrat, and with the support of Senator Jacob K. Javits, a Republican. The opposition of Southern senators like James O. Eastland, a Mississippi Democrat, was beaten back, and her appointment was confirmed. She became chief judge of the district in 1982 and senior judge in 1986.
Constance Baker was born on Sept. 14, 1921, in New Haven, the ninth of 12 children. Her parents came from the tiny Caribbean island Nevis at the beginning of the 20th century.
Her father worked as a chef for various Yale University student organizations, including Skull and Bones. She attended local schools in what was then an overwhelmingly white community.
One of her first experiences with discrimination came at 15, when she was turned away from a public beach because she was black.
She read books dealing with black history and became president of the local N.A.A.C.P. youth council. She decided that she wanted to be a lawyer, but her family lacked money to send their many children to college. After high school, she struggled to earn a living as a domestic worker.
When she was 18, she made a speech at local African-American social center that was heard by Clarence W. Blakeslee, a white businessman and philanthropist who sponsored the center. He was impressed and offered to finance her education.
She decided to attend Fisk University, a black college in Nashville, partly because she had never been to the South. In Nashville, she encountered a rigidly segregated society, and brought her parents a poignant souvenir: a sign that read "Colored Only."
After a year and a half at Fisk, she transferred to New York University. After graduation in 1943, she entered Columbia Law School, where she began to work as a volunteer at the N.A.A.C.P.'s Legal Defense and Education Fund, an affiliate of the National Organization for the Advancement of Colored People that Mr. Marshall and his mentor, Charles Houston, had created in 1939.
After she graduated in 1946, she began to work full time for the civil rights group at a salary of $50 a week. She worked first on housing cases, fighting to break the restrictive covenants that barred blacks from white neighborhoods.
Also in 1946, she married Joel Wilson Motley Jr., a New York real estate broker. He survives her, as does their son, Joel III, who lives in Scarborough, N.Y.; three grandchildren; her brother Edmund Baker of Florida; and her sisters Edna Carnegie, Eunice Royster and Marian Green, all of New Haven.
Mr. Marshall had no qualms about sending her into the tensest racial terrain, precisely because she was a woman. She said she believed that was why she was assigned to the Meredith case in 1961.
"Thurgood says that the only people who are safe in the South are the women - white and Negro," she said in an interview with Pictorial Living, the magazine of The New York Journal-American, in 1965. "I don't know how he's got that figured. But, so far, I've never been subjected to any violence."
Mr. Meredith's admission to the University of Mississippi in September 1962 was a major victory for the civil rights movement. Mrs. Motley worked on the case for 18 months before Mr. Meredith's name was even seen in the papers.
She made 22 trips to Mississippi as the case dragged on. Judge Motley once called the day Mr. Meredith accepted his diploma in 1963 the most thrilling in her life.
She said her greatest professional satisfaction came with the reinstatement of 1,100 black children in Birmingham who had been expelled for taking part in street demonstrations in the spring of 1963.
In February 1964, Mrs. Motley's high-level civil rights profile drew her into politics. A Democratic State Senate candidate from the Upper West Side was ruled off the ballot because of an election-law technicality. She accepted the nomination on the condition that it would not interfere with her N.A.A.C.P. work and handily defeated a Republican to become the first black woman elected to the State Senate. She was re-elected that November.
She remained in the job until February 1965, when she was chosen by unanimous vote of the City Council to fill a one-year vacancy as Manhattan borough president. In citywide elections nine months later, she was re-elected to a full four-year term with the endorsement of the Democratic, Republican and Liberal Parties.
As borough president, she drew up a seven-point program for the revitalization of Harlem and East Harlem, securing $700,000 to plan for those and other underprivileged areas of the city.
After becoming a federal judge in 1966, Judge Motley ruled in many cases, but her decisions often reflected her past. She decided on behalf of welfare recipients, low-income Medicaid patients and a prisoner who claimed to have been unconstitutionally punished by 372 days of solitary confinement, whom she awarded damages.
She continued to try cases after she took senior status. Her hope as a judge was that she would change the world for the better, she said.
"The work I'm doing now will affect people's lives intimately," she said in an interview with The New York Times in 1977, "it may even change them."
I Wrote That?
For some reason, not completely clear even to me, my mood has been declining rapidly over the past few days. But tonight, I had a good pick-me-up. I have been working away on my teaching portfolio, my website, and my dissertation abstract. [I've also been working on those durn cover letters again--I know I know--I'm supposed to be done with them, but a friend found a typo and now I'm paranoid.] But back to the point, in working on my dissertation abstract, I decided to take a look at Chapter One. A look became a reading, and after I read the whole thing I could only say one thing--
Man, did I write that?
It wasn't just that I hadn't looked at the document in a while. I just plan impressed myself. My writing has truly come a long way and if I do say so myself, Chapter One definitely has the makings for a good book. If I read that chapter, even with its academic nods, in a book, I would be compelled to read more. That made me feel good tonight. So I'm going to keep working a little while longer--took a long nap today so I'm not in the immediate need of sleep. Hopefully I can keep up some positive momentum for tomorrow.
Man, did I write that?
It wasn't just that I hadn't looked at the document in a while. I just plan impressed myself. My writing has truly come a long way and if I do say so myself, Chapter One definitely has the makings for a good book. If I read that chapter, even with its academic nods, in a book, I would be compelled to read more. That made me feel good tonight. So I'm going to keep working a little while longer--took a long nap today so I'm not in the immediate need of sleep. Hopefully I can keep up some positive momentum for tomorrow.
As of Yet...
...Still ain't done what I'm tryin to do...--Kindred the Family Soul (don't sleep on the new album, In This Life Together, it's permanently lodged in my CD drive--and no I don't have a DVD drive yet.)
Cover letters for the first two applications are DONE. Need to polish up that durn teaching portfolio STILL. I must: 1) proof the philosophy 2) print up some cute section dividers 3) make a table of contents 4) figure out how I want to bind this thing 5) take it to a copy shop..... And it all needs to be done by Monday!!
As of yet, Third Chapter is still on my desk. Man I wanted to be done with it today. Still some hours left.
I'm going to table sending off that second manuscript until after I get these applications in the mail. I definitely want to get it out before Major Conference in November.
Still ain't done what I'm tryin to do.
It's going to be not-fun weekend. But hopefully productive.
Cover letters for the first two applications are DONE. Need to polish up that durn teaching portfolio STILL. I must: 1) proof the philosophy 2) print up some cute section dividers 3) make a table of contents 4) figure out how I want to bind this thing 5) take it to a copy shop..... And it all needs to be done by Monday!!
As of yet, Third Chapter is still on my desk. Man I wanted to be done with it today. Still some hours left.
I'm going to table sending off that second manuscript until after I get these applications in the mail. I definitely want to get it out before Major Conference in November.
Still ain't done what I'm tryin to do.
It's going to be not-fun weekend. But hopefully productive.
End of the Month Reflections
Man, September turned out to be such a different month for me than July and August. I'm tempted to, but I'm not going to say less productive, because I had different needs this month. I needed to rest and I did--physically and mentally. I needed to get out of the house and have some fun--and I did. I needed to get ready for job season and I did; I got organized and the ball is rolling.
But gracious, there is so much more still to do. My to-do lists on my blog, in my Outlook, on my desks are calling me. Quite a few items still need to be checked off!! But still, I need to not diminish my accomplishments--I did get some good work this month. Going into this final weekend, I will do some serious work finishing Third Chapter and getting these first two applications out the door.
October is definitely going to be a "back on the grind" month. A good thing. Main goal--to be finishing up Fifth Chapter by the time I go to the National Conference in November. But before I get ahead of myself, Third Chapter calls....
But gracious, there is so much more still to do. My to-do lists on my blog, in my Outlook, on my desks are calling me. Quite a few items still need to be checked off!! But still, I need to not diminish my accomplishments--I did get some good work this month. Going into this final weekend, I will do some serious work finishing Third Chapter and getting these first two applications out the door.
October is definitely going to be a "back on the grind" month. A good thing. Main goal--to be finishing up Fifth Chapter by the time I go to the National Conference in November. But before I get ahead of myself, Third Chapter calls....
15 Day Hold
I have to give myself incentives to work. Positive reinforcement goes a long way with me. As does guilt. My next big weekend of fun is 15 days away, so I'm plugging away at getting my work done in the meantime. I finished all of my logistical work for my applications: transcripts requested, credential file is set up, funding applications completed for the National Conference, letters of recommendation sorted out and updated--good productive days work on that front. I still need to polish up my teaching portfolio, and I'm waiting for more feedback on Cover Letter #2. I'm on track to get my first two packages sent out this week.
Now the dissertation--The ol' diss and I need to spend some serious time together over the course of the next 15 days. Three more good days on Third Chapter and I'm sending it off. Although this work of writing without a net is becoming increasingly nerve-racking, I'm going to just keep doing what I do and keep cranking chapter drafts out--revising is a lot easier than working from scratch--I think. As my undergraduate advisor told me this evening, "Trust your own insights, your own feedback. Just know that you know what you need to write, and just write." I need to get back to doing a little more of that in the next few days. So job stuff is taking a backseat until at least Saturday so I can just write.
Now the dissertation--The ol' diss and I need to spend some serious time together over the course of the next 15 days. Three more good days on Third Chapter and I'm sending it off. Although this work of writing without a net is becoming increasingly nerve-racking, I'm going to just keep doing what I do and keep cranking chapter drafts out--revising is a lot easier than working from scratch--I think. As my undergraduate advisor told me this evening, "Trust your own insights, your own feedback. Just know that you know what you need to write, and just write." I need to get back to doing a little more of that in the next few days. So job stuff is taking a backseat until at least Saturday so I can just write.
The Increasing Mess That is My Job Search
My first annual academic job search is going full steam ahead. Unlike a couple months ago, I think I'm finally committed to seeing this thing through. The score to date:
Tenure Track Positions: 7
PostDoc Positions: 8
Relatively small count compared to the 50 and 60 applications I hear folks in English send out around MLA. But it's more than enough for me. I realize my odds of landing a job decrease with the smaller selection pool, but I just can't bring myself applying to places just based on name recognition or prestige in the field. I've kicked a few out of my original pool and decided on positions where I could actually see myself. It's a motley crew of interdisciplinary postdocs and jobs--with a few in my field at liberal arts and research intensive institutions. For the first time in this search, I'm pleased with my selection, but I'm ALL over the place. There's no clear sense of what I really want to come out of this mess. But that's okay for now. Got that second cover letter drafted and sent out for feedback tonight. Now I can sleep.
Tenure Track Positions: 7
PostDoc Positions: 8
Relatively small count compared to the 50 and 60 applications I hear folks in English send out around MLA. But it's more than enough for me. I realize my odds of landing a job decrease with the smaller selection pool, but I just can't bring myself applying to places just based on name recognition or prestige in the field. I've kicked a few out of my original pool and decided on positions where I could actually see myself. It's a motley crew of interdisciplinary postdocs and jobs--with a few in my field at liberal arts and research intensive institutions. For the first time in this search, I'm pleased with my selection, but I'm ALL over the place. There's no clear sense of what I really want to come out of this mess. But that's okay for now. Got that second cover letter drafted and sent out for feedback tonight. Now I can sleep.
How Do You Know What You Know?
First, and most importantly, I haven't really done any writing on my dissertation this week. That sucks. Maybe tonight. I think in the back of my head I know I still have enough time to get this draft out by the end of the week so I'm not feeling pressed. Unfortunately, I need a little personal deadline pressure right now to get me going.
But my first two job application deadlines are approaching and I don't need the pressure. I'm definitely starting to feel rushed to put stuff together. I've been working steadily on my materials but I'm feeling a little frazzled. I think it's because this is my FIRST set of applications I'm sending out. My internal perfectionism is in overdrive right now. My first application to go in is to one of my top choices so that is keeping the stress level a little higher than normal. And because it's my among my top choices, I don't want to wait till the last minute to send this stuff off. I really want to have everything in the mail EARLY next week. Once I get these applications in the mail, I'll feel like I can breathe again--at least until my November deadlines start approaching!
So I'm polishing up my first two cover letters to go out. The one in my major field is pretty much set to go--feelin good about it. The second one makes me ask--how do I know what I know?? The institution has specifically asked that letters show one's interdisciplinary knowledge. Well how do you show knowledge in a letter? I'm not happy with what I have so far--I don't think it is doing what it's supposed to do--so I need to finish up this draft TONIGHT and send it out for feedback...
But my first two job application deadlines are approaching and I don't need the pressure. I'm definitely starting to feel rushed to put stuff together. I've been working steadily on my materials but I'm feeling a little frazzled. I think it's because this is my FIRST set of applications I'm sending out. My internal perfectionism is in overdrive right now. My first application to go in is to one of my top choices so that is keeping the stress level a little higher than normal. And because it's my among my top choices, I don't want to wait till the last minute to send this stuff off. I really want to have everything in the mail EARLY next week. Once I get these applications in the mail, I'll feel like I can breathe again--at least until my November deadlines start approaching!
So I'm polishing up my first two cover letters to go out. The one in my major field is pretty much set to go--feelin good about it. The second one makes me ask--how do I know what I know?? The institution has specifically asked that letters show one's interdisciplinary knowledge. Well how do you show knowledge in a letter? I'm not happy with what I have so far--I don't think it is doing what it's supposed to do--so I need to finish up this draft TONIGHT and send it out for feedback...
Back in Business
Today I'm recovering from a wonderful weekend of being a sister and princess. I had a fabulous time away from home and my trip turned out to be a great mini-vacation. I'm a little sad today that it's over, but I have a lot of business to get on this week.
Job market:
Job market:
- Before I left I found a couple more positions I want to apply for so I need to get out some more request for letters.
- One of my letter writers wants to discuss some things with me--need to call her TODAY.
- Need to apply for additional funding to go to the national conference.
- Need to finish my teaching portfolio and finalize the first cover letter that is going out.
- Must get going on drafting new cover letters for the other positions due in November.
- I really want to order some business cards--need to call my institution and do that this week as well.
- Must set a date to go visit the Advisors!!
- Write every day!
- Finish adding new material to Third Chapter this week.
- Get out second article for review.
- Exercise--really want to start an exercise routine this week!!
- Eat right. (and maybe take some vitamins)
- Sleep regularly.
Diggin In--3 Hard Pages
Not feeling ultra-hot tonight so today's pages were hard but they are done. Looking back over the progress of the past few days, I'm pleasantly pleased, but I have some more biography work to do. I may try to write a little more in the morning or tomorrow night before I leave town. I'm feelin good about this work--lookin forward to finishing up next week!
How to Write: Teaching Philosophy Statement
Since I complained about cover letters yesterday, I thought I'd be more positive about another piece of the application process--the teaching philosophy statement. Sadly, a lot of ads I see don't explicitly ask for one--I appreciate the universities that say they definitely want a statement of your philosophy for the classroom as opposed to the more generic "evidence of teaching effectiveness." The assistant professor positions I'm interested in are primarily because of the classroom opportunities, so I feel more comfortable knowing that the search committee is actually interested in what I'm bringing to the classroom (you know, those little rooms that keep universities from being a completely corporate building with a football stadium). Disgressing again. So far, I'm happy with the draft of my statement that I came up with. It still needs work, but it is organized creatively and captures the best parts of my teaching personality. I have a few samples that I received from my university's teaching excellence center that were EXTREMELY helpful. There are lots of nice links on the web too:
- Good advice from the Chronicle
- A more philosophical approach: Iowa State CELT
- Practical tips for brainstorming from University of Hawaii (Great website on portfolio preparation)
- Helpful ideas from Washington University
Feelin Good About Just Writing
Today was one of those moments when I realized I missed writing. I wrote in my journal twice today--I rarely journal every day and I have been for the past few days. But even more rare was that I wrote in my journal twice in one day. AND I'm blogging--what in the world. I must have really been missing writing--wow. This job stuff is important and is very writing intensive, but it is clearly not the type of writing that my brain wants to do right now.
***Digression***I don't LIKE the genre of the cover letter or the circumstances that necessitate one. Not saying that I don't believe I am writing good letters--I've gotten some good feedback on my drafts so far, but I like nothing at all about the act of writing them. I don't like trying to compact in a little space all of my big personality, my own rhetorical style, and oh yeah, all the reasons why I'm perfect for a job where I don't even know exactly what they are looking for. ***Further Digression***There must be a way we can simplify this whole academic job ad search thing by the way. I understand that academics chose to operate in their own language--rhetoric by definition keeps people in and keep people out. (Good Chronicle piece on rhetoric in department meetings that caught my attention today). But is it really THAT difficult to say what you are really looking for in a job ad--some of these things are too annoyingly vague--and what's annoying is knowing that the people on the search committee know one of two things 1) exactly the kind of scholar they want 2) exactly the kind of candidate they DON'T want to waste their time on reading an application from. So cover letter writing therefore becomes unnecessarily frustrating for someone like me who actually cares about words.
Nonetheless, my love for writing was renewed today--just in time. Today, I was working on my biography of the subject of my Third Chapter. I thought writing about another living subject, especially one still active in politics might be a little frustrating, but the past two days of writing have been good. I've easily met my three page goal and the writing is solid. The beautiful thing about writing biographies is that you are telling a story. I took a qualitative research class that talked about biography as a form of research and the class took some of the fun out of the form for me. I mean it is important to think about biography as research because biographers, like historians, are not simply relaying facts. When we engage in this type of writing, even if it seems apolitical or neutral, we are arguing that an individual should be viewed in a certain light and understood in light of a certain set of contextual circumstances. In biography/history we are constantly making choices about what information to put in and leave out--thereby constructing one story, not THE story. Enough academic-speak. I'm enjoying writing this piece. Her life is interesting and she has excellent press coverage so I don't have to pull for information. I've been having fun finding colorful quotes from her and I'm learning so much about how she got to where she is today. I think I enjoy academic writing most when I'm learning in the process as well.
But today, it's not just the dissertation writing, I'm just feeling good about writing in general. And that's a wonderful change and a wonderful way to get back into the groove of the dissertation.
***Digression***I don't LIKE the genre of the cover letter or the circumstances that necessitate one. Not saying that I don't believe I am writing good letters--I've gotten some good feedback on my drafts so far, but I like nothing at all about the act of writing them. I don't like trying to compact in a little space all of my big personality, my own rhetorical style, and oh yeah, all the reasons why I'm perfect for a job where I don't even know exactly what they are looking for. ***Further Digression***There must be a way we can simplify this whole academic job ad search thing by the way. I understand that academics chose to operate in their own language--rhetoric by definition keeps people in and keep people out. (Good Chronicle piece on rhetoric in department meetings that caught my attention today). But is it really THAT difficult to say what you are really looking for in a job ad--some of these things are too annoyingly vague--and what's annoying is knowing that the people on the search committee know one of two things 1) exactly the kind of scholar they want 2) exactly the kind of candidate they DON'T want to waste their time on reading an application from. So cover letter writing therefore becomes unnecessarily frustrating for someone like me who actually cares about words.
Nonetheless, my love for writing was renewed today--just in time. Today, I was working on my biography of the subject of my Third Chapter. I thought writing about another living subject, especially one still active in politics might be a little frustrating, but the past two days of writing have been good. I've easily met my three page goal and the writing is solid. The beautiful thing about writing biographies is that you are telling a story. I took a qualitative research class that talked about biography as a form of research and the class took some of the fun out of the form for me. I mean it is important to think about biography as research because biographers, like historians, are not simply relaying facts. When we engage in this type of writing, even if it seems apolitical or neutral, we are arguing that an individual should be viewed in a certain light and understood in light of a certain set of contextual circumstances. In biography/history we are constantly making choices about what information to put in and leave out--thereby constructing one story, not THE story. Enough academic-speak. I'm enjoying writing this piece. Her life is interesting and she has excellent press coverage so I don't have to pull for information. I've been having fun finding colorful quotes from her and I'm learning so much about how she got to where she is today. I think I enjoy academic writing most when I'm learning in the process as well.
But today, it's not just the dissertation writing, I'm just feeling good about writing in general. And that's a wonderful change and a wonderful way to get back into the groove of the dissertation.
Three Page Goal
I really don't believe I need a lot of new pages for this draft. I still need to do some more reorganizing and tweaking of the language/arguments. But so far I like what I'm working with. Third Chapter is still on pace to be out the door this month!!! My goal for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday is simple--write three new pages a day. The rest of my time this week will be spent finishing up some job search details and getting ready for my first Southeast sorority conference this weekend!!
Slow Progress
Gettin back in the groove of dissertation writing is going slow. But I'm not going to beat myself up too much--it's the first official day back on the job. Tryin to refamiliarize myself with Third Chapter. But a trip to the library is definitely in order so I can beef up this biographical information. I'm thinking I will spend this week rewriting the biography section and next week beefing up the analysis. I put in 10-14 good days of work, that should really be all this draft needs and Third Chapter will be off to the advisors. So today and tomorrow will be about getting a plan together and the ever exciting work of switching styles from MLA to Chicago.
In the meantime, I'm excited about how my second syllabus is turning out. I just need to come up with good assignments for the course and I'm all set.
In the meantime, I'm excited about how my second syllabus is turning out. I just need to come up with good assignments for the course and I'm all set.
Teaching Portfolio--Weekend Plans
Slowly but surely, the pieces of this teaching portfolio puzzle are coming together. One sample syllabus is done (introductory course). And tonight I finished the summary of courses I can teach in my various areas of expertise. I need to polish up my syllabus for the advanced/specialized course (about 75% done), and recreate the third one for undergraduate majors. I want to make it more of a survey course--I'm not sure why I'm getting so involved with this process of making syllabi, but I want to be happy with what I'm putting together. So I originally had the third syllabus organized around a couple of texts that I would like to teach, but I'm changing it to important themes in my major research area. That way I can survey important literatures and leave room for primary texts and media clippings as well (it makes sense in my head).
Friday's Goal is to finish fiddlin' with this portfolio stuff and put it away for a few days. Miss Daisy has a half-day tomorrow so I don't have to pick her up--that will give me some more time to write in the afternoon.
Saturday's Goal is getting back on Third Chapter. I am really hoping I can pull together this draft of Third Chapter in a couple weeks. The working paper that I have so far is very strong and just needs to be expanded, mostly in terms of biographical information and scholarly literature. I think the analysis of the rhetorical text is already pretty solid. And I have some good feedback from my Outside Member that will really get me going. Now if I can just figure out how to properly cite government records (since her pink pen indicates that I do not know how), I'll be well on my way!
Sunday's Goal--Enjoying family and sorority time. I love Sundays because we always do the big Southern extended family Sunday dinner thing. But I'm especially excited about this Sunday. I'm going to my first sorority meeting down here. It's going to be good, but bittersweet. This will be my first meeting in this region and things in our sorority tend to vary from region to region. But again, I'm looking forward to it--I'm missing the activity of sorority life very much right now.
Friday's Goal is to finish fiddlin' with this portfolio stuff and put it away for a few days. Miss Daisy has a half-day tomorrow so I don't have to pick her up--that will give me some more time to write in the afternoon.
Saturday's Goal is getting back on Third Chapter. I am really hoping I can pull together this draft of Third Chapter in a couple weeks. The working paper that I have so far is very strong and just needs to be expanded, mostly in terms of biographical information and scholarly literature. I think the analysis of the rhetorical text is already pretty solid. And I have some good feedback from my Outside Member that will really get me going. Now if I can just figure out how to properly cite government records (since her pink pen indicates that I do not know how), I'll be well on my way!
Sunday's Goal--Enjoying family and sorority time. I love Sundays because we always do the big Southern extended family Sunday dinner thing. But I'm especially excited about this Sunday. I'm going to my first sorority meeting down here. It's going to be good, but bittersweet. This will be my first meeting in this region and things in our sorority tend to vary from region to region. But again, I'm looking forward to it--I'm missing the activity of sorority life very much right now.
Teaching Portfolio: Sample Syllabi??
Ok, so how many sample syllabi should I include in my teaching portfolio? I've only taught two courses, both general eds, both I've taught a few million times. But I'm not applying for jobs to teach those courses. All the positions I'm applying for are more directly related to my own research so I want to include some "dream" syllabi that I've created and hope to use in the future. The question is, how many??? I'm thinking three:
- One course based on my research (highly specialized, upperdivision)
- One course that is a more general/theoretical look at the field and the literature in the field (good course for a major in the field who has at least had one or two intro courses)
- One general introduction course on rhetoric
A Divo...
...is a male diva.
The rhetorician in me loves a new word--even a silly one.
Thanks Frankie.
The rhetorician in me loves a new word--even a silly one.
Thanks Frankie.
Queen of To-Do Lists
It was inevitable that I would have a list on my blog because I make lists all the time. I've calmed down a bit on my Post-It habit although every now and then I find myself feenin' for a fluorescent pink sticky note. But seriously, if I don't write it down, chances are, it won't get done. (I know, I know some Greek guy predicted long ago that writing would be the end of memory--I'm not in the mood to flex my ancient rhetorics muscles tonight). A trip to Walmart without a list generally means coming home without something I needed and with a bunch of stuff I definitely didn't really need. Today was no exception. I went to Walmart without a list--forgot some mailing labels I needed. But I made a few lists for the job search. I spent a lot of time today organizing materials for the search, and worked on all of my cover letters for the assistant professor positions (6 total). [I think I'm going to put off starting in on the postdoc letters next month.] I typed up checklists for each of my application files--that made me feel ultra-organized and all warm and fuzzy inside.
My teaching evals are all together now and I realized that I'm missing my two most recent semesters. My department's very sweet adminstrative assistant is trying to track those down for me. I've decided I am going to work on creating a graph of my quantitative evaluation scores. On the two measures that my department takes most seriously--course quality and instructor quality--over the past four years, my scores have consistently climbed. So rather than having the search committees wade through 20+ measures by which we are rated (multiplied by the 10+ times I've taught the class), I'm thinking that it might be helpful if they can just quickly "see" how my performance as an instructor has improved the longer I've been in school. My very first semester teaching evaluation scores were weird--in one section the marks were quite abysmal while in the other, they were rather high. Since then, they've been consistently going up, so I'm trying to revive some old computer skills to make a graph to reflect that. I honestly can't remember the last time I made a graph. Probably not since my TI-85 crashed.
While I often rail at the fact that I was a graduate student in one of the heaviest graduate student teaching loads in the university, I am grateful to have had so much trial and error experience. I'm grateful to have never been a real TA--I've never worked under another professor and with the exception of some general department requirements for our gen. ed. course, I've had pretty much complete autonomy over all of my sections. So I'm grateful for my level of comfort in the classroom, whether there are 10 students, 30 students, or 150 students. I'm looking forward to working up these sample syllabi--I have a lot of ideas for possible courses--and although I know some things probably work better in my head than on paper, I'm actually getting a little excited about the idea of teaching again. A little.
And of course, the big thing still on the lots to-do list is the teaching philosophy statement. I'm tired of talking about it, I need to be about it. But. It continues to allude me. I'm trying to do some freewriting tonight to get it out of my system. We'll see how that goes....
My teaching evals are all together now and I realized that I'm missing my two most recent semesters. My department's very sweet adminstrative assistant is trying to track those down for me. I've decided I am going to work on creating a graph of my quantitative evaluation scores. On the two measures that my department takes most seriously--course quality and instructor quality--over the past four years, my scores have consistently climbed. So rather than having the search committees wade through 20+ measures by which we are rated (multiplied by the 10+ times I've taught the class), I'm thinking that it might be helpful if they can just quickly "see" how my performance as an instructor has improved the longer I've been in school. My very first semester teaching evaluation scores were weird--in one section the marks were quite abysmal while in the other, they were rather high. Since then, they've been consistently going up, so I'm trying to revive some old computer skills to make a graph to reflect that. I honestly can't remember the last time I made a graph. Probably not since my TI-85 crashed.
While I often rail at the fact that I was a graduate student in one of the heaviest graduate student teaching loads in the university, I am grateful to have had so much trial and error experience. I'm grateful to have never been a real TA--I've never worked under another professor and with the exception of some general department requirements for our gen. ed. course, I've had pretty much complete autonomy over all of my sections. So I'm grateful for my level of comfort in the classroom, whether there are 10 students, 30 students, or 150 students. I'm looking forward to working up these sample syllabi--I have a lot of ideas for possible courses--and although I know some things probably work better in my head than on paper, I'm actually getting a little excited about the idea of teaching again. A little.
And of course, the big thing still on the lots to-do list is the teaching philosophy statement. I'm tired of talking about it, I need to be about it. But. It continues to allude me. I'm trying to do some freewriting tonight to get it out of my system. We'll see how that goes....
Getting Organized
There is no fun way to solicit letters of recommendation--and I'm realizing that even for the few positions I have decided to apply for, I need a lot of them. I got through organizing and sending out information to four of my referees. I have four more to go--I'll finish that in the AM.
Still a little more to go on the teaching philosophy statement before I can send it out for feedback. I need to get moving on my sample syllabi as well. Fortunately, I have one draft from my comps, and a few drafts from days when I was procrastinating during seminar papers. I finally started to create some post-vacation momentum but it is going to be a busy week....
Still a little more to go on the teaching philosophy statement before I can send it out for feedback. I need to get moving on my sample syllabi as well. Fortunately, I have one draft from my comps, and a few drafts from days when I was procrastinating during seminar papers. I finally started to create some post-vacation momentum but it is going to be a busy week....
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