Nothing to see here. Move along. Here’s this, aka the last I will ever have to say on the unsavory 3000-word hit piece that appeared in Inside Higher Ed the other day. And here’s some amazing art to go with it.
And here’s a quote, which (I hope) gets to the heart of why the hell all the hyperbole in the first place. BONUS AUSTRIANS!
But yes, the piece exaggerated. Every op-ed I write does. Every sentence I say at home does! My voice has, for better or worse, basically been what it is since my first turn as a columnist at the age of 17 (I appeared bi-weekly in Eugene, Oregon’s paper of record from 1993 to 1994 — kind of a big deal, I know). But it was sharpened in graduate school in a particular vein, as I fell in love with the crotchety Austrians who would come to define my research: Robert Musil, whose over-the-top satire of a bunch of rich drifters also belies harsh truths about the decline and fall of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy; the playwright Johann Nepomunk Nestroy, whose untranslatable humor involves saying something that is a massive exaggeration and an unfortunate truth at the same time; Karl Kraus, the patron saint of pithy bile and my personal hero.
Anyway, hope everyone continues to have a great week. I KNOW I AM. I don’t believe in God, but today I spent a good portion of the day sobbing (about various things; tough week!) and praying in my own way, the following prayer:
Please dear little baby, come out healthy, and be happy…and be just like your dad. Please do not be like me. The end. Bye! From, Rebecca.
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I hope she’s at least a little bit like you. Tough. Opinionated. Honest. A voice in the darkness. So you know, thanks being here. 😉
LikeLike
Seconded.
LikeLike
THIRDED! 🙂
LikeLike
I assume that was a volunteer to babysit because PLEASE NO <3. Just kidding; I will love her no matter who or what she's like.
LikeLike
If academia’s new M.O. is that we have to constantly present a dissent-free “united front,” because the big bad wolves of the GOP are presumed to be always-already on the verge of destroying us — then please show me the nearest exit door! I didn’t go into this line of work to do the kind of hyper-defensive wagon-circling that Green is engaging in.
LikeLike
Green’s piece was unreadable and silly. But I didn’t totally hate his response to your response in the comments on IHE. Though the longer response he promises will likely be another clunker.
On a side note, I really appreciate you being honest about the physical and mental hurdles to doing your jobs while pregnant. You’re handling it like a trooper, and perhaps helping people realize that pregnant women have to live in these crazy bodies and it makes all things much harder.
LikeLike
I said that was the last I had to say on the matter and I mean it. I don’t read comments, ever, and this is no different. I doubt IHE will let him write another rebuttal–so, good luck to him in finding someone to print it.
LikeLike
uh, I’m an idiot! did NOT mean to weigh you down with responses to responses!
LikeLike
no, it’s no problem! I just wanted to let you know that I wouldn’t be engaging anymore–I thought the highly informal, flippant, joke-filled nature of my response exemplified how seriously I took the whole thing, and now I’m done. Here’s me……
here’s Charles Green. He’s not worthy of a second more of my time, even though apparently I take up a lot of his.
LikeLike
I credit you and your writing for getting me through the worst period of my life (I wish that were hyperbole). I had an insane, petty dissertation director and a committee too cowardly to ever go to bat for me. I imagine there are many people out there who have sought out your old posts again and again in an effort to comprehend so many wasted tuition dollars.
I think you are a fantastic person, and I wish you and your family all the best.
LikeLike
So I ended up reading Green’s piece through the standard Facebook “Oh, you clicked this link! Maybe you’d like to read this other thing too!” It was, indeed, long and boring. But hey, between that and your piece on the 23rd on academic hiring, you have a new follower… another low-paid adjunct instructor! Thanks for writing great stuff, and good luck with the baby.
LikeLike
❤ ❤ ❤ thank you, and here's hoping that you and all the adjuncts you work with get raises soon (hey, that's why it's called "hoping.")
LikeLike
it’s not!
LikeLike