Some of the best content in the Chronicle of Higher Education are the first-person stories about life in academe. Considering how tough the job market has been in biological anthropology the last few seasons, I thought this story, about a humanities PhD who recently landed a tenure track job after 4 years and 10 campus visits, might foster a little optimism, or at least make you crack a smile.
10th Time's the Charm
Saturday, May 8, 2010
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I love this article. Most of what has been coming out of the Chronicle lately on the job market has been so miserable that it is hard to read. This one made me think of all the odd crap and sometimes wonderfully funny things that have been said to me while on interviews over the years...
ReplyDeleteSuch a great essay! Here's my funny story about a campus visit. I got intense food poisoning the first night of two days, spent the night puking and not sleeping, brought a 2-liter of ginger ale to my job talk the next morning, ate nothing at lunch (and I couldn't help but worry that they thought I had food issues since I hid the fact that I'd been up all night puking because I didn't want them to feel bad for taking me to a restaurant that gave me food poisoning). After my horrible sick day, faking that I was awesome, I wanted nothing more than to be dumped off early at the airport to zonk out but got toured around the La Brea tar pits and museum by a lovely faculty member who then had me to her house for much chit-chat and wine. None of which I felt I could turn down since I really wanted the job. Needless to say, when I finally got on the red eye to go home I passed out in the airplane bathroom and woke up on the floor of the galley with the flight attendant on the intercom to the pilot telling him they may need to land early. I laid there under a blanket for the entire flight with a spoonful of peanut butter in one hand and a sippy cup of orange juice in the other. I didn't get the job.
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