IHE recently reported that colleges in Michigan are outsourcing their hiring of adjuncts to something called EDUStaff. The colleges are delighted because they can
Signed, Miffed in Michigan
Dear Miffed,
Yes.
Dear Ms. Undine,
Recent essays on being published and on mistakes humanities scholars make in trying to be published seem to say that publication is a possibility and that, in fact, "if you're not a writer, you're not a player." Being a player makes me feel like Frank Sinatra at the Sands circa 1960. Do I have to be a player to be a writer?
Signed, Ring-a-ding-ding
Dear Ring,
Not unless you have Sammy and Dean and Angie Dickinson on speed dial.
Dear Ms. Undine,
I want to submit an article, but I am now terrified of the "mean girls" who constitute a totally vicious academic universe. I'm picturing Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man, but meaner. Is it true that peer reviewers live to inflict pain?
Signed, Anesthesia
Dear Anesthesia,
No. Although there are exceptions, they live to carve time out of their own writing time in order to provide what they hope is helpful feedback to improve someone's article. Some academics are mean, but then, some people are mean, and the internet is a whole lot meaner.
Dear Ms. Undine.
All I do is get up and write or revise all day long. Sometimes, just to shake things up, I recite poetry to the cats. I'm pretty sure they listen to me. Is this normal behavior for a writer? Is this normal behavior for cats?
Signed, Wonder while I wander
Dear Wonder,
Your question is in two parts, so I will answer both.
1) Yes, totally, totally normal, no problem here at all, no sir.
2) Yes. Cats will listen to anyone with opposable thumbs and access to the food dish.
3 comments:
This is hilarious.
This is awesome. My favorite line could really speak to almost any question in academia -- "Q. Am I right to be concerned? A. Yes." Yeah, that pretty much covers it.
Nathan Burroughs--thank you! I have *so much wisdom to impart* on these crucial subjects.
Fie--thank you! I feel the same way--alarmed--about a lot of things I read about academia, so humor seemed to be the only way to go with it.
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