The Future of the Professoriate - Extinction?
The Chronicle forum,
Faculty of the Future: Leaner, Meaner, More Collaborative, Less Secure is a depressing read. Don't let the title fool you - the positive element "more collaborative" isn't a good thing - it's a survival tactic. Overall, most of the writers take a very bleak vision of the future. It's telling that the only positive view of the academy 20 years from now comes from an administrator, not faculty.
Sometimes it feels like a room of one's own can be a prison when you've got a deadline hanging over your head.
The worst part of writing?
I hate writing plot summaries.
It's a strange but true observation. I get nailed every time a reader comments on my writing that I don't provide enough plot summary of primary sources before diving into the analysis.
Gee, that's probably because I hate writing plot summaries.
Which is really bizarre, considering they really are so terribly simple. While they might not be as simple as I'm suggesting, they really are just a catalogue of important events in the narrative of the novel. And yet, I detest writing them. My drafts always have these little starred lines in them with a note to "insert plot summary here" scattered throughout them.
Why do I detest writing them? I don't know.
Sometimes I suspect it's because they seem so easy. And then I think if they're so easy, they're not very sophisticated. And perhaps I don't want to do them because I don't want to admit I can write so simply? Bizarre logic, but there you go. I just hate writing them.
Starting over... again
I really don't understand why it is so terribly hard to get a handle on each new chapter when I start it. Even in revision, I'm having trouble concentrating on the new chapter that I'm starting to edit today.
Perhaps it just has something to do with the holiday and BBQ yesterday?
Happy Canada Day!
Wa-acko!
Last week, I was in a major tizzy trying to find a book that I've quoted from extensively in my dissertation:
How we Became Posthuman by N. Katherine Hayles.
I had come across a reference to it in another article, and wanted to check up on the context since my database of notes didn't have anything down for that particular page. So I started searching my shelves.
I have a lot of shelves.
LibraryThing lists 1199 books in our collection. So, yeah, lots of shelves.
But I couldn't find it.
I looked again.
I asked everyone in the family if they'd seen it. They hadn't.
I looked some more.
I started wondering if I'd lost it. As I thought about it, I realized I had been relying on my notes for the last few years. Perhaps I'd lost it before we'd even moved.
That got me thinking.
So I checked LibraryThing. It wasn't actually listed there. Not a big surprise. I only activated by LibraryThing account in 2006, and I'm pretty sure I read it in 2005.
So then I checked my amazon buying history, since I would've purchased it from them, given it wouldn't exactly be a given that I could find it at my local bookstore.
There was no history of purchasing.
Gradually it dawned on me. This book? The one that plays a pretty major role in my dissertation?
I don't own it. Never have.
But I was convinced for a week that I had. Wa-acko!
Question is: Do I buy it now, or say to hell with looking up this reference? (The local academic library has it out till September, and I want to finish this draft before then)
Decision time.
Up and down and up and down... again
One of the most frustrating things I'm finding in this dissertation editing is the precariousness of my productivity. The littlest thing knocks me off my game into a struggle with frustration.
One day, I have a great writing day, work out part of an argument in what I can honestly say is a beautiful piece of writing, and feel confident that I will finish these revisions and they will be (mostly) acceptable and I will be able to look forward to the defence.
The next day, I flounder around, trying to get a handle on the ideas that seem too large for my head, and so they squeeze out of it, bouncing across the office floor and I have to scramble around trying to pick them back up. But they're slippery, and I can't seem to hold more than one at a time. Which I do. But even then, sometimes I pick one up, turning it this way and that, puzzled at what it means and why I thought it was a good idea in the first place. Sometimes I set it aside, hoping that it will become clearer as time goes on. Sometimes I toss it out the window.
This back and forth between confidence that I'm making satisfactory progress and despair at ever crafting an argument that makes sense is taking its toll.
Today, I'm distracted again. Thoughts of non-work-related troubles keep crowding in my brain, and no matter how hard I try, they break my concentration and I feel frustrated.
Here's hoping tomorrow's a more balanced day.
The Chronicle forum, Faculty of the Future: Leaner, Meaner, More Collaborative, Less Secure is a depressing read. Don't let the title fool you - the positive element "more collaborative" isn't a good thing - it's a survival tactic. Overall, most of the writers take a very bleak vision of the future. It's telling that the only positive view of the academy 20 years from now comes from an administrator, not faculty.
