Category: Uncategorized

In my capacity as the happy academic, I occasionally field questions from loyal fans who are considering embarking on a happy academic career of their own. Just a couple of weeks ago, I responded to an email from someone asking if they too should consider an academic career. I told this young person that she ought to finish high school and then college first.

In any event, I recently browsed through the Modern Language Association’s “Report on the 2003-04 Job Information List,” available via the Association of Departments of English homepage. This was actually published in the Fall 2004 MLA Newsletter, a document I didn’t receive despite my recent rejoining of that organization. It’s a PDF linked to the ADE’s main page, and it is a document that any future academic in English studies ought to consider.

A report like this only tells a part of the job market story and we are currently in the 2004-05 year, but there are some interesting things present and absent in this report.

• The total number of listings in the English edition of the JIL (in other words, these are jobs in English departments, more or less, as opposed to Spanish or German departments) is down from 1,622 in 2000-2001 to 1,362 in 2003-04.
• The total number of listings in “Composition and Rhetoric” is down as well, from 499 in 2000-01 to 400 in 2003-04. However, “Composition and Rhetoric” still leads the pack in terms of total number of jobs listed. In “second place” on the list of “index terms” is “British Literature;” third is “American Literature;” and fourth is “other.”
• But these numbers are problematic because, as is pointed out in the explanatory part of the report, lots of jobs use multiple index terms– in other words, you’ll see plenty of ads that say something like “assistant professor in American literature and composition and rhetoric.”
• These numbers are also problematic because of the subdivisions within these index terms. Most departments don’t hire people in “American Literature;” rather, most departments hire folks in 19th century American Lit, or 20th century American Lit, or American poetry, or some other specialization. The same is true in composition and rhetoric and British Literature, too.
• Interestingly enough, the report also lists the index terms “business and technical writing,” “English education,” and “technology and digital media.” Most of the time, these terms show up in conjunction with the index term “composition and rhetoric.”

While this report gives a pretty good picture of how many jobs are out there, the “demand” in different fields in English studies, it doesn’t say anything about the “supply” of candidates to take these jobs. And the lack or abundance of “supply” can make a big difference in terms of the “demand.”

I’ve written about this frequently with composition and rhetoric, where the “supply/demand” ratio is relatively balanced. But just to consider a different example, consider the index term “English Education.” According to the report, there were 101 positions in English Education last year, which is not even close to the amount of positions in the “top three” areas. However, what this report doesn’t reflect is that there are very few qualified candidates for these jobs. While candidate pools in American or British can routinely number in the hundreds, candidate pools for English Education searches are frequently in the single digits.

This is not the recipe I use for these cookies, as folks reading this blog know…

See this entry from “The Happy Freaking Ray of Goddamn Sunshine” blog by Dan Wheeler. Some other pretty funny cartoons here, too.

I wouldn’t normally find myself at Whole Foods on a Friday, even in the morning, but I think this is going to change. Generally, I avoid shopping on Fridays because its too busy. But I stopped by there this morning after going to the gym to pick up stuff for the weekend, and I was sort of shocked at the volume of samples that were out. Whole Foods always have some samples of course, but this morning (in preparation of the big shopping day), there were just a ton of things: lots of different cheeses, hams, brie, cookies, whole wheat pizza, fig cake, other kinds of cake, etc., etc. It was enough to hold me over until a late lunch.

One of the people I work with at EMU has worked at Whole Foods off and on for a few years now, and I remember asking him about sampling customers one time. “If someone came in and just stood there in front of that big pile of cheese cubes, scarffing them down, wouldn’t they say something?”

No, he said; in fact, there are plenty of people who come into Whole Foods, put a few items in a grocery cart, and then drift around for an hour or more, grazing, eating Australian cheddar or whatever by the handful. I wouldn’t go so far as to go in there, eat, and then leave; but I’ll probably be “dining” there next week.

As I wrote about back on Christmas day, I am planning on experimenting with WebCT this semester for a class I’m teaching, but I had run into some problems with the server being down. Well, that, and the sheer clumsiness of WebCT.

Anyway, here I am today, using this snow day to get myself caught up, ready to get this class organized and to get up to speed on WebCT, and again, I can’t connect. What I get is “An unexpected system exception has occurred.” I don’t know if it’s a “mac issue” (ever notice how people who administer systems like WebCT want to blame the user’s choice of computer platform, especially if it’s a mac?), if it’s because I am trying to connect from a WiFi network in a coffee shop, if it’s because of the snow day, or what. But this makes two times where I allocated time to work on WebCT stuff and haven’t been able to do it.

I want to give this stuff a chance, but frankly, I don’t think I can risk it for this class. I can’t expect my students to rely on a system that is this unreliable. I might change my mind later, but I think my work with WebCT this semester (and perhaps beyond) will remain experimental.

I stumbled across this article from Canada’s Globe and Mail this afternoon, “Atwood adds ‘inventor’ to CV.” After an exhausting book tour, Atwood had an idea:

The machine, created in consultation with computer experts under Atwood’s newly created company Unotchit Inc., is still in the development phase, but at the moment it will comprise two units. The first will consist of a screen, where the author can see and speak to the book reader in real-time, and a tablet on which the author will write the inscription. The second unit will be with the book reader, and will also include a screen to communicate with the author in real-time, and will have a flat book holder as well as an electronic arm and pen that will scrawl out the autograph.

The system will allow the inscription to be edited or spell-checked before being committed to paper and the quality of the signature should be identical to one done in person, Atwood says. The book reader will also be able to keep a record of the on-screen interaction with the author for posterity.

As far as I can tell, this is not a joke. And to me, it seems a pretty weird idea, especially since it comes from a writer who has a decidely dystopian view of technology in her fiction….

My millions of loyal readers will recall this entry from just over a month ago, which was about spending too much money on repairs for my garage sale snowblower, and then almost killing myself getting it out of the back of a pickup truck. I said then that it had damn well better snow. And last night, I got my wish: plenty of snow here, enough to close down all the schools, including EMU. So I got myself bundled up and went out to put this thing to the test.

The snowblower did pretty well, at first. I plowed our sidewalk and the neighbors with no problem. Then I started working on the driveway, down by the street where the city had already plowed. Now, it was a wet and slushy snow to begin with, and it was a lot heavier and more slushy down by the street. The snowblower kept jamming. I stopped to clear it a couple of times, or I tried rocking it a bit to get the jammed parts to spit out of the chute. I finished my side of the driveway and then I started on my neighbor’s. The engine strained, but it was still going strong.

And then it wasn’t.

It never stopped running entirely, but it started to run a great deal more slowly, just barely idling, and it started to produce quite a bit of smoke. I’m no small engine mechanic, but I don’t think this is good.

Damn you snowblower.

So, what happens next? Well, I called the place that fixed it before (to the tune of $95, which, combined with the money I spent for the thing at the yard sale in the first place, puts me almost halfway to a freakin’ brand-new snowblower at this point), and they said they’d come pick it up and take a look at it. In fact, while I was typing this message, Annette called me and said that they came and picked it up.

My hope is they’ll fix or adjust something at no cost and it will work again, at least for a while. But if they want to charge me more money, I think I’m going to try to get a refund on the original work (I wouldn’t have spent that kind of money had I known the rest of the thing was in danger of just blowing up) and/or tell them to keep the evil thing.

Damn you, snowblower….

Update:

Mr. Snowblower, he dead.

As I mentioned, I called up the folks who fixed my snowblower– Congdon’s Ace Hardware here in Ypsi– and they came by and picked it up for me. Well, a few hours ago, I got a call from them with the bad news. Essentially, the carburetor blew and its too old of a snowblower to find a replacement part. And besides, there are apparently other issues with the engine.

Now, while the folks at Congdon’s couldn’t fix the snowblower, they did come out here to pick it up, they fully refunded my money, and they agreed to dispose of it, too. In my book, that’s great customer service– I’ll be back there again.

Alas, oh snowblower, I hardly knew ye! Well, other than the near-death experience a month ago, it was fun for about 45 minutes. Maybe I can get a real snowblower one of these days….

My first class of the term, Writing for the World Wide Web, met last night, despite the weather and my resurfacing head cold. But today’s classes at EMU are indeed snowed out. Not surprisingly, the local public schools are closed too, so both my second grader son and I have a snow day.

To be honest, I have mixed feelings about EMU canceling classes. On the one hand, it does look pretty nasty out there, and we are a “commuter campus.” I’ve had lots of students over the years who drive an hour or more each way in normal conditions. Plus the people who work at EMU have to commute to campus, and plenty of folks who work at EMU drive quite a ways, too. And, to be selfish for a moment, the extra day will (hopefully) help me get caught up.

On the other hand, I think EMU is a tad quick in closing down. Despite the “commuter campus” reputation of EMU, I heard some statistic once that something like 70% of our students actually live within two or three miles of campus. In other words, they don’t drive very far. The University of Michigan’s attitude about closing is a lot more like my undergraduate institution, the University of Iowa: it never closes– well, almost never. I think Michigan closed once a couple years ago when it got down to -15 degrees (with a -40 or something windchill). Iowa closed once, I think when I was a Sophomore, and if I recall, it was the first time in 25 or 30 years that had happened.

Oh well, I’ll use the time to catch up and to really put my yard sale snow blower to the test.

Then just watch the Fox Network show Nanny 911. Annette and I were watching this show tonight. The basic plot of the show is a Nanny (appropriately British) comes in and “fixes” a completely and incredibly messed up family in about a week. It of course ends happily, at least in the span of 50 minutes of TV. God only knows what happens after the Nanny and film crew leaves.

I suppose you could say that the entertainment value of the show is that the Nanny solves all the problems. But if you ask me, the real hook of the show is seeing these completely and utterly screwed up families. Tonight’s episode featured was typical in that it featured parents allowing kids to do things that are so over the line they are laughable. It’s as if these children are being raised by drunken wolves.

How can that not make you feel better about yourself and your parenting skills?

I got back in Ypsilanti yesterday at about 11:00 am, school starts today, and no, I’m not really ready. Deep sigh.

Though I should be careful because I might get what I wish for. I teach a night class tonight, and there’s a winter storm warning/watch on right now. Stuff is already starting to get canceled. I have mixed feelings, but I guess my preference would be for snow right now….

We’re packing up for the trip back to Ypsi tomorrow morning. So here are a few thoughts and pictures:

* On New Year’s day, Will and I drove around Naples a bit while Annette and her mom went gambling on one of these boats that takes you out to international waters. Will and I stopped briefly on Vanderbilt beach; we saw cool and giant sand castles right by the Ritz-Carleton, apparently built by that hotel’s professional sand castle builder. Annette lost money on gambling boat, but she said it was like a mini cruise, so it was okay.

* Sometime toward the end of New Year’s day, I developed a nasty cold. I think I’m feeling better now, but it’s a good thing I’ll be to bed early again tonight.

* We went to an art show the day after New Year’s day in downtown Naples. Pretty good stuff, about the size of the Plymouth art fair with some of the same artists. I almost bought a cool photograph of a hand-painted sign advertising Internet service in a little town in Mexico. Here’s Annette and Will in front of art:

Will also enjoyed climbing on this elaborate playground set-up in Naples:

* Today we went on a proper visit to the beach: suntan lotion, beach chairs, laying there, etc. Here’s Will enjoying the sun:

* After the beach, we came back and swam in the pool (the ocean is about 65 degrees this time of year). Actually, Annette and Will and the grandparents were in the pool quite a bit during our visit; I even went in and waded around a couple of times.

* Despite what some might want to admit, Doritos do go very well with margaritas.

* I doubt I’ll visit my parents or the in-laws without the wireless router ever again. I’m not completely ready to start school in two days, but it definitely saved my ass Internet-wise.

Update (about 5 hours before I need to be getting ready for the flight back home):
Never mind that last bit about the wireless router.

To make the long story short, my in-laws’ internet connection worked fine before the router, it worked fine during the router, but it stopped working after I disconnected the router and I tried to reconnect their computer to the cable modem. I was on the phone for a long time with techno-geeks around the country and with the dimwits at Comcast, and the general answer I received was “wow, that shouldn’t happen.” Thanks, thanks a lot.

I think that ultimately the problem is with Windows XP, and probably the infamous “Service Pack 2.” I think I could get the in-laws’ connection up and running again if I reinstalled the network card drivers and/or Windows XP, but a) I don’t think my in-laws would allow that at this point (and who can blame them? after all, the last time I messed with their computer, this happened!), and b) reinstalling a bunch of key software seems like a pretty lame way to solve a problem.

Anyway, let me publicly and profusely apologize to Bill and Irmgard: I had no idea that this would happen, everyone told me it wouldn’t be a problem, but still my bad.

Now, the good news (sort of) is that I was able to reconnect the router and everything works fine. And if there is more silver lining to this: it probably isn’t a bad idea security-wise for them to have a hardware device that has a firewall built into it (we’ve never had a spyware or other problem on Will’s PC, and I think this is one of the reasons why), and since we will be coming here again with our laptops (Annette just got one), we will use this again. It’s a pisser that I’m going to have to buy another router when we get home and I might face the same problems hooking up our PC, but considering the relatively low price of wireless routers nowadays and the usefulness of good internet connectivity while we’ve been in Florida, I think it’s a kind of “break even” deal….