Hi, everybody, Infidel here.
This note is coming to you from my regular night spot in Baltimore, the One World Cafe, where I wheel my laptop on a cart and log into the wi-fi after hours to surf the net. I don't know how much I've shared of my personal journey these past couple of years, but I feel like jotting down a few notes now.
Twenty years ago, fall of 1988, I was in the final season of a ludicrously bad marriage. It was falling apart, and I was making sometimes earnest, sometimes ambivalent, efforts to save it, but thank God I'm out of it now.
Fourteen years ago, fall of 1994, I was in my first year of graduate school.
Four years ago, fall of 2004, I was in the home stretch of finishing my dissertation.
Two years ago, I was on the eve of moving from New York City to Baltimore to start my present full-time job.
One year ago, while teaching here, I was traveling back and forth to tend to the needs of my mother who, after a fall, was hospitalized and then in a nursing home, then in assisted living. She died at the end of the year. Actually, her death was no shock, just life completing its course. The significance of the way things went that season was that, before she died, I had a chance to relate to her in a new way, of helping take care of her and reconnecting with the town I'd grown up in as well. I miss her, but there was nothing premature or unfair about the way she went. In terms of her comfort, it could have been better but it also could have been a lot worse.
And where am I now? Essentially, I'm in what I'd call a starter job. It's not a permanent job, and it's not designed to be, but it's a good stepping stone. I'm a lecturer, which is a full-time but not tenure-eligible position. I need eventually to be an assistant professor somewhere, but for the moment, even though I've put in applications for a few things, I'm best off relaxing where I am, getting better at what I'm doing, and working on research projects that will launch my career in the longer run.
And as for Baltimore, well, it's not New York, but it's not too far from it either. So I'm in a good place.
And I still think reality TV exploits, endangers, and commodifies.
But you're the best.
This note is coming to you from my regular night spot in Baltimore, the One World Cafe, where I wheel my laptop on a cart and log into the wi-fi after hours to surf the net. I don't know how much I've shared of my personal journey these past couple of years, but I feel like jotting down a few notes now.
Twenty years ago, fall of 1988, I was in the final season of a ludicrously bad marriage. It was falling apart, and I was making sometimes earnest, sometimes ambivalent, efforts to save it, but thank God I'm out of it now.
Fourteen years ago, fall of 1994, I was in my first year of graduate school.
Four years ago, fall of 2004, I was in the home stretch of finishing my dissertation.
Two years ago, I was on the eve of moving from New York City to Baltimore to start my present full-time job.
One year ago, while teaching here, I was traveling back and forth to tend to the needs of my mother who, after a fall, was hospitalized and then in a nursing home, then in assisted living. She died at the end of the year. Actually, her death was no shock, just life completing its course. The significance of the way things went that season was that, before she died, I had a chance to relate to her in a new way, of helping take care of her and reconnecting with the town I'd grown up in as well. I miss her, but there was nothing premature or unfair about the way she went. In terms of her comfort, it could have been better but it also could have been a lot worse.
And where am I now? Essentially, I'm in what I'd call a starter job. It's not a permanent job, and it's not designed to be, but it's a good stepping stone. I'm a lecturer, which is a full-time but not tenure-eligible position. I need eventually to be an assistant professor somewhere, but for the moment, even though I've put in applications for a few things, I'm best off relaxing where I am, getting better at what I'm doing, and working on research projects that will launch my career in the longer run.
And as for Baltimore, well, it's not New York, but it's not too far from it either. So I'm in a good place.
And I still think reality TV exploits, endangers, and commodifies.
But you're the best.
