Props to several people for big news yesterday -- for some reason it was the day of prop-worthy news:
1) Courtney! After a stressful months-long job search adventure, C. has procured her ideal job, working for an awesome organization serving refugees in Liberia, where such services are much needed. And she's leaving next week. Kind of puts other life changes or stress in perspective. Well done, Court, and way to parlay the somewhat unhelpful experience of the CIA...um, Peace Corps...into a job that both pays and allows you to do the kind of work that puts the rest of us to shame. Fact I learned about Liberia: it currently has the highest population growth in the world. C., just be safe -- we'll miss ya.
2) Elise -- for getting into the final group of potential hires on one of the hottest shows in Las Vegas. You will escape B.C. You will. And if anyone I know would actually flourish in the Vegas, it would be you. I would die like a Christmas tree in January, but I promise to make the effort and visit. Fingers are crossed!
3) Saru -- for procuring a teaching gig at another college in addition to teaching her own class at her university. While I know it does not really compensate you according to your value, it is still a terrific achievement for a grad student! Teaching your own class is always a good thing. I wish I could sit in and watch the radical feminist machine at work.
4) Sort of, me. I guess. I found out yesterday that my test prep corporate overlords named me one of the West Coast regional teachers of the year. Apparently this comes with a gift certificate for a Mountain Dew or something comparable. Well, it's better than that, but I know how much money they made off each and every class I taught, so I'm not really feeling the love unless I can afford to buy a plane ticket with it. I had a moment where I was wondering whether this was something I should even put on my c.v. and then I reminded myself that this is actually exactly the direction universities are heading. Maybe fifty years ago, or even twenty, they would have judged this kind of thing negatively, but now? I think they'll eat it up -- she knows how to sell a potentially boring subject to a bunch of corporate-consumer-minded students who see a degree as a more expensive version of a handbag/Xbox/car? Perfect! This doesn't really make me feel great. So, deeply ambivalent props.
Props to those of you reading this also, just because I think all four of you are very, very special.
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5 comments:
hehe.... you know, I used this thing called statcounter to check the hits on my site, and you wouldn't believe where some of the people are coming from. There was someone from turkey, from italy, bunch in places I definitely don't know anyone in the US. You may just have the occasional phantom reader... :)
The first job sounds excellent - I want to specialize in the Middle East/Central Asia when/if (hope-hope-hope) I get into the Foreign Service. Hence studying Persian, Russian, and Chinese. :)
Well done with the props list. I realy enjoy the "I'm very proud of you" feel. More people should say it and more people should hear it.
And we you, C, and we you!
Congrats on the "teacher of the year" award. You're totally right about putting that on your cv - it will look so good to future corporate-academic employers.
My fun fact about Liberia: it recently elected the first woman president in Africa (Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf). In fact, it is noteworthy that women have headed governments in... Africa, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. But not here because we live in a third-world country.
I just finished reading a book about american women in foreign policy, and the author actually included a section on international women because he said there was no way to test his argument (there is a marked gender gap, with women being typically 8-10% more peaceful than men) in the US because at the time of writing (pub 1995), there had been no female prez, veep, or secstate. Sad. At least now we've had Albright and Condi.
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