writing Archives - Page 2 of 9

Succeeding Outside the Academy Shines a Light on Failure, Too: A Conversation between Kelly J. Baker and Katie Pryal

Hi readers, this interview appears not only here at my site, but also over at Katie Rose Guest Pryal’s site. I hope y’all enjoy our discussion of careers, shifting out of academia, and the important role of failure. *** From 2013 to 2015, Kelly J. Baker wrote a monthly column for Chronicle Vitae (an arm of The Chronicle of Higher Education) called “Grace Period,” detailing her experience leaving the

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Anger

By Kelly Baker

*Who would I be without my anger? I don’t know.* My simmering anger has come to define me. It’s familiar, even if it’s not welcome. A steady hum vibrating my bones. Never quite gone because it’s a foundation of who I am. What I can’t make myself say is that I’m not sure what I’ll

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The Problem With Nice

By Kelly Baker

*Nice pretends to be a virtue, but kindness actually is.* “I was just trying to be nice.” “I just wanted to be nice.” “Not nice,” I say to the toddler after he bludgeons his sister with a random toy, “NOT NICE.” I find myself thinking about “nice” a lot lately, often before recounting a story

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The End Was Not the End

By Kelly Baker

*Sometimes, a beginning feels like an ending at first.* When I left academia, I kind of thought my life was over as a scholar, a teacher, a researcher & a writer. More than thought it, I felt it. In my marrow and sinew, in my flesh and heart. My life as I knew it was

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Sexism Ed Redux

By Kelly Baker

*The academy has a gender problem. And it’s not new.* So, Sexism Ed has been out for 28 days. (Who’s counting? I am clearly.) And there are few things that I want to direct your attention to. First, The Revealer published an excerpt recently, which is one of my favorite essays on all the men who pretend

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No Silver Lining

By Kelly Baker

*Assuming “everything is fine” ignores the pain and grief in my story.* It happened again a few weeks ago. Someone, who hadn’t read Grace Period, asked me about my transition out of the academy. I gave the short version because the book is the long version. They considered me thoughtfully for a moment and broke into

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