Clips Archives - Page 24 of 26

Maybe I Should Have Stayed in Retail

Published at Chronicle Vitae on May 14, 2015. I keep thinking about that job offer from the Gap as one of the paths I didn’t take. Maybe it sticks in my mind because of the years I spent on the faculty job market for a career that didn’t pan out. Maybe I keep revisiting that offer because […]

After Charleston

Published at Bearings on June 24, 2015. Will we really do nothing? Will we again ignore the fact that racism is embedded in our society? Will we claim that the shooter is a lone individual rather than a symptom of our white supremacist culture? Will we cluck our tongues in sympathy while ignoring the patterns of violence […]

It’s gonna be forever or it’s gonna go down in flames: Tenure and (In)Justice

Published at Marginalia Review of Books on June 8, 2015. Some might want to stop me right here to explain that academia is a meritocracy, in which hard work, quality scholarship, and intellect are rewarded with stable employment. Academia, you assure me, is built on merit. The deserving get tenure and all the security it […]

Clean Slate

Published on Chronicle Vitae on February 3, 2015. There was my journey from primary sources to a dissertation and from dissertation to manuscript. A ragged and torn poster from 2005 declared that I was once an “emerging scholar.” The poster’s condition felt like a strange symbol of early hope and promise that had been degraded by painful […]

The Altar of Taylor Swift

Published at Sacred Matters on March 9, 2015. I worship at the altar of this songstress born in 1989. I have for, at least, seven years. Her songs punctuate my day, dividing my time between silence, song, and the noise of small children. I listen as I write, as I walk, as I cook, and as […]

Science Isn’t The Problem; Scientists Are

Published at Chronicle Vitae on November 17, 2014. Blaming women is an easy strategy, the harder one is to meaningfully engage the myriad of factors that lead women to avoid or drop out of STEM. Like many others, I was pretty shocked that anyone could claim that science, or any other field of human endeavor, wasn’t […]