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 freelance writing is a constant hustle. Or maybe it is because friends of mine are now gaining tenure. What might my life look like if I had taken that promotion and told my department to take their shitty stipend and shove it? Would I have finished my dissertation? Would I have applied for teaching jobs?