Kate's Summer Job

The RosenGoble home is going through a ton of transition and job maneuverings. To say that it's stressful on the financial front is an enormous understatement.* As is the case with academics, everything slows down around mid-April. This is when I officially go on "summer break" from UVSC. Because there are very few classes offered, there are very few jobs for all of the scavenging adjuncts. I'm not imagining that I'll be the lucky one who gets a class. In fact, after my less-than-stellar performance this semester, I'd be surprised if I get to come back in the fall. Woah, I've never sucked so hard.

So I imagined that I'd just be able to work my treatment center job, bask in the sun and drink lemonade, but alas. I think I need to do something else that pays. I sent my CV to Stevens-Henager College (a wee tiny business college sort of place) and they contacted me immediately because, even though they have no immediate openings for me, they were enchanted with my "impressive credentials." Dear Stevens-Henager, keep talking and put your money where your flattering mouth is. I'll be meeting with an administrator this morning.

See, the thing is, I watch lots of colleagues jockeying for teeny-ass positions at relatively decent universities and it depresses the hell out of me. I love to teach and have already gone where many of my graduate school friends would never go. I teach at UVSC which many professors feel is a stifling place, but I love it. Not the stifling part, but the challenge and the opportunity to work with a smart, intriguing student population. I'm not even sure that I'd ever really care who I teach, just that I get to teach (which explains why I taught a special group of automotive students at Penn College one semester. Who knew that there were so many research papers that could be written about car engines). So, though I know that S-H wouldn't advance my academic credibility, I don't mind so much. If they pay me decently and they are a 10 minute drive (woo!) away, AND they let me teach Lit, who the hell cares? After I publish my amazing writing (not this blog-- I hope you trust that I can work with more interesting material than this) it won't matter because I'll be FAMOUS, yo.


Well, so, that's that. Y'all can cross your fingers for us because we need some specific things to line up and we're on pins and needles.


xoxo

k


*I have been listening carefully to the news about the shitty economy and the sub-prime mortgage disasters. I look at indicators like gas prices (cough, vomit) and grocery prices (holy shit! one week and we're paying a buck more for peanut butter!) and other stuff that is kicking our asses and feel really damned relieved (for once) that we don't have much to lose. We have a roof over our heads. So I try not to complain, at least about this.