For many people I’ve talked to over the last couple of months, it sounds like I’m sort of in a good news/bad news situation. Good news: I have a job. An academic job. It pays well and offers benefits and the potential for high professional satisfaction even though it isn’t tenure track. The bad news (or at least the catch): it’s in Moscow. That’s Russia, not Idaho. No, I know what you’re thinking, but I’m actually really excited.
So yeah, that’s what is happening right now and what has helped me decide to return to regular blogging: I have something to write about, something that should hopefully generate plenty of opportunities for David Sedaris-esque fish out of water delightfulness. It seems simpler to revive this blog rather than starting a new one for a number of reasons, the still-for-some-reason high number of daily readers being but one. If you are already a reader of this blog, or if you got to this post from an archived one, here’s how things will be different:
- My previous posts were from the perspective of an ABD graduate student trying to teach and write her way to glory. From here on, this blog is written from the perspective of a US academic living and working abroad. I have noticed that the resources out there for people in this situation are few, so here’s hoping that as I fumble through the process, I am able to be of service to others who are considering this career path.
- That said, I do plan to use this to reflect on the final years of graduate school and the hell that was the job search process and in doing so provide assistance and consolation to those still struggling through it. More on this tomorrow.
- As I’ve become more wizened, the number of subjects on which I feel capable of issuing pronouncements has shrunk, and I predict that as a result, the tone of this blog is going to be less rant-y and more anecdotal.
So here we go.
Shitty First Drafts 