What I'm not reading

Dave sent me this article advocating reading books you expect to hate. I like the idea in theory, but there are plenty of books that I feel confident in my pre-judgments of and won't repent for refusing to read:

• memoirs (unless they are of really spectacular achievements - and never 20-somethings recounting their childhoods)
  
• "true" paranormal revelations
  
• serialized Star Trek novels
  
• the Left Behind books
  
• "Christian" series romance
  
• Danielle Steel
  
• inspirational stories
  
• series that are hurriedly gotten-up imitations of successful ones
  
• novelizations of movies that are based on books
  
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

But, to be open-minded, there are books I tend to avoid that maybe I need to go out on a limb on ...

• books without quotation marks around speech (I'm looking at you, Cormac McCarthy)
  
• novels about some famous dude's wife or some girl in a painting
  
• Jack Kerouac
  
• epic multi-generational tales
  
• biography
  
• the secret importance of {some ordinary object} in civilization

Jobs

University of Montana: Assistant/Associate Professor.

Why I'm glad I'm not in English any more

This year's MLA job market is the worst ever (since they've started keeping records). So, what ought graduates do?

Take a look at comment #7 from lms347: "If humanities PhDs would be willing to say, "Screw this. I can make more money and be just as fulfilled outside of academe" the way that some social sciences or science PhDs are willing and able to do, then maybe things would be a bit different."

Which gives the impression humanities PhDs are simply recalcitrant or closed-minded, yes? If only they would open their eyes!

Those social science and science jobs in industry or think tanks - you know what the required credential is for most of them? A PhD. You know what skills they require? Those learned in PhD programs.

Those alternatives suggested to teaching English and the humanities? Say, being an editor, or a high school teacher (both suggested by other commenters) - or perhaps working in a library or as a consultant - do you know what degree they require? Well, a masters would be nice. Maybe a teaching credential or some other degree that requires even more schooling.

Is it any wonder that after ten years of working on their PhDs, English lit graduates are more reluctant to seek non-academic careers than are economists? "This degree has to get me something - I spent ten years in poverty to earn it - so I'd like a job that uses it." That strikes me as perfectly natural. It's the system that is broken, with production not matching demand; it's not some curious flaw in the product.

I spent the end of the year in Phoenix, going to a Desiree Rumbaugh workshop and spending time with friends, but the only souvenir I brought back with me was a cold. The symptoms have principally been a stuffy nose, which leads to no sleep, some sneezing, and a very mild sore throat. This morning, however, I woke up with an entirely new and somewhat discomforting symptom: A desire to work up a budget for my expenses. No, I can't explain that either.

So I did. We'll see how well my budget matches what I actually spend. I don't mean, "Do I end up overspending on dining out?" I'm more concerned about areas of non-frivolous spending - car repairs, medical bills, that type of thing.

Maybe I actually have some sort of strange new year's bug that covertly forces one to make resolutions and all that.

Welcome to 2010

It's not only the start of a new year but of a new decade. I should be doing retrospective posts, like everyone else, but you know what? 2009 was a cruddy year. I am glad to see the last of it. Heck, the oughts were a disappointing decade. Not only did we not get the flying cars and spaceships we were promised, it was a decade in which my life seemed to stand still in many ways. Ten years ago I wasn't too far out of college, working in a job that earned me $14k/year before taxes, and living the wild and crazy life of a single girl, except without the wild or crazy part. Now, I'm back in college, not earning much more (after inflation), and still single. The more things change ...

But surface indicators aren't the only way to measure my life, and there are things that are different. I think some of those will make 2010 better.

And some things, I don't want to change. My family is healthy; I have a lot of great friends; and whatever I have to complain about, things could be a lot worse.

So happy 2010. May this year, no matter what your 2009 was like, be better than the year before.