Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Ancillary Adjunct Enters the World of Academia

Ancillary Adjunct here….So glad for CM--CM provides a release valve and keeps sanity (and spirits) up. Thank you all!

My trip to academia has a scenic route. A career in the “real world” tanked. So why not earn a master’s degree and become a college professor? Little did I know that it’s like the lottery! Especially since pursuing a—you guessed it—humanities degree! A serving of self-flagellation, anyone?

A newly-minted M.A., I enjoyed my first semester of adjunct teaching. Thanks to CM, various and sundry student ploys failed--thank you for all your "war stories!"

Now the cup of Ph.D. “fruit punch” has been pressed into my hand, beckoning like the Holy Grail. But…there are bills. On the plus side, being a clerk on campus worked out. I only paid a quarter of what others in my cohort had to. Pity I am climbing the walls at that clerical job now.

So, the possible temporary escape route is a grant for writing a book---won’t know for sure until December. Meanwhile, the Ancillary Adjunct is on the prowl looking for another guest spot, hoping to use the old sheepskin for something other than hiding a hole in the wall.

4 comments:

  1. Welcome to the misery!

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  2. Welcome to CM. I hope you enjoy your stay.

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  3. Welcome, AA (hmm. . .that seems appropriate somehow -- or perhaps not). I like the "release valve" metaphor; in some of the literature I read the Great Dismal Swamp is given the same designation (because it harbors runaway slaves who might otherwise choose more violent forms of resistance). So, CM is the swamp where the academic outlaws hang out; that works, I think.

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