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Wifi now available in the ivory tower
Academics in the humanities are finally evolving.
Half the room glared at me. So began the awkward silence. Heads turned down. A single cough echoed. The search committee chair forced herself to laugh. “So, that was…something. Questions?”
I’d just given a talk on the linguistic dimensions of social media discourse. To a bunch of English professors. Because I wanted a job. No, needed. Nobody really wants a job. Not even the ones who love work.
One elder professor said my scholarship had no value. He looked like Bill Nighy, so the insult cut even deeper than usual.
Later, the department chair asked me why I was even bothering to study how people talk online. “It’s just a bunch of noise,” he said. “Nobody means what they say on Facebook anyway.”
And then he walked me back to the hotel.
Few things suck more than dining with faculty after they’ve essentially killed your dreams. Can you just cancel? No, you have to sit there and pretend everything’s fine. You’re just thrilled for the opportunity to meet new people at the beautiful campus of University Wherever.
You have to sit there and pretend to drink wine.
