Simple. Stuff happens.

Ok, so some wise guy - actually an RL friend of mine who I haven't seen in RL in about 10 years - asked me about my blog tagline. 


(Maybe we all need to discuss this 'friend' thing one day. Who is an RL friend compared to an online friend compared to a FB friend? Is a FB friend who you never met, but talk with everyday more of a friend than the RL friend you haven't seen in 5 years, but can immediately strike up the conversation with as if you saw each other yesterday? Are RL friends different than online or FB friends? If so, how? If you aren't my friend then why are you reading this anyway? Jerk. And wouldn't you know it, I'm already, as Bob Krizek put it, "being tangential.")


Back to it:


"An interactive communicative space for the trendy philosophical meanderings of a guy who accidentally earned a Ph.D., but can't seem to figure out what to do with it." 


My friend wasn't really interested in the first half to that comment. He knows what the heck a blog is. He also knows about my philosophical meanderings. Hey, you don't end up with a B.A. in philosophy without trying to think about things. Some of the things you think about are really, really, really weird, not merely thoughts about real ponchos or Sears ponchos.


He wanted to know about that last part.  As he put it: "How the hell can you have a Ph.D. and not know what you are doing?"


Simple. Stuff happens.


I am a liar. I worked by butt off to get my Ph.D., so that wasn't an accident. Granted if you asked me 15 years ago - hell, even 10 years ago - that I'd have a Ph.D., I would have asked what you were smoking and if you'd share it with me. I had no desire to go back to school after my seven horrible years as an undergraduate. I was through with school, forever and ever. Yet, here I am having achieved the pinnacle of achievement in our education system, such as it is.


What he wanted to know was how I ended up with no gainful employment, living on the dole, and renting the basement apartment in my parents's house. 


Simple. Stuff happens.


I mistakenly planned for one career and one career only when I started graduate school. I wanted to be a professor. I was solely focused on that. In 2007 I had 20 interviews at NCA. Unfortunately for me I was still ABD (All But Dissertation). For the academically uninclined, ABD means I was done with everything except finishing my huge research project and writing it up. What I found was that many departments are shy about hiring people who are not finished. I don't blame them. Most academics who start a job without being finished never finish. That sucks for everyone involved. I knew I'd get done by Summer of 2008. And I did too. And I did land a job but it wasn't permanent.


And then this. In 2008, the jobs in the academic market dried up. Instead of seeing hundreds of positions I could apply for there were less than 100. Still, I had my one year left in my two year gig, so there was no need to panic, right? Wrong. In 2009, there were fewer academic positions than in 2008. 


(Let me quickly run through this for people who don't get the academic job hunt. Here's how it works: Let's say you are an academic and you are looking for a position that starts in August of 2011. Yes, that's a year from now. However, job openings for next academic year are being posted right now. Applications for next year are already being sent to hiring committees. Yes. It is a year long process. And yes, it is a pain in the ass for everyone involved.)


So although I applied for many jobs in 2009 (for 2010), none of them came through. I applied for one position which received over 400 application packets from would be professors. I had a few interviews: a couple on Skype, a couple in person. What I received were letters or emails that went like this: "Thanks but no thanks." 


This summer my two year gig ended. That was strike one. At the same time my lease ended. That was strike two. No one is going to let you sign a lease if you cannot prove you have an income. Perfect storm. Finally, I have no idea, exactly what I am supposed to be doing if I am not writing and teaching. 


As for the applications for the positions that start next summer: I sent out the first batch last week. Here we go again.


So how the hell can you have a Ph.D. and not know what you are doing?

Simple. Stuff happens.