A new faculty member faces his demons
Author Archives: Pat Bowne
Shaking my Cane at Google, etc.
My institution, like most, has a set of random little jobs faculty should be doing. Open House days, committees, various events, various assessments (don’t ask)… they’re part of our job, we know they are part of our job, we know they’re … Continue reading
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We Have to Keep the Program Going, Right?
When I was in graduate school, we talked about professional ethics a lot. Would it be acceptable to take a job with a company that developed chemical warfare, that polluted, that destroyed the natural environment, that trashed communities? We veered … Continue reading
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My Wish was Granted
Remember my kvetching that we needed to hear something about the adjunctivization crisis from those conveniently silent PhD supervisors? Well, here’s one speaking up. I thought Michael Johnson Jr. had just written another of those pieces on how we all-powerful … Continue reading
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Nobody’s Ally
I’m nobody’s ally. Colleagues have stickers on their doors proclaiming that they are allies of this and that, but all I post is a sign-up calendar and (in winter) a notice proclaiming it to be the coldest office on campus. It’s … Continue reading
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A Monster Calls (if only!)
My book club read A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. I understand that this book has been made into a movie. Pro tip: if you want me to remain totally ignorant about something, just make it into a movie. Anyway, I … Continue reading
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Yes, I’m one of those people who ignore climate change articles
I read an article this morning about why people ignore climate change articles, no matter how horrific the predictions are. I’m a big-time climate change article ignorer, even though I’m not skeptical about its existence at all, so I thought I … Continue reading
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Font Styles for Metallic Text in Word
Once upon a time, Microsoft Word was one of the best graphic programs out there IMO. I speak as a non-power user, who got Word free at my job. Anyway, I could do everything I wanted/was able to do on … Continue reading
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Where are PhD Supervisors in the Conversation about Adjuncts?
I’ve been in lots of online conversations about adjunctification, and somebody always asks why we keep producing more PhDs than the market will bear. The answer? Crickets. I’ve just realized it’s a meaningless question — at least, the ‘we’ part … Continue reading
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Acts and Omissions by Catherine Fox
If Susan Howatch and Miss Read wrote a book together, it would probably be like this. Take the sorts of problems Howatch’s clergy face, and the same level of Close inside baseball, and cross it with short-chapter English countryside cozy, … Continue reading
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A Philistine Reads About Art
I’ve read too many fantasy books about artists recently and it has left me with a tendency to slam things down on the table and shout ‘Bullshit!’ at intervals, which was not a good way to begin mandatory inservice at … Continue reading
