Category Archives: real life

You can’t afford a used copy of my book…

Posted on January 28, 2014 by Pat Bowne

So you better buy a new one. In fact, buy a hundred and sell 99 of them on the fantastic used-book market! TweetFacebookLinkedInTumblrStumbleDiggDelicious

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Legends of Russia by Kseniya Simonova

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Pat Bowne

I don’t know Russian legends, but I know what I like. This video’s amazing both for her artistry and the confidence with which she destroys and recreates her art. I like a book to do this as well – replacing … Continue reading →

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Mary Sue writes open letters

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Pat Bowne

My news stream contained far too many open letters and fake State of the State speeches today, which made me stop and think: why do open letters bug me? And really, what is an open letter? -Person A has an … Continue reading →

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#diediploidscum

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Pat Bowne

Somebody came up to me and said “I hear you used to attend the Ginormous Convention of Eukaryotic Organisms, do you think that would be a good event to take students to?” Now, I flatter myself that I know our … Continue reading →

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Do Accreditors give a darn about adjunctification? Let’s find out!

Posted on January 13, 2014 by Pat Bowne

I use this blog mostly for stuff related to my writing and the occasional knitting pattern, but you can’t be in academia these days without noticing that it’s turning into a sweatshop, where PhDs are lucky if they make a … Continue reading →

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The Mini-career roars along

Posted on November 20, 2013 by Pat Bowne

I’ve posted before about my mini-scale writing career, and how it’s providing everything an author could want — only in smaller doses, without paparazzi. So I’ve received two fan emails, met two fans at conferences for lunch, posted one piece … Continue reading →

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Kicking and Screaming

Posted on October 19, 2013 by Pat Bowne

Here’s what I want: I want a dollar for every hour I’ve spent changing my life to cope with unnecessary upgrades. Why am I ranting? Right now, it’s because of Windows 7. Our school implemented Windows 7 over the summer, … Continue reading →

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Unions!

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Pat Bowne

Finally a group of adjuncts have managed to form a working union! Pretty amazing. How recently was it that I was complaining about how non-insurrectionist downtrodden PhDs were? I’m happy to be proved wrong. I have mixed feelings about unions. … Continue reading →

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The Babbling Internet

Posted on September 1, 2013 by Pat Bowne

I get a few hundred links a week in my RSS aggregator, and guess which ones I get the least out of? The ones that send me to a page with a two-line teaser and embedded video of a talking … Continue reading →

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Dystopian visions — are you doing anything?

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Pat Bowne

When I was young, there was a commercial my parents loved. It was for some allergy medicine or other, and it showed a bored little boy sitting on the porch steps. From inside the house came his mother’s voice: “Johnny, … Continue reading →