No Chaser

Hmmm...

A professor of mine, who I may have quoted previously said that she quit law school when she realized "These are not my people." I quit academia when I realized the same thing.

Of course, I mean that generally, as some of my very best friends and favorite people are academics (SchoolSmelt, RandomGirl, T, M, Clonk, and maybe Miss SB soon too), and I like a lot of the academics whose blogs I read although I know them only through their blogs. But, in general, I just don't like the posturing, the strategizing, the pedigree-checking, the trend-monitoring, the name-dropping that I think are particularly ugly in my very competitive, often mocked, poorly funded field.

But, enough moaning; how about some cheer for a change, NC? Okay, here it is. Tonight, I went out with the library crowd from the unit I am volunteering in and had a really good time. We drank beer and talked about mold, music, books, various cities, foreign languages, translation, peanut butter. The age range, all mingled, was between 20 and 65, no exaggeration. Well, I'm forgetting the 5.5 year old, and he could really hold his own actually. Loves to read that kid. All in all, it was delightful.

Here's the score for the evening --

how much anyone was trying to impress anyone else: 0
how many people were performing any kind of manipulation or surreptitious machination: 0
how much anyone gave a damn about where I did my undergraduate degree or who I know: 0
how many times someone said "transnational," "neoliberalism," "subjectivity," or "antimonies": 0
how many times I was lied to or felt I could not be frank: 0
how much fun I had: 100

Could these be my people? It's early to say, but it's certainly a good start.

posted by: NoChaser at February 07, 2006 18:05 | link | comments (7) |

Comments:

#1  07 February 2006 - 20:52

 

Culture shock stage 4.

Mazel tov!

-tt
--
I had beer out with folks tonight too. It's cosmic, I tell you, cosmic.

Mo'nonymous

#2  08 February 2006 - 06:09

 

Thanks! :)

NoChaser

#3  08 February 2006 - 07:13

 

loverly! :) this is why i had to find people outside of school to hang out with -- it's so happy to not talk about all of that junk all the time and, as you say, while you can find some academic sorts who can chill out and not be all crazy all the time, those are few and far between. i'm going to have to work hard to not want to become a librarian now...
--rg

Mo'nonymous

#4  08 February 2006 - 11:09

 

Totally. Well, I guess if you get sick of teaching, you know there's another option you'd probably enjoy. :)

NoChaser

#5  08 February 2006 - 11:15

 

a perfect score of 100! I love it! (clonk)

Mo'nonymous

#6  08 February 2006 - 13:42

 

Congratulations! I'm glad you've found some more of your people - and I'm sure there are even more where they come from...

schoolsmelt

#7  09 February 2006 - 08:58

 

Cool stuff.
Yeah, it's a bit of a life quest trying to find one's people.
I was going to through in some wise cracks...but no, it's good. Library people are cool.

-H.B.

Mo'nonymous

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