Stick a fork in me; I'm done.
First off, thanks everyone for your kind words of support and encouragement. (boggit , I owe you a phone call; sorry!) The rejection really took the wind out of my sails and made me question, once again, whether or not I’m doing the right thing. The jury is still out on that one.
JB was, of course, not there for me on this one. He’s on leave and wants nothing to do with anyone as he wraps up his sabbatical. However, I had Ginny and Henry, both of whom commiserated with the ridiculousness of the readers and journal. Ginny said that this journal has always rejected her articles and she’s nothing but horror stories about how the editorial board and readers treat writers like crap. Good to know. Henry gave them the finger. I love that man!
My TA cohort, Isabel, also cheered me up the other day. She’s a student of the Raj, a big shot British Empire guy here. Well, he told her that he’s had 7 articles rejected by the AHA over the years. This man is THE SHIT in his field, and he’s been rejected a ridiculous number of times by our main professional organization's publication. Makes me feel better and it completely underscores the politics and unpredictability of all of this.
So, I’m going to tweak the article a little bit over the break and then submit it to other journals at the beginning of the new year. Fingers crossed.
In the wake of this, I’ve submitted my first and probably only post-doc application of the year. It wasn’t that great as I struggled with what I would teach for a grad-level theory and methods seminar. In the end, I came up with some plausible shit entitled, “Construction and Conceptualization of Space in Modern Latin America.” I threw in Habermas, Lefebvre, Scott, Foucault and other crazy theorists along with case studies focused on Latin America’s six largest cities. It’s shite, but if I worked on it, it could actually be a good grad course in the future. Well, I was at least exposed to what it would be like applying for post-docs and jobs next year.
But fuck all that shit! This weekend brings us BNAT 11!!!!! w00t!!!! Really, I can’t tell y’all how excited I am. The crew arrives tomorrow a little after 12 pm. We’re going to eat lunch, go to Toy Joy, hang out, and then have an early dinner at the Salt Lick. After that, BNAT pre-party at the Highball. It looks like this year that BNAT is going to be more like a 26-hour movie marathon as it starts an hour earlier and ends almost an hour later. Egads! We’re going to have to wake up extra early on Saturday. Thank God I have drugs to put me to sleep on Friday night.
Bonus: my students’ exam is Saturday night, but I’m missing it :D I’m so done with this class. I had one asshole student come in bitch about his grade. Early in the semester he whined about how he thought getting an A in English meant he would get an A in History. Uh, no. Well, after this last exam he came in again. He was just trying anything and everything to get additional points. For example, one question was about WWI and WWII and how people and groups used these moments of crisis to push for expanded rights. He spent most of the essay talking about communism. I told him that's not relevant to the question, and besides, with WWII we were fighting fascism. He argued that fascism and socialism are the same and therefore a discussion on communism is warranted. *face palm* I told him that they were definitely not the same, to which he said, "Uh, yeah they are!" I had to hold back the urge to slap him for questioning my knowledge. On his other question, he talked about Hank Williams Sr and how his music is relevant to the Depression. Not quite, since Hank was singing in the mid to late 40s. The student's response: Hank grew up during the Depression, so that makes him relevant. My response: That may make the Depression relevant to Hank's personal life, but his cultural significance in this course is in the 40s. Again, urge to slap rising. So what happens? The kid later complained to the prof and got additional points. Score one for patriarchy!
There are some good students who revealed themselves in the wake of the God-awful second exam, and I’ve been working with them to guarantee their improvement. But man. I really don’t think the final is going to be any better. I just keep repeating to myself, “Grade light and easy. Grade light and easy.” But this too shall pass, and my semester will officially be over. Huzzah!!!
JB was, of course, not there for me on this one. He’s on leave and wants nothing to do with anyone as he wraps up his sabbatical. However, I had Ginny and Henry, both of whom commiserated with the ridiculousness of the readers and journal. Ginny said that this journal has always rejected her articles and she’s nothing but horror stories about how the editorial board and readers treat writers like crap. Good to know. Henry gave them the finger. I love that man!
My TA cohort, Isabel, also cheered me up the other day. She’s a student of the Raj, a big shot British Empire guy here. Well, he told her that he’s had 7 articles rejected by the AHA over the years. This man is THE SHIT in his field, and he’s been rejected a ridiculous number of times by our main professional organization's publication. Makes me feel better and it completely underscores the politics and unpredictability of all of this.
So, I’m going to tweak the article a little bit over the break and then submit it to other journals at the beginning of the new year. Fingers crossed.
In the wake of this, I’ve submitted my first and probably only post-doc application of the year. It wasn’t that great as I struggled with what I would teach for a grad-level theory and methods seminar. In the end, I came up with some plausible shit entitled, “Construction and Conceptualization of Space in Modern Latin America.” I threw in Habermas, Lefebvre, Scott, Foucault and other crazy theorists along with case studies focused on Latin America’s six largest cities. It’s shite, but if I worked on it, it could actually be a good grad course in the future. Well, I was at least exposed to what it would be like applying for post-docs and jobs next year.
But fuck all that shit! This weekend brings us BNAT 11!!!!! w00t!!!! Really, I can’t tell y’all how excited I am. The crew arrives tomorrow a little after 12 pm. We’re going to eat lunch, go to Toy Joy, hang out, and then have an early dinner at the Salt Lick. After that, BNAT pre-party at the Highball. It looks like this year that BNAT is going to be more like a 26-hour movie marathon as it starts an hour earlier and ends almost an hour later. Egads! We’re going to have to wake up extra early on Saturday. Thank God I have drugs to put me to sleep on Friday night.
Bonus: my students’ exam is Saturday night, but I’m missing it :D I’m so done with this class. I had one asshole student come in bitch about his grade. Early in the semester he whined about how he thought getting an A in English meant he would get an A in History. Uh, no. Well, after this last exam he came in again. He was just trying anything and everything to get additional points. For example, one question was about WWI and WWII and how people and groups used these moments of crisis to push for expanded rights. He spent most of the essay talking about communism. I told him that's not relevant to the question, and besides, with WWII we were fighting fascism. He argued that fascism and socialism are the same and therefore a discussion on communism is warranted. *face palm* I told him that they were definitely not the same, to which he said, "Uh, yeah they are!" I had to hold back the urge to slap him for questioning my knowledge. On his other question, he talked about Hank Williams Sr and how his music is relevant to the Depression. Not quite, since Hank was singing in the mid to late 40s. The student's response: Hank grew up during the Depression, so that makes him relevant. My response: That may make the Depression relevant to Hank's personal life, but his cultural significance in this course is in the 40s. Again, urge to slap rising. So what happens? The kid later complained to the prof and got additional points. Score one for patriarchy!
There are some good students who revealed themselves in the wake of the God-awful second exam, and I’ve been working with them to guarantee their improvement. But man. I really don’t think the final is going to be any better. I just keep repeating to myself, “Grade light and easy. Grade light and easy.” But this too shall pass, and my semester will officially be over. Huzzah!!!