Bringing it back
So, as I was saying...
I came out on top.
Six years ago I moved from Beaver County, PA to Syracuse, NY to start a PhD in English. It was not an easy thing to do, even though I was entirely committed to the idea of grad school. I spent the last few weeks dreading the move--I was leaving behind lifelong friends and exciting new people, my family, a city I was falling ever more in love with, a humble but totally thrilling place in a vibrant arts/music/politics scene, and the comfort of the familiar (which is easily in my list of top five comforts, ahead of "creature" and behind "food"). And by the beginning of 2004, I had started to get my feet again, and feel like a whole person. So the prospect of leaving that, and having a repeat of my first few years at Miami...that was terrifying.
Six years later I am writing this from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, my new home (at least for the time being.) Once again I left behind good friends and colleagues, a charming city, a humble yet fulfilling place in a functioning university/community, and the comfort of the familiar. But the events of the past six months have made this change a bit different. In the midst of an incredibly frustrating and harrowing job search season for the both of us, Rachel--my best friend, longtime partner and my go-to companion for editing advice, bad tv watching, pointless fights and dumb jokes--and I got married on March 6. After a series of delays, I was offered a tenure track position by the last possible job I was in contention for, a job that just felt right to me the moment I saw the ad, when I met with the department and saw campus... and it just so happened to be in Philly, which was near the top of my list of ideal cities to find academic work in. On June 28th I defended my dissertation, passing with distinction to become Mike (Ph)D. I'm writing this with Rachel asleep at my side, and with my dream job (professor of english and media studies) waiting for me in a month. So I guess that means I made the right decision all those years ago.
My dissertation is about nostalgia, and I guess that makes sense--I'm easily the most nostalgic person I know, and I've been that way for as long as I could remember. I guess that's why I find this situation to be so novel and fascinating. For once, the future seems even more appealing than the past.
I came out on top.
Six years ago I moved from Beaver County, PA to Syracuse, NY to start a PhD in English. It was not an easy thing to do, even though I was entirely committed to the idea of grad school. I spent the last few weeks dreading the move--I was leaving behind lifelong friends and exciting new people, my family, a city I was falling ever more in love with, a humble but totally thrilling place in a vibrant arts/music/politics scene, and the comfort of the familiar (which is easily in my list of top five comforts, ahead of "creature" and behind "food"). And by the beginning of 2004, I had started to get my feet again, and feel like a whole person. So the prospect of leaving that, and having a repeat of my first few years at Miami...that was terrifying.
Six years later I am writing this from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, my new home (at least for the time being.) Once again I left behind good friends and colleagues, a charming city, a humble yet fulfilling place in a functioning university/community, and the comfort of the familiar. But the events of the past six months have made this change a bit different. In the midst of an incredibly frustrating and harrowing job search season for the both of us, Rachel--my best friend, longtime partner and my go-to companion for editing advice, bad tv watching, pointless fights and dumb jokes--and I got married on March 6. After a series of delays, I was offered a tenure track position by the last possible job I was in contention for, a job that just felt right to me the moment I saw the ad, when I met with the department and saw campus... and it just so happened to be in Philly, which was near the top of my list of ideal cities to find academic work in. On June 28th I defended my dissertation, passing with distinction to become Mike (Ph)D. I'm writing this with Rachel asleep at my side, and with my dream job (professor of english and media studies) waiting for me in a month. So I guess that means I made the right decision all those years ago.
My dissertation is about nostalgia, and I guess that makes sense--I'm easily the most nostalgic person I know, and I've been that way for as long as I could remember. I guess that's why I find this situation to be so novel and fascinating. For once, the future seems even more appealing than the past.