At the End..2018
It is interesting, because I am starting to steady myself for the barrage of Facebook messages from people that are relatively melancholy. People will express some level of frustration or irritation with 2018, and hope 2019 will be a "better year".
For me, 2018 what pretty good. There were things I didn't succeed in, but overall, pretty good.
Teaching. Let's see - I taught seven classes this year: four at Towson, one at UMBC, two at CCBC. It was a busy time teaching, and this fall was particularly hard, given that I was teaching every night after my full time job. That meant Friday was the only evening of the week I wasn't teaching. However, it was a good "hard push", and I'll teach less this upcoming year...maybe. I mean, I'm already on the slate to teach winter (something I haven't done in a while), and I have two classes in the spring at Towson. I will almost definitely have a summer course, maybe two, and then teach 3 courses again in the fall. Okay, MAYBE I won't teach less, but I'll work to make it less days, if I can.
School. School was extremely productive. I received the Crandall Fellowship for research on vet thanks discourse. I defended my dissertation proposal. I presented at like...four conferences (AMSA, ESS, ASA, PCA-S). I won the best graduate student paper award at PCA-S, and received the Strong Fellowship a few weeks ago. My dissertation study made it through IRB, and I finished 23 interviews; more than I needed to. This sets me up nicely to finish out next year. It will be a lot of research and writing, but I got this. Graduation is in t-minus 12 months!
Production. I produced a lot this year. I got one of my articles published in Analog Game Studies. I put forth two pieces for publication (in Masculinities and the Journal of Gender Studies) but both were rejected. Bah. I resubmitted the piece for JGS to the Critical Military Studies journal, and will likely resubmit the Masculinities piece in one of the popular culture journals (given it is on Bronies). I will be finishing up a chapter for an edited book this week, and will be writing 3 conference papers (all of which I'll try to get published, eventually). I enjoy writing and research. I really do.
Work. The job is going well. My evaluation was excellent, and I've been deemed now "third in command" around here...which is strange. But it is disconnected enough that it doesn't get to my head, but keeps me involved. My intent is still to leave in early 2020, once my dissertation is done. It may be earlier. I started to look for jobs (either as non-tenure professors in cultural studies and research fellow/associate positions), and if something comes up in the areas I am looking (Philly, VA, Eastern NC, GA, NJ), then I will go.
Fitness. Fell off. Too busy.
My goals are pretty straightforward for 2019:
- publish 3 things
- win at least one scholarly award
- finish my dissertation
- find a job
- lose 15 lbs
- get back to running 12 miles a week
Achievable, I think!