(academia) From Welfare to the Tenure Track

[zizi_west]

 This excellent blog post by Stacey Patton, an Enterprise Reporter for The Chronicle for Higher Education, touches on many socially and emotionally weighted subjects:  

• hatred against people using welfare (conveniently ignoring the fact that the subject of the article had already paid into the system as a taxpayer)
• the stress of being without full-

Comments

[browngirl]

I am absolutely reading this when my nerves can take it. Thank you for posting this.

[zizi_west]

I hope that you'll find the article somewhat encouraging (I did). The woman interviewed is honest about people's online & offline cruelty, but she also experienced some kindness amid her difficulties. Strong, caring interpersonal connections really do keep many of us going.

We all know that so many of us are only one major health crisis, natural disaster, personal tragedy, plant closure, or lost job away from being in economically precarious situations. Life isn't predictable -- even by scrimping and saving, not owning a car, etc. life can upend our plans. People know this, yet they still continue to express hatred and derision in the comfort of online anonymity. That kind of callous behavior is what's shameful -- not being on WIC or depending on unemployment.