Friday, March 14, 2008

I Mean the Game of Going Insane

In comments, Anon. 5:14's talking about the howling fantods:
I'm (happily but stressfully) in the middle of my tenure evaluation, and I've been remembering lately just how much worse--worlds worse--l I felt during my two years of being on the market and not getting a job. (Sometimes three times really is the charm.) One day just after finding out, for the second year in a row, that I wasn't going to get a job, I was sitting at the front of the classroom looking at my watch to see if it was time to begin. I looked down and saw the socks I was wearing. They were perfectly ordinary socks. No different from any of the other socks I usually wear. But I was gripped with a deep, undeniable feeling that they were The Wrong Socks. I was wearing The Wrong Socks. I couldn't do anything right. Not even socks.
Howling.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know if anyone else got the Ohio Northern U. rejection email, but it was quite nice to actually be told that someone specific was hired and who it was. It brings some closure to the whole process and makes it seem more human, like "Hey, one of us made it."

Anonymous said...

I interviewed (APA, not campus) for the Ohio Northern job, and *I* didn't get that rejection email. Since it's public knowledge, but not on Leiter yet, who got the job?

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:14PM,
(or anyone)

Do you mind telling us who got the Ohio Northern job?
A friend of mine candidated for that one...

Anonymous said...

I'm anon 8:14 AM. Strange that others didn't get that email. You'd think they'd send it to all. Here 'tis

"To all applicants for the philosophy position:

The Department of Philosophy and Religion at Ohio Northern University is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Erica Neely as Assistant Professor of Philosophy. We had just under 130 applicants for the position.

We want to thank you for your interest in applying and wish you well in your career as philosophers.

Sincerely,

Errol Katayama
Chair of Philosophy Search Committee"

Anonymous said...

ONU hired Erica Neely (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Anonymous said...

i can only tell you this much:

it was someone with the Right Socks.

Thomas D. Carroll said...

anon 8:14,

Sounds like a Baby Announcement...See the Chronicle forum on rejection letter genres.

Admittedly, it is tough to write a good rejection letter (a humane PFO letter does sound like an oxymoron), but I rather liked the LaGrange College letter that I received earlier in the week...

Anonymous said...

This post about the "wrong socks" is reminiscent of a scene from Sarte's Nausea.

Anonymous said...

The ONU job went to Erica Neely (U of Illinois).

Unknown said...

Dear Philo,
I don't suppose you'd post the Lagrange letter for our perusal and amusement??

Thomas D. Carroll said...

ronald -- sure here goes:

"Dear philo,

Thank you for your interest in the faculty position in Philosophy at LaGrange College. Our search committee agreed that this pool of applicants was the strongest that we have seen in any faculty search at the college in recent memory. Our search committee struggled to make its choice from a great number of excellent candidates. Our search has now reached a successful conclusion. We regret to inform you that we are not able to extend you an offer at this time.

Again, thank you for your interest in LaGrange College. We know that the process of finding an academic home is labor intensive and can be emotionally draining. We fully appreciate the significant investment you gave this application. We will keep your dossier on file in case a position opens up in the future. We wish you all the best in your search.

Sincerely,

[actual signature -- no cheezy scanning!]

Dr. David Oki Ahearn
Chair, Department of Religion and Philosophy
LaGrange College"

Note the lack of passive construction! Note the acknowledgment that PFO letters suck! Sure, it has a boiler-plate reference to keeping my dossier on file (uh, huh...right...), but otherwise, I felt like at least this letter was written by someone who remembers what it's like to be on the market.

These days a little bit of humanity goes a long way with me...[off to get a beer.]

Anonymous said...

Kudos, LaGrange. That's a nice letter.

Anonymous said...

You know, I felt the same way when I initially got the LaGrange letter, however, after I started thinking about it..well...I just don't know. I still kind of feel like it was more like "Well, you sure do have a fine ass even if we did see a lot of fine ass and by the way, yes, we're quite sorry we didn't use any lube when we fucked you, so next time, maybe we'll think about using lube."

Or maybe I just need the harsher rejection letter to make it easier for me to get annoyed about the whole stupid and humiliating process!!

Anonymous said...

Hmmm... LaGrange... One should count himself/herself lucky for not getting that LaGrange job. Appearance can be deceiving, as the old saying goes. And in this case, it is.