Saturday, October 25, 2008

Guest Post: Now We're Talkin'

Philosotographer has my kind of ideal job ad. PGS relays by email that his ideal job ad would be AOS: being an ex-blogger, AOC: saying "fuck" a lot. -PGOAT

As long as we’re thinking about what the “ideal job ad” would look like, why not dream bigger? Two years ago, when I received the October 2006 JFP, I wrote out my ideal job ad:

333. TRINITY COLLEGE, Dublin, Ireland. The newly established Institute for Rock and Social Justice Semester at Sea Program invites application for a tenure-track appointment to begin September 2007. AOS: Photography. AOC: Ethics, Drumming, Logic, and one or more of the following: Whale Watching, Bowling, Kayaking, Documentary film watching/making. ABD preferred (Ph.D. considered). Please send CV, portfolio, writing sample, and list of favorite things. Interviews will NOT be conducted at the APA Eastern Division meeting because we respect Christmas and time off. PE/ACE.

--Philosotographer

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

69. SMITH COLLEGE. Chair of Interpersonal Student Relations Department and Field Hockey. AOS: Philosophy of Sex. AOC: Endurance.

Or:

69. HAMPDEN-SYDNEY COLLEGE. Men's Lacrosse Team seeks Philosophy Tutor. AOS: Plato. AOC: Experimental Philosophy.

Both sound awesome. I could go either way.

Anonymous said...

am I right in thinking that this post is just too silly to merit any comments?

why not a post on an interesting topic? like, how much "small schools" weigh publications against pedigree? or why do so many job candidates seem to think that teaching at a place like NYU would be preferable to teaching at a place like Bowdoin? or more generally, what counts as a "good" job? (I'd be really interested to hear divergent views on this last question.)

c'mon. this blog can do better (no offense to Philosotographer's whimsy).

Anonymous said...

Perhaps this could be the Guinness or even better the Jameson Chair?

Anonymous said...

This blog has reached that point in its career at which it needs to go on the road. We've been bitching for some time now, and we should keep it up as there will always be new blood to come here for comic relief. But its moderators should consider a brand new waste to suck time away from their dissertations: solicit anonymous advice from the various powers that be (so to speak). We could get anonymous advice from SLAC SC members, Leiterriffic SC members, PhD Leiterokay or Leiterlowly SC members, SC members at generic StateU w/no graduate problem, etc., as well as people who landed jobs in the past 2-3 years at each of those places, etc.

Of course, all the advice, suggestions, anecdotes and whatnot would always be idiosyncratic to the person anonymously advising, but it would give us more data here than the few random SC/potential-SC members who do pass by here.

Just an idea.

Anonymous said...

Wow, anon 10:23, do you really need a full-fledge debate on the merits of teaching at NYU over Bowdoin? Really? Upstate Maine vs. New York City? Really? A dept. with only five philosophers (all of whom I assume are quite good) vs. two dozen of the world's best? Really? Pretty smart Bowdoin undergrads vs. pretty smart NYU undergrads and a stable of brilliant NYU grad students? Seriously, this is a tough call for you? Proximity to Canada vs. Proximity to Rutgers, Princeton, and Columbia? You genuinely are struggling with this?

Fear not, my little Buridan's asshole, neither of those haystacks are available options for you. Now go starve to death somewhere else while the grown-ups talk about grown-up things like fake job ads and cover letters.

Anonymous said...

Does PGS blog anymore? No offense to everyone else but that's what made this blog great. The other things (sunday comics, PGOAT's rants, Anonymous committee chair posts) are fine--but as supporting roles. Right now it's like when Duchovney left the X Files. If you look at some of the early Rocking the Passive Voice posts and compare them to these (mostly guest) posts, it's not even close. My wife used to love this blog and she has no connection to philosophy or the job market. This is an important moment for this blog. The only thing to do is bring back PGS.

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:14 is exactly right - guest posts from those SC members are what we really need.

I also LOVED - anon 10:14 - the little slip 'graduate problem': nailed that one on right on the head...

And yeah, where *is* PGS? I always was a toral PGOAT fan, but I do miss PGS...

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:23 here.

Colonel Fantasticon, you're calling ME an asshole for asking the question? Yes, that does seem like a worthwhile debate. I find it astonishing that to you it is such an obvious non-starter.

And, seriously, do not presume what choices are available to me. I'm tenured and did at one time in fact face analogous choices. (In general, I admit, I find the meanness on this blog sometimes amusing, but the assumptions about commentators abilities to land jobs strike me as particularly classless.)

I'd try not to presume anything about you myself. However, it's fairly plain that regardless of you are or where you are professionally, you have a painfully narrow conception of the good life.

dick.

(Oh, and Anon 10:14's suggestions seem to me right on the money.)

Anonymous said...

To Colonel Fantasticon:

Although Bowdoin is not exactly Dartmouth, I guess it is beyond your narrow mind to comprehend the numerous good reasons that easily come to my mind for why Roy Sorenson and Julia Driver left great schools in NYC with great grad programs to move to Dartmouth (before they more recently moved on years later once more). I would rather teach at a SLAC in rural Maine, for instance, than any school in NYC, especially given the environment for my kids, for my pets, for the views outside my windows, for the quality of after dinner walks, and much more. What's your problem Colonel Fantasticon?

Anonymous said...

This has been "Really??" with Seth Myers, Amy Poehler and Colonel Fantasticon.

Kenny said...

Anonymous 10:14 - just wait until mid-November, when the job applications have all been sent in, and people are waiting to hear about APA interviews. Then there will be plenty more posts of the sort you're looking for.

While some more discussion-oriented ones could be useful at this point too, it's probably good to give people a fun way to let off some steam too. And especially on a post like this one originally seemed to be, where people would just be saying fun happy stuff in the comments, instead of yelling at each other as occasionally seems to happen here.

Anonymous said...

Well, I always think of the one from the Rutles movie: "Occasional Visiting Professor of Applied Narcotics at the University of Do As You Please in Berkeley, California."