plugging away

I'm still writing. Always writing....

Here's a maze game I found amid my research documents that I though I would share with anyone who happens by my blog. It's from the Daily Worker (November 1934) and was published under the "Our Young Readers" section. Can you help the angry worker find his nemesis, "Mr. Boss."

And in other news, I get to visit New York next week (for work, unfortunately, so no time to sight-see).

fluency

Years ago, when I began to learn a foreign language, I recall hearing that one of the milestones of language acquisition would come to me in my dreams. That is, when I started dreaming in French (for example), then I was really getting somewhere. The premise, I think, is that the sounds and symbols and concepts would become so familiar that I could use them even in my sleep. I used to dream in French; I don't anymore. Now, I dream in dissertation. I wouldn't say that all aspects of the stories I have learned and retell are absolutely, crystal clear to me (just like a foreign-language learner can never shed her accent). But I do think I've achieved some sort of fluency in my dissertation. The strange thing is that now I have no one to talk to.

One of the clearest signs of my emerging fluency is dreaming. But what I welcomed in language learning, I dread with the dissertation process. I don't want to work out the issues I'm struggling with - like state versus federal forms of colonial citizenship - while I sleep because doing so keeps me from sleeping. So, I've been looking for ways to cut the stream of thought and leave my dissertation only to waking hours. I've been lucky to find not one, but two great histories that I can read before going to sleep that allow me to leave everything behind while resting. They're so good they're worth recommending because both are histories that tell engaging stories. Peggy Pascoe and Glenda Gilmore use different styles to tell their tales but they provide enough personal and contextual detail to make for a very engaging read. I like how What Comes Naturally connects the seemingly simple and personal process of getting married to the policing of racial, gender, sexual, and economic boundaries that shored up white supremacy. Laws, lawmakers, and administrators worked hard to make the racial order seem so effortless. Defying Dixie is equally as fascinating because Gilmore connects a vast web of revolutionaries throughout the South to the rest of the U.S. and beyond. Then, she connects that to the modern CRM and shows how it was made possible but also stymied by a radical past. How could I not enjoy reading about a hushed-up revolution? I will take months more to finish these great histories but I am not hesitant to add to my list. I welcome all recommendations for other ways to temper my burgeoning fluency.

mind-read

Mind-reading can be a good thing. Like most gifts, it should be assessed on the "Fabulous-to-Frightening" scale. This time, I'm going with Fabulous.

How amazing is this: two University of Wisconsin professors read my mind and wrote a book for me. Actually, it's a collection of essay, but, again, I'm sure they did it for me after reading my mind when I was thinking "there is no concise monograph on the different incarnations of aggressive U.S. imperialism and its impact on the state." (Fortunately, they weren't reading my mind when I was thinking 'what can I do with leftover Pho?'") Wasn't this publication nice of them?

untitled

I've started several posts that I couldn't finish over the past few weeks. My brain power is ebbing and I have deadlines to meet - so whatever I have must go to the chapters. In my flurry of writing and reading, though, I've met with some wonderfully snarky comments. So, with the hope of reading updates on all my far-flung colleagues, I offer this measly post. (Appropriately, Marx gets the last word.)

"There is no justification for sentimentality about the Insular Cases. They were designed for the convenience of the conqueror[s]." ~Gerald Neuman

"Mainland Americans can be divided into two groups: those that know that 2,100,000 American citizens reside in Puerto Rico; and those - perhaps the majority - who remain unaware of this fact fifty years after the war with Spain." ~Carey McWilliams (1946)

"The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living." ~Karl Marx

flying home

I'm back from Seattle and a wonderful conference. I got to see advisor, B., and Cabiria and meet S. Together, we had a great panel. One (exceptional) audience member commented "Your panel was beautifully organized, your papers were beautifully written, and it was a pleasure to listen to them." How's that for encouragement!?

I also met established and up-and-coming scholars and saw some good sessions - one was even great. And the only malady I suffered from was fatigue (which, I discovered, was getting off easy). There were just a few talks that I painfully regret missing but thanks to the magic of the internet, I will get to listen to Mary Ryan's talk on the future of women's history (and I look forward to the day when more sessions are on-line like this).

This visit to Seattle was bittersweet, too. Seattle was my home ten years ago; that is where I met R and where we first became a family. I love that city and its many nooks and crannies that remind me of a time that seem like another life. Such reminiscences, though, made me look forward to my return home, a place where awaits six-year old balloon games and a computer with chapters aching to be written.

education on a shoe-string

I peruse the "help wanted" sections of h-net and other academic job markets from time to time. Even though I'm not officially "on" the job market, the prospect of applying for a job is exciting. Actually, I should say, the prospect of there being a job that I can apply for is exciting - particularly since I live in mightily-bankrupt state (as opposed to the newly-bankrupt states). I wondered how deeply the new state "budget" would effect the job market for higher education and then I saw an ad for CSU Northridge. It can't be that bad if Northridge has posted an ad, right? Then I read the ad. The generic search for adjuncts ends by saying:

Given the condition of the California budget for the CSU system this year and the current entitlements of part-time instructors, it is very likely that we will have few if any openings. We are, however, required to advertise.

Puzzling. They have to advertise for positions that, in all likelihood, they don't have.

Well, if I'm not going to adjunct then I will put that energy into my dissertation. So, I head on over to the library website for my neighborhood California university to see if it can help me find that obscure study, only...
If the state university systems are a public service, then the outlook for California, over the next generation, looks pretty bleak.

ruminations on government, money, and work

In the past week I finished our taxes and, technically, I made the most money per hour that I've ever made in my life. Amid the glee I felt over our expected refund were pangs of concern: can the government really afford to give me back this money? While I ponder this question, I won't hesitate to take it.

My bankrupt state also passed a budget last week - in record time (they have tended to straggle over the finish line in late-September), and today I saw city work crews out en force. Coincidence? No. I need to remember these men and women in a few months when I begin to kvetch about the state's cutbacks. At least someone is at work. Sadly, this may not include the lunch lady, librarian, or recess attendants at young S's school. Rumors have it that in order to met the "budget" in my bankrupt state, these positions along with school lunch programs and busing will be eliminated. And while shaking my head at the extreme short-sightedness of nearly eliminating funding for public education, I will remind myself of directions the state has not gone yet. We dodged a bullet by picking the California job over the Georgia one. Georgia's state assembly is debating how to suspend funding for faculty who do "unnecessary research." How does tenure work again when you have no paycheck?

My final scrape with government and work in this past week was as that of spectator to the particularly vicious sport of immigrant labor. My neighbor - International Academic - moved to the US in the OC last fall to begin a tenure-track position at Nearby College. Now that Dr. IA and famille are settled, Nearby College dropped the bombshell: "you need to get your green card right now so we can continue to employ you, it costs $7000, oh, and by the way, we canceled all your summer teaching because we have no money - our state is bankrupt." Dr. I.A. is fresh out of grad school, so the fees associated with buying a U.S. job are staggering. Dr. I.A.'s Mrs I.A. has waded into a similar morass. She got a special work permit that will allow her to take the job she was offered and work in the U.S. for one year. The only catch is that she can't leave the country during that time. The family and research of both Dr. I.A. and Mrs. Dr. I.A. are all located outside the U.S. The obstructions this country has established between non-citizens and "legal" domestic work are draconian. This is nativism enshrined in government.