Play The Game & Wear The Suit: Reflections on The Humanities and Academia

Sustainable teaching jobs in the humanities elude anybody who does not "create knowledge," but often the kinds of things that find their way into peer-reviewed publications simply don't need to exist in the human community.  They are part of a conversation, of course, but there are conversations that exist for no other reason than that people wish to hear themselves talk.

Teaching the humanities is a vocation.  I'm tempted to call it a ministry.

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How We Become Expert

You learn what you're interested in.

Suddenly, I'm freely using words like "adrenocarcinoma."  I can speak fluently about things like "epithalia."

These words are interesting to me now.

I can feel deep down in my evolutionary history something saying, "Learn, because it keeps you alive."

Time does funny things when you hear that someone you love has cancer.  An afternoon seems like an eternity.  Things that are urgent to do (grade papers, answer emails) seem like so many flies battering themselves against the windows.

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