Recently, in the midst of my erratic blog meanderings, I bumbled into a briar patch, a half dozen variations on the theme of the two-body problem. Lest I inadvertently sucker physicists into stopping by, I should clarify: the two-body problem on this occasion refers to those snags and snarls that typically emerge when two academics wish to find jobs [...]
Archive for February, 2009
Sex and the Single Professor III; or, The One-Man Show
Posted in solitude standing on February 21, 2009 | 5 Comments »
Untimely Meditations
Posted in amor fati!, fear the narwhal! on February 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I’m sorry for the brief hiatus; I had a major hard drive meltdown, and I’m still in the process of getting my virtual legs back under me. As it turns out, posting from my office at CMU is not quite the same thing as posting at my “leisure” at home. Accordingly, though I technically blogged [...]
Taster’s Choice
Posted in Uncategorized on February 17, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Today I find myself preoccupied with questions of taste for a variety of reasons, none of them especially good. The first prompt, tragically enough, was a photo spread in Entertainment Weekly, the usual post-award show grading of fashion. They had a little continuum from A-F going on, with Jennifer Hudson and Sara Bareilles at one extreme [...]
Least Complicated
Posted in amor fati! on February 13, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Fun fact: I once showed Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls how to do kneeling cable crunches. I am, as it turns out, pretty darned important.
The purloined title aside, however, this post has precious little to do with the Indigo Girls and much to do with Thoreau. Just when you think I’m going to snack, I [...]
The Tao of Bill (Part 1 of 216)
Posted in talkin' taoism on February 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Today’s fairly fascinating discovery: sometimes it’s possible to write a poem when you don’t know what you need to say but you know how you need to say it.
A Favorable Wind
Posted in academia, book-larnin', vagaries of verse on February 7, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Right now, for reasons I do not care to question, it is 46 degrees in Central Michigan. I have accordingly turned off my heat, thrown open my windows, and read “In Just-” to round out the trifecta. That makes for a respectable Saturday morning.
The day looks fairly promising altogether, truth be told. I’ve nearly finished [...]
The Academic Job Market: The Dismal Picture
Posted in academia, job market horror! on February 1, 2009 | 12 Comments »
I’ve generated about as much sunshine as I can, and I hope I’ve offered a little useful perspective to folks who are weathering a tough search season. If, however, you watch Rainbow Brite just for cameo appearances by Murky Dismal, here’s an article from The Chronicle of Higher Education for you. (Thanks to my Emory cohort Melissa [...]
