Help, I'm trapped in an ivory tower! Or "what the fuck am i getting myself into with this academia stuff"

h/t j. (thread):

Can I ask academics of any level of seniority how many hours a week they reckon they work. My current estimate is over 100. I am a mug. But what is the norm in real life. ?

— mary beard (@wmarybeard) November 23, 2019

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/05/07/fuck-the-bread-the-bread-is-over/

Not 'academia' per se, but can anyone recommend any websites/journals/magazines accepting papers (or articles) on anything film/music/art/culture/psychoanalysis-y? Probably more casual than peer-reviewed, but possibly either.

I am unable to proceed onto a doctorate yet due to technicalities that have been compounded by these times, and feel (like many, no doubt) that I am utterly stagnating. It helps to read theory, but I find my motivation lacking when there isn't something concrete to channel it into. I'll look into different things, but just wondered if anyone has specifically heard of anything recently, or had success in different places.

Sorry to hear that the pandemic has been an impediment to your studies/research on top of everything else.

This might be too academic a suggestion, but have you considered Paragraph? Their editorial board is more open to exploring the intersection between aesthetics and psychoanalysis than most. Failing that, maybe 3:AM Magazine if you'd rather keep the ivory tower at bay?

I also came across this ongoing project a few days ago and was tempted to submit the entirety of the 'recently on ILX Dreams…' thread:

https://www.lockdowndreams.com

Thank you for these really excellent suggestions! I found some other places, but honestly none of them were as exciting as this.

Ha, coincidentally, the lockdown dreams project is hosted by the very department I am unable to begin working in! Well, the theoretical side of it anyway. I'm supposed to progress onto a clinical doctorate, but it's going to be at least 2 years before I can begin and honestly I don't know if maybe I should do a PhD while I'm waiting, or if that is mad.

Is anyone working on a PhD during lockdown, and if so, how is it?

So my workplace (not just UCSF, this is UC-wide) has done something great:

After more than two years of negotiations, UC has reached an open access agreement with Elsevier! 🥳https://t.co/b7AyUxifji

— UCSF Library (@ucsf_library) March 16, 2021

Here's the general UCOP post, though the UCSF one linked there has more specifics

https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/uc-news-uc-secures-landmark-open-access-deal-world-s-largest-scientific-publisher

well after 25 years in academia I've applied for a science writing job, no doubt way off base but a worthwhile message to self

anyone fancy applying for this?

I screamed pic.twitter.com/IR14czokLl

— Christopher DeWeese (@lighghghght) June 15, 2021

Does this thread ring true for anyone still in the game?

But I think the largest group of faculty, for a variety of reasons, aren't making big job moves. If I had to describe what the Great Resignation looks like for them, I'd call it disengagement. A general pulling back or away, a doubling down on autonomy.

— Kevin R. McClure (@kevinrmcclure) January 11, 2022

It pretty much describes how my spouse and I are operating. I always had a tenuous connection to my department (non tenure stream spousal accommodation who teaches primarily in an interdisciplinary program that is a tiny part of the overall focus) and not being around any colleagues for the past two years makes me feel zero connection at all. My wife could go up for full but what’s the point? It would be a pittance raise and more responsibility in exchange for an ego boost and the dept getting to brag about another full professor.

We’ve lost a number of tenured faculty with no hope of those lines coming back anytime soon (and we know of two who have campus visits for other jobs coming up) so all of them are on literally every grad committee because someone has to be. We’re on our third (interim) chair in the 4.5 years I’ve been here.

I could get a private sector (or university staff) IT/dev job that pays more but it would be a 12 month 9-5 office job vs being able to do whatever for three months every summer. Basically we’re at a sweet spot of time/money/workload and despite neither of us being really invested at all we can’t think of how anything could be better. So I do my best at teaching but go through the motions on everything else whiles looking forward to summers.

Feels pathetic to say it, but I have lost all hope that my academic job will improve, and at 52 I highly doubt anyone would hire me to something new, so what on earth can I do, just be miserable for 8 years until I can retire?
Being in Tasmania the number of private bioscience startups is … low.

ha ha, my promotion application bringing together 11 years of the things I've built and innovated, going the extra mile, heart and soul stuff, was met with four months of total silence, followed by "nope".

ha ha, my promotion application bringing together 11 years of the things I've built and innovated, going the extra mile, heart and soul stuff, was met with four months of total silence, followed by "nope".

I missed this. Sorry dude.

Ugh sorry

https://www.dailycardinal.com/article/2023/11/exclusive-facing-budget-shortfalls-uw-system-president-privately-suggested-chancellors-shift-away-from-liberal-arts-programs-at-low-income-campuses

I work at the UW Parkside and we serve more low income students than any other school in the system. I can't adequately express how mad this makes me.

well, they are 'liberal' arts, right? I'm mean it says it right on the diploma

I peruse job ads frequently, as I'm sure many academics do. I have noticed a ton of openings in my field (Art/Design) in the US south, particularly Texas and Florida. I wounder why that is????? Far fewer desirable positions to be found in other areas. I'm not looking looking, just passive, but it seems remarkable.