Pins and Needles, Needles and Pins

Mr. Milkweed has sent off applications to all the tenure-track teaching jobs he's qualified for, based on his areas of study and research. He always applies to those for which he's a true fit, as well as "generalist" jobs (in which the schools claim that just want a jack-of-all-trades, or someone who can teach a little of everything).

He also throws his hat in the ring for a few "long shot" positions, including those at Ivy League schools or those in his area (American Lit) but not in his specific time period (he specializes in 1820-1865, but has applied to a few positions wanting someone to teach primarily Colonial / Revolutionary era literature).

When this time of year rolls around, I like to remind myself of Mr. Milkweed's spectacular qualifications. Given that this year, the job pool is just under half as large as it has been the previous three years he's been on the market-- and a number of the jobs he applied for said they were hiring "pending funding"-- I feel an extra-special urge to accentuate the positive.

Mr. Milkweed has a Ph.d in EnglIsh LIterature. He's been teaching at the college level for almost thirteen years. His experience is very broad-- he's taught every major American author, as well as several content courses in his area of expertise. He's taught Composition, Business Writing, World Literature, Surveys of Fiction and Poetry, and Biography and Autobiography. He spent a year in China teaching English Conversation and American and British Literature. He currently has a second job doing tutoring and teaching GRe/SAt prEp for a well-known testing prEp company.

He's presented papers at something like fifteen conferences. He helped edit an academic book published by UVA press. He's got an article coming out in an academic journal this fall-- one that he also guest-edited.

Aside from all of this, he's an excellent teacher with excellent evaluations from his students, peers, and superiors. In short, he'd be a wonderful asset to any college faculty.

Join me, won't you, in crossing all your fingers, toes, and secondary internal organs (I'm thinking thinks like the spleen and appendix) that things go well for him this job cycle? I know that we're all tied in knots here ourselves.