It occurred to me last week that I started teaching grad school precisely ten years after I first taught college, back in the Department from Hell. I’m frankly amazed at how far I’ve gotten, despite all the twisty little paths I reconnoitered to get here.
I see my first Department from Hell advisor in the library fairly frequently these days. He doesn’t recognize me, but as someone I met at SLIS orientation once said, he never recognizes women—and to be fair, it has been nearly ten years, and even longer than that since he was my advisor to begin with.
He gets a polite smile from me, and if there’s a wee bit of self-satisfaction in that smile, I doubt he notices. Perception was never his strong suit.
Over the summer I often saw one of my classmates from back in the day, working busily at a laptop. She was the best teacher in the department, won prizes and everything. She recognized me, and we exchanged smiles but no more. Out of curiosity, I checked her out on Google. She’s adjuncting. The research I’m guessing she’s working on, must be happening on her own time. Thus doth academia reward its faithful. All hail academia!
Could have been me. Pretty likely would have been, too. I hated getting dumped out of the pond at the time, but I can’t help feeling lucky now. Found me a pond where I’m the right-size fish, I did.
