Image via WikipediaI will be in bed by 11 pm. I do not care how many papers are still unread, how much work I need to finish on that article, or how many classes I am giving tomorrow are entirely unprepared. I will be in bed by 11 pm.The worst part? Promising myself that I won't work past 11 pm at night should not feel revolutionary. Our working conditions are outrageous.
Happy New Year, everyone. And also, Solidarity Forever!
Last year I resolved not to work both days on a weekend during the semester. That one lasted until the first batch of 46 papers came in on a Thursday in February.
ReplyDeleteI haven't made any resolutions this year. I am up for tenure, so anything I'd resolve to do pretty much hinges on that.
Well, solidarity until the incoming Republican governors outlaw public unions.
ReplyDeleteI feel ya.
Well, getting to bed at 0300 (that's "AM" for you civilian types) has not at been all untypical at all over the past four weeks. But I have fewer classes on my plate now and 2300 is possible. I cannot possibly commit to never staying up past that time, however. When family obligations have stolen my day, grades are due, the e-mails stack up, and "not re-hiring" is the repeatedly demonstrated and, at one of my schools, the openly advertised consequence for not meeting deadlines, I will stay up as long as it takes. They know this.
ReplyDeleteI raise my fist in solidarity!
ReplyDeleteMy resolution? As I do not yet have tenure, I resolve to avoid doing anything that screws my chances of getting tenure. That pretty much means that I resolve to do everything that's asked of me (even though I'm in a perpetual state of exhaustion) without verbally snapping someone--anyone--in two.
I endeavor to avoid hating them at the end of term. I never thought I would feel this way about my students, but by the close of this term, I genuinely wanted to never see any of them again.
ReplyDelete(This was true of my smaller lecture class at Big [Entitled] State U. My bigger lecture classes at Second String State were awesome and I am looking forward to them!)
I'll join you in this one, Merely. I probably need to add "and I won't set the alarm for 4 a.m. when I know darn well the only result will be 2 hours of interrupted rather than solid sleep between 4 and 6 a.m." We'll see how long that lasts. But yes, we really are healthier, and more efficient, and less likely to snap (in various meanings of the word) when rested.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'll raise another fist in solidarity, though it won't do me much good in this right-to-work state (as a friend who is usually given to more polite language, at least on church property, but had been discussing the state of the academy with a colleague who once worked as a union organizer, said recently, "you're screwed").
"and I won't set the alarm for 4 a.m. when I know darn well the only result will be 2 hours of interrupted rather than solid sleep between 4 and 6 a.m."
ReplyDeleteAh yes, the undying evening optimism about the time one would be willing to get up at the following morning.