I'm sorry I've not been around. A divorce, a change, just me and little Jake. I left my glorious job in the PNW and returned to my mother's home temporarily. But I bounced back, am teaching again, although at a reduced schedule and in a new location - where it is summer all the time.But what has happened to this page? I read many months over the past two nights. Everyone is gone. Added a layer of sadness too much to bear. It was a place I loved when I was here. I had such fun. Of course there were tough times, but aren't there always.
Everything dies, maybe.
But I remember what was fondly.
XOXO,
Darla
Good to hear from you, even if everything hasn't gone well. As a science geek, I am terrible with rhetorical questions. Much of the time I can't even recognize them, so I try answering them, which is even worse. Still, what happened to the page? I have several ideas:
ReplyDelete(1) Didn't you hear? All the problems in academia have been solved, and everything's now all peachy and keen! But since we are academics, there are still enough existentially minded malcontents who post to and comment on the page, like me.
(2) The meds are getting stronger all the time!
(3) Honest_prof was right, and we are all such a disgraceful bunch of whiners, we should all go and eat a worm, right this very minute. Come to think of it, his concerns about what happens when parents or other concerned parties read this page become moot, if no one reads the page.
(4) Choices 1, 2, and 3 aren't comprehensive, or even mutually exclusive.
There's something to be said for quiet misery, slow misery, echoes of misery in the empty summer halls....
ReplyDeleteGlad you're doing better!
I'm glad you wrote, Darla. I know I've been out of touch for a long time, but Les updated me a bit about things. I'm happy to know that you and little Jake are rebounding. Hold on to each other and good luck!
ReplyDeleteHi, Darla--
ReplyDeleteIt's great to hear from you, though I'm sorry to hear things have been difficult. Sounds like you're bouncing back,though, which is good (and not surprising) to hear.
I dunno what's going on here. Maybe it's dying; maybe it's resting; maybe it's just summer. As Jonathan says, this place seems to have an (ever-evolving) rhythm of its own.
If there's good (and bad) news, there seems to be increasing agreement in the world beyond CM that there are real problems with higher ed. Of course, many of the solutions that those outside would like to implement (and/or are in the process of implementing) are only resulting in greater misery, so something tells me that, while people may be tending toward speechless misery and/or denial/escape at the moment, things s around here will become livelier as the fall semester approaches.
It's pining for the fjords!
ReplyDeleteWonderful to hear from you, Darla. I hope things continue to improve for you and Jake.
*Makes everyone scoot over*
ReplyDelete*Pulls over another chair*
*Sets out a coffee mug full of bourbon*
Welcome back!
Hi, D. Cal told me you'd raised your head in a public way so I wanted to use the mod account to say hello publicly as well.
ReplyDeleteI am so proud of you, and I love you. You and Jake are terrific and strong and you're both going to be fine. I know a little about where you are now, and it's so beautiful and warm. You deserve it, too. I know you loved where you were, but you've left a lot of shit behind and it's good for some new vistas.
Always your pal,
Les
I add my voice to the hellos to Darla. I know you took all your posts down at the end of your time here. I always felt badly about because your journey was so interesting and told so beautifully. I've tried using different archive searches to find some of them but have not been successful. If you had original versions on your hard drive and wanted to share them, just let me know.
ReplyDeleteFab
from Darla:
ReplyDeleteThank you! I did want to say the divorce was not angry or bitter. It was sad, and it shook me as one who believed things always moved forward, always progressed.
My whole world reeled when we decided separating was what we both needed. Having little Jake made things harder, as anyone will tell you, but we're co-parenting and I'm slowly getting my feet under me.
My career path went kerplooey as well, of course. I was in the LAST JOB OF MY CAREER, or so I believed, but now after some downtime and a much smaller and less prestigious appointment, I realize I was hopeless naive about academia. Let's just say my years of struggle at dysfunctional community college were not wasted. I'm doing that again!
And, finally, I am sorry about taking down my posts when I left the page for good. There was so much personal stuff in it, and I had at least one colleague in the PNW who seemed to get 'jollies' out of knowing some things about me that I never imagined would be so easily sussed.
So, taking it all down was a necessary step for my own protection, but I really regret it at the same time. And, no, I don't have any originals. I assumed it could all be found somehow by someone smarter than me, but I don't know.
Eek! I'm relieved, for your and Jake's sake, to hear that the divorce was less dysfunctional than the job situation, but sorry to hear that at least parts of the dream-job situation were so dysfunctional/creepy. I hope the cc at which you've landed is a functional one; ccs are where a lot of the real college-level teaching and learning are occurring these days, and can, in the right circumstances (i.e. decently-paid full-time job) be excellent places to work.
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