Career Opportunities the Ones that [Always] Knock

Censored Letter to An Editor

Dear Eva,

I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to let you know that I've been unable to get the book proposal for Pop Culture: A History to you by the deadline that we established back in January. I am teaching five courses this semester and the workload surpassed my expectations. I am still interested in working on the revised edition of this text, however, I need more time to get my proposal together. I'd like to suggest moving the deadline to April 15. If this won't work for you and you need to find someone else to take on the project, I completely understand.

My apologies; please let me know your thoughts on this.

Thank you again for everything --

Best,

Lyz

Uncensored Letter to An Editor

Dear Eva,

I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to let you know that I've been unable to get the book proposal for Pop Culture: A History to you by the deadline that we established back in January. I am teaching five courses this semester and the workload surpassed my expectations. While I love teaching, and worked my ass off to earn a Ph.D., I am feeling stretched to my limit by more than 100 students who are spread across three campuses. In addition to the usual class preparation and grading, this semester I have a particularly difficult group of students in one of my women's studies classes. This situation requires that I plan additional conflict mediation activities and hold meetings before and after class with students who have significant mental and emotional disorders.

I must consider myself fortunate to have these five teaching gigs, as I have no idea how I am going to earn money over the summer. As an adjunct instructor there is no job security, nor do I get paid year-round like my colleagues who were fortunate enough to get tenure-track jobs in an era when such academic jobs existed. (I recognize that, according to American Historical Association data, my chances of getting such a job are four in ten.) Because of my situation, I must constantly search for work for the coming semester while teaching during the current one.

Ultimately, I realize that I may be screwing myself by risking this opportunity that you've given me--to revise another scholar's work for little or no pay. Despite my accomplishments and sacrifices (my family is nearly $200,000 in debt--in part because I only worked part time in the 6.5 years it took me to earn my Ph.D.), I know that I need any and all publishing opportunities, otherwise I am unmarketable as a scholar.

In addition to my work responsibilities, I must also care for my family of one spouse, two children (five and 18), two dogs, and three cats. Shopping and cooking for this brood is itself a full-time job. I'm not much of a cleaner (my spouse, fortunately, is), however, there are ever-growing piles of laundry scattered throughout my house at all times. Now that the weather is getting nicer in Cleveland, there will be the additional pressure to garden, clean up the yard (including the roughly 150 lbs. of dog shit that's been hidden under snow and ice for five months), put screens in the windows, and help my spouse repair the siding that fell off of our dilapidated home during one of the ten snow and wind storms the house endured this winter.

Of course, I must look good doing all of these activities, which means that I have to schedule regular appointments for hair cuts, purchase and coordinate clothes for my daughter and me (my son and spouse thankfully take care of their own waredrobes), and make sure that all hair on my body is appropriately managed by tweasing or waxing (though I must admit that I don't wax and refuse to shave my legs, which fulfills the stereotypes of many of my students who assert that all feminists are hairy and angry).

To be a good teacher and "respectable" academic, I must keep updated on news and current events, so I "relax" by watching news shows and reading political and feminist blogs. As a vegan and someone who is concerned with the environment, I also must keep up to date on what products are green and do not contain animal ingredients.

Amid all of these responsibilities, I do make it to yoga four to five times a week and, because there are no academic jobs, I am becoming certified to teach yoga to earn extra money. This is the one thing that I truly do for myself. I suppose I could take these six or eight hours this week and put them toward finishing the book proposal, but if I did that, I would probably be too stressed to work anyway. This unstructured time would also provide time for my guilt over the lack of "alone" time and my husband and I spend together to arise, because, along with our busy work schedules, we are unconditional parents, which means that our five-year-old daughter co-sleeps with us.

Having said all this, I should say that I am still interested in working on the revised edition of this text. However, I need more time to get my proposal together. I'd like to suggest moving the deadline to April 15, 2020. If this won't work for you and you need to find someone else to take on the project, I completely understand.

My apologies; please let me know your thoughts on this.

Thank you again for everything --
Best,
Lyz