Quote:
Originally Posted by
kerc 
I think it depends on who you talk to / what your ultimate goals are.
Yes, although in this case I generally have my pat answers down: what/who MSCD is because no one has heard of it, what courses I've taught, the official story about why my class load was dropped, why I'm not interested in a FT job there (open-enrollment campus, lots of non-traditional students, very teaching-heavy and not a fit with my career interests), what I'm doing research-wise. I just wasn't expecting someone to ask, essentially, what my career plans were going to be given that I'm only teaching one class a semester. (Yeah, I know. I'm working on an average of 4 to 4.5 hours of sleep a night for the last two weeks so the brain isn't at top functioning.)
Maybe something along the lines of "I'm taking advantage of the light teaching load to write some articles and do some research that was on the back burner" would do for those who aren't in a hiring capacity (or at least not one I'm interested in). I can add something about looking for an extra class or two where advisable. Reasonable?
Hmmm, maybe I should be prepared with a follow-up if people want to know why I don't want FT work. That's where I struggle, because "husband with a tenured position so it has to be in Colorado (and I've applied for the only open position I've seen)" and/or "two small kids" sounds lame.
Long-term goals: I have no idea. I want to write and publish. I think I'd enjoy an editing job though I don't know that there's much to be had in my field in Colorado. It also seems like a number of those jobs are more about connections than anything else, and I'm lacking those currently (hoping to ask a former advisor about that at the regional conference in a couple of weeks). Mostly I like teaching too (much more at the beginning or end of the semester than a week before spring break...) so an academic job would be a good fit--if it was in the area. Ideally, it would be at a private school, or at least one with a decent admissions policy. I can think of a couple that would fit--though both of those are currently employing Harvard grads. Then again, neither of the Harvard grads specialize in East Asian music, so I'll hang onto my niche. It would, in theory, be easy enough to come in as a musicologist (as opposed to an ethnomusicologist who typically is hired to run a performing ensemble in a chosen area and teach classes) and be able to more fluidly between world music-type classes and the more Western-oriented art music ones. I would like that mix; it's one of the main reasons I was so excited about the TT position in Fort Collins. (No, I've heard nothing about my application. DH tells me that it means they haven't rejected me outright and that they're holding onto applications in case their first round of interviews and all doesn't work out. In this job market, I'd guess a "thanks but sorry" letter is just a matter of time.)
At some point I'd like to be able to resume shamisen lessons with a local sensei (we may not have a publishing scene, but we have a surprising number of Japanese musicians) and eventually land some sort of grant to research shamisen music in Japan (specifically, women's roles in shamisen, preferably in the tsuguru style). That also requires learning to speak some passable Japanese. A lot of researchers use a translator which I'd imagine I'd still need to do, but I need to learn more than the few phrases I know. That also means the kids need to be older. Any attempts I've made to learn a language with small children about has been an abject failure (see: classes in basic Spanish while pregnant with R; home practice through workbooks and podcasts in Japanese after J was born, which failed to net me so much as a single new Japanese word). I'm fine with that being a long-term goal though, as I really need J to be in school so I can take lessons, I'll need a flexible enough work schedule that I can make the drive to the sensei's house for lessons during the day, and no matter how that works out, I'd want the girls to be a bit older for that kind of travel experience anyhow.
Regardless, my plan is to continue presenting and publishing, largely because it sets me apart from my colleagues. One, who landed an adjunct teaching position that didn't have a posted opening in the fall (I was looking myself at the time and decided not to send my resume just for kicks...and now am kicking myself...), is heavy on style but short on substance, or at least on publications. The ones she has are dictionary entries that I'm sure she did because someone recommended her for them, and there are only two. The other colleague is awesome but overworked (she does have a FT adjunct job at our institution, which means she teaches 5 classes or does the equivalent in advising each semester, plus committees, faculty meetings, etc). She's doing some presentations and such, but mostly her time is just eaten up.
OK, enough rambling. I'm thinking out loud, perhaps a little too much.
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