"In many disciplines, for the majority of graduates, the Ph.D. indicates the logical conclusion of an academic career." Marc Bousquet

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Rat Carcasses

One of the beauties of living in a city and walking to work every day is the number and variety of pleasant surprises that greet you along your path. I almost stepped on this lovely prize on my way in today, and I knew y'all would appreciate if I shared:

And there you were reading my post title and thinking I was gonna say something all metaphorical and intellecktualle! See, this is what happens when you say fuck you to the "life of the mind" and start looking down instead of up.

Except, ya know, not to beat a dead rat into the ground or anything, but given this week's adjunct wars (oh, don't bother linking. you already know if you've read my last two posts), I'm not sure the view's all that different. Looking up seems a whole lot more like looking up your a$$, when it seems to entitle you to the privilege of ignoring the working conditions of the majority of your colleagues.

'K. I'm officially done with this subject for this week. And for those of you considering getting off the adjunct track and joining the nonacademic rat race, your employer might give you a Blackberry, too, and then you, too, can use it for all sorts of fun extracurricular projects, like photographing the wildlife in your neighborhood.

Have a great day, everybody!

5 comments:

  1. Enjoy your Blackberry!!! And walking!!! And your city! Although the rat would have ruined my day, I'm pretty phobic to them.

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  2. Would've ruined my day if I'd actually stepped on it.

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  3. And it was still there, further decomposing, on my way home!

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  4. Isn't urban living a wonderful thing?

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  5. Meh, the critters don't bother me as long as they stay out of my house. When we first moved in, we had some critter issues, but the cats soon took care of that. I had never before in my life seen a cat chase a mouse, catch it, and then eat it live. Poor thing was still squeaking, its head sticking out of the cat's mouth, as my cat was devouring it. Even in the city, nature persists! That cat has since met his own maker, but the rodents have stayed away -- er, if they are getting in, the cats are getting to them before I notice.

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