Oh academe…

As a graduate student, it’s sometimes hard to keep perspective. And by sometimes I mean often, really often. Graduate school is like the end all be all of delayed gratification, particularly if you combine graduate programs into a seemingly unending stint of education. As we slog through coursework, learn to teach, jump through administrative hurdles, we also try to imagine the lives we are hoping to lead. Too frequently these images are dominated by uncertain and overly competitive funding mechanisms, scary tenure clocks, and tragic job markets. Every once in a while, however, we get a glimpse of why people choose this life anyway. In chatting with my LSO stand partner (a tenured faculty member) before the concert, she revealed that she and her family have invitations to a variety of far off and exotic places as a result of their academic affiliations. They have relatively relaxing summers filled with productive time, and opportunities to travel all over the globe. This is the good stuff!

My summer is shaping up to be pretty exciting as well: a teaching assistant position for a week in New York City, the possibility of visiting Vienna for the International AIDS Conference, and a relatively commitment-free time to enjoy Ann Arbor and get a LOT of work done. Given how rough things have been around here lately, it’s nice to get a glimpse of the good stuff…