dhawhee has sounded the call for ladies, all the ladies, to say why you like your job (if you are a professor). and you know what? i love my job. i really do. here are a few of the more venal reasons:
1. slovenly appearance. today being st. valentine's day, my sweetie had flowers delivered to me (and i to him, lest you think the fight for gender equity is dead). i answered the door wearing a men's LL Bean flannel shirt purchased (by me, perhaps somewhat mislead since grunge and LL Bean make strange bedfellows) during the grunge era, circa 1992, and sporting a big, brazenly unconcealed zit. and i was WORKING! how great is that?
2. people have to do what i tell them to. nothing makes me happier than when a roomful of people write down something i said. and when students ask for extensions and i negotiate with them to have more sources, or more drafts, or something? i get giddy with power.
3. getting attention. in meetings and in the hallways, i love--nay, live!--the bon mot.
4. being cooler than everyone else in the room (when you're not in a roomful of professors). at a spinning class once, the teacher was spouting trivia and trivia questions, and i knew a bunch, and someone asked me how i knew so much, and i said, "i'm a professor!" which is, of course, true. and i had the awe of everyone there for the 40 minutes left in class.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
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3 comments:
Too close to the sun, my friend. Here I am, down with your post, and then you suggest that professors are the coolest people around. Evidence: people riding stationary bikes to bad disco in a dark room at a private club. The example doesn't so much prove your point? As make wonder when social awkwardness and commodified discipline became "cool".
Ah, working at home. Writing in jammies. A glorious thing!
I can relate to enjoying those little moments that come with being a professor.
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