yet more reasons why i won't get tenure

(i am at home and sick and, besides catching up on reading, grading, writing and prepping for classes, have nothing better to do but brood.)

when it comes to professional identity and activity, i could not possibly care less about my own or anyone else's adolescent traumas, political ideals, transgressive actions, sexual or gender identities,  favorite TV shows or recent medical procedures.   wait, actually, let me try to care less. . . . 

. . .nope, can't do it.  but sometimes a climate which fosters and rewards such self-forwarding emerges and i have no idea how to be in it!  

also, i will try to care less, but don't think i could do it, about students' liking me.  at a school where the liberal arts is occasionally an afterthought, part of the idea of making sure classes are full is to cultivate a persona that students glom onto.  i don't want students to glom onto me!  of course, i would be psyched if they learn stuff and get into class and stuff, but i can think of nothing that would make me feel more inauthentic than having fans.